Your favorite 8-bit games

[BFG10K]

Note: DOS/Amiga/Mac/IIGS are 16 bit so they don't count. Only early consoles and non-PC micros here.

My favorite 8 bit computer was the Apple IIe:

One of the most incredible platforms ever made. Manufactured from 1977 to 1993 and with its open slot system, the hardware expansion cards developed over its life transformed the machine (double high-res graphics and colors, 3.5" floppy, HDD, Mockingbird sound, etc). Some of the late games were quite advanced and really pushed the system to its limit.

Some of my favorite games: Ultima 3, Karateka, Conan, Swashbuckler, Choplifter, Aztec, Prince of Persia, Spy vs Spy.

I also played on the Sega Master System II a bit, and I liked Golden Axe and Ultima 4.

 

[Rifter]

Pirates for sure was one of my favs. Also really liked the phantasie series on C64.

 

[zinfamous]

Kind of cool to think back how enabling and accessing MIDI was so transformative from the previous standard. You think today, all those iterative kbps fancy tweeks for audio fidelity sounds great, but so much of it is barely audible to human sensitivity, but yet of course it is a profound upgrade from the old MIDI standard.

...but then you go back to MIDI, which replaced "motherboard case bleeps." I mean, you go from a "beep" or a "blorp" as your entire sound profile, to actual music and even some crude, synthesized voice. That's a far more drastic leap when you think about it, lol.

say a game that bleeped on you, but had some MIDI files that you couldn't access unless you had one of those early cards. And if you did, everything changed. Hardware, while steadily advancing in all of this time of course, really hasn't had the impact like it had in those early days of discreet sound cards and of course, GPUs.

 

[Modular]

There are too many to list them all. The NES was what I grew up on, and I really enjoyed many games on there. The one that really stands out is Dragon Warrior.

"A Slime Approaches!"

One of the best games ever made. It got even better when they added the ability to have a party of characters that you controlled in the sequels. I know that by today's standards, it's a clunky game and the menu/leveling, etc. are simplistic, but that's what was so appealing to it. Along with a great story, there was this HUGE open world that you couldn't explore until you leveled up, got better spells, armor and weapons. It was a trail blazing game that's 100% worth the playtime. I remember reading the Nintendo Power that showed where to get Erdrick's armor, etc.

Another favorite was Base Wars. Robots, battles, space, repairing and upgrading your team. What more can you ask for? The graphics were unbelievable by NES standards as well. And the idea that you had to manage the team's finances as well as the upgrades, etc. was icing on the cake.


Edit: my reply probably belongs in the consoles section, sorry. I got all drawn in by nostalgia!

 

[DeathReborn]

I grew up on the Atari 2600, Spectrum ZX, Commodore 64 & Atari 512/1024 so there are way too many to count but a few faves still to this day are...

Buggy Boy
Ikari Warriors
Treasure Island Dizzy
Omega Race

I still have all my Atari 512/1024, Commodore 64 & Spectrum ZX hardware and software, sometimes you just have to go retro to have a blast.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

On the NES: Willow. Magic of Scherezade. The Guardian Legend. Megaman 2.
On the SMS: Phantasy Star. Wonder Boy 3: Dragon's trap

 

[KMFJD]

The Epyx * Games series, Gold Box SSI AD&D games, Racing Destruction Set, Mail Order Monsters, Ultima 1-4 , Bards Tale, Might and Magic, Spelunker, Last Ninja, Airborne Rangers, Roadwar, Pirates

 

[Zenoth]

Too many to list them all, with the NES alone I could easily come up with a 20 or 30+ games list, plus maybe 4 or 5 more from the Sega Master System as well.

Obvious ones in no particular order:

- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- The Legend of Zelda
- Blaster Master
- Metroid
- Punch-Out
- Double Dragon 2
- TMNT III: The Manhattan Project* (*edited: originally said TMNT II, not sure why I had that one in mind when I typed this list; I do really like TMNT 2 but 3 was overall better, for me)
- Contra
- Mega Man 2, 3 and 6: my favorites; especially 2 & 6
- Castlevania II

However, as far as 8-bit games (and systems) go there's nothing as significant I experienced from other 8-bit platforms than on the NES and the SMS. I know I played maybe 2 or 3 games on the Atari 2600 but I might have been 6 or 7 years-old at the time and it's too far away to recall any details or to have any emotional / nostalgic attachment to those (and that 2600 definitely wasn't mine, might have been one of my uncle's).

There's also the TurboGrafx-16 (yes, it had an 8-bit CPU) and although I did play a couple of games on that one too (maybe a total of 10 or so) I don't think I ever developed any significant attachment to them either (main reason being that it wasn't mine), maybe with the exception of 2 or 3 of them. I do recall playing Bonk's Adventure, it was alright but nothing to be amazed by. Also, played one of the Bomberman games, not sure which one ('93 or '94, it was enjoyable I mean... it's Bomberman, so it's never bad). Also, some side-scrolling shooter the title of which escapes me entirely, although come to think of it and after looking at some Google Images... it might have been Air Buster. Then I'm pretty sure I played Raiden as well. I mean I remember playing them, but that's about it. I wouldn't put them in my Hall of Fame of 8-bit games (to reiterate, the point being that it's nothing - for me - compared to the memories I have with my list of NES games mentioned above; that stuff is just on a completely different level).

 

[BFG10K]

I forgot to mention these:

They seem pretty cool. It'd be really nice if they made an Apple IIe mini.

 

[Rifter]

The Epyx * Games series, Gold Box SSI AD&D games, Racing Destruction Set, Mail Order Monsters, Ultima 1-4 , Bards Tale, Might and Magic, Spelunker, Last Ninja, Airborne Rangers, Roadwar, Pirates

yeah most of the SSI games were great!

 

[Ichinisan]

Still Super Mario Bros. 3 for me. I still play it frequently (on original hardware).

Punch Out!! or Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! also holds up really well, but only if you play on a CRT to eliminate the extra latency added by modern TVs that process / resize the image.

 

[nakedfrog]

Note: DOS/Amiga/Mac/IIGS are 16 bit so they don't count. Only early consoles and non-PC micros here.

My favorite 8 bit computer was the Apple IIe:

We had an Apple IIc, from 1984 or so up until 1992 when we upgraded to a Packard Bell 486SX. I spent a loooot of time with that Apple.

 

[Ichinisan]

Yesterday, out-of-the-blue I got a comment on this old clip of me playing Super Mario Bros. 3:

Maybe the commenter is a bot.

 

[Oyeve]

I was fond of the Infocom text games on my Atari 400/800. I still play my OG 2600 and 800xl on my 4k TV. How far we have come.

 

[DrMrLordX]

The one that really stands out is Dragon Warrior.

Dragon Quest (aka Dragon Warrior in the US) lives on! Dragon Quest XI came out last year. Not quite as . . . simplistic as the old games, but it still holds up quite well. I got it on Steam and it was fantastic. Which reminds me, I gotta replay that on my new rig.

The Guardian Legend.

Glad someone still remembers this game. Zelda-type isometric with tons of weapons + shmups (also with tons of weapons) = awesome.

, Ultima 1-4

Ultima V was actually on 8-bit systems. I played it on my Apple //c. It was easily the best of the lot.

 

[nakedfrog]

Dragon Quest (aka Dragon Warrior in the US) lives on! Dragon Quest XI came out last year. Not quite as . . . simplistic as the old games, but it still holds up quite well. I got it on Steam and it was fantastic. Which reminds me, I gotta replay that on my new rig.

Yeah, this one is on my to-play list as well, having played through all the others (except 10 for obvious reasons), just finally finished 7 on 3DS last year.

 

[DrMrLordX]

@nakedfrog

Just a fair warning, but DQIX was heavily linked to a Nintendo store that no longer exists. You can mostly get through the plot-driven part of the game without the store, but the postgame is a mess without it. Technically you can hack a bunch of crap to add in store functionality, but to me it was wasted effort in the long-run. The postgame is huge and is somewhat entertaining, just not really worth it if you can't spend your gold on high-end crafting materials and suchlike.

 

[nakedfrog]

@nakedfrog

Just a fair warning, but DQIX was heavily linked to a Nintendo store that no longer exists. You can mostly get through the plot-driven part of the game without the store, but the postgame is a mess without it. Technically you can hack a bunch of crap to add in store functionality, but to me it was wasted effort in the long-run. The postgame is huge and is somewhat entertaining, just not really worth it if you can't spend your gold on high-end crafting materials and suchlike.

Yeah, I played through 7-8-9 in that recent run (I did play 9 when the servers were still up back in the day).
I just hadn't finished 7 when I tried on PSX. Honestly still probably my least favorite in the series.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Yeah, I played through 7-8-9 in that recent run (I did play 9 when the servers were still up back in the day).
I just hadn't finished 7 when I tried on PSX. Honestly still probably my least favorite in the series.

Oh okay, good deal. Yeah VII was a bit weak. The graphics were rough and VI was better put-together in my opinion. VIII on the other hand was a blast.