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Computer Game History: cRPG Blog by Lilura1


Computer Game History


Updated on an almost daily basis as of 2024, this is a history of computer games that Lilura1 is covering on cRPG Blog. The computer games are listed in chronological order, from oldest to newest.

This chronological computer-game history is concerned with computer games that were coded for Western computer-game machines.

I define a computer game as an entertainment-based and/or educational computer program that is coded to be played on a home computer via joystick, keyboard and/or mouse or other input device. For me, the term home computer encompasses both personal computer and microcomputer, which are not exactly equivalent (as laid out in the above-linked overview).

This document was last updated on the 22nd of July, 2024.
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This history of computer games is divided into five main sections, which I refer to as:

  • The Micro-Trinity of the 1970s [0.0]
  • The Seminal 1980s [1.0]
  • The God-tier 1990s [2.0]
  • The Terrible 2000s [3.0]
  • The Everlasting Dark Ages (2008-2024) [4.0]


The Micro-Trinity of the 1970s [0.0]
MICROCOMPUTERS & MICROPROCESSORS (MPUs).
1971: Intel announce the 4004 (4-bit MPU).
1972: Intel announce the 8008 (8-bit MPU). 
1974: Intel announce the 8080 / Motorola announce the 6800 (8-bit MPUs).
Scelbi-8H kit-computer released by Nat Wadsworth (8088 MPU).
1975: Micro-Soft code Basic for the Altair 8800 (Bill Gates & Paul Allen).
Mark Wise's Sphere 1 & Ed Roberts' Altair 8800 are released (8-bit micros).

Released in 1977, the 8-bit Apple II by Steve Wozniak, the Commodore PET by Chuck Peddle and the Tandy / Radio Shack TRS-80 by Steven Leininger would become the first commercially successful microcomputers.

The Apple II and PET were powered by MOS Technology 6502s clocked at 1 MHz whereas the TRS-80 was powered by a Zilog Z80 clocked at 1.77 MHz. Note that Chuck Peddle headed up design of the 6502 itself; he was also involved in 6800 design and VIC design.

Predating the Trinity were the Heavy Metal Microcomputers: Processor Technology Corporation's Sol-20 of 1976 (Lee Felsenstein), Micro Instrumentation & Telemetry Systems' Altair 8800 of 1975 (Ed Roberts), and Mike Wise's Sphere 1 of 1975. Both the MITS Sol-20 and the Altair 8800 were powered by 8-bit Intel 8080s clocked at a blistering 1000 KHz; the Sphere 1 by a Motorola 6800 clocked at the same.

And predating the Heavy Metal Micros we have other kit computers (Scelbi-8H, 1974) and even older computers that could be referred to as... contraptions. :) However, I am only concerned with commercial pre-assembled home computers and their commercial games.

As a product and home appliance, microcomputers had not fully separated themselves from general electronics in the 1970s. Kit-computer assemblage, for example, was a non-trivial undertaking in that being able to read a schematic was just the first step. Now, where's that soldering iron? Mmm... what do the colored bands on this resistor mean? And so on.

1970s computer users were an entirely different breed: Imagine playing a computer game that you yourself programmed on a micro that you yourself built. Well, that was par for the course for these hobbyists.

A kit-computerist could modify power- and board-circuitry to accomodate different MPUs (e.g., i8080, Z80, M6800); almost unthinkable by 1980 because the micro-industry had by that time divided itself and become professional. And that happened before IBM's entry to the home computer market. In fact, it happened even as the Trinity were emerging since the three manufacturers (or rather, some of the above-mentioned key engineers) were unable to agree with one another as regards micro-design specifics and/or business operations. If they did "team up" -- well, such speculation does not lie within the scope of this article. And it is enough to be grateful for what each visionary brought to the table.

Of course, these key engineers had broader visions than "micros as game-machines". For example, after launching the 6502 Chuck Peddle's goal was to build more powerful micros in order to speed up the transition to micro-networks. In the early 70s the vision was that each person, in the not-too-distant-future, would have access to voice-controlled and video-conference-capable desktop and portable micros that could link to each other and access info-systems across the globe. In the 70s that was considered Asimovian by a mainstream that doubted the utility -- the use of -- home computers in general.

An engineer who was focused on micro-graphics and custom game-hardware was Jay Miner. Chief architect of the Atari 8-bits of 1979 and the Amiga of 1985, Jay Miner is a Hero to computer-gamers; a legend of LSI and VLSI design. Jay Miner did not just design custom chips: he made them work together so that assembly-coders could control them as one block; a super-powerful custom chipset.

***

The first microcomputer game cannot be pinpointed with certainty; there were thousands of hobbyists coding games on kit computers in the 70s... maybe some of them coded masterpieces, invented genre, mechanics or coding routines? It is not certainly known because microcomputing was initially regarded as a hobby; most people didn't take it too seriously; they didn't record, back-up and promote their work for posterity; just an entirely different breed from the commercially-minded computer-user of the 80s, let alone the present-day one. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that much of microcomputer game history has simply been lost to time.

1976: Seminal Microcomputer Shoot 'em ups
Zilog Z80 & MOS Technology 6502 announced.
Processor Technology release the Sol-20 (Lee Felsenstein)

The Shoot 'em up is The Grandfather of Computer-game Genre and the God of Gameplay. On microcomputers the shoot 'em up was the first genre to consistently feature good gameplay and push the limits of hardware (1976-82). Card games, Yea or Nay games and bat-&-ball games did not push hardware as much as shoot 'em ups did because shoot 'em ups feature more simultaneous on-screen objects and the highest frequency of man-machine interaction. In addition, most shoot 'em ups were written in fast and robust machine code language, not slow and easily-breakable Basic.
A 48 year-old artillery shoot 'em up displayed in monochrome character-graphics, Steven Dompier's Target on the Sol-20 was perhaps the first commercial microcomputer game. And the i8080-powered Sol-20 it was coded for was the first microcomputer in so far as they came to be defined by the Trinity-spawned industry a year or so later. And the Sol-20's video display module (VDM-1) was the first micro graphics card. As such, this could be called The Seminal Trifecta.
General context: This game came out before JVC launched VHS in the States.

1977: The Trinity
Apple II released by Apple (Steve Wozniak)
Commodore PET released by Commodore (Chuck Peddle)
TRS-80 released by Tandy / Radio Shack (Steven Leininger)
I would venture to state that Apple's decision to employ COLOR graphics in the Apple II was one of the main sources of Apple's initial success; note how the Apple logo has always been colorful.
The TRS-80 and PET did not feature "high-resolution" color graphics from the outset; they employed monochrome character-graphics.
As you scroll down, you will see how computer games became more and more colorful or at least featured more on-screen colors (e.g., in a spartan color scheme). And while fidelity and framerate are far more important than color, it is color that appeals to the masses. The masses would rather play 256-color 320x200 games at 15 FPS than 16-color 640x400 games at 30 FPS.
As a rule, the masses only have an eye for color; they have no eye for form, fidelity or framerate.

1978: "Hello, World!"
The C Programming Language is published for the masses.
Intel release the 16-bit 8086 clocked at 5-10 MHz.
Apple / Tandy develop 5¼" disk drives (a pretty big deal for personal business computers).
Taito release Space Invaders.
TRS-80 Air Raid is a clone of Targ: the first commercial micro-to-micro clone. [America]
Apple 2 Depth Charge: One of the earliest commercial coinop clones. [America]

1979: A2-FS1: Flight Simulator
Intel release the 16-bit 8088 clocked at 5-16 MHz.
Motorola release the 16-/32-bit 68000 microprocessor clocked at 4-16 MHz.
The Atari 8 Bits (400/800) are released by Atari: 6502 clocked at 1.7x MHz (Jay Miner).
MOS Technology VIC-I is designed by Al Charpentier.
Texas Instruments release the TI-99/4A: TMS990 clocked at 3 MHz. This micro is notable for its graphics coprocessor (TMS9918).
Namco release Galaxian / Atari release Asteroids.

The Seminal 1980s: 8 Bit Kings [1.0]
1980: The 8-bit ZX80 is released by Sinclair Research: Zilog Z80 clocked at 3¼ MHz.
Stern Electronics release Berzerk.
Intel's 80-bit 8087 math coprocessor granted floating-point operations to 16-bit 8088/86 microprocessors. And while tapping the 8087 increased number-crunching performance by an order of magnitude, the problem was that almost no IBM PC games were coded to do so, but the 8087 was later integrated into the i80x86 DX as standard. cf. Sphere Inc.'s Falcon 3.0.
Seagate release the first 5.25" hard disk drive (ST-506: 5-meg capacity).

The 1980s was notable for its computer-game genre seminality, but in the early 80s home-computer tech was not able to fully represent complex mechanics, tactile UIs and high-quality audio-visuals. It took a long time for computer-game coders and designers to harness the power of some home computers; it took a long time for much of the industry to realize that micros need not host in the main coinop clones; that micro games can separate themselves from and even supersede arcade machines; certainly, in terms of innovation. Micro-gamers were not lined up and coughing up coins at The Arcades: they were sitting at home comfortably, either alone or together with friends and family -- with all the time in the world. Thus, the games needed to change to reflect that.

Micros were manufactured for the masses, not the classes. They were about power without the price. These are both Jack Tramiel quotes. And this might be the only time in computer-game history in which "mainstream" equated to "great" (the late 70s and early 80s).

The Zilog Z80 and MOS Tech 6502 were the dominant microprocessors for 8-bit computer-gaming in the late 70s to the mid 80s whereas the Motorola 68000 and Intel 80x86 dominated 16-/32-bit computer-gaming from the late 80s to the mid 90s. The 16 bit Intel 808x of the IBM PC competed with the 8 bit Z80 and 6502 in the early-to-mid 80s via self-booters and early MS-DOS.

  • The Sinclair ZX Spectrum's Z80A was clocked at 3½ MHz; the Commodore 64's modified 6502 (6510/8500) was clocked at 1 MHz.
  • The ZX Spectrum aka Speccy had 16-128 kbytes of RAM whereas the C64/128 had 64-640 kbytes of RAM.
  • The i808x was clocked at 5-16 MHz. The IBM PC, PC/XT and PCjr. (and others) of 1981-84 employed the 8088 at 4.77 MHz; their RAM ranging from 16-640 kbytes.

However, the C64 featured VIC-II hardware sprites, hardware screen-scrolling and SID audio, making it far superior for raw and gritty action games of which early IBM PC gamers could but dream. On the other hand, the Speccy was more about linework, angles and charming presentation also of which early IBM PC gamers could but dream.

IBM CGA/+ and early EGA went up against C64 VIC-II (and got smashed to smithereens) whereas IBM PC EGA & VGA went up against Agnus & Denise of the Commodore Amiga (with the Amiga smashing EGA and VGA subsequently smashing the Amiga). Reminder of context: computer games.

Let's break that down clearly:

  • 1984-89: C64 VIC-II games obliterated i808x CGA and early i80286 EGA games. Indeed, the VIC-II held the fort even after EGA had reached its height in 1989. No one was going to shelve their C64 just to play a few great EGA games; that would be madness.
  • 1985-92: As a rule, Amiga games pulverized 286 EGA games into fine dust. And while still tapping the stock 1985 chipset Amiga games were nevertheless commonly outstripping 386 VGA games until the early 90s.
  • After scores of cloners had cost-reduced 1987 VGA and consolidated its chipset (BIOS, RAM, RAMDAC, timers, cache etc.); after VGA coders had understood the ins and out of VGA (which was complex) -- then i80x86 VGA smashed the Amiga in turn. How long did that take? Starting from the point of VGA's inception, three years. So about five years all up before IBM PC games became consistently better than Amiga games. cf. Best IBM PC Game for more info.

The above is about hardware performance and coding prowess that enhance gameplay and interpretable interaction in computer games. The above encapsulates hardware cursors, screen-scrolling routines, sprite-shifting/scaling, on-screen colors, animation cycles, collision detection, screen-draws (line-draws and flood-fills), polygon-pushing, framerates, user-interface clarity (including text readability), in-game instructions, input controls and so on.

What do "808x CGA", "286 EGA" and "486 VGA" evince? For example, "808x CGA game" does not (or should not) call to mind smooth screen-scrolling, rapid screen-draws and per-pixel cursor movement.

The King of the mid 80s was the 8-bit Commodore 64, which was an amazing and affordable micro that sold in the tens of millions, but by the late 80s the 2D King was the 16-bit Commodore Amiga and the 3D King was the 32-bit Acorn Archimedes. At this point (1987), those who owned an Amiga or an Archimedes were living in the future by half a decade pretty much across the board. Examples include:

  • Preemptive multi-tasking GUI OS bolstered by a command-line Shell and ARexx
  • Multimedia & Genlocking
  • Audio-visuals
  • Plug n play & ease-of-use

And that is the reason they held onto those micros long past their expiry dates; why the spirit of those micros lives on; why An Age-old Legacy War continues to rage deep beneath and invisible to the dullards of YouTube and reddit.

Getting back on track, the 2D and 3D power of the IBM PC would eventually dominate thanks to hardware engineering advancements made by the likes of Intel, IBM and the cloners of VGA and IBM PCs. Of course, the IBM PC was strong throughout the 80s and became the dominant computer-game machine by 1990 and forever-after.

The C64's SID and Amiga's Paula owned 1980s computer-game audio. It was the SID that caused people to realize, en masse, that computer games could feature proper music, not just cinematic graphics. And Paula took that to the next level. In comparison the impact of 1980s PC audio has been retroactively romanticized by PC gamers who, before the advent of expensive soundcards, wished to high heaven that their PCs had access to SID-level capacities, but all they heard coming out of their PC speakers were bleeps & blurps. No booming explosions, no crackling lightning, no energizing soundtracks -- just bleeps & blurps.

Question the computer-gaming pedigree of anyone who rambles on about Roland & AdLib 3rd-party synthesizers while at the same time totally ignoring SID and Paula: PC-only gamers understood the capabilities of computer-game audio several years after we did; they were always behind in gameplay and audio-visuals, always. The PC was behind the Atari 8 bits, the C64 and the Amiga -- but then PC-owners acted like the PC was the trail-blazer when it finally caught up via cloning and add-ons. Laughable!
 
SID and Paula were built in. Hardware line-draws, flood-fills, scrolling and sprites? Built in. Bit blitter? 3-input built-in bimmer. You didn't need to buy and configure sound and graphics boards. RAM-size and clockrate? Stock-standard. Joystick calibration? No need for it. No config.sys, autoexec.bat, IRQ levels, DMA channels or EMS/XMS RAM. Plug n play all the way, but with full hardware and OS control if you wanted it.

In the past two decades many jealous, ignorant and arrogant commentators have tried to rewrite history; they cannot give Commodore, Sinclair or Acorn any time in the sun; not even a few years. This is how they cope with the fact that the PC they grew up with was not always the most impressive computer-game machine: by pretending that the contenders, whom IBM, Intel and Microsoft eventually defeated, never even existed; by telling only half of the story. It's called "a sore winner". And from Joe-blogger's babble to Wikipedia's history-spam, it just goes to show how insecure these commentators have been, are now and will probably continue to be in the future.

I will now express the underlying sentiment in full since it will be applicable to the vast majority of computer-gamers and commentators reading this article: You did NOT have an Amiga from 1985-90, but you wish you did because no home computer in history ever had that much soul. And while your generic-clone platform "won" in the end, you still wish you had had an Amiga 1000 in 1985 and/or an Amiga 500/2000 in 1987. But keep telling yourself otherwise if it helps you sleep at night. Afterall, you missed out big-time, and you need to cope with that. Just like the Amigan needs to cope with "losing" in the end. :)

But take heart. You can emulate the Amiga 39 years after the fact via WinUAE. Like thousands of other frauds in 2024, you too can pretend to have been an Amigan, but you will NEVER be an Amigan. Ever. What you likely had access to in 1985 was CGA and bleeps & blurps, at best. Or NES.

Moreover, in the sphere of computer games the C64 utterly destroyed the IBM PC in the mid 80s; utterly annihilated it. Take for example C64 shooters vs. PC shooters: the C64 hosted 23 shooter masterpieces from 84-87, the PC none. And that is just one genre.

A juggernaut of destruction in the computer-game market, the C64 also delayed the Amiga's time in the sun by several years. The comparatively feeble Atari ST (merely "a 16 bit ZX Spectrum + MIDI") also got in the way of the Amiga, which deserved to be numero uno earlier, and for longer.

Once 1986-87 hit (no exaggeration whatsoever) Amigans wanted the ST and 8 bit micros out of the picture because they were getting in the road of greatness, but the ST and C64 were like turds that would not flush. :)

How were they getting in the road? By their very ongoing existence. Market penetration and mindset: inertia. But to give an easily measurable example, ports. Too many coders were porting ST, PC and 8-bit micro slop to the Amiga instead of coding native-Amiga games that tapped its superior hardware. Moreover, cases existed in which developers chose inferior color schemes for Amiga-originals based on the fact that the original was to be subsequently ported to IBM PC EGA. Want a citation? Well, I'm not going to give a citation for that which is self-evident to all who have eyes that can see. :)

In sum, the Amiga only had a few great years before it had to battle on two fronts against VGA-empowered IBM PCs and 16 bit videogame machines, both of which by the time of "1990" (the exact year depends on what exactly we are taking about) had (finally) not only caught up to but superseded 1985 Alienware. Needless to say, the Amiga was wrecked beyond recognition. It seemed there was no longer a place for middle-ground micros, only PCs at one end and consoles at the other.

Questions may then come to mind: How great an achievement was it to eclipse 1985 tech in 1990? Was it as great an achievement as eclipsing 1982 tech in 1985?

The Speccy and C64 user-bases remained loyal even after the advent of the 16 bit micros. Sometimes the 8 bit version of a computer game was superior to the 16 bit version. The reason for that is a combo of "8 bit micros were simpler and therefore easier to code" and "8 bit coders were grandmasters at pushing 8 bit micros to the limit". Speccy and C64 owners loved it when their 8 bit version competed with the 16 bit one in terms of gameplay. And it would positively sicken some 16 bit owners to see god-tier ports of R-Type and Chase HQ on the bloody Speccy in the late-80s. :)

Because REAL computer-gamers know that gameplay is god, not graphics. And REAL computer-gamers know that pushing 8-bit tech to the limit is more impressive than pushing 16-bit tech to the halfway mark.

The 80s computer-gamer did more with computers than just play games: they were often coders and hardware-hackers as well. There was no half-serious early 80s computer-gamer that did not at one point code something outside of the education system, in their free time, as hobbyists. And some of these hobbyists, some with and some without formal training, would go on to code the best computer games of the 90s and/or build the richest franchises in computer-game history.

80s computer-gamers were not just consumers, they were creators. To them micros were tools, not end-products that you plugged yourself into and mindlessly played games on just to kill time. The 80s micro, its OS and its software were controlled by the user, not the other way around.

At this point let us remind ourselves of the limitations of video-game machines, aka consoles. As a rule, you can't code on consoles; you can't draw graphics, write stories or compose music on consoles; you can't debug or mod console games; you can't make games on consoles; consoles do not have operating systems.

80s computer-users were empowered: the homebrew scenes were huge; the communities were real.

Out of all computer-gamers the 80s variant possesses the broadest and deepest knowledge of computer software and hardware because they had access to many wildly different yet affordable micros. But of course, the 70s computer-"gamer" knew more about micro-electronics and what made computers tick.

Both know their history, they lived the history, they formalized much of the computer-game language. As it pertains to influence on computer and video gaming, no present-day YouTuber with millions of fake followings can come within an astronomical proximity to 70s and 80s critics and commentators.

As you browse through 1983-85, it may become apparent that Britain led the way in terms of computer-game innovation. The British made better computer games than the North Americans from 1983-85, which was an exceedingly important timeframe for the industry. In addition, the sense of humor and dry wit that pervaded early British computer games immortalized them. As a rule, the North American market was just plain humorless and coinop- and console-centric; comparatively ignorant of what home-computer games could be. But this held true for only a few years at the most. Once they awoke from their slumber the North Americans became a powerhouse of computer-game development.

The above criticism of North American coinop-porting and -cloning does not apply to late 70s and very early 80s computer games (you had to start somewhere), only to many (not all) of the post-1983 ones (which should have been innovating more by that time for home computer-gamers).

1981: DOS
MOS Technology VIC-II is designed (C64, Al Charpentier).
MOS Tech SID 6581 is designed (C64, Bob Yannes).
IBM 5051 PC is released: i8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz. IBM release CGA.
IBM release ISA (8-bit PC / 16-bit AT Bus).
IBM release PC DOS 1.0 (MS-DOS, IBM PC-only).
Over time PC-DOS / MS-DOS added support for distributable media storage capacities that ranged from 160 kbyte 5.25" floppy disks in 1981 to 2.88 mbyte 3.5" diskettes in 1991. In addition to 650-meg capacity CD-ROM support by 1986 via MSCDEX, DOS added support for hard disk drive storage capacities that ranged from a few tens of megs in the late-80s up to several gigs by the mid-90s (FAT12 to FAT32).
MS-DOS also added disk caching in 1988, memory management in 1991 and disk compression in 1993.
The 8-bit BBC Micro is released by Acorn: 6502 clocked at 2 MHz.
The 8-bit ZX81 is released by Sinclair Research: Zilog Z80 clocked at 3¼ MHz.
The 8-bit VIC 20 is released by Commodore worldwide: MOS Tech 6502 clocked at 1.xx MHz.
Seagate release the ST-412 hard disk drive (5-10 meg capacity).
Williams release Defender / Konami release Scramble / Namco release Galaga.
Defender-likes: Protector on the Atari 8-bits. King-tier. [America]

1982: The First IBM PC Shoot 'em Ups
Intel release the 16-bit 80286 clocked at 4-25 MHz (1982-86).
The 286 featured protected mode and MMU.
Am286 released by AMD: 4-25 MHz.
Microsoft release MS-DOS 1.25.
The 8-bit Commodore 64 is released by Commodore: 6510 clocked at 1 MHz.
The 8-bit ZX Spectrum is released by Sinclair Research: Z80A clocked at 3½ MHz.
Sony develops the 3½" disk drive.
MicroProse MPS Labs founded (the best computer-game developer of all-time)
Namco release Xevious / Atari release Gravitar / Vid Kidz release Robotron 2084.
Seminal IBM PC Shoot 'em ups Space Strike & Cosmic Crusader were coded by legendary programmer and computer scientist, Michael Abrash, who would go on to help code the Doom, Quake and Half-Life rendering engines. [America]

1983: God-king Arcade-Machines Ported
The PC/XT is released by IBM: Intel 8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz (10 meg HDD).
Western Digital make HDDs for IBM PC/AT (WD1003: Parallel ATA: IDE).
Konami release Gyruss.
History of Shoot 'em ups: Defender, Galaxian & Robotron 2084. [America]
Ant Attack was the first isometric computer game. And its viewport scrolled. In terms of perspective and controls Ant Attack was the most advanced computer game of 1983.
Revere this. Because Isometric is King. [Britain: Scotland]

1984: Micro Market War in Full-swing 
IBM release EGA.
VLSI Amiga Lorraine designed by Jay Miner of Hi-Toro.
Amiga Paula designed by Glenn Keller.
Motorola release the 68020 microprocessor (Amiga 1200 of '92).
The PC/AT is released by IBM: Intel 80286 clocked at 6-8 MHz.
IBM release the PCjr: Intel 8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz (a failure).
The 8 bit CPC 464 is released by Amstrad: Zilog Z80A clocked at 3 MHz.
The CPC would become big in France.
Tandy release the Tandy 1000: Intel 8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz. The Tandy 1000 was the first good IBM PC-compatible for gaming.
Mindset Corporation release the Mindset Computer: i80186 clocked at 6 MHz.
Sony develop the CD-ROM (650 meg capacity). Also, LaserDisc-ROM (3 gig capacity).

In the very early 80s action games of coinop origin or influence dominated the personal computer-game market. And this is why the advent of Braben & Bell's Elite is a bigger deal than most people realize.
1984 also saw the popularization of the graphics adventure game via the British Knight Lore and the American King's Quest.
David Braben and Ian Bell's seminal space sim, Elite. The original Elite on the BBC Micro was the most advanced computer game of the early-to-mid 80s. Elite is not only the best BBC Micro game, it is also the best computer or video game of all-time. Elite is why everyone laughs when Knight Lore and King's Quest are called "3D" games. [Britain]
Flip-screen Computer Games: Knight Lore's presentation and mechanics strongly influenced isometric cRPGs, adventure games and other genre. The ability to move objects around in an image-masked environment was novel. In addition, movement and positioning is precise. Ultimate Play the Game's Knight Lore is the most influential ZX Spectrum game. [Britain]
Sierra On-Line's King Quest employed a hotch-potch of viewpoints instead of a consistent isometric perspective with accurate and responsive controls. A massively overrated "classic" that no one plays but just praises, King's Quest also spawned a long line of soulless slop from Sierra scribblers. Computer games would be a lot better off if Sierra never made one. [America]
Contiguous Exploration in Impossible Mission. [America]
Rebelstar Games: Julian Gollop's seminal tactics game for the ZX Spectrum. [Britain]
Boulder Dash Computer Games: Wow, smooth screen-scrolling! Unbeatable gameplay. [America]
A multi-directionally scrolling masterpiece on the ZX Spectrum: Tornado Low Level (TLL) by Vortex. [Britain]

1985
Intel release the 32-bit 80386 clocked at 12½-40 MHz (1985-89).
The 386 could address up to 4 gigs of RAM.
The 16-/32-bit Amiga 1000 is released by Commodore: M68K clocked at 7.xx MHz.
Remember what I said earlier: You will NEVER be an Amigan.
The 16-bit Atari 520 ST is released by Atari: M68K clocked at 8 MHz + MIDI.
The 8-bit CPC 6128 is released by Amstrad: Zilog Z80A clocked at 4 MHz.
The 8-bit C128 is released by CBM: MOS Tech 8502 clocked at 1-2 MHz + Z80A/B clocked at 4 MHz.
Microsoft release Windows 1.0.
Commodore release Workbench 1.0 (Amiga OS). God-tier OS.
Konami release Gradius / Capcom release Commando.
Shoot 'em Up Paradroid: One of the most innovative computer games of the 80s, Paradroid is the best Commodore 64 game ever made. [Britain]
Another immaculate flip-screen computer game that plays perfectly to the ZX Spectrum's hardware specs. Highway Encounter is the best ZX Spectrum game ever made. [Britain]
Revs by Geoff Crammond was the first fully 3D racing simulator to appear on a personal computer. It also happens to be an extremely good autoracer. [Britain]

1986: Computer Game Cinematization
Texas Instruments release the first graphics microprocessor for hardware-acceleration of graphics: TMS34010.
ATI release ATI Wonder Series of graphics cards (2D acceleration).
Konami release Salamander.
Seeing is believing. The Amiga steps in. Look at the difference in graphics! This is what you call graphics leap-frogging and epic-level soul.
Defender of the Crown Amiga: Strategy in Medieval Britain, the time of heroes and conquerors. Now, as I've said several times before DotC did NOT have good gameplay at all, but through DotC Cinemaware showed people what could be done in terms of computer-game presentation. And believe it or not, DotC barely even begins to exploit the Amiga's graphics capacities. [America]
The Super-scroller reaches top-speed on the 6510 clocked at a blistering 1 MHz! Uridium is the bee's knees. [Britain]
Well well well, what do we have here? Why, relative to machine-specs subLOGIC's Flight Simulator 2 is simply the best non-combat flight sim of 80s. Microsoft Flight Simulator 3.0 of 1988 is basically just a souped-up version of this one, two years after the fact. Only Amiga makes it possible! [America]
MicroProse's Gunship was the first realistic gunship simulator. And it came out on the C64 first. [America]
Alexey Pajitnov's 1985 mainframe Tetris was ported to IBM PC in 1986-87. [USSR-USA]

1987: Combat Flight Sims Soar to New Heights
The Amiga 500 is released by Commodore: M68K clocked at 7.xx MHz (1½ MIPS).
VGA is released by IBM via IBM PS/2: i80386 DX 33 clocked at 25 MHz (3½ MIPS).
The Archimedes is released by Acorn: ARM RISC clocked at 8 MHz (4½ MIPS).
Motorola release the 68030 microprocessor (Amigas & Falcon of '92).
The IBM PS/2 VGA Display Adapter was the first VGA graphics card.
The IBM 8514 was the first non-workstation graphics card for IBM PCs.
Heavy research in VGA-chipset cloning conducted, resulting in competitive cost-reduction by 1990.
Tseng Labs release ET3000 graphics card (2D accel., 512K vRAM).
Microsoft release Windows 2.0.
HIMEM.SYS memory manager released (Win2.0).
Roland release MT-32 MIDI Synthesizer / Adlib release AdLib Music Synthesizer.
Irem release R-Type.
The multi-player FPS and deathmatch FPS were invented in 1987.
MIDI Maze was the first multi-player FPS and the first Deathmatch FPS. [America]
Falcon Flight Sim: The Standard-setting 16 bit combat flight sim. [America]
subLOGIC's Jet 2.0 featured a 608x345 render-field... in 1987. [America]
MicroProse's Project Stealth Fighter was the the first stealth-fighter sim. And it came out on the Commodore 64 first. Note how the Commodore 64 hosted Gunship and Project Stealth Fighter before the IBM PC. But you thought the C64 was just about arcade-action games, didn't you. [America]
Showing their versatility, MicroProse also released Airborne Ranger in 1987. [America]
Oids Atari ST: FTL's brilliant shoot 'em up running on 8 MHz Motorola 68k. [America]
The Last Ninja: Contiguous exploration and advanced controls in isometric perspective. In a perfect world Last Ninja would have been developed for the Amiga, not the C64. But in 1987 an Amiga version would not have sold millions of copies like the C64 version did. [America]
David Braben's Zarch of 1987 was the first computer game to feature solid-filled real-time 3D graphics, complete with light-sourcing and shadow-casting. Zarch also plays like a dream. cf. Gravitar-likes for mind-blowing comparisons. [Britain]

1988
Microsoft release Windows 2.1.
EMM386 memory manager released by Microsoft.
QEMM-386 memory manager released by Quarterdeck.
SMARTDRV disk-caching released by Microsoft.
The First REAL Amiga Game: Hybris: Arcade-quality shoot 'em up that came out before 16 bit consoles were even released. [Denmark]
Carrier Command Review: Hybrid of Vehicle Sim & RTS: Multi-unit command & control in real-time flat-shaded 3D. [America]
F-19 Stealth Fighter Review: This is a brilliant 16-bit conversion-remake of C64 Project Stealth Fighter of 1987. [America]

1989: Origin of the God Game
Intel release the 32-bit 80486 clocked at 16-100 MHz (1989-1994).
Tseng Labs release ET4000 graphics card (2D accel., 1 meg vRAM).
Creative Technology release Sound Blaster 1.0.
Commodore release A590 for Amiga (20 meg HDD).
DOS Protected Mode Interface released by Microsoft / DPMI Committee for i80286 CPUs and greater. A DOS game that employs DPMI does not need memory managers such as HIMEM, QEMM-386, EMM386 or SMARTDRV. Indeed, such memory managers can cause conflicts with DPMI games, which became mainstream in 1993.
In 1989 the God Game was invented, the 16-bit racing sim, English football game and open-world game were born and the greatest tank sim and submarine game ever made were released.
Populous Review: The Seminal God Game. An Amiga-first. [Britain]
English Football Games on the Amiga: The 16 bit English Football Game Emerges. To this day these are the greatest EFGs ever made. [Italy-Britain]
Midwinter IBM PC 1989: An open-world game that came out a decade before "open-world" became a low-brow game-design cash-cow. [Britain]
SimCity EGA 640x350: The Seminal City-building Game. [America]
M1 Tank Platoon Review: Best Armor-sim of the late 80s and early 90s. [America]
Red Storm Rising IBM PC: The best submarine game ever made. [America]
MechWarrior 1 BattleMechs: The first 3D first-person Mech-sim. [America]
Amiga-defining computer game: Shadow of the Beast: 13 layers of parallax scrolling. Insane levels of soul that can never be superseded. [Britain]
Stunt Car Racer Review: Vehicle Physics Pioneer. Don't judge this game on how it looks; this game has brilliant controls. [Britain]

History of 1990s Computer Games: 1990 [2.0]
Commodore release Workbench 2.0 (Amiga OS).
Motorola release the 68040 microprocessor.

In my history of 1990s computer games (linked to above), I declared the 1990s to be the best decade for computer-gamers. I refer to this decade as The God-tier 1990s.

Don't get me wrong, the 80s was great as well. In fact, there exist a few years in the 80s that are as strong as most 90s years. For example, 87-89 was mind-blowing in terms of technical advances and quality and quantity of output, but it was the 90s that spawned most of the greatest computer games and computer-game genre. For most people to nod in agreement all I need to say is "Wolfenstein, Doom & Quake", but most people don't know what they are talking about, and of course the depth of the 90s computer-game catalogue is more than just "FPS".

Of my current top 10 (see right sidebar), eight are 90s masterpieces and the other two are late 80s masterpieces.

The 1990s hosted the best adventure games, strategy games, cRPGs, flight sims, autoracers, space traders, wargames, tactics games, versus fighters, FPSes and golf games ever made. Moreover, in the 1990s RTS and 4X were invented and TBS, city-builders and shoot 'em ups were perfected.
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Revenge Review: 2D Real-time Tactics Pioneer.
PowerMonger Review: Wargame / God Game Hybrid: Epic-level soul.
The original Lotus Games on the Amiga: 99.9% of people reading this did NOT play Lotus in 2-player split-screen mode in 1990 because they did NOT have an ST or an Amiga. The IBM PC did not get a Lotus game until 1993.

1991: The Birth of 4X
Microsoft release MS-DOS 5.0 & Windows 3.0.
Am386 released by AMD: 20-40 MHz.
RCS Management release the Fusion 40 accelerator for the Amiga 2000: 25 MHz 68040 (25 MIPS/8 MFLOPS) + 32 megs of 32-bit RAM.
Creative Technology release Sound Blaster 2.0 & Pro.
ATI release ATI Mach Series of graphics cards (2D hardware acceleration).
Sid Meier's Civilization 1 Guide: The Seminal Civ Game. This marks the point at which the greatest genre in computer gaming was created. Civ is the greatest franchise in computer or video gaming history. Console mascot games are absolute laughing stocks in comparison to Civ.
F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0: VGA Stealth-fighting at its finest.
Falcon 3.0 Review MS-DOS: The Most Advanced 16 bit Flight Sim.
Formula 1 Grand Prix Review: The Best 16 bit Autoracer.
Gunship 2000 Review: The Most Advanced 16 bit Gunship Sim.

1992: RTS is Formalized
Microsoft release Windows 3.1.
Intel release PCI bus (32/64 bit). Mainstream by 1995.
VESA release VESA VLB bus / VLB (made S/VGA games easier to code). Strong for 3 years.
Silicon Graphics release OpenGL (3D & 2D vector API).
Commodore release Workbench 3.0 (Amiga OS). Nice. :)
The Amiga 1200 is released by Commodore: Motorola 68020 clocked at 14 MHz.
The Falcon is released by Atari: Motorola 68030 clocked at 16 MHz.
The A1200 and Falcon were basically the last microcomputers; they were incredibly cool machines to own in 1992. Stop pretending they sucked: you're just jealous because you didn't own either.
Progressive release Progressive 040/500 accelerator for the Amiga 500: 25 MHz 68040 + 4 megs of 32-bit RAM.
Also: You will NEVER be an Amigan.
Creative Technology release Sound Blaster 16.
Dune 2 Review: The Formalizer of RTS.
Darklands Review: Mythic-medieval role-playing in an open-ended gameworld.
Street Fighter Games MS-DOS: The Versus Fighter gets good on MS-DOS.
Enforcer C64: Never Say Die: The Commodore 64 is still hosting A1 computer games in 1992.

1993: The Killer App
Intel release the 32-bit Pentium aka 586 clocked at 60-300 MHz (1993-99).
Am486 released by AMD: 25-120 MHz ('93-'95).
Microsoft release MS-DOS 6.0 & Windows NT (3.1, NTFS). Good OSes.
As a workstation OS Windows NT had limited computer-game support. In the 90s gaming PCs and personal workstations were completely different worlds and there was zero cross-compatibility between computer-game graphics cards and NT-workstation monster-boards. Most computer games did not officially support NT, including Doom & Quake, but Diablo did.
CD-ROM and FMV cinematization becomes mainstream.
MS-DOS 6.0 introduced DoubleSpace disk compression. In 6.22, it is known as DriveSpace.
Doom 1 Review: A Hellish 3D Game by id Software. An Immortal Classic.
CD-ROM-only games such as The 7th Guest popularized the CD-ROM format, FMVs and pre-rendered graphics.
Empire Deluxe Wargame: Origin in the 70s.
Frontier: Elite 2 Review: The Greatest Spaceflight Sim Ever Coded.
Master of Orion 1: Deep-space colonization and galactic conquest.
The Settlers Review: Real-time strategy game and medieval city-builder.
Non-standard Square-pixel VGA Games: The Lost Vikings & Blackthorne.

1994: TBS Greatness
Commodore release Workbench 3.5 (Amiga OS).
Motorola release the 68060 microprocessor.
Microsoft release WinG API / MS-DOS 6.22.
Sid Meier's Colonization Guide: The Greatest of All Civ Games (WinG).
Master of Magic Review: The Greatest TBS Game of All-time.
Panzer General 1 Review: Slicky-presented Tactics & Operations-Level Wargame: Square Pixel SVGA.
WarCraft 1 Review: RTS Popularizer I.
X-COM UFO Defense: The Seminal X-COM Game.
Chaos Engine Run and Gun. Chaos Engine theme, characters, mechanics, perspective, UI and aesthetics would have made for a great turn-based cRPG.

1995: RTS Boom
Microsoft release DirectX API. cf. Advent of the API.
Am5x86 released by AMD: 133-160 MHz.
Nvidia NV1: STG2000 released (Diamond Edge 3D).
Microsoft release Windows 95: the first decent Windows OS for gaming. 386DX req.
DVD-ROM developed in Japan (4.7 gigs).
Command & Conquer 1 Review: RTS Popularizer II.
Frontier: First Encounters: The Return of the Thargoids.
Steel Panthers Review: Combined-Arms Tactics Wargame for Grognards.
WarCraft 2 Review: RTS Popularizer III.

1996: QUAKE
K5 released by AMD: 75-133 MHz / Microsoft release Direct3D (3D API).
ATI release ATI 3D Rage (2D/3D acceleration).
S3 Inc. release S3 ViRGE (2D/3D acceleration).
3dfx release 3dfx Voodoo Graphics & Glide API (3D acceleration).
Matrox release Matrox Mystique (2D/3D acceleration).
Rendition Inc. release Rendition Vérité 1000 (3D acceleration).
VideoLogic release PowerVR Midas 3 (3D acceleration).
Microsoft release Windows NT 4.0. Good OS.
DOS/4GW released by Tenberry Software.
Quake 1 Review: A Nightmarish 3D Game by id Software: The Best FPS Ever Made.
Diablo 1 Review: Shrewd streamlining of Dungeons & Dragons.
Sid Meier's Civilization 2 Guide: The Ageless Civ Game (WinG).
Grand Prix 2 MS-DOS: Formula 1 Autoracing in SVGA 640x480.
Mega Typhoon Amiga: Can you believe this game is running on 1985 hardware?
Red Alert Review: RTS Design Mastery & Optimization.
Settlers 2: More Settling, but in SVGA 640x480!

1997: cRPG Formalized
Pentium 2 released by Intel: 233-400 MHz / Intel release AGP & MMX.
K6 released by AMD: 166-300 MHz.
Nvidia release RIVA 128 (2D/3D acceleration) / DVD-ROM released in USA.
Fallout 1 Guide: The cRPG Formalizer.
X-COM Apocalypse Guide: The Most Ambitious TBS Game.

1998: Genre Popularizers
Microsoft release Windows 98. Another decent gaming OS. 486DX req.
3DNow! released by AMD.
Baldur's Gate 1: cRPG All-rounder that helped spark the cRPG Renaissance.
Fallout 2 Guide: A Massive cRPG.
Half-Life 1 Review: The Source of Scripted Sequences.
StarCraft 1 Review: RTS Super-Popularizer and Whac-A-Mole.

1999: The Final Year of Greatness
Pentium 3 released by Intel: 400 MHz to 1.4 GHz.
Athlon released by AMD: 500 MHz-1.4 GHz.
Nvidia release RIVA TNT2 & GeForce 256.
Jagged Alliance 2: The Best Mix of Tactics & Strategy.
Planescape: Torment Review: Reaches Narrative Heights.
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Guide: The Most Complex Civ Game.
Tales of the Sword Coast: An expansion for Baldur's Gate.

2000: The Terrible 2000s [3.0]
Microsoft release Windows 2000 ("NT 5.0"). Good OS.
Pentium 4 released by Intel: 1.3-3.8 GHz.
SATA Serial ATA hard disk drives.

As a rule, the aught-gamer's vision of computer games was limited in comparison to the 90s gamer: the aught gamer was obsessed with the polygon-pusher on Windows whereas the 90s gamer had knowledge of 2D, 3D and 2.5D computer games that ran on wildly different hardware and operating systems.

The 1990s was non-standard, experimental and revolutionary; the 2000s standardized, formulaic and baby-steps incremental at best. The 2000s was also the decade that dumbed down computer games to pander to the console crowd. For that reason alone I call the 2000s The Terrible 2000s.

As a rule, the aught-gamer blindly accepted or at best acquiesced in the 2000s, but 80s and 90s gamers pointed out the devolution of computer-gaming in the 2000s. The 2000s not only ushered in the uncritical and barely literate computer-game consumer but also the lowliest "gamers" of all, the casuals.

Too many 2000s games were made by people who had never studied early 1980s games. And it shows in their cookie-cutter output and all-too-serious committee-based approach to game design. In order to make a game these people needed design documents and rigid check-lists to follow; paper-shuffling and management. And all this comes through in the games: no heart, no soul. Instead, we see concerted attempts to impress the slavering masses who don't even like computer games: people that had formerly looked down their nose and scoffed at the computer-gaming hobby, yes indeed, they made games for those people -- the normies.

In addition, many 2000s developers only drew from and dumbed down 90s games; their ideas for mechanics, setting and plot came from 90s games and university textbooks, not literature or life experience. As a rule, they come off as mere emulators rather than visionaries; wannabes and try-hards; they broke no rock-hard ground.

Many 2000s games even lacked some features of early 80s games, to say nothing of 80s soul. You can play games from 1983 that are more advanced than 2000s games.

In short, the computer-game industry of the 2000s forgot its origins, lost its way and is therefore not remembered fondly by anyone with good taste.

Some of the worst games of all-time came out in the 2000s, such as Morrowind. At this point THE DARK AGES that followed was inevitable.
Baldur's Gate 2: A Theme-park cRPG.
Icewind Dale 1: Refinement of the Generic.
Deus Ex 1: An Immersive Sim with Emergent Gameplay.
Diablo 2 Review: A Soulless Sequel.

2001
Microsoft release Windows XP for x86 & x64 (SP3 = 2008). Good OS.
Arcanum Guide: The King of Reactivity.
Throne of Bhaal Review: An Epic Banality.

2002
Icewind Dale 2: 3.0 in the Infinity Engine.
Morrowind Review: One of the Worst cRPGs ever.
Neverwinter Nights 1: Ruined by 3D and Multi-player.

2003: Glimmers of Hope
PCI Express released.
Silent Storm Review: Tactics with Verticality & Destructibility.
Temple of Elemental Evil: Greyhawk for Grognards.

2006: Fading...
2005: Pentium D released by Intel: 2.66-3.73 GHz.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Ruined by 3D v.2.0.

2007: Last Legs
Mask of the Betrayer Guide: Planescape: Torment's spiritual successor.
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl: The OGSE Mod is badass.

2008: THE EVERLASTING DARK AGES OF COMPUTER GAMES [4.0]

THE DARK AGES is the current era of computer-gaming. Big money coupled with bad taste and laughably ignorant subreddits and Computer Game Journalism have all but ruined computer-gaming. Consoles and the casual mentality that came along with them infected all genre and spread like a plague, as did emphasis on 3D graphics, cinematics and social simulation.

THE DARK AGES has spanned a full 15 years as of 2024, and yet there is no light to be seen on the horizon, only more darkness. As a rule, if not outright vulgarities far too many computer games of THE DARK AGES present themselves as ape-like distortions of the gold standard set by classic computer games of the 80s and 90s.

As THE DARK AGES extended into the 2010s and 2020s, deeply erudite and highly literate computer-game criticism ceased to exist outside of a few independent commentators, but in 2024 their writings suddenly became buried under mountains of mainstream lies and deceit.

Like a plague of locusts and leeches, YouTubers began trawling the computer-game catalogue from front to back, thereby distorting an entire generation's perception of computer-game history via parroted-falsehoods spread by spam, click-bait and shameless subscription-begging.

This stinking plague is so prevalent that if one were to spot an ignorant question being asked on a VIDYA forum, smart money's on the questioner being a selfish, clueless and non-contributing YouTuber intent on leeching from that collective's combined knowledge for their own petty gain, which is why those who have wizened to cynicism now respond with "I'm not making your vidslop for you".

Remember the pendulum: it swings both ways. In time, the vast majority of YouTube vidslop will be consigned to the trash-heap, where it belongs.

In THE DARK AGES even some of the worst computer games are praised as masterpieces by the mainstream: vices in game design have become virtues and vice versa. And the few computer games that hearken back to the noble past are outright ignored, shunned or mocked.

Moreover, the exceedingly low standards of THE DARK AGES introduced what amounts to (in some cases) fake computer-game development, fake computer-game commentary and even fake computer gamers: trifecta.

Buffoons that should have been thrown out of the arena as soon as they stepped foot in now stand on the stage as influencers, cheered on by a rabble of nincompoops that would rather watch streamed clown-shows than get good at the game themselves.

Remember what I said before? -- That computer games were made for normies in the 2000s? -- Well, now, by and large, it's the normies making computer games; the same type of specimen that looked down their noses and scoffed at the computer-gaming hobby from the late 70s to the mid 90s; the ones that snorted in contempt whenever "computer game" was uttered. It's them; the haters of our hobby.

Worse even than that, THE DARK AGES seeks to appropriate the classic computer-game catalogue via cash-grab remakes and extremely belated "sequels", thereby distorting the classic computer-game language and legacy as well: in ascribing to its sad self the catalogues of decades gone by, THE DARK AGES seeks even to taint your classic computer-game memories.

If you thought the 2000s were terrible for computer-gaming just wait until you play some of the destructive garbage churned out during THE DARK AGES.

It is foolish to believe that an epic-level neck-bearded grognard cannot be nerfed to a piddling Level 1 casual by the pernicious mainstream that ushered in THE DARK AGES OF COMPUTER GAMING.
Oblivion With Guns: The Worst RPG Game ever made.
Storm of Zehir Guide: The last serious entry in a long line of classic cRPGs.

2010
Warband Review: Medieval Combat in Real-time 3D. One of the very few great games to come out during the Dark Ages. In an era of computer-gaming that has not produced a single commercial masterpiece, Warband comes closest.

2015
Underrail Review: Ruined by slow walkspeed, smartphone UI and feature-bloat.

2016
Dungeon Rats Guide: Not a Game for Normies. Another exception to the Dark Ages.
Siege of Dragonspear Guide: Good combat encounter design, but bad story and terrible writing.
Tyranny Guide: Long load-times.

2017
Torment: Tides of Numenera Review: Bit off more than it could chew.

2018
Kenshi Game Starts: Should have been 2D iso.

2023: Disgusting
Baldur's Gate 3: A Sequel only in Name. A mutt-level RPG Game.
A prime example of Dark Ages computer-gaming.

cRPG Blog by Lilura1



Lilura1 is the author of the cRPG Blog and computer game history. For its treatment range the cRPG Blog contains four main forms of computer game commentary: reviews, guides, rankings and design theory.

It is recommended that readers acquaint themselves with the commentator's perspective on computer games via History of 1990s Computer Games.


In addition, readers should probably learn about the language employed on the cRPG Blog via Computer Game Language of the cRPG Blog by Lilura1.


And lastly, the reader can learn about the presentation of the cRPG Blog via Computer Game Infographics of the cRPG Blog by Lilura1.


cRPG formal commentary is an index that leads to many articles on computer role-playing games. In an attempt to make navigation easier for the readership I have built a few indexes each with a differing commentary approach. Thus, readers can start with definitions, history, rankings or design, for example.


The more that player reflexes determine outcomes in a game, the harder it becomes to classify the game as a cRPG.
cRPGs consist largely in stats. And the more that stats dictate actions and outcomes, the more is it cRPG.
-- Lilura1, The cRPG Blog Commentator.

Other genre or chronological indexes:


If my unparalleled computer-game commentary does not lift your spirit, consider reading some of my computer-game criticism.

Then, as often happens in human endeavors, the wild-eyed hack comes along to snatch a piece of the pie. In the name of the quick buck and click the hack cares not for the endeavor, the creative process or genre legacy, but only of shortcuts, leeching and leveling down to the lowest common denominator.
-- Lilura1, The cRPG Blog Commentator.


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