Click and compare - it's in your hands:

Rolling Thunder (1986) dropped players into a stylish spy thriller where trench coats were sharp, enemies were ruthless, and bullets were strictly rationed.

Rolling Thunder

1986 • Amiga • Amstrad • Arcade +2 more

Pixel8Games 83% Users —

Cool under fire

Blood (1997) gleefully dragged the shooter genre into a blood-soaked carnival of horror, humour, and absolute chaos.

Blood

1997 • PC

Pixel8Games 91% Users —

Horror with attitude

Ghosts 'n Goblins (1985) gleefully armed Sir Arthur, knocked his armour off within seconds, and then kept kicking him while he was already down.

Ghosts 'n Goblins

1985 • Amiga • Amstrad • Arcade +4 more

Pixel8Games 78% Users —

Die. Retry. Repeat.

Rise of the Triad (1994/95) took the Wolfenstein-style corridor shooter, chugged a can of soda, then started doing backflips.

Rise of the Triad

1994 • PC

Pixel8Games 86% Users —

Ludicrous gibs!

Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf put you behind the controls of an Apache and somehow made fuel gauges as frightening as missile launchers.

Desert Strike

1992 • Amiga • Mega Drive • PC

Pixel8Games 76% Users —

Get to da choppa!

Super Mario Bros began with a plumber, a mushroom, and a simple goal, then quietly redefined platform gaming forever.

Super Mario Bros.

1985 • NES

Pixel8Games 93% Users —

One plumber. Endless legacy.

OutRun wasn't about winning races, it was about vibes.

OutRun

1986 • Amiga • Amstrad • Arcade +4 more

Pixel8Games 88% Users 100%

Choose your route. Chase the horizon.

Maniac Mansion (1987) invited you to pick a trio of teenagers and trespass into the Edison household, where every room hid a gag, a trap, or a way to accidentally doom your friends.

Maniac Mansion

1987 • Amiga • Apple II • Atari ST +3 more

Pixel8Games 79% Users —

Break in, think

Entering a martial arts tournament at the height of the genre's mid-80s popularity, The Way of the Exploding Fist draws clear inspiration from Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do, reinforced by its digitised kiai sample and visual nods.

The Way of the Exploding Fist

1985 • Amstrad • BBC • Commodore 64 +1 more

Pixel8Games 81% Users —

Participate in this morning's edification

Tetris was the sort of game that looked like office software, then quietly stole entire evenings.

Tetris

1984 • Amstrad • Commodore 64 • PC

Pixel8Games 80% Users —

One more piece

Gauntlet (1985), by Atari Games, cheerfully tossed players into a neon-soaked fantasy dungeon where health drained faster than loose change in an arcade pocket.

Gauntlet

1985 • Amstrad • Apple II • Arcade +2 more

Pixel8Games 77% Users 100%

Eat the food. Survive the dungeon.

Impossible Mission (1984) politely greeted players with an ominous “Stay awhile… stay forever!” before immediately trying to kill them.

Impossible Mission

1984 • Amiga • Amstrad • Commodore 64

Pixel8Games 90% Users —

Timing is everything

Pole Position (1982) didn’t just ask you to race - it demanded you qualify first, instantly setting it apart from its coin-hungry rivals.

Pole Position

1982 • Arcade

Pixel8Games 71% Users —

Qualify or quit

Kick Off 2 cheerfully ignored the idea of "fun for everyone" and instead demanded absolute mastery or total humiliation.

Kick Off 2

1990 • Amiga

Pixel8Games 78% Users —

There's only one Dino Dini!

Descent (1995) took a normal corridor shooter, spun it in every direction, then asked you not to be sick.

Descent

1995 • PC

Pixel8Games 90% Users —

Six degrees of panic

Doom started as a quiet Mars assignment and immediately escalated into shotguns, demons, and a full-blown trip to Hell.

Doom

1993 • PC • PS1 • SNES

Pixel8Games 94% Users —

One hell of a blast.

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