Before I start, please note that if you're here to view the original list, I have moved it to this location for archive purposes, but that list will no longer be updated. I will be doing annual lists, and this main page will change as I go through, year by year, until I reach the present day. Please be patient about where more modern games place as I slowly get closer to today.
The 1980 Edition of the list is the first year (for now anyway) in my series of annual lists. For this list, any game released prior to and up to December 31, 1980 is eligible. Only games that I have played and reviewed are here, so as I play and review more games from this era, this list will expand and grow, and games will change positions on the list as a result.
Games are ranked in order based on the "average score" that I calculate by nabbing scores from across the web and mixing my own, personal scores in with them. As a result, with my scores factored into the average, I definitely do have some influence as to where games place on this list...but ultimately, since the average score determines placement, the only time I actively position games purely based on preference on this list is when there's a tie in the average score.
If a game was released on more than one platform, then I take the game with the highest average score to represent it on this list. If the games on each platform are different enough, I may decide to split them up into separate entries on the list, otherwise they'll likely just be represented by the best of the bunch.
If you look at the list from year to year, you will see some games have a gradient on the right side of their entry. This is to signify that the game was released in that specific year, meaning that it's "new" to the list that year. It allows visitors to quickly see which games are making their first appearance on the list year by year, even if they're simply scrolling through and not reading every single entry.
If your favorite game is missing from this list, it simply means that I haven't played and/or reviewed it yet. If you'd like me to prioritize a certain game, feel free to contact me via the 3pmoot social media accounts and I'll see what I can do. But for now, I hope you enjoy the list.
Paper
Casino Slot Machine!
UFO
Helicopter Rescue!
Miniature Golf
Amazing Maze
Human Cannonball
Deep Scan
New York! New York!
Dungeon of Death
Akalabeth: World of Doom
Bowling
Developer: Namco
Also reviewed on: N/A
Average Score: 78.28627451
1980 was a big year for Namco, with Pac-Man taking the world by storm...but many people felt like Rally X was going to be the big hit at the arcades instead of Namco's iconic pizza-shaped mascot. Rally X was ahead of its time in a lot of ways. The most notable being that you cruise around in a giant maze...so big, in fact, that the right side of the screen shows a "mini map" to let you know where you are in it as you drive around. As you navigate this giant maze, picking up items, you're also being chased by suicidal drivers that want nothing more than to crash their car into yours. As you advance in the game, everything gets more frantic and chaotic, and quite honestly, everything also gets a whole lot more fun. However, despite how good Rally X was, it was doomed to be in Pac-Man's shadow, so it's unfortunate that not nearly as many people tend to look back fondly at it today. Rally X is an excellent game for its time, though, and deserves this spot in the top 10.Developer: Atari
Also reviewed on: N/A
Average Score: 78.52266667
When you talk about early adventure games, this is my pick for the best one, though, the average score tells a different tale, with Superman taking a back seat to Adventure. Superman is a deceptively deep game for 1978, though, that even has a working subway system in-game and the ability to switch between being Superman and Clark Kent. I feel like Superman may have been a little TOO deep...not at the time, mind you, as Superman looked to have unanimously glowing reviews, but a few decades later, when someone may get ahold of a Superman cartridge, with no manual, and have no idea what in the world they're supposed to be doing. It's not a game where most people wil start playing and immediately know what to do, like many games of the time were like. That, along with the bad reputation that Superman has with video games, I think results in people frequently giving this game lower scores than I feel like it would otherwise deserve. But, still, even with some very low scores given to Superman, there were more high scores to boost the average and the Man of Steel still makes it into the top 10.Developer: Atari
Also reviewed on: N/A
Average Score: 79.14385965
When I revisit classic games, one game that I feel that I never fully understood was Missile Command. Revisiting it and playing it long enough to write up a review, I grew to really appreciate how excellent of a game it was for its time. Aside from the unique concept of blowing stuff up instead of simply shooting at stuff, this is a very good example of a game that's easy to pick up and play, but difficult to master. Missile Command isn't about blindly firing at targets at the top of the screen, it's about strategically aiming your shots and timing your explosions in anticipation of the path that the incoming missiles appear to be coming down in. They're coming in from all sides and at all angles, so if it looks like some missiles may be crossing paths at some point, you want to aim for that point and time it right so that an explosion takes out multiple missiles in a single shot. That strategy, mixed with the pure chaos that you'll likely feel in later levels, makes Missile Command a game that may have you coming back for more and more...it certainly had that appeal to people in the arcades back when it was released.Developer: Atari
Also reviewed on: N/A
Average Score: 79.95185185
I'll admit it. I hated Asteroids as a kid. The concept of shooting at asteroids and having them blow up into smaller pieces, which you also had to destroy, was fun....but I hated the space physics that made me feel like I had zero control of my space ship. Over the years, however, I've grown to appreciate Asteroids for what it is, and that includes the space physics. In fact, those physics help make this game feel rewarding when you finally begin to get the hang of controlling the ship while you blast away at all of the space rocks around you. Back when Asteroids was initially released, however,, there were people debating if Asteroids was the Space Invaders killer. I even found a magazine article from the time putting Asteroids and Space Invaders side-by-side and making arguments over which game was better. Considering that Space Invaders was considered the greatest game ever made in the late 70's, having folks debate over whether your game is better is a bit of a badge of honor, I'd also say that Asteroids has stood the test of time. Receiving ports to many, many platforms and even having its style of gameplay implemented into other games as a mini-games, (like Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team, of all games) Asteroids was a unique, but excellent game for its time that's got the great quality of being easy to pick up and play, but largely in part to the physics, it takes time to really be good at. Developer: Infocom
Also reviewed on: N/A
Average Score: 80.19607843
Zork: The Great Underground Empire, also known as Zork I, is a game that I think would be higher on this list if I was compiling this list way back in 1980, rather than several decades later. It seems to have been universally beloved back when it was released, which isn't hard to believe considering that it was ported to just about every computer system that existed in the 80's. These days, however, I think when some players pop a game in and see that it is nothing but text, with no visuals, it can be a bit of a turn-off. As a result, while there were more good scores for Zork than bad, there were still some poor reviews given to it that drop its average score a bit. If you've never played Zork, it's worth trying at least once. While it lacks a graphical display of your surroundings, the game is loaded with enough personality that if you've got any sort of imagination, that it'll more than make up for it. It's also full of secrets to discover for folks, like myself, that just like to stray from games and just try things to see what happens. Text-based adventure games were very common in the late 70's and early 80's, but the one game that seems to unanimously be considered the best of the bunch is the original Zork.Developer: Namco
Also reviewed on: N/A
Average Score: 80.54385965
While it didn't quite get the same fanfare that Space Invaders did, Namco's attempt at making a Space Invaders-inspired game (which all the cool kids were doing at the time) surpassed Space Invaders in terms of quality, in my opinion. While the main concept of shooting up at a group of aliens pacing back and forth is there, Galaxian has a few tricks up its sleeve. Not only to the alien ships move as you attempt to shoot them, but sometimes, they'll fly out of formation and dive down the screen to attack. Each alien type acts slightly differently, too, giving you a little more strategy to implement as you play aside from simply trying to time your shots right, like in Taito's classic shooter. Aside from the gameplay being improved upon from Space Invaders, aesthetically, Galaian was also impressive. Featuring full color graphics (Space Invaders was black and white, with color overlays on the screen) and scrolling, sparkling stars in the background to give the player a sense that they were flying in space during the battle, Galaxian didn't just play good, but it looked amazing for the time as well. While Galaxian never quite reached the success of Space Invaders (it managed to be the second-highest grossing arcade game in Japan in 1979, below only Space Invaders, and second-highest in the United States in 1980, below only Asteroids) Galaxian is still an excellent shooter that showed that while Space Invaders was revolutionary, there was still plenty to be done to that formula to make it even better. Developer: Atari
Also reviewed on: N/A
Average Score: 81.28148148
Adventure is one of the few Atari 2600 games that most folks seem to score relatively high. I'm not sure if it's because of the reputation that it has, or how some people feel like this game laid the groundwork for later adventure games, like the Legend of Zelda, but Adventure seems to remain loved decades after it was initially released. With good reason, too. Adventure doesn't have you on a static screen, but rather multiple screens as you navigate a labyrinth as the heroic square, looking for treasure and doing your best to not be killed by the angry sea horse-looking dragons. Adventure, while more complex than some of the other Atari 2600 games of the time, was still simplistic enough to get an idea of what you need to do simply by trying to play it. It made it an excellent game for folks that wanted a deeper gaming experience, but also didn't want to read a manual before jumping in head-first and trying their best to get their hands on a stolen treasure while avoiding those pesky sea horse-looking dragons that do their best to make you an ex-adventurer. Developer: Amstar
Also reviewed on: N/A
Average Score: 81.48888889
Space Invaders inspired a tsunami of space-themed games where you pilot a ship at the bottom of the screen and shoot upwards at a group of enemies near the top of the screen. Phoenix, like Galaxian, separated itself from the others by including enemies that would dive down towards the bottom of the screen and attack you...however, adding even more to that formula, Phoenix featured what may be the first boss fight in video games . After surviving two waves of smaller ships, then two waves of larger ships, you're confronted by a giant UFO that takes up a large section of the screen, which is also accompanied by more of the smaller ships. Chipping away at the UFO in an effort to take it down, while avoiding the enemy fire and the dive-bombing smaller ships, is one of the more memorable experiences when it comes to games from 1980. It's one of the very few games, like Galaxian, that managed to take the formula that Space Invaders innovated, and make it even better. Developer: Atari
Also reviewed on: Arcade
Average Score: 84.13333333
In a slightly surprising turn of events, the Atari 2600 version of Space Invaders beat out the Arcade version for it to be the varation of the game to be represented on this list. If you want an idea of how close it was, you can see the average score for the Atari 2600 game above. The arcade version was 83.10877193. The excellent home port of the game, along with all of the variations of the game that you're able to play with, is likely what gave it the overall nod. The original Space Invaders was an insanely popular arcade game that was a major inspiration for other games over the next few years, but the fantastic Atari 2600 port breathed new life into the two-year-old arcade game with its large variety of options and play modes to give a new experience for both veterans of the space wars and new players alike. If not for the 1980 fad of eating pellets, ghosts, and fruit, it probably would be number one on this list...But instead, Namco and Bally Midway had a hit on their hands...Developer: Bally Midway
Also reviewed on: N/A
Average Score: 85.25964912
In 1980, a pandemic hit the world...the main symptom was a significant loss of quarters from the pockets of the folks ailing from the sickness. The disease was called Pac-Man fever, and it didn't matter if you were a man, woman, or child, in 1980, there was a very good chance that you'd be infected with it. There's even a song called "Pac-Man Fever" that even heard some radio play around the country at the time. Pac-Man, for many, showed that video games weren't just something that appealed to males, but females could fall in love with video games, too. They just needed something worth playing. A former co-worker of mine, who was in here mid-to-late 50's, told me that when Pac-Man first came out (which would have when she was in her in her 20's) she loved going on dates to arcades, movie theaters, pizza shops, or bowling alleys and spending time playing this game...sometimes much more than the actual date that she was on.
When I first decided to go back and make a list for each year, I was pretty sure that Pac-Man would take the number one spot in 1980. With the average score being taken from a lot of user ratings, most ratings are from people who may not have even been born when Pac-Man first came out....or any other game on this 1980 list, for that matter. As a result, most scores are going to be scoring how Pac-Man has aged rather than how good it was when it came out. And unlike a lot of games on this list, that were amazing for their time, but not quite as fun today, Pac-Man is just as fun and just as easy to pick up and play today as it's ever been. As I continue to make these lists year by year, it's inevitable that Pac-Man will drop down in rank, but I also won't be surprised if Pac-Man stays in the top 100 for the next decade or two before eventually being pushed out....and if it lasts even longer than that, I wouldn't be too surprised, either. Pac-Man was an excellent game that was fun for people of all genders and ages...and after several decades have passed since it was originally released, it still is.