I noticed that pretty much all games I played in my life have been released after 1990. So now I’m asking those with earlier experience here:
Which games can you recommend from before that time?
But: they should still be fun in their own right and not just interesting to play in an historian sense of trying to understand how genres developed.
Games I played that are older than 1990:
- Tetris (classic for a reason)
- Pacman (interesting but simple)
- Prince of Persia (was too young to understand how to correctly play this game, I should maybe try to play it again)
- The Legend of Zelda (too old school and clunky for my liking)


I think Mega Man 2 (1988, NES) is marvelous, and still holds up. If you’re interested in arcade emulation (eg Mame), NewZealand Story is fantastic (also 1988). Good graphics for the time, great music, and cute character design.