12 classic video games Indians loved while growing up

Image courtesy: facebook.com/SuperMario

Video games: We’ve all played them at one point or another during our childhood. We’ve all fought over the controllers. Many of us have received an occasional spanking for wasting our time over them. And we’ve often chosen to work on improving our scores in the virtual world than doing our homework.

Be that as it may,  video games have taught us lessons that no teacher would have managed to conceive. Here are 12 iconic old games that made our childhood special.

1. Super Mario Bros

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Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser + Coins, castles, mushrooms, turtles = Greatest Game of all time.

Image courtesy: twitter.com/FunnySpongeBab
Image courtesy: twitter.com/FunnySpongeBab

2. Contra

The frustration when you got the meaningless ‘F’ power. The elation when you stole the ‘S’ power from under the nose of your partner. The unbridled joy when you killed the boss at the end of every stage. Aah, the good old days!

Also, here is the fascinating real-life story that allegedly inspired the iconic game series.

3. Duck Hunt

Well, Kinect can sense our motions, but can it replace that annoying dog who laughed at us when the duck got away?

4. Tank

Image courtesy: YouTube.com
Image courtesy: YouTube.com

Remember the ‘build a stage’ feature, which you used to secure the bird with walls of Ambuja cement? Remember the power to freeze your opponents? The ultimate gun that could breach pretty much everything?

5. Donkey Kong

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Before Mario learned about the ultimate powers of mushrooms and battled past turtles, he received sort of a preview of things to come. Donkey Kong came four years before the first Super Mario Bros game and continues to make an impression in and outside the Mario series.

6. Excitebike

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Remember those frustrating stops you had to make every time your bike got overheated? And then you had to just watch in agony as everyone else just passed by while you waited for your engine to cool down.

7. Street Fighter

Image courtesy: memeabad.com
Image courtesy: memeabad.com

Street Fighter set the bar high for all future fighting games. From RYU’s flying attacks and Chun Li’s bird kicks to Honda’s Sumo smashes and Zangief’s power bombs, we simply loved everything about this addictive game.

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8. Double Dragon

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Double Dragon redefined co-ordinated gameplay and pure rage. It was the kind of game that allowed you to vent out all your anger on the flurry of opponents that just kept on coming.

9. Tennis

Image courtesy: oldgamebox.tistory.com
Image courtesy: oldgamebox.tistory.com

If only real tennis was this simple, India would have produced a 100 Federers by now.

10. Soccer

Image courtesy: YouTube.com
Image courtesy: YouTube.com

Agonizingly slow and idiotic, the fact that you could practically score 90 goals in 90 minutes still made this vintage game special.

11. Pac-Man

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This simple game about a dot-collecting droid trying to outwit and outrun four enemies never gets old. Just like Chandler in this Friends episode, Pac-Man has given many of us sour thumbs and clawed hands.

In case you don’t remember the Friends moment…

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12. Mortal Kombat

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Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat are like Star Wars and Star Trek of video games. Both have their faithful audiences, both have inspired many spin-offs, movie adaptations and an unending supply of awesome merchandise.

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What sets MK apart from many others in its genre is its high level of bloody and savage violence, which, let’s admit it, is pretty awesome. The words ‘fatality’ and ‘finish him’ will always remain attached to this epic game.

That’s all we could remember. Can you think of more names you would like to add to this list?

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