Top 10 Classic games of all time

Playing games is one of the natural forms of entertainment for humans. Starting from 1970’s, the very first video game consoles were large machines that worked when inserting coins, then came the Gameboys, Nintendo’s (NES) which made gaming easier and compact. Hundreds of thousands of games were developed for these consoles. Then came to rise the world of computers which took gaming to the next level. Games with high end graphics came to existence and many old games were remade to play in computers. Those games which we played decades ago are still considered as Classics and there are more than 100 games which everyone like till now and want to play atleast once everyday.Here are the top 10 classic games of all time:

#10 Aladdin

At number 10 on our list is , Disney’s Aladdin which is a platform video game, released in 1992. The game was developed by Virgin Interactive’s studio for MegaDrive. The game was ported into various game consoles like Nintendo, Gameboy, Super Gameboy and also in PC.

The player controls Aladdin, who must make his way through several levels, from the streets and rooftops of Agrabah, to the Cave of Wonders and finally to the Sultan's dungeon for the final confrontation. The game sold 4 million copies making it the best-selling Mega Drive game in 1994.

#9 Contra

Contra was the best action game to have ever released in 1987, developed by Konami, that went on to become a huge commericial succes. The game was later released in Nintendo in 1988, which made it remained widely popular. The game was later ported into many game consoles.

Two commandos, Pfc. Bill Rizer and Pfc. Lance Bean of the Contra unit (an elite group of soldiers specializing in guerrilla warfare), are sent to a island near New Zealand to destroy the enemies and to uncover the true nature of the alien entity controlling them.

Contra was followed by Super Contra a year later. It was the only Contra sequel for the arcades developed by Konami.

#8 Doom

DOOM is a 1993 classical sci fi first person shooter video game by id Software. The game is still considered one of the most significant and influential titles in the video game industry, for having ushered in the popularity of the first-person shooter genre. In Doom, players assume the role of an unnamed space marine, who had to fight his way through hordes of invading demons from Hell.

In addition to the first-person shooter genre, this game was highly acclaimed for its immersive 3D graphics and networked multiplayer gaming, In late 1995, Doom was estimated to be installed on more computers worldwide than Microsoft's new operating system Windows 95, prompting Bill Gates to buy the Software company to develop a Windows 95 port of Doom to promote the operating system as a gaming platform.

In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked it as the fifth best video game of all time. Later in 2001, Doom was voted the number one game of all time in a poll among over 100 game developers and journalists conducted by GameSpy.

#7 Mortal Kombat II

Mortal Kombat II or MKII is a competitive fighting game developed by Midway Games and released in 1993. The game was later ported into PC, Game Boy, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and in various PlayStation consoles. MKII became popular for introducing more varied Fatality finishing moves and several iconic characters, such as Kitana, Kung Lao, Mileena and the series villain Shao Kahn.

This game was a big commercial success and went on to receive many annual awards and featured in many top lists for many years. Around the end of 1993, the game sales rose to $101 million from $86 million, gaining much of its revenue from the sales of the arcade version. MKII was considered as the arcade game of the year in 1996.

#6 Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia is a fantasy game which was released in 1989 for Apple II, that saw a great leap forward in the quality of animation seen in video games. After it’s original release it was ported to a wide range of platforms.

The game is set in ancient persia where Jaffar, the vizier to Sultan, seizes power as the king fights war in a foreign land. His only obstacle to the throne is the Sultan's daughter. Jaffar locks her in a tower and orders her to become his wife. The game's nameless protagonist, whom the Princess loves, is thrown into the palace dungeons. The player must escape from the dungeons and progress to the palace tower, defeating Jaffar and freeing the Princess in under 60 minutes.

Despire critical accliam, the game was a commercial failure when released initially in North America and rose to promience in the 1990’s when released in Japan and Europe and was ported to various different home computers and video game consoles, selling 2 million units worldwide. This game was remade by Gameloft and was released in 2007 to the Xbox Live Arcade and on 2008 in Playstation.

#5 Street Fighter II

Street Fighter II is a classical fighting game which is highly regarded as the best competitive fighting game to have ever released in 1991. This game is the sequel for the first game of the series Street Fighter which was released in 1987. Street Fighter II improved upon the many concepts introduced in the first game, including the use of command-based special moves and a six-button configuration, while offering players a selection of multiple playable characters, each with their own unique fighting style.

This game was established as the benchmark for other game developers who popularized this genre. In 1993, sales of Street Fighter II exceeded $1.5 billion in gross revenues and by 1994, the game had been played by at least 25 million in their homes and in arcades.

Street Fighter II was followed by a series of updated versions, each refining the game’s mechanics, graphics, character roster and other aspects. Super Street Fighter II Turbo was released in 1994 and was the last of the Street Fighter II released for arcades.

#4 Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong is one of the classic games to have ever released in 1981 and consists more spinoff titles till now, in various genres. This game features the adventures of a gorilla character named Donkey Kong against Jumpman (later named as Mario) in an construction setting. This game first saw the appearence of the famous character Mario. The franchise has sold over 40 million units, making the Donkey Kong character highly popular and famous worldwide.

The Donkey Kong frachise made sequels for this game named Donkey Kong Jr, where the Donkey Kong junior tries to rescue his father from Mario (Yes, this is the first game which saw Mario as villian) Donkey Kong II and Donkey Kong III.

In 1994, British company Rare released Donkey Kong Country which became popular for its graphics, music and gameplay

#3 Tetris

Tetris the classic tile-matching puzzle video game which was initially designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov and was released in the year 1984. This is the first game to be exported from USSR to US, and is still available for every video game consoles as well as in mobile phones, PDA’s and much more.

The game became hugely successful and popular in 1989 when released in the handheld version of Gameboy. In January 2010, it was announced that Tetris had sold more than 170 million copies worldwide making it highest paid downloaded game of all time.

The objective of the game is to manipulate the Tetriminos, which falls down the field, by moving each one sideways and rotating it by 90 degree units, with the aim of creating a horizontal line of ten blocks without gaps.

#2 Super Mario Bros

Super Mario Bros was developed and published by Nintendo in the year 1985. The player controls Mario in a single player game and in the two-player game mode the players take the role of Luigi, Mario’s brother as they both travel through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the enemy’s clutches.

This game is considered as the Greatest game of all time, as it aided in resurrecting the crashed American video game market in 1983. This game soon became the best-selling game of all time for approximately three decades, sold at over 40 million units.

Being one of Nintendo’s most popular games, Super Mario Bros, has been re-released and remade numerous times, ranging from an arcade version to the game being available for download on the Virtual Console for the Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

#1 Pac Man

And the first on our list is, Pac Man which was released in May 1980 and became one of the most popular games from it’s release till the present day. Pac Man is still considered one of the classics and is considered iconic. The player controls the Pac Man through a blue maze, eating pellets and fruits. When all the pellets are eaten, the game progresses to the next level. The game was developed by Namco and later was picked up for manufacture in the United States changing the name from Puk Man to Pac Man.

Pac Man became the best selling arcade game in North America grossing over $1 billion in quarters within a decade and surpassed the revenues made by the famous movie Star Wars.

By the end of 1982, the game had sold over 400,000 arcade machines worldwide and had been estimated that around 7 billion coins had been inserted into Pac-Man machines. The game was also estimated to have had 30 million active players across the United States in 1982. Towards the end of the 20th century, the game's total gross had been estimated at more than $2.5 billion, making it highest grossing video game of all time. The game was the first to have established the maze chase genre and the first to have cut scenes featured in comical mode.