1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die (Both Editions)
by Progressive-Element | created - 16 May 2020 | updated - 21 Feb 2021 | PublicAlso: Miner 2049er Utopia Chuckie Egg Bounty Bob Strikes Back Mercenary Paradroid Trinity Spindizzy Rebelstar NetHack Oids Carrier Command Laser Squad Exile Fantasy World Dizzy Midwinter Hunter Mega-Lo-Mania Gravity Power Monster Max International Track & Field Final Furlong X-COM: Apocalypse Shining Force III Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now Grand Prix Legends Bangai-O Faselei! Tribes 2 IL-2 Sturmovik Grow Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town Geometry Wars Mojib Ribbon Ninja Five-O Pool Paradise Torus Trooper Golden Tee Live Facade Fire Pro Wrestling Returns Rebelstar: Tactical Command Armadillo Run Line Rider Exit 2 Art Style: Orbient Naked War Slitherlink Gottlieb Pinball Classics Virtua Tennis 3 Crush Free Running Flatout: Ultimate Carnage Flywrench Desktop Tower Defense Everyday Shooter Mercury Meltdown Revolution Planet Puzzle League Quadradius Audiosurf Auditorium Bejeweled Twist Critter Crunch Galcon Cursor*10 Fantastic Contraption Bangai-O Spirits MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 Let's Tap Pure Rez HD Top Spin 3 Monster Hunter Freedom Unite Reset Generation Trism Drop7 Trackmania: United Forever Fieldrunners Art Style: Intersect Bonsai Barber Geodefense Swarm Captain Forever Boom Blox Bash Party Canabalt Bit.Trip Core Grand Slam Tennis Demigod Fat Princess Eliss Death Tank Crayon Physics Deluxe Noby Noby Boy Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure Little King's Story Race Pro One-Dot Enemies Rolando 2 Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor Starship Patrol The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai You, Me and the Cubes Zen Bound Reflect Missile Mighty Flip Champs Cogs PixelJunk Shooter Max and the Magic Marker Neptune's Pride Alien Zombie Death Year Walk
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1. The Oregon Trail (1971 Video Game)
Adventure, Family, History
The player takes on the role of a wagon leader guiding a group of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon's Willamette Valley on the Oregon Trail via a covered wagon in the year 1848.
Star: Richard Ellman Kennedy
Votes: 198
2. Pong (1972 Video Game)
E | Family, Sport
Two players play a video version of table tennis. The first to score 11 points wins.
Votes: 994
3. Breakout (1976 Video Game)
Action, Family
You must use a horizontally-sliding paddle to bounce a ball against colorful bars at the top of the screen. Each segment of the bars touched by the ball disappears. The object is to keep ... See full summary »
Votes: 144
4. Boot Hill (1977 Video Game)
Action, Western
Western shooter arcade game released by Midway in 1977 and a sequel to Gun Fight.
Votes: 26
5. Combat (1977 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Adventure
Combat features 27 games in one, each are all variations on the tank, biplane, and jet gameplay.
Votes: 71
6. Space Invaders (1978 Video Game)
K-A | Action, Sci-Fi
Commonly considered as one of the most influential video games of all time, the goal is to defeat wave after wave of descending aliens with a horizontally moving laser cannon to earn as many points as possible.
Votes: 931
7. Adventure (1979 Video Game)
Adventure
The player controls a square avatar whose quest is to explore an open-ended environment to find a magical chalice and return it to the golden castle. Three dragons and an item-stealing bat roam the castle as well.
Votes: 99
9. Galaxian (1979 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Sci-Fi
Face waves of aliens descending on your spaceship and clear the screen to achieve victory.
Votes: 265
10. Lunar Lander (1979 Video Game)
Not Rated | Action, Sci-Fi
The player controls a lunar landing module, with the goal of landing safely on the Moon.
Votes: 64
12. Defender (1981 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Defend the human population from swarms of attacking aliens.
Votes: 192
13. Phoenix (1980 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Sci-Fi
Players control a spaceship, shooting at a variety of alien birds of different sizes and attack patterns.
Votes: 44
14. Eamon (1980 Video Game)
Adventure, Fantasy
An adventurer undertakes dangerous quests against numerous enemies to earn riches and experience
Votes: 21
15. Missile Command (1980 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Fantasy
Missiles from the sky are attacking the cities, you, as the player, must defend the 6 cities as long as you can.
Votes: 181
16. Rogue (1980 Video Game)
Adventure, Fantasy
Embark on a quest for the amulet of Yendor in the Dungeons of Doom! Magical items help you, the hero, to overcome the increasingly powerful monsters. Find the amulet to break the spell to enable an ascend to freedom.
Votes: 30
17. Tempest (1981 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Sci-Fi
You control a yellow crab-shaped shooter that travels along the outside rim of a 3-dimensional tunnel, shooting enemies down the alleys of the tunnel while avoiding any coming down the ... See full summary »
Votes: 83
18. Multi-User Dungeon: MUD1 (1978 Video Game)
Fantasy
A multi-user dungeon (MUD) is both a style of role-playing game and the name of one of the original text-based multiplayer online role-playing games of this genre. MUD was created by Roy ... See full summary »
19. Pac-Man (1980 Video Game)
E | Family, Fantasy
Navigate Pac-Man through a maze escaping ghosts and eating Pac-Dots.
Votes: 2,408
20. Zork I: The Great Underground Empire (1980 Video Game)
Adventure, Fantasy
Told in second person, you play an AFGNCAAP (an Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally-Ambiguous Adventure Person) who begins in a serene setting, a house nestled in a thick forest. ... See full summary »
Votes: 82
21. Warlords (II) (1981 Video Game)
Unrated | Family, Fantasy
The players use shields to defend their castle walls from the fireballs that ricochet around the playfield. Players can capture and catapult the fireballs at opposing castles. Fireballs ... See full summary »
Votes: 47
22. Centipede (1980 Video Game)
Action, Family
The player controls a gun that can only move in the bottom fifth of the screen. The object is to shoot a centipede that works its way down to the player area through a field of mushrooms. ... See full summary »
Votes: 276
24. Donkey Kong (1981 Video Game)
E | Action
Arcade video game and the first in the "Donkey Kong" series in which Jumpman (later retconned to be Mario) runs and jumps on platforms and climbs ladders to ascend a construction site and rescue Pauline from a giant gorilla, Donkey Kong.
Director: Shigeru Miyamoto
Votes: 2,160
27. Stargate (1981 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Sci-Fi
The player's ship flies over a horizontally scrolling planet surface, protecting friendly humanoids from alien abduction. Destroying all enemies advances you to the next wave. Loss of all ... See full summary »
Votes: 108
29. Ms. Pac-Man (1982 Video Game)
Action, Family, Fantasy
This update to Pac-Man (1980) changed the character to a lady, added moving fruit, smarter monsters, cut scenes and more mazes.
Votes: 647
30. Frogger (1981 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Adventure, Family
In this arcade game, you must help a frog cross a highway and a river while avoiding obstacles so he can get to his home safely.
Votes: 939
31. Gorf (1981 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Sci-Fi
The player controls a spaceship that must blast its way through five missions, each a different challenge. The game features a pistol grip joystick and robotic speech synthesis that heckles the player during gameplay.
Votes: 61
32. Ultima (1980 Video Game)
Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Your job is to complete several quests and gather special stones to defeat the evil wizard, Mondain.
Votes: 79
33. Gravitar (1982 Video Game)
Action, Sci-Fi
Your mission is to travel to alien planets, wipe out enemy bunkers, gather fuel units, and make solar systems safe for future generations of space pioneers.
Votes: 29
34. Joust (1982 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Fantasy
As a joust wielding yellow armored knight riding a flying ostrich. You must navigate through a series of floating rock platforms above molten hot lava. With a berserk of enemy knights, many... See full summary »
Votes: 176
35. The Hobbit Software Adventure (1982 Video Game)
Adventure, Fantasy
An interactive illustrated text adventure game in which the player assumes the role of Bilbo Baggins, an average hobbit who lives in the region known as the Shire. One day he meets a wizard... See full summary »
Votes: 57
36. Choplifter! (1982 Video Game)
Action
A combat helicopter must save as many rebels as possible from the p.o.w. camps set up by the evil Bungeling Empire and take out all enemy forces that stand in its way back to safety in this side-scrolling shoot 'em up.
Votes: 47
37. Robotron: 2084 (1982 Video Game)
E | Action, Sci-Fi
It is the year 2084, the world we all once knew is now overrun by robots. The majority of mankind was eliminated by the robots during a cybernetic revolt. As the player, you must rescue the... See full summary »
Votes: 105
38. Dig Dug (1982 Video Game)
E | Action, Family
In the video game DigDug you are the character Doug who has been sent to clear this underground area of all the enemies.
Director: Masahisa Ikegami
Votes: 447
39. Moon Patrol (1982 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Sci-Fi
Player drives a moon buggy jumping over craters, rocks and land mines, shooting simultaneously at rocks in front and aliens above while dodging their missiles.
Votes: 78
40. Mr. Do! (1982 Video Game)
K-A | Family
You are a clown who moves around a maze. You can dig new paths to avoid monsters and collect cherries. Kill monsters with a "powerball" or drop apples on them. Kill them all or eat all the cherries to go up a level.
Votes: 59
41. Q*bert (1982 Video Game)
Unrated | Family
Q*bert must to make the top of the blocks the color shown and avoid enemies.
Votes: 205
42. Xevious (1982 Video Game)
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An epic battle between a Solvolou fighter and the forces of Xevious in mysterious and futuristic world.
Votes: 73
43. Soko-Ban (1987 Video Game)
You are a construction worker, who must move a certain amount of boxes on different levels of a warehouse, to look for something.
Votes: 31
45. Time Pilot (1982 Video Game)
Action, Sci-Fi
Players navigate an airplane through several time periods while battling enemies.
Votes: 38
46. I, Robot (1983 Video Game)
Action, Sci-Fi
Game Overview The player is an Interface Robot (#1984) in rebellion against Big Brother and his Evil Eyes in I,Robot. Players will enter another world where they must face off against Big ... See full synopsis »
Votes: 40
47. Archon (1983 Video Game)
A strategic board game with some similarities to chess. Two sides, a light one and a dark one, consisting of 18 pieces each compete on a board divided into (9 by 9) squares. You win the ... See full summary »
Votes: 49
48. Star Wars (1983 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Assume the role of Luke Skywalker and fight past many enemies to reach and destroy the Death Star.
Stars: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, Jamie Northedge
Votes: 550
49. Dragon's Lair (1983 Video Game)
E | Adventure, Fantasy
A valiant knight, Dirk the Daring is on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon.
Directors: Don Bluth, Tony Bozek | Stars: Dan Molina, Vera Pacheco, Michael Rye, Dave Spafford
Votes: 737
53. Planetfall (1983 Video Game)
Sci-Fi
It all started with your great-great-grandfather who was a High Admiral and one of the founding officers of the Patrol. All generations since then have served in the Patrol. Now it's your ... See full summary »
Votes: 8
54. Spy Hunter (1983 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Family, Romance
You play as a spy in a car that is advanced and destroy enemies vehicles with weapons.
Votes: 156
55. Crystal Castles (1983 Video Game)
Unrated | 28 min | Family, Fantasy
Bentley Bear gathers gems found along the paths of many three-quarters-view castles. Wear the magic hat to kill the witch, Berthilda, and eliminate the gem eaters while they are eating. Secret warps take you to higher levels.
Votes: 60
56. Jetpac (1983 Video Game)
Action, Sci-Fi
Jetman must assemble his rocket (which spawns in pieces scattered around the map), and then fill it with fuel before taking off to the next planet, where the procedure is broadly repeated with alternate procedures.
Votes: 50
58. Lode Runner (1983 Video Game)
Action, Sci-Fi
A character named Lode Runner must traverse and dig through fanciful designs of architecture to collect tons of gold, while utilizing physics and avoiding man-crushing, though foolish, guards.
Votes: 166
59. Manic Miner (1983 Video Game)
Adventure
Miner Willy battles through the robot-filled underground mines of Surbiton, featuring fast, colorful graphics and very weird enemy creatures. You are chased by deranged robots, pirouetting ... See full summary »
Director: Matthew Smith
Votes: 64
60. Tapper (1983 Video Game)
Unrated | Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi
You are a soda jerk serving root beer to patrons.
Votes: 83
61. Track & Field (1983 Video Game)
Sport
You play an athlete competing in a series of track and field athletic competitions.
Votes: 110
64. H.E.R.O. (1984 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Adventure, Family
Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operation: reach people trapped in an underground mine maze using a VTOL gadget before running out of power.
Votes: 49
65. Boulder Dash (1984 Video Game)
Family
You are Rockford, and you must guide him through a series of caves to hunt for diamonds. You must collect enough of them in order to exit each cave, while at the same time dodging deadly falling rocks, fireflies, and other perils.
Votes: 113
67. Elite (1984 Video Game)
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The classic space trading game. You and your Cobra Mk III battle wagon have to become 'Elite.' but this is only achieved if you do very suicidal things You start the game with the rating '... See full summary »
Votes: 108
68. Kung-Fu Master (1984 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Fantasy
Thomas must use his punches, kicks, and jumpkicks to save Sylvia from Mr. X and his henchmen.
Votes: 107
69. Deus ex Machina (1984 Video Game)
Mystery
Take control and follow the life of a "defect", which takes the shape of a human body that was formed inside a machine. The defect goes through all stages of life from cells to senility, as... See full summary »
Stars: Jon Pertwee, Donna Bailey, Ian Dury, Mel Croucher
Votes: 35
70. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984 Video Game)
Comedy, Sci-Fi
You are Arthur Dent, and you must survive the worst day of your life. For one thing, your house is being demolished. For another thing, so is the planet. Having found out your friend is an ... See full summary »
Votes: 92
71. Hyper Sports (1984 Video Game)
Sport
Hyper Sports, known in Japan as Hyper Olympic '84 is an arcade game published by Konami.
Votes: 28
72. Marble Madness (1984 Video Game)
Sci-Fi
Marble Madness is an arcade video game designed by Mark Cerny, in which the player must guide a marble through six courses, populated with obstacles and enemies, within a time limit.
Votes: 166
74. Knight Lore (1984 Video Game)
The player, as Sabreman, has been bitten by the Sabre Wulf and now transforms into a werewolf at nightfall. He has 40 days to collect items throughout Melkhior the Wizard's castle and brew a cure for his curse.
Votes: 40
76. The Lords of Midnight (1984 Video Game)
Adventure
Doomdark has woken from his slumber and the lands of Midnight are plunged into Winter. The Solstice is the peak of the Witch king's power and it is now that you must defeat him. The ... See full summary »
Votes: 25
77. Jet Set Willy (1984 Video Game)
Released on the Spectrum, this was a free-roaming version of Manic Miner. After a wild party, Willy woke up in the bath and had to tidy up the house (ie pick up about 100 objects in 60 rooms) before he was allowed to bed by Maria.
Director: Matthew Smith
Votes: 44
78. Pac-Land (1984 Video Game)
Family
Safeguarding her under his hat, Pac-Man must return a fairy to the Fairy Queen in Fairy Land before making his way home with the assistance of magical boots, as well as Ms Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man.
Votes: 78
79. Paperboy (1984 Video Game)
Action, Comedy, Family
You play a kid delivering papers on his treacherous route.
Star: Brandon Scott Miller
Votes: 378
80. Spy vs. Spy (1985 Video Game)
Not Rated
The lovable characters from MAD Magazine battle it out to seize important documents and escape with their lives.
Directors: Fernando Herrera, Richard M. Spitalny
Votes: 98
81. Deja Vu (1985 Video Game)
Adventure, Mystery
Private eye Theodore "Ace" Harding awakes in a seedy Chicago bar with no memory of who he is, how he got there, or why there's a dead body in the office upstairs.
Votes: 19
83. A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985 Video Game)
Adventure, Sci-Fi
The year is 2031 and the world is near the brink of economic collapse. To avoid this, the president comes up with a plan to stop the disaster - but before applying it, the long-term impacts... See full summary »
85. Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985 Video Game)
Action
An early "Beat em-up" Yie Ar Kung-Fu sees our hero venture across Japan battling various rivals to prove his dominance in the kung-fu world.
Votes: 97
86. Gauntlet (1985 Video Game)
Unrated | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A nice game with up to four cooperative players exploring dungeons and fighting monsters from a top-view perspective. The four characters that could be played included: - Thyla the Valkarie... See full summary »
Votes: 234
87. Ghosts 'n Goblins (1985 Video Game)
E | Action, Adventure, Family
A knight, named Sir Arthur, must defeat zombies, ogres, demons, cyclops, dragons and other monsters in order to rescue Princess Prin Prin, who has been kidnapped by Satan, king of Demon World.
Votes: 421
88. Rush'n Attack (1985 Video Game)
Action
Rush'n Attack, originally released in Japan and Europe as Green Beret, is a run and gun arcade game released by Konami.
Director: Phazer Atsuko
Votes: 105
89. Gradius (1985 Video Game)
E | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A spacecraft known as the Vic Viper must defend itself from the various alien enemies, in this horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game.
Votes: 208
90. Little Computer People (1985 Video Game)
In 1985, the Activision Research Group found the cause all common home computer glitches: little computer people were crying out for attention from inside the machine. By providing them ... See full summary »
Votes: 10
92. Super Mario Bros. (1985 Video Game)
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A plumber named Mario and his brother Luigi travel through the Mushroom Kingdom to save the princess from the evil Bowser.
Director: Shigeru Miyamoto
Votes: 7,145
93. The Bard's Tale (1985 Video Game)
Adventure, Fantasy
The evil wizard Mangar has cursed your hometown, Skara Brae, with eternal winter. It is up to you to assemble a party of adventurers to save Skara Brae.
Votes: 44
94. Fairlight (1985 Video Game)
Adventure
The Land of Fairlight was once a happy, jolly place - but this is no longer the case. More than three thousand years have passed since the worthy King Avars held court over the land from ... See full summary »
Votes: 13
95. Skool Daze (1985 Video Game)
Adventure
Play as Eric with various tasks around the school.
Votes: 20
96. Tetris (1984 Video Game)
E
Differently shaped blocks descend into a 2D container. The blocks can be moved and rotated, and must be sorted into the rest of the blocks on the fly.
Director: Alexey Pazhitnov
Votes: 3,506
97. Alex Kidd in Miracle World (1986 Video Game)
E | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
On his way home from training, a young martial artist named Alex Kidd learns of a villain who has taken over his homeland and kidnapped his family, so he sets out on a quest to rescue them.
Votes: 188
98. Leader Board (1986 Video Game)
Sport
When converting the original Leader Board golf simulation to the 16-bit systems, Sculptured took advantage of the power of these systems by adding trees, bunkers and rough, thus increasing ... See full summary »
Votes: 12
99. Alter Ego (1986 Video Game)
Adventure, Drama
RPG that simulates life choices and outcomes. Make choices for your character, who has physical, intellectual and other skills, to see how he or she ends up in life. Bad choices lead to disturbing deaths, smart choices lead to good life.
Votes: 32
100. Arkanoid (1986 Video Game)
E | Action, Family, Sci-Fi
Controlling the spaceship 'Vaus', the player must prevent a ball from leaving the playing field by bouncing it against bricks. Once all bricks have been destroyed, the player may progress to the next stage.
Votes: 267
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