The machines that defined a golden age of gaming
Coin-operated arcade games defined the first golden age of video gaming. Standing cabinets filled malls and arcades worldwide. At their peak in 1982, US arcades generated over $8 billion annually — more than Hollywood box office and recorded music combined. Pac-Man alone earned over $2.5 billion by 1990.
The NES single-handedly revived the video game industry after the crash of 1983. Released in Japan as the Famicom in 1983 and globally from 1985, the NES sold over 61 million units. Franchises born on the NES — Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, Mega Man — remain the most valuable intellectual properties in gaming today.
The Atari 2600 was the first mass-market home console to popularize ROM cartridges, bringing the arcade experience into living rooms. Launched in 1977, it sold over 30 million units. Space Invaders quadrupled 2600 sales in 1980. The 2600 also sparked the first gaming crash when a flood of low-quality titles collapsed consumer confidence in 1983.
The Commodore 64 is the best-selling personal computer model of all time, with estimates of 12–17 million units sold. Its custom SID sound chip is beloved by chiptune musicians to this day. Europe's dominant home computer through the 1980s, the C64 hosted thousands of games including Impossible Mission, The Last Ninja, and Elite.
Launching at just £125 in 1982, the ZX Spectrum became the most popular home computer in the UK and much of Europe. Despite its rubber keyboard and colour-clash limitations, it democratised computing and created a generation of bedroom programmers. The UK games industry was largely built on Spectrum development.
The Sega Master System boasted superior hardware to the NES: a Z80 CPU, better colour palette, and higher resolution. While the NES dominated North America, the Master System conquered Brazil and Europe. In Brazil, where the NES never gained market share, the Master System sold over 8 million units and became a beloved gaming institution.
One of the first mass-produced personal computers, the Apple II became the dominant computing platform for US education through the 1980s. Its open architecture and colour graphics made it a natural gaming platform, hosting landmark titles like Oregon Trail, Ultima, Wizardry, and Karateka. Many foundational RPG and adventure game conventions were established here.
The IBM PC and its DOS-based clones became the world's dominant computing platform through the 1980s. Despite lacking dedicated game hardware, clever developers used the PC speaker, CGA/EGA graphics, and eventually Sound Blaster audio to produce defining games. Text adventures, early RPGs, flight simulators, and strategy games flourished on DOS.