Anyone up for a Wizards & Warriors tournament?
As a little kid in the mid- to late '80s, my world revolved around Cabbage Patch Kids, Cyndi Lauper, Family Ties and sticker albums. (So many unicorns!) But it was also the dawn of the post-Atari video game age, cemented by the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Here are some of my favorite overlooked games of that era. Add your own!
Source: classiccmp.org
Below The Root (Commodore 64)
I didn't even realize til years later that this game was based on a book by one of my favorite authors as a kid, Zilpha Keatley Snyder (You maybe read The Egypt Game?). You were a character with various magic powers, one of which was reading minds, while you tried to make peace between the formerly warring factions of Green Sky, Erdling and Kindar, which was probably supposed to be some kind of Cold War parable. (Maybe?)
Source: mobygames.com
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Macintosh)
Based on Douglas Adams' book, this was a text-based role-playing game that I used to play at my twin friends' Jennifer and Jessica's house. They had a Mac, which back then was kind of a big deal (their original selling price was $2,495 when they were released in 1984). I loved this game, probably because it was kind of like reading a book.
Source: mobygames.com
The Goonies II (NES)
Any good '80s kid knew Goonies pretty much by heart. The Nintendo game based on the movie — you had to outwit Mama Fratelli and her sons to get to the treasure — used the Cyndi Lauper song "The Goonies R Good Enough" as its soundtrack (and if you have never watched the video, it is really worth it, even though now it seems a little... racist?).
Source: mobygames.com
