When the vast majority of Millennials think of 40 years ago, we generally default to 1960. We would, obviously, be very wrong, because 40 years ago was 1985. And 1985 was a very good year for gaming. So let’s take a look at the games turning 40 years old in 2025.
Gauntlet (Arcade)
Originally named “Dungeons“, Gauntlet was a four player co-op dungeon arcade crawler viewed from a top down perspective where the aim is to find the exit on each level, killing mobs, finding treasure and seeing how deep you could get. With four archetypes to choose from, Warrior, Wizard, Valkyrie and Elf there was always a variety in each run.
Gauntlet started easy but soon amped up the difficulty with more monsters on screen and your hunger meter always ticking down giving the game a constant ticking clock but did create and is immortalised through the line “Warrior needs food, badly!”
Ghosts ‘n Goblins (Arcade)
Capcom’s Ghosts ‘n Goblins series hit arcade machines in 1985 with players taking control of Sir Arthur on his quest to save Princess Prin-Prin and defeat the king of the Demon World. It later made it’s way to the Famicom in 1986, eventually hitting European markets in 1989.
This platformer was a huge hit in Japan, but struggled to find it’s feet in the UK until the NES release. It has since seen a few recent remakes and a had surge in popularity due to their high difficulty curves.
Super Mario Bros. (NES)
The first in the iconic Super Mario series, Super Mario Bros. was originally released in September 1985 for Japanese markets. The sucessor to the Mario Bros. arcade game, it took players on an adventure through Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Princess Toadstool, or as many of us now know her, Peach.
The NES edition gave players the ability to control both Mario and Luigi through side-scrolling platform levels, with pixel graphics and music that would shape the franchise for years to come.
Tetris (DOS)
Tetris was originally released in the USSR in 1985, later making it to the UK and USA in 1988. This classic puzzle game featured unique gameplay and soundtrack that has allowed it to dominate the genre for literal decades. Few games have managed to achieve the level of addictive and engaging gameplay, with Tetris champions and tournaments taking place and rising to this day.
Originally created by a Soviet software engineer, Tetris has now been recreated and remastered on more than 65 platforms. It’s arguably the most successful puzzle game in history, with recent mobile versions having made an estimated 520 million sales.
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Apple II)
If you ask some fans of the Ultima series, they will say that Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar is where the series really begins with I – III being beta tests. Richard Garriot wanted to shake up the roleplaying formula by not having a big bad to fight or a world ending event to spur the hero into action.
Instead Lord British (Garriot’s in-universe counter part) tasks the player to take on a spiritual journey to embody the Eight Virtues of Britannia and become the Avatar of legend. A truly open ended RPG, your actions mattered as you travelled the world, finding out what virtues are assigned to each city and performing the tasks required (for example Sacrifice asks you to give your gold to the needy) to ascend to Avatarhood.
Honourable Mentions
Many other titles were released in 1985, including Duck Hunt, Gradius and Commando. These games added in new mechanics and banging soundtracks as technology raced towards a new generation of gaming. At this time, home consoles were becoming more mainstream and accessible on the Western markets.
Nostalgia Legends
It’s incredible to think that these classic games are now 40 years old. It’s also really interesting to see the change and similarities in releases when compared to present day. Without these classics the gaming world would be a totally different place and it’s strange to think what the games market would look like without them.
Let us know below, what were your favourite games of 1985? And do you still play any of them?
