Before the internet happened, in the 1980s and the 90s, the gaming industry started shaping up. We bring you some fun facts about the earliest video games days!
Donkey Kong, was born in 1981: Nintendo’s main character, Mario first appeared as a carpenter in Donkey Kong. He went by the name Jump man, his girlfriend, Pauline is kidnapped by his pet ape, Donkey Kong. It was later that Mario became plumber for the Mario Bros. series!
The first Mario game was not Super Mario Bros.: It was Mario Bros. released in 1983, the first in the famous Super Mario game series. But Mario Bros was somewhat forgotten as the successor to the arcade game; Super Mario Bros. became the greatest video game of all times. Released in 1985, it sold over 40 million physical copies!
The original Street Fighter was almost unplayable: Street Fighter II is the father of the fighting game genre. The game may look relatively uninspiring and straightforward today but every attempt made in this genre before this game was a complete mess, even the original Street Fighter. Capcom released Street Fighter II in 1991 and made it fun to play!
Early video games were the hardest to play: Games were deliberately made ridiculously hard to play so that the players kept spending coins in the arcade. Even later, when home consoles came, the games remain tough to rent again and again!
The PlayStation is born: Sony and Nintendo entered into a partnership to develop a CD-based game console. However, Nintendo chooses to stick to cartridge-based technology owing to cost and privacy concerns. Thus, the original PlayStation was born as Sony went solo!
Nintendo’s Miyamoto was not allowed to bike to work: He created Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and several other best-selling franchises. He used to walk or ride a bicycle to work, but he was so important for Nintendo that it made him ride a car for safety purposes!
Best-selling video game so far: Minecraft is the most played games across all platforms, even ahead of the iconic Tetris. It was made by Markus Alexej Persson and was later bought by Microsoft. Another interesting fact, Space Invaders arcade game was so popular in Japan that it caused a temporary shortage of 100 Yen coins in 1978.
With modern technology, advanced real-life graphics and faster processors, video gaming has reached another level. Still, the charm of the old-world consoles, arcades and cartridges will always remain alive!
