Not too long ago, I brought you my “Top Ten Video Games of 1987“. Now it’s time for me to unleash my “Top Ten Video Games of 1988″ on you. 1988 was an interesting year in games and in the world. We saw Dan Rather clash with George H.W. Bush on television concerning Bush’s known role in the Iran-Contra scandal. Who would have known that we’d still have a Bush in the White House twenty years later? Hustler won their case against Jerry Falwell in the Supreme Court. Although it was a satirical story made up by Hustler, one still has to wonder if Falwell had sex with his mother in an outhouse. The world may never know!

Oliver North along with John Poindexter were indicted on conspiracy charges against the United States (North went on to found organizations such as the Freedom Alliance, where they used the skills of Jack Thomspson, the lawyer all gamers love, to go after Ice T and the song “Cop Killer”). Kirk Gibson hit perhaps the most memorable home run in World Series history. 1988 was certainly a very interesting year, but let’s talk about the games…

Here are my picks for top ten video games of 1988:

1. Dragon Warrior 3 (NES)
   
2. Mega Man 2 (NES)
   
3. Bionic Commando (NES)
4. Ninja Gaiden (NES)
5. Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (NES)
6. Contra (NES)
   
7. Shinobi (Arcade)
8. Phantasy Star (Sega Master System)
9. John Madden Football (Apple II)
10. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

You are probably wondering why I didn’t find room for Zelda II on the list. Honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of the game. I felt it was stretched out too long, the game wasn’t put together well and was nowhere close to the great game we saw with the original Zelda. Despite my feelings for Zelda II, the NES certainly dominated my year in gaming. I was still more of a Sega guy at the time, but they really had nothing to compare to NES games of that year.

Dragon Quest III was certainly the greatest video game on 1988. According to Wikipedia, the game is the single reason why the Japanese government outlawed releases of Dragon Quest games on school days. Of the ten games I listed, Dragon Quest III is perhaps the most timeless. It’s as fun today as it was 20 years ago.

Whale image via Shirt.Woot

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Apple II, Clash, Contra, Dan, Dragon, game, George H.W. Bush, Hustler, III, Jack Thomspson, Jerry Falwell, John Madden, John Poindexter, Kirk Gibson, NES, Oliver North, Quest, Sega, Simon, time, Top, United States, video, wasn, world, year, zelda, Zelda II

It’s incredible that this Nintendo classic has hit the 21 year anniversary. Not to be confused with the latter side scrolling adventure game ‘Battle of Olympus’ Zelda II was released in 1988 in North America and 1987 in Japan. Many Zelda fans did not accept The Adventure of Link even being called ‘the black sheep” of the Zelda series. Sales were still high, as expected, possibly due to this Japanese commercial.

I think the little girl said, “Haha, we got the game first! You filthy American’s get it next year.”

Enjoy your OSS!

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: adventure, Anniversary, battle, classic, game, Japan, link, Nintendo, North America, Old, Old School Sunday, Olympus, OSS, School, series, sheep, side, Sunday, year, zelda, Zelda II

[Updated May 23rd, 2008] What makes video games successful? Is it the marketing, the gameplay or the name? While the correct answer is not known, what IS known is that Video Gamers know what they want. I’ve listed below the “Top 5 Selling Video Games on Every Gaming Platform” with how much revenue they’ve made. Did you know all of the games for PS2 begin with a letter “G”?

Atari 2600

1. Pac-Man (7 million)
2. Pitfall! (4 million)
3. Missile Command (2.5 million)
4. Demon Attack (2 million)
5. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1.5 million)

Nintendo Entertainment System

1. Super Mario Bros. (40.23 million)
- DuckHunt (28.31 million)
2. Super Mario Bros. 3 (18 million)
3. Super Mario Bros. 2 (7.46 million)
4. The Legend of Zelda (6.51 million)
5. Tetris (5.58 million)

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written by Juan Perez \\ tags: adventure, Auto, Bros, Drake, DS Nintendogs, E.T., Emerald, Gran, Grand, Japan, Legend, Liberty City, Luigi, Mario, Mario Advance, Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, Mario Land, Mario Sunshine, Mario World, Nintendo, Pearl, Playstation, Pokémon, Ruby, San, Sapphire, Silver, Sims, Super, system, Tetris, Theft, Tom-Clancy, Turismo, US, Veronica, Vice City, video, zelda, Zelda II