The Best Retro Games of All Time

The gaming experience has evolved a lot over the last several decades. Designers have gone from using two rectangles and a square to simulate a game of tennis to creating games that look almost as good as real-life in less than 50 years.

Some gamers spend thousands each year to continually have the best hardware to play the latest titles on, ensuring they can max out the graphics settings and get the fastest possible framerates.

Online play has become a big feature in modern games too, with many developers focusing more on this functionality than the traditional single-player modes.

or all the advancements in gaming technology, publishers continue to release “remastered” versions of old games and players continue to use emulators and old hardware to enjoy the games they enjoyed in times gone by. And with good reason too, for what retro games lack in graphics, they make up for in fun.

Here are some of the best retro games of all time that you can still enjoy today.

Super Mario Kart

Mario Kart has become one of the most successful racing game series of all time thanks to its winning formula of using popular characters, easy-to-use controls, and focusing on fun instead of realism.

Released back in the summer of 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Mario Kart let players race as one of the eight characters from the other Mario games including Yoshi, Toad, and Luigi. It introduced us to some of the most famous Mario Kart circuits too, including Bowser Castle, Mario Circuit, and the legendary Rainbow Road.

What makes Mario Kart so successful is that it can be enjoyed by car nuts and casual players alike. An understanding of racing lines and racing can be beneficial, but the power-ups in the game are designed to level the playing field by giving more useful tools to those near the back of the field.

Super Mario Kart remains a popular game today, despite multiple sequels that have used the same many of the same tracks. That’s why it’s been made available on the Wii, Wii U, 3DS, Super NES Classic Edition, and Switch.

Poker

Poker is perhaps the ultimate retro game having been played for more than one hundred years and having roots that go back much further. Being so old, multiple variants have emerged as offshoots of some of the older forms of poker, though most have retained the same basic concepts.

Unlike card games like blackjack, poker is (usually) a game that you play against other people rather than the house, providing you with the opportunity to play more strategically, bluff, and try to read the body language of others at the table.

Like many other retro games, poker has been released on just about every device imaginable, so you can play it on your computer, smartphone, tablet, or even your TV. There are even virtual reality versions that give you a fully immersive poker experience in different scenarios like Macau 2050 or in a Monte Carlo yacht.

Pac-Man

Pac-Man is one retro title that most people have played at some point in their lives, even if they’re not someone who typically plays games. First released in July 1980 for arcade machines, this relatively simple maze game captured the hearts and minds of gamers across the world.

The game has been re-released on just about every platform you could imagine, including most consoles released since the 1980s, computers, smartphones, televisions, tablets, and web browsers. Google even created a Pac-Man Doodle in 2010 to celebrate the game’s 30th anniversary.

To capitalize on the game’s huge success, multiple Pac-Man sequels were released, including Ms. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, and Professor Pac-Man.

Following on from the success of scrolling platform games like Super Mario, Pac-Land was released in 1984. This 2D, side-on game featured Pac-Man with arms, legs, and a hat. Players were tasked with directing him along each level, avoiding the various obstacles and enemies situated throughout.

Despite all these sequels, the original Pac-Man remains the most popular version. Its simplicity and infinitely variable maze layouts mean it can be played over and over again.