Year: 1981 Platform: Arcade, C64, NES It's impossible to talk about the '80s in any depth without mentioning the cultural icon that is Donkey Kong. The game that made Nintendo big in the U.S., Donkey Kong was the first popular single-screen platformer, and one of the most played of the entire decade. The gameplay was simple: jump over the various moving obstacles to get points and save the princess from the evil monkey. It's absurdly simple by today's standards, but this was one of the first times an arcade game had a real visual narrative to follow, making it far more accessible for non-gamers. The first game to be designed by industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto, Donkey Kong is a true piece of gaming history.
