20 Things Only 30-Something Gamers Will Understand

One show lingers in the memory of even the most casual gamer... GamesMaster.

Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore played the disembodied titular character from 1992 to 1998 as kids from across the UK battled it out on telly for a coveted GamesMaster Golden Joystick.

Part of Channel 4's dynamic commissioning phase, GamesMaster was a weekly feast of news, cheat codes, celebrities, babes and controversy. More broadly it gave would-be gamers a window in to a world they previously had no access to because they were either too poor or their parents thought video games were the work of the devil.

They weren't far off. 

Anchored by Dominik Diamond, the sharp-tongued swashbuckler lunged from piece to piece, almost in contempt of the whole process, in turn aping the smooth and welcoming style of Saturday morning kids TV. 

Replace him with anyone else and GamesMaster simply wouldn't have worked as well, a point proved in series 3 as producers tried to mainstream the show. 

Dominik Diamond wasn't clean-cut and he didn't speak RP. He dressed terribly, wore glasses and was Scottish. He had the best gig on the box and he knew it. Legend.