10 game systems gamers from the 80s will remember

From Pac-Man to Space Invaders, the Atari 2600 completely rewrote the home gaming experience, bringing a slice of the arcade right into your living room. Complete with its very own joystick, it let you play all your favourite hits without leaving the house (though we seriously don’t miss the hand cramps).

The Atari’s main rival, this flat disc controller wasn’t just unbelievably modern-looking for the time – it had some of the most impressive graphics of the early 80s. Known for its pioneering sports games, from NFL Football to NHL Hockey, it made you feel like a regular sports pro.

Marketed as a leading arcade alternative, this popular device might have had a smaller gaming library than its rivals, but its high-quality graphics made it endlessly popular amongst gamers. Though it had a shorter life in the US, we had a few good years playing its impressively faithful version of Donkey Kong.

The company’s first globally successful home console, the NES may have endless modern alternatives now, but nothing quite beats those original days playing Super Mario or Zelda. The sleek controller set the course for consoles to come, and sparked an era of fast-paced, button-mashing fun.

Sega’s challenge to the NES came packed with arcade-quality graphics and extra details gamers couldn’t get enough of. While its legendary titles like Psycho Fox and Alex Kidd in Miracle World were enough to keep us glued to the screen for hours, who can forget those 3D glasses that made you feel unbelievably cool?

Still recognised by the Guinness World Records to this day as the best-selling single desktop computer model of all time, the Commodore 64 was legendary for its gaming library – that is, if your dad wasn’t commanding it for work. A re-creation of the classic device was announced last year, so devout fans have a chance to relive the magic.

A landmark invention in affordable colour computing, this device was an undisputed phenomenon – especially in the UK. From its rubber keyboard to that iconic rainbow stripe, the 8-bit computer treated us to a library of over 10,000 games – complete with a tell-tale screeching sound as you waited for Manic Miner to load.

An affordable option to the Amiga 1000, this computer quickly became a hit with gamers thanks to its high processing speed that supported crisp gaming graphics – for the time, anyway. Though it left us in the 90s, many old-school tech fans are calling for its reinvention, hoping to relive the glory days of vivid colour and 4-channel sound.

Unlike its competitors, the Vectrex opted for built-in vector graphics, creating glowing, geometric games that were unlike anything else on the market. With its translucent colour overlays to the light pen that allowed you draw on the screen, this retro console felt truly futuristic.

Though eventually eclipsed by the popularity of the Atari 2600, this device was still a showstopper in its own right. Set up with impressive graphics that brought games like Star Raiders to life, it also doubled as a powerful home computer, entertaining gamers and budding programmers alike.