Strachey's List - 1977
The Most Consequential Games of All-Time
Strachey’s List is my list of the most acclaimed, consequential, and influential titles of all time. There is a max limit of 20 games per year. As always, this is all my opinion and research.
Circus
Circus plays similar to the previous year’s Breakout. The goal is to get your character, a clown, to be able to hit balloons and make them disappear. The game build on the success of Breakout and became a hit in the arcades. It also showed that in an industry filled with copycat clones, you could be inspired by a game and put your own spin or new paint on it, without having to shamelessly copy everything.
Combat
This polarizing game had a whopping twenty-seven different ways to play, all based around military vehicles and combat. It was targeted to be a popular game for the recently released Atari VCS console. The problem is most of the “games” included are just slightly different variations of others included in the cartridge. The game initially got mixed and at times negative reception. However, as time as passed by, it’s now seen as an important part of the Atari console and 1970s video games. It also showed that a public beginning to heal from the wounds of Vietnam, were open to military based video games.
Scratch
I’m going to level with you guys, I found practically no information on this game. So why am I including it? Well, it was a mega hit in Japan, where it seems it was only playable. It’s one of the first golf video games and I felt the success of the game and the importance of being another sports video game first, it deserved to get the Strachey’s List honors. It’s a shame such little information is out regarding it.
Blockade
Considered one of the first fathers of the snake genre video game, Blockade has players battle it out with two arrows in which both players then move, and they leave behind walls. If an opposing player hits a wall created by the other, it explodes, and the score goes to the player who created the wall. It’s a slightly different take on the classic game Snake. The game was the only real hit for small company Gremlin, who eventually sold to Sega.
Boot Hill
This is the sequel to the 1975 mega hit Gun Fight / Western Gun. It’s essentially the same game with some new additions such as barriers and more on-screen sprites happenings such as wagon passing by. It went on to become one of the highest grossing arcade games of its time. This was the first successful true sequel to a video game, rather than a clone or variation of its predecessor.
Bazooka
Another game that has surprisingly little information yet was a success at the arcades. Bazooka had you target tanks and enemies with a replica bazooka, making it what we know today as a light-gun game. Players also had to be careful not to hit medical personnel and vehicles. Despite the lack of documents and information, Bazooka was a pretty popular game at the time, and as mentioned earlier with Combat, showed the American public was open to exploring militaristic video games as Vietnam drew to a close.
Nintendo Color TV-Game 6
A small Japanese toy and card company created a Pong clone style home console with different variations and a focus on providing color to your gaming experience. That company is now arguably the most well-known video game company in the world - Nintendo. While not nearly as consequential as the NES, the Nintendo TV-Game 6 home console is the very beginning of a legendary icon making its presence known in the industry it would come to revolutionize.