Featuring: Pacman, Snake, Tetris, Space Invaders, Frogger, Asteroids, Breakout, Pong, Centipede and Missile Command.
Today at freegames.org we are feeling all retro so thought we would list our favorite free classic retro games of all time for you to play online. So why not take a nostalgic trip to the 1980’s, the golden era of arcade games, and give some of them a go!
Pacman
Pacman was first released in Japan in 1980 and has been hugely popular ever since. Indeed, it is one of the most popular arcade games of all time. In the game you control Pacman, an iconic yellow circle with a big mouth, through a maze, avoiding ghosts (called Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde) and eating pac-dots. To clear each level you must eat all the pac-dots.
Snake
Snake is one of the most popular arcade games ever created and really took off when it was featured as a game on Nokia phones. It is a very simple yet highly addicting game in which you must eat food to become longer and avoid touching either yourself or the sides of the game.
Tetris
Tetris is a classic puzzle game first released in 1984. A hugely iconic game, Tetris is available for almost every video console and computer operating system. In the game a random sequence of shapes, all of which are composed of four square blocks, fall down into the matrix. The aim is to create a horizontal line of ten blocks without gaps. Once this is accomplished the line disappears. It has also been shown that playing Tetris is good for your brain - so what are you waiting for? Give it a go now!
Space Invaders
Space invaders is a classic shooting game in which you must fire lasers at rows of enemy space aliens. Released in Japan in 1978 Space Invaders was such a popular arcade game that is caused a shortage of 100 yen coins! Space invaders continues to be popular today and holds the Guinness World Records for being the top rated arcade game. Space Invaders has inspired many other games and the pixelated enemy alien has become a pop culture icon often used to represent video games as a whole.
Frogger
Frogger, originally called Highway Crossing Frog, is an arcade game released in 1981. In the game you must help Frogger cross some busy roads and get him safely to the bushes on the other side. To do this you must avoid various different vehicles and navigate hazardous rivers filled with unfriendly wildlife.
Asteroids
Asteroids was released in 1979 and is one of the most influential shooting games of all time. In the game you must shoot and destroy asteroids and flying saucers and you must avoid being hit by either the asteroids or the flying saucers' counter fire. The highest ever score for Asteroids was achieved on April 6 2010 by John McAllister. It took him 58 hours to achieve 41,338, 740 points. Can you beat him?
Pong
Pong is one of the earliest arcade games and is the first game developed by Atari who released it in 1972. It was the first commercially successful video game and continues to be popular today. Pong is two player table tennis game in which the aim is for a player to earn more points than his opponent.
Breakout
In Breakout you must destroy bricks with a ball whilst not allowing that ball to fall off the screen. The game was created in 1976 and was developed to turn the classic arcade game Pong into a one player game.
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Centipede
In Centipede you control a gun at the bottom of the screen and must destroy a centipede as it makes its way from the top of the screen to the player area. You must also avoid or destroy other nasty bugs such as spiders, fleas and scorpions. Once you have destroyed the centipede you move onto the next level.
Missile Command
Released in 1980, Missile Command is considered to be one of the most popular retro games. In the game you must shoot and destroy incoming missiles with your laser beam to prevent the enemy from destroying your cities. The game is a manifestation of the Cold War’s effects on popular culture and parallels a real life nuclear war. Indeed, whilst developing Missile Command the game developer had terrible nightmares that these cities were real and were actually being destroyed by nuclear bombs!