Relive your past in all its 8-bit glory ^^.

This month we are going back to the days before Back to the Future for a classic arcade game.  Tempest is one of if not the finest examples of the early arcade.  It is also an oddity in that many view its remakes are better than the original.  We will be covering only official versions of Tempest this month, but we will have a list of clones and influenced bys incase you want a different game.  So get your spinner ready, its Tempest time.

Wonder Boy, Adventure Island, Wonder Boy, Adventure Island.   Whichever one you choose, you are in for a fantastic time.  Two games that are so strikingly similar it is scary.  What is the cause for this duality of gaming?  Why do skateboards come out of eggs?  And where is that guys shirt?  More, and the weather, at 5.

Have you already explored all the big-name games for Sega's 16-bit powerhouse? (if not, check out the best Games That Defined the Sega Genesis and The Best Sega Genesis Games Under $10)  The following mega-list will help you explore some of the under-appreciated gems in the Genesis/Megadrive library.

Survival Horror.  It is a genre of fear, of emotion, and of atmosphere.  Of all video game genres, survival horror is one of the most plot-driven, setting characters in horrific locales with strange and twisted beings.  It is also a genre that pulls heavily from other mediums, as many of the titles on this list can attest.  The titles that follow shouldn't surprise the reader: they are the titles that have formed and defined the genre and should be easily recognizable to fans of the genre.

The Legend of Zelda game series may very well be the single most venerated series in all of gaming. The original NES classic was recently seen in the number one spot of GameInformer Magazine's 200 Greatest Games of All Time. Every time a new entry is announced the gaming community seems to lose it's mind. The games appeal to all gamers of all skill level and all ages. Many say that there never truly been a bad game in the series. And yet not all the impact from these games has been positive. Unfortunately there are a few areas in which The Legend of Zelda pioneered some very regrettable trends that gamers are still forced to deal with.

Beat'em ups, which are also known as Brawlers (and belt scroll games in Japan), generally focus on one player taking on a large number of enemies in some form of melee oriented combat.  The beat'em up genre is also well known for offering co-op gameplay for 2-4 players, which for some people is a big part of the genre's appeal.  The genre should not be confused with one on one fighting games inspired by Street Fighter II, which is a common mistake some gamers make.  Though there is some shared history and crossover between the two genres in terms of characters and certain gameplay elements, they are not the same.

Ed Fries, a former Microsoft gaming vice president, has written and released a version of Halo that runs on the Atari 2600. The game is a free download and works with all your favorite emulators. Its release coincides with the 11th annual Classic Gaming Expo.

Gaming itself lives, learns, breeds, turns ill, and even dies just like a living creature. Whether the economy is good or bad, it often thrives. When the winds of change blow over it, it shifts to remain relevant. When a fixture of gaming's popularity spills over, it breeds new forms of media- music, a movie, toys, so-on. When it stubbornly refuses to innovate, it suffers from low interest and weakened demand. Gaming even collapsed and died at one point- only to be revived later, much akin to the mythical phoenix's life cycle. Most of all though, gaming evolves alongside its surroundings in order to survive.

When you add a console to your collection, the first thing you want to do is get a handful of games to keep you busy with your new toy. However, most of us can't spend afford to spend fat pile of cash for a few games. This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet.   Since the SNES is quickly growing with nostolgic collectors, it's getting harder to find real values in the SNES market.   However, as long as you don't mind skipping the harder-to-find cardboard boxes for the games, you can find these classics for $10 or less.  (Prices listed are an average eBay price for US cartridge-only games, including shipping)

Looking to start or build up your classic Game Boy collection? This budget-friendly list should help you quickly find which games will start you off well without emptying your wallet.

Mr. Bank, AKA BitBank, is the author of HiVE & Microsoft's Arcade Pack for Pocket PC, as well as various other applications for PC and Pocket PC. He currently resides in Southern Florida with his family and is very actively involved in Pocket PC software development.

I have a friend who owns several dozen pinball machines along with an old jukebox and an arcade cabinet or two. His collection now fills his basement, which has effectively put the brakes on his hobby. I'd love a few machines, too, but I fear that my house would share a similar fate. One appealing solution is a miniature arcade cabinet, like these two unique designs that recently popped up on the net.

30 years ago, videogames changed forever.

In 1991, a storm swept over the international arcade scene.  Street Fighter II swept the world, invigorating the arcade scene, determine the future of the ongoing home console war, and bringing a small genre fully into the public eye.  Much like Doom's effect on the First Person Shooter, Street Fighter 2 was followed by a legion of knock offs and clones, some mere travesties, and some with innovative and original ideas that would go on to further define the 2D VS. Fighter genre.

This section contains TXT and HTM formatted documents for old games. These files have mostly been created by users for other people to understand the games. Without these files many of the games have no instructions.

This site tries to list all adventure games (interactive fiction) produced over the years. When I say "adventure", I mean text adventures and their graphical decendants, but I don't include RPGs. For a more detailed description of what's included here and not, see the FAQ.

There have been a number of classic video game cartridges that have garnered surprising sums on the auction block over the years. On any given week on Ebay, or on dedicated fan sites, you can find plenty of titles changing hands for a couple hundred bucks. Notoriously rare Atari 2600 games like Tooth Protectors or Chase the Chuckwagon (which you got by sending in labels from dog food) trade for sums that far exceed the fun you're ever going to have with such rotten games. But every once in a while a retro cart comes along that goes for not hundreds, but thousands of dollars.

This page lists Sinclair ZX Spectrum games which were unpublished or games which only got as far as the prototype stage or storyboard!

As with the previous two TRB Top 100's, this is a long list of favourite games. My favourite games, that is. As with previous listings, the 2008 edition displays what position the game was in the 2006 listing, either (U), (D), (-), (NE) or even (RE).