The 80s and 90s were amazing decades for computers and gaming. We had the glory of the arcade days in the late 70s with games like Space Invaders, but the 80’s and 90’s saw the emergence of home computers, and being able to play really great games in your own house…Or Bedroom! It was the revolution of 8-bit gaming, games were really made to come to life as well as having to use your imagination just a little bit.
There were a selection available, with some firm favourites which were loved then, and are still loved today. Let’s have a look at a couple of our favourite computers from the 80s.
Commodore 64
The darling of the 8-Bit gaming world could well be the Commodore 64. Also know as the C64 or C-64, it got it’s name from the 64kb RAM which the computer had. There were so many great games from this machine, too many to list. But we particularly loved IK+ (International Karate Plus) and Prince Of Persia, and spent so many hours on these! Who could forget the double kick in IK+, with a MR Miyagi like character and going up the ranks with your belt changing colours! You can have a look at our Commodore 64 T-Shirt here if you were a fan of the old 8-bit gaming system.
Amiga
The ultimate in home computing. It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about the Amiga 500, 500+, 600 or 1200, if you’re talking about one of them, you’re talking about all of them. For us this generation of Amiga computers is the biggest thing since slice bread. The Amiga 1200 was the holy grail of them all, with a massive 2MB of RAM, the whole computer was encased within the keyboard including 3.5″ floppy drive. We spent hours playing games like Championship Manager, Sensible Soccer and Cannon Fodder on this machine, it was everything you could ever want in a home computer. You can show your love with our Amiga T-Shirt, and remember those glory days of real gaming on a computer in the 90s.
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum was created in the UK by Clive Sinclair and released in 1982. It was an 8-Bit home computer, and loved by so many. There were some great games and memories from this computer, all games were loaded using a cassette tape, and was the UK’s answer to the Commodore 64 which came from the USA. A firm favourite game from the Spectrum was Dizzy from the Dizzy series, which went on to other platforms too.
Atari ST
Unlike the previous models, the Atari ST was a 16/32 bit machine which became available in the 90s. The price of almost $1000 for a model with a colour screen seems huge today, and that was the price in the very early 90s! Still, it holds a place in our heart. Some of the games we remember from this machine were Chase HQ, but it was mostly loved by musicians because of the MIDI ports and support it carried.
The Others
There were other computers too, such as the BBC and who can forget Alan Sugar’s Amstrad. They played their part in the 80s and 90s computer wars, but our firm favourite computer of all time has to be the Amiga range, from the A500 up to the A1200 they provided hours, days and years of entertainment.