Any time a series inspires an entire genre of games, you know they’re doing something right. One half of the inspiration behind the ever-popular Metroidvania genre of games, Castlevania does a lot of things well and arguably includes the most battles against Count Dracula featured in any gaming series.

The retro video-game market rakes in around 200 million dollars annually. This despite the fact that we live in a bit-torrent age where consumers want and expect free entertainment.

The late 1970s saw the release of the Atari 2600 and the rise of the home gaming console. But by the early 1980s, it crashed and burned. This was due mostly to gamers’ frustration at sub-par games (“E.T. The Extra Terrestrial,” anyone?). The sentiment effectively killed the home-console market.

These days, game systems come with all kinds of I/O ports—USB, HDMI, Ethernet, Optical Audio and more. These portals are used to do everything from log online to connect digital cameras.

1998, as we’ve talked about in the previous article, saw the release of some all-time classics. 3D began to take hold, and games and game developers responded in kind.

The Dark Knight is without a doubt one of the most beloved comic book characters and pop culture icons of all time. Over decades, Batman’s brooding nature, ace detective skills and colorful gallery of villains have become second nature to most of us.

1997 was another solid year for retro video games. Plenty of long-running franchises came out with fun entries, and some unexpected gems stole gamers’ hearts worldwide. This was also the year 3D Realms began developing the game that ended up taking an eternity to release – Duke Nukem Forever. 

As we’ve mentioned in Part 1 of this series, 1996 was a truly landmark year for video games. The industry saw a huge number of classic entries – from violent first-person shooters, to fun platformers and grim strategy games.

In a previous blog post we touched on five of the most iconic video games of the 1980s. This wasn’t necessarily a compilation of the greatest games (although some, like Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros. will always have re-playability), but rather those titles that defined a decade.

A Day Late and a Dollar Long: The Joys of Gaming a Generation Behind

Aside from my first console and first computer, falling a console generation behind in the mid-nineties was the best thing that ever happened to me as a gamer.