The Influence of 80s Video Games on Modern Student Gaming Culture

The 1980s was a decade full of digital evolution for the game industry, and the early games with famous characters such as ‘Pac-Man’ along with ‘Super Mario Bros.’ and ‘The Legend of Zelda’. Although a lot of technology has been far advanced for decades, modern games these days are heavily inspired by those 80s games, especially in how student gamers enjoy those games. For students needing help with written assignments, a professional essay writing service like Academized can provide support. Academized offers expert writing services, helping students with essays, research papers, and more, making academic life easier.

In this essay, I will briefly discuss how 80s games are changing the way students are playing games today.

The Birth of Iconic Gameplay Mechanics

In addition, many of the core gameplay mechanics still seen in many modern games were first introduced in these 80s hits. In Super Mario Bros., players were taught to play with a style of gameplay later known as ‘platforming’, where the key to level completion usually lays in correctly timing jumps. You can see that influence in everything from mobile games such as Temple Run to console games like Celeste. Arcade games from the 80s such as Space Invaders and Galaga also pioneered the shoot-em-up game genre. With so many core gameplay mechanics still being implemented today as they were in the 80s, it’s clear that good gameplay design doesn’t age.

Quick-to-learn, yet in-depth, games, like the ones from the 1980s, fit easily with students’ lives that tend to be filled with class and personal obligations. The arcane mechanical skeleton that came out of the 1980s remains the backbone of gaming today.

Simple Graphics, Big Imagination

In the 80s, most video games had blocky, pixelated graphics that forced a player’s
imagination to fill in the gaps. The passage describes how the cartridge of The Legend of Zelda (1986) – the earliest game of the series – introduced a player to a world of limitless adventure through just a few pixels.

This is reflected in many contemporary indie games where simplicity is often the norm (the games Undertale or Celeste are good examples), with the use of pixelated art styles not because of technical limitations, but to evoke nostalgia and to inspire ‘imaginary play’. Many students of mine today, and certainly those who might want to build their own games, are influenced by the minimal graphics of old arcade games, which demonstrates that gameplay is not always about what it looks like but how it makes you feel and how it influences your thinking.

The Rise of Competitive Gaming

Competitive gaming first mastered the social nuances of 80s arcades, where you had to show up just in time to beat someone else’s high score on Donkey Kong or Pac-Man. Today’s multiplayer culture of students slamming away on games such as League of Legends, Fortnite and Rocket League, which draw audiences in the millions, has its roots in those arcades – because it is natural.

It is estimated by the Entertainment Software Association that more than 70 percent of college students in the US play multiplayer games. Since the 80s, many students have competed in organised esports tournaments. The goal of the games was usually to reach the top of the leaderboard at the end of the week. This competitive spirit of the 80s has been perpetuated in the form of today’s student gamers. Many colleges offer scholarships for esports. Students looking for assistance with their applications can seek personal statement writers for hire to craft compelling and tailored personal statements.

Nostalgia and Game Remakes

The 80s were so influential on gaming that many of those classic titles have been remade or re-released for modern consoles, and the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario series are still major franchises today.

80s Game Modern Remake or Continuation:

Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Odyssey (2017)
The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (2017)
Pac-Man Pac-Man Championship Edition (2010)
Tetris Tetris Effect (2018)

These re-releases and remakes are giving these students a glimpse into the roots of their favourite franchise, allowing them to relive classic titles with which many are familiar. The nostalgia factor is huge, especially since many modern gamers are playing old titles for the first time on new hardware. There is a connection here between past and present. The students are part of gaming history.

Influencing Game Music

The music of 80’s video games is iconic, but even the composer behind some of the best tracks didn’t work with a team of 30 – he had some funky sound chips. Check it out – instantly recognizable, yep.

Today, chiptune music – the generic word for electronic music akin to the soundtracks of these early video games – has grown its own fanbase, especially among youths and indie game developers. The retro novelty of the sounds is appealing and creatively fashionable, and there are even some students who make their own game music using that old-school technique. And in chiptune music, now a vibrant genre, we even see professional productions retaining the 1980s-style arcade feel, as in the popular game Shovel Knight, among others.

Social Aspects of 80s Gaming

These 80s arcades were not simply places where to play games, users could get together, share tips and try to beat each other’s scores. This very sociability of gaming has survived to this day. In fact, student gaming culture, especially in multiplayer games (be they online or face to face), is a way for students to get together and bond with each other.

Sure, today’s students might provide their ‘quarter drops’ in other, less crowded places than the arcades of the 80s, perhaps online gaming platforms like Discord chats or the annual gaming clubs hosted on campus, but the key here is that the social aspect of gaming remains. New gamers still develop their own small gaming groups – just like the regulars at the 80s arcades – and forge strong friendships with each other through common gaming experiences.

Game Design and Development Interest

The simplicity of 80s games also led many of them to consider developing games themselves. With fewer individual assets and simpler programming requirements, retro-style games provide a manageable point of entry for a newcomer. Many of today’s students begin developing games with simple engines such as ‘GameMaker’ or ‘Unity’, which allow them to produce 2D platformers in the style of the games they grew up with.

The reach of these early games goes far beyond just playing. A lot of student game developers say that they’re inspired by the simple, compelling nature of 80s-era gameplay and try to recapture that in their own work. The success of student-led indie game projects is one indicator of how much influence these games still have on a new generation of game makers.

Conclusion

You cannot deny that the gaming culture on today’s university campuses is influenced by 1980s video games. Competitive multiplayer environments, novel remakes of retro games, and simple yet challenging mechanics of good old-school games are what students crave nowadays in a relatively monotonous gaming landscape. Although the 80s is long gone, its influence on gaming – and student culture – has never been bigger.