If the names Blackthorne, Super Mario, Stunts and Maniac Mansion mean anything to you, then you had a cool childhood. This was the time where one had to type the word “look” to investigate their surroundings, two-dimenensional sword fighting was the bomb and the word “Descent” meant an awesome subterrainean ship – exploring labyrinths infested with virus-infected robots. This was 80s, 90s of classicware gaming at its finest.
If you are a fellow parent like me, I’m sure the fancy 3D touch-based gaming of your kids today feels bland. It probably blows your mind when they enter a room in a game, then leave without opening every chest and breaking every wooden barrel in sight.
Now you can share the nostalgia with your kids through board games.
10. World of Tanks Rush – This game just reminds me of the old games Operation Wolf and Cannon Fodder. The actual board game was actually part of the World of Tanks brand and carries the same art style. A unique deckbuilder that manages only 3 card hand draws. Each card can be used in multiple ways, making up for the limited hand size.
9. Mice and Mystics – One of the memorable movies back in the day was American Tail which was also made into an Adventure Point-and-Click game. Some other games from this genre were Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle and the Kings Quest series. In these types of games, you join adventurers on an epic journey. That is exactly what you get with Mice and Mystics. It feels like you were brought into those old Fairy Tail movies and you get to fight the meanies and baddies along the way.
8. Pixel Tactics – This game just reminds me of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy Tactics. The pixel art probably contributes to that but more so is the tactical aspect of its game play. Every game you play of Pixel Tactics feels unique and different because each card functions differently, depending on where it was placed on the grid.
7. Jab: Realtime Boxing – Button bashing goodness just like good old Punch Out. This is a real-time board game where you try to play cards on the different zones of your opponent, while your opponent is doing the same to you. Place defense cards to counter certain attacks and build up combos for spectacular finishes. A frenetic board game where kids will likely win.
6. Imperial Assault – Star Wars has been around since the 70s. Multitudes of games from every platform were made and are being made for this franchise. One game from this line was an old DOS (Disk Operating System) game was actually named Rebel Assault. While the DOS game was more of an RPG space flight simulator, Imperial Assault the board game focuses on the tactical side. The box comes with two game modes, adventure and skirmish. Imperial Assault is choc-full of cool miniatures from the old and of the new.
5. Boss Monster – The epitome of classic DOS gaming was side-scrolling adventure games. From Super Mario, Duck Tales, Castlevania, Flashback and Prince of Persia it was all about going through rooms and rooms full of koopas and minions. At the very end of each level you have a boss fight only to find out that the princess is yet in another castle. In Boss Monster you get to be the boss and defend your castle from these opportunistic heroes out to get treasures you’ve amased within. When I play with kids I like to add the context we must defend from these heroes raiding our castles senslessly just to get our loot.
4. Terror in Meeple City (Rampage) – There was a game back then called Rampage where you are this cartoony dino running around this side-scrolling city climbing up buildings then leveling them flat to the ground. This game was actually called with the same name until they got a letter to change. It captures the childish mayhem of just bashing things very well.
3. King of Newyork / King of Tokyo – Donkey Kong was a prolific game back then. In King of New York or King of Tokyo, you get to play the giant ape as well as many other monsters. In both these games, players roll dice to find out what they can do in a turn. They get to re-roll any number of dice twice while keeping others. You can attack the players inside Manhattan or Tokyo, or if you are inside those citites attack everyone else! You can buy upgrades to make your monster more awesome than it already is. I recommend King of Newyork for its additional complexity but there is really no harm in getting both.
2. Battle at Kemble’s Cascade – This is a board game that lets you play Space Invaders or Galaga on a table. You move your ship along these tracks which actually scrolls downwards while you dodge asteroids and shoot aliens. The mechanic alone is cool the gameplay is even better. Compete with your friends to corner each into asteroid belts or swarm of enemies. If you liked these types of games back in the day you should definitely check out Battle at Kemble’s Cascade.
1. XCOM: The Board Game – My favorite game in the 90s was XCOM. Aliens have invaded our planet and you have been tasked to head this eXtraterrestial COMbat unit. The PC game had many releases since then but always had two main modes: the tactical mission perspective and the global strategy perspective.
XCOM the Board Game pushes you into different strategic roles. Play as: the Commander, managing the skyrangers and the controlling the budget; the Chief Scientist, dedicating their lives in search for the tech to make the game a little less difficult; the Squad Leader, who manages the assignment of troops into missions or base defense; or the Central Officer, manages sattelite deployment and interfaces everyone else to the app.
Yes you’ve read it right, an App is required to play this game, works with Android, iOS and even desktop PCs. The app acts as the AI for this cooperative game that dynamically modifies the event structure depending on each and every decision the players make. It captures the intense moment when you need to decide wether to save a country from utter panic or receive the funding you so badly need.
Hope you liked this list and if you have other games that remind you of your happy gaming days leave it on a comment below. Until next time, have a great day and make your games count!
Written by: Ronald Villaver
Edited by: Reg Tolentino