Top 5 Vintage Video Games You Should Know
Most gamers have spent a portion of their childhoods running through mazes, fighting galactic battles, and rescuing princesses trapped by demons and turtle-shaped monsters. Unfortunately, not many can relive those days and it has become a necessity to capture those gameplays by recording them.
But how to get a high-quality video as the games had poor graphics? That's what we are going to be looking at in this article and providing a solution to store vintage video games in HD clear videos.
Part 1. Top 5 Vintage Video Games
There are a lot of vintage video games that are marked as being legendary but for this article, we have compiled a list of 5 most popular games including vintage handheld video games.
1. Tetris (Alexey Pajitnov, 1984) - (Unplayable original version)
Tetris can be throned as the King of vintage video games ever played. It was developed by a Soviet software engineer who wanted to recreate a puzzle game from his childhood. This is a 2D geometric spatial puzzle vintage video game with tetrominoes.
The simple concept is to align the shapes to fill the row. Once the row is filled, the row vanishes. The goal is to keep clearing the rows before the screen is filled and no more tetrominoes can be placed.
Features of Tetris 1984
- Black and white display since it is a vintage video game.
- The game art consists of punctuation marks giving low-quality visuals.
2. Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo, 1985)
Mario is a famous plumber whose job is to jump over mushrooms and turtles to save the princess from the evil king, Bowser. The game is the successor to Mario Bros and was developed by Nintendo.
This became the most-played vintage Nintendo video games ever to be released and had various renditions launched after its success.
Features of Mario Bros
- The game included 8-bit graphics with a bland color palette consisting of only 3 colors.
- The game was based on 256x244 resolution keeping the pixels to a minimum.
3. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo, 1991)
This is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo. In this vintage video game, the hero sets out on a journey to save Hyrule while rescuing the descendants of the 7 sages and defeating the Demon King.
The gameplay is from an overhead perspective and the game was developed in a 2D view. Even with poor graphics, people were invested in it and delved into the heroism of Link fighting for his princess.
Features of the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- The pixel art of the game is limited to 16-bit.
- The characters and the environment lack the level of realism as it was intended for 256x224 pixel displays.
4. DOOM (Id Software, 1993)
Doom is considered to be one of the scariest vintage video games ever developed. This is a first-person shooter game that made a revolutionary impact on the gaming industry. As the role of a space marine, the task is to explore the ship and rid it of demons and other creatures.
The game allows players to roam freely and discover secret areas and keeps the players on the edge of their seats. With its innovative gameplay and sound effects, Doom stayed at the top of highly-played video games back in the day.
Features of Doom
- Doom included cutting-edge 3D-rendered environments for that era and had some amazing lighting effects.
- The enemies were sprite-based that always faced the player.
5. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega, 1991)
In 1991, Sega joined the list by proving that it can develop a vintage video game as well. Sonic is a blue-colored Hedgehog whose goal is to speed through objects and defeat the robots of Dr. Ivo Robotnik while saving the animals that are under his control.
Throughout this adventure, Sonic needs to keep track of his rings and if the ring count drops to zero after being attacked by his enemies, the game comes to an end.
Feature of Sonic the Hedgehog
- The core mechanics of the game are set in a pixelated 2D platform.
- Multilayered backgrounds and parallax scrolling allowed the addition of depth and dimension to the visuals of the game.
IMPORTANT NOTE: As time goes by, some vintage games have disappeared, so it's vital to record them as permanent videos.
Part 2. Clarify Videos of Vintage Video Games with HitPaw VikPea
With the help of modern technological upgrades, outdated twentieth-century game graphics and blurry videos can be restored and preserved in higher definition.
One such amazing tool is the HitPaw VikPea (originally named as HitPaw Video Enhancer) which is a user-friendly tool developed to quickly improve the quality of the videos efficiently. It is a solution to convert vintage video game art into a 4K video representation.
Why Choose HitPaw VikPea?
- It incorporates AI to automatically review the video and make necessary corrections to the color settings of the video such as contrast, hue, saturation, etc.
- It has highly trained algorithms that allow upscaling low-quality videos to HD, 4K, or 8K videos.
- As most vintage video games have a black-and-white color scheme, HitPaw VikPea can colorize the gaming videos.
- The user-friendly environment allows adjusting as required without having a background in graphic design.
- The blurry images of vintage video games such as those of Doom can also be fixed using the present enhancement features.
Steps to Enhance Videos of Vintage Video Games
Step 1: Installing the Software
Step 2: Select the Required Model
There are numerous AI features available to choose from. Keeping in mind the limitations of the vintage video game, select the one that you think will be the best choice.
Step 3: Edit and Preview
After making the relevant selection, preview the results and make the required adjustments. If you are happy with the results, move to the next step otherwise you can continue editing your video.
Step 4: Wait and Export
After step 3, all you will have to do is wait for the software to develop your video. When it is done, just export it using the Export button at the bottom right of the window to a location of your choice.
Part 3. FAQs of Vintage Video Games
Q1. Which vintage Nintendo video games still exist?
A1. Numerous vintage Nintendo video games are still available including Donkey Kong, Metroid, Mario Bros, Mega Man 2, Donkey Kong Jr., Balloon Fight, Mario Kart 64, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter II, etc.
Q2. What is vintage video game art?
A2. Vintage video game art represents the games from the era of 1970s to 1990s. It consists of elements such as vibrant color schemes, hand-drawn artwork, pixel art, fantasy and sci-fi plot games, and games with very limited animation. Even though it is an old artwork, artists still bring in renditions of those eras as a tribute to the nostalgic time.
Final Thoughts
No matter how advanced we become in terms of graphics and gameplay, the era of vintage video games will never come to an end. It has a sentimental value to most gamers around the globe thus creating an opportunity for vintage video game players to record their gameplay.
So, what better to use than HitPaw VikPea for creating high-quality, blur-free, upscaled, and colorized gaming videos for us to reminisce over the past?
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Joshua Hill
Editor-in-Chief
I have been working as a freelancer for more than five years. It always impresses me when I find new things and the latest knowledge. I think life is boundless but I know no bounds.
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