Do you remember taking a trip to the local arcade? The smoke-filled room, with the booming noises from the cabinets and watching someone play a game and admiring their skills?

I and many, loved visiting the arcades, whether they were at the seaside, down the local shops, at the fairground or simply a machine in a newsagents or take away restaurant – they were a source of excitement and passion.

Gone are the days of the arcade – now you go to a seaside resort or a amusement park and are greeted by a series of dance machines, fruit machines and the occasional racing simulator.

The titles that always were a firm favourite of mine were Galaxian. Pac Man, Street Fighter 2, Super Contra, Jackel, Outrun and After Burner.

They all spanned over a period of a decade (or slightly over in some cases) but they were ground breaking for all different reasons – and attracted huge interest in their time.

Don’t you wish you could just go back for a moment to a much simpler time and relive those moments? I know I do sometime when taking a trip down memory lane.

So…………..as a homage, take a look at the images below and cast your mind back to a distant, yet exciting time – being part of a new breed of entertainment for the masses.

The NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) was released to the masses in 1985 in Europe. The box-like 8 bit system still has influences from it’s design, even on today’s powerhouse machines.

Things, such as the gamepad layout are still seen on the current home systems – left hand d-pad layout, separate start and select buttons, not to mention the prime buttons being to the right hand side of the pad.

Nintendo revitalised the market with their vision – allowing 3rd party developers to work on and make games for the system. It allowed their system to be a platform to a wider number and types of titles.

Along with their own hit franchises, such as Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda and Metroid beginning to gather a quick and profitable fan base, the system dominated the 8 bit console market and gave Nintendo worldwide success over their rivals Sega.

In Japan, the system was known as the Famicom. Although the two machines looked vastly different in appearance, a lot of the internal parts and build were similar – although a major difference on the twi machines, was that the NES used a 72 pin cartridge, whereas the Famicom used a 60 pin cartidge.

Overall, Nintendo’s machine helped really get Nintendo on the worldwide map it terms of home gaming and is still hugely popular, with a large number of the original titles, now being played on the current systems via download