Older Than the NES | Before 1985
Older Than Cable TV | 1939 — 1980
Older Than Television | 1890 — 1939
Older Than Radio | 1698 — 1890
Older Than Steam | 1439 — 1698
Older Than Print | 476 — 1439
Older Than Feudalism | ~800 BC — 476 AD
Older Than Dirt | Before ~800 BC
A good number of the RPG tropes can be found here, since these games trace their roots pretty much directly back to Tabletop RPGs such as Dungeons & Dragons, which were among the first commercial games to be adapted for a video game system. And to be clear: as long as it was an actual game, it counts for the purposes of this index, video or not; that being said, if a pre-1986 video game example exists, it should also be listed here.
Of note, the Nintendo company itself is Older Than Radio.
Tropes:
- Three-Quarters View: Android Two, 1983
- Action-Adventure: Adventure (Atari 2600), 1979
- Adventure Game: Colossal Cave, 1975
- Always Close: Major Havoc, 1983
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: RPG version, Wizardry 1, 1981
- Arbitrary Weapon Range: Spacewar!, 1962
- Armor and Magic Don't Mix: The Dungeons & Dragons Holmes Basic Set (1977) provides the earliest straight example, while The Fantasy Trip (also 1977) gives the earliest justified example.
- Arrange Mode: Some Pong systems, 197X
- Artificial Stupidity: Many, many many games; in particular, Pac-Man, 1980
- Ascended Glitch: Space Invaders, 1978
- Asymmetric Multiplayer: Nautilus, 1982
- Asteroids Monster: Asteroids (obviously), 1979
- Attack Its Weak Point: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, 1982
- Attract Mode: Many, many arcade games; Sinistar's (1982) is particularly famous.
- Blackout Basement: Adventure, 1979
- Block Puzzle: Sokoban, 1982
- Border Patrol: Saucers in shooting sections of I, Robot, 1983
- Boss Battle: dnd, 1975
- Boss Button: Bezare, 1981
- Bottomless Pits: Hunt the Wumpus, 1972
- But Thou Must!: Granny's Garden, 1983
- Character Level: dnd, 1975.
- Clairvoyant Security Force: Zork, 1979
- Collision Damage: Snake as Blockade, 1976
- Color-Coded Multiplayer: Some Pong systems, 197X
- Color-Coded Armies: Kreigsspiel, the first example of War Gaming and used to train the Prussian General Staff, 19th Century
- Command & Conquer Economy: Hamurabi (1968 then rewriting in BASIC in 1973)
- Compilation Re-release: Video Olympics (1977) was a repackaging of Pong along with several variants of it.
- Controllable Helplessness: Adventure, 1979
- Cores-and-Turrets Boss: Bosconian, 1981
- Corridor Cubbyhole Run: Spike's Peak, 1983
- Cosmetic Award: Activision mailed out physical ones for achieving a preset score in their Atari 2600 games.
- Cosmetically Different Sides: Spacewar! (1962) differentiated the two players with differently-shaped ships, dubbed the "Wedge" and "Needle".
- Critical Existence Failure: dnd, 1975, or Dungeons & Dragons, 1974
- Critical Hit: Avatar, 1979
- Cutscene: The Sumerian Game, 1966, Space Invaders II, 1979, or Pac-Man, 1980, depending on what you count as a "Cutscene".
- Deadly Walls: Berzerk, 1980
- Death Mountain: Alpiner, 1982
- Death Throws: Donkey Kong Junior, 1982
- Demonic Spiders: Centipede, 1980
- Difficulty by Acceleration: Breakout, 1976
- Difficulty Levels: Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device, 1947 (altering the circuits could make targeting easier or harder)
- Digital Pinball Table: Video Pinball, 1977
- Direct Continuous Levels: Scramble, 1981
- Directionally Solid Platforms: Jump Bug, 1981
- Double Jump: Dragon Buster, 1984
- Driving Game: Gran Trak 10, 1974
- Drought Level of Doom: The "Void" levels of Sinistar, 1982
- Dungeon Crawling: dnd, 1975
- Easter Egg: Moonlander, 1973, Ur-Example; Adventure, 1979, Trope Codifier
- Edible Collectible: Pac-Man, 1980
- Enemy-Detecting Radar: Star Trek Text Game, 1971
- Expansion Pack: Upper Reaches of Apshai (for Temple of Apshai), 1981
- Extra Lives: Space Invaders, 1978
- Every Bullet is a Tracer: Spacewar!, 1962
- Every 10,000 Points: Many, many arcade games. Goes back to pinball.
- Excuse Plot: Space Invaders, 1978
- Falling Damage: Has been present in video games since at least Donkey Kong (1981)
- Faux First Person 3D: Maze War, 1974
- Feelies: The plastic overlays for the Magnavox Odyssey (1972), which were meant to be placed over the TV screen as a substitute for graphics which the system was not capable of producing.
- Final Boss: dnd, 1975
- Fireballs: Donkey Kong, 1981
- First-Person Shooter: Maze War, 1974
- Flame Spewer Obstacle: Jump Bug, 1981
- Flip-Screen Scrolling: Superman (Atari 2600), 1979
- Game Maker: Pinball Construction Set, 1983
- Game Mod: Spacewar! had many such as adding mines, 1962
- Game Over: Space Invaders, 1978
- Game-Over Man: The TI-99/4A port of Hunt the Wumpus, 1980
- Gameplay Grading: Star Raiders, 1979
- Global Currency: Ultima I, 1980
- Goddamned Bats: Hunt the Wumpus, 1972
- Goomba Stomp: Horace and the Spiders, 1983
- Gravity Screw: Spacewar! (1962) has a star in the center of the playfield. Its gravity will pull at the ships if they get too close, and touching it results in death.
- Grimy Water: Spike's Peak, 1983
- Guide Dang It!: Colossal Cave, 1975
- H-Game: Custer's Revenge, 1982
- Hit Points: dnd
- Hornet Hole: Beezer, 1982
- Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt: Donkey Kong, 1981
- Instant 180-Degree Turn: Basketball, 1978
- Interactive Fiction: Colossal Cave, 1975
- Interactive Movie: EVR Race, 1975
- Interface Screw: Rogue, 1983
- Intoxication Mechanic: Castle Wolfenstein, 1981
- In-Vehicle Invulnerability: Gran Trak 10, 1974
- Inventory Management Puzzle: Colossal Cave, 1975
- Invincibility Power-Up: The Power Pellets in Pac-Man (1980) make the ghosts that normally kill Pac-Man with a touch powerless against him, as he can then chase and eat them instead.
- Invisible Grid: Maze War, 1974
- Isometric Projection: Zaxxon, 1982
- It's a Wonderful Failure: Missile Command, 1980
- Job System: Avatar, 1979
- Jump Physics: Donkey Kong, 1981
- Justified Extra Lives: Major Havoc, 1983
- Karma Meter: Ultima IV, September 1985
- Laser Hallway: Caverns of Mars, 1981
- Last Lousy Point: Colossal Cave, 1975
- Level Editor: Maze War, 1974
- Level Goal: Donkey Kong, 1981
- Level Grinding: Akalabeth, 1979
- Level Scaling: Beneath Apple Manor, 1978
- Licensed Game: Fonz, 1976, based on Happy Days (a rebranded version of the earlier game Moto-Cross); Licensed board games go back to at least 1890, with Parker Brothers releasing a game based on Mark Twain's (1869) Innocents Abroad.
- Light Gun Game: Ray-O-Lite, 1936 (also found under Older Than Television)
- Loads and Loads of Loading: Video Chess, 1979, on higher difficulty settings which gave the computer opponent more timenote to "think" of its next move
- Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Even if you don't count earlier Multi-User Dungeons, there's still Island of Kesmai (1985).
- Match-Three Game: OXO, 1952 — You do have to match three to win.
- Metapuzzle: Jumble, 1954. There were already Jumble riddles back in the day that required solving individual Jumble puzzles to be fully solved. Metapuzzles in crosswords and word search games followed suit.
- Metroidvania: Depends on definition, but most elements are present in Aztec (Apple II, 1982).
- Mini-Boss: dnd, 1975
- Mini-Game: Escape from the MindMaster, 1982
- Mon: Mail Order Monsters, September 1985
- Mook Maker: The oil drum in Donkey Kong, 1981, which produces a fireball enemy whenever a blue barrel reaches it.
- Multi-User Dungeon: Multi-User Dungeon, 1979
- Multiple Endings: Deadline, 1982
- Murder Simulators: Discussed in Deus ex Machina, 1984, when the Defect is lectured that "killing is wrong, even pretend killing on little screens".
- Nintendo Hard: Of course — if you're ignorant of anything Nintendo pre-NES — the title may now break your mind.
- Non-Standard Game Over: Star Trek Text Game, 1971, running out of fuel.
- No Plot? No Problem!: Sports and board games in general are Older Than Dirt.
- Numbered Sequels: Space Invaders II (1981), not to be confused with Space Invaders part II.
- Obvious Beta: Too many to list, especially on home computers; the most well known is E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982
- Official Game Variant: Monopoly's Short Game, introduced in 1943 in Monopoly: War Time Pack, is printed on a card in the box as an optional rule and adds a time limit.
- Old Save Bonus: Wizardry 2, 1982
- One-Hit Kill: Spacewar!, 1962
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Spacewar!, 1962
- One Bullet at a Time: At least as early as Space Invaders, 1978
- Oxygen Meter: Space Panic, 1980
- Painfully Slow Projectile: Air-Sea Battle, 1977
- Palette Swap: First color games, 1970s
- Password Save: Diamond Mine (Apple II, 1983)
- Pause Scumming: The Fairchild Channel F (1976) was the first game system to have a pause button (on the console itself), with Tennis and Hockey being the first games for it.
- Pinball Projectile: Combat, Atari 2600, 1977
- Player Versus Player: Tennis for Two, 1958
- Polygonal Graphics: Wayout (Atari 400/800, 1982)
- Porting Disaster: Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 (1982). With garish sounds and colors, greatly simplified gameplay, and a Misbegotten Multiplayer Mode that took out a large portion of what little memory was available, it was considered enough of a disappointment from arcade-goers to be one of the last straws leading into The Great Video Game Crash of 1983.
- Power-Up: Pac-Man, 1980
- Press X to Die: Star Trek Text Game, 1971
- Press X to Not Die: Dragon's Lair, 1983
- The Problem with Licensed Games: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982, Trope Codifier
- Puzzle Boss: Donkey Kong (1981)'s 100m, also known as the "Rivet Stage", where the goal changes from catching up to DK as in all the other stages to instead crossing eight points to weaken the structure and make him fall.
- Real-Time Strategy: Empire I (PLATO, 1974)
- Regenerating Health: Dragonstomper, 1982
- Rising Up The Food Chain Game: Shark! Shark!, 1982.
- Roguelike: Rogue, 1980
- Save Scumming: Rogue, 1980
- Scoring Points: Pong (1972), where a point is scored every time the other player's paddle fails to return the ball.
- Exidy's 1979 Arcade Game Star Fire was the first to feature a high score table.
- Scripted Event: Superman (Atari 2600) (1979): Lex Luthor's henchmen blowing up the bridge.
- Shielded Core Boss: Star Castle, 1980
- Shoot 'Em Up: Space Invaders, 1978
- Shovelware: A lot, most famously E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982
- Side View: Tennis for Two, 1958
- Silliness Switch: The potion of hallucination in Rogue, 1980
- "Simon Says" Mini-Game: Touch Me, 1974
- Simulation Game: Utopia, 1982
- Skill Scores and Perks: dnd, 1975, or Dungeons & Dragons, 1974
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Indy 500, 1977
- Smart Bomb: Defender, 1980
- Solve the Soup Cans: Colossal Cave, 1975
- Some Dexterity Required: Crazy Climber, 1980
- Space-Filling Path: Donkey Kong (1981)'s 75m, also known as the "Spring Stage", with a large amount of platforms that Mario does not necessarily need to cross to reach DK.
- Split Screen: Nautilus, 1982
- Sports Game: Tennis for Two, 1958
- Springs, Springs Everywhere: Mappy, 1983 (non-springboard version), Nuts & Milk, 1984 (springboard version)
- Stalked by the Bell: Evil Otto in Berzerk, 1980
- Stat Death: Dungeons & Dragons, 1974
- Status Line: Vector terminal port of Lunar Lander, 1973
- Stealth-Based Game: Castle Wolfenstein, 1981
- Stealth-Based Mission: 005, 1981
- Strategy Game: Go, Older Than Dirt
- Subsystem Damage: Star Trek Text Game, 1971
- Super Drowning Skills: While the trope is Older Than Dirt, one of the first video games to do this is Frogger, 1981
- Super Title 64 Advance: Most games on the Fairchild Channel F had the Videocart-(release number) prefix, the first being Videocart-1: Tic-Tac-Toe, Shooting Gallery, Doodle, Quadra-Doodle (1976).
- Take Cover!: Maze War, 1974
- Tank Controls: Tank, 1974
- Text Parser: Colossal Cave, 1975; Zork, 1979
- Tilesweeper: Mined Out, 1983
- Timed Mission: Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device, 1947
- Timed Power-Up: The Power Pellets in Pac-Man (1980), which temporarily give Pac-Man the ability to eat the ghosts normally pursuing him.
- Trial-and-Error Gameplay: Zork, 1979
- Turn-Based Strategy: Crush, Crumble, and Chomp!, 1981
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: Ultima I (1981), which suddenly switches from a Role-Playing Game to a Star Raiders-style first-person space shooter near the end.
- Unknown Item Identification: Roots in Tabletop RPGs where items may have hidden properties known only to the Game Master unless/until discovered by the players. For full video games, Rogue.
- Unwinnable Joke Game: El Ajedrecista, 1912note , a Chess endgame where the opponent played a rook and king and the player only had a king.
- Updated Re Release: Hamurabi (1973), a rewrite and port of The Sumer Game (1968).
- Vector Game: Tennis for Two, 1958
- Vehicular Combat: Demolition Derby (AKA Destruction Derby, but not to be confused with a later game with that title), 1975
- Violation of Common Sense: Killing the dragon, Colossal Cave, 1975
- Virtual Paper Doll: FaceMaker, 1983
- You Can't Get Ye Flask: Colossal Cave, 1975
- Walkthrough: There were guides written for Colossal Cave (1975)
- Warp Whistle: Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1982
- Watch for Rolling Objects: The barrels in Donkey Kong, 1981.
- Whammy: The hazard spaces in Game Of The Goose (15th century). Space 19: The Hotel, 31: The Well, and 52: The Prison make players who land on them lose turns, 42: The Maze makes players go back to space 39, and 58: Death sends players back to space 1.
- Wide-Open Sandbox: Space Travel, 1969
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: Moria, 1975
- Wrap Around: Spacewar!, 1962