The Best Games With A 40th Anniversary In 2025

Guess what? Video games have reached a new milestone. To all the games released in 1985, congratulations on turning 40 in 2025. To all the people who remember when those games came out, congratulations on your back problems.

That’s right, there are now iconic, still-beloved games that have been around for 40 years. Some of your favorite games are probably older than you realize. But you may be shocked to discover how many of them predate the invention of Cool Ranch Doritos (1986, if you’re curious).

8

Ice Climber

January 30, 1985 (NES, Japan)

One of the earliest examples of classic Nintendo’s love of pillow-screamingly difficult games, Ice Climber smashed its way into living rooms in Japan and North America throughout 1985, with Europe finally getting a crack at it the following year. It may look cute, but it will fight.

Ice Climber’s deceptively high skill level ramps up as you go, earning it a spot in 2024’s Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. But its memorable characters, Nana and Popo, had already been enjoying a years-long resurgence in the public eye with their inclusion in nearly all of the Super Smash Bros.

7

Paperboy

February 1985 (Arcade, Europe)

It feels like games have started coming full circle, because it would honestly make perfect sense to see a modern indie game about delivering newspapers even if Paperboy never existed. But this arcade and NES classic proved very early on that games can embrace both the wholesomeness and the chaos.

Starting out in arcades, the novelty of Paperboy was quickly apparent. Delivering newspapers was an experience folks of all ages had grown up with, and the idea that the whole world was seemingly conspiring to make the job as difficult as possible just felt all too relatable.

6

Ghosts ‘N Goblins

September 4, 1985 (Arcade, North America)

Every good arcade needs a real quarter muncher, a game so brutally difficult that players have to keep paying up due to all the not being alive that keeps happening. For many kids in the 80s, that game was Ghosts ‘n Goblins, making the eventual console release on the NES almost seem like a solid investment if you wanted to save your change in the long run.

This action platformer remains an exercise in frustration, with satisfying jumping and lance-throwing that nevertheless inevitably results in so, so many lost lives. Rage quits are not so uncommon during a Ghosts ‘n Goblins play session. Even so, it spawned a long-running series that continues to keep players’ blood pressure sufficiently high.

5

Gauntlet

October 15, 1985 (Arcade, United Kingdom)

It’s fascinating how games released 40 years ago can still actively inspire new releases. One look at 1985’s arcade classic Gauntlet and you can immediately see where some of your favorite modern games like Vampire Survivors and Marvel Ultimate Alliance got their ideas.

A top-down view with enemies coming at you from all directions. It’s a simple concept, but one that’s continued to scratch a very persistent itch for countless players in the decades since. While the Gauntlet series doesn’t enjoy the same popularity it once knew, its legacy can’t be denied.

4

Space Harrier

October 2, 1985 (Arcade, Japan)

Some long-time players might lament certain eras of gaming for allegedly focusing too much on visuals instead of gameplay. But really, video games have been sold on their visuals since the inception of the medium, and as shown with titles like Space Harrier, the gameplay doesn’t have to suffer.

In a time when 3D games were simply unheard of, some developers had to get creative. So Sega set the bar with sprite scaling tech for this high-energy surreal shooter that still keeps your adrenaline pumping to this day. Space Harrier remains a classic, even getting ports as minigames in several of the Yakuza games.

3

Gradius

February 2, 1985 (Arcade, Japan)

The concept of a video game where you control a spaceship and shoot things wasn’t anything new in 1985. Even 1979’s Asteroids was late to the party, and that’s the one people love to drag out as the first “everything” when it comes to video games. But Gradius is one of many games that expanded the genre in ways still felt today.

Unlike previous games, Gradius included a mechanic for upgrading your ship’s weapons, shifting regular blasts to laser beams, and even little drones that add to your firepower. As an arcade game in the 80s, it was hard as nails, and that difficulty didn’t subside when it moved to consoles. But it didn’t drive away players either, and went on to become one of the most iconic game series in the shoot-em-up genre.

2

Super Mario Bros.

September 13, 1985 (NES, Japan)

Super Mario Bros. is 40 years old in 2025, and it’s not even the oldest Mario game. Nintendo’s favorite Italian beef cash cow has more than earned tenure by this point, and it’s about time this particular game reached such an important milestone.

While Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. introduced Mario to arcades, Super Mario Bros. brought the character to an even bigger audience on the NES. Not only that, but its simple and intuitive platforming gameplay inspired quite literally countless games in the decades since.

1

The Oregon Trail

Autumn 1985 (Apple 2 Computer)

Beyond ensuring generations of kids knew about dysentery, The Oregon Trail is one of those quantum games that are actually fun while selling themselves as “educational” to teachers around the country. Based on the popular text-based game of the same name, 1985’s updated version with actual visuals cemented it as a classic.

A staple of countless classrooms throughout the late 80s and 90s, The Oregon Trail remains an almost intimidatingly strategic game. As you cart your family across the United States, you have to manage food, money, the wagon itself, and illnesses. It remains an early example of video games tackling more mature themes, dysentery memes notwithstanding.