A revolution stirs...

By 1984 almost every major Hollywood studio had a videogaming subsidiary. Tie-in games like Ghostbusters and Aliens on the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 did their best to bring the movies into your living room.

In 1987 the aptly titled Cinemaware brought cinema-style adventures to the  Commodore Amiga and Atari ST – a playable game of The Three Stooges used digitised pictures from the movies, while movie themed games like Rocket Ranger paid homage to Saturday morning serials.

Not all games were so movie fixated. When Nintendo released its Entertainment System, the NES, in the US in 1985 (with a certain moustachioed Italian plumber as its mascot) the videogame market received a shot in the arm.

It was a brilliant time to be a gamer as the industry began to give Hollywood a run for its money and between 1985 and 1988 some of the key franchises of the industry were born from Super Mario Bros. to The Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy.

Everyone wanted to be associated with videogames. “I love playing Mario on my Atari,” wittered Baywatch babe Yasmine Bleeth. Hollywood watched from the sidelines as videogaming became cool all over again.

Next: Keeping It Real...