Double Dragon
Year of release: 1987
Platform of choice: ZX Spectrum
A sideways scrolling beat 'em up, this was a joyous experience back in the days of crashing games and screeching tape drives.
Playing as one of the Lee brothers, gamers battled across a post-apocalyptic version of New York City. The mission was to recover Billy Lee's girlfriend from the evil Black Warriors gang.
What made Double Dragon truly special was that it could be played co-operatively, with friends fighting side-by-side all the way through the game. Or at least until the end sequence in the Spectrum version, when it became every man for himself.