Games released on March 29

Nine games that still hold up, from Knightmare in 1986 to Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed in 2011

1. 

   Knightmare 1986

   Turned 40 this year MSX

   Popolon the warrior sets out across a Greek styled fantasy land to rescue Princess Aphrodite from an evil priest, in an MSX shooter that keeps scrolling until a boss appears. It began the Knightmare trilogy.

2. 

   Dragon Force 1996

   Turned 30 this year Saturn

   Eight rulers fight over one land with up to 200 soldiers on screen, where picking the right formation matters more than anything else, in a real-time Saturn game that mixes strategy with role playing.

3. 

   Parasite Eve 1998

   Turned 28 this year PlayStation

   Over six days in 1997, the New York police officer Aya Brea tries to stop Eve, who plans to destroy humanity through spontaneous combustion, in a sequel to Hideaki Sena's novel.

4. 

   Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed 2000

   Turned 26 this year PlayStation

   A Need for Speed made entirely of Porsches, from the 356 of 1950 to the 996 of 2000, raced through that history in one career mode. Another career makes you a Porsche factory driver through slaloms, stunts and races.

5. 

   MDK2 2000

   Turned 26 this year Dreamcast

   Three heroes, each with their own strengths, fight an alien invasion that is far from over, in BioWare's sequel to MDK, first released for the Dreamcast.

6. 

   Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory 2005

   Turned 21 this year GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox

   Sam Fisher of Third Echelon, a covert branch of the NSA, works in the dark, where an audio monitor weighs every sound he makes against the noise around him. A separate campaign is played by two agents in co op.

7. 

   LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game 2005

   Turned 21 this year PlayStation 2, Xbox

   The Star Wars prequel trilogy in Lego, for up to two players with no game over, switching between characters whose abilities solve each scene's puzzles.

8. 

   Guitar Hero: Metallica 2009

   Turned 17 this year Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

   A Guitar Hero built around the career and songs of Metallica, with lead and bass guitar, drums and vocals, playing notes that scroll in time with the music.

9. 

   Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed 2011

   Turned 15 this year PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

   The sequel to Shift puts the camera inside the driver's helmet and adds racing at night, over more than 145 cars and 36 tracks, with Autolog posting each top speed for friends to beat.