1978

Simon

FROM: Milton Bradley

BEHIND THE MUSIC: Launched May 15th at Studio 54, this Jurassic forerunner to today's touch-sensitive Nintendo DS featured four colored buttons (red, green, yellow, blue) and three simple variations. Memorization's the goal, with players required to repeat back a randomized or user-created sequence of lights and tones with a simple poke. Named for "Simon Says" and created by Ralph Baer, who also invented home console gaming with 1972's Magnavox Odyssey, it quickly became an American institution, and is still available for purchase today.

WHY IT ROCKS: Besides single-handedly popularizing handheld electronic entertainment and directly influencing every subsequent system from Game Boy to PlayStation Portable, its pattern-based action set the mold for nearly all successive music-themed titles. That goes double for many of the current generation's most "innovative" offerings, which simply require enthusiasts to play back notes synchronized to audiovisual prompts that appear onscreen.

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