The Golden Age of Video Games

The period from the appearance of Space Invaders in 1978 through The Great Video Game Crash of 1983, when 8-bit video games emerged to rule popular culture, coin-operated video arcades appeared in every shopping mall, and the Atari 2600 and its competitors first popularized home gaming. Back then, Sega was known for making Vector Games rather than consoles, and Nintendo's Mario had never stomped on a Goomba. Creativity reigned, and a single visionary designer could still see an entire game through from concept to finished product, unlike the enormous Hollywood-style teams needed for today's high-end game franchises. Shoot Em Ups were especially popular, as outer space and stylized spacecraft were easy to render on the crude hardware of the day.

Your Mileage May Vary about considering this era as a true "golden age", considering the fondness for later generations of consoles. Still, it was the first time video games hit the big time, so it qualifies to some extent.

Games from the period included:

 * Adventure
 * Air-Sea Battle
 * Amidar
 * Artillery Duel
 * Asteroids
 * Asteroids Deluxe
 * Space Duel
 * Astro Blaster
 * Battlezone 1980
 * Berzerk
 * Bosconian
 * Breakout
 * Centipede
 * Millipede
 * Chuck Norris Superkicks
 * Combat
 * Crazy Climber
 * Defender
 * Dig Dug
 * Donkey Kong
 * Dragons Lair
 * Dragonstomper
 * Escape From the Mindmaster
 * Frogger
 * Frogs and Flies
 * Galaxian
 * Galaga
 * Ghost Manor
 * Gorf
 * Gyruss
 * Haunted House
 * Indy 500
 * Joust
 * Jungle Hunt
 * Lunar Lander
 * Mappy
 * Mario Bros
 * Missile Command
 * Mr. Do
 * Night Driver
 * Omega Race
 * Pac-Man
 * Phaser Patrol
 * Phoenix
 * Pitfall
 * Pole Position
 * Q Bert
 * Qix
 * Rally X
 * Red Baron
 * River Raid
 * Robotron 2084
 * Scramble
 * Shamus
 * Sinistar
 * Snake
 * Space Invaders
 * Spikes Peak
 * Spy Hunter
 * Star Castle
 * Star Raiders
 * Star Ship
 * Surround
 * Swordquest
 * Tail Gunner
 * Tapper
 * Targ
 * Tempest
 * Time Pilot
 * Track and Field
 * Vanguard
 * Venture
 * Video Olympics
 * Video Pinball
 * Warlords
 * Wizard of Wor
 * Xevious
 * Yars Revenge
 * Zaxxon
 * Zookeeper

There were even some early licensed games, many of which actually didn't suck:
 * ET the Extra Terrestrial: This one did suck.
 * Popeye
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark
 * Spider-Man
 * Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
 * Star Wars the Arcade Game
 * Superman
 * Tron