Nintendo's goal to broaden the videogame market continues to add millions of new Wii and the DS players. Sadly, this success comes with a price, as hardcore gamers must endure the pain of owning something their grandmother can play. But don't let sweaty soccer moms and shriveled old prunes dominate your favorite hobby. Just because your dad, clearly going through a mid life crisis, picks up a remote and "swings" a tennis racket doesn't make him a video game aficionado. In order for him or even you to consider yourself one of us, you need to play the following video games.

Pong
Historians don't recognize Pong as the first videogame (the honor goes to the game Computer Space). We, on the other hand, consider it the first video game the world ever cared about back in November of 1972. A simple game of table tennis, you maneuver a paddle up and down the left or right side of the screen, deflecting a square ball around the playfield, the goal being to sneak it past your opponent's paddle. Not the most enjoyable game, but definitely one of the most influential.

Space Invaders
This 1978 classic rocked Japan, causing a national coin shortage. It performed equally well overseas, where millions of wannabe heroes lined up to save the world from an alien invasion.

E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
In 1982, Atari released this horrid game based on Steven Spielberg's critically acclaimed film. Instead of walking gamers through E.T.'s exciting adventures, they drop him into holes and programmed jerks to steal his Reese's Pieces. After lackluster sales, the company chucked millions of unsold cartridges into a landfill.

Pac-Man
You play Pac-Man for three reasons. First, the game still rocks after its 1979 introduction. Second, the Pac-Man character influenced other game designers to create their own signature characters, thus launching the concept of the video game mascot. Third, he intentionally looks like a pizza with a slice missing, and only morons hate pizza.

Ms. Pac-Man
We dig Pac-Man, but his better half stole our hearts. Ms. Pac-Man featured harder mazes and some of the first cut scenes in video games. Most importantly, she looks hot with her red lipstick and bow. Rumors of it being Pac-Man in drag...we started those.

Donkey Kong
You don't play Donkey Kong because you care about rescuing Pauline or have an affinity for gorillas. You need to bulk up on your trivia. Mario first appeared in the original Donkey Kong (1981) as Jumpman.

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