History of Awesome

Star Wars, the Atari VCS, and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and more all debuted in 1977, changing the pop culture landscape forever.

History of Awesome continues with1978. Watch Sam, Jim, Marty, and Brian discuss what makes 1978 a year to remember.

Take a look back at everything that made 1979 awesome - the Atari 2600's Adventure, Alien, huge changes for Iron Man, and more.

Take a look back at everything that made 1980 awesome - Pac-Man, The Shining, the Rubix Cube, and more.

Take a look back at everything that made 1981 awesome - Indiana Jones, Donkey Kong, MTV, and more.

Take a look back at everything that made 1983 awesome - Return of the Jedi, He-Man, Dragon's Lair, and more.

Take a look back at everything that made 1982 awesome - Ms. Pac-Man, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, Blade Runner, and more.

Take a look back at everything that made 1984 awesome: The Terminator, Ghostbusters, King's Quest, Gremlins, Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, and more.

Join IGN as we take a look back at everything that made 1985 awesome. The Goonies, Back to the Future, and... the launch of the NES!

Join IGN as we take a look back at everything that made 1986 awesome. Super Mario Bros., Top Gun, Aliens, and plenty more.

Is 1987 the greatest year for video games of all time? Metroid, Zelda, Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, Mega Man, and more.

1988 brought us fantastic games like Zelda II, classic movies like Die Hard, and key graphic novels like The Killing Joke. What's not to love?

1989 ushered Batman onto the big screen, Seinfeld and The Simpsons onto television, and two key video game systems - the Sega Genesis and the Nintendo Game Boy.

In 1990 the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit the big screen, Final Fantasy and Super Mario Bros. 3 made thier U.S. debut, and this little thing called the World Wide Web was created.

Inside the year that brought us the Super Nintendo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Terminator 2, and plenty more awesomeness.

Inside the year that brought us Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Kart, and perhaps the greatest Zelda game ever made.

Relive the launch of the Halo: Combat Evolved, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Grand Theft Auto 3, Nintendo's Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, and so much more in IGN's History of Awesome.

Inside the year that brought us The X-Files, Myst, and the first person shooter that changed everything.

Metroid made an epic comeback, Spider-Man changed superhero movies forever, and Firefly entered our hearts. All this and more in IGN's look back at 2002.

Inside the year that brought us Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VI, Pulp Fiction, and so much more.

A closer look at the year PlayStation was unleashed on the world, one of the greatest RPGs ever made its debut, and Toy Story hit theaters.

Take a closer look at the year the Nintendo 64 charmed us all, Lara Croft made her debut, and action movies like Independence Day, The Rock, and Mission: Impossible kept us glued to our seats.

Take a closer look at the year Final Fantasy VII introduced a new generation to RPGs, GoldenEye took over basements and bedrooms, and we all went down to South Park.

Is 1998 the greatest year for video games of all time? Ocarina of Time, Half-Life, StarCraft, Pokemon, Metal Gear Solid and so much more. It's just silly!

The century ended with Star Wars' return, The Sopranos changing TV forever, and Sega's doomed Dreamcast making its debut.

Relive the launch of the PlayStation 2, Majora's Mask, Perfect Dark, Diablo II and so much more in IGN's History of Awesome.

Legend of Zelda made its GameCube debut, Bioware unleashed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Repubic, and Call of Duty changed first person shooters forever. All this and more in IGN's look back at 2003.

Inside the year the Nintendo DS changes handheld gaming, World of Warcraft changed PC gaming, and Halo 2 & Half-Life 2 blew us all away.

An inside look at the year Resident Evil 4 changed horror, the Xbox 360 began its takeover, and Guitar Hero brought back music games.

Take a look back at everything that made 2006 awesome. The PS3 and Wii changed gaming forever, James Bond made his triumphant return, and so much more.