Earliest games with achievements, before Xbox 360..?

[BdR]

Achievement in games are goals outside of the normal game goals, often left a secret for players to discover. Achievements really took off with the Xbox 360, but what are the earliest games with achievements before that..?

Here are some I can think of..

• In Mortal Kombat (1993) when you got a double flawless victory AND a fatality on the pit stage you get to fight Reptile.
  
• In E-Motion on the Amiga/Atari-ST/DOS (1990) there were hidden bonusses. For example if you finished any level without rotating to the right you get bonus points.
  
• In Bubble Bobble (1985) if players reach stage 20, 30 and 40 without losing a life they can access secret rooms for bonus points.

Anyone else know some examples of achievements in older games?

(btw no I'm not talking about retroachievements.org, which adds achievement to old games through an emulator.. although that is pretty cool

[wyrdwad]

A few games back in the PS2 era had their own makeshift achievements -- Chibi-Robo on GameCube, for example, had stickers to collect that literally did nothing whatsoever. They were there solely as rewards for overcoming difficult (but unnecessary) platforming or puzzle challenges, and just showed up in a menu with unique names. Seems eerily like achievements to me -- hard to get, but ultimately useless since they're just items on a menu that don't do anything. (Can you tell I hate achievements? Heheheh)

-Tom

[Roxymandias]

The first thing to come to mind is the Pokemon Generation 1 receipt you could print out on a Game Boy Printer to verify that you'd caught all 151 Pokemon.

[chronotigger65]

Wouldn't putting your name on the high score board in the arcade be considered the first?

[Deleted]

When I think of Achievements, I don't necessarily think of just general secrets or goals hidden within the game. They need to be a set list of tasks for the player to accomplish. They might go towards an in-game 100% completion checklist or not, but they need to be in a defined list within the game itself. Think along the lines of the medals you can earn in Valkyria Chronicles. They are, for all intents and purposes, Trophies, just without actual Trophy support.

[zerker]

The obvious example of Star Ocean: 'Till the End of Time which had a trophy set that worked almost identically to modern achievements. Required a second save slot on the memory card, tho.

A number of flight/space sim games had a trophy system, like Freespace. I believe Wing Commander had them too (Mobygames screenshots certainly indicate this), but it's been a LONG time since I played Wing Commander (and I didn't play very far when I did).

[The Great Klaid]

Aug 13, 2014 17:32:49 GMT -5 zerker said:

The obvious example of Star Ocean: 'Till the End of Time which had a trophy set that worked almost identically to modern achievements. Required a second save slot on the memory card, tho.

A number of flight/space sim games had a trophy system, like Freespace. I believe Wing Commander had them too (Mobygames screenshots certainly indicate this), but it's been a LONG time since I played Wing Commander (and I didn't play very far when I did).

I wouldn't doubt it. Tie Fighter had something like that too. I'm sure X-Wing did too, but we were a Tie Fighter household!

[Vokkan]

Jason's got the right idea.

The Stat page of GTA3 lists totals of jumps/packages/rampages/missions etc. which is a good example of pre OS achivements.

[ZenithianHero]

This unlocks stuff, but .Hack had the Book of 1000 which tracks stuff like areas visited, Grunties raised, characters you met.

[Weasel]

Super Smash Bros Melee (or possibly the N64 game, I forget) would keep track of every bonus you've earned from completing a stage, and would only describe the ones you've earned in the past.

Jumping Flash and its sequel both have special bonuses, but only JF2 lets you open an options menu and look at the medals you earned from said bonuses (usually stuff like collecting the MuuMuus in the right order, killing an enemy in only one bounce by landing from a really big height, or collecting every single coin from a dead enemy).

Rise of the Triad had unique bonuses for special accomplishments at the end of the level. Some actually required a deliberate change in play style, such as the "Bull in a China Shop Bonus" for destroying every coin in the level.

Duke Nukem 2 also had hidden bonuses, which were unnamed, for doing things like destroying every arrow sign in the level.

[jjc14]

What about racing games? The trophy room in R.C. Pro-Am comes to mind, and I'm sure others have done something similar...

[Garamoth]

Baroque on PS2/Wii had a whole list of achievements to aim for. Each achievement also permanently boosted your stats by a (very) small amount. Still, any boost is welcome in a roguelike.

Don't you love it when achievements actually do something?

EDIT: What the? It's also on iOS now?

[GamerL]

Aug 13, 2014 17:46:25 GMT -5 Vokkan said:

Jason's got the right idea.

The Stat page of GTA3 lists totals of jumps/packages/rampages/missions etc. which is a good example of pre OS achivements.

I also think of the hidden packages in GTA3 and Vice City (can't remember if they were in San Andreas for some reason)

[Deleted]

Aug 13, 2014 19:55:30 GMT -5 Weasel said:

Super Smash Bros Melee (or possibly the N64 game, I forget) would keep track of every bonus you've earned from completing a stage, and would only describe the ones you've earned in the past.

SSB64 and Melee have bonuses. Brawl and SSB4 do not.

[Snarboo]

Do the secret bonus points in Dynamite Headdy count? Always thought those were nifty in any case.