People

The developers, designers, and composers who defined the era.

Articles

Al Charpentier

The visual architect of the VIC-II

Al Charpentier led the MOS team that transformed the VIC chip into the sprite-savvy VIC-II, powering the Commodore 64’s graphics.

Alexey Pajitnov

The man who made Tetris

Soviet programmer Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris, one of the most successful games ever made—then watched others profit while he earned nothing for years.

Andrew Braybrook

Paradroid’s meticulous mastermind

Andrew Braybrook blended arcade reflexes with design journals, showing the world how professional craft emerges from bedroom roots.

Ben Daglish

Melody maker of the SID scene

Ben Daglish composed unforgettable C64 soundtracks including The Last Ninja, blending catchy melodies with technical mastery.

Bob Yannes

The ear behind the SID

Chip designer Bob Yannes created the SID 6581, giving the Commodore 64 its legendary sound palette.

Chris Hülsbeck

Germany's game music maestro

Chris Hülsbeck composed defining soundtracks for Turrican and R-Type, becoming Germany's most celebrated game composer.

Chuck Peddle

Father of the 6502

Chuck Peddle designed the 6502 processor that powered the Apple II, Commodore 64, NES, and countless other systems that defined personal computing.

David Braben

Co-creator of Elite and Frontier founder

David Braben co-created Elite, pioneered procedural generation, and built Frontier Developments into a major studio while championing computing education.

David Crane

The man who made Pitfall!

Activision co-founder David Crane created Pitfall!, pioneered third-party publishing, and proved one programmer could change an industry.

David Whittaker

The prolific game composer

David Whittaker composed hundreds of game soundtracks across every major platform, bringing consistent quality to an era of rushed development.

Federico Faggin

Creator of the microprocessor

Federico Faggin led the team that created the Intel 4004, the world's first commercial microprocessor, then founded Zilog and designed the Z80.

Geoff Crammond

The racing simulation pioneer

Geoff Crammond created the definitive racing simulations of the 1980s and 1990s, from Revs to the Grand Prix series.

Gunpei Yokoi

Lateral thinking with withered technology

Nintendo's Gunpei Yokoi invented the D-pad, Game & Watch, and Game Boy—proving that clever design beats raw power.

Hideo Kojima

Metal Gear's cinematic auteur

Hideo Kojima created Metal Gear Solid and pioneered cinematic storytelling in games, for better and worse.

Hiroshi Yamauchi

The man who made Nintendo

Hiroshi Yamauchi transformed a Kyoto playing card company into the world's most influential video game maker through vision, risk, and ruthless business instincts.

Jack Tramiel

Computers for the masses, not the classes

Holocaust survivor Jack Tramiel built Commodore into a computing giant through relentless price wars and vertical integration.

Jay Miner

Father of the Amiga

Chip designer Jay Miner created the Atari 2600's heart and later the Amiga's revolutionary custom chipset, twice reshaping what home computers could do.

Jeff Minter

The llama-loving wizard of Llamasoft

From psychedelic shooters to ambient light synths, Jeff Minter proved that personal style could carry a commercial studio.

Jeroen Tel

The Dutch master of SID

Jeroen Tel brought demoscene energy to game soundtracks, founding Maniacs of Noise and pushing the SID chip to its limits.

John Carmack

The engine architect

John Carmack's programming genius powered id Software's revolutionary shooters, from Commander Keen's smooth scrolling to Doom's 3D carnage.

Koji Kondo

The sound of Nintendo

Koji Kondo composed the music for Mario and Zelda, creating the most recognisable melodies in gaming history.

Martin Galway

The SID chip's orchestrator

Martin Galway brought cinematic ambition to C64 soundtracks, creating iconic themes for Ocean and beyond.

Masayuki Uemura

Architect of the Famicom

Hardware engineer Masayuki Uemura designed the Famicom and Super Famicom, the consoles that defined Nintendo's dominance.

Matthew Smith

Manic Miner’s teenage architect

At 17, Matthew Smith squeezed pop-art surrealism into a ZX Spectrum cassette and helped prove bedroom coding could rule the charts.

Nolan Bushnell

The father of the video game industry

Nolan Bushnell founded Atari, created Pong, and built the company that proved video games could be a business—before losing it all.

Peter Molyneux

The god game creator

Peter Molyneux created Populous, invented the god game genre, and became notorious for ambitious promises that his games couldn't always keep.

Raffaele Cecco

The artist-programmer

Raffaele Cecco created some of the most visually striking games of the 8-bit era, programming and designing Cybernoid, Exolon, and Stormlord.

Ralph Baer

Father of home video games

Ralph Baer invented home video gaming with the Magnavox Odyssey, laying the foundation for everything that followed.

Rick Dickinson

The look of British computing

Industrial designer Rick Dickinson gave Sinclair's computers their iconic appearance—the ZX81's wedge, the Spectrum's rainbow stripe.

Rob Hubbard

Composer of the Commodore

Rob Hubbard squeezed orchestral drama out of the SID chip, defining the sound of mid-80s C64 gaming.

Satoru Iwata

The programmer who became Nintendo's president

Satoru Iwata rose from HAL Laboratory programmer to Nintendo president, championing innovation and accessibility until his untimely death in 2015.

Shigeru Miyamoto

The father of modern game design

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto created Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong, establishing the vocabulary of video game design.

Sid Meier

Civilisation's father

Sid Meier co-founded MicroProse and created Civilization, establishing strategy gaming as a genre and his name as a brand.

Sir Clive Sinclair

The man who put Britain online

Inventor Clive Sinclair made home computing affordable with the ZX80, ZX81, and ZX Spectrum, igniting the UK's bedroom coder revolution.

The Oliver Twins

Double Dragon of Dizzy

Philip and Andrew Oliver built a mini-empire from their bedroom, turning the Dizzy platformers into a staple of 8-bit Britain.

The Stamper Brothers

Rare's founding visionaries

Tim and Chris Stamper built Ultimate Play the Game into a Spectrum legend, then transformed it into Rare, creating some of Nintendo's most beloved games.