ABC’s The Goldbergs is a love letter to the 1980s and is chock-full of pop culture references to the decade that brought us Prince, The Breakfast Club, and leg warmers. While it’s nearly impossible to mention every single 1980s reference on The Goldbergs, we’re going to run down some of each episode’s geekier and more obscure pop culture moments.
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Please note that this column tries to cover only the “unique” references that appear in each episode, while passing on the posters, toys and other background pieces that appear in every episode and are irrelevant to the plot.
Berzerk
Tonight’s episode is full of old school video game references, which is probably why Adam is wearing a “Berzerk” shirt at the beginning of the episode as he surveys the cafeteria looking for a place to sit. Berzerk was an early version of a shooter video game, in which players navigated a maze while trying to avoid Evil Otto, a killer robot represented by a smiley face.
In a rarity for early Atari games,ย Berzerkย actually had a voice simulator that actually spoke 30 words. Robots would occasionally shout at players for not killing them fast enough, a feature that allegedly cost developers thousands.
Crazy Calls
This episode ofย Goldbergsย is named afterย Crazy Calls, the classic answering machine pre-recorded message system. Crazy Calls sold millions of copies back in the 1980s, as it offered an alternative to the robotic default message or a painfully awkward self-recording.
A quick Internet search reveals that Crazy Calls is still in operation today, albeit selling digital message for voice mails instead of answering machines.ย
Oregon Trail
Adam spends several scenes playingย Oregon Trail, a classic computer game in which players tried to navigate a caravan of settlers from Missouriย to Oregon. Players had to carefully choose their supplies, hunt, and make critical decisions about fording rivers. More often than not, players died of dysentery somewhere in the desert, but they did get to write their own epitaph, so it wasn’t all bad.
Other games mentioned in this episode includesย Prince of Persia, Choplifter, Castle Wolfenstein,ย Lode Runner, and the first four Ultima games (all of which were amazing). The 1980s were actually a pretty great time for video games.ย
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Zenith
While Adam is geeking out over the computer lab, one of the Apple II’s hasย Zenithย up and running in the foreground of the scene.ย Zenithย was a first person piloting/shooting game created by famed software designer Nasir Gebelli. After working on early Apple computer games for years, Gebelli went to work for Square and was one of the main developers for the first threeย Final Fantasyย games and theย Secret of Mana.
