NeoZeedeater
Tektite
*I don't want this thread to just be about me. Please talk your own arcade experiences, too.
I was bored and trying to figure out all the arcade games I played growing up, and it turns out to be a pretty big list. The time period I'm using is everything I played prior to my 18th birthday in late 1993. There were some games that had 1993 releases that I probably didn't play until 1994 so I left those out (stuff like Virtua Fighter, Run and Gun, Violent Storm, etc.).
I didn't want this to be just a list thread so I put in several screenshots and writing. Since the board has picture link limits, I didn't have screens for them all. It's plenty large already. And just because a game is in the "list pile" with no pics, that doesn't necessarily mean I think it's lesser than the others. I compiled the thread in quite a scattered manner. I blame having grown up in these type of environments:
Here are the games I recall...
Alien Storm (Sega, 1990)
This was an impressive sci-fi follow up to Golden Axe. Alien Storm didn't have quite the same impact on me but given that its Genesis/Mega Drive port was much more downgraded, there's more reason for beat 'em up fans to check out the arcade original in this case.
Aliens (Konami, 1990)
I was disappointed with some of Konami's licensed arcade games but this one kicked ass.
Apache 3 (Tatsumi/Data East, 1988)
I didn't realize just how few people played this game until I frequented gaming forums many years later. And I don't think I registered the Tatsumi name back in the day as it was Data East's familiar logo prominently displayed on it. It was a helicopter shooter akin to the 3d sections of Sega's Thunder Blade but with a rescuing element like Broderbund's Choplifter. Explosions were so satisfying and it really nailed the swaying sensation of motion. I can still picture the feel of the controls decades later despite never having come across a real machine again.
Aurail (Westone/Sega, 1990)
I was pleased to find this on a ferry boat ride as I had seen screenshots in magazines and knew Westone from the Wonder Boy franchise. Aurail was a mix of overhead view tank shooting and some sprite scaling 3d sections. I thought it was pretty neat although I was disappointed that I never found an arcade cab again, nor did a home port happen.
B.O.T.S.S.: Battle of the Solar System (Microprose/Jaleco, 1991)
Among polygon arcade games of the early '90s, this seems to be one of the more obscure ones so I'm quite glad I experienced this mech action title when it was current. Microprose was an American company known for computer games so partnering with Japanese arcade/console company Jaleco wasn't a typical scenario.
Buster Bros. (Mitchell/Capcom, 1989)
I would walk pretty far to the Hasty Market convenience store to play this (and Taito's Cadash) as it wasn't on my usual bus routes but it was worth it. Popping bubbles was so satisfying, and I still think this is a very underrated game.
Cameltry (Taito, 1989)
I played this soon after the SNES version called On the Ball came out. Gameplay consisted of rotating a board to move a ball through a labyrinth.
Centipede (Atari, 1981)
Home ports just weren't the same without the trackball, such a smooth glide for such a mesmerizing shooter.
Congo Bongo (Ikegami/Sega, 1983)
This was one of my favourite arcade games even though I thought it was kind of a fancy rip off of Donkey Kong at the time. It was interesting learning decades later that it was co-developed by Ikegami Tsushinki, the company Nintendo hired to help create Donkey Kong.
Depth Charge (Gremlin, 1977)
At my local Chuck E. Cheese's in the '80s, there was a coin-op game they had outside of their main arcade section, probably because it looked older and wouldn't have the same draw as other titles. It appeared to not be in its original cabinet but in some sort of makeshift sitdown one made to resemble a boat. It had no label nor title screen. I have scoured the internet and researched '70s gaming a lot, and the closest thing to my memory of it is Depth Charge. There's a good chance that's it but I'm not 100% sure. The game has always stuck in my mind as this mysterious thing, though.
Donkey Kong 3 (Nintendo, 1983)
It may be worst of the original DK trilogy for many (including myself) but I still loved it. It was one of the earliest games I played where a sequel was radically different than its predecessors, going from platformer to shooter.
Dragon's Lair (Advanced Microcomputer Systems/Cinematronics, 1983)
The hype for this game at my school was massive. It was the video game that looked just like a cartoon. Upon playing it, I was instantly disappointed at the lack of character control and no proper tutorial, not to mention the higher cost of playing. It eventually grew on me and despite its gameplay limitations. It is a memorable icon of that era.
Final Fight (Capcom, 1989)
Later Capcom beat 'em ups had some gameplay and visual improvements but there's still something special about Final Fight. Food trash on the ground never looked so good.
Frogger (Konami/Sega, 1981)
Long before we saw George Constanza take it on, this was an addictive title I would always be happy to encounter in various public places.
Galaga (Namco/Midway, 1981)
Like Pac-Man, Galaga was everywhere in the early '80s. RIP Nobukyuki Ohnogi for those iconic tunes and sound effects.
Galaxy Force II (Sega, 1988)
For those that don't know, games like this and After Burner II weren't really sequels but updates with the number "II" added. If you weren't there it might be hard to picture what made this game so special. Its moving cabinet and advanced 3d sprite graphics made it light years ahead of any rail shooters you could get at home.
Ghosts 'n Goblins (Capcom, 1985)
The sequel was a huge improvement but I think the original was a bigger deal for its time given how few scrolling action platformers there were.
G.I. Joe (Konami, 1992)
This was a ground-based rail shooter like Konami's Devastators and Taito's Rambo III arcade games before it but with even more detailed graphics, animations, explosions, and four-player simultaneous play. I thought it was better than Konami's licensed beat 'em ups (unless you count Aliens as one), too.
Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder (Sega, 1992)
This was the pinnacle of 2d graphics. Thanks a lot Sega for not even porting it to Saturn.
Hang On (Sega, 1985)
Holy shit, you can sit on the motorcycle and ride it?! Sega's first taikan (body sensation) game was a spectacle, and a glimpse into the future of high end arcade games.
Hard Drivin' (Atari Games, 1988)
I think this game's reputation has been somewhat tarnished because of more people having played downgraded home ports a few years later. The arcade version was amazing for its time with its polygon graphics, loops, realistic crashes, etc. It did a great job of simulating the feel of being in a real vehicle while having easy-to-learn accessible controls.
Karate Champ (Technos/Data East, 1984)
I never went back to this much after World Karate Championship came out on Commodore 64 but for a moment in time, it mostly had the fighting genre to itself and its style was memorable. I played many battles against my uncle. He may have had a black belt in real life but these video game matches against me were close.
Moon Patrol (Irem/Willams, 1982)
Getting into the rhythm of jumping and shooting to the bouncy soundtrack while enjoying the multiple layers of parallax scrolling always made for a great time.
Pac-Man (Namco/Midway, 1980)
This wasn't just a game my parents knew the name of; even my grandparents were aware of the popularity. Pac-Man fever was a wild time. The cereal was nasty, though.
Power Drift (Sega, 1988)
Before Mario Kart there was Power Drift, and it was intense with its high speed elevation changes.
Punch-Out!! (Nintendo, 1984)
"Body blow!" With its two screens on top of each other and detailed cartoon graphics, this was bursting with personality. I was disappointed Nintendo stopped making advanced arcade hardware not long afterwards but it was understandable when the NES took off in popularity.
*to be continued in my next post.
I was bored and trying to figure out all the arcade games I played growing up, and it turns out to be a pretty big list. The time period I'm using is everything I played prior to my 18th birthday in late 1993. There were some games that had 1993 releases that I probably didn't play until 1994 so I left those out (stuff like Virtua Fighter, Run and Gun, Violent Storm, etc.).
I didn't want this to be just a list thread so I put in several screenshots and writing. Since the board has picture link limits, I didn't have screens for them all. It's plenty large already. And just because a game is in the "list pile" with no pics, that doesn't necessarily mean I think it's lesser than the others. I compiled the thread in quite a scattered manner. I blame having grown up in these type of environments:
Here are the games I recall...
Alien Storm (Sega, 1990)
This was an impressive sci-fi follow up to Golden Axe. Alien Storm didn't have quite the same impact on me but given that its Genesis/Mega Drive port was much more downgraded, there's more reason for beat 'em up fans to check out the arcade original in this case.
Aliens (Konami, 1990)
I was disappointed with some of Konami's licensed arcade games but this one kicked ass.
Apache 3 (Tatsumi/Data East, 1988)
I didn't realize just how few people played this game until I frequented gaming forums many years later. And I don't think I registered the Tatsumi name back in the day as it was Data East's familiar logo prominently displayed on it. It was a helicopter shooter akin to the 3d sections of Sega's Thunder Blade but with a rescuing element like Broderbund's Choplifter. Explosions were so satisfying and it really nailed the swaying sensation of motion. I can still picture the feel of the controls decades later despite never having come across a real machine again.
Aurail (Westone/Sega, 1990)
I was pleased to find this on a ferry boat ride as I had seen screenshots in magazines and knew Westone from the Wonder Boy franchise. Aurail was a mix of overhead view tank shooting and some sprite scaling 3d sections. I thought it was pretty neat although I was disappointed that I never found an arcade cab again, nor did a home port happen.
B.O.T.S.S.: Battle of the Solar System (Microprose/Jaleco, 1991)
Among polygon arcade games of the early '90s, this seems to be one of the more obscure ones so I'm quite glad I experienced this mech action title when it was current. Microprose was an American company known for computer games so partnering with Japanese arcade/console company Jaleco wasn't a typical scenario.
Buster Bros. (Mitchell/Capcom, 1989)
I would walk pretty far to the Hasty Market convenience store to play this (and Taito's Cadash) as it wasn't on my usual bus routes but it was worth it. Popping bubbles was so satisfying, and I still think this is a very underrated game.
Cameltry (Taito, 1989)
I played this soon after the SNES version called On the Ball came out. Gameplay consisted of rotating a board to move a ball through a labyrinth.
Centipede (Atari, 1981)
Home ports just weren't the same without the trackball, such a smooth glide for such a mesmerizing shooter.
Congo Bongo (Ikegami/Sega, 1983)
This was one of my favourite arcade games even though I thought it was kind of a fancy rip off of Donkey Kong at the time. It was interesting learning decades later that it was co-developed by Ikegami Tsushinki, the company Nintendo hired to help create Donkey Kong.
Depth Charge (Gremlin, 1977)
At my local Chuck E. Cheese's in the '80s, there was a coin-op game they had outside of their main arcade section, probably because it looked older and wouldn't have the same draw as other titles. It appeared to not be in its original cabinet but in some sort of makeshift sitdown one made to resemble a boat. It had no label nor title screen. I have scoured the internet and researched '70s gaming a lot, and the closest thing to my memory of it is Depth Charge. There's a good chance that's it but I'm not 100% sure. The game has always stuck in my mind as this mysterious thing, though.
Donkey Kong 3 (Nintendo, 1983)
It may be worst of the original DK trilogy for many (including myself) but I still loved it. It was one of the earliest games I played where a sequel was radically different than its predecessors, going from platformer to shooter.
Dragon's Lair (Advanced Microcomputer Systems/Cinematronics, 1983)
The hype for this game at my school was massive. It was the video game that looked just like a cartoon. Upon playing it, I was instantly disappointed at the lack of character control and no proper tutorial, not to mention the higher cost of playing. It eventually grew on me and despite its gameplay limitations. It is a memorable icon of that era.
Final Fight (Capcom, 1989)
Later Capcom beat 'em ups had some gameplay and visual improvements but there's still something special about Final Fight. Food trash on the ground never looked so good.
Frogger (Konami/Sega, 1981)
Long before we saw George Constanza take it on, this was an addictive title I would always be happy to encounter in various public places.
Galaga (Namco/Midway, 1981)
Like Pac-Man, Galaga was everywhere in the early '80s. RIP Nobukyuki Ohnogi for those iconic tunes and sound effects.
Galaxy Force II (Sega, 1988)
For those that don't know, games like this and After Burner II weren't really sequels but updates with the number "II" added. If you weren't there it might be hard to picture what made this game so special. Its moving cabinet and advanced 3d sprite graphics made it light years ahead of any rail shooters you could get at home.
Ghosts 'n Goblins (Capcom, 1985)
The sequel was a huge improvement but I think the original was a bigger deal for its time given how few scrolling action platformers there were.
G.I. Joe (Konami, 1992)
This was a ground-based rail shooter like Konami's Devastators and Taito's Rambo III arcade games before it but with even more detailed graphics, animations, explosions, and four-player simultaneous play. I thought it was better than Konami's licensed beat 'em ups (unless you count Aliens as one), too.
Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder (Sega, 1992)
This was the pinnacle of 2d graphics. Thanks a lot Sega for not even porting it to Saturn.
Hang On (Sega, 1985)
Holy shit, you can sit on the motorcycle and ride it?! Sega's first taikan (body sensation) game was a spectacle, and a glimpse into the future of high end arcade games.
Hard Drivin' (Atari Games, 1988)
I think this game's reputation has been somewhat tarnished because of more people having played downgraded home ports a few years later. The arcade version was amazing for its time with its polygon graphics, loops, realistic crashes, etc. It did a great job of simulating the feel of being in a real vehicle while having easy-to-learn accessible controls.
Karate Champ (Technos/Data East, 1984)
I never went back to this much after World Karate Championship came out on Commodore 64 but for a moment in time, it mostly had the fighting genre to itself and its style was memorable. I played many battles against my uncle. He may have had a black belt in real life but these video game matches against me were close.
Moon Patrol (Irem/Willams, 1982)
Getting into the rhythm of jumping and shooting to the bouncy soundtrack while enjoying the multiple layers of parallax scrolling always made for a great time.
Pac-Man (Namco/Midway, 1980)
This wasn't just a game my parents knew the name of; even my grandparents were aware of the popularity. Pac-Man fever was a wild time. The cereal was nasty, though.
Power Drift (Sega, 1988)
Before Mario Kart there was Power Drift, and it was intense with its high speed elevation changes.
Punch-Out!! (Nintendo, 1984)
"Body blow!" With its two screens on top of each other and detailed cartoon graphics, this was bursting with personality. I was disappointed Nintendo stopped making advanced arcade hardware not long afterwards but it was understandable when the NES took off in popularity.
*to be continued in my next post.