Classic Arcade Games

Ok even though I know most of you guys ain't old enough to remember this kinda VGs (since all you probably tend to play in arcades nowadays are those new super-spectacular up to 128 bits games such as Crazy Taxi and TTT while thinking that there were no such things as arcades before 'em) I'm feeling like paying a tribute to some of the CLASSIC arcade titles I used to love when I was a kid. So does anyone here remember those ones??


*Yie Ar Kung Fu (Konami, 1985): The *true* precursor of the whole fighting games genre (fuck Karate Champ; it wasn't nearly as popular at least in my area)

*Spy Hunter (Midway, 1983): WOW I still have that music stuck in me head!

*Commando (Capcom/Data East, 1985) and Ikari Warriors (SNK, 1986): D00d had I spent money on those 1s when I was a kid!

*Knuckle Joe (Taito, 1985): Well I do know this very title may sound like obscure even to old-schoolers but it was the Big Shit in my area, I can grant you that. Seems like they dumped the KJ roms for MAME *at last* but alas they dun work properly. My fucking luck!

*Ghost 'n' Goblins (Capcom/Taito, 1985): Best Capcom VG *ever* (now go & flame me and stuff). Its sequel Ghouls 'n' Ghosts never was nearly as popular. Hey do I ever find any strats for G'n'G here at SRK.com? NoooOOOooo it's just MvC2 all day! You guys are just biased

*Gauntlet (Atari, 1985): WOW up to 4 people could play it at the same time! That was such a big deal back in the 8-bits age y'know?

*Dragon's Lair (sorry I dun remember the developer nor the release year for this 1): what I remember is though, how we had to wait in a line of about 20 people everytime we wanted to play it. Dragon's Lair's graphics seemed to us like the Ultimate Shit back then

***Old-skool bonus game***

*Space Invaders (Midway, 1978): Well this 1 was just EVERYWHERE when I was a kid. Shitty graphics and almost no sound yet it was 1 of the most popular Arcade games *ever*. Without this 1 we probably wouldn't talking about the arcade industry right now


Honorable mentions to: Green Beret, R-Type, Jail Break (hey I know it was crap but I liked it!), Bomb Jack, Kung Fu Master, Renegade, Captain Commando, Pitfall (oh boy was this 1 damn hard or did I have neurological problems when I was a kid??), Karnov, Decathlon, Zaxxon, etc

Well do anyone of ya remember those 1s? Dun tell me that only we the raised-in-arcades kinda guys do...

I remember almost all of those games from my own days as a young arcade addict. Sadly, I never saw Yie Ar Kung Fu - only had Karate Chump (not mispelled) in my arcades.

I loved Spy Hunter! I actually put that on my list of games that I'd want to see an update to (thread is in Offtopic I think). Remember Spy Hunter 2? It had that one point perspective thing going on (ala Roadblasters) and it had two screens side by side so two could play. Somehow it just didn't seem as cool as the original.

Commando and Ikari were cool too. I loved Victory Road even more though! Using a sword or big ass guns to fight aliens was awesome.

Knuckle Joe... I don't think I know this one. I remember a game where two guys with big heads punched each other in a back alley and the loser got tossed down a sewer but I'm pretty sure it had a different name (Kageta or something like that). What was KJ like?

Gauntlet was the shit in the day. "Thor needs food BADLY!". It was cool that you could team up with three other people or compete against them (steal their treasure, trap them in a corner with Death .. he he).

Dragon's Lair was another favorite of mine. Remember the crappy imitations that came out right after it? One was called Bega's Battle and had some kind of big robot. I forget the other one (this was pre Space Ace I think).

My personal favorites are (were):

Willow (Capcom): This may be my vote for best Capcom game ever. Great gameplay and graphics, cool powerup system - this game rocked.

Stun Runner (Atari) - A fun game, but the best part was the competition for best booster, star gathered, end time etc. Being able to put in your full name (as opposed to three letters) really gave it a more personal edge.

Crime Fighters (Konami) - Hands down the most money grubbing videogame ever created (still fun though). You and three friends fight through eight long stages of endless enemies, gun toting thugs, superpowered weirdos. Parts of the board itself hurt you (falling signs, electricity etc.). I even think your health ticked down as each second passed! At the end of each stage you fought a boss who pummelled you relentessly. After beating him, the players were encouraged to beat each other up for a set amount of time. Every time a player hit another the clock would reset - meaning the battle could go on forever (providing you keep dropping tokens for health). After eights stages of this madness you beat the game, and got to play the special stage - fight all the impossible bosses and stronger regular enemies (their versions of the Abobo) AT ONCE. I used to blow all my money I had on one play through of this bloodsucker of a game. It was fun though

Honorable mention: Klax, Hypodrome, Legendary Wings, Ninja Warriors, Main Event.... I could go on forever here.

Ah, the good old days. I'm just not motivated to hit the arcades anymore like I was back then...

Yie Ar Kung Fu: This game was very cool. Pattern based fighting, but you had to overcome the strengths and exploit the weaknesses of every enemy you faced. Kind of like real martial arts . I forget...was there a two player mode to this game? I'll have to play my Konami classics on PSX again to refresh my memory...

Spy Hunter: What a great game. The Peter Gunn theme pounding every time you had to launch a car. I really loved the variety of weapons you could collect and use on your enemies. I wonder if there was an end to it? Back then, games didn't have 'endings', per se. A few did, but you get the picture...

Commando: I think I actually preferred Rush N Attack (Konami), but Commando was cool. I remember playing Heavy Barrel, a Commando/Ikari style game, pretty heavily, too.

Ghost 'n' Goblins: I loved this game. Unfortunately, when I discovered it there were lines of people waiting to play and they were all so good that it took nearly an hour just to have a chance. And the challenge curve was so high that I could never get past the giant monster guarding the door at the end of the first stage. One of the first games I ever played where the character had a 'life meter' of sorts (the armor). I've recently rediscovered this one by picking up Capcom Collection 3. I wish those collections would all come out over here...

Gauntlet: I had a friend that could play Gauntlet forever with the elf on one quarter. No joke. It was amazing. He was, like, Gauntlet Savant or something. One Sunday morning me and him went to the local arcade, he popped his quarter in and was playing well past closing time. The arcade's manager closed up shop but was so impressed with Craig's skill that he decided to let him play until he got killed. I ran and got food for him when he got hungry (not a problem because he had thousands of hit points whenever he wanted to take a quick break to gobble down a slice of pizza and a coke and he'd always find safe zones where monsters couldn't get to him), and I even got to play free games all night while my friend dominated Gauntlet. We left that night at 10:00 PM (We got there at 11:00 AM) when Craig became bored and said 'enough'. Probably the single most amazing gaming feat I've ever personally witnessed. I'm convinced he could have played forever...

Dragon's Lair: Dragon's Lair...ah, the memories. The arcade I usually played it at had a monitor stacked atop the cabinet so that people could watch the action without crowding around the player. Whereas Craig was the man at Gauntlet, I ruled supreme at Dragon's Lair. I always drew a crowd, and could beat the game on one credit and not die once (as long as the controls were responsive and not the 'screwey' setting I sometimes came across at some amusement parks). My mom , who doesn't even know thing one about video games, enjoyed watching me play Dragon's Lair (and the sequel).

Some of the games I liked:

Krull: Yes based on the movie. No, it wasn't as bad:P.

Galaga (of course): No description necessary...

Krazy Klimber: This one was wild. It had two joysticks and you pulled them and pushed them alternately to make your character climb up a building. On the way up people dropped potted plants and other assorted objects on you. A giant gorilla near the top made things very difficult. I know it sounds stupid, but it was actually a lot of fun.

Donkey Kong Jr.: Again, no explanation necessary.

Rally X: A racing game where you navigated your car through a maze, picking up flags along the way. It was in kind of a Pac-Man vein; there were cars chasing you around trying to crash into you and corner you so you couldn't escape. Your only weapon was the smoke screen you released behind you, which threw your pursuers off for a short while.

Cobra Command (an LD helicopter game): Like Dragon's Lair in that you had to follow a preprogrammed set of commands to survive. The cool thing about this one was that it was first person perspective and you fought in locales such as Easter Island and New York City. I have all the footage on video tape .

Jungle King/Jungle Hunt: The game where you swing on vines, swim past angry alligators, jump over falling boulders and evade cannibals to save your sweety. The character was originally a Tarzan type jungle man, but they later changed him into a 'great white hunter' for reasons I never understood.

Moon Patrol: In your lunar patrol vehicle you evade dive bombing UFOs, jump over potholes and mines and try to get from point a to b unscathed. Back in the day where one hit usually meant death. Insanely hard, but oddly fun at the same time.

Choplifter: The thing I always liked about this game was the realism. Not only could you accidentally shoot the people you were trying to rescue but you also had to secure a landing zone before setting down and picking them up. Then you had to fight your way back and deliver them to safety for points.

Man, talking about all of this makes me want to power up the C-64 again .



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Taiso
'Because of my bloody life, it was no accident that I was involved in the troubles...'

Old-School Classics I like: Roadblasters, Pacman, Vs Super Mario Bros.

New-Classics I like: Virtua Racing, Daytona USA...



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Ed aka Burning Ranger #23
Master of the Hornet, God of Powersliding (and KOF Junkie)
"Rolling... STOP!"

Biomotor:

TRON! How could I forget Tron!?

That game was an instant classic the day it hit the arcades! Man, everything about that game was just awesome. I wish they'd release a competent version of it for home systems.

Man, saying 'Tron' really brings back memories...

And you have a dedicated cabinet...I'm jealous, you bastard !

Where do you live? I'm gonna steal it!




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Taiso
'Because of my bloody life, it was no accident that I was involved in the troubles...'

Bio

I actually was thinking of Rampage but I think the rehash N64 releases ruined whatever interest I ever had in the game


Tron was cool, as was the other Tron game (Discs of Tron). Although not as varied as the original Tron, Discs was pretty cool in the day.

Anybody remember Cabal? It was a shooter where you controlled your character with the stick and your aim with a trackball. You could move around and dive and stuff all while targeting your opponents. I loved that game.

Taiso

Krull was much better than the movie (stupid film, they spend the entire thing looking for that damn glaive and then kill the bad guy with love - ughh). I only played it once or twice but I still remember runnin to pick up those pieces while dodging boulders - good stuff.

I had totally forgotten about Cobra Command! That was another awesome game. I could never get through the ice cave though...

I also used to love the two player helicopter attack games of the 80's - mainly Twin Cobra and Twin Eagle. Cobra had the cool powerup system and Eagle had the destroy anything on screen factor to it. I miss those type of arcade games - fun to play.

It probably goes without saying, but Bionic Commando and Time Soldiers were fantastic games too.

Heey finding fellow old-schoolers here makes me damn happy. THOSE were the days hm?

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Apathy Wind:
I loved Spy Hunter! I actually put that on my list of games that I'd want to see an update to (thread is in Offtopic I think). Remember Spy Hunter 2? It had that one point perspective thing going on (ala Roadblasters) and it had two screens side by side so two could play. Somehow it just didn't seem as cool as the original.

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Yeah I remember the Spy Hunter sequel and you're absolutely right, it wasn't nearly as popular. Same with a bunch of sequels to those great Classics back then (Ghouls 'n' Ghosts and Space Ace come to my mind)

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Apathy Wind:
Knuckle Joe... I don't think I know this one. I remember a game where two guys with big heads punched each other in a back alley and the loser got tossed down a sewer but I'm pretty sure it had a different name (Kageta or something like that). What was KJ like?

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Knuckle Joe was basically a beat 'em up set up in some post-apokalyptic kinda future. You had to fight a helluva bad guys ala Captain Commando (only that the scroll was more limited) plus those real cool sub-bosses at the end on each stage and could use some of their weapons, could eventually power up and stuff. As I said, sorta similar to Captain Commando, only that it was programmed in 1985 while CC was released in '91. I always liked KJ better, no doubt

And as for Willow, Ninja Warriors & Crime Fighters, I remember those too and they were GREAT

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Taiso:

Yie Ar Kung Fu: This game was very cool. Pattern based fighting, but you had to overcome the strengths and exploit the weaknesses of every enemy you faced. Kind of like real martial arts

. I forget...was there a two player mode to this game? I'll have to play my Konami classics on PSX again to refresh my memory...

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Heh remember Fan? That 1 was a biatch! And NO, unfortunately there was no 2 player mode in YAKF

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Taiso:

Ghost 'n' Goblins: I loved this game. Unfortunately, when I discovered it there were lines of people waiting to play and they were all so good that it took nearly an hour just to have a chance. And the challenge curve was so high that I could never get past the giant monster guarding the door at the end of the first stage. One of the first games I ever played where the character had a 'life meter' of sorts (the armor). I've recently rediscovered this one by picking up Capcom Collection 3. I wish those collections would all come out over here...

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I remember myself beating G'n'G once or twice back then but nevertheless you're right, that one was fucking hard. Then again, I was pretty obsessed with that game (heh I even used to DREAM with that Fire Bridge thingie back then). Y'know it's a shame that Arthur from G'n'G didn't make it to MvC2 (as shitty as MvC2 may be, how come MegaMan and Capt. Commando are on it and Arthur isn't??). As you say he had a (sorta) life-meter PLUS a hadoken-type of "fireball attack". Hell only thing he needed to become a fighting games char was a shoryuken!

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Taiso:

Dragon's Lair: Dragon's Lair...ah, the memories. The arcade I usually played it at had a monitor stacked atop the cabinet so that people could watch the action without crowding around the player.

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Hey this is cool, they used to do EXACTLY the same thing here in Spain too. And boy did people crow!

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Taiso:

Whereas Craig was the man at Gauntlet, I ruled supreme at Dragon's Lair. I always drew a crowd, and could beat the game on one credit and not die once (as long as the controls were responsive and not the 'screwey' setting I sometimes came across at some amusement parks). My mom , who doesn't even know thing one about video games, enjoyed watching me play Dragon's Lair (and the sequel).

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Then sincerely MAD PROPZ to you man. I never got any good at DL, that one was fucking hard for me plus it took an incredible amount of memory. But it was 1 of my faves nevertheless

The 1s I remember from your list: Galaga, Donkey Kong Jr, Rally X (hey wasn't this 1 real old too?), Cobra Command, Jungle King/Jungle Hunt (I may be wrong here though, was this similar to Pitfall?) and Choplifter

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by BioMotor_Unitron:

Most of what I like has been covered, but I did not see the original Rampage listed. Back in its day, it was either that or Gauntlet for the multiplayer!

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Rampage was the 1 with all those mosters destroying stuff? Yes I remember that title too and it was cool

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by BioMotor_Unitron:

Another one that is missing is SiniStar! How could you forget this absolutely GAWDLY game?

I still remember freaking out the first time the fully completed SiniStar flew onto the screen and tore me a new one.

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Shame on me man, I think I never got to play SiniStar. Was it a shooter?

And Tron was a cool 1 too (and yet another old-skool classic that's for sure)

Just remembered a few more:

Legend Of Kage: Treetop ninja action. Run around, kill ninjas and magic monks with ninja stars, leap around the tree branches and kill, kill, kill.

Shinobi: The original arcade game with the ninja in blue with the rocket launcher . A classic as far as I'm concerned. Killing Spidey was so much fun!

Gladiator: Basically a side scrolling beat 'em up. The cool thing was that as you fought your clothes got knocked off a piece at a time. I always played the girl .

Pole Position: One of the first racing games I ever got into. Primitive by today's standards but loads of fun at the time.

Operation Wolf: a gun shooting game with a unique last level where you couldn't shoot up the environment too much or you wouldn't be able to win the game. The sequel, Operation Thunderbolt, was the first two player gun shooter, I think.

Rolling Thunder: A side scrolling adventure in a James Bond-ish vein. Unbelievable animation for the time.

Elevator Action: As the secret agent Otto you maneuvered your way around a skyscraper taking out bad guys and powering up. An elevator provided the main means of getting around. If I remember correctly, the point was to get out of the building.

And a couple that neo fans should recognize:

Mr Do

Double Dragon

Arcades today suck by comparison, I think. Everything's such an immersive experience nowadays (Gameworks and Dave And Buster's)...I remember when I was familiar with every game in the arcade and had to choose which ones to play. Nowadays, everything's a variation on a driving game, a fighter or a gun shooter it seems. They all look the same to me now...



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Taiso
'Because of my bloody life, it was no accident that I was involved in the troubles...'

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Taiso:
Jungle King/Jungle Hunt: The game where you swing on vines, swim past angry alligators, jump over falling boulders and evade cannibals to save your sweety. The character was originally a Tarzan type jungle man, but they later changed him into a 'great white hunter' for reasons I never understood.

Click to expand...

Oh the reason for the change was the estate of Edgar Rice Bourghs (sp) thought the Jungle King character was too close to Tarzan and forced Taito to change the character. There is third version of this game called "Pirate Pete" where you swing among the masts...

[This message has been edited by Bakasama (edited May 01, 2001).]

Bubble Bobble and Rainbow islands were both awesome games.... What was great about them was how they looked cute, but were really hard. Ever play Bubble Bobble island in Rainbow Islands? Totally rock hard.

Ghosts'n'Goblins was great too, I remember completing it on Saturn (Cap Gen 2) and then getting told to play through the whole game again, but, tougher! Took ages to win that damn thing....

Anyone remember a game called GRAVTAR? Asteriods graphics, Shooting armed bunkers whilst beaming up fuel loads from the ground all whilst being dragged down to grond by gravity,I can remember a crazy amount of cash being fed into this machine some 10-15 years ago,carn't for the life of me remember who made it but i'd love to get hold of a copy on any format!!

Bakasama:

Thanks for the info. I always wondered about that...

Never saw Pirate Pete, though. Damn .

Taiso
"Because of my bloody life, it was no accident that I was involved in the troubles..."

My classic of classics will always be Mario Bros. (Not Super.)

Then there's:

Pitfall
Dig Dug
Ms. Pac Man (The 1st Pac Man game I ever played)
Kangaroo
Spy Hunter
Ghost & Goblins
Bionic Commando
Kung Fu
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Burgertime
Super Mario Bros.
Contra
And of course the Grand daddy of shooters; Gradius

---------------------------------------------

"Don't be scared! I'll only cut off one of your heads! Guess!"

[This message has been edited by YeldellGW (edited May 01, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by YeldellGW (edited May 01, 2001).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by ImMature:

Heey finding fellow old-schoolers here makes me damn happy. THOSE were the days hm?

Shame on me man, I think I never got to play SiniStar. Was it a shooter?

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You NEVER got to play SiniStar? Damn, I thought everyone on the PLANET had played SiniStar. I will do my best to describe it.

Basically, you fly a ship around in an asteroid field. You shoot the asteroids to break crystals loose from them, and collect the crystals to make SiniBombs, which are the only weapon you have capable of harming SiniStar.

Anyway, there are these worker drones that are also trying to gather crystals for building SiniStar, and they will try and steal the ones you break loose, as well.

You need to gather enough crystals for a good supply of SiniBombs while destroying enemy drones, and later the "tanks" they send out after you.

Once SiniStar is completed, though, it becomes a whole new game. You hear, "Beware, I live!" Just like you should have when you viewed this thread, at least if you are using Internet Explorer, I am not sure if it works with NetScape.

SiniStar comes after you, and basically gets behind your ship, starts the "Death Roar," your ship spins out of control, and BOOM!, you are dead. You can attack SiniStar while he is still under construction, however.

Anyway, you need to hit him with SiniBombs before he can start the Death Roar. Destroy enough pieces of him, and he dies.

I hate to say it, but if you have never tried this game, check it out on emulator if it is available in such form. If you are an old-schooler, you will want to get it. It also comes on a collection disc for PlayStation that runs about $20.00 these days.

Oops, no sound. I thought HTML was enabled in this area. Guess not.

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-BioMotor_Unitron

Coming To Theatres This Summer: Chimps Packing Heat: The Movie



[This message has been edited by BioMotor_Unitron (edited May 01, 2001).]

How many of ya'll played Custer's revenge for Atari? That is were debate over videogames should have started. Me and my sibs were lucky enough to keep it hidden from our parents for all these years.

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You a stupid motherfucker trying to run. Now you dead as fuck trying to race a gun.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Orochi Pantera:
How many of ya'll played Custer's revenge for Atari? That is were debate over videogames should have started. Me and my sibs were lucky enough to keep it hidden from our parents for all these years.

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I remember hearing about it, I have never played it though. Saw a copy in the box on eBay going for $200.00+ when I was searching for Atari 2600 games to buy.

-BioMotor_Unitron

How much are you willing to pay for it?

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You a stupid motherfucker trying to run. Now you dead as fuck trying to race a gun.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Orochi Pantera:
How much are you willing to pay for it?

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I am not looking to buy the game. I was just commenting that I saw it going for a ridiculous price when I was buying other Atari 2600 games. I managed to get twenty-five NIB Atari 2600 games for $2.00 apiece! Woohoo!

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-BioMotor_Unitron

Coming To Theatres This Summer: Chimps Packing Heat: The Movie

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Taiso:
Legend Of Kage: Treetop ninja action. Run around, kill ninjas and magic monks with ninja stars, leap around the tree branches and kill, kill, kill.

And a couple that neo fans should recognize:


Mr Do


Double Dragon


Arcades today suck by comparison, I think. Everything's such an immersive experience nowadays (Gameworks and Dave And Buster's)...I remember when I was familiar with every game in the arcade and had to choose which ones to play. Nowadays, everything's a variation on a driving game, a fighter or a gun shooter it seems. They all look the same to me now...

Click to expand...

The Legend of Kage!!! I was thinking about that game just the other day. It had an cool anime feel to it (although I don't think I knew what anime was at the time) - especially the first board. Climbing high in the trees and jumping from branch to branch while slicing ninjas with sword and shuriken was fantastic. It had a very fluid feel to the gameplay. The LoK machine at my arcade was messed up in that you could play the first and fourth levels when they came up on the 'attract' demos! Free Kage!!

When you say Double Dragon are you referring to the arcade games or the Neo fighter? The original arcade game is the game that put side scrolling beat 'em ups on the map (never mind Final Fight - it'd be nowhere without DD). Plus in it's odd way, it was the most realistic game of the genre. Get shot - you're dead. Get blown up with dynamite - you're dead. Hit with a knife - half dead. It made the end boss a valid threat. DD2 was cool too - fighting over the wheat thresher and the double illusion especially.

Yeah, arcades are weak these days. I went to Sega Gameworks (one of those mega arcades) with my friends about a month ago and we all got like $10.00 in credits. We ended up using most of them on some air hockey game with three pucks - what's that say about todays arcade scene?

Sinistar?! Gawd, that game is HARD!!!!!

Did you know that game was originally designed to be easier? No really. The game was originally designed to be easier than it is now but the management thought the prototype Sinistar was too easy and told the programmers to make the game harder. What you played is the cult classics we all know.

What's interesting about all this is that the programmers all burnt backup ROMs of Sinistar in the hope that they'll make Sinistar they way they wanted to. So far it hasn't happened yet.

I can't believe nobody mentioned:

NARC (made by the God of Hard Arcade games, Eugene Javis)
Q*bert (I've also played the unrelease sequal for that game)
Tempest
Donkey Kong
Xevious
Marble Madness
Joust (possibly the best 2 player game ever made)
Golden Axe (cheesy but very FUN)
Smash TV (again by Eugene Jarvis)
Crystal Castles
Dig Dug
Defender
Robotron (DIE DIE DIE YA MOFOS!!!)
Pit Fighter (hmm, maybe I should get back to making more Mortal Kombat VS. Pit Fighter Screenshots )
Paperboy
Gauntlet 2 (I like this game much better than the original)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
X-Men (that game ROCKED when had six players kicking arse!)


There are the games that come to mind but there's a lot of games from back then...

[This message has been edited by Bakasama (edited May 01, 2001).]

Apathy Wind:

>>When you say Double Dragon are you referring to the arcade games or the Neo fighter? The original arcade game is the game that put side scrolling beat 'em ups on the map<<

Yeah, the old walk around beat 'em ups. The reason why I said it would be familiar to neo fans is because of the neo game. And I agree with your placement of it in video game importance.

>>Yeah, arcades are weak these days. I went to Sega Gameworks (one of those mega arcades) with my friends about a month ago and we all got like $10.00 in credits. We ended up using most of them on some air hockey game with three pucks - what's that say about todays arcade scene?<<

Luckily the bar in the Gameworks I go to infrequently has five arcade machines with older games so I can go back and relive my youth while I cry in my beer .

Four stand alone cabinets have Frogger, Ms. Pac Man, Moon Patrol and Xevious. The fifth cabinet is kinda like a neo MVS machine in that it has a variety of games that you can choose between. Mostly namco offerings of old. There's also a decent selection of pinball machines, both old and new (T2 pinball ROCKED!), and a number of pool tables.

I still dig the new stuff. It just all seems the same to me anymore. I relate to your air hockey comments. Believe me, when I'm in Gameworks and the things I want to do most are throw footballs through moving targets, shoot hoops and shoot some pool...

...well, you know where I'm coming from,right ?



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Taiso
'Because of my bloody life, it was no accident that I was involved in the troubles...'

Okay, I'm going to go off the top here.
1)X-Men:The Arcade Game(The original side scrolling fighter with Cyclops, Wolverine, Colossus, Dazzler, Storm, and Nightcrawler. As an X-fan, it's a classic. Great voiceovers, great animation.)
----More to come----

2)Afterburner Arcade(The one that you played inside the module that moved as you flew the plane.
3)Spider-Man Arcade Game(Playable characters: Spidey, Black Cat, Sub Mariner, Hawkeye. Awesome comic translation)
4)The Simpsons Arcade Game
5)Dragon's Lair II
6)Soul Blade(Really ranks higher, but I just thought of it)
7)Gunblade NY
8)House of the Dead
9)King of Fighters '96
10)MK4
11)Marvel vs. Capcom 2
12)Galaga
13)Gauntlet Legends
14)Daytona USA Tournament Edition
15)Captain America and the Avengers
16)Street Fighter II(Championship Edition)

After Burner II Deluxe: After hesitating at first due to the $1.00 per credit price tag, I gave it a try and loved it. The tilting cabinet makes this a lot better than the upright version.

Spy Hunter: The Peter Gunn theme rocks. The sit-down version is the best.

Yie Ar Kung Fu: Looks like this may have been the inspiration for Street Fighter.

Shoot-Out (Data East): While it's a yawner today, back in 1985 it was pretty good. Like Cabal with a gangland theme, but not as intense.

Elevator Action: It's got just one piece of BGM, but a pretty catchy one at that.

Gauntlet: One memory I had with this one was of my suddenly going the other way after treasure and getting the other three players stuck. The guy playing the Warrior grumbled "Damnit, Elf". <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> We all had to wait for the walls to turn to exits.

InterStellar Laser Fantasy: If you remember a company known as Funai, then you may be familiar with this game. Somewhat like Astron Belt but you can twist the Tron-like stick to aim shots obliquely.

M.A.C.H. 3: Another good laser disc shooting game. This was basically a 2-in-1 game- Bomber mode was a "shmup" ala Xevious, while Fighter mode serves the Astron Belt fans quite well.

TX-1: It came in a cabinet somewhat like F355 Challenge, except it wasn't enclosed and it was a bit lower to the ground. This was Tatsumi's answer to Pole Position. Atari released both these games in the USA. This may have been one of the first games to cost a dollar.

As far as I know, the first game with a real end was Pole Position. Most racing games produced after that would end after so many stages.

In the later 80s, games started to get REALLY good IMO when stuff like Twin Cobra, Lock-On, Quartet, Alien Syndrome, Shinobi, After Burner, Ikari Warriors I & II (F'geddabout 3, because that one isn't as good), Double Dragon I & II ( unfortunately, as with Ikari Warriors, the 3rd one reeked), Power Drift, Out Run, Sky Shark, Heavy Barrel, and more started appearing.

In the 80's, it seemed like there were WAY <IMG SRC="smilies/loco.gif" border="0"> more games in the arcades. That's likely due to the fact that games did not cost near as much back then (deluxe games were a rarity).

I remember playing MACH-3 at Chuck E. Cheese's years ago down in Anchorage. That game kicked some serious ass! You are one of the few people I have seen that remembers it, Jackal. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">