Mint Mattel
Golden age of video arcade games
Overview
During the late 1970s, video arcade game technology had become sophisticated enough to provide good quality graphics and sounds to offer, but it was still fairly basic (realistic graphics and full motion video is not available, and only a few games that spoken text) and therefore the success of a game had to rely on simple and fun gameplay. This emphasis on the gameplay is why many of these games continue to be enjoyed today despite its huge obsolete by modern computer technology.
Business
The Golden Age was a time of great technical and design creativity in arcade games. games were designed in a wide range of genres while developers had to work within strict limits of available processing power and memory. The era also saw the rapid spread of video arcades in North America, Europe and Japan.
At this time, video arcade games began to appear in supermarkets, restaurants, liquor stores, gas stations and many other retail establishments looking for extra income. Popular games sometimes causing a crush of teenagers, eager to try the latest entertainment item. [Quote necessary]
The two most successful arcade game companies this time Namco (Japanese company that Pac-Man, Pole Position made, and DigDug) and Atari (the company that introduced video games in arcades). These two companies struggled to the number one and two slots in American arcades for several years. Other companies like Sega (who later entered the home console market to the 1980's rival, Nintendo) Nintendo (whose mascot, Mario, Donkey Kong was introduced in 1981), Bally Midway Manufacturing Company (which later was bought by Williams), Capcom, Cinematronics, Konami, Taito, Williams, and SNK.
Technology
Arcades catering to video games began shipping in late 1970 to do with games such as Gee Bee (1978) and Galaxian (1979) and broke out in 1980 with Pac-Man, King and Balloon, Tank Battalion, and others. The central processing unit in these games allowed for more complexity than earlier discrete circuitry games such as Atari's Pong (1972).
The Golden Age saw developers experimenting with new hardware, like making games with non-video technology such as vector displays, which sharp lines, as opposed to raster displays produced. Some of these games were big hits as 1980's Battlezone and Tempest, and 1983 is Star Wars, all from Atari, but vector technology fell out of favor with arcade game companies because of the high cost of repairing vector displays (Vectrex, a home video game system with an integrated display vector, was released in 1982).
Developers also experimented with laserdisc players for delivering movie-quality animation. The first game of this technology, 1983's Dragon's Lair Cinematronics of abuse was three years in the making. It was a sensation when it was released (and in fact, the laserdisc players in many machines broke due to overuse), but the genre declined in popularity because the games were fairly linear and depend less on reflexes than on memorizing sequences of movements.
New checks turned up in a few games, though, perhaps, joysticks and buttons remained the favorites for most manufacturers. Atari introduced the trackball with 1978 Cup. Night Driver included a life-like steering wheel, Paperboy using a handlebar and Hogan's Alley tethered light weapons introduced to the arcade market. Other special controls, such as pedals in racing games and a crossbow-shaped light gun in Crossbow, debuted in this era.
Gameplay
Galaga, a successful game of the Golden Age, borrows its theme from Galaxian and adds twists of its own.
With the enormous success of the early games, dozens of developers jumped into the development and manufacturing of video arcade games. Some simply copied the "invading alien hordes" idea of Space Invaders and proved successful imitators like Galaxian, Galaga, and Gaplus, while others tried new concepts and defined new genres. Rapidly evolving hardware allowed new kinds of games that the shoot-em-up gameplay of the first games surpassed.
Games like Donkey Kong and Qix new types of games where skill and timing are more important than shooting introduced as soon as possible. Other examples of innovative games are Atari Games "where The Paperboy goal is to successfully deliver newspapers to customers, and Namco's Phozon where the goal is to duplicate a shape shown in the middle of the screen. The theme of Exidy's Venture is the dungeon exploration and treasure-gathering. An innovative game, Q * Bert, played with the sense of depth perception of the user to deliver a new experience.
Some games of this time were so popular that they entered popular culture. The release of Pac-Man in 1980 caused a sensation that it initiated what it called "Pac-Mania" (which later the title of the last coin game in the series, released in 1987). Released by Namco, the game was marked by a yellow, pie-shaped creature trying to eat by dots a maze while avoiding pursuing enemies. Although no one could agree what the "hero" or enemies represented (sometimes they were referred to as ghosts, goblins or samples), the game was very popular, there are anecdotes to the effect that some game owners had the game empty coin bucket every hour the game freezes coin mechanism to prevent excessive coins in the tray. The game spawned an animated TV series, numerous clones, Pac-Man-branded food and a hit pop song, Pac-Man Fever. Although many popular games quickly in the lexicon of popular culture, most since left, and Pac-Man is unusual in a recognized maturity in pop culture, along with Donkey Kong, Mario Bros, and Frogger.
The enormous popularity of video arcade games also led to the dawn of video game strategy guides, these guides (rare to find today) looked in detail at patterns and strategies of each game, including variations, to a degree that few guides seen since can match. "The machine" by making the score counter overflow and to zero was often the last challenge in a game for those below the knee, and the last obstacle to obtaining the highest score.
Most popular games
Donkey Kong
The games below are some of the most popular and influential games of the era.
1978
Space Invaders
1979
Asteroids
Galaxian
Moon Lander
1980
Battlezone
Berzerk
Centipede
Defender
Missile Command
Pac-Man
Phoenix
Rally-X
Star Castle
Storm
Wizard of Wor
1981
Donkey Kong
Frogger
Scramble
Galaga
Ms. Pac-Man
Qix
1982
Burger Time
Dig Dug
Donkey Kong Junior
Joust
Moon Patrol
Pole Position
Q * bert
Robotron 2084
Time Pilot
Tron
Xevious
Zaxxon
1983
Dragon's Hollow
Elevator Action
Gyruss
Mappy
Mario Bros
Spy Hunter
Star Wars
Woodpecker
1984
1942
Paperboy
Punch-Out!
The end of an era
The Golden Age cooled as copies of popular arcade games began to saturate. Arcades was commonplace by the early 1990s and were still new genres being studied, but most new games were shooters, maze games, and other variations on the old familiar themes.
New generations of computers and home video game consoles also undermined interest arcades. Earlier consoles like the Atari 2600 and Mattel Intellivision, were generally and were designed to target a variety of games, and often could not compete with arcade game hardware, which was built for the singular purpose of providing a single good game. In fact, the abundance of poor quality home video game systems contributed in no small measure to the video game crash of 1983.
But the debut of the Nintendo Entertainment System (1985) began to level the playing field through a reasonably good video arcade experience at home. In early 1990, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Mega Drive (Genesis in North America) greatly improved home play and a part of the technology was even integrated into a single video arcade machines. By the time the PlayStation (1995) and Nintendo 64 (1996), both of which boasted true 3D graphics, lots of arcades across the country went out of business. [Citation needed]
The video arcade game industry still exists, but in a much reduced form. Video arcade game hardware is often based on home game consoles to facilitate the transfer of a video arcade game to a home system; There are video arcade versions of Dreamcast (Naomi Atomiswave) PlayStation 2 (System 246), Nintendo GameCube (Triforce) and Microsoft Xbox (Chihiro) home consoles. Some arcades have survived by expanding the ticket based on price and redemption more physical games with no home console equivalent, such as Skee ball and whack-a-mole. Some genres, like dancing and rhythm games (like Dance Dance Revolution, part of the Bemani series) remain popular in the arcades.
The relative simplicity yet solid gameplay of many of these early Games have inspired a new generation of fans who can play on mobile phones or emulators such as MAME. Some classic arcade games are back in business settings, such as Ms. Pac-Man Namco 20 Year Reunion / Galaga Class of 1981 two-in-one game, or directly integrated in controller hardware (joysticks) with replaceable flash drives to save game ROMs.
Legacy
The Golden Age of Video Arcade Games spawned numerous cultural icons and even gave some companies their identity. Elements from games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger and Centipede are still included in contemporary popular culture.
The success of these early video games has led many hobbyists teenagers were during the Golden Age to collect some of these classic games. For some have no commercial value anymore, they can be acquired for U.S. $ 200 to $ 750 (but fully restored games can cost much more).
Some fans of these games, companies dedicated to the restoration of classic games, and others, such as Arcade Renovations, reproduction that produces art for classic arcade games, only focusing on one facet of the restoration activity. Many of these restaurateurs have set up websites full of tips and advice on restoring games to mint condition. There are also several newsgroups devoted to discussion around these games, and a few conventions, such as California Extreme, dedicated to the classic arcade games.
See also
Arcade cabinet
List of video arcade games
List of video game consoles
References
^ Day, Walter (2/8/1998). "Chapter 01 – The Golden Age of Video Game Arcades. "The Golden Age of Video Game Arcades. Twin Galaxies. Http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=17&id=620. 21/08/2007 fetched.
^ Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0761536434.
^ Day, Walter (2/8/1998). "Chapter 13 – The Golden Age Ends. "The Golden Age of Video Game Arcades. Twin Galaxies. Http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=17&id=1327. 21/08/2007 fetched.
^ Top 100 list of Killer List of Videogames video games
^ "Mrs. Pac-Man/Galaga Class Of 1981". Gorges. http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8784. 09/10/2006 fetched.
^ "California Extreme". California Extreme. http://www.caextreme.org. 11/24/2006 fetched.
The Official Price Guide to Classic Video Games by David Ellis (2004), ISBN 0-375-72038-3
External links
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The gorges Top Video Games Lists by Greg McLemore and friends
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