Arcade History

[DanBoris]

I've been thinking about the ups and downs of the videogame industry recently so I put together this graph. It show how many arcade titles where released each year between 1972 and 2001, based on the KLOV.

 

The first part of the graph is not surprising, a slow but steady increase from 1972 until 1980, then around 1980 the rate increases rapidly until the crash in 1984. Things then level off and stay that way until the early 90's at which point we see the slide which has continued until today.

 

[Nukey Shay]

Uhh...does that mean no video games in another decade?

[VidGameKing]

no not, no more video games, it just means no more arcadegames to be released, although, I seem to be seeing a large number of people going to local arcades again so it might just pick up again. the home video game consoles are no-longer tied directly to arcade hits produced the year before, so as arcades may fail completely, we will probably never see the end of the home video game console. so, whenever you see an arcade for sale, buy it quick, they will become immesurably valuble to colectors within two to three decades, (if this chart can be used to base guesstimations off of.).

[iguana]

With the additional power of home computers and consoles, I can not see how arcades as we knew them will ever come back. I am sure the super arcades with VR games and ride games and such will make it as they will be ahead of home entertainmnet due to the cost of the machine. But I doubt that many stand up arcade games will be made in 10-20 yrs. Too bad since they are great. I was in NYC this past weekend and found a little retro arcade. played alittle Pac Man and Space Invaders. I really need to get me a game!

[Witchfynde]

I was in NYC this past weekend and found a little retro arcade.  played alittle Pac Man and Space Invaders.  I really need to get me a game!

 

Heh, and which game do you have in mind?

 

Yeah, game rooms will never be the same from the late 70s/early 80s heyday. I just consider myself lucky to be old enough (/born at the right time) to experience it in all it's glory. Nowadays I hardly play any arcade games at all. 'Tis a shame.

[MrRetroGamer]

I was in NYC this past weekend and found a little retro arcade.  played alittle Pac Man and Space Invaders.

 

Where where WHERE was this??? Do tell!!!!

[oesii]

I was in NYC this past weekend and found a little retro arcade.  played alittle Pac Man and Space Invaders.

 

Where where WHERE was this??? Do tell!!!!

 

Last time I was in NYC about 6 months ago I ran into a dingy arcade in Chinatown that had a dozen or so classic games. It was a nice surprise but most of those kids were playing Street Fighter-type games

 

I think there are several good places in NYC, have you checked out:

http://www.classicgaming.com/locations/

 

I'll check some of those out in a few weeks when I'm up there for Thanksgiving

[broncoman]

i believe that grid a arcade i used to go to a kool arcade from 77 to 93 it went out of business now all that is left is a cement foundation it was called malibu grand prix . the other one used to have at least 60 to 80 games i went in there the other week it's been a while there was like 12 now more pool tables bummer

 

i still remember seeing pac man for the first time

[Ze_ro]

Although being an Atari fan, I'm obviously biased in what I'm about to propose... but I think it would be more worthwhile for companies to manufacture more OLD arcade games. Many newer arcade games like Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 are too hard to get into... they are expensive, and there's already too many people who are so good at it that they'll kick your butt first try...

 

Instead, you're better off focusing on games people already know how to play. Everyone knows how to play Space Invaders, Frogger, or Pac-Man. Plus, anytime someone passes a machine like that, they invariably say "Wow! I haven't played that in a long time!", and they just have to give it a try at least once. Although they're not likely to play it over and over like people have done with MK and SF2 and such, you'd get a wider audience. Perhaps this would revitalize the arcade business.

 

Naturally, you'd get a lot of people scoffing at the machines, since they are obviously "lesser" technology, but I think the gains would outweigh any ridicule the company would endure. Plus, old games based on 8-bit processors are probably cheaper to produce than these fancy ones with hard drive, modems, and whatnot inside them.

 

Barring this, I think they're better off trying to give an arcade experience that you can't get at home... light gun games are good for this, since most people don't have light guns... racing games are good too, as are multiplayer games (when they draw a crowd anyways).

 

I'd also like to see the machines go back to $0.25, since I pretty much stopped playing once the prices got high. I'm not paying $1 for a game that won't last more than a few minutes.

 

--Zero

[Witchfynde]

Hey Ze_ro, there IS such a machine: I THINK it's called the Ultracade (and I'm being too lazy to do a web search right now). It's got like 30 games programmed into it, like Berzerk, Frenzy, Mr. Do's! Castle, Legendary Wings, several Atari games, and a crapload more that I can't recall right now. So I'd hit a few arcades and try to locate one if I were you; I wanna see one myself! ('Course, not just SEE one...PLAY it too, hee hee. )