galagamike Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 (edited) Hey there, i want this aimed more towards the veterans here that actually experienced retro arcade games during there time. in 1985, what games were in your arcade? If this does well i would like to do 1990,1995 etc. Help educate me! Edited November 7, 2010 by galagamike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackjack Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 I was 17 in 1985 (hs class of 86). I grew up in a small town though, so our arcade didn't have many current games. They were mostly a little older. From what I can remember: Frogger Galaga Track & Field Ms. Pac-Man Frontline Haunted House (Pinball) Punch-Out Asteroids Centipede Joust Donkey Kong Kangaroo Popeye and a pool table After High School, I'd say '88/'89, some more good stuff came around: Double Dragon Golden Axe Rastan Green Beret Chelnov Paperboy R-Type Shinobi Ghouls 'n' Ghosts Super Mario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-topdog Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 I almost lived at the local arcades as a kid... between the Market Street Arcade and Bumpers Arcade in 1985 (I was 17/18 that year) I can remember the following games... 1942 Asteroids Battlezone Berzerk Burgertime Centipede Commando Defender Dig Dug Donkey Kong Donkey Kong Jr. Dragon's Lair Frogger Galaga Galaxian Gauntlet Ghosts n Goblins Gorf Gyruss Joust Lunar Lander Mario Brothers Missile Command Moon Patrol Ms PacMan PacMan Pole Position Q*bert Qix Robotron 2084 Space Ace Space Invaders Star Castle Stargate Star Wars Tempest Time Pilot Tron Xevious Zaxxon ...my brother and I must have spent 2-3 hours a day in the arcades. We would collect pop-bottles for the deposit money to play. We also recycled newspapers and those new fangled aluminum pop cans or sold fruit and vegetables from our garden to help support our arcade and computer habits. We got so good at games like Robotron, Asteroids and Donkey Kong Jr that the owners of the arcades would do things to try to distract us, like asking us questions while we played or offering us free french fries, otherwise we could play for hours on a single quarter. My little brother was so good on Asteroids that he would get so many free guys that he could leave to go to the restroom or buy a soda and he'd still have ships left when he returned. Donkey Kong Jr was my specialty, I consistently scored between 500,000-700,000. Love those memories. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galagamike Posted November 7, 2010 Author Share Posted November 7, 2010 nice! it sounds like it was an amazing time. any other recollections? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophero Sly Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 The classics were always around, but here are some games I remember seeing frequently in 1985-ish. Kung Fu Master Excitebike Paperboy Marble Madness Yie Ar KungFu Karate Champ Space Ace Demolition Derby Cheyenne World Series Baseball Punch-Out/Super Punch-Out Two Tigers Hogan's Alley 1942 Firefox Hyper Sports Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edweird13 Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 The game I remember most from 85 was Bomb Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted November 7, 2010 Share Posted November 7, 2010 (edited) The game I remember most from 85 was Bomb Jack I'll list some I remember, but Bomb Jack... not positive I ever saw in an arcade. I did however see/play it in the vestibule of our local grocery store: A&P Aladdin's Castle, the Sears arcade (no pinball machines at Sears), Showbiz Pizza & Bally's Tom Foolery had: Popeye Gyruss Track and Field Galaga Q*Bert Donkey Kong and DK Jr. Asteroids Space Invaders Black Knight Pinball Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man Pinball Gorgar pinball Haunted House & Black Hole pinball Satans Hallow Zaxxon Pooyan Reactor Moon Patrol Joust Super Mario Mario Bros. Turtles Centipede Battlezone Defender Carnival Crazy Kong (at a local convenient store) Congo Bongo Star Wars Star Trek Ladybug Bag Man World Series Baseball Atari Football Paperboy Berzerk Burgertime Dig Dug Frogger Galaga Galaxian Tempest Tron Xevious Kangaroo Marble Madness Dragons Lair Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man Pole Position Robotron Time Pilot Crazy Climber Zoo Keeper Frontline Kaos Edited November 7, 2010 by save2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tz101 Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 Popeye I, Robot Galaga Super Pac Man Black Widow Millipede Crystal Castles Joust Bega's Battle Bubbles Super Mario Bros. Donkey Kong Jr. Donkey Kong Rygar Qix Pac Man Ms. Pac Man Elevator Action Mappy Zaxxon Tac Scan Outrun Battlezone Star Wars Tempest Phoenix Berzerk Stargate Centipede Those were great times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jd_1138 Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 The nearest video games were in an 'El Taco' Mexican restaurant a block away from our house. They had a 'Yie Ar Kung Fu'. Awesome (for 1985) 2D fighter. We pumped a bunch of quarters into that game and my older cousin actually beat it. They also had a Centipede game which our little sister played a lot. The large arcade in the basement at the local mall had most of the above games that other people have mentioned. And they had about 5 machines each of the most popular games like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Asteroids and Galaga. The arcade scene was strong until like '86 and then it slowed down, probably due to the great consoles coming out like the NES. But from 1979 until like 1986, there were arcade machines everywhere. They were huge money makers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 Heck if I know.. too many arcades, and too many games around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tz101 Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 But from 1979 until like 1986, there were arcade machines everywhere. They were huge money makers. That was the golden age for video games IMO, never to be matched again. Every small town around my area had its own arcade springing up. Only place I ever saw Make Trax was in a small town arcade that had a cocktail table version. Awesome game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackjack Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 But from 1979 until like 1986, there were arcade machines everywhere. They were huge money makers. That was the golden age for video games IMO, never to be matched again. Every small town around my area had its own arcade springing up. Only place I ever saw Make Trax was in a small town arcade that had a cocktail table version. Awesome game. I played a cocktail Make Trax in a topless bar about 6 years ago... seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the-topdog Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 I played a cocktail Make Trax in a topless bar about 6 years ago... seriously. Strange the the bar had no roof... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jd_1138 Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 (edited) Yep, '79 to '86 was the golden age. The early 90's had somewhat of a comeback in the form of Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and NBA Jam. My friends and I (late teens at that time) re-descended back to the arcades for MK and SF. I remember walking down into the bowels of our local mall, Southland Mall, in like 1980/1981. You'd hear the sound of all those games, and the place was dark, which made the games look even better. You had people lined up to play Pac-Man, Asteroids, Galaxian. And they also had 1960's era and more current pinball machines lined up to the side (about 40 pinball machines). It was the glory days of gaming. Billy Mitchell and some of the other greats might have played on some of those machines. But I am not a disciple of Billy Mitchell. :-) Man, 'King of Kong' was a great documentary. It brought back a lot of memories and made me hungry for hot sauce. Edited November 8, 2010 by gps_trekker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edweird13 Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 The game I remember most from 85 was Bomb Jack I'll list some I remember, but Bomb Jack... not positive I ever saw in an arcade. I did however see/play it in the vestibule of our local grocery store: A&P The arcade I went to most from 82-85 only had 4-6 games in it at one time. So they cycled through the games pretty quickly. Here are the games that came through in order Asteriods Galaxian Battle Zone pheonix Pac Man Donkey Kong Dig Dug Frogger Congo Bongo Hangly Man Pac Man Plus Warp Warp Bomb Jack in 85 and a few others I am sure I forgot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galagamike Posted November 8, 2010 Author Share Posted November 8, 2010 it sucks, i wish i was a little older so i could have experienced it ( i only got the 90's version of the arcade). So many good games! i need to start getting cabinets for my garage or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltigro Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 I remember playing Space Harrier, too. Don't think anyone has mentioned that one. I also remember the others that have been named already. Specifically, Galaga, different Pac-man games, Anteater, Dig Dug, Moon Patrol, Zaxxon, Xevious, Pole Position, and Xybots. (On a humorous side note, my daughter was watching me type this and suggested Angry Birds.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylark68 Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Just about every Dairy Queen had at least 2 or 3 arcade games back in those days. The one that I used to go to a lot always had a Galaga. The other 2 cycled fairly often, but I remember them having a Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man, Defender, Tron, and around '85/'86 a Kung Fu Master. The arcade that my brother and I would go to was too far away from our house to visit on foot or bike, but whenever we went to the mall with our parents (I was about 9 in '85) they had some excellent games. Just about everything that was in the USA from about '79 to '85 was there at one time or another. The ones I specifically remember playing a lot were Wizard of Wor, Galaga, Galaxian, Phoenix, Gorf (Space Cadet...AH AH AH). I can't remember if it was '85 or '86, but I remember when Super Mario Bros. came out to the arcade, I played that a lot. I did stay away from those timed Nintendo games. That was a rip off. Tempest was a lot of fun too, but I was never very good at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltigro Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 Just about every Dairy Queen had at least 2 or 3 arcade games back in those days. The one that I used to go to a lot always had a Galaga. The other 2 cycled fairly often, but I remember them having a Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man, Defender, Tron, and around '85/'86 a Kung Fu Master. The Galaga I referred to in my post was at a Dairy Queen, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cimerians Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 I cant remember but other than the usual Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong.... There was: 1985 Time Pilot 84' Elevator Action Gauntlet Gyruss Dragons Lair Space Ace 1990 Stun Runner Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade game Superman Cabal Commando Ghosts n Goblins Trojan Rygar Pit Fighter 1995 Too many to mention! Mortal Kombat Street Fighter II Tons of shooters and fighting games..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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