Arcade games that were apparently super popular but you only saw once at an arcade, if ever.

[Tanooki]

4 hours ago, zzip said:

DK3 was kinda uncommon.  I always played it when I found it,  I thought it was more fun than DKjr.

Oh?  I figured it might have been and same with Popeye.  I always kind of preferred it too, even in the day on NES I had DK3 before the others.  Something about the shooter and action mix setup it has is just a lot of fun.

[schuwalker]

23 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Ditto Three Stooges and Krull for me, but never Q*Bert's Qubes - and we were nowhere close to Chicago at the time.

 

A lot of games achieved popularity after emulation made them available to a wider audience.  That may be distorting what's popular vs. what was popular due to availability BITD.

Your last statement definitely rings true. Zookeeper, for example, was a game I saw at location a few times. My little hole in the wall arcade had one by the front entrance to the counter. Except for me and my buddy Chad, no one played that thing. Fast forward to the present, that game is 1.5k+. I remember that game could be had for $300-$500 range a few years prior.

[82-T/A]

The original Asteroids... I played it at a Holiday Inn back in the early 1990s. I never saw an original Asteroids anywhere else, only Asteroids Deluxe... which I prefer the original Asteroids.

[+Cafeman]

1 hour ago, 82-T/A said:

The original Asteroids... I played it at a Holiday Inn back in the early 1990s. I never saw an original Asteroids anywhere else, only Asteroids Deluxe... which I prefer the original Asteroids.

That is interesting to me.  One of my first coin-op memories was probably around June 1980,  we were on vacation, and I heard 2 bearded guys playing some electronic game around the corner, at a Valley Dairy while my family sat at the counter and ate a snack. I could hear them totally enjoying it, I could hear the pew-pew-pew and the bg music but didn't know what the heck it was. After those scary motorcycle dudes left , young me wandered over ... it was Asteroids.  And it was amazing!   

[82-T/A]

3 hours ago, Cafeman said:

That is interesting to me.  One of my first coin-op memories was probably around June 1980,  we were on vacation, and I heard 2 bearded guys playing some electronic game around the corner, at a Valley Dairy while my family sat at the counter and ate a snack. I could hear them totally enjoying it, I could hear the pew-pew-pew and the bg music but didn't know what the heck it was. After those scary motorcycle dudes left , young me wandered over ... it was Asteroids.  And it was amazing!   

 

Hahah... yes, exactly. And for me, there's just something so much better about the original raster (rastor?) graphics compared to the newer CGA-style graphics of Asteroids Deluxe.

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, 82-T/A said:

 

Hahah... yes, exactly. And for me, there's just something so much better about the original raster (rastor?) graphics compared to the newer CGA-style graphics of Asteroids Deluxe.

Both Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe were vector games

Edited February 20, 2021 by x=usr(1536)

[John Stamos Mullet]

1 hour ago, 82-T/A said:

 

Hahah... yes, exactly. And for me, there's just something so much better about the original raster (rastor?) graphics compared to the newer CGA-style graphics of Asteroids Deluxe.

[82-T/A]

10 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Both Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe were vector games

 

Nice! So it is... on my multi-cade machine, there's an Asteroids Arcade game, and it's not the typical black and white with line-drawn graphics. Was there a newer Asteroids arcade game that came out after that?

 

This opens my search up then... I definitely want an original Asteroids and now / or Asteroids Deluxe. There's just something really unique about the graphics and the way it displays those graphics compared to all the other CGA style arcade machines.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

5 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

 

Nice! So it is... on my multi-cade machine, there's an Asteroids Arcade game, and it's not the typical black and white with line-drawn graphics. Was there a newer Asteroids arcade game that came out after that?

Atari did also do Blasteroids, which was released around 1988, IIRC.  That one was definitely raster and had 3D-effect rocks and enemies as well as powerups, etc.

5 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

This opens my search up then... I definitely want an original Asteroids and now / or Asteroids Deluxe. There's just something really unique about the graphics and the way it displays those graphics compared to all the other CGA style arcade machines.

Agreed; there's just no comparison.  They really have a distinct look and feel from anything else.

 

Just be ready to get good at maintaining them.  Vectors can (read: will) require a special kind of love to keep running.

[+GoldLeader]

I have an Asteroids in my dad's garage (Mine is a white cab when all I've seen usually are black), though it needs a little attention (Half the screen folds into itself at times,  until I get it fixed),  and although I always forget about it, I also have a cocktail Asteroids Deluxe which has a working monitor supposedly, and makes all the sounds like it is working, but I have Never seen the screen show up on the monitor, and I've never had it fixed (though one attempt failed).  I bought it this way.  Maybe someday I'll take them to someone who knows how to fix them and get them both done and moved over here to my  house (where I have no room haha),...

 

As for the topic at hand...The word "Popular" may not fit for all of my answers, but "Popular" BITD when these games were current and what people think of nowadays, might be 2 different things.

 

Mr. Do! - Seems to be pretty rare, though I've seen it once in a while (esp. I remember it as a private owner's game at a pinball convention)...I was so used to the MAME version that playing it threw me (Though I made it to level 8 on my first try), and I could really see the arcade original has different and much more random logic than MAME (and it's WAY more random than the SNES version, where you could use patterns if you come up with them;  as there are spots where the monsters always go left, for instance)...

 

Cosmic Avenger - Saw it once.  Only one arcade in town (Stargate) had it BITD, but they went out of business fast (serves them right for setting all of their difficulty switches to the highest level every time.)

 

Tac Scan - Not sure if popular per se, but either way I only ever saw this once in my life at Circus Circus (Las Vegas).  I already owned it on Atari at that point.  Seems like they had more than one cab though...Maybe 3 lined up next to each other though I could totally be misremembering.

 

Black Widow- I think I saw it twice while on vacation.

 

Gravitar - Mainly I remember seeing it once at a record store of all places, while on vacation.   I was thinking this game is the hardest game I've ever seen!

 

Reactor - Only a short lived arcade called Video Village had it in the 80's and I only went there a few times.  They also had Blueprint, but because it kind of sucks I never thought of that as popular.

 

Super Cobra - Where it seems like Scramble was Everywhere, I barely ever recall seeing Super Cobra. I think I saw it twice at most.

[82-T/A]

On 2/16/2021 at 1:03 AM, John Stamos Mullet said:

The local arcade I went to every week, G-Wizz at Boston Bowl, had a lot of Cabs that people consider rare.

 

I, Robot

Baby Pac-Man

Space Ace

Cliff Hanger

Vanguard

Donkey Kong 3

 

But all those years I frequented it, 1979-1988 or so, they never had a Galaga. The only place I ever played Galaga in the wild during the 80's was at the small 4 machine "arcade" at Papoose Pond Camp grounds in ME. In fact - I'm pretty sure I played the Atari 7800 version of Galaga before I ever played the arcade version.

 

Ah man... I've never seen a Baby Pac Man arcade, I just assumed it was a console-only game. I'll have to look that up.

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

11 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

Ah man... I've never seen a Baby Pac Man arcade, I just assumed it was a console-only game. I'll have to look that up.

That's one of the few I regret having sold.  Every time I play one I'm reminded of just how fun it was.  Difficult as hell compared to the other Pac-Man games until you start getting a feel for how the ghosts behave, as well as how to properly use the pinball table to your advantage.  Really like it.

 

It also reminds me of just how temperamental it could be, too, but that's par for the course.

[+wongojack]

11 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

 

Ah man... I've never seen a Baby Pac Man arcade, I just assumed it was a console-only game. I'll have to look that up.

 

 

 

11 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

That's one of the few I regret having sold.  Every time I play one I'm reminded of just how fun it was.  Difficult as hell compared to the other Pac-Man games until you start getting a feel for how the ghosts behave, as well as how to properly use the pinball table to your advantage.  Really like it.

 

It also reminds me of just how temperamental it could be, too, but that's par for the course.

 

The 7800 homebrew is the only legit home port there is.  It is excellent and compares nicely to the physical machine.

[+x=usr(1536)]

44 minutes ago, wongojack said:

The 7800 homebrew is the only legit home port there is.  It is excellent and compares nicely to the physical machine.

It's the only port

 

But I do agree.  I have a copy and am still blown away by just how good it is.

[82-T/A]

19 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

It's the only port

 

But I do agree.  I have a copy and am still blown away by just how good it is.

 

Port of the original Arcade you guys mean? Because I had it for the Atari 2600 growing up, and it was one of my favorite games!

 

[+wongojack]

11 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

 

Port of the original Arcade you guys mean? Because I had it for the Atari 2600 growing up, and it was one of my favorite games!

 

You are probably thinking of Jr Pac-Man.  Different game.  

• Jr. Pac-Man
• Baby Pac-Man

[82-T/A]

42 minutes ago, wongojack said:

You are probably thinking of Jr Pac-Man.  Different game.  

• Jr. Pac-Man
• Baby Pac-Man

 

Damn... yes, you're right. I'm really striking out in this arcade thread! Hahah...

[SearsRoebuck]

On 2/11/2021 at 9:52 PM, retrorussell said:

I may have only seen BPM at Malibu Gran Prix.  I think people were clamoring for Pac Man games and would play any that came out but shortly after playing BPM turned their nose up at it.  It is IMHO pretty bad.

 

Up 'N Down had numerous ports so maybe it had a decent bit of popularity but I only saw it once at an Aladdin's Castle.

 

I actually know of 3 (!) different BPMs around me now.  And when I was younger, I never saw it. It was considered a problem machine then, and the ones I know of here are down half of the time.  Seems to really suffer from a sticky ball in the playfield. 

 

I actually think Jr Pac Man is quite a bit rarer, at least around here. Not counting classic game conventions, I have only see it once in the wild - as a cocktail version.  The same owner also had Super Pac-Man in cocktail.  

 

To answer the OP's question - off the top of my head, my examples - I only saw Marble Madness and Bubble Bobble after they were way passed their prime, in the mid 90s. I am younger than some of you, so I missed alot of the early 80s classics to begin with. Didn't really start going to arcades until about 1988 or so. 

 

Some one else mentioned Tapper - I NEVER saw this game until last year. There is one near me, that like the BPMs, is down alot because of monitor issues. I only have been able to play it once.  Still never seen the 'Root Beer' version anywhere - all the ones I know of are the Bud version. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by SearsRoebuck

[retrorussell]

I may have only seen Tapper once as well-- I think it was at an Aladdin's Castle.  I never saw the Root Beer ones either.

 

Did all Aladdin's Castle give 6 tokens for a buck?  I think mine in Vancouver, WA did.

[John Stamos Mullet]

7 hours ago, wongojack said:

You are probably thinking of Jr Pac-Man.  Different game.  

• Jr. Pac-Man
• Baby Pac-Man

Same arcade I mentioned earlier that had a baby pac also had a Jr. at one point. 
 

man, that place was awesome. It's still there, but now it's all skee-ball and other prize ticket garbage. They had one of those "biggest Pac-Man ever" and a few oversized driving games, but no true classics anymore. Shame. 
 

I did post the high score on the giant pac-man, getting to the galaxian level. Little kids thought I was a jedi. I'd love to see someone killscreen one of those.

[+GoldLeader]

49 minutes ago, retrorussell said:

I may have only seen Tapper once as well-- I think it was at an Aladdin's Castle.  I never saw the Root Beer ones either.

 

Did all Aladdin's Castle give 6 tokens for a buck?  I think mine in Vancouver, WA did.

Yeah Tapper was one I only ever saw once! 

 

Thinking on it,  I think Zookeeper might be another I only saw once... or maybe never haha...

 

And Jr. Pac Man only once...

 

Baby Pac Man I remember in 2 locations, but barely ever played it.  Then a while back, my fried had one in his house!  I think it may need some repair or parts at this point, but it belonged to some other people;  Something about a band that moved out and had nowhere to put it...I think he kind of inherited it at this point.

[koolmoecraig]

I was at a Showbiz Pizza in Chicago when they unboxed a Baby Pac-Man.  It is a very vivid memory.  I love the game.  Anyone who shies away from it is really missing out.

 

The art and the cabinet itself is beautiful as well.

[Zoyous]

Somehow I had always heard of Sinistar, but when I encountered one at the NW Arcade and Pinball Show, I realized that I had never seen it before. Maybe I had seen it listed in the high score sections of magazines back in the day and the name always stuck with me.

[zzip]

14 hours ago, Zoyous said:

Somehow I had always heard of Sinistar, but when I encountered one at the NW Arcade and Pinball Show, I realized that I had never seen it before. Maybe I had seen it listed in the high score sections of magazines back in the day and the name always stuck with me.

That was a rare one for sure.   I think I only ever saw one physical machine back in the day.   But it was actually playable with the special controls on the machine.   When I got it on the "Williams Arcade Classics" CD-ROM, it was nearly impossible to play because no PC game controller had enough precision.

[+sramirez2008]

On 2/11/2021 at 5:48 PM, RodLightning said:

Baby Pac-Man comes to mind.  It was talked about very much and I seem to remember reading about it in a magazine.  I saw one once with 'out of order' sign at Aladdin's Castle.  A manager there told me the pinball portion was broken.  Later, it was gone.

Other than it being part of the Pac-Man series of games, I can't say if it was super popular.  Maybe it wasn't upon closer examination?

 

Never saw one during my youth.  First time I came across BPM was at the 2015 Classic Game Expo (Austin TX). It was also 'out of order' for the days that I attended. Over the past few years I've been able to play it at The Morristown Game Vault (theirs has always worked) and at PRGE (2019). PRGE had an amazing assortment of coin-ops, btw.  There was also one at Ground Kontrol (visited during PRGE), but alas it too was 'out of order'.

 

According to the Internet Pinball Database, 7,000 were produced.  Its certainly hard to come across one these days, especially one in working order.