80s Arcade Games

[cirzlee]

I gotta do this research paper over aracde games in the 80s. I want to tell how the industry was doing great but then it fell because of consoles. Basically my paper consists of game summaries of the popular games like Computer Space, Space Invaders, Asteroids, etc.

So far I've summarized up to Pac-Man and how well arcades are doing. I need help on what game should I use to note a transition from Arcade popularity to console popularity.

 

The Rise and Fall of Aracde Games

There was a time when the arcade was the “in” place to be, the greatest hangout ever. This time was in the 1980s. Starting from humble roots, arcade games catapulted the video game industry into dynamic feats and accomplishments, only to be reduced down to dust in the end. Although arcade games are still surviving today, they have been run over by better technology. The history itself of arcade games reveals the steep climb it had made and its fall.

The video game industry owes its beginnings to a young engineer named Nolan Bushnell. He was the first to recognize that a primitive computer game such as Spacewar! could be introduced as a form of entertainment, later called Computer Space, at bars and arcades. After he sold this concept to a small California coin-op company called Nutting Associates, the game went on to ship fewer than 1,500 machines. Why the low distribution? The low distribution was because people were confused and frightened by Computer Space’s futuristic fiberglass cabinet and awkward controls. In the release of its two-player, head-to-head version, the game improved slightly because of its introduction of the joystick and with the idea that was more fun blasting your friend instead of a slow moving flying saucer. Yet still, Computer Space only appealed to the programmers. A year later in 1972, Bushnell founded Atari, and released Pong. For this, he became known as “The Father of the Video Game Industry.”

Every story has a beginning and it started with the incredibly addicting Pong, released in 1972 by Atari. Pong had simple instructions: “1) insert a quarter” and “2) avoid missing ball for high score.” The object of the game was to put the paddle in the path of a moving white dot more often then the other opponent did. By the end of 1972, Atari had successfully launched the game to rake in the money. In 1975, Atari invaded homes with their small-screen Pong system, making it possible to play virtual table tennis on the television.

In 1978, Midway released its masterpiece Space Invaders. The shot that exploded the video game industry started with this space shooter. Space Invaders was created by a Japanese company called Taito; it was a smash hit in Japan. Licensee Midway had similar success in the United States as well. The best achievement of Space Invaders was that it gave the player a nerve-wracking experience, armed with only a white laser cannon, the player scrolled across the bottom of the screen shooting at the space aliens that would slowly come down the screen. The closer the aliens got to the bottom they would move faster, and once they reached the ground it would be game over.

Another space shooter was released by Atari in 1979 called Asteroids. The game supported black and white vector graphics, and unlike Space Invaders, the player was not stuck on the ground. The ship, that the player controlled, was a simple triangle, which could move about anywhere on the screen. The objective of Asteroids was to pilot the triangular ship around an overcrowded asteroid field and shoot anything that moves. Atari manufactured over 70,000 Asteroids machines, earning a place as the company’s most successful game and the industry’s third best-selling title of all time.

In 1980, the star of Midway’s release Pac-Man became the video-game industry’s mascot. Using only a joystick with a red knob, the player controlled a fast-moving yellow creature to move through a maze eating dots while avoiding the ghosts. Compared with the space games that were so popular in the late 1970s, Pac-Man was the first game to appeal to everyone with its colorful characters and sounds. Pac-man was easily the most successful arcade game of all time, selling 99,000 units. Players were also hooked onto this game because it was challenging. The game was such a hit that at one point in 1981, four books about mastering Pac-Man was charted on the New York Times bestseller list.

Right around the year 1986, technology got more powerful and more affordable with the release of the Nintendo NES. Arcade titles could be closely replicated in the privacy of consumer homes, something that was not available in the Atari 2600 days. Basically people could comfortably sit on their couches and force game manufacturers to come to them. The last half of the 1980s went out with a bang at arcades, with only a handful of worthy titles. For the first time in history of man, kids actually wanted to stay at home, where they could flip goofy Tetris shapes and save the princess in the hundreds of games where you had to save the princess.

[Big Player]

I need help on what game should I use to note a transition from Arcade popularity to console popularity.

 

Space Invaders was the game that really increased the demand for 2600's.

 

For me, I had no desire to own a 2600 until the home version came out.

[curtishart]

I did a website a while back (My account on ev1 has since been closed, but they're still hosting my site...go figure) on arcade games:

 

http://users2.ev1.net/~curtishart/badger/index.html

 

Has a history of "first" technologies plus some arcade-related articles. I'm sure going through these can give you some tid-bits of reference on the impact of consoles vs. arcade games in the 80's

 

It's been too long since I've added anything to this however hopefully in the future more time will permit me to add more articles (I still have about 100+ arcade articles to post to that portion of my site.)

 

Best of luck, and let us know when your paper is completed. I'd love to read it.

[Mindfield]

There was really no transition as such; they happened one right after the other in 1978 with the release of Space Invaders in the arcades, and then for the VCS. It was, in fact, the anticipation of Space Invaders' release -- the first licensed arcade conversion and the first ever "killer app" for home consoles -- that prompted people to go out and buy the VCS solely on the merit that they would soon be able to bring their favourite arcade game home, in a manner of speaking. You might say that the same game that brought the arcade out from smokey underground pits into smokey, overcrowded fruit-stand-come-arcade-palaces also launched the VCS, and thus the home video game industry, to its own mega-stardom.

 

The fall didn't really start until the release of Pac Man for the 2600. Such a mega-smash arcade hit and arcadedom's first official superstar, such a highly anticipated home console conversion, and such an incredibly disappointing flop knocked over the first domino in a chain of disappointing releases. Then, too, you have the early-on departure of key Atari developers who formed Activision, got sued by Atari for appropriating trade secrets, won their lawsuit, and formed the first third-party development house. This initially worked to Atari's favour in the end as it caused development for the VCS to positively explode. Unfortunately with Atari having no QC on third-party software, it also played a major role in their demise as, eventually, there were so many companies releasing so much unadulterated crap that the 2600 became oversaturated with bad titles both from without and from within that the VCS sunk. Since Atari was the bedrock upon which other consoles built their fortune, they, too, went down with the ship. And that, in turn, cast a general malaise about video games in general, and arcades began closing in droves.

[cirzlee]

What does VCS stand for?

[cirzlee]

and QC?

[NovaXpress]

Why the hell do people post the same thing in diefferent forums? It's really childish and annoying.

[Adrian M]

Why the hell do people post the same thing in diefferent forums?  It's really childish and annoying.

 

Probably to get maximum exposure.

[jeepnut24]

Asteroids was the game I had to have and play as a kid. Then pole position. Wasted as much as I could get my hands on with those two.

[Adrian M]

It was all about Pac-Man for me.

 

If it weren't for Pac-Man, then I probably would not have asked for an Atari for Christmas and who knows what would have happened then.

[ATARIPITBULL]

Pac-man, Ms Pac-man, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr & Frogger come to mind as games that people could not wait to play on the VCS.

 

[bjk7382]

Why the hell do people post the same thing in diefferent forums?  It's really childish and annoying.

 

I agree, Post ONE topic and go with that one.

[Vic George 2K3]

VCS stands for Video Computer System, the original name for the Atari 2600; QC for Quality Control

[Goochman]

What does VCS stand for?

 

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[tyranthraxus]

Your essay falls into one of the many traps begining writers often step

into (and pros do to but they have editors to help out). Your essay takes

some leaps and assumes the reader knows as much as you do about

early video game history.

 

For example at the end of the essay you mention the Atari 2600 which

was not previously refered to, or established as what it is. Also I think

you should refer to the originating company of arcade games not the

licensee. Space Invaders is not Midway's masterpiece, its Taito's and

Pac Man belongs to Namco. However, Ms Pac was an unoffical sequel

distributed by Midway that later was claimed and made 'legit' by

Namco. Also you mention Nintendo NES, you should first state Nintendo

Entertainment System, then its abrievation. The reader probably won't

know what NES stands for. The average joe generarlly refers to "the

Atari" and means a 2600 and 'Nintendo' means the NES.

 

When you first mention SI you should refer to the 2600 and how SI's

popularity made its home version boost 2600 sales. And how home

video games were largely fueled by arcade conversions. The NES

first started to change this with the poular Super Mario Bros and Legend

of Zelda. But it did not kill the arcade, as a kid in the late 80s arcade

games were still a big deal. Double Dragon was a HUGE release for the

NES at the time. Tetris was a hit in arcades. And the TMNT arcade was

also a big release too. There were lots of other late 80s early 90s hits like

Rampage, Punchout, Mortal Kombat, Gauntlet, Golden Axe, etc. whose

home versions were anticapted sellers. I feel it wasn't until the PS1 when

arcades truley lost their influence. In the mid 90s the arcades became

overwhelmed with fighters and racing games and home games really

closed the gap with graphics.

 

If you search the archives you should be able to find a link to a site

that had an excellent history of the video arcade in North America.

[shep]

Why the hell do people post the same thing in diefferent forums?  It's really childish and annoying.

 

Why do people whine? It's very childish and annoying