Top Ten Most Important Arcade games

[J.Max]

I worte this today to try and provoke a little debate...see what you think:

 

Top Ten

 

 

I'll be curious to see some reaction.

[liveinabin]

You're a beat-em-up fan, aren't you?

 

SF II, Mortal Kombat and Tekken all on the same list?

 

I take your point with Tekken, but wouldn't that have been better illustrated with Ridge Racer, which truly marked the coming of arcade machines to home consoles?

[Mayhem]

Agree with Golden Tee (amazingly enough), SF2, Pong, Space Invaders and Pacman. Computer Space may have been first, but it did nothing sadly, it isn't a "landmark" arcade machine or the most important. Pong is however.

 

It should have Ridge Racer (as noted), Defender, possibly Gauntlet and Asteroids (the highest grossing vector game ever I believe).

[Bill Brasky]

You're a beat-em-up fan, aren't you?

 

SF II, Mortal Kombat and Tekken all on the same list?

 

I take your point with Tekken, but wouldn't that have been better illustrated with Ridge Racer, which truly marked the coming of arcade machines to home consoles?

992817[/snapback]

 

 

SF II, Mortal Kombat and Tekken should all be replaced by Karate Champ. Wasn't this the game that really started the kung-fu fighting arcade game trend? After this game was popular they started filling arcades with fighting games. What about BattleZone or I Robot, the first use of 3D polygonal environments in games.

[bergbros2]

Too many fighters. SF2 is the most influential and the rest took their lead. Star Wars was the best vector graphics and movie franchise game. Dance Dance Revolution made the arcades a phenomenon again. Ms. Pac Man probably has to be in there as the first arcade game to appeal to women. Gauntlet was the first cooperative multiplayer game for more than two players. Tetris was probably the most important arcade and maybe most important game of all time.

[8th lutz]

Nice list.

I agree with street fighter 2, space invaders, Dragon's lair, pac man, Viruta racing, Mortal Kombat and pong. I also agree with astroids, Neo Geo MVs, Donkey

 

I think ridge racer should be on the list instead of tekken. Ridge racer and Takken were responsible Ps 1 sales in 1995. Tekken credit does down due to Viruta Fighter being the first popular 3-d fighter in the arcade and was responsible 3d fighting games like Tekken.

 

Vituta Fighter-first 3d fighting game that was successful in the arcades

 

Arch rival- responsible for Nba Jam,blitz, High impact football

 

My Honrable list would include galaga- how do you explain this game being in arcades from 1981 to this day. It also include pole position, and double dragon for honorable mentions.

Kung fu Master- Responsible for beatum up games and for being the first and was side scrolling.

Edited January 2, 2006 by 8th lutz

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Afterburner, cockpit version.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[8th lutz]

SF II, Mortal Kombat and Tekken should all be replaced by Karate Champ. Wasn't this the game that really started the kung-fu fighting arcade game trend? After this game was popular they started filling arcades with fighting games. What about BattleZone or I Robot, the first use of 3D polygonal environments in games.

992864[/snapback]

Karate Champ was the first, and I think Yie ar Kung-fu was one of the first and was influential to Street Fighter one. Street Fighter 2 perfected the 2d fighting foundation of previous 2d fighters. Mortal Kombat does not quite come from Karate Champ. It is a fighting game, but its roots came from pitfighter. Both games were dgitalized i think, and no fighting game had that graphical style before pitfighter and mortal kombat improved on it big time. The realism of the graphics of the time responsible for the rating system. The game brought about finishing moves in fighting games.

[keilbaca]

I agree with the above mention of DDR and bringing people to the arcades. Every time I went to Ingram mall, the two ddr machines were played nonstop (partly by me). The rest of the arcade wasn't even used, including games like tekken 5, snk vs capcom, marvel vs capcom 2, metal slug x, ms. pac-man/galaga, time crisis 3, beatmania 2DX and Guitar Freaks 7th mix, among others.

 

but overall, a good list.

Edited January 2, 2006 by keilbaca

[Room 34]

OK, maybe this is the right place to finally get an answer to my age-old question...

 

WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH GOLDEN TEE???

 

I simply cannot fathom (admittedly, having never played it) what is so friggin' unbelievably awesome about this game that it has spawned annual updates and is, most of the time, the ONLY arcade game you ever see anywhere anymore.

[J.Max]

A few clarifications, I'd say:

 

1. Ridge Racer v. Tekken - The reason Tekken is on there and not Ridge Racer is because Tekken ran on PSOne hardware, while Ridge Racer ran on a System 22 board. This was the first game to really popularize the idea of running the arcade and home games on the same hardware, and they made the home game actually better. Tekken was the milestone game which really, IMO, marked the turning point for American arcades. Tekken is not included on the list because it sold PSOne consoles, it's on the list because it was the first big step in driving people away from the arcades!

 

2. Karate Champ/Yie Ar Kung Fu/pre-SFII fighting games - I am aware of the pre-SFII fighting games, but none of those changed the video game landscape quite like SFII. Again, remember that it's not necessarily the first game that is important, but it's the one that caused the most impact. Karate Champ didn't bring people into the arcades, SFII did.

 

3. "Too many fighters" - You have to remember that the early to mid-90s were dominated by three genres: Fighting Games, Driving Games , and Shooters. Secondly, the three fighters that are on there are there for different reasons other than their gameplay. If DOOM had been primarily an arcade game, it might have made the list over Mortal Kombat. Similarly, SFII is on there because it revitalized the arcade scene, not because it was the best ever made.

 

4. "Virtua Racing wasn't the first 3D game" - No, but it's still the most important. Again, keep in mind that I'm not talking about the "first" necessarily, but the ones that were the landmarks. In fact, in the top ten list, I mention "I,Robot" and explain why it isn't there. Battlezone is not a 3D game in the same way as Virtua Racing, either. BattleZone didn't lead to the preponderence of 3D over 2D either.

 

A few other things:

 

-Tetris is the most important game of all-time (in a lot of ways), but NOT as an arcade game. It's biggest impact was on the GameBoy, followed by PCs, and everything else.

-Ms. Pac-Man: I debated about Ms. Pac-Man, but it's influence was superceded by her husband. Ms. Pac Man did NOT bring that many women into the arcade, and the women that it did bring in didn't stay. A case could be made that it was the first game to have a female main character, but again, there weren't THAT many games which followed her lead.

-Galaga: I thought about this one too, for the reason that it introduced the power-up, but I didn't put it on there because I'm not sure that it really popularized that idea.

-Arch-Rivals: Nope. I realize that it led to NBA Jam, but NBA Jam was really the starting point for that genre. Arch-Rivals was a good prototype, but again, being first doesn't necessarily mean most important. Also, considering that Midway was the only company to really do those sorts of games, that genre gets left off.

-Double Dragon: Again, I thought long and hard about this one, but just couldn't include it. It should probably be an honorable mention.

-Star Wars: One of my all-time favorites, but left no visible mark on the arcade industry or the world at-large. It wasn't the first licensed game, it wasn't the game that popularized licenses, and it didn't spawn imitators.

-DDR: I really thought about this one, A LOT. It probably should be on the list instead of Computer Space, but I felt like I HAD to put Computer Space on there somewhere.

Edited January 2, 2006 by J.Max

[Bill Brasky]

OK, maybe this is the right place to finally get an answer to my age-old question...

 

WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH GOLDEN TEE???

 

I simply cannot fathom (admittedly, having never played it) what is so friggin' unbelievably awesome about this game that it has spawned annual updates and is, most of the time, the ONLY arcade game you ever see anywhere anymore.

992900[/snapback]

 

 

You must have to be drunk to enjoy it. It seems like it's the #1 game for bars.

[J.Max]

OK, maybe this is the right place to finally get an answer to my age-old question...

 

WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH GOLDEN TEE???

 

I simply cannot fathom (admittedly, having never played it) what is so friggin' unbelievably awesome about this game that it has spawned annual updates and is, most of the time, the ONLY arcade game you ever see anywhere anymore.

992900[/snapback]

 

It's fun to play with other people, it's simple to learn (and not intimidating to those who don't regularly play video games), it's everywhere, and they have a lot of contests.

[MattG/Snyper2099]

I would say double dragon belongs on this list. Here's my list. Not trying to discredit yours. Just thought this was fun. I have my reasons but these are THE games that broke barriers or simply brought people in herds. They are the most important.

 

Computer Space

Pong

Space Invaders

Gorf

Centipede

Pac/Ms. Pac

Double Dragon

SFII

Mortal Kombat

Golden Tee

[Gregory DG]

What, no Asteroids? Shoulda been more than a HM.

Edited January 3, 2006 by Gregory DG

[Zonie]

OK. Lets do the math.

 

1 pac man game.

168 hrs in a week.

$7000 (as you stated) earnings in a week.

Assume 1 play = 1 quarter.

 

7000 / .025 = 28,000 quarters/plays

28,000 plays / 168 hrs = 166.67 games per hour.

166.67 / 60 (min per hour) = 2.78

 

at your rate, people would be putting quarters into the machine 24/7 at a rate of 2.78 plays per MINUITE.

 

I think that $7000 is a bit off. If the machine played non-stop from 8am to midnight 7 days a week, and the average game lasted only 5 min, the machine is capable of taking in only $336 per week.

 

It took months on location for the break even point for most machines. Where did you get your information?

[Zonie]

OK, maybe this is the right place to finally get an answer to my age-old question...

 

WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH GOLDEN TEE???

 

I simply cannot fathom (admittedly, having never played it) what is so friggin' unbelievably awesome about this game that it has spawned annual updates and is, most of the time, the ONLY arcade game you ever see anywhere anymore.

992900[/snapback]

Golf has a rapidly growing fan base. It's moving to the masses, no longer seen as an uppity sport for rich people.

 

I guess I see it every day as I live in Phoenix, and you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a water sucking golf course.

[shadow460]

Hmm, arcade Tetris. I have played that. I think the more important puzzler in the arcade was Bust-a-Move.

 

Also, I think Daytona USA is probably as important as Virtua Racing, if not more so. Virtua Racing had a bland, futury look to it, and it just felt too sterile when I played it.

I was over in Japan when I met Daytona USA. Unfortunately, I didn't have many more yen, and it was 200 yen (roughly $2) to play it.

Daytona took the 3D setup from Virtua Racing and polished it. Where Virtua Racing was just a slice of bread into the 3D world, Daytona USA adds the bacon, lettuce, and tomato, plus a bit of mayo and salt. Slick gameplay adds the final bit, which is the difference between a toasted BLT and a plain one.

I played Virtua Racing here and there, but I was constantly on Daytona when I found a machine in the USA. I have probably dropped over $1500 into that machine alone. I was hooked, pure and simple.

The other $1500 went into the Raiden DX machine two spots to Daytona's left. I was an expert at both games, and regularly drew a crowd to watch me finish Raiden on one life, or win first place on Daytona's hardest track.

 

I'm surprised I didn't see Hard Drivin' on that list. If not for that game, we might not have force feedback today.

 

Also noteworthy, but maybe not list worthy, would be Dance Dance Revolution. That's the first game I know of to be popular and make good use of "feet only" controls.

Now all we need is a Virtua Striker that has "feet only" controls.

[KoffinKorner]

Just 10!? Could maybe do a TOP 20 or 50

 

I don't know if I can do that? I'll have to think on it some more

 

Pong, Space Invaders, Tempest, Zaxxon, SF2 and GORF go in the list for sure, there's a Hell of lot others to go. I just don't know about a TOP 10 for arcade games.

[JimmydelaKopin]

Some other ideas...

 

Gauntlet should have been included as one of the original quarter-suckers. It started the trend, in my opinion, of games where one could continue where one left off simply by adding more money. Also, it was one of the first to offer simultaneous gameplay for multiple players.

 

SFII deserves credit for being one of the first games which allowed one multiple protagonist choices--a trend that continues in games to this day.

 

SW was one of the first games to introduce actual speech and high-quality music into the gameplay experience. (Though I still like those catchy Taito tunes... )

And it popularized the scourge of videogaming: the licensed videogame. Let's face it: if the SW games weren't so good, even for the 2600, no one would have taken a chance on Raiders of the Lost Ark or E.T.

 

And Pac-Man should have been noted for introducing the concept of merchandising videogame properties. Face it: those Pac-Man puffy stickers led the way for those cool SFII T-shirts and those nifty Activision patches.

[KoffinKorner]

Gauntlet should have been included as one of the original quarter-suckers. It started the trend, in my opinion, of games where one could continue where one left off simply by adding more money. Also, it was one of the first to offer simultaneous gameplay for multiple players

 

Nawww... Sprint 8 was the first Big time muti-player quarter muncher, remember setting quarters down waiting for my turn when all 8 wheels were full.

 

This game was HOT back in the day http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=S&game_id=9741 (1977)

[RickHarrisMaine]

I'm with Koffin on Zaxxon, and I recall plugging loads of quarters into Berzerk, and Robotron 2084, which I hope to still be playing in 2084 (when I'll be over 100 years old!). Centipede was great on the arcade, Asteroids, Pac-Man, Defender is a true classic as well. Pole Position and Turbo were fun in the day too.

[KoffinKorner]

Better to do a "TOP 10" by decade IMO. 70's, 80's, 90's ect..

 

Sin-Star, Tron, Defender, Dig Dug, Pac Man games, Space Harrier. The list is just too massive, age is a major factor also.

 

Almost forgot about Smash T.V GO GO GO... LOL

Edited January 3, 2006 by KoffinKorner

[keilbaca]

Better to do a "TOP 10" by decade IMO. 70's, 80's, 90's ect..

 

Sin-Star, Tron, Defender, Dig Dug, Pac Man games, Space Harrier. The list is just too massive, age is a major factor also.

 

Almost forgot about Smash T.V GO GO GO... LOL

993189[/snapback]

 

I'd buy that for a dollar!

[Inky]

1 - Pong (Started the ball rolling)

2 - Space Invaders (Horribly addicting, and one of, if not, the earliest games to be licnse for home)

3 - Pac-Man ( 'nuff said)

4 - Asteroids (MOst profitable vector game)

5 - Zaxxon (made a type of 3-D gaming popular)

6 - Robotron (Two joystick control scheme was unheard of)

7 - Defender (Buttons, buttons, buttons!)

8 - Play Choice 10 (Sure, it was nothing more than a Nintendo promotional tool for hte home systems,but there was a time when you couldn't get away from these machines)

9- Street Fighter 2 (Fighting games were popular before this, but this one prpelled them through the stratosphere)

10 -- DDR