Retro Gamer Book of Arcade Classics 2nd Edition

180 Pages·2004·57.39 MB·English

BOOK OF
ARCADE
CLASSICS
DISCOVER THE ORIGINS OF ICONIC GAMES
HOW ARCADES RULED THE WORLD
AMAZING DEVELOPER INTERVIEWS

Welcome to
ARCADE
CLASSICS
Back in the Seventies and early Eighties the arcade was king. While videogames
were progressing at an astonishing rate in homes throughout the world, it was
the arcade in the West and East where most of the biggest technical leaps and
bounds were being made. Companies like Atari, Sega and even Nintendo were
pushing specifi c hardware boards to create unique gaming experiences, many of
which had never been experienced before. It was an exciting time, with all sorts
of innovations appearing. While many of these classic games would appear on
home systems, they were o(cid:2) en pale shadows of the arcade originals, ensuring
gamers in their thousands continued to fl ock to the many arcades that were
found all around the world. The following pages celebrate that golden period by
collecting some of the greatest content from the last decade of Retro Gamer.
From the origins of Space War to the creation of OutRun and Pac-Man, this book
will give you fascinating insight in to one of the gaming’s most signifi cant periods.
In association with magazine

ARCADE
CLASSICS
Imagine Publishing Ltd
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(cid:8) [phone]
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Disclaimer
The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the
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Retro Gamer Book of Arcade Classics Second Edition © 2016 Imagine Publishing Ltd
ISBN 978 1785 464 348
Part of the
bookazine series
ARCADE
CONCLTASESICNS TS
146
140
52 94
FEATURES RETRO REVIVALS
8 WHEN ARCADES 28 PONG
RULED THE EARTH
Celebrating the game that was instrumental to
We chart the story of the arcade, from its creating the arcade scene
triumphant beginning to eventual end 52 STAR WARS
60 THE LEGACY OF ROBOTRON Recreate blowing up the Death Star in one of the
greatest movie licences of all time
Key developers celebrate Eugene Jarvis’s iconic 120 GOLDEN AXE
twin-stick shoot-’em-up
94 THE HISTORY OF STREET FIGHTER How a fantastical spin made Sega’s scrolling
fighter stand out from the crowd
We celebrate one of the most important one-on-
146 ASTEROIDS
one fighters of all time
122 THE LEGACY OF DRAGON’S LAIR Ed Logg is one of arcades greatest legends and
Asteroids is the proof
Discover how Don Bluth created one of the
arcade’s most mesmerising laserdisc games THE MAKING OF
148 THE HISTORY OF
OPERATION WOLF 30 COMPUTER SPACE
Martyn Carroll lobs a grenade and blows the lid off We reveal the origins behind the early arcade
the complete series game from Nutting Associates
158 THE STORY OF STRIDER 44 PAC(cid:2)MAN
Key Capcom developers explain the origins behind Discover how a pizza was responsible for one of
gaming’s greatest arcade ninja gaming’s greatest maze games
122
30
88
168
76 OUTRUN ULTIMATE GUIDE COIN(cid:2)OP CAPERS
Yu Suzuki reveals how the Cannonball Run
inspired his seminal racing game 52 MR. DO! 68 D ONKEY KONG
114 SPACE INVADERS Discover what everyone’s favourite clown has An exhausting look at Nintendo’s most important
to offer arcade game
Tomohiro Nishikado explains the origins of his
best-known game and classic shoot-’em-up, 88 GHOULS ‘N GHOSTS 106 MISSILE COMMAND
Space Invaders
It’s all in a knights work thanks to this ultimate Y our must-read guide to David Theurer’s frantic
140 PAPERBOY guide to this ghostly game shoot-’em-up classic
132 BOMB JACK 168 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE
Find out how a game about a boy delivering
newspapers became a worldwide phenomenon Your complete guide to Tehkan’s insanely addictive Your complete guide to Konami’s incredible
that made Atari a fortune bomb defusing game scrolling beat-’em-up
156 POINT BLANK
UNCONVERTED
Everything you need to know about Namco’s
incredibly quirky lightgun game
58 TINKLE PIT
DEVELOPERS Discover why the brightly-coloured maze game
never made it into your home
38 NUTTING INDUSTRIES 138 MACH BREAKERS
We take a look at one of the earliest arcade Sadly, Namco’s mid-Nineties athletic game
manufacturers, formed in 1965 did not make it to home systems
82 ATARI INC 166 ZERO GUNNER
Find out how Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney The classic shoot-’em-up never made it home, 8
helped create the arcade scene unlike it’s highly enjoyable sequel
ARCADE CLASSICS | 7
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8 | ARCADE CLASSICS
WHEN ARCADES RULED THE WORLD

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ARCADE CLASSICS | 9
»u Sseeedn b hye vried eiso t ahrec paadpee gra tmapee a fuotrh sotrosr aing eth oef mcoidd eS etyvpeinctaiellsy
such as those at Atari.
HE SEVENTIES ACTUALLY
REPRESENTS AN
INTERESTING PERIOD IN
TIME FOR VIDEO ARCADE California. This was a location about as
GAMES. ONE OF GROWTH AND far away from Chicago, the established
PENDING DESTRUCTION. A DECADE mecca of the coin industry, as you could
e THAT WAS SIMULTANEOUSLY A possibly be. Second, they’d have to
nti GENERATOR OF CRITICAL MASS convince an established coin company
eve e FOR THE NEW MEDIUM WHILE to take a chance on it. The industry at
Iyianfor tycuroao uwdd eugey ocrrgeetuaiw o tmohn nuee ha prsaane . i tnd nM tia o tpta r hwrwrroeataily ttiSsinf vGe elerioksa lsedti obthner ogf AOEeoAvaavcSnnoiivftNsmdLNfiaeddm iTYeSonTcn pohoTTanepfOEteoue er HuaRcxh omr dtWdhrs aEafeTc d e adadD ArmaceRLvet e daeagcbeIOd EaNlebsagile d reAtN nmfraMgoaegodyemKuGn da reiuynSE nIdm it N ngntptNh E sohifd genaiGtSrc sTeae.i cp eo bT 1 rreNwuTItntmsaA9NwewrOodtsos6dBapDlesoaruaT9n ulL dr tdUen Aad!wotIw etS. oS iLtB nwicrhahtnH T flunrHeute heEeRusea dnaAaohcneDsYi ttoVnhns nt e. eaw neeeCc Oga a’odliOosilnr Ka ll o gianIe Ngt tr y CttdChtegsbashhh uilaeeaehmedaoacdiccTnincettuchu oa thetbcathgi rdlmpieadvaogemaheet i dode- deigpsmodoee n e aoCanv ep l oimwelplekmso aorgcaeeu rtpiaew nhenaaa ltsuasWm.iardhdn h. rl nda eitylotEGeyihrio l ycl s b dSiea.amapca ee yiusGmllxiL a n ei ns(ntwoavsbEinstueamgisla,d Meebts iaglecGetrlej r e,e smd)ooa sro cc e gngu patbotrbmtdanasesuylraimm edaem eAwgsct bemueosfeospoo,pdnsrs tmiu breBn e o hoalbergpdacfolanar m lia lsiaodsyd n lue o ishisaetds,ien s st,dd
s w novel if not naive concept this was, that fi rst exposure to these games: “The
ke of two guys could come in and create an fi rst time I played a coin-operated game
ta ey entirely new entertainment medium was at the Berkeley Student Union. It
n
ur let alone to hope that it would gain was a game where you tried to shoot
o
j any traction in the already established down bombers which appeared over the
coin industry. First, they were out in horizon. It wasn’t a videogame because
the planes appeared to be on a rotating
piece of screen. There was a pattern
so I could play the game for as long as
I wanted.”
There was also the uphill battle
of the stigma arcades had in a lot of
communities as a hotbed for raucous
teenagers or in some cases organised
» Atari sought to expand locations for
machine placement in the mid Seventies
by creating many new cabinet formats.
Seen here is a videogame kiosk system it
installed at one of the San Francisco Bay
Area Rapid Transit terminals.
10 | ARCADE CLASSICS