Arcade Games in 20th Century: Part 3 - Arcades vs. Simulators

The rise of video game technologies did not only improve video arcade games; the exaggerated use of realistic elements led to the appearance of a totally new game genre, simulator games (sim games.)


From the moment that simulators appeared, their popularity began to rise rapidly and the interest in arcades began to fall.  This resulted in decreasing sales in the video arcade game industry.  Simulators definitely had benefits in terms of video game technologies much more than arcades.  They became popular thanks to their atmosphere and realism.

Obviously, it was not the best of times for video arcade games, however, this game genre did not disappear.  Why so, you might ask, after all the main characteristics of arcades are:

• low reality imitation
• low planning of the levels
• low planning of the task issues

In terms of the first point of view, these characteristics leave no chances for the genre.  Arcades do however have one benefit that allows them to exist along with simulator games, the simple game play.  Simplicity is both the advantage and disadvantage of video arcade games.

Present Situation of Video Arcade Games: Part 1

Video arcade games have a great history, in the 1980s they were very popular. They even created popular video game cultures, so to speak, and cultural icons. What is the present situation of video arcade games? Did the arcades become extinct? No, of course they didn’t. It is true that the time of arcades has passed, but the video arcade game industry does still exist today. Just on a significantly reduced level.

In order to facilitate porting a video arcade game to a home system, the modern video arcade game hardware is often based on home game consoles. Some home consoles have the video arcade versions:

PlayStation 2 – System 246

Microsoft Xbox – Chihiro

Dreamcast – NAOMI, Atomiswave

Nintendo GameCube – Triforce

The survival of some video arcade games is caused by their expanding into ticket-based prize redemption. Others have survived by expanding into more physical games which haven’t equivalents among home game consoles. Some examples of the latter would be skee-ball and whack-a-mole.

End of Golden Age of Video Arcade Games: Video Game Consoles: Part 1

It is well known that in the 1980s video arcade games were very popular. That time period is a part of an era known as The Golden Age of video arcade games. However, by the second half of the 1980's they were almost completely eradicated from the market; such sad results for arcades. This harsh yet unavoidable ending was caused by the always present progress in the field of technology. In the 1990's new generations of home video game consoles and home computers resulted in the significant reduction of the interest to arcade games.

Early consoles, such as the Mattel's Intellivision and the Atari 2600, were very general-purpose, they were built in order to give users the ability to play a variety of games. They often, however, could not measure up to video arcade game hardware, which was single-purpose and was built in order to run only a single game and to run it exceptionally well.

In fact, good home video game systems are the things which have always been lacking for the arcade game industry. In the 1980s the arcade market was filled with a lot of poor-quality home video game systems. This problem played an important role in the video game crash in the 1983.

Original Video Arcade Games of the Beginning of 1980-ies

Below you can see the list of some original video arcade games of the beginning of 1980-ies, which became the new word in arcade game industry. These games were created by arcade game developers that didn’t want to create clones of existed games, but wanted to define new genres and work with new concepts. In result, the video arcade games with original and interesting gameplay were created.


Donkey Kong from Nintendo, 1981

Earlier games had a gameplay where you just had to shoot as fast as possible. In the case of this video arcade game, skill and timing are the point.



Qix from Taito, 1981

The same as Donkey Kong, it is a representative of new type of arcade games where skill and timing are on the first place.




Venture from Exidy, 1981

Gameplay of this game represented an exploration of dungeon and treasure-gathering, which is, again, more interesting than simple shooting.

Q*Bert from Gottlieb, 1982

This game played upon the gamers’ sense of depth perception to deliver a novel experience.



Phozon from Namco, 1983

The gameplay of this video arcade game represented the duplication of the shape that is shown on the screen.



Paperboy from Atari, 1984

The goal of this video arcade game is in the successful delivering of newspapers to the customers.

Advantages of Modern Arcade Games

While at the beginning there were only simple platform arcade games, in our times players can use all sorts of complicated maneuvers in arcade rooms and on the Internet. Nowadays, arcade game players can use combinations of button-presses to satisfy their needs in game play, or they can use a joystick or a toy gun to perform advanced tricks – the control is totally different from what it was before.

Probably, the biggest advantage of modernity for the arcade game players is the presence of the Internet. Thanks to it, the way in which gamers can play arcade games has been definitely changed. Some types of arcade games, such as MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games), have fueled many interactions between all sorts of gamers.

The arcade games have changed dramatically over the years. They continue to bring thrills and excitement to the arcade game industry so that anyone can play arcade games without regard to his location.

First Coin-Operated Arcade Video Games

The first two coin-operated arcade video games were released in 1971. These earliest arcade video games are Galaxy Game and Computer Space. The first one, Galaxy Game, was placed at Stanford University and became popular at Stanford. It was as popular as ever. While the second one, Computer Space, is the first arcade game that was commercially available.

The first arcade games had only a couple of simple controls. Since then, the arcade game industry has come a long way and arcade games have been changed a lot.

Arcade games offer a lot of fun. Whether you want to play puzzle or maze games or you want to control little characters, pretty much anything is possible these days in the arcade game industry.

Everyone, probably, remembers such representatives of traditional arcade games as Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. All of them were available for commercial use, and they were popular all over the world.