For other uses, see Arcade (disambiguation). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007) Part of a series on: Video games Platforms Arcade game Audio game Console game Handheld game Mobile game Online game Personal computer game Genres Action game Action-adventure game Adventure game Role-playing game Simulation game Sports game Strategy game Topics Game development Game studies Video game culture Video game history Video game industry Video game music Lists List of best-selling video games List of gaming topics List of video game companies List of video game franchises List of video game industry people List of video game publishers List of years in video games List of cult video games v · d · e An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, public houses, and video arcades. Most arcade games are redemption games, merchandisers (such as claw crane), video games, or pinball machines. Contents 1 History 2 Technology 3 Arcade genre 4 Emulation 5 Locations 6 See also 7 References 8 External links // History See also: Timeline of video arcade game history The first popular "arcade games" were early amusement park midway games such as shooting galleries, ball toss games, and the earliest coin-operated machines, such as those that claim to tell a person one's fortune or played mechanical music. The old midways of 1920s-era amusement parks (such as Coney Island in New York) provided the inspiration and atmosphere of later arcade games.

In the 1930s, the earliest coin-operated pinball machines were made. These early amusement devices were distinct from their later electronic cousins in that they were made of wood, did not have plungers or lit-up bonus surfaces on the playing field, and used mechanical instead of electronic scoring readouts. By around 1977, most pinball machines in production switched to using solid state electronics for both operation and scoring.1 In 1966, Sega introduced an early electro-mechanical arcade game called Periscope.2 It was an early submarine simulator and light gun shooter,3 which used lights and plastic waves to simulate sinking ships from a submarine.4 It became a worldwide success in Japan, Europe, and North America,5 where it was the first arcade game to cost a quarter per play,2 which would remain the standard price for arcade games for many years to come.5 In 1967, Taito released an early electro-mechanical arcade game of their own, Crown Soccer Special, a two-player sports game that simulated association football, using various electronic components, including electronic versions of pinball flippers.6 In 1969, Sega released an early electro-mechanical arcade racing game Grand Prix, which had electronic sound, a dashboard with a racing wheel and accelerator,7 and a scrolling road projected on a screen.8 That same year, Sega released Missile, a shooter and combat flight simulator that featured electronic sound and a moving film strip to represent the targets on a projection screen. It was also the earliest known arcade game to feature a joystick, in the form of a two-way joystick with a single fire button to target and shoot oncoming planes displayed on the screen. In North America, the game was released as S.A.M.I. by Midway Games,9 in 1970.10 Throughout the 1970s, electro-mechanical arcade games were gradually replaced by electronic video games, beginning with Pong in 1972,11 with 1978's Space Invaders dealing a yet more powerful blow to the popularity of electro-mechanical games.12 Part of a series on: History of video games General Golden age of video arcade games History of video games North American Video game crash of 1983 Consoles First generation (1972–1977) Second generation (1976–1984) Third generation (1983–1992) Fourth generation (1987–1996) Fifth generation (1993–2006) Sixth generation (1998–) Seventh generation (2005–) Genres History of role-playing video games History of massively multiplayer online games History of online games Lists Early history of video games List of years in video games List of video games in development v · d · e

In 1971, students at Stanford University set up the Galaxy Game, a coin-operated version of the Spacewar computer game. This is the earliest known instance of a coin-operated video game. Later in the same year, Nolan Bushnell created the first mass-manufactured such game, Computer Space, for Nutting Associates. In 1972, Atari was formed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari essentially created the coin-operated video game industry with the game Pong, the smash hit electronic ping pong video game. Pong proved to be popular, but imitators helped keep Atari from dominating the fledging coin-operated video game market. Taito's Space Invaders in 1978 proved to be an even greater success, and is now regarded as the first blockbuster arcade video game.13 Video game arcades sprang up in shopping malls, and small "corner arcades" appeared in restaurants, grocery stores, bars and movie theaters all over the United States, Japan and other countries during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Pac-Man (1980), Battlezone (1980) and Donkey Kong (1981) were especially popular. During the late 1970s and 1980s, chains such as Chuck E. Cheese's, Ground Round, Dave and Busters, and Gatti's Pizza combined the traditional restaurant and/or bar environment with arcades.14 By the late-1980s, the arcade video game craze was beginning to fade due to advances in home video game console technology. Arcade video games experienced a resurgence with the advent of two-player fighting games following the success of Street Fighter II (1991) by Capcom, leading to many more successful arcade fighting games such as Mortal Kombat (1992) by Midway Games, Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (1992) by SNK, Killer Instinct (1994) by Rare, and The King of Fighters (1994–2005) by SNK.

However by 1996, home video game consoles and computers with 3D accelerator cards had reached technological parity with arcade equipment—arcade games had always been based on commodity technology, but their advantage over previous generations of home system was in their ability to customize and use the latest graphics and sound chips, much as PC games of today do. Declines in arcade sales volume meant that this approach was no longer cost-effective. Furthermore, by the late 1990s and early 2000s, networked gaming via console and computers across the Internet had also appeared,15 replacing the venue of head to head competition and social atmosphere once provided solely by arcades.16 The arcades also lost their status as the forefront of new game releases. Given the choice between playing a game at an arcade three or four times (perhaps 15 minutes of play for a typical arcade game), and renting, at about the same price, exactly the same game—for a video game console—the console was the clear winner. Fighting games were the most attractive feature for arcades, since they offered the prospect of face-to-face competition and tournaments, which correspondingly led players to practice more (and spend more money in the arcade), but they could not support the business all by themselves. Recent 20th anniversary arcade machine, combining two or more classic video games. To remain viable, arcades added other elements to complement the video games such as redemption games, merchandisers, and food service. Referred to as "fun centers" or "family fun centers",17 some of the longstanding chains such as Chuck E. Cheese's and Gatti's Pizza ("GattiTowns")18 also changed to this format. Many old video game arcades have long since closed, and classic coin-operated games have become largely the province of dedicated hobbyists.

Today's arcades have found a niche in games that use special controllers largely inaccessible to home users. An alternative interpretation (one that includes fighting games, which continue to thrive and require no special controller) is that the arcade game is now a more socially-oriented hangout, with games that focus on an individual's performance, rather than the game's content, as the primary form of novelty. Examples of today's popular genres are rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution (1998) and DrumMania (1999), and rail shooters such as Virtua Cop (1994), Time Crisis and House of the Dead (1996). Technology Inside of a Neo Geo Virtually all modern arcade games (other than the very traditional midway-type games at county fairs) make extensive use of solid state electronics and integrated circuits. In the past coin-operated arcade video games generally used custom per-game hardware often with multiple CPUs, highly specialized sound and graphics chips, and the latest in computer graphics display technology. Recent arcade game hardware is often based on modified video game console hardware or high-end PC components. Arcade games frequently have more immersive and realistic game controls than either PC or console games, including specialized ambiance or control accessories: Fully enclosed dynamic cabinets with force feedback controls, dedicated lightguns, rear-projection displays, reproductions of automobile or airplane cockpits, motorcycle or horse-shaped controllers, or highly dedicated controllers such as dancing mats and fishing rods. These accessories are usually what set modern arcade games apart from PC or console games, as they are usually too bulky, expensive, and specialized to be used with typical home PCs and consoles. Arcade genre

Arcade games often have very short levels, simple and intuitive control schemes, and rapidly increasing difficulty. This is due to the environment of the Arcade, where the player is essentially renting the game for as long as their in-game avatar can stay alive (or until they run out of tokens). Games on consoles or PCs can be referred to as "arcade games" if they share these qualities or are direct ports of arcade titles. Many independent developers are now producing games in the arcade genre that are designed specifically for use on the Internet. These games are usually designed with Flash/Java/DHTML and run directly in web-browsers. Arcade racing games have a simplified physics engine and do not require much learning time when compared with racing simulators. Cars can turn sharply without braking or understeer, and the AI rivals are sometimes programmed so they are always near the player (rubberband effect). Arcade flight games also use simplified physics and controls in comparison to flight simulators. These are meant to have an easy learning curve, in order to preserve their action component. Increasing numbers of console flight arcade games, from Crimson Skies to Ace Combat and Secret Weapons Over Normandy indicate the falling of manual-heavy flight sim popularity in favor of instant arcade flight action.19 Emulation Main article: Console emulator Emulators such as MAME, which can be run on modern computers and a number of other devices, aim to preserve the antiquated games of the past. Although arcade games are now being emulated through the Wii Virtual Console Service starting in 2009 with Gaplus, Emeraldia, Mappy, Solvalou, Space Harrier, Star Force, The Tower of Druaga and The Return of Ishtar, and then others such as Space Invaders and Splatterhouse coming later in the year. Also, classic arcade games such as Asteroids, Tron, Discs of Tron, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Pac-Man, Joust, Battlezone, Dig Dug, Robotron: 2084, and Missile Command are emulated on Xbox Live Arcade. Locations

In addition to restaurants and video arcades, arcade games are also found in bowling alleys, college campuses, dormitories, laundromats, movie theatres, supermarkets, shopping malls, airports, truck stops, bar/pubs, hotels, and even bakeries. In short, arcade games are popular in places open to the public where people are likely to have free time. See also Arcade cabinet Arcade system board Claw vending machine Money booth Golden age of arcade games Score JAMMA Killer List of Videogames List of video arcade games Neo-Geo Recycle It, Don't Trash It! References ^ Vintage Coin Operated Fortune Tellers, Arcade Games, Digger/Cranes, Gun Games and other Penny Arcade games, pre-1977 from Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum ^ a b Steven L. Kent (2000), The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games, p. 83, BWD Press, ISBN 0970475500 ^ Brian Ashcraft (2008) Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan's Game Centers, p. 133, Kodansha International ^ Steve L. Kent (2001), The ultimate history of video games: from Pong to Pokémon and beyond: the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world, p. 102, Prima, ISBN 0761536434 ^ a b Mark J. P. Wolf (2008), The video game explosion: a history from PONG to Playstation and beyond, p. 149, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 031333868X ^ Crown Soccer Special at the Killer List of Videogames ^ Grand Prix at the Killer List of Videogames ^ Bill Loguidice & Matt Barton (2009), Vintage games: an insider look at the history of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the most influential games of all time, p. 198, Focal Press, ISBN 0240811461 ^ Missile at the Killer List of Videogames ^ S.A.M.I. at the Killer List of Videogames ^ Brian Ashcraft (2008) Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan's Game Centers, p. 134, Kodansha International ^ Brian Ashcraft (2008) Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan's Game Centers, p. 136, Kodansha International ^ Chris Kohler (2005), Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life, p. 18, BradyGames, ISBN 0744004241 ^ "Dave and Buster's About Page". http://www.daveandbusters.com/About/. Retrieved 2007-09-20.  ^ Mabry, Donald J.. "Evolution of Online Games". Archived from the original on 2008-02-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20080209100942/http://www.historicaltextarchive.com/s/online-games.php. Retrieved 2007-09-21.  ^ Fuller, Brad. "Awakening the Arcade". http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/2005/11/awakening-the-arcade.html. Retrieved 2007-09-21.  ^ "Bullwinkles Family Fun Center". http://fun-center.com/WA/. Retrieved 2007-09-20.  ^ "Gatti's Pizza: About Us". http://www.gattispizza.com/about.php. Retrieved 2007-09-20.  ^ Butts, Steve (2003). "Secret Weapon Over Normandy Review". IGN. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/441/441056p1.html. Retrieved August 15, 2007.  External links The Video Arcade Preservation Society System 16 - The Arcade Museum more than 41,000 arcade machines referenced The Museum of Soviet Arcade Games (blog article)