History Main / ArcadeSounds

See also UsefulNotes/GamingAudio and PacManFever, which is the more general trope for the persistence of 8-bit games in TV and movies.

* A Listerine Mouthwash commercial aired in the UK features two young children playing a games console with what look like Xbox or UsefulNotes/PlayStation controllers, but sounds like a Galaga rip-off--admittedly, there have been emulations of old games for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, et al., but it's unlikely children of that age (looking between 8 and 11) would be playing such old games. It doesn't even seem to have a pause function.

* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', when Rex is playing a Buzz Lightyear game with graphics just as good as the rest of the computer-animated movie - ''on a UsefulNotes/SuperNES.'' The Super NES was host to games with DigitizedSprites like ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' and the first ''VideoGame/ToyStory'' game, but even those games did not have nearly as many available colors as the more powerful (and probably more importantly, non-real-time) Pixar computers.

* The ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' [[TheFilmOfTheSeries movie]] has a sequence in which Creator/DrewBarrymore's character Dylan stumbles upon two kids playing ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' (a one-player game) with two 3rd party UsefulNotes/PlayStation controllers, buttonmashing unrealistically while out-of-place sound-effects play -- though at least the sound effects are neither particularly old-sounding nor from Pac-Man.

* An episode of the soap opera ''Series/AllMyChildren'' features a character playing a game entitled "Dark Star" on the TV. He is, of course, mashing the controller (which appears to have come from a UsefulNotes/PlayStation), and we hear, in order, the "death music" from ''Pac-Man'', the "begin level" music from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', and the BGM from ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''.

* An episode of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' had one of the main characters playing a video game offscreen, complete with arcade bleeps and bloops. However, when you see the blurred screen in the background of another shot, the game has obvious UsefulNotes/PlayStation2/Xbox 360 graphics. It also looks like they were either using the UsefulNotes/PlayStation Eyetoy, the Wii Balance Board, or the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 Kinect to play the game.

* In the episode "Everybody Loves a Clown," from the second season of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', a child is shown playing a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, but the sound effects emanating from the device are sounds from the original Atari 2600 release of ''Donkey Kong''.

[[folder:{{Advertising}}]]
* A rather well-known example, albeit ''slightly'' more high-tech, is in a rather infamous Westwood College commercial, where, instead of 1983 PacManFever, we instead have generic laser ''ptcheeeew'' from roughly circa 1987 Galaga knockoffs. And this is supposed to be a commercial for ''game design courses.''

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* In the Irish movie Accelerator, a character early on is seen playing ''VideoGame/VirtuaCop'' in an arcade, though it's dubbed with some of the sound effects from Doom.
* At one point in the kids' movie ''Film/BigFatLiar'', Jason plays a ''Pinball/PinBot'' pinball table. Although the table came out in 1986, it makes electro-mechanical sounds and chimes.
* In the horror movie ''Film/ChildrenOfTheCorn1984'', Malachai plays a solid state ''Medusa'' pinball with electro-mechanical sounds dubbed over it.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* In the episode "Everybody Loves a Clown," from the second season of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', a child is shown playing a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, but the sound effects emanating from the device are sounds from the original Atari 2600 release of ''Donkey Kong''.

* ''Series/{{House}}''. In one episode, he is seeing if a mobster is in a coma. First he tries poking him with a needle, and then holds up a Nintendo DS to his ear while a game is playing. The game is Metroid Prime: Hunters, but generic arcade sounds are heard instead of ones from the game.
* In Australian soap, ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'', for most of the '90s, the only video game anyone on the show ever played was ''Magic Carpet'' (most of the time with the camera looking at the player from behind the computer monitor, so you just heard the distinctive sound-track and sound effects). Now, in 2010, when at least one family has a complete set of guitar controllers, one young cast member was sat playing on a DS Lite to the distinctive sound effects of Magic Carpet - unless a more recent game, that actually has a DS version, uses the same sounds...
* An episode of the soap opera ''Series/AllMyChildren'' features a character playing a game entitled "Dark Star" on the TV. He is, of course, mashing the controller (which appears to have come from a UsefulNotes/PlayStation), and we hear, in order, the "death music" from ''Pac-Man'', the "begin level" music from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', and the BGM from ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''.
* An episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', averts this trope nicely. A co-worker of the kidnapped father of a young boy gives him a Nintendo DS to take his mind off things. The first thing we hear from it? The sound of user info being entered into a brand new DS.
* An episode of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' had one of the main characters playing a video game offscreen, complete with arcade bleeps and bloops. However, when you see the blurred screen in the background of another shot, the game has obvious UsefulNotes/PlayStation2/Xbox 360 graphics. It also looks like they were either using the UsefulNotes/PlayStation Eyetoy, the Wii Balance Board, or the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 Kinect to play the game.
* A critical element in the ''Series/Daredevil2015'' episode "Rabbit in a Snowstorm" is a 2014 ''Pinball/MustangStern'' pinball game. When characters play it, however, it plays electro-mechanical chimes from fifty years ago.
* Averted in ''Series/{{House Of Cards|US}}'' on multiple occasions. Frank Underwood is shown playing ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}}'' in earlier seasons, and in season 3 he is shown playing ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable''.

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

In some times and places, it's just TruthInTelevision; it was just a fact for arcades in the 1980s, and there are still plenty of arcades with vintage classics in their repertoire. Another reason it's still used today is that high-quality sound effects and music coming from a game system could distract or confuse viewers - most real-world videogames made today are intended to sound realistic and to hold the viewer's attention; but a director doesn't necessarily ''want'' a videogame to compete with what's happening in the foreground like that or to define their soundtrack for the scene with its music, so they use older sounds that are recognizably "videogame-y" while remaining clearly distinct from the main audio track.

Whenever someone walks into an [[VideoArcade amusement arcade]], the same sound:

is ''always'' heard.

This trope can occur for a [[TropesAreTools variety of reasons]]. In some times and places, it's just TruthInTelevision; it was just a fact for arcades in the 1980s, and there are still plenty of arcades with vintage classics in their repertoire. Another reason it's still used today is that high-quality sound effects and music coming from a game system could distract or confuse viewers - most real-world videogames made today are intended to sound realistic and to hold the viewer's attention; but a director doesn't necessarily ''want'' a videogame to compete with what's happening in the foreground like that or to define their soundtrack for the scene with its music, so they use older sounds that are recognizably "videogame-y" while remaining clearly distinct from the main audio track.

And while this is becoming less common, it can also occur as a result of writers who don't realize video games have changed since 1983; they are TwoDecadesBehind (though it's more like three decades now) and their reference pool of gaming coming from that era. Lastly, sounds from more recent and advanced games tend to have copyrights that require film and TV producers to pay royalties for their use; the older "bleeps and bloops" from the earliest arcade games, on the other had, are often in the public domain, or at least generic-sounding enough that they can't be easily traced to any specific game.

This is also seen in many TV shows that depict a character playing on a video game console, if the character is clearly holding a controller appropriate to a current-model console at the time the show was shot, yet the sound effects are taken from an UsefulNotes/{{Atari2600}} or early-1980s arcade game.

This trope can occur for a [[TropesAreTools variety of reasons]]. In some times and places, it's just TruthInTelevision; it was just a fact for arcades in the 1980s, and there are still plenty of arcades with vintage classics in their repertoire. Another reason it's still used today is that high-quality sound effects and music coming from a game system could distract or confuse viewers - most real-world videogames made today are intended to sound realistic and to hold the viewer's attention; but a director doesn't necessarily ''want'' a videogame to compete with what's happening in the foreground like that or to define their soundtrack for the scene with its music, so they use older sounds that are recognizably "videogame-y" while remaining clearly distinct from the main audio track. And while this is becoming less common, it can also occur as a result of writers who don't realize video games have changed since 1983; they are TwoDecadesBehind (though it's more like three decades now) and their reference pool of gaming coming from that era. Lastly, sounds from more recent and advanced games tend to have copyrights that require film and TV producers to pay royalties for their use; the older "bleeps and bloops" from the earliest arcade games, on the other had, are often in the public domain, or at least generic-sounding enough that they can't be easily traced to any specific game.

It would, of course, be extremely stupid to say this isn't TruthInTelevision ''at all''. It was just a fact for arcades in the 1980s, and there are still plenty with vintage classics in their repertoire. However, for many TV shows, it's a symptom of their [[PacManFever odd inability to realize that video games have changed since 1983]] -- arcades now include [[VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution high-fidelity music]], [[FightingGame punching and clanging noises]], and [[Franchise/StreetFighter hadoukens]]! TV's conception of video games still seem to involve 2D platforms, jerky animation, bleeping synthesized sound, and sometimes even big blobs of color that look virtually nothing like what they're supposed to represent, à la ''VideoGame/PacMan'' and ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''.

This is also seen in many TV shows that depict a character playing on a video game console. Though the character is clearly holding a controller appropriate to a current-model console at the time the show was shot, the sound effects are invariably taken from an UsefulNotes/{{Atari2600}} or early-1980s arcade game. To add insult to injury, the character playing the game is usually mashing the hell out of the buttons and moving the control pad or joystick in totally random directions, and never appears to do anything in time with the sound effects. Occasionally, in the case of older systems, there won't even be a cartridge in the console itself. This can also be a result of writers being TwoDecadesBehind (though it's more like three decades now) and their reference pool of gaming coming from that era.

This may be a DiscreditedTrope, as several recent series have scored product-placement deals with current generation console manufacturers (cf. the debut of ''Heavenly Sword'' on ''Series/{{Heroes}}''). The deterioration of the arcade market in the West also makes it something of an irrelevant trope there, as fewer and fewer scenes are written set in arcades at all, let alone with 8-bit sound effects. Lastly, sounds from more recent and advanced games tend to have copyrights that require film and TV producers to pay royalties for their use; the older "bleeps and bloops" from the earliest arcade games, on the other had, are often in the public domain, or at least generic-sounding enough that they can't be easily traced to any specific game.


See also UsefulNotes/GamingAudio and PacManFever.

[[folder:{{Film}}]]
* The ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' [[TheFilmOfTheSeries movie]] has a sequence in which Creator/DrewBarrymore's character Dylan stumbles upon two kids playing ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' (a one-player game) with two 3rd party UsefulNotes/PlayStation controllers, buttonmashing unrealistically while out-of-place sound-effects play -- though at least the sound effects are neither particularly old-sounding nor from Pac-Man.

* Thoroughly justified in Litwak's Arcade in ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph''. It has a mixture of old and new video game sounds because Mr. Litwak keeps old machines for as long as he can. By 2012, when the movie is set, there are games from nearly every era of arcade video gaming to that point. (There are no pinball machines visible though, and thus there is a total absence of any pinball sounds, stereotypical or otherwise.)

* Played for horror in ''Film/TwilightZoneTheMovie''.