
1 PLAYER = 1 COIN
2 PLAYERS = 2 COINS (PER GAME)
Arcade games go back a LONG way. The roots of the arcade are the midways, dime museums, and amusements parlors of the 19th Century (which often had visible arches supporting their roofs, and recessed arches for the attractions, hence the name). There, patrons could spend their dimes and quarters on kinetoscopes and phonographs, allowing the then-miraculous experience of listening to recorded sounds and watching moving images. When the novelty of those devices wore off, establishment owners repurposed them with lower-priced attractions for a wider crowd — workers and tourists would spend pennies on coin-operated shooting galleries, peep shows, fortune tellers, strength testers, candy dispensers, and even slot machines.
In 1931, David Gottlieb's Baffle Ball introduced "pin games" to arcades and kick-started an industry. The games soon surged in popularity as designers added flippers and bumpers, even as some parents and legislators associated them with gambling, organized crime, and delinquency, and moved to have them banned. Even so, arcade owners replaced their novelty machines with pinball machines and electromechanical baseball, horse racing, and bowling games.
By the time municipal bans on pinball machines ended in the mid-70s, they were already fairly ubiquitous devices, filling up bowling alleys, laundromats, shops, and bars. Furthermore, pinball didn't dominate the space alone — they were joined by the electromechanical predecessors of Video Games, such as Chicago Coin’s Speedway (1969) and Motorcycle (1970). These machines used belt-driven discs and projector screens to simulate various thrills and activities.
This was the market that arcade video games would step into.
The first coin-operated video game was Galaxy Game, a version of Space War. One machine was produced and installed at Stanford University in September 1971. Two months later, Computer Space, a one-player multi-directional Shoot 'Em Up based loosely on Space War, became the first commercially-available coin-operated arcade game. It was created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who would found Atari the following year. Computer Space wasn't a success, as gameplay was too complicated. So Bushnell created the much simpler Pong, the first successful coin-op arcade game.
Even with the popularity of Pong, arcade games didn't have dedicated venues, but instead stood in bars, restaurants, bowling alleys and gas stations. That changed with the 1978 release of Space Invaders, which launched video games into the mainstream, causing a national coin shortage in its native Japan and influencing pop culture around the world. It was soon followed by similarly successful shooters such as Galaxian and Asteroids the following year. By the end of 1979, video arcades were appearing across North America, Japan, and Europe. The Golden Age of Video Games had begun.
1980 saw a wave of classic games, most notably Pac-Man, as well as Defender, Centipede, Missile Command, and Rally-X. Arcades sprang up all over the place, and crowds of kids flocked in. More great games came in 1981-83, like Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man, Frogger, Galaga, Dig Dug, Pole Position, Zaxxon, Joust, Q*bert, and Dragon's Lair. But a bad case of Follow the Leader meant that the arcade market was also saturated with imitations. The Great Video Game Crash of 1983 happened gradually from 1983-85; while it had a much bigger impact on video game consoles, arcades were also affected by it to a lesser extent.
For the first two generations of video games, arcade games offered an unquestionably superior gaming experience to home consoles, with the libraries of consoles made up of ports of arcade games with varying degrees of compromises to graphics and gameplay. The 8-bit Era of Console Video Games started out similar, with the early libraries of Nintendo's Famicom and Sega's SG-1000 made up of downgraded arcade ports. However, things began to change around 1985, the year the time the Famicom was exported to North America as the NES. Console exclusives like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest I, and Final Fantasy led the charge for game design that offered deeper, more immersive experiences and more complex storytelling than arcade games could, often taking cues from computer games rather than arcade games. In response, the two sides of gaming went down different paths, with console games continuing to offer more expansive and exploratory game design tailored for home gaming, and arcades games leaning more towards communal multiplayer experiences (such as Gauntlet,Bubble Bobble, and Double Dragon I) and the novelty of cutting edge graphics beyond the capabilities of home consoles (as seen with Space Harrier, OutRun and After Burner).
Arcades had a resurgence in the early to mid '90s, when the widespread success of Street Fighter led to the rising popularity of Fighting Games and eventually 3D games, but began declining again with the rise of arcade-quality consoles (the final nail could be said to have come from the Sega Dreamcast version of Soul Calibur, which actually surpassed the arcade version in quality). Arcade games returned to where they were from 1972-78 — an extra source of revenue for restaurants, movie theaters, and shopping centers, or part of a larger gaming venue like Chuck E. Cheese or Dave & Busters.
Outside of those applications though, starting around The New '10s there has been a small resurgence in retro arcades that intentionally try to recreate the look and feel of the Video Arcade of years gone by. These target both old and new arcade fans that want to enjoy an otherwise now-unusually seen entertainment venue, and experience the games the way they originally became popular. This also provides an accessible way to enjoy games that since haven't seen much attention and/or have never gotten a proper Arcade-Perfect Port at home, and in some cases never can (such as sit-down racing games or light gun games). These arcades most frequently follow the business model of having an upfront fee to get in but have all games set on free play, but others may have a smaller upfront fee with all games requiring only one quarter or no upfront fee and games having a higher cost to play. While they still are nowhere near as omnipresent as they were before 1985, this will likely be the closest the arcade game ever sees a comeback and many metropolitan areas in the United States have at least one, such as The Galloping Ghost in Chicago and Bishop Cidercade in Dallas.
In the United Kingdom, arcades were popular at seaside resorts until the mid-1990s, when the leap to 3D graphics meant higher prices than kids could pay.
In Japan, arcades (known as game centers) remained popular, and as with consoles, development moved over there. The Japanese created or codified new genres, such as the Fighting Game, Cute 'em Up, and Bullet Hell. They also standardized arcade hardware: Data East released the first general-purpose arcade board in 1980, and the Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association (JAMMA) introduced the eventual world standard for arcade cabinet wiring in 1985. To this day, the biggest franchises in the aforementioned genres usually get an arcade version of each new installment- if it doesn't debut in arcades first. Starting in The New '10s, Japanese arcade games started implementing a revenue-share model: the arcade doesn't buy the cabinet, they simply rent it out and the publisher takes a share of the revenue. This often results in the game implementing online-requiring DRM in order to ensure that the game can only be run by authorized arcades. This unfortunately makes it harder to import cabinets from outside of Japan and other authorized countries.
The term "arcade game" was also used more generically, especially in the 1980s, for games created for consoles and/or computers that imitated the fast-paced action of real arcade games. This usage of "arcade" has largely faded away, though sometimes its use on old game boxes and such still causes confusion.
In late 2014, the Internet Archive created the Internet Arcade, an archive of over 900 classic arcade games playable in-browser, in an attempt to spark interest in older arcade games.
CREDITS: 1
Let's begin...
Arcade Pinball Games
Arcade Video Games of the 1970s
- Anti Aircraft
- Asteroids
- Basketball
- Blockade
- Breakout
- Circus
- Computer Space
- Cops N' Robbers (Atari)
- Crash 'N Score
- EVR Race
- Galaxian
- Gotcha
- Galaxy Game
- Gran Trak 10
- Head On
- Hi Way
- Jet Fighter
- Lunar Lander
- Monaco GP
- Night Driver
- Pong
- Pursuit
- Quadrapong
- Sheriff
- Qwak
- Rebound
- Shark Jaws
- Sheriff
- Space Invaders
- Space Race
- Speed Race
- Sprint 2
- Starship 1
- Steeplechase
- Tank
- Touch Me
- Video Pinball
Arcade Video Games of the 1980s
- 1942
- Act-Fancer: Cybernetick Hyper Weapon
- The Adventures of Robby Roto
- After Burner
- Altered Beast
- Alien Syndrome
- Amidar
- Aqua Jack
- Arkanoid
- Arm Champs
- Arm Wrestling
- Asteroids Deluxe
- Astro Blaster
- Astyanax
- Athena
- Atomic Robo-Kid
- Atomic Runner Chelnov
- Bad Dudes
- Bank Panic
- Battlezone
- Bay Route
- Berzerk
- Bionic Commando
- Blaster
- Bloody Wolf
- Blue Print
- Bomb Jack
- Bosconian
- Bravoman
- Bubble Bobble
- Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
- Bullet
- Bump 'n' Jump
- BurgerTime
- Cabal
- Cadash
- Cameltry
- Captain Silver
- Carnival
- Centipede
- Chiller
- Chinese Hero
- Circus Charlie
- City Connection
- Cloud Master
- Commando
- Congo Bongo
- Contra
- Cosmic Avenger
- Crazy Climber
- Crime City
- Crime Fighters
- Crystal Castles
- Dangar UFO Robo
- Darius
- Dark Adventure
- Defender
- Demon's World
- Dig Dug
- Donkey Kong
- Donkey Kong Junior
- Donkey Kong 3
- Double Dragon
- Double Dragon
- Double Dragon II: The Revenge
- Dragon Breed
- Dragon's Lair
- Dragon Unit
- Dynamite Duke
- Dynamite Dux
- Enduro Racer
- ESWAT: Cyber Police
- The Fairyland Story
- Fantasy Zone
- Final Fight
- Flicky
- Food Fight
- Forgotten Worlds
- Frogger
- Gain Ground
- Galaga
- Galaxy Force
- Garyo Retsuden
- Gauntlet
- Genpei Tōma Den
- Ghosts 'n Goblins
- Gladiator
- Golden Axe
- Golden Tee Golf
- Gorf
- Gradius
- Gravitar
- Guerrilla War
- Gunsmoke
- Guzzler
- Gyruss
- Hang-On
- Hard Drivin'
- Haunted Castle
- Heavy Barrel
- Hero Of Robots
- Hokuha Syourin Hiryū no Ken (aka Shanghai Kid)
- Hyper Dyne Side Arms
- Ikari Warriors
- I, Robot
- Jackal (aka Top Gunner)
- Joust
- Jungle Hunt
- Kabuki Z
- Kangaroo
- Karnov
- Kickle Cubicle
- Kid Niki: Radical Ninja
- Kiki Kaikai
- Klax
- Kozmik Krooz'r
- Kung Fu Master
- Kuri Kinton
- Lady Bug
- Landing Series
- Last Duel Inter Planet War 2012
- Legendary Wings
- The Legend of Kage
- Leprechaun
- Libble Rabble
- Lode Runner (series by Irem based on the computer game)
- Mappy
- Marble Madness
- Mario Bros.
- Marvel Land
- Mechanized Attack
- Midnight Resistance
- Mirai Ninja
- Missile Command
- Momoko 120%
- Monster Bash
- Mr. Do!
- Mr. Goemon
- Moon Patrol
- Mouse Trap
- NARC
- The NewZealand Story
- Night Striker
- Ninja Emaki
- Ninja Gaiden (Arcade)
- Ninja Hayate
- Ninja Spirit
- The Ninja Warriors
- Omega Race
- Operation Wolf
- OutRun
- Pac-Man
- Ms. Pac-Man
- Baby Pac-Man
- Professor Pac-Man
- Jr. Pac-Man
- Pac-Man Plus
- Super Pac-Man
- Pac & Pal
- Pac-Land
- Pac-Mania
- Pang
- Paperboy
- Pengo
- Phozon
- Pole Position
- Polybius (fictitious)
- Ponpoko
- Popeye
- Power Drift
- Psycho Nics Oscar
- Psycho Soldier
- Punch-Out!!
- Q*bert
- Qix
- Rabio Lepus
- Rally-X
- Rampage
- The Real Ghostbusters (Data East)
- Road Blaster
- Road Runner
- Robocop
- Robotron: 2084
- Rock n' Rage
- Rolling Thunder
- R-Type
- Rygar
- SAR: Search and Rescue
- Scramble
- Sega Ninja
- Seishun Scandal
- Shinobi
- Sinistar
- Sky Kid
- Sky Skipper
- Sly Spy
- Solar Fox
- Solomon's Key
- Space Ace
- Space Duel
- Space Fury
- Space Harrier
- Space Panic
- Special Project Y
- The Speed Rumbler
- Spelunker (another computer-to-arcade port)
- Splatterhouse
- Spy Hunter
- Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
- Star Wars: The Arcade Game (1983)
- Street Fighter
- Strider (Arcade)
- SubRoc-3D
- Super Dodge Ball
- Super Real Mahjong
- The Super Spy
- Takeda Shingen
- Tapper
- Targ
- Spectar
- Tecmo Knight
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game
- Tempest
- Terra Cresta
- Tetris (one by Atari, several by Sega and Jaleco)
- Thief
- Thunder Blade
- ThunderJaws
- Tiger Road
- Timber!
- Time Gal
- Time Pilot
- Time Soldiers
- Toki
- Toobin
- The Tower of Druaga
- Thunder Cross
- Track & Field
- Trojan
- TRON
- Tropical Angel
- Turbo
- Tutankham
- Twinbee
- Twin Cobra
- U.N. Squadron
- Vanguard
- Venture
- Vigilante
- Wacko
- Wardner
- Warlords
- Wizard of Wor
- Wonder Boy
- Wonder Momo
- WWF Superstars
- Xenophobe
- Xevious
- Yie Ar Kung-Fu
- Zaxxon
- Zero Wing
- Zoo Keeper
Arcade Video Games of the 1990s
- 8th Man
- Aggressors of Dark Kombat
- Alien Challenge
- Alien Storm
- Alien 3: The Gun
- Alien vs. Predator (Capcom)
- Alligator Hunt
- Andro Dunos
- Arabian Fight - Dueling Works with the one below.
- Arabian Magic - Dueling works with the one above.
- Area 51
- Armed Police Batrider
- Armored Warriors
- Asterix
- Astra Superstars
- Asura Series
- Avenging Spirit
- Battle Circuit
- Battle Garegga
- Battle Gear (aka Side by Side)
- Battle K-Road
- Battletoads (different from all the console games)
- beatmania
- Big Fight
- Big Karnak
- Bio Ship Paladin
- Blandia
- Blazing Tornado
- Blood Bros
- BloodStorm
- Blood Warrior
- Bloody Roar
- Bomber Man (arcade adaptation; also known as Atomic Punk)
- Bonanza Bros.
- Bonk's Adventure (arcade adaptation; also known as Kyuukyoku!! PC Genjin)
- Boogie Wings
- Brave Firefighters
- Breakers
- Bucky O'Hare
- Buriki One
- Burning Fight
- Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
- Cannon Dancer
- Captain America and the Avengers
- Captain Commando
- CarnEvil
- Carrier Airwing
- Caveman Ninja
- Charlie Ninja
- Chimera Beast (unreleased)
- Crazy Taxi
- Crossed Swords series
- Crude Buster (aka Two Crude)
- Cruis'n
- Crypt Killer
- Cybattler
- Cyberbots
- DanceDanceRevolution
- Dangun Feveron
- Daraku Tenshi: The Fallen Angels
- Darkstalkers
- Dark Seal
- Daytona USA
- D. D. Crew
- Dead Connection
- Dead or Alive
- Denjin Makai
- Desert Assault
- Desert Breaker
- Detana!! Twinbee (aka Bells & Whistles)
- Dino Rex
- DonPachi series
- Dogyuun
- Dottori-Kun
- Dragon Ball Z Arcade
- Dragon Gun
- Dragon Master
- Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara
- Dynamite Cop
- Ehrgeiz
- ESP Ra.De.
- Evil Night
- Fantastic Night Dreams Cotton
- Fighter's History
- Fighter's History Dynamite (aka Karnov's Revenge)
- Fighting Layer
- Fighting Vipers
- Fire Shark
- The First Funky Fighter
- Fixeight
- Gaia Crusaders
- Gaiapolis
- Ganryu
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves
- G.I. Joe
- Ghoul Panic
- Giga Wing
- Grind Stormer (aka V-V)
- Growl
- Guilty Gear
- Gunblade N.Y./L.A. Machineguns
- GunBuster
- Gundhara
- The Gun Force duology, whose production staff would go on to develop the far more successful Metal Slug series two years later
- Gun Master
- Guwange
- Hammerin' Harry
- Heated Barrel
- House of the Dead
- Hydro Thunder
- Hyper Duel
- In the Hunt
- Irritating Maze
- Jurassic Park (Arcade)
- Karate Blazers
- Killer Instinct
- The King of Dragons
- The King of Fighters
- Knights of the Round
- Knights Of Valour
- Knuckle Bash
- Knuckle Heads
- Laser Ghost
- Legionnaire
- Le Mans 24
- Lethal Enforcers
- Lethal Thunder
- Lord of Gun
- Magical Drop
- Magical Truck Adventure
- Magic Sword: Heroic Fantasy
- Mahou Daisakusen (aka Sorcer Striker)
- Shippu Mahou Daisakusen (aka Kingdom Grandprix)
- Marvel vs. Capcom
- Maximum Force
- Mega Man (Classic)
- Metal Black
- Metamoqester
- Metamorphic Force
- Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
- Monster Slider (Arcade Cabinet)
- Mortal Kombat
- Mr. Driller
- Mutation Nation
- Mystic Riders
- Mystic Warriors
- NAM-1975
- NBA Jam
- NFL Blitz (original, 99, and 2000 Gold Edition)
- Night Slashers
- Ninja Baseball Bat Man
- Ninja Clowns
- Ninja Combat
- Ninja Commando
- The Ninja Kids
- Nitro Ball
- Numan Athletics
- The Ocean Hunter
- Oriental Legend
- Out Zone
- Pac-Man Arrangement (1996)
- Parodius Da!
- Pilot Kids
- Pirates (NIX)
- Pit-Fighter
- Point Blank
- pop'n music
- Power Instinct
- Power Stone
- Primal Rage
- Prop Cycle
- Psychic Force
- Puchi Carat
- Pu·Li·Ru·La
- Pump It Up
- The Punisher (Capcom)
- Puyo Puyo
- Quiz & Dragons
- Quiz Nanairo DREAMS
- Rad Mobile
- Radiant Silvergun
- Rage of the Dragons
- Raiden
- RAY Series
- Red Earth
- Revolution X
- Ridge Racer
- Riot
- Riot City
- Rival Schools
- Robo Army
- Rod Land
- Saboten Bombers
- Sailor Moon Arcade
- Saturday Night Slam Masters
- Sengoku Ace series
- Sega Rally Championship
- SegaSonic the Hedgehog
- Silent Dragon
- Silent Scope
- The Simpsons
- Smash TV
- Snow Bros
- Spinal Breakers
- Sol Divide
- Sonic Blast Man
- Sonic the Fighters
- Soul Series
- Soul Edge
- Soul Calibur
- Soukyugurentai
- Space Bomber
- Space Gun
- Spike Out
- Spinmaster
- Star Wars Trilogy Arcade
- Steel Gunner (first game in 1991, second in 1992)
- Street Fighter II
- Street Fighter: The Movie
- Street Fighter Alpha
- Street Fighter EX
- Street Fighter III
- Street Slam
- Strikers 1945
- Strider 2
- Sunset Riders
- Super Gem Fighter
- Surprise Attack
- Survival Arts
- Tattoo Assassins (unreleased)
- Tech Romancer
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
- Teki Paki
- Tekken
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- Tetris: The Grand Master
- The Out Foxies
- Three Wonders
- Thunder & Lightning
- Thunder Cross II
- Thunder Force AC (arcade port of a console game {Thunder Force III specifically}, unusually for its time)
- Thunder Fox
- Thunder Hoop
- Time Killers
- Time Traveler
- Tokimeki Memorial: Oshiete Your Heart
- Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Puzzle Dama
- Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy
- Total Carnage
- Total Vice
- Trio the Punch
- Tube-It
- TumblePop
- Twin Cobra II
- Ultra Toukon Densetsu
- Ultra X Weapons
- Undead Line
- Undercover Cops
- Violent Storm
- Virtua Cop
- Virtua Fighter
- Virtua Racing
- Virtual-ON
- War Gods
- Warriors of Fate
- Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa
- World Heroes
- XMen
- Zero Team
- Zombie Raid
- Zombie Revenge
- Zunzunkyou No Yabou
- Zyconix
Arcade Video Games of the 2000s
- Animal Kaiser
- Akatsuki Blitzkampf
- Arcana Heart
- Battle Fantasia
- BattleTech Firestorm (based on MechWarrior 4)
- Blade of Honor
- BlazBlue
- Boong-Ga Boong-Ga
- Border Down
- Cannon Spike
- Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000
- Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium
- Castle of Shikigami
- Chaos Field
- Chaos Heat
- Cho Chabudai Gaeshi
- Confidential Mission
- The Crystal of Kings
- Death Smiles
- DeathSmiles II
- Demolish Fist
- Demon Front
- Dinosaur King
- DoDonPachi II: Bee Storm==
- DoDonPachi: DaiOuJou
- DoDonPachi: DaiFukkatsu
- Dolphin Blue
- Espgaluda series
- Ex Zeus (the first game)
- Fist of the North Star: Twin Blue Stars of Judgment
- Flash of the Blade
- Flywrench
- GHOST Squad
- Great Mahou Daisakusen (aka Dimahoo)
- The Gladiator
- Guilty Gear X
- Guilty Gear XX
- Haunted Museum
- Ibara
- The Idolmaster
- Ikaruga
- Initial D Arcade Stage
- In the Groove
- Jingi Storm
- Jurassic Park III
- Karous
- Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi
- Kouchuu Ouja Mushiking
- Let's Go Jungle
- Manic Panic Ghosts
- Mario Kart Arcade GP
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2
- The Maze of the Kings
- Monster Eye
- Muchi Muchi Pork
- Mushihime Sama series
- NeoGeo Battle Coliseum
- Ninja Assault
- Otenki Kororin – Weather Tales
- Otomedius
- Para Para Paradise
- Pretty Cure
- Progear
- Puyo Puyo Fever
- Razing Storm
- Rhythm Tengoku (based on the original GBA game)
- The Rumble Fish
- Senko no Ronde
- Senko no Ronde NEW Ver.
- Senko no Ronde SP
- Shining Series
- Shining Force Cross
- Shining Force Cross Raid
- Shining Force Cross Illusion
- Shmups Skill Test
- Soul Calibur II & III
- Street Fighter IV
- Super Monkey Ball
- SWAT Police
- Taiko no Tatsujin
- Target Terror
- Time Crisis
- Too Spicy
- Triggerheart Exelica
- Trouble Witches AC
- Under Defeat
- Vampire Night
- Virtual-ON Force
- Wangan Midnight
Arcade Video Games of the 2010s
- The Act
- Aikatsu!
- Aka to Blue Type-R
- Akai Katana
- Aquapazza
- BeatStream
- Bombergirl
- Border Break
- Caladrius AC
- Chaos Code
- Chunithm
- Crimzon Clover for NESiCAxLive
- crossbeats REV.
- Crossy Road
- DoDonPachi: DaiFukkatsu BLACK Label
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade
- Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax
- Dream Festival! (arcade port of the mobile game)
- Fate/Grand Order Arcade (Japan-only)
- Friction
- Fruit Ninja FX
- Grand Piano Keys
- Groove Coaster (arcade port of the iOS original)
- Hero Bank: Arcade (Japan-only)
- Jetpack Joyride Arcade
- The King of Fighters XIII
- Kiratto Pri☆Chan
- K-On!
- K-ON! Houkago Rhythm Time. (Japan-only)
- K-ON! Houkago Rhythm Selection. (Japan-only)
- Magical Slot Mahō Shōjo Tai Arusu (Japan-only)
- Lost Land Adventure
- maimai
- MÚSECA
- Nostalgia
- Nova Drift (Early Access)
- O.N.G.E.K.I.
- Pokkén Tournament
- Pretty Series (all Japan-only)
- Reflec Beat
- Sailor Zombie
- Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
- Shining Force Cross Raid
- Sound Voltex
- Super Sentai Battle Dice O
- Terminator: Salvation
- Trouble Witches AC for NESiCAxLive
CREDITS: 2