Remembering "old school" arcades

[BeeR]

The video thread had me thinking of this and knowing many of you are old enough and geeked enough to remember.

 

I remember the earliest days when they were all or mostly mechanical (not computerized). Along with pinball there was this steeplechase game where you hit a button or ball to make a horse jump over a track which was like a big piece of "paper" on a roll with hurdles etc glued to it, the button made the horse (attached to a metal rod) jump ie the legs would pick up. Others I can't recall. Then it was pong type stuff for awhile before the technology went nuts and galaxia and all that stuff popped up. Anyone else?

[detlef]

Not quite old enough to remember a whole lot before pong and the football game that you used the roller ball to control your guy. Those came out when I was about 8.

[millerx]

Not quite old enough to remember a whole lot before pong and the football game that you used the roller ball to control your guy. Those came out when I was about 8.

I forgot all about that one! Man I loved that thing. Bangin' on that ball until your hand would hurt.

[millerx]

What I remember was getting a monthly membership to the arcade. You'd get a punch card for the month and would get "x" amount of tokens every time it got punched. The parents would drop us off at the arcade and time would fly by until they came back to pick you up.

[Duchess Jack]

I remember Galiga, Kungfu and Spyhunter being the bomb.

 

Moving forward... Rampage and Altered Beasts were pretty fun too.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Duchess Jack

[SayItAintSoJoe]

What about exploiting the bugs in those early arcade games? Here’s a few that come to mind:

 

1. The Pac Man pattern. If done correctly you cleared the maze every time.

 

2. A trick in Galaga where you could get the invaders to stop shooting bullets altogether. The only way they would eventually kill you was to crash into you.

 

3. The Space Invaders trick where you let the invaders come all the way down to the bottom row then their bullets would go right through you. You would just zip across and take them out one by one.

 

These are a few that came to mind. I know that there’s a whole lot more.

[Savage Beatings]

Bangin' on that ball until your hand would hurt.

 

 

Dude... you'll go blind.

[wiegie]

The video thread had me thinking of this and knowing many of you are old enough and geeked enough to remember.

 

I remember the earliest days when they were all or mostly mechanical (not computerized). Along with pinball there was this steeplechase game where you hit a button or ball to make a horse jump over a track which was like a big piece of "paper" on a roll with hurdles etc glued to it, the button made the horse (attached to a metal rod) jump ie the legs would pick up. Others I can't recall. Then it was pong type stuff for awhile before the technology went nuts and galaxia and all that stuff popped up. Anyone else?

How about the mechanical baseball game in which you hit a metal ball and it would sometimes go up ramps for homeruns, etc.

 

Seawolf where you shot at boats through a periscope was a cool early video game. I was also a fan of Centipede and Tempest.

[matt770]

I used to go to this place as a kid. It was pretty much the most amazing place I could ever imagine when I was 10. My favorite video games were Centepede, Paperboy, and Galaga, but I liked pinball too, still do.

 

Now it's a car dealership.

[Square]

I remember Galiga, Kungfu and Spyhunter being the bomb.

 

Moving forward... Rampage and Altered Beasts were pretty fun too.

Ah yes, we might be about the same age DJ. I remember playing California Games and Conan on the Commodore 64, battlefield (battleships?) and atlantis on the atari 2600. Street Fighter 2 was the first arcade to really kind of go "big" when I was in maybe 5th grade.

[i_am_the_swammi]

Joust ruled.

[Azazello1313]

umm, donkey kong? and donkey kong, jr. joust was another favorite. centipede, galaga, asteroids, dig dug, punch out. and that karate match game with two joysticks, what was that called? sitting here thinking about it I can still remember almost all the moves.

[Duchess Jack]

umm, donkey kong? and donkey kong, jr. joust was another favorite. centipede, galaga, asteroids, dig dug, punch out. and that karate match game with two joysticks, what was that called? sitting here thinking about it I can still remember almost all the moves.

I think it was Kungfu.

 

Ah yes, we might be about the same age DJ. I

36

[Azazello1313]

I think it was Kungfu.

 

not the one I was thinking of. found it though,

[Duchess Jack]

not the one I was thinking of. found it though,

then I stand corrected. That was the one I was thinking about too. Right stick to the right. Left stick counter clockwise = bicicle kick and such.

[detlef]

[Duchess Jack]

 

 

omitted games within the link...

 

Defender, Missile Command, Kaboom... and a shoutout to Zaxxon

Edited December 23, 2011 by Duchess Jack

[detlef]

So, Pong was 72? OK, so I wasn't 8 when Pong came out. More like 3 or 4.

[Square]

36

Meh, you're about the same age as my older brother.

 

If you have a few minutes and want to get some old school on... Here is a link for you.

[Furd]

Don't remeber much from the pinball days.

 

Defender

Moon Patrol

Burgertime

Punch Out

Robotron

Galaxian (pre Galaga)

Gauntlet

Dragon's Lair

Star Castle

Phoenix

Spy Hunter

Zaxxon

[Azazello1313]

tron

[Square]

Rush N' Attack Edited December 23, 2011 by Square

[Square]

Joust ruled.

Joust

[cliaz]

[millerx]

What was the one with the tanks? The one where you looked through a periscope and had two joysticks to move backward/forward or to turn around. The tanks and blocks you hide behind were simply green lines.