Category Archives: Arcade

Asteroids, Arcade

Released in November 1979, Atari‘s Asteroids was an instant hit with gamers.

It featured a vector graphic-based, black and white display, with a player-controlled triangular ship, moving in space and firing at moving rocks.

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Track & Field, Arcade

Konami‘s 1983 arcade hit Track & Field broke new ground with its button-bashing gameplay.

It also broke a fair few cabinets along the way, with arcade machine operators having to repair the buttons on machines quite often, to keep them operative (and therefore earning money). A broken Track & Field machine was no good to anyone, and people tend to get carried away and hit too hard when playing this game.

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Nemesis/Gradius, Arcade

Known as Gradius in Japan – but Nemesis everywhere else – Konami‘s classic 1985 shoot ’em up is one of the earliest progressive weapons blasters, with distinct levels and boss battles.

The game is somewhat reminiscent of the classic side-scrolling Scramble (also by Konami), but in Nemesis you fly a ship called the “Vic Viper”, and which has a variety of different weapons which can be powered-up by collecting capsules left by destroyed enemies.

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Lock ‘n’ Chase, Arcade

Yes, Data East‘s classic 1981 arcade game does feature a policeman called “Stiffy”. The other three are called “Scaredy”, “Smarty” and “Silly”. And together the four of them chase you – a thief – whose mission it is to collect the coins in the maze, and any other treasure that appears, before escaping.

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Midnight Resistance, Arcade

Data East‘s Midnight Resistance (1989) is a side-scrolling run-and-gun shooter with a difference – you can rotate the hips of the soldier you’re controlling and shoot in eight different directions, which makes for interesting and unique gameplay.

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