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71 Articles

Welcome to ARCADE CLASSICS

Back in the Seventies and early Eighties the arcade was king. While videogames were progressing at an astonishing rate in homes throughout the world, it was the arcade in the West and East where most of the biggest technical leaps and bounds were being made. Companies like Atari, Sega and even Nintendo were pushing specific hardware boards to create unique gaming experiences, many of which had never been experienced before. It was an exciting time, with all sorts of innovations appearing. While many of these classic games would appear on home systems, they were often pale shadows of the arcade originals, ensuring gamers in their thousands continued to flock to the many arcades that were found all around the world. The following pages celebrate that golden period by collecting some…

Welcome to ARCADE CLASSICS

WHEN ARCADES RULED THE EARTH

no matter if you were the first kid on the street with an Atari 2600 or a Spectrum owner marvelling at Bob Pape’s conversion of R-Type, it’s clear that arcade games were the glue that bound the videogame industry together. As soon as the success of Atari’s Pong was established, arcade games became one of the key forces driving innovation in hardware and software within the videogame industry. For decades, the arcade was the only place to find truly cutting-edge gaming. Home computer and console games could only play catch-up with conversions. But it couldn’t last forever. Changing player tastes and rapid advances in technology resulted in the swift decline of the arcade business in the 21st Century, but the market never died. From the early pioneers of the…

WHEN ARCADES RULED THE EARTH

THE GENESIS OF AN INDUSTRY

THE SEVENTIES ACTUALLY REPRESENTS AN INTERESTING PERIOD IN TIME FOR VIDEO ARCADE GAMES. ONE OF GROWTH AND PENDING DESTRUCTION. A DECADE THAT WAS SIMULTANEOUSLY A GENERATOR OF CRITICAL MASS FOR THE NEW MEDIUM WHILE ALSO WREAKING TOTAL HAVOK ON THE LONG ESTABLISHED COIN ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. The seed for this world influencing event had begun in 1969 when two office mates and friends at audio giant Ampex decided to pursue the one’s vision of marrying computer technology and arcade gaming. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney started to create a video arcade game based on an earlier computer game the two witnessed at Stanford called Spacewar!. You have to understand what a novel if not naive concept this was, that two guys could come in and create an entirely new entertainment medium…

THE GENESIS OF AN INDUSTRY

ARCADE INITIATION

When did you first experience videogames and how did you get involved with Atari and video arcade games so early on? In late 1972 I had just applied for a job at Toys ‘R Us and was just about to go into the hospital for health issues when my friend Keith Lafever came over to my house and excitedly said ‘You’ve gotta see this! You’ve gotta come!’. So I jumped on the back of his motorcycle and ran up to Sunnyvale Bowl where there was a Computer Space. I put the only five dollars I had to my name in that machine, it was my first coin-op videogame, and I said “I want to do this (create games).” It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. When I…

ARCADE INITIATION

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE ARCADE

IF THE SEVENTIES HAD BEEN A TIME OF EXPERIMENTAL INVENTION FOR THE ELECTRONIC AMUSEMENT INDUSTRY, THE EIGHTIES WAS THE DECADE IN WHICH IT BLOSSOMED WITH INNOVATION, USHERING IN THE SO-CALLED GOLDEN AGE OF ARCADE GAMES. “It was the time when fully formed videogames first appeared,” says celebrated arcade designer Eugene Jarvis. “Going from almost a blank screen to incredibly crafted games unleashed a mania of hundreds of millions of crazed players worldwide that couldn’t get enough of these new fangled videos. Since so few videogames had come before, entire new genres were created; sports, character, maze, shooters, fighting, driving games… The excitement of seeing the birth of such a cornucopia of original titles was thrilling to players.” New games were appearing so fast in amusement parlours in the period from…

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE ARCADE

What’s your earliest memory of an arcade? I’m so ancient my memories of arcades actually go back to before the dawn of time when there were no videogames. When I was five years old our family started what was to be a succession of annual Welsh holidays near Snowdonia. Central to these outings were frequent visits to The Golden Sands on the seafront at Tywyn, a combined chip shop and arcade. No videogames, but I remember playing on the grabber machines, penny slot machines, pushers, mechanical horse racing thingies and those driving games that had a rolling film with the track on it and your car was on a stick. The first arcades I used to hang out in with any kind of regularity were the old Piccadilly Arcade up…

What made you consider amassing such a vast collection of Nintendo arcade machines? Preservation – it is essential to hold on to this social history of arcade machines because it is quickly being forgotten about. Also, because arcade machines are so big most collectors only choose the best games for their collection. But I took it on my self to concentrate on Nintendo and that meant taking on and restoring some of the less well-known titles, which I am really proud off as its turns out to be quite a unique and rare collection. How did you go about it initially? My first arcade machine was Space Invaders Part II, and that was bought on eBay. From there I joined the arcade forums UKVAC & Jamma+ – it has opened…

THE DECADE OF RIUALRIES

WHILE THE NINETIES WOULD PROVE TO BE A TIME OF GREAT CHANGE IN THE ARCADE INDUSTRY, YOU WOULDN’T KNOW IT TO LOOK AT THE EARLY YEARS OF THE DECADE. Scrolling beat-’em-ups, popularised in the Eighties, continued to prove popular with audiences. Konami delivered a string of licensed hits, from The Simpsons to X-Men. Taito was still introducing new Space Invaders games to market, with Super Space Invaders ‘91 making its debut. At Williams Electronics, a young Mark Turmell was working to revive an Eighties hit. “I joined Williams Electronics with the sole purpose of reviving the dual-stick control, and told them so during my interview process,” remembers Mark, who was as thrilled by the power of arcade hardware as the players. “I had been doing Atari VCS cartridge-based games, where…

THE DECADE OF RIUALRIES

When did it feel like developers started to take notice of the fighting game community’s needs in creating games? 1994 saw the culmination of the Street Fighter II franchise in Super Street Fighter II Turbo and also the release of SNK's King Of Fighters series. After the overwhelming popularity of these games sunk in, tournaments were held in arcades and at some point around that time, programmers started adding ‘event mode’ in the operator menus to help in running them. How did more advanced strategies spread in the days before YouTube and mass access to community websites? The most obvious way was to go to the arcade. Watch, play, learn. Get beaten, get better. It was that simple. After all, every match was technically a ‘money match’, with pocket money…

Why did early games like Beatmania and Dance Dance Revolution have such a high impact? Generally speaking, because they came with their own dedicated cabinets and were sound-driven games, they had a particular knack for catching attention in a row of machines. Dance Dance Revolution in particular also added a great blend of gameplay and physical activity, being particularly intuitive to first-time players and the double-edged sword of being humourous/embarassing to play. What are the key considerations for developers bringing arcade music games to international audiences? The absolute, number one rule is to make the games as unintimidating as possible. Konami's biggest music-game localisation success is without a doubt, Dancing Stage Euromix, which contained well-chosen licensed songs that had simple difficulty levels, which were offered to players first in the…

THE ARCADE AS A SIDESHOW

THE STRENGTH OF ARCADE GAMES HAS ALWAYS BEEN THEIR ABILITY TO OFFER ENTERTAINMENT THAT YOU CAN’T REPLICATE AT HOME – BUT AROUND THE TURN OF THE MILLENNIUM, THE TECHNOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES BEGAN TO CHANGE. Sega’s primary arcade board was the NAOMI, essentially an arcade version of the Dreamcast, while Namco slowly shifted towards the PlayStation 2-based System 246. For the first time ever, the technology at the top of both home and arcade markets was the same, and dedicated arcades struggled as hardcore gamers looked elsewhere. The number of arcades operating in the USA had slumped from 10,000 during the Nineties boom to just 3,000. As business conditions worsened, companies began to exit the market. Midway closed its arcade operations in the early part of the decade in order to concentrate…

THE ARCADE AS A SIDESHOW

THE BEST ARCADE IN THE WOELD

WE ARE HERE! FUN THREE BOB LAWTON OWNER AND FOUNDER OF FUNSPOT Bob opened up the first Funspot in 1952 with his brother John, who sadly passed away in 2003. During the boom years of the Eighties, they ran Funspot arcades across New Hampshire and even as far afield as Florida. WE ARE HERE! GARY VINCENT FUNSPOT MANAGER AND ACAM PRESIDENT Gary took a summer job at Funspot in 1981 and never left. He was instrumental in creating the museum and he still spends many hours restoring old cabinets, ready to bring them onto the arcade floor. MIKE STULIR ACAM BOARD MEMBER Mike is one of the many volunteers who devote their time to making ACAM such an extraordinary place. “I want to make sure these pieces of Americana are…

THE BEST ARCADE IN THE WOELD

JOUST Year Made: 2012 Location: Seattle, WA, USA Person: John McAllister Score: 107,301,150 ROBOTRON Year Made: 2009 Location: Renton, Washington USA Person: John McAllister Score: 1,236,950 ASTEROIDS Year Made: 2010 Location: Renton, Washington USA Person: John McAllister Score: 41,338,740 PAC-MAN Year Made: 2012 Location: Beavercreek, OH, USA Person: David Race Score: 3,333,360 Time: 3:33:12.69 seconds TEMPEST Year Made: 2002 Location: New Hampshire, USA Person: Laszlo Takac Score: 1,491,910 DONKEY KONG Year Made: 2015 Location: New York City, NY, USA Person: Robbie Lakeman Score: 1,141,800 STAR WARS Year Made: 1984 Location: New York USA Person: Robert T Mruczek Score: 300, 007, 894 FROGGER Year Made: 2012 Location: Virginia, USA Person: Michael Smith Score: 970,440 Q*BERT Year Made: 2013 Location: Flemington, New Jersey USA Person: George Leutz Score: 37,163,080 SPACE INVADERS Year…

RETROREVIVAL ATARI, INC ARCADE 1972 It’s easy to take for granted today, but Pong was a huge deal when it appeared in 1972. It was one of the first commercially successful arcade games, paving the way for the likes of Space Invaders, Pac-Man and many other classics. It was enduring, too, and I can still remember some arcades having old machines when I was a young nipper in the late Seventies, early Eighties. Pong really came into its own with a second player as it made the game amazingly competitive. Although you can only move your bat up and down, it’s actually possible to pull off some insane moves with deft touches of the control dial. There’s nothing more satisfying than having a long, drawn out rally before slamming past…

IN THE KNOW PUBLISHER: NUT TING ASSOCIATES DEVELOPER: SYZYGY RELEASED: 1971 PLATFORMS: ARCADE GENRE: SHOOT-’EM-UP I t’s summer 1966 and a young Nolan Bushnell, sporting sideburns but no bushy beard yet, is strolling through the Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, Ut ah. He’s manage r of the games department, working there to help pay hi s way through university. He smiles at the rows of pinball tables and electro -mechanical machines, guzzling coins from eager players. Back at the University of Utah, Nolan is up late, playing Spacewar! in the computer lab into the early hours. The game, created by Steve Russell and f riends at MIT in 19 62, has two starship commanders locked in a deep space dogfight. It ’s a big hit on c ampus. And suddenly,…

STEVE BRISTOW had several placements at Ampex while studying at the University of California at Berkley in the late Sixties and early Seventies. He later followed Nolan to Nutting Associates and worked on the two-player version of Computer Space, before moving to Atari, where he stayed until 1984. “Nolan was my supervisor at Ampex and he had me working on some prototype circuits, which turned out to be portions of the memory and motion controller boards for Computer Space. I saw the schematics for the game in the office he shared with Ted and I saw pieces of the prototype in a more assembled form when I visited them at Nutting. I first saw the production version when I started working at Nutting in March of ’72. Production was…

NUTTING INDUSTRIES

While most talk of the early video arcade industry usually centres around Nolan Bushnell and Atari, there’s another individual whose firms and their contributions to both video arcade games and the coin-operated amusements industry overall are arguably equally as important. Nutting Industries (NI), Milwaukee Coin Industries (MCI) and Dave Nutting Associates (DNA) were a succession of companies spanning a 17-year period of innovation, resulting in products that either redefined the way things were or led the way in showing how things were moving to become. All three were also created by the venerable David Nutting. The story begins in 1966 when David was working at Brooks Stevens Design Associates, a product design firm with experience in every industry. Seriously, every industry. By this time Brooks Stevens had designed everything from…

NUTTING INDUSTRIES

With modern-day game characters often being designed and scripted to ape Hollywood movie stars, it’s pleasing to note that a yellow circle with an insatiable appetite remains the most enduring videogaming star to date. After all, which gamer hasn’t played some variant of Pac-Man? According to a May 2008 report by the Davie Brown Celebrity Index (dbireport.com), which scores celebrities to evaluate potential product spokespeople, Pac-Man was recognised by 94 per cent of US consumers, outstripping even Mario. Pac-Man’s appeal is, ironically, akin to Hollywood heavyweights like Tom Hanks. Part of this appeal is no doubt down to the fun, peaceful nature of Pac-Man and his actions. He explores a simple maze, munching dots, pursued by a quartet of cartoon ghosts. When Pac-Man eats one of the maze’s four power…

RETROREVIVAL ATARI INC ARCADE 1983 Like many adult males my age I’m a bit of a self-confessed Star Wars fan. It’s not that I think they’re exceptionally well made films – the masterful Empire Strikes Back excluded – it’s just that they managed to connect with me in a way no other movie has since managed. Playtime at school would be spent arguing over who got to play Han Solo (it was never me) walks home turned into inevitable re-inactions of key sequences from the trilogy, while my back garden was littered with toys. Thank God then for the Atari release of Star Wars in 1983, as I was given a further output for all my Jedi-fuelled fantasies. Admittedly, this wasn’t the first Star Wars videogame (that honour goes to…

They say that in the videogame industry you just need one big hit to assure your success. Nintendo was on the verge of bankruptcy when Donkey Kong came along, Taito was far from a household name before Space Invaders and Galaxian was the game that sent Namco onto the path of success. Universal Entertainment hit the sweet spot itself when it came up with Mr. Do! in October 1982. Although the company previously had reasonable success with Space Panic in 1980 (regarded as the very first platform game) and Lady Bug the year after (an interesting Pac-Man clone) it was struggling to break into the US market and needed something to grab people’s attention, Mr. Do! did just that. The name itself was both unique and memorable; short and…

THE UNCONVERTED

TINKLE PIT Developer: Namco Year: 1993 Genre: Maze Game If you ever need reminding that the arcade PENGO 1982 market of the early Nineties was a weird, transitional scene, Tinkle Pit should serve well. Despite the declining popularity of traditional maze games and the market’s preference for the 3D games which were finally beginning to come of age, Namco chose to release Tinkle Pit into arcades in 1993. That’s the same year it released Ridge Racer. But while it’s true that Tinkle Pit is something of an anachronism, it plays rather well. You play as a young blonde chap, who happens to be accompanied by an anthropomorphic sleigh bell. He’s promptly plonked into a maze to fight all manner of enemies, including familiar Namco characters drawn from games such as…

THE UNCONVERTED

THE LEGACY OF ROBOTRON

ROBO LOVE JOHN ROMERO (DOOM) “At the start of the Eighties, back when arcades ruled supreme, games were fast. Quarters went into these games fast. It was a real challenge to be able to play an arcade game past five minutes on one quarter. And the games were made for quick reflexes and fast thinking. Of all the games that ruled the arcades, Robotron was the most manic, complex and pulse-pounding experience that anyone had encountered. Two joysticks, moving and firing in any of eight directions independently, assumed that anyone good at the game was a real master. Eugene Jarvis had created the ultimate arcade game.” Robotron. Its very name can send even the most battle-hardened arcade fan into a volley of nervous spasms and involuntary muscle twitches. An unrelenting…

THE LEGACY OF ROBOTRON

IN THE KNOW Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo Released: 1981 Systems: Arcade, Various Genre: Platformer When it comes to iconic videogames, Donkey Kong is the daddy. Created by gaming legend Shigeru Miyamoto and released to huge success in 1981, it’s one of the most celebrated and treasured games in history. It goes without saying that it has single-handedly defined the platform genre and introduced us to not one but two of the most popular videogame characters ever – the titular gorilla and his tormentor Mario. Such is its impact that some enduring videogame myths have built up around its creation. Was the game supposed to be called ‘Monkey Kong’ but the name got misinterpreted somewhere along the way? Probably not. Was the game originally designed as a vehicle for Popeye and…

PROFILE Name: Hank Chien Age: 36 Date of birth: 4 August 1974 Hometown: New York, USA Occupation: Plastic surgeon Is it true that you only started playing Donkey Kong after seeing the King Of Kong documentary? I think I may have played one game of Donkey Kong prior to watching The King Of Kong, but yes, it’s pretty much true I had never played the game. After watching the documentary, I decided to play just for fun. I had no idea where I could find a Donkey Kong machine, but I was aware of MAME. I improved very rapidly on MAME and after three months I reached the kill screen. At that point, I decided to find a public machine and thanks to the internet I found one pretty quickly…

HANK'S SURVIVAL GUIDE

1 TOP TIP For beginners, just clear the boards as fast as you can. On the barrel board always keep an eye on the barrels above you and prepare for the worst case scenario. There really aren’t many secrets; it’s just a matter of practice. 2 BONUS PLAY When playing for a high score, it’s a combination of knowing when to hang around and accumulate points and when to finish the stage to claim the bonus. It is not always beneficial to stay around on a board as the bonus timer ticks down very fast, particularly in the later levels. You have to know when you can ‘beat the clock’ and when you just have to call it quits. 3 HAMMER TIME Whether to grab the hammer or not is…

Donkey Kong Jr Released: 1982 The success of Donkey Kong meant that the sequel arrived faster than a tossed barrel on a greased girder. But what’s this? There’s not a single barrel to be seen. Donkey Kong has been caged by Mario and the moustachioed one has unleashed all manner of jungle critters in an attempt to stop DK’s plucky son from rescuing his dad. Donkey Kong Jr is a platform game, but a lot of time is spent traversing vines and chains, which can be cumbersome. It doesn’t help, either, that Junior is rubbish at jumping, and the result is a slightly awkward sequel that, while utterly charming, lacks the smoothness and grace of the original. Donkey Kong 3 Released: 1983 DK Jr played a little on the sluggish…

Chris, a 39-year-old IT support worker from Gresham, Oregon, had hankered after his own Donkey Kong cab ever since first playing the game in his local bar and grill aged 11. He ran an ad on Craigslist looking for a red DK cab and a lady not too far away answered his call. It transpired that she’d acquired it from a local vendor who originally purchased it new as a Radar Scope machine. Unfortunately, it needed a lot of work. “It was one step away from a landfill,” Chris tells us. “The bezel was so scratched I could barely make out the monitor. The coin door was rusted and the coin mechs were jammed up. To make matters worse, someone had attempted to cut a hole in one of the…

How did you get into game development? In the mid-Seventies, while in college studying electrical engineering, I was hired by a small engineering consulting company. Among other projects, I developed and patented a handheld billiards game called Bank Shot, based on a 4-bit microprocessor and an array of 72 LEDs. When the Atari 2600 came out the handheld games started to suffer at the expense of the newest, greatest thing – videogames. In response, I bought an Atari machine, opened it up and reverseengineered it so that we could compete in that space. I’ve been developing games ever since. How did you land the job of converting Donkey Kong to the Atari 2600? At the time, around 1981/1982, there weren’t a whole lot of independent videogame developers who knew how…

The conversions

01. CPC (Best Conversion) That Stuart Campbell awarded it the prestigious accolade of best 8-bit arcade conversion of all time back in issue 76 should be a big indicator of how good this version plays. Featuring big, bright colourful visuals, faithful gameplay, and all four stages, it’s a nigh-on perfect conversion for Lord Sugar’s unfairly mocked wonder machine, which is why we’re awarding it best conversion. 02. Atari 2600 This is a poor conversion, even by Atari 2600 standards. It’s missing two stages (Cement Factory and Spring), DK looks like a deranged gingerbread man, the barrels look like cookies, and the behaviour of the enemy flame sprites – they simply yo-yo from one end of the screen to the other – is easy to circumvent. The controls aren’t great either.…

The conversions

IN THE KNOW PUBLISHER: SEGA DEVELOPER: AM2 RELEASED: 1986 SYSTEMS: ARCADE, VARIOUS GENRE: DRIVING Yu Suzuki joined Sega in 1983, his first assignment was Champion Boxing on the SG-1000. From there, Suzuki’s progress began to gain momentum. By the end of 1985 he had already established himself at the vanguard of coinop development, having masterminded a couple of major successes for Sega in the form of Hang-On and Space Harrier. But Suzuki’s journey towards becoming a legendary videogame producer was about to shift to a higher gear, and it was the following year’s OutRun driving game that turned Suzuki into an internationally renowned programming superstar. Before a brief diversion to code the thrilling sci-fiblast of Space Harrier in time for a December 1985 release, Suzuki’s attention was first centred on…

FROM THE ARCHIVES RETRO GAMER DIGS UP THE FILES OF THE CLASSIC COMPANIES OF OLD Atari’s origins go back to Ampex and a little-remembered division called Videofile. A document storage and retrieval system that used videotape and television displays to search for and reproduce documents, it was capable of recalling a full page out of the phone book and printing it accurately. An analogue engineer who goes by the name of Ted Dabney had been working in the ‘Input/Output’ group at Videofile, responsible for the cameras and printers used to record and later print out documents, when he found himself with a new office mate. Just out of college, the young Nolan Bushnell had moved out to California from Utah after getting an entrylevel job at Ampex. Skill and personality-wise…

GHOULS ‘N GHOSTS

“The improved aesthetics were down to Capcom’s CPS-1 hardware. Ghouls was the second title to use it” Ghouls ‘N Ghosts opens on a dark and stormy night. Ominous clouds gather and lightning pierces the gloom, but Arthur fears not. He bounds through the boneyard on his quest to save his loved one and overthrow the forces of darkness. There’s a definite scene of déjà vu hanging over this scene. In Ghosts ‘N Goblins, released three years earlier in 1985, Arthur found himself in a similar cemetery, knee-deep in the undead, with the same noble quest ahead of him. Even the soundtrack was the same, albeit in an earlier arrangement. The difference was the visuals. Arthur and the enemy sprites were now larger and more detailed, allowing series director Tokuro Fujiwara…

GHOULS ‘N GHOSTS

THE EVOLUTION OF STREET FIGHTER

If there’s one franchise that has changed the shape of gaming as we know it more than any other, it has to be Street Fighter. Having a friend or rival watch over your shoulder as you set a new high score and keenly input your initials (most likely in the form of some kind of shorthand profanity) is great and all, but having them eat humble pie from a plate made of your own skill? Priceless. Street Fighter may not be solely responsible for the concept of competitive gaming, nor was it the first game to introduce the idea. But by allowing us to select a character we could identify with and make work, the Street Fighter series without doubt forged many of the tenets by which we currently (and…

THE EVOLUTION OF STREET FIGHTER

Missile Command

IN THE KNOW Publisher: Atari Inc Developer: Atari Inc Released: 1980 Systems: Arcade, Various Genre: Shoot-’em-up That you’re even reading this magazine means that there’s a good chance you’ve played, or at the very least heard of, Missile Command. One of Atari’s most popular titles from the golden age of arcade games, it saw players assume the role of a poor chap working the busiest day of his life inside a missile defence facility. The brainchild of Atari’s Dave Theurer, Missile Command tasks you with protecting six cities from airborne missile salvos (you can read an exclusive interview about the game’s creation with Dave and Rich Adam on page 62). In the game you have access to three mounted missile launchers, which each hold ten rounds of ammunition. Activated by…

Missile Command

PROFILE Name: Tony Temple Age: 42 Location: Wiltshire Key Twin Galaxies World Records: Missile Command [Arcade] 4,472,570 Super Missile Command [Arcade] 164,630 When did you first encounter Missile Command? Well, Missile Command just happened to be the main game that was sited at my local videogame emporium, Rita’s Café in Bristol. This would have been in around 1981 or so. It was pure chance more than anything; the fact is that it could have been any arcade game from the golden era, I suppose. It was sat alongside a Gorgar pinball machine and a Moon Cresta upright cabinet. Rita’s was a grotty old place, so with hindsight, it was a miracle they had such a prestigious game – and original too. I recall they had a lot of bootleg games over…

TONY'S SURVIVAL GUIDE

1 DON’T PANIC The fundamental rule with this game is not to panic. There is a lot going on, and players tend to lose control, firing shots off all over the place. This will not help your game at all. There is no need to fire three missiles up to take out just a single one coming down! And if you are playing in marathon mode, remember you get a bonus city every 10,000 points. 2 THE RIGHT BASE Try to use the appropriate missile base. If a missile is coming down the right-hand side of your screen, try to use your right-hand base to take it out. 3 SAVE THE MIDDLE MISSILES You’ll notice that the missiles from the centre base do travel at a slightly faster speed than…

Liberator Released: 1982 Aside from Missile Command VR – a virtual reality offering that appeared in 1994 – there were no arcade sequels to Missile Command, which is very strange considering how popular it was. Liberator, then, is like a spiritual sequel to Missile Command that was based on the popular Atari Force comic series. The game is essentially an inverted take on the Missile Command concept in that players must destroy bases rather than defend them. Targets are situated on a rotating planet, and players launch their attack via four immovable spaceships that are positioned in each corner of the screen. Moving a targeting crosshair with a trackball, players must destroy all the targets before their ships are destroyed. Super Missile Command Released: 1994 The Lynx has many underrated…

“The machine was obtained from Archer Maclean in 2005. We were talking about what he did for a hobby – restoring and collecting old arcade machines – and this old game I was pretty good at back in the Eighties called Missile Command. Archer took me down into his arcade dungeon and there it was. I hadn’t seen a machine in the flesh for over 20 years – I was like a kid in a candy shop. The cab was a mess – it was covered in concrete splashes, insect nests, dust and general debris. The trackball was rusted solid, there were no locks and the side art was torn and scratched. Archer won’t thank me for saying this, but he spent an incredible amount of time restoring the thing…

How were you involved with the 2600 port? We had a brainstorming session to come up with possible new 2600 games. On the list were two very popular Atari coin-ops, Missile Command and Asteroids, both of which were deemed impractical to pull off on the limited 2600 hardware. Over lunch, Brad Stewart started discussing various approaches to each game, and that lunch turned into a whiteboard-filled scribblefest, after which we pitched the 2600 programming team our ideas about how both games could be done. We each were given 30 days to come up with a live ‘kernel’, which would display the main game elements on the screen. Did you work with Dave Theurer on the project? I had gotten to know Dave from the year before. Prior to my work…

the conversions

01. Atari 8-Bit [Best Version] The version that Atari put out for its 400/800 line of computers was a great effort that featured a few nice improvements over the 2600 port. This included vapour trails being left behind the enemy rockets, and the inclusion of the bombers and satellite enemies. Sadly, like all of Atari’s 8-bit Missile Command ports, this version was missing a full complement of missile silos, limiting the depth of its gameplay. Regardless, this is still an impressivelooking conversion. Incidentally, this version also appeared as a built-in game for Atari’s ill-fated XEGS console. 02. Atari 2600 Even though the Atari 2600 version is missing two silo bases, it still plays a faithful game of Missile Command, and what it takes with one hand – there are…

the conversions

IN THE KNOW PUBLISHERS: TAITO DEVELOPER: TOMOHIRO NISHIKADO RELEASED: 1978 SYSTEMS: ARCADE, VARIOUS GENRE: SHOOT-‘EM-UP For a man who single-handedly turned his country into a nation of videogame junkies, and without whom Shigeru Miyamoto claims he would not even have joined the game industry, Tomohiro Nishikado is a surprisingly unassuming and down-to-earth kind of chap. Since 1996 he’s been running his own operation, a 22-strong development studio called Dreams, just down the road from Sega in Tokyo. It’s a quiet and unnoticed developer that seems to be deliberately avoiding the limelight – the discography on Dreams’ website is nothing more than a list of generic terms: ‘Action game for PS2’, ‘Communication game for DS’, and so on. So it’s quite odd to think that 37 years ago, when in his…

Space Invaders Twelve

SPACE INVADERS PART II (Arcade, 1979) Tomohiro Nishikado’s first direct sequel to Space Invaders was, he admits, not as big a hit as the original. Still, it had some interesting features, including increased complexity to the movement of its enemy targets. SPACE INVADERS DX (Arcade, 1993) Featuring a traditional Space Invader Mode, a two-player splitscreen Battle Mode and a Parody Mode, Space Invaders DX was an experimental game whose best features would be better developed in Space Invaders ’95/Akkanbeder. SPACE INVADERS ANNIVERSARY (PS2, 2003) Notable for including an original 3D Mode, Space Invaders Anniversary was an unremarkable collection of variations of Space Invaders and Part II. The PSP attempt would prove much more worthwhile… 3D SPACE INVADERS (Mobile, 2006) Providing the option to turn Space Invaders into a first-person shooter…

Space Invaders Twelve

Attack of the Clones

INVADERS (BBC MICRO, 1982) IJK Software’s Invaders was one of the earliest computer format clones of Taito’s international hit. Monochrome and colour versions were released (the latter only for Model B computers). 3D INVADERS (CPC, 1984) More ‘quasi-isometric’ than three-dimensional, this effort at replicating/improving the original Space Invaders formula really struggles to imitate the playability of Nishikado’s game. SPACE INVADERS: FUKKATSU NO HI (PC ENGINE, 1990) This great PC Engine conversion also includes a ‘New Version’ of the game, where the protective bases are removed as your ship gains the assistance of a shield. SPACE INVADERS (WONDERSWAN, 1999) This port of Space Invaders for Bandai’s WonderSwan handheld replicates Nishikado’s original work, only inverted as black sprites on a clear background. AVENGER (C64, 1982) Another early attempt at bringing Space Invaders…

Attack of the Clones

» RETROREVIVAL »SEGA »ARCADE » 1989 Golden Axe is a strange game. It’s not the greatest sidescrolling beat-’em-up ever made, and it rips off plenty of other superb titles, but good grief, is it fun to play through. After all, what other game from the era allowed you to carve up skeletons, ride around on mythical creatures and cast powerful magic? None, that’s what. While the likes of Rastan and Rygar featured a similar theme neither contained the fantastical environments that Golden Axe boasted. Indeed, in the half hour it took me to complete the game (I’ve still got the magic touch) I visited a besieged village, journeyed across the back of a giant turtle, before finally flying to Death Adder’s domain via a gigantic flying eagle. Quite a journey…

THE LEGACY OF DRAGON’S LAIR

Dragon’s Lair is the most divisive of games. For some, it doesn’t even deserve to be called a game, as it’s seen essentially as an interactive movie where the player does little more than prod Dirk away from danger. For others, the title alone is simply enough to excite the synapses and whisk them back to 1983 when goggle-eyed gamers bumped and jostled to get a glimpse of this extravagant new game that featured cartoon-quality sound and animation. For those amazed by the attract mode, amused by Dirk’s screams and confused by Daphne’s one-piece when the game first arrived in arcades over 32 years ago, there will always be something special – magical, even – about Dragon’s Lair. While fans are always incredibly quick to argue that Dragon’s Lair is…

THE LEGACY OF DRAGON’S LAIR

DRAGON’S SPAWN

SPACE ACE (Arcade) _This delightful follow-up to Dragon’s Lair is faster (it’s relentless) and funnier (thanks to the introduction of dialogue). Branching paths and varying skill levels increase replay value. It’s regularly bundled with the Dragon’s Lair arcade games, creating a loose trilogy. DRAGON’S LA1R (NES) Elite’s first attempt at dropping Dirk into a platform game was a disaster. The character graphics are detailed and large, but the animation is sluggish and the controls are clunky. The difficulty level is crazy; you deserve a medal for finishing the first screen. DRAGON’S LA1R (SNES) Third time lucky for Elite. This platformer is hardly groundbreaking, particularly within the SNES library, but it’s polished and engaging and lots of fun. It’s challenging too, though fair, and there are plenty of nods to the…

DRAGON’S LEGACY

SUPER DON QU1X-OTE Following the success of Dragon’s Lair, a number of coin-op manufacturers flirted with LaserDisc tech. This was the first – and only – release from Japanese developer Universal. While the animation is far from Bluth standard, it’s very similar to Dragon’s Lair in story and execution. There’s one difference however – the video display is overlaid with graphics showing your score, lives etc. Hints are also displayed, reducing instances of trial and error. COBRA COMMAND Perhaps best known as an early Mega-CD FMV game, Data East’s Cobra Command was actually released in arcades in 1984. Gameplay is a mix of shooting enemy craft and rapidly following directional commands which are relayed over the chopper’s radio by your officer. The animation from the Toei studio is great and…

DRAGON’S LEGACY

INS1DE THE DRAGON’S LA1R

Why did you decide to document Dragon’s Lair? Dragon’s Lair had a significant impact on my life. It’s stuck with me like glue for decades. I felt that by having a subject that I was personally attached to would benefit a documentary. Not only was Dragon’s Lair a personal favourite of mine, but it was also a very interesting subject to tackle. There are very few games out there that have had the same kind of longevity. Dragon’s Lair was also a game that had many ‘firsts’. The animation angle alone was really enough to warrant a documentary about the game. How is the project progressing? The project is coming along quite nicely. We’ve interviewed about 20 people so far including animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. We’re still in…

INS1DE THE DRAGON’S LA1R

PIXEL PERFECT The game features some fantastic cartoony graphics* Debuting in arcades in 1984, Bomb Jack was developed by Tehkan, the Japanese videogame company that would later change its name to the more familiar Tecmo. Bomb Jack was something of a departure for the firm, as most of its earlier titles were far more elaborate in execution. Its 1981 debut, Pleiads, was a multi-stage shooter in the style of Phoenix, while 1983’s Senjyo utilised a smart 3D trick to simulate advancing alien ships. Star Force, released the following year, was a super-slick vertical shooter of some repute. So Bomb Jack, with its single-screen platforming antics, certainly wasn’t pushing any boundaries. Yet it has become a title that’s instantly recognisable. At a time when new coin-ops were released at a rate…

TEHKAN THE ARCADE BY STORM

Star Force (1984) Known as Mega Force in some regions, this vertical shooter is so good that it almost belies its age, but it really was released in 1984. It’s a relentless blaster that looks as good as it plays. It was later converted to several home systems including the NES and MSX. Tehkan World Cup (1986) Released to capitalise on the 1986 World Cup, this fantastic football game would be enjoyed long after the competition ended. It popularised the topdown viewpoint used in later football games and featured a trackball controller. Solomon’s Key (1986) Created by Michitaka Tsuruta, Solomon’s Key mixes puzzle and platforming elements. It’s perhaps better known outside of the arcade thanks to the many home conversions, but the original remains one of the jewels in the…

TEHKAN THE ARCADE BY STORM

CONSUMER SEQUELS

Donkey Kong II (1983) In the arcade Donkey Kong was followed by Donkey Kong Jr. Yet Game & Watch got both a version of that game and a numbered sequel in which Junior rescued Kong by unlocking four chains. With no sign of the moustachioed one, this was a real (monkey) barrel of fun. Hunchback II: Quasimodo’s Revenge (1985) Ocean hit the jackpot with its first arcade licence and wasted little time in cranking out a sequel for 8-bit computers. It featured new screens, varied challenges and a punishing difficulty level. Further Hunchback games followed from Ocean. Target; Renegade (1988) The Ocean boys were at it again with this home-only follow-up to Taito’s street brawler. It introduced weapons, bigger areas and co-op play, and the result was easily better than…

CONSUMER SEQUELS

COIN-OP CONVERSIONS

ZX Spectrum This is one of the most celebrated arcade conversions on the Speccy and it’s not hard to see why. It features nicely detailed graphics, decent sound eff ects (the old beeper putting in a lively performance) and quick, responsive controls. It’s basically as close to the coin-op as Speccy owners could genuinely expect. Perhaps the only problem is the backdrops which, while well drawn, are slightly too prominent, causing Jack and his enemies to sometimes get ‘lost’. A minor issue though, and it certainly doesn’t take the shine off this great game. Atari XL/XE Like the MSX-2 version, this homebrew release was reviewed in Retro Gamer (Issue 58) and awarded 90 per cent – a fair score for this impressive Atari 8-bit conversion. A quick glance at those…

COIN-OP CONVERSIONS

Developer: Namco Year: 1994 Genre: Sports By the mid-Nineties, regular athletics games were no longer enough for gamers – or at least, that was Namco’s perspective. Eschewing the charms of real-world athletes like Daley Thompson, Numan Athletics was a cult hit featuring superhuman athletes. Namco was pleased enough with its performance that it quickly put a sequel into production, and Mach Breakers arrived the next year. Mach Breakers offers players a choice of seven extraordinary individuals with ordinary names, like the American all-rounder Johnny and the Japanese speedster Makoto. They’re pitted against each other in a variety of events, and while the opening sprint is just extraordinarily fast, things quickly turn bizarre. There’s no 110-metre hurdles event here – instead your chosen superhuman needs to kick their way through thick…

It’s amazing what effect alcohol can have on you once it’s swilling around your innards. Some people get an increased sense of confidence, while others suffer from a lack of judgement that sees them making decisions they’d otherwise normally never consider. In the case of John Salwitz (currently senior development director at Electronic Arts) and Dave Ralston (a designer for Locomotive Games) the aforementioned alcohol consumption allowed them to overcome a stumbling block on one of the most popular games of 1984: Atari’s Paperboy. “Back in those days Atari was famous for having Beer Fridays,” laughs Dave Ralston who, along with Will Noble, was Paperboy’s designer and lead artist. “We had a tapper there on the premises and one particular Friday there had been a party; when John and I…

» RETROREVIVAL »ATARI, INC »ARCADE » 1979 Ed Logg is a genius. When he worked at Atari he was involved in a large number of hit games for the company, from Super Breakout to Gauntlet and Centipede. One of his most memorable achievements, however, is this incredible shooter from 1979, which he designed alongside Lyle Rains and Dominic Walsh. As with many arcade games of the golden period, the concept of Asteroids is simple: shoot down as many asteroids as possible. Of course, while the idea is simplistic, the gameplay is anything but. Asteroids appear on screen and you shoot them down. As they are shot, they break into smaller pieces, meaning there’s a higher chance of colliding with smaller debris. Your ship is far from defenceless, equipped with a…

As you play Operation Wolf and the bodies pile up you wonder if it’s even possible to fail. Enemy soldiers perish in an instant as the screen is sprayed with gunfire and rocked by explosions. It really is difficult to miss and success seems guaranteed. Taito must have been thinking much the same when it readied the game for its Japanese debut in November 1987. The developer didn’t need to plant the game in test locations to know that it had created a sure-fire hit. Operation Wolf was one of those rare titles where all of the key elements were just right. First off, the concept was brilliant. Taito took the shooting gallery games from time immemorial and created a slick new version for the Eighties arcade. It wasn’t the…

Did you have access to the coin-op during the development? Not at the beginning. We got it very late, toward the end of the project, and it helped me tune the game. But we did receive all the art assets from the arcade. I remember that they came in a bunch of 16x16 blocks, each using its own palette of 16 colours. It was a real work of patience to recreate everything. Which was the lead platform? The Atari ST or Amiga? Atari ST was the lead. I chose it because I was more familiar with it. Midway through development, once the main technical hurdles had been resolved, we started porting my code to the Commodore Amiga in order to make sure we were maintaining compatibility. What would you say…

OPERATION COPYCAT

MECHANIZED ATTACK 1989 SNK’s answer to Operation Thunderbolt was released just a few months after its inspiration and actually managed to top it in the pure action stakes. And if shooting thousands of enemy soldiers wasn’t enough the game also threw Terminatorstyle robots and oversized end-of-level bosses into the mix. LINE OF FIRE 1989 Sega had dabbled with gun games since its early history so it was hardly surprising to see it weigh in with its very own Operation Wolf clone. The familiar behindenemy-lines scenario was well presented, thanks to Sega’s Super Scaler tech, and the game provided adequate thrills for fans of Taito’s games. SPACE GUN 1990 Rather than release another rat-a-tat-tat war game Taito shifted the setting to outer space for its next shooter. Inspired by Aliens, you…

OPERATION COPYCAT

CONVERSION CAPERS

ZX SPECTRUM The Spectrum wasn’t the best at fullscreen scrolling but the team at Ocean managed to produce a surprisingly smooth and playable effort. Colour was obviously scarified to make it work, but the well-drawn graphics prevented it from becoming a monochrome mess. The preferable 128K version featured no multi-load. FM TOWNS The enigmatic Japanese computer received a fantastic version that was unique in a number of ways: there was a laser sight option, a ‘3D Scope’ mode (that supported 3D glasses) and a full CDaudio soundtrack, making it the only version of Operation Wolf to feature in-game music. There are no half measures here. PC-DOS The PC often lagged behind when it came to coin-op conversions but not here. The colours were slightly off and the sound was lacking…

CONVERSION CAPERS

TIGER TAMED AND MAMED

Operation Tiger is the least well-known entry in the series and that’s largely because it’s unsupported by MAME. However MAME developer Ville Linde is currently looking to change that. He says: “The game seems somewhat rare and forgotten so there’s definitely value in getting it running. It runs on a PowerPC-based hardware and I tend to handle most of the PowerPC systems in MAME. It also shares many hardware features with other Taito systems of the time which makes it interesting to work on.” To date Ville has managed to get the attract mode running but there’s still some obstacles to overcome. “There’s an emulation bug that causes the game to lock up more or less randomly. Once that’s fixed the game should be close to a playable state. Sound…

TIGER TAMED AND MAMED

Inexplicably titled Gun Bullet in Japan, Point Blank offered the unexpected. While most companies were building towards realism, Namco had other ideas. Yutaka Kounoe himself isn’t a fan of gore. “I’m not sure it’s morally right to make a living through ultraviolent games, but the development department were a little more flexible about designing them,” he explains. “However, to make this game appeal to a wider demographic, we held back on the onscreen blood. I wanted to make Point Blank attractive to couples on dates, so I made sure there wasn’t a drop of blood in any of the debris flying about. Even in Tekken, a game we created that allowed you to savour the exhilaration and satisfaction of decimating your opponent, we used CG effects that look like blood,…

THE STORY OF STRIDER

It’s been 26 years since Strider Hiryu first swung his Cypher sword and made that dizzying run down an exploding mountainside that captivated all who saw it. Since then he’s been something of a recluse, using his ninja skills to hide in the shadows and only occasionally coming out to shine, but otherwise content to simply cameo in a number of other Capcom games, particularly versus fighters where his insane ninja skills are put to extremely good use. To celebrate his 25th anniversary, Capcom unleashed a brand new game, Strider, which aimed to appeal to the orginal fanbase, as well as a brand new generation of gamers. It’s actually a highly enjoyable game, even if it’s not quite as good as the 1989 original. “I have never felt that Strider…

THE STORY OF STRIDER

THE UNCONVERTED

ZERO GUNNER Developer: Psikyo Year: 1997 Genre: Shoot-’em-up You might well be familiar with the name Zero Gunner, but if you are it’s almost certainly because of its excellent sequel Zero Gunner 2, which is one of the many worthwhile shoot-’emups on the Dreamcast. The original game is rather less well-known, having never received a home conversion. Zero Gunner arrived in arcades in 1997, powered by Sega’s ageing Model 2 board. The game puts you in charge of a helicopter gunship in the year 2016, fighting to take back control of the world’s militaries from terrorists. This flimsy premise is reason enough for you to take to the skies in Asia, the USA and Europe, blowing up all manner of other aircraft as well as bosses including battleships and massive…

THE UNCONVERTED

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

IN THE KNOW ≫ Publisher: Konami ≫ Developer: Konami ≫ Released: 1989 ≫ Systems: Arcade, Various ≫ Genre: Scrolling beat-’em-up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a perennially popular franchise (and yes, they were indeed ‘Ninja Turtles’, not mere ‘Hero Turtles’ – the change of name due to some silly censorship issues in parts of Europe that we’ll pretend never happened). Just when you think it’s finally died a death, a new comic, TV series, toy line, videogame or movie reminds us all that those reptilian rapscallions who shout ‘Cowabunga!’ and scoff pizza have been around for over 25 years, and will probably be around for 25 more. But no matter how long TMNT remains in favour, it will never be more popular that it was in 1990. This was the…

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

PROFILE ≫ Name: Patrick Wheeler ≫Age: 30 ≫ Location: Diboll, Texas ≫ Key Twin Galaxies World Records: Metal Slug 3 [Arcade] 10,213,610 points Sunset Riders [Arcade] 1,010,930 points Jailbreak [Arcade] 9,999,900 points Can you tell us how long you’ve actually be gaming for and what you like about it? The past 22 years, starting with the NES at age seven. I credit games like Battletoads, Contra, Life Force and Punch-Out!! for giving me the skills necessary to compete at a higher level. When and where did you first play TMNT and what were your initial impressions of the game? I remember playing the game at a bowling alley when I was around ten years old. At the time I thought it was one of the most fun games I had…

PATRICK’S SURVIVAL GUIDE

1 DO IT WITH DON Use Donatello. It’s much easier to finish the game in one credit with him, due to his long attack range. It’s possible to finish with one of the other turtles, but it’s considerably harder, especially against certain bosses. 2 POINT TAKEN Hit the rope that the robots fling toward you. Every hit is worth one point even though it doesn’t actually damage the enemy. Also, hit the boomerangs that enemies throw at you. They’re worth one point each too. 3 KEY POSITION Your character has more vertical range than the enemies, so use it to your advantage. The best way to handle an enemy is to move above or below them, then stop moving and time your attack to hit them as they move up/down…

PATRICK’S SURVIVAL GUIDE

TMNT III: The Manhattan Project Released: 1991 The NES already had its own Turtles game, so the coin-op was released on the Nintendo console as TMNT II: The Arcade Game. This game then, from Konami, was a NES-exclusive sequel to the coin-op that was essentially an extra set of levels rather than a full-blown follow-up. The main difference was that each Turtle had their own special move. These were almost too powerful, particularly against the bosses, so to prevent the game from being a walkover you lost a little energy each time you used one. Overall, it was a fun yet derivative continuation of the coin-op. Note that there was a 1992 PC game called TMNT: Manhattan Missions but it has nothing to do with this game, being more of…

“I’m 27 and from St. Cloud, Minnesota. Since I was a kid, I thought it would be really cool to own an arcade machine. Growing up in the Eighties, there are many that I have fond memories of but the first one that comes to mind is TMNT. This game was a revelation at the time, and was at the top of my want list even before I got into the hobby. “In 2004, the owner of an old roller-skating rink told me he had a few games to sell. He showed me a few machines, but it didn’t take me long to notice a large four-player Desert Assault game. The game itself didn’t interest me, but it had my attention because the cabinet was identical to the four-player Konami…

Tell us when were you bitten by the programming bug? I had a ZX Spectrum and had a dabble at BASIC but thought that there must be a better way of coding for it. I bought a Z80 assembler and taught myself to code on evenings and weekends. I was a school kid at the time. How did you get the TMNT job? I was offered the contract as Probe could convert to most platforms but really struggled to find someone to take on the Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions. Did you have access to the coin-op machine during development? I travelled down to the south coast to play the coinop. I took my artist with me and we had a day on the machine. We also had an…

How did you end up with the job of converting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the Atari ST and Amiga? After completing Viz for Probe Software they offered me Turtles. It looked like a straightforward conversion so I accepted. Did you work alongside Hugh Riley (graphics) and Jeroen Tel (music), or was everything done remotely? I never met or even spoke to Hugh or Jeroen. Everything was supplied by Probe. This was typical of the Probe method. Were the ST and Amiga versions developed simultaneously, or one after the other? One after the other. I can’t remember which I did first, but my preference would have been for the ST as that would have presented the most problems. Porting a game from ST to Amiga could take as little as…

the conversions

01. NES (Best Version) Bar the arcade-perfect Xbox Live Arcade version, we think the NES offering is the best port of Konami’s arcade game. It looks the part with bright colourful visuals and well animated sprites, and also plays the part with solid collision detection and authentic representations of the original levels. Like the other home versions, it loses out due to the lack of four-player support, but it does make up for this oversight with the inclusion of two additional exclusive levels and greatly extended levels from the arcade original. A few changes are made to the boss roster (the end battle against Bebop and Rocksteady now has you fighting Baxter Stockman), but this is an otherwise excellent port. 02. Amstrad CPC All the 8-bit computer ports are…

the conversions

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