While it is true, around the 1970s, the recreational machines or Arcade machines that caught the attention of hundreds of millions of children, young people and even adults worldwide were released. Since, mainly, it was presented as a new business model that revolutionized the world of entertainment.
In this sense, to this day, old machines are already considered to be They were created and designed to be able to play Arcade-style video games. Which, followed the basic principles regarding easy controls to assimilate, a moderately ascending difficulty, short levels and a minimum interruption between said levels.
So, since these are such epic video games that were played on the famous Arcade machines, it is worth know the history and evolution of these teams of yesteryear. Therefore, throughout the post, we will detail each of these machines with their main characteristics, also adding the main precursors of the same.
What is an Arcade machine and what is it for?
Before specifying the evolution of Arcade machines and everything regarding its history, it is opportune to know What do these classic teams consist of? and good, What are its most relevant functionalities?.
In this sense, Arcade machines are defined as those entertainment devices that work with coins to play Arcade-type games and, in general, were installed in public places for the enjoyment of customers (for example: game rooms, bars, restaurants, etc).
In this way, they began the great revolution of video games throughout the world during a period known as “the golden age of arcade video games”, which lasted from the early 70’s to the late 80’s. So, during that time, there were different solutions that served to run Arcade games. with easy controls and short levels.
Taking into account that these particularities were used to keep the players for a short time within the video game, with the purpose that they should constantly insert more coins or credits into the Arcade machine.
For its part, it is ideal to refer to the main characteristics that Arcade video games showed, in order to also understand a little the functionality of this type of machines of yesteryear:
- Scoring is the main goal: The main objective was to reach the best possible score so that the player will achieve his record, instead of finishing the game. Therefore, many Arcade video games were infinite.
- system of lives: Traditionally, three lives were awarded, but it always depended on each game. Which, when making a mistake, were consumed and it was necessary to restart the level or the game.
- ascending difficulty: The game on the arcade machine starts very easy, but as you progress between levels, the difficulty increases and thus, eventually, it manages to exceed the player’s ability.
- minimal interruptions: It was possible to go immediately to the next phase, since the intermediate scenes were characterized by being very fleeting.
- Time limit: All the levels of the Arcade type game, in these machines, had a certain time and if it ran out, the player would lose a life. Therefore, people should not take so long at the same level.
History and evolution of arcade machines. Which have been the most important? Chronology
Now, we have reached the section of the post where we detail, chronologically, the evolution of arcade machines and from that, you will know which were the most important in history. But, before that, it is valuable to know the precursor titles of such machines.
Next, we indicate them:
OXO
It was programmed by Alexander S., during the year 1952 and arose as part of an investigation carried out at the University of Cambridge regarding the interaction of machines with man. So officially OXO was the first game with graphics and is known as “the first video game in history” despite the fact that a missile launch simulation game was released 5 years earlier.
tennis for two
Basically, it is a game created by William Higginbotham, a renowned physicist from Brookhaven National. In this way, it was classified as a very successful video game, given that users even queued up to enjoy it.
It should be noted that the game mechanics was very simple and was based on a tennis court where the players had controls to aim and throw the ball to the other player, by selecting the desired angle.
Spacewar!
Another of the precursors of Arcade machines, without a doubt, is this title that was developed by Steve “Slug” Russell, Martin “Shag” Graetz and Wayne.
Which consisted of an intergalactic fight starring two spaceships that, as an objective, had to ration gasoline and be attracted by the gravity of a star and at the same time, had the mission of kill the enemy ship around you. Thus, an unusual proposal that required more than 200 hours of work and was made up of several versions.
Golden Ax
Originally, it was a game developed to be run on the Arcade System 16 board and also had versions for other game consoles throughout its development.
In that way, it was a very popularized from 1980 onwards and it stood out for being one of the best action games of the Arcade genre; where the main purpose was to fight with a sword and use elemental magical abilities that were related to the collection of potions.
Shinobi
It refers to a video game from the Shinobi saga, published by Sega for Sega Game Gear. Regarding the gameplay, it offers a unique mechanic to add variety to the gameplay and where movement is limited to walking, jumping and attacking.
Thus, its main objective consists of Free the 4 captive ninjas of the evil crime organization. Once the stage is completed, the ninja is released and will join the other part of the game.
tumblepop
This is defined as an Arcade platform video game that was developed by Data East and is considered one of the best cult classics. During the experience, one or two ghost hunters gather to suck monsters into their airbags and spit it out into a ball to be used as a weapon when engaging their enemies. In case you have achieved it, you would get coins, diamonds and rubies as a reward.
Pang
Also know as “Buster Bros”, it is a game that is based on destroying some bubbles that appear throughout the experience, where one or two people can play and collaborate with each other. So, the Buster brothers focused on going around the world to destroy these jumping bubbles that terrorize different cities on the planet.
Notably, It was designed by the Mitchell Corporation.
Once we know which were the precursor titles of Arcade machines and their characteristics of greatest interest, let’s start with the evolution of said machines, taking into account their year of publication:
Galaxy Game (1971)
It is the first commercial game of which there is evidence, thus the first Arcade machine to give impetus to this great world revolutionhe. In this sense, it was programmed by Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck and installed, for the first time, in September 1971 in the famous Stanford University.
Although, initially, only one of these machines was created, a few years later many more were manufactured and thanks to this, the game was adapted to a large number of home systems. Regarding its price, we noted that the machine had a cost of 20,000 dollars (around 18,000 euros) and the price of a game was 10 cents (or 25 cents for three games). However, it was withdrawn eight years later, in 1979.
Computer Space (1971)
Another Arcade machine that was published in 1971 and stood out for being the second proposal of this type. Although it was not the first commercial Arcade machine, the truth is that distinguished itself by being the first machine of this type manufactured on a large scale. Taking into account that, its designer was Nolan Bushnell at the University of Utah and also Ted Dabney.
Thus, this entertainment proposal was created as a new form of business with which Bushnell hoped to have great success, and this he decided to implement. after meeting the Spacewar!, one of its precursor titles. However, the present arcade machine he lost a lot of fame due to his fuzzy controlsome years later.
Pong (1972)
Just a year later, this new alternative was launched by Atari, with which I debuted in the Arcade market. Said machine, had an extremely simple handling and thanks to this, anyone could play on it, understand the dynamics and have fun from the first game; unlike Computer Space which turned out to be more complicated.
Although, at first, this machine did not work when placed at a local gas station, after correcting certain errors, it revealed a good operation. Since then, its success was quite remarkable and thus he managed to establish, definitively, the Arcade-type machines as a profitable business model.
Tank (1974)
After two years, Atari together with Kee Games, released the first Arcade machine with the ability to store graphics on ROM memory chips, which is about Tank. This being a great commercial success that I was able to attribute to the recovery of the Atari company’s finances, just at a critical moment in which it was going through.
In principle, they managed to sell about 5,000 units of the Tank In just one year and after that, they released a second version of the game that could be changed to a new format by modifying the circuits. In addition, more sound effects were added and its gameplay, in general, was the same as the first version.
Gunfight (1975)
Next, this first Japanese game licensed for the United States was known, which was exhibited as a redesigned machine that, for the first time, added a microprocessor. Taking into account that it was a game included in the “Hall of Fame” by GameSpy.
On the other hand, regarding the foundation of the game, we delimited that it simply consisted of a fight between two cowboys and thus, I am able to entertain many children and young people all over the world. But unlike real life duels, in this case both cowboys have plenty of opportunities to battle and score points.
Breakout (1976)
It consists of a version of Pong adapted to a single player, where the main objective is to break blocks by hitting them using a ball and with the greatest care, so that it has no place to escape at the bottom of the screen. Thus, a proposal launched by Nolan Bushnell also.
But, although its developer thought that the game in question would be a complete success, it…
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