Golden Age Arcade games are surprisingly good!

[J T]

I think that there is definitely something to be said for the early arcade games. The rules are self evident after about 20 seconds of observing the game (i.e. aliens descend from space at slowly increasing speed, shoot them before they reach Earth). Also, the action generally only occurs on one screen at a time, so you can see the boundaries of the game design right before you. Because they are designed so simply, they invite you to learn how to best exploit the simple rules to your advantage. Also, there is usually some small aspect of the game controls that can easily be mishandled by a non-expert player- controlling your acceleration and velocity in Asteroids, flapping your wings in Joust, lining up a long distance shot in Space Invaders, etc. This is where the depth of player skill begins to come into play.

While I am a fan of modern games, they certainly tend to have a different feel from these old arcade games that doesn't seem as focused on knowing the boundaries of the game world and learning how to skillfully use them to your advantage. I mean, there are simple game play aspect to modern games... every FPS is basically a game of point & click on the threatening object with a lot of window dressing to hide this fact; but it doesn't seem like the focus of the game is on the actually rules on the screen so much anymore as it used to be in the old arcade days and I feel the depth of the gameplay often gets lost in the depth of the story and cinematics. I liked when game design was really about changing the game and not just changing the content of the story. That's what was great about the early days is that these guys considered themselves game makers, not movie makers that happen to tack their movies onto a pre-existing game.

[Czernobog]

Joust and Dig Dug all day long.

[Ivo]

There are many of these older arcade games that I really don't like that much, but I really like Joust and Dig Dug is possibly my overall favourite of the older ones (depends on the definition of "older" as Bubble Bobble is one of my favourites as well).

Ivo.

[o.pwuaioc]

There are many of these older arcade games that I really don't like that much, but I really like Joust and Dig Dug is possibly my overall favourite of the older ones (depends on the definition of "older" as Bubble Bobble is one of my favourites as well).

Ivo.

Usually it ends around 1983 or so. I think Bubble Bobble is too late, although it's definitely in the same style of other single screen platformers. Great little game, favorite thing that Taito did in the 80s.

[Gunstar Green]

I'm a huge fan of golden age arcade games and own more home console versions and compilations than I'd like to admit even though I can just play them on MAME. I also know of a few arcades and collectors to hit up if I want to play the real machines (emulation just can't do the vector graphics games justice especially). I probably play more quick arcade style games more than anything else these games and these classic titles are that formula at its purest.

They're designed to be addictive, quarter munching fiends with simple, intuitive gameplay that anyone walking by could pick up in an instant but need to spend quite a bit of cash to master. That's why most of them hold up even today.

My favorites:

Dig Dug: Who doesn't love it? Why is it so addictive? Who cares, it just is.

Galaga: King of the fixed shooters. One of the best arcade games period.

Bosconian: This free roaming shooter doesn't get enough love. I can play this for hours. BLAST OFF! ALARM ALARM!

Spy Hunter: My personal favorite arcade classic. Great memories of playing this and Root Beer Tapper every time I visited a famous local Coney burger joint. The Peter Gunn theme rocks as much as the awesome spy car you drive. The first game with the ingenious idea of combining cars with weapons.

Defender and Stargate: Wicked challenging games with a cool rescue mechanic that makes things even more maddening.

Vanguard: Another overlooked game that was a pretty groundbreaking horizontal shmup along with Scramble.

Berserk: I don't know why I find this so addictive. Blowing up the robots is so satisfying and Evil Otto adds a lot of suspense. The robot voices are fantastic.

Robotron 2084: Sort of an evolution of Berserk which brilliantly innovated dual stick controls. Pure manic fun.

[o.pwuaioc]

I'm a huge fan of golden age arcade games and own more home console versions and compilations than I'd like to admit

They're cheap and available on a console - what not to like about them?

[Gunstar Green]

I was only saying that because in the case of a few games I probably own the game several times over .

[o.pwuaioc]

I was only saying that because in the case of a few games I probably own the game several times over .

My gf wonders why I need Galaga on NES and XBOX and my computer.

[Gunstar Green]

Something similar to that happened to me a week or two ago. I was playing my Atari 2600 then later in the day I was playing Atari 2600 roms on my computer. She was puzzled.