Retro Gamer Book of Arcade Classics 2nd Edition

BOOK OF
ARCADE
CLASSICS
DISCOVER THE ORIGINS OF ICONIC GAMES
HOW ARCADES RULED THE WORLD
AMAZING DEVELOPER INTERVIEWS
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 oen 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 of the greatest content from the last decade of Retro Gamer.
From the origins of Space War to the creation of OutRun and Pac-Man, this book
will give you fascinating insight in to one of the gaming’s most significant periods.
In association with magazine

ARCADE
CLASSICS
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Retro Gamer Book of Arcade Classics Second Edition © 2016 Imagine Publishing Ltd
ISBN 978 1785 464 348
Part of the
bookazine series
ARCADE
CLASSICS
CONTENTS146
140
52 94
FEATURES RETRO REVIVALS
8 WHEN ARCADES 28 PONG

RULED THE EARTH Celebrating the game that was instrumental to
We chart the story of the arcade, from its creating the arcade scene
triumphant beginning to eventual end 52 STAR WARS
Recreate blowing up the Death Star in one of the
60 THE LEGACY OF ROBOTRON greatest movie licences of all time
Key developers celebrate Eugene Jarvis’s iconic
twin-stick shoot-’em-up 120 GOLDEN AXE
How a fantastical spin made Sega’s scrolling
94 THE HISTORY OF STREET FIGHTER fighter stand out from the crowd
We celebrate one of the most important one-on-
one fighters of all time 146 ASTEROIDS
Ed Logg is one of arcades greatest legends and
122 THE LEGACY OF DRAGON’S LAIR Asteroids is the proof
Discover how Don Bluth created one of the
arcade’s most mesmerising laserdisc games
THE MAKING OF
148 THE HISTORY OF
OPERATION WOLF 30 COMPUTER SPACE
Martyn Carroll lobs a grenade and blows the lid off We reveal the origins behind the early arcade
the complete series game from Nutting Associates
158 THE STORY OF STRIDER 44 PACMAN
Key Capcom developers explain the origins behind Discover how a pizza was responsible for one of
gaming’s greatest arcade ninja gaming’s greatest maze games
122
30
88
168
76 OUTRUN ULTIMATE GUIDE COINOP CAPERS

Yu Suzuki reveals how the Cannonball Run
inspired his seminal racing game 52 MR. DO! 68 DONKEY KONG
114 SPACE INVADERS Discover what everyone’s favourite clown has An exhausting look at Nintendo’s most important
to offer arcade game
Tomohiro Nishikado explains the origins of his
best-known game and classic shoot-’em-up, 88 GHOULS ‘N GHOSTS 106 MISSILE COMMAND
Space Invaders It’s all in a knights work thanks to this ultimate Your must-read guide to David Theurer’s frantic
140 PAPERBOY guide to this ghostly game shoot-’em-up classic
Find out how a game about a boy delivering 132 BOMB JACK 168 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE
newspapers became a worldwide phenomenon Your complete guide to Tehkan’s insanely addictive Your complete guide to Konami’s incredible
that made Atari a fortune bomb defusing game scrolling beat-’em-up
156 POINT BLANK
Everything you need to know about Namco’s
UNCONVERTED
incredibly quirky lightgun game
58 TINKLE PIT
DEVELOPERS Discover why the brightly-coloured maze game
never made it into your home
38 NUTTING INDUSTRIES 138 MACH BREAKERS
We take a look at one of the earliest arcade Sadly, Namco’s mid-Nineties athletic game
manufacturers, formed in 1965 did not make it to home systems
82 ATARI INC 166 ZERO GUNNER
Find out how Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney The classic shoot-’em-up never made it home,
helped create the arcade scene unlike it’s highly enjoyable sequel 8
ARCADE CLASSICS | 7
cad e
he ar tion
isit t volu ay
rev its e ent d
s w e hart res
er a nd c the p
G am ins a es to
etro ’s orig venti
in R stry e Se
o
J indu m th
fro
8 | ARCADE CLASSICS
WHEN ARCADES RULED THE WORLD
RCADEE
0S A CAD
10 870S ARCADE DE
14 90S AR AME RCA
18 END GEST AERS
22 THE BE KILL
24 SCOR
26
om
a
firs tter i
t ki f yo
ma wit d o u w
rve h a n th ere
n
of R lling a Spe Atar e stre the
-Ty ctr i e
gam pe, Bo um 2600 t
at gam
i b o o
vid s we ’s cle ape ner r
e t P w con ing. H
eog re ar t ’s c s o
t
As ame i he gl hat ar nvers
o cat ole g me c
ch- am om
Po soo ndu ue th cad ion up e p
ng n st a e Bu w s co uter
bec was as the ry tog t bou Cha t it co ith co uld o and
am est e n n u n n
inn e o abl ucce her. d the
s t adv ging ldn’t versio ly pla
ova ne ish s s anc play last ns. y
wit tion of t ed, of A the es
h h ar t s in er ta fore
dec in the in har e key cade ari’s bus wift d tech stes ver.
ade vid dw forc gam i e n an
pla e a e ma ness i cline ology d rap
ce s, the ogam re an s dri es rke n th of r i
to fi arc e d s vin pio t ne e 2 the esulte d
nd ade indu of tw g nee ver 1st arc d in
tru tho rs o die Cen de a
ly c was stry. F are s f d t
utt the
ing on or coi e still the a . From ury, b
n-u ma rca u
- e d ly
ge has p ga king de b the ea t the
sp min a l usi rly
ind oke i n
u n g to ving ess
arc stry t to ke day, R from to
ade o b y p e
gam ring laye tro G
ing you rs fro ame
. the m r
his the
tor
yo
f
ARCADE CLASSICS | 9
» Seen here is the paper tape for storage
of code typically
used by video arcade game authors in the
mid Seventies
such as those at Atari.
HE SEVENTIES ACTUALLY
REPRESENTS AN
INTERESTING PERIOD IN
TIME FOR VIDEO ARCADE California. This was a location about as
GAMES. ONE OF GROWTH AND far away from Chicago, the established
PENDING DESTRUCTION. A DECADE mecca of the coin industry, as you could
THAT WAS SIMULTANEOUSLY A possibly be. Second, they’d have to
tie
GENERATOR OF CRITICAL MASS convince an established coin company
en
v the
FOR THE NEW MEDIUM WHILE to take a chance on it. The industry at
S e
e ess of
ALSO WREAKING TOTAL HAVOK
ON THE LONG ESTABLISHED COIN
that time was dominated by companies
that had already been around for
n t h ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. decades like Williams, Gottlieb, Bally and
p i o witn rationrg
The seed for this world influencing Chicago Coin.
u event had begun in 1969 when two The games they were pumping out
gr ew ere t rolife ldbe office mates and friends at audio giant had been mainly pinball and gun based,
u h p o Ampex decided to pursue the one’s though over the Sixties more specialised
fI yowere tn and arty Ge

vision of marrying computer technology electro-mechanical (EM) games had
and arcade gaming. Nolan Bushnell gained popularity. Games based on
youoductiomes. Marrativlike
and Ted Dabney started to create a simulations whose subjects would
video arcade game based on an earlier become popular as videogames almost
computer game the two witnessed at a decade later. Ed Logg, creator of
intrade ga on a nit was Stanford called Spacewar!.

You have to understand what a
such videogame classics as Asteroids,
Centipede and Gauntlet remembers his
arces youf what novel if not naive concept this was, that
two guys could come in and create an
first exposure to these games: “The
first time I played a coin-operated game
takrney o
entirely new entertainment medium was at the Berkeley Student Union. It
let alone to hope that it would gain was a game where you tried to shoot
jou
any traction in the already established down bombers which appeared over the
coin industry. First, they were out in horizon. It wasn’t a videogame because
the planes appeared to be on a rotating
piece of screen. There was a pattern
so I could play the game for as long as
I wanted.”
There was also the uphill battle
of the stigma arcades had in a lot of
communities as a hotbed for raucous
teenagers or in some cases organised
» Atari sought to expand locations for

machine placement in the mid Seventies
by creating many new cabinet formats.
Seen here is a videogame kiosk system it
installed at one of the San Francisco Bay
Area Rapid Transit terminals.
10 | ARCADE CLASSICS
1971
QComputer Space,
the world’s first
video arcade game
is tested in August
at the Dutch Goose
in Menlo Park,
California.
» Al Alcorn’s classic Pong – still iconic after all
these years and an impressive starting point for
the industry.
1972
QAtari Inc. is Bushnell and Dabney’s proposal plus
My earliest memories of arcades were formed in July of a new engineer out of the deal as well
this year and work as Bushnell left Ampex to join Nutting
of shadowy places where naughty things begins on what (followed by Ted close to a year later).
Bushnell and Ted’s deal was for Nutting
might happen becomes their
first video arcade to license the game for manufacturing,
Al Alcorn game, Pong. but they’d do all development on
By mid August their own time (working after hours at
crime and gambling. As Pong creator Al based on the input – in this case the it’s being play Nutting and at Ted’s house).
Alcorn relates, “My earliest memories game’s controls. You’d have one circuit tested at Andy By August of 1971 they were testing
of arcades were of shadowy places to put an object on the screen, another Capp’s Tavern. their prototype at a local college bar
where naughty things might happen. to move them, another to detect a hit, called the Dutch Goose to great results.
Besides the usual pinball machines
and ‘love’ testers there were movie
machines that showed graphic movies.
and so on.
They lucked out however, and
found the one coin-op company based
1975
QAtari/Kee
The following month, as Bill Pitts was
installing his Galaxy Game (which
uses an actual full DEC minicomputer
At Playland at the beach there was the in California; Nutting Associates. released Indy running Spacewar! code) at the
Fascination arcade, which was grey Something of an upstart itself, Nutting 800, the first Stanford Student Union they found
» Early arcade games did area gambling. These places were not had been formed by Bill Nutting after multi-layer video the results at their subsequent test
not use microprocessors
or software. Rather they for family entertainment.” creating an EM-based quiz game called arcade game in locations far less promising. It turned
used logic chips, such as Bushnell and Dabney’s initial goal Computer Quiz with his brother Dave April. A massive out the students at Dutch Goose were
this one below.
was to start a videogame engineering Nutting. Their initial partnership had game supporting mainly students pursuing degrees in
firm, researching and creating games quickly fizzled and Bill started Nutting 8 players at once. engineering, physics, and computers.
to license to the big coin companies to Associates in California to sell the game They also release Stepping out of that comfort zone
produce. If you’re asking why they were while Dave started Nutting Industries the first driving of technical professionalism meant
‘engineering firms’, it’s because the early in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to sell his video game in a that the patrons at other locations
arcade videogames were not coded version. Releasing a string of similar full cockpit style
– they didn’t have a microprocessor. games and recently firing most of his cabinet, Hi-Way.
Rather they were what’s called ‘state engineering staff, Bill was looking for
machines’, a grouping of electronic
circuits that carried out various functions
a new game to keep the momentum
going. He got the new game in 1975
QMidway releases
» The exterior of a prototype Pong cabinet from the » Usually a stripped down television, single game board,
Seventies. This angular design was fairly common. and a power supply were all that resided inside machines.
Gun Fight, the first
microprocessor
driven video arcade
game ever.
1976
QExidy releases
Death Race.
Loosely based on
a film of the same DAVID PERRY
name, the driving “Moon Cresta. In it you
can stack up your fire
over of figures that you go from weak to power, so
strong to weak. I use
look like people in games for many yea d this idea
rs. You’ll see it in gam
creates the first Earthworm Jim (we es like
ak worm in a strong
controversy in (weak baby possessin suit), Messiah
g a giant’s body) etc
videogames. like that gameplay sty . I personally
le where you’re kickin
minute, then very def g butt one
ensive the next.”
ARCADE CLASSICS | 11
were entirely confused by the
gameplay, controls and overall
presentation. In fact this was when
the duo learned that presentation
across the board was just as
important to its success, something
the big boys of the coin industry
already knew. Bushnell countered
with a slick new futuristic design
and a somewhat clearer control
scheme. A package that actually JIM BAGLEY of all time. A local
engineer, Al Alcorn. Pong started at established coin distributors grew
caught the attention of everyone “Scramble is my favourite arcade game off as a starter exercise for Alcorn across the globe, arcade space gradually
t of it and ran a
when they showed it off in Nutting’s Spar shop got a sit-down cocktail cabine only to turn into a lesson for the became a fight of old technology and
who could be the first to comp lete all the
booth at the main trade show of the competition of entire coin amusement industry. new as owners stocked both and
g Scramble,
era, the Music Operators of America levels. I have many great memories playin With simple gameplay and controls, the major companies continued to
playing it too!.”
in Chicago. The automated music even to this day, and now my girls enjoy the cabinet developed by Dabney produce both. In fact for much of the
industry – jukeboxes – was actually also featured a philosophy he and Seventies pinball machines and video
the dominant force in coin-operated some modern retellings of the story, Nolan had learned during their Computer arcade machines were neck and neck in
entertainment at the time, with arcade their game (named Computer Space Space days. “Nolan was careful to have popularity and earnings.
games being a subset. By the mid by Bill Nutting) went on to sell what is Pong look very understated so as not to
Seventies the show would change it’s considered a decent average run for an offend women or families. We wanted race that was
name to the Amusement and Music arcade game at the time – enough that to stay away from the girly (side art) that understandable, as video
Operators of America thanks in no the medium was considered viable. were on many pinball machines,” states arcade games were still
small part to the rising dominance of Bushnell and Dabney famously left Alcorn. Pong is what drove the industry in such a primordial state.
the coin amusement industry thanks to Nutting the following year to formally to take notice of the new medium, and Every new game was some new feat,
arcade videogames. start their engineering firm Syzygy a quick expansion as new companies especially since they were still being
Don’t expect the type of astonished Company, only to have it grow into sprung up everywhere with their own created purely through engineering.
hoopla that the Apple II generated the future industry juggernaut Atari Inc versions of the game. Once the big boys Colour came early on, thanks to Atari’s
during its debut at the West Coast thanks to a game developed by their first jumped on board as well and demand Cyan research lab in Grass Valley
Computer Faire six years later though. that developed an alternate full color
The common questions Bushnell version of Gotcha that Atari released
and Dabney got were “Isn’t this just
a novelty?” or “Isn’t it expensive to
It wasn’t a videogame because the in October 1973. Animated characters
were introduced by Ramtek’s Baseball
broadcast?” (yes, some thought that
because there was a television inside
planes appeared to be on a rotating in 1974 as the industry moved to make
more detailed and interesting games
that the picture of the game was being
broadcast). Regardless, contrary to
piece of screen beyond simple ball and paddle driven
games. 1975 saw the intro of giant
Ed Logg
Though largely When did you first want to do this (create What jumps out about
unknown to many, experience videogames games).” It was the coolest video arcade games in
Jeff Bell is uniquely and how did you get thing I had ever seen. When the Seventies era for
experienced to involved with Atari and I got out of the hospital you compared to the
comment on the video arcade games so in November one of my later decades? say something like ‘Oh yes!
video arcade game early on? friends, Derek Becker, was In 1972-74, we had to explain I have one…’, and I would
industry. Starting In late 1972 I had just working at this place called to people what a videogame feel the need to explain
in February 1973 applied for a job at Toys ‘R Syzygy collecting coins out was. By 1976 that had that I worked in ‘Coin-Op’,
at Atari Inc, he Us and was just about to go of pinball and videogame changed to explaining what that a quarter was required
remained in the into the hospital for health machines for them. He told a ‘coin-op’ video game was. to play. By the Eighties,
industry until 2003 issues when my friend me all about Syzygy and By the Eighties we needed perhaps as an outgrowth
when Midway Games Keith Lafever came over their game Pong that was to explain what the ‘Real of the Consumer Division's
shut down what to my house and excitedly coming up. When I got out Atari’ was. success, we began to refer
was le of Atari’s said ‘You’ve gotta see this! of the hospital it turned out to ourselves in conversations
coin operations You’ve gotta come!’. So I all my friends were working Can you elaborate on the and on T-shirts as ‘Coin-
aer exiting the coin jumped on the back of his there at Syzygy. I went in last two statements? Op – The REAL Atari’. This
industry in 2001 motorcycle and ran up to and met Nolan Bushnell, Sure. By the mid Seventies, wasn’t well received by
Sunnyvale Bowl where there who gave me a job, but I the first impression many the other divisions. I heard
was a Computer Space. I couldn’t start until February people had of videogames that we had been asked to
put the only five dollars I had when my doctor cleared came from home game not use the phrase. Today I
to my name in that machine, me. Because I couldn’t lift consoles. Whenever still respond as I did in the
it was my first coin-op anything I became the third somebody discovered that I Eighties, ‘I worked at Coin-
videogame, and I said “I Pong inspector. worked at Atari, they would Op, the REAL Atari’.
» Electromechanical games predated video games in the » Tank’s military combat theme would be replicated often
arcade, informing the cabinet design of the latter. in years to come.
with some very popular video arcade coin industry to come about, however
games being released. From a pop 1979 was really when the demand for
culture perspective, the late Seventies the engaging medium skyrocketed.
was an explosion of high-tech interest Many non-traditional locations (family
by the public, arguably fuelled by the restaurants, doctors offices, gas
1977 release of the film Star Wars. stations, etc) suddenly started operating
Demand for electronic driven consumer the computer-driven machines there,
devices, gadgets and entertainment and for a kid it seemed everywhere
seemed to skyrocket and in the arcades you’d go there was an opportunity for
multiplayer games like Indy 800 and arcade games were still just more of a videogames were poised to fulfill a kid’s you to ask your parents for a quarter (or
the continuation of the expansion of curiosity in the public consciousness. demand to live their own space battle- a ten pence piece in the UK) to play a
gaming ideas, including a variety of It really wasn’t until this mid-Seventies driven fantasy. game. It would also set up a time when
driving and war games. However, it was period and the arrival of the inexpensive The game which lead the charge dominant hits were first released as
one technological advancement in video TV-tennis home game systems like to feed that hunger, and became a coin-op machines and later ported to
arcade games that made the biggest Atari’s Home Pong and Magnavox’s phenomenon of its own during the home versions, something that would
splash that year: the addition Odyssey 100 and 200 that public process, was Space Invaders. Created by last until the mid Eighties.
of microprocessors. awareness really began to take off. the same person behind Taito’s Western
All the major arcade companies Certainly video arcade games had Gun, Tomohiro Nishikado, in 1978 it took
had already begun exploring adding been making appearances in film and Japan by storm and soon after the rest
microprocessors to pinball machines television since the early Seventies of the world. Games like Exidy’s Star Fire
during 1974, and by early 1975 that had (the first well-known one being brought the literal Star Wars experience
extended into video arcade games; Computer Space’s appearance in to the arcade, but it was the further
Lead by Cyan at Atari and Dave Nutting 1973’s Soylent Green). But now with extreme popularity of 1979 space shooter
Associates (yes, that Dave Nutting) that the buzz generated by home games, games like Namco/Midway’s Galaxian
was now affiliated with Bally/Midway. the appearances in those entertainment and Atari’s Asteroids and their ever-
Dave Nutting’s project – transferring mediums became more frequent. increasing game technology that gave a
the Taito-licensed Western Gun into a The real growth of video arcade taste of what was in store for the Eighties
microprocessor driven game – was first games though, both as the dominant while providing a thirst for more.
in November 1975. That was (almost force in the coin industry and as a It took eight years for the beginning
ironically) followed by Atari/Kee’s Quiz popular form of entertainment in general, of the dominance of videogames in the
Show quiz game in April 1976 at the started in the latter part of the Seventies.
same time they were debuting one of A result of what was really a perfect
the last of their big non-microprocessor storm of reasons, driven by the uniquely
games, Breakout. timed appearance of a very popular
Even with all this advancement of movie combined with a cornucopia of
videogames in the coin industry, video microprocessor driven devices along
» The ‘Fantasy Forest’ arcade room

at the original Chuck E Cheese. Nolan
Bushnell’s attempt at making a family
friendly environment for arcade games.
BOB POLARO
“Without question Missile
Command – best feel of any
game when putting out the
spreads.”
F THE SEVENTIES HAD BEEN the likes of Space Invaders publisher
A TIME OF EXPERIMENTAL Taito, Nintendo, Konami, Namco and
INVENTION FOR THE Sega competing for floor space with
ELECTRONIC AMUSEMENT Atari, Williams Electronics, Stern, Bally/
INDUSTRY, THE EIGHTIES WAS THE Midway and Exidy.
DECADE IN WHICH IT BLOSSOMED “It was a gold rush,” says Exidy
WITH INNOVATION, USHERING IN programmer Ken Nicholson. “Anything
THE SO-CALLED GOLDEN AGE OF with a screen at a pizza parlour would
ed a s. ARCADE GAMES. “It was the time gobble up quarters. Another factor
uc in-op om
when fully formed videogames first was the availability and growth of
od appeared,” says celebrated arcade microprocessors. Before the 8080 and
es pr ic co ht fr designer Eugene Jarvis. “Going from

almost a blank screen to incredibly
6502, game development was based on
much simpler logic. In the early Eighties
ighti icon insig he crafted games unleashed a mania of coin-op games from Japan started to
e E e o f ins to t be hundreds of millions of crazed players

worldwide that couldn’t get enough
grab the market. At first they were
unappealing to US game players for
Th ltitud an ga ers in es to of these new fangled videos. Since aesthetic reasons but then games from
mu e Bev velopf decad

so few videogames had come before, Japan began to dominate the arcade,
entire new genres were created; sports, and they had a price advantage…”
character, maze, shooters, fighting, “The Japanese developers played a
Mikssic delling o r driving games… The excitement of

seeing the birth of such a cornucopia
huge role in creating many mega-titles
of the era,” admits Eugene. “Although
cla st thri game of original titles was thrilling to players.”

New games were appearing so
videogames originated in the US, as soon
as they were popularised, many of the big
moarcade
fast in amusement parlours in the innovations came from Japan. Different
period from 1980 to 1983 that it was styles of play evolved in the East
an
hard to keep track of all the goodies – and West. They were very dominant
Battlezone, Missile Command, Pac-Man, in character, maze, shooting and driving
Defender, Frogger, Tempest and Donkey genres, and were highly influential in the
Kong to name just a handful. It was the birth of fighting games. Many Japanese
decade that saw the appearance of the developers, strongly influenced by
first LaserDisc game, Dragon’s Lair, anime culture, emphasised character
spectacular coin-op cabinets like Spy development, hand-drawn animation and
Hunter, Star Wars, OutRun and Space backgrounds, and a more deterministic,
Harrier, the first arcade game with 3D scripted, pattern-type play as in Space
polygon graphics, I, Robot, and the Invaders, Galaxian and Pac-Man.”
rise of companies like Capcom and “American designs reflected a
SNK. Behind the burgeoning cabinet programmer-centric design culture,
rosters of the arcade operators lay emphasising algorithmic generation of
an East versus West power struggle backgrounds and enemy dispatch. There
between North American and was an emphasis on random-event
Japanese manufacturers, with generation, particle-effect explosions and
» The stunning
Tempest (1981) was
Atari’s first full-colour
vector arcade game.
» Galaga (1981), the

sequel to Namco’s
Galaxian, gave
players the chance to
double their firepower
with the help of the
alien mothership.
Jeff Minter discusses
Eighties arcade tributes
using an established firework display; the absolutely
template and you perfect balance of beauty and
know when it’s brutality that is Robotron…
working right. When Those things are still beautiful
it’s working but now, but back then, when
doesn’t feel like it only a few years previously the
should then you whole idea of ‘game’ involved
physics in titles such as Asteroids, Space » Gottlieb’s learn about tuning cards or boards or sports you
Q*bert (1982)
Wars and Defender. The increased was one of the stuff as you adjust were rubbish at because you
emphasis on algorithmic AI, physics most successful things to make it didn’t have 3D vision, the
and randomness favoured a more US-developed correct. You learn opportunity to step into and
character-based
improvisational and tactical playing style, arcade games. What’s your earliest memory about hardware limitations dance within these exquisite
due to the lack of scripted events. It was of an arcade? and you start maybe learning glowing other-dimensional
a big challenge to be innovative in the I’m so ancient my memories ways to program around them worlds was something
face of such revolutionary competition. of arcades actually go back to if you’re trying to clone an extraordinary and wonderful.
All Western developers were strongly before the dawn of time when arcade game that came from It’s that feeling that I want to
inspired by the master designs coming there were no videogames. hardware more powerful than try to convey to people today,
from Japan. For example, American When I was five years old our you are using. And at the end with the kind of stuff I make.
games such as Centipede, Q*Bert and family started what was to be of the day if you weren’t too
Robotron 2084 were strongly influenced a succession of annual Welsh cheeky about it after all that Your own games improve on
by Japanese character animation styles.” holidays near Snowdonia. good learning you ended up the arcade originals, why do
While the Japanese had the edge with Central to these outings were with a product you could sell. you do this?
character-based titles like Pac-Man, Dig frequent visits to The Golden I think it’s just a natural
Dug and Mr Do! American designers led Sands on the seafront at You’ve cloned many popular progression; when I started the
the way with engaging and novel action Tywyn, a combined chip shop shoot-’em-ups. What do you first things I did were stuff like
games and shoot-’em-ups such as Joust, and arcade. No videogames, love about the genre? Centipede and Space Invaders
Tempest and Defender. “Character and but I remember playing on I’ve just always loved shooters, on the ZX81 and Defenda on
shooter games were the two genres that the grabber machines, penny I enjoy the headspace they the VIC-20, and then Atari
defined the era,” states Eugene. “On the slot machines, pushers, put you into, the so-called started getting less tolerant
character side, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, mechanical horse racing ‘zone’ state that is always of people doing clones and I
Q*bert, Frogger and Mario Bros set the thingies and those driving the place I aim to take you wanted to do a Centipede-style
pace; and in the shooters the defining games that had a rolling film to in my games. I particularly game on the VIC anyway, so I
titles were Missile Command, Defender, with the track on it and your enjoyed the look of some of perforce had to make it not so
Berzerk, Robotron, Galaga, Centipede, car was on a stick. The first the earlier shooters, again obviously Centipede-ish, and
Tempest and Zaxxon, among others.” arcades I used to hang out the phrase “abstract beauty” ended up making something
Williams Electronics was, alongside in with any kind of regularity springs to mind. In most that I actually liked more than
Atari, arguably the most pioneering of were the old Piccadilly games the graphical limitations vanilla Centipede. Learning
the early Eighties US coin-op publishers. Arcade up in London, and the of old systems just make the that it’s okay to colour outside
It was one of a number of American Crystal Rooms off Leicester games look like shit when the lines is an important part
companies, including Bally, Stern and Square. The old Piccadilly viewed through modern eyes, of anything really. Scrolling
Gottlieb, which made the transition from Arcade no longer exists as it but when you look at stuff shooter suddenly didn’t have
producing mechanical amusements was underneath where the like the pure glowing vectors to mean Defender or Scramble
and pinball games to video Trocadero is these days. I can of Asteroids and Tempest; – why not camels or sheep?
arcade games. Eugene still remember exactly where Galaxian with its insectoid These days of course it’s
had started the Star Fire machine was primary-coloured aliens like kind of inverted from what
(that I put some tasty high little bright jewels against it used to be back
scores on). the star-studded black; then, where
Defender where you really the arcade
Why do you think so many could visibly blow things games were
developers started off into their component way more
making clones? bits like some kind powerful
Cloning an arcade game was of mathematical than the
a good way to learn the basic deconstruction hardware you
necessary skills of game were trying
design and programming. to port them
Arcade games are existing to. Doing
designs that you know work, a simple
so programming them when remake is
you’re learning teaches you a pretty easy,
INS
TRIP HAWK e arcade game; in fact I bought lot. You learn the basic skills of
moving stuff around, reading
but a modern
update of a
“Gauntlet is my favorit had in their
t Gauntlet that they joystick inputs, making noises game is tricky
my parents an uprigh l hear the game –
yea rs. I can stil and implementing game logic to do well.
basement for many
‘Welcome, Elf!’”
of the traditional pinball table
was also a source of inspiration
for other game manufacturers.
“Games such as Breakout and
Space Invaders adopted the
basic human versus machine
pinball game style – three balls (or
1980
QNamco launches
lives) per game, and the ability to win
an extra ball (life) with a high scoring
achievement,” Eugene explains. “So it
» R-Type (1987) is one of
several classic Eighties
scrolling shooters
including Gradius,
Pac-Man, the first was a natural transition to move from Salamander and the three-
screen monstrosity Darius.
arcade game to pinball to video.”
eclipse Space Defender ’s dazzling, pyrotechnic
» Bally/Midway gave
out programming sound and players the chance to live
Invaders in terms visuals and blistering sound effect took
gameplay features in pinball games for out their 007 fantasies in of units sold. arcades by storm, and its free-flowing,
Atari and Williams, and this early industry Spy Hunter (1983). Atari’s Battlezone multi-directional gameplay represented a
experience was to become a huge and Williams’ huge step up from Konami’s Scramble,
influence in the creation of his arcade Defender are released a year earlier. The aural delights
© Olly Cotton
titles, Defender and Robotron 2084. released. of Williams arcade games became a
“Pinball was a great training ground,” signature of Eighties arcades, along with
he tells us. “Audio was especially
important in pins because there is
so much dead time where the ball is
1981
QDonkey Kong
Pac-Man’s distinctive wakka-wakka,
Berzerk ’s robotic speech and the jingles
and digitised movie quotes from Atari’s
multiplayer coin-ops like Gauntlet, Bubble
Bobble, Salamander and Double Dragon.
rolling around the playfield, not hitting reaches Western Star Wars cabinet. Williams also had one esigner of Q*bert Warren
any targets. Background sounds were shores, introducing of the first two-player cooperative arcade Davis remembers, “I
used to generate increased tension us to the now- titles with surreal physics-based flap- probably played games in
and excitement as a game approached familiar King ’em-up Joust. “This was one of the first bars more than in arcades,
a climactic event. My pinball sound » Dig Dug (1982), Kong-inspired ideas I had on the game,” says designer and you would know what games the bar
work lead to the creation of many of a tunnelling action ape and Nintendo’s John Newcomer. “If it could be designed had. So when you went back and they
game from Pac-Man
the amazing synthesised sounds for manufacturer Namco. perennial mascot, for two players to compete or cooperate had a new game, it was a big deal. You’d
Defender, Robotron and other games in Super Mario. simultaneously, it meant two coins would check it out, maybe watch other people
the classic era at Williams.” The format go in the machine at the same time. play and then decide if you wanted to risk
1983
QStar Wars,
“Coin-op games at the time were
all single-player, except Wizard Of Wor
and Space Wars, which was a dead
one of your own quarters on it.
“Williams seemed to have the most
intense game experiences. I wasn’t
Q*bert and game by this point. My hope was that particularly a fan, but I admired the skill
Spy Hunter hit Joust would be a step towards making a person had to have to master their
arcades, while two-player take off in subsequent games. games. My favorite Williams game was
Cinematronics Unfortunately, people did not go for probably Joust. Who knew I would later
unleashes the two-player feature. It helped the get to program Joust 2? I liked Dig Dug
Dragon’s Lair, the cash box a bit, but the vast majority of and the Star Wars vector game from
first LaserDisc plays were still single-player.” But while Atari, Berzerk from Stern, Pac-Man
game. Capcom is Joust was the exception to the norm in and Tron from Bally/Midway. I always
established. 1982, it paved the way for later Eighties thought Williams pushed the envelope
BEN
DAVID BRA game was the excellent Williams
“My favourite arcade 2 machine code.
1986 I always thought Williams pushed
Defender, written by
Eugene Jarvis in 650
of the game, and for
me was the first
QSega releases
OutRun, one of the the envelope in terms of graphics
I loved the challenge
game I saw in the arc
ades tha t wa sn’t a
in colour (ie not stic
Spa
k-on
ce Invaders
strips on the
most successful
driving games with Joust and Sinistar
derivative, and was of the decade. Warren Davis
Invade rs ).”
TV screen like Space Taito releases its
© Luna City
popular game
Bubble Bobble.
1989
QAtari’s STUN
Runner and Hard
Drivin’ take racing
games into full
3D. Final Fight
and Golden Axe
represent the peak
of popularity for
scrolling fighters. » Bally/Midway’s beautifully neon-lit » The Double Dragon games, along with Final Fight
» I, Robot (1983), the first polygon arcade title, from Missile
cabinet for Tron (1982) was a work of art. and Golden Axe, were defining scrolling beat-’em-ups.
Command and Tempest designer Dave Theurer.
and Tempest,” says Ed. “There is a case

to be made that the Vector Generator
hardware allowed for decent 3D for the
first time. I also think that, at the other » The atmospheric Ghosts
end of the Eighties, the polygon hardware ‘N’ Goblins (1985) hinted at
the high-quality Capcom
that was first used in Hard Drivin’ and arcade output to come.
STUN Runner also helped keep Atari as a
player in the arcade game business.”
“The mix of people was key to the
way it all developed,” says ex-Atari
designer Peter Lipson, producer of the
Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom
coin-op. “So many people had excellent
design skills, and the way we were mixed
at work led to a lot of innovation but even
more importantly, to a lot of refinement
of ideas. Your co-workers had no trouble
telling you when something sucked. But
when you saw them flocking to your
game in the lab during their break times,
in terms of graphics with games like earning my respect. Of course, the you knew you had something.
Joust and Sinistar, while Nintendo had Japanese manufacturers had some great “Another thing people have forgotten is
the best use of cartoony characters in products as well. Pac-Man and Galaga that arcades used to be somewhere you
their games.” took up a lot of my time and money.” could go with your date just to see what
“Personally, I enjoyed games from Atari continued to break new ground new game might have shown up. I think
most of our competitors,” admits Ed through the Eighties, improving its vector the era of the fighting games made the
Rotberg, creator of Atari’s Battlezone, graphic hardware to include colour for arcades far less female-friendly. Not that
the first coin-op title to allow players full titles like Star Wars, Tempest and Black women haven’t always been players,
freedom of movement in a 3D landscape. Widow, and becoming one of the first but the casual audience seemed to be
“Certainly Williams was at the top of the companies to produce true 3D arcade put off by the change in aura. After that
list with Eugene’s games like Stargate, games, starting with 1984’s enigmatic it seemed games couldn’t succeed just
Defender and Robotron. Tim Skelly, I, Robot. “Certainly the Vector Generator by being quirky and fresh. We were JOHN ROMERO
whether at Cinematronics or Gottlieb (Rip (followed by the colour VG) allowed for entering the equivalent of Hollywood’s “Absolutely, for me,
Pac-Man changed eve
arcade games before rything. Most
Off, Star Castle, Reactor ) was constantly such games as Asteroids, Battlezone blockbuster era.” Pac-Man were all black-and-w
alien-killing games. hite
Pac-Man emerged wit
unique premise: run h a completely
away from cute mo
eating dots. No violen nsters while
ce, no guns, and a win
Alex Crowley talks to Retro Gamer possibility space of
game design.”
dow into the
about his Nintendo collection
What made you consider amassing What do you think that the arcade to help out with their huge and
such a vast collection of Nintendo market lost following Nintendo’s fantastic back catalogue of games.
arcade machines? departure to home consoles?
Preservation – it is essential to hold Well to be honest until Donkey How do you think arcades have
on to this social history of arcade Kong came along they were copying changed since the early days?
machines because it is quickly being a lot of other more successful They have changed in the sense
forgotten about. Also, because arcade arcade developers. But I think once that kids no longer go there to see
machines are so big most collectors Donkey Kong dominated the world it the latest games and ultimate new
only choose the best games for their changed Nintendo forever. By 1984 graphics. The technology was new
collection. But I took it on my self arcades were dying out anyway, so and exciting when we were kids,
to concentrate on Nintendo and that In your opinion, what are the it was natural for Nintendo and other the machines always had new
meant taking on and restoring some highlights of your collection? manufacturers to pursue the home experiences and innovative
of the less well-known titles, which I The highlights in my collection market. Arcades were never the ways to play a new game.
am really proud off as its turns out to are Donkey Kong 3 and Space same after the Eighties kids grew With synthesized speech,
be quite a unique and rare collection. Launcher. Donkey Kong 3 was a kit up, but the arcade games didn’t. trackballs and extra buttons
that I managed to find in its original these were magical light boxes and
How did you go about it initially? box complete for just $160. I then Mario Kart Arcade GP DX was it was an amazing time to be a kid.
My first arcade machine was converted a versus upright cab which released recently in arcades.
Space Invaders Part II, and that I bought from Missile Command What are your thoughts on
was bought on eBay. From there I champion Tony Temple and turned other companies taking
joined the arcade forums UKVAC & it into the underrated game I love Nintendo’s property to market?
Jamma+ – it has opened the doors to play today. It turned out to be I think it’s a great idea, and
to a community of fellow collectors my favourite game in my collection. anyway, Sega made games and
where I have imported machines Space Launcher, apart from being a distributed them for Nintendo
from the US and found rarities great game, is a highlight because its back in the late Seventies. I think
amongst UK collectors and made the only known example to exist in Nintendo has to let go of some
some very good friends. the world amongst the community. of its top titles to third parties
HILE THE NINETIES that its developers had hoped for.
WOULD PROVE “Smash TV won some arcade awards,
TO BE A TIME OF and had decent success at that level,
GREAT CHANGE but it was still a disappointment to me in
IN THE ARCADE INDUSTRY, YOU terms of sales and cash box collections,”
WOULDN’T KNOW IT TO LOOK confides Mark. While Mark would
AT THE EARLY YEARS OF THE eventually go on to huge success with
DECADE. Scrolling beat-’em-ups, NBA Jam a few years later, Smash TV ’s
he
popularised in the Eighties, continued to situation was one that was mirrored
ts t prove popular with audiences. Konami across the industry – a quick look at the
evisi e of took delivered a string of licensed hits, from

The Simpsons to X-Men. Taito was still
arcade releases of 1990 will show you
a lot of good games, but solid releases
rpe r ecad ayers ers introducing new Space Invaders games rather than enormous hits. Even the
Tho al d n pl tur to market, with Super Space Invaders

‘91 making its debut. At Williams
likes of Sega’s G-Loc, housed in the
awesome fully rotating R360 cabinet,
ic k ’s fin whe ufac Electronics, a young Mark Turmell was were old experiences dressed up with
N ade e, an gy working to revive an Eighties hit. “I new hardware.
c c
ar inan and hnolom joined Williams Electronics with the
sole purpose of reviving the dual-stick
But the first signs that the winds
of change were blowing came with
domghtinger tec
control, and told them so during my the first enormous hit of the decade.
interview process,” remembers Mark, The original Street Fighter had done
who was as thrilled by the power of reasonable business for Capcom in the
to fitled ov arcade hardware as the players. “I had

been doing Atari VCS cartridge-based
Eighties, but the arrival of its sequel
in 1991 quickly relegated it to a mere
bat
games, where you only had a few footnote in the history books. Street
sprites that could be on the screen, so Fighter II ’s colourful cast of international
this was an amazing advance for me. In martial artists and sublime gameplay
the first few days I kept turning on more quickly endeared it to millions of gamers
and more objects on the screen worldwide. The game would prove
drifting toward the player, and responsible for the rise of the one-on-
was mesmerized by the power.” one fighting genre, and is often credited
Smash TV was a game that with renewing interest in arcade games
typified the arcade experience, during the early part of the decade.
with fast action, amazing amounts Previous arcade games had often
of carnage and huge bosses. focused on co-operative play or indirect
However, it wasn’t the success competition for high scores, but Street
» Daytona USA was Sega’s shot back

at Namco’s Ridge Racer, early games
in the hardware arms race between
the two companies.
» No matter what game
you were playing in the
Nineties, there was a good
chance that you’d see this
screen appear…
Mark Starkey, owner of London’s The

Heart Of Gaming arcade, talks to us about
the competitive fighting game scene
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
I joined Williams with Street Fighter II Turbo and also the
release of SNK's King Of Fighters series. After the
the purpose of reviving overwhelming popularity of these games sunk in,
tournaments were held in arcades and at some point
the dual-stick control around that time, programmers started adding ‘event
Mark Turmell mode’ in the operator menus to help in running them.
it wasn’t the first game to feature How did more advanced strategies spread in
AYBROOK
sprites digitised from human the days before YouTube and mass access to
ANDREW BR just as arcade games
ing up
actors – they were introduced in community websites?
“We were lucky to be grow y the early Eighties and popularised The most obvious way was to go to the arcade. Watch,
had a big influence on us. Toda
started appearing, so they first
by Pit Fighter in 1990 – the play, learn. Get beaten, get better. It was that simple.
ce Harrier as it was the
my favourite might be Spa combination of the graphical After all, every match was technically a ‘money match’,
platform. The music was
game I played with a moving ions .”
approach with a high level of with pocket money or part time wages at stake in front
on-riding bon us sect
dynamic and I loved the drag violence and gore caused a major of crowds.
moral panic in the way that the Some people had links in the east, as the Asian
cartoonish likes of Time Killers never community in London was huge, as was the high
Fighter II ’s key appeal was in standing could. Mortal Kombat would go on to street market for grey imports. Some people were
next to your opponent as you bested be one of the key titles in the 1993 US lucky enough to have multi system VHS players and
them, a factor which paved the way Senate hearings on videogame violence, imported tapes to help study. People with plenty of
for both the game and the wider genre though largely due to its appearance money invested in Superguns, homemade consoles
to become popular in tournament play. on home consoles. However, the capable of running arcade boards, or the Neo Geo AES.
Later in 1991 SNK released Fatal Fury, Amusement and Music Operator’s This allowed people to practice at home by dropping a
a one-on-one fighting game directed by Association was represented at the huge lump sum rather than 50p coins.
Takashi Nishiyama, a former Capcom hearings and, along with the American
employee who had served as the Amusement Machine Association, With so much competition in the fighting game
director of the original Street Fighter. As created a parental advisory system market of the Nineties, do you feel that any hidden
the two companies became increasingly the following year. This didn’t stop the gems were edged out of the scene?
prolific in the genre, a rivalry developed release of Mortal Kombat II, nor other Absolutely. Only recently a bunch of us were
which would last for the remainder of gory fighters that appeared in 1994 discussing how much of a shame it was that games
the decade. such as Bloodstorm and Killer Instinct, such as Ninja Masters and Breakers Revenge lost out
As well as providing a business boost, but applied a colour-coded rating to the because they were overshadowed by games such as
the beat-’em-up sensation produced cabinet for all to see. the Last Blade series. Even the Street Fighter III series
controversy. While the likes of Street Around this time, the demise lost out to the unstoppable popularity of the King Of
Fighter II and Fatal Fury had been of an old technology Fighters series, and was only able to blossom
violent, they were never gory. Mortal became apparent. after the turn of the millennium.
Kombat quickly changed that. Though Laserdisc
» The infamous Fatality

death moves caused
Mortal Kombat to rake
in both quarters and
column inches.
» Namco’s Starblade provides a key example of how
rapidly polygon technology developed – it’s only two years
older than Ridge Racer.
» Twin sit-down racing cabinets of

the Nineties were often able to be
linked for increased player numbers.
games, which had set new graphical

standards when introduced in the
Eighties, still seemed to be strong in the
early Nineties. American Laser Games
released Mad Dog McCree in 1990, and
in 1991 Sega brought Time Traveler to
market in an innovative cabinet which
used a mirror to create the illusion of
holographic projection. But by 1994,
the final Laserdisc games had left the
production lines, including Atari Games’s JON RITMAN
Cops and American Laser Games’s Fast I kept turning on more and more “That’s easy; Battle
zone, and as soon
Draw Showdown. as I started writin
But while old technologies fell by the objects on the screen, and was this I played it for
place was party
15 minutes. At on
central and inevit
e time in my life
ably hunger would
my
g
wayside, others rose to prominence.

Polygonal 3D games began to hit their mesmerised by the power and someone wo
such a bad thing
uld be sent to the
as there they ha
local burger joint,
set in
not
stride in the early Nineties – while they Mark Turmell d a Battlezone ma
chine.”
had existed since the Eighties, the
arrival of Sega’s Virtua Racing in 1992 3D games were becoming increasingly hile this was going 51 and Maximum Force.
would kick off a technological arms race. popular, they were very expensive on, home consoles These cheaper boards were very
The game’s high polygon count was for developers as well as operators, were rapidly catching attractive to developers too – particularly
achieved with the Model 1 arcade board, ensuring that 3D games didn’t become up to arcade those who weren’t able to stump up
a joint development with General Electric the dominant force in the industry for technology. Namco’s PlayStation the research and development budget
Aerospace. The board would only host some time. Indeed, huge film properties conversion of Ridge Racer wasn’t arcade needed to take on Sega and Namco.
another five games, including Star Wars like Jurassic Park were still being given perfect, but it was close enough not to Manufacturers like Konami and Atari
Arcade and the original Virtua Fighter, as sprite-based treatments. But by 1996 matter greatly – a fact which opened the Games were still producing custom
Sega had its sights set on the next big both Sega and Namco had transitioned arcades up to boards based on home high-end boards to power releases such
advance – but crucially, so did Namco. to releasing 3D games, having learned console hardware as a budget option. as GTI Club and San Francisco Rush, but
The company introduced the System 22 to exploit their boards to the fullest. The The lower power didn’t necessarily others such as Capcom and Taito simply
board in 1993 with Ridge Racer, the first rivalry between the two companies equate to a lower profile, though. relied on their own PlayStation variants for
ever 3D racing game to employ texture produced some of the biggest hits of Namco’s PlayStation-based System their 3D releases. Other developers didn’t
mapping, which enabled a greatly the decade – Namco’s System Super 22 12 board hosted the likes of Tekken, make the leap at all. Irem left the arcade
enhanced sense of realism over the flat was the technology behind Time Crisis, while Sega’s Saturn-based ST-V gave market behind in 1994 due to poor sales,
coloured polygons that had gone before. Prop Cycle and Alpine Racer, while us Die Hard Arcade. Atari Games even followed by Data East in 1996. SNK
Sega shot back with Daytona USA on Sega’s Model 2 series ran Virtua Cop, got in on the act by licensing the Atari found the transition to 3D difficult after
Model 2 just months later. But while Sega Rally and The House Of The Dead. Corporation’s Jaguar hardware for Area relying on the 2D power of the Neo Geo
for so long – when the Hyper Neo Geo
64 arrived in 1997 it was expensive and
behind the curve graphically, causing it to
die a premature death.
» SNK was one of the last companies on the 3D

bandwagon, marketing games like Metal Slug instead.
It wasn’t just the developers based games, introducing the similarly While music games were
struggling to keep up. The pace at prolific Dance Dance Revolution in 1998, ascending, other genres didn’t
which technology was advancing meant then Guitar Freaks and DrumMania in fare so well. Despite the high quality of
that operators needed to invest 1999. Other developers were taking releases like Spikeout, scrolling beat-’em-
heavily in new machines to notice, too – by 1999 Sega had given ups were hard to come by towards the
stay relevant in the Nineties. us the maraca-shaking favourite Samba end of the Nineties, in part due to the
Additionally, major attractions De Amigo, Namco had introduced the difficulties faced by developers during the
had become important to operators,
but they came with a price. Dedicated
cabinets with unique control methods
1991
QStreet Fighter
Taiko No Tatsujin drumming series and
Andamiro had introduced Pump It Up, a
dancing series to rival Konami’s Dance
transition to 3D. Traditional shoot-’em-ups
had also largely been confined to Japan,
whether 2D or 3D. The advances in
like Prop Cycle, Wave Runners and Rapid II is released, Dance Revolution. These games would console technology meant that players
River were great for drawing customers, popularising one- initially become popular in Japan, but were concentrating on the games which
but couldn’t be upgraded with new kits on-one fighting » NBA Jam’s success some canny localisation saw Dance they couldn’t get at home – and operators
like lightgun or racing cabinets could, games and earning was enormous, prompting Dance Revolution become a worldwide responded with their purchases, a fact
Midway to expand the
leading to stagnating line-ups later down Capcom hundreds formula to other sports
hit (albeit under the name Dancing reflected in the hits of the era. While the
the line. Inevitably, these costs were of millions of with games like NFL Blitz. Stage, in Europe). likes of Crazy Taxi and Hydro Thunder
passed on to players – the price of a dollars in sales. It didn’t always work… might have received excellent home
credit would creep up over the course of conversions later on, it was hard to beat
the decade before settling around £1 for
new releases.
It’s ironic then that one of the great
1993
QNamco’s Ridge
having a steering wheel and pedals.
By the end of the Nineties, arcades
had lost their edge over mass-market
trends of late Nineties arcade gaming Racer becomes the home consoles, some major companies
began with a small cabinet with low first game ever to had fallen by the wayside and operators
graphical power – Beatmania. Konami’s employ texture- were feeling the pinch. But with the
1997 release saw players spinning a mapped polygons, music game boom buoying the industry
turntable and hitting buttons on a keypad a technique still and hits still arriving in other genres, the
to match the notes dropping down the used today. outlook for the new millennium was
screen – a simple concept, but one good. Of course over a decade on, we
which hooked thousands of gamers and
has seen over 40 arcade releases to
date. Konami, realising that it had a hit on
1996
QSega opens
know better – which brings us to the
concluding part of our arcade history…
its hands, quickly broadened the concept Sega World in the

beyond the DJ simulator to other music- London Trocadero,
combining
theme park-style
attractions with We spoke to Paul Brookfield, the first UK Pump It Up player to qualify for
six floors of arcade the World Pump Finals, about the evolution of the arcade music game
games.
developers bringing games are purely to satisfy
1997
QBeatmania
arcade music games to
international audiences?
The absolute, number
the addicted hardcore. The
Beatmania IIDX series is
now 21 instalments old, and
launches in one rule is to make the there are songs that on the
Japan, the first of games as unintimidating as top difficulty, have only been
Konami’s many possible. Konami's biggest cleared by a small handful of
» Time Crisis ran on Namco’s popular music Why did early games like music-game localisation people worldwide.
System Super 22. games. Beatmania and Dance success is without a doubt,
Dance Revolution have such Dancing Stage Euromix, What are the key titles
1999
QBuriki One
a high impact?
Generally speaking, because
they came with their own
which contained well-chosen
licensed songs that had
simple difficulty levels, which
for people to play to get a
grounding in the history of
the genre?
launches in Japan, dedicated cabinets and were were offered to players first I would recommend that
becoming the final sound-driven games, they in the song list. people try the first Dancing
release for SNK’s had a particular knack for Stage Euromix for a decent
short-lived Hyper catching attention in a row A competitive scene has game that remains a
Neo Geo 64 board. of machines. Dance Dance developed around music shining example of a good
Revolution in particular games. How heavily localisation, and an instalment
also added a great blend are the needs of this from the five-key original
of gameplay and physical audience factored into any Beatmania series because it
activity, being particularly development decisions? is the father of the modern
intuitive to first-time players Massively so. Although arcade music game genre.
and the double-edged there is at least a moderate Also, any instalment past the
sword of being humourous/ attempt to add low-difficulty eighth mix for Beatmania
embarassing to play. and some licensed content to IIDX for a taste of how far
the games, the vast majority the series has evolved and
What are the key of the new instalments in the just how truly, monstrously
considerations for established series of music hard a music game can be.
» Often, the credits display was all that
visually distinguished arcade games from
their home console counterparts.
de to
ui e
HE STRENGTH OF to become bankrupt. But while these
r g ARCADE GAMES companies disappeared, it’s notable
s you arcading HAS ALWAYS BEEN

THEIR ABILITY TO
that new ones sprang up to replace
them. “Sometimes you feel like a total
r pe i h the gam g OFFER ENTERTAINMENT THAT dinosaur stuck in a time warp,” says
Th o hic ing tin YOU CAN’T REPLICATE AT

HOME – BUT AROUND THE
Eugene Jarvis, who founded Raw Thrills
in 2001. “But then you go to an arcade
ick in w llow crea TURN OF THE MILLENNIUM, THE and tap into the enthusiasm of the kids
N era s fo han TECHNOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES and you get massively jazzed about
an ustry i ther t
BEGAN TO CHANGE. your next project.” Meanwhile, SNK’s
Sega’s primary arcade board was the intellectual property was quickly bought
ind ds, ra
NAOMI, essentially an arcade version back by Playmore, a new company
of the Dreamcast, while Namco slowly formed by SNK founder Eikichi Kawasaki
tren ones
shifted towards the PlayStation 2-based that quickly entered the arcade market
System 246. For the first time ever, – though still reliant on the ageing Neo
the technology at the top of both home Geo hardware.
new
and arcade markets was the same, and In an effort to retain the hardcore
dedicated arcades struggled as hardcore players, arcade manufacturers began
gamers looked elsewhere. to implement new hardware features.
The number of arcades operating Virtua Fighter 4 popularised the use of
in the USA had slumped from 10,000 memory cards, which allowed players
during the Nineties boom to just 3,000. to track their wins and losses as well as
As business conditions worsened, customising their characters. Memory
companies began to exit the market. cards quickly proliferated across genres
Midway closed its arcade operations – from gun games like Ghost Squad to
in the early part of the decade in music games such as the Beatmania
order to concentrate on the home IIDX series, and even racing games
market, taking with it the recently like Mario Kart Arcade GP. However,
absorbed Atari Games. In Japan, international arcade operators didn’t adopt
SNK’s failing finances allowed it the cards in huge numbers, meaning that
to be bought by Aruze, a pachinko they’re still primarily found in the Asian
manufacturer that stripped the Neo Geo market. Another major development
manufacturer’s assets and allowed it was the addition of online functionality
Where arcade conversions once sold home hardware, in recent

years you’re far more likely to see arcade games using licensed
products to entice players. While film licences like Terminator:
Salvation and Transformers continue to do big business, you’re now
also likely to see familiar names from console and mobile gaming
appearing in the arcade. The trend became noticeable around 2005
– while Global VR had been using EA licences such as Need For
Speed for some time, they were joined by the likes of F-Zero AX and
Mario Kart Arcade GP – takes on popular Nintendo series by Sega
and Namco respectively. More recently, popular mobile games such
and Konami, the genre’s

major player, was no longer
providing arcade videogames
to the UK. Meanwhile,
2001
QVirtua Fighter
traditional joystick-based games have
almost disappeared. While some notable
exceptions exist – Super Street Fighter
4 is released IV, Virtua Tennis 4 and Pac-Man Battle
in August, Royale have all arrived in the last few
popularising the years – the market today is primarily
use of memory composed of driving games and lightgun
cards in arcades. games. The result is that products are
developed with those genres in mind.
» Lightgun games are now
one of two staple genres
in the arcades.
2004
QSNK Playmore
Where Batman was represented with
scrolling fighters in the Nineties, in 2013
Raw Thrills adapted the licence with a
releases its final driving game that harks back to the likes
to arcade games. Western releases a supplementary attraction rather than game for the Neo of Chase HQ.
such as the Big Buck series of hunting the main draw. It’s a simple change, Geo board in April, But ultimately, that situation makes
games often feature national high score but one that has required developers to 14 years after sense. “The arcade is all about
tables and tournament features, while adjust their development practices. “The its launch. physicality and human interface,”
online multiplayer is usually reserved for arcade is a much more casual space,” Eugene tells us, and when you look
Japanese games. The poster child for this
approach is Sega’s Border Break, a mech
combat game that has generated over
Eugene tells us, “so we have to make
a game wider as opposed to deeper,
and make sure every player has fun and
» Arcade memory cards
can become collectibles
in their own right,
featuring a variety of
2005
QSquare Enix
at the new products to hit the market,
the most successful ones hit a number
of his key features – “Huge monitors,
£60 million in sales since its introduction a challenge. We have to go light on the attractive designs. purchases Taito immersive racing cockpits and physical
in 2009. punishment, even though it is always Corporation in I/O like lightguns, motion cabinets,
But the majority of arcade fun to see a player totally destroyed!” September to enter leaning motorcycles.” No matter how
manufacturers today aren’t making The other major adjustment, at the arcade market. impressive your home entertainment
games for the long-departed hardcore least as far as the Western market is system, it doesn’t offer domed screens,
gamer – they’re making them for the
people visiting theme parks, seaside
resorts and bowling alleys. Though
concerned, has been the marginalisation
of genres. Music games have suffered
heavily, thanks to a combination of
2006
QOnline coin-op
moving seats or air jets – and it probably
never will. The likes of Mach Storm
would lose something in the home, and
there are still dedicated arcades which recession-fuelled conservatism and news site Arcade it’s this fact that ensures that arcade
are running at a profit, the locations that the boom (and subsequent decline) Heroes launches in games remain in demand.
have best weathered the storm are US of peripheral-based music games on December, mixing Despite the diminished status of
chains like Dave & Busters and Chuck E home consoles. Five new music games player perspective the arcade in the bigger picture of
Cheese’s, where arcade games serve as were introduced to the UK market at with industry videogames, Eugene’s ambitions remain
2009’s Amusements Trade Exhibition insight. sky high. “Like bank robbers living for
International show, but by 2013’s » Lightgun games with big that one last job, arcade developers
European Amusement and Gaming
International show the genre was absent
licences attached tend to
perform well.
2011
QThe London
dream of creating the next humongous
hit – the new Pac-Man, Tetris or Angry
Birds that will catch the world on fire.”
Trocadero’s Perhaps in the future, Retro Gamer will
It is always fun to see a Funland arcade
closes in July,
be telling the story of
how Eugene created
player totally destroyed following a failure
to meet rent
that new arcade
sensation. We can
Eugene Jarvis
» Manufacturers now regularly utilise popular home payments. only hope so.
console games to provide new products.
as Temple Run and Doodle Jump have been adapted into hybrid
products combining videogames and ticket redemption.
The use of home brands provides arcades with name
value and oen proven high quality, but the success of the
conversion depends greatly on the approach taken by the arcade
manufacturer. Konami’s Silent Hill and Castlevania games
were entirely new experiences, but proved to be heavy-handed
adaptations that attempted to wedge both series into the lightgun
shooter template. More successful was the Mario Kart Arcade GP
series, which provided new content and didn’t need to veer far
from the design of the console games to provide a good arcade
experience. The most prolific company has been Sega, whose
European arcade team has worked with the likes of Sumo Digital
and Codemasters to produce excellent arcade conversions of
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Virtua Tennis 4 and GRID. » Music games were popular arcade attractions throughout the last
decade, but lost out to home games like Just Dance.
Funspot arcade in New Hampshire, USA, is a glorious
reminder of the days when arcades ruled the gaming
world. Paul Drury reports from retro heaven
WE ARE HERE!
BOB LAWTON
OWNER AND FOUNDER OF FUNSPOT
QBob opened up the first
Funspot in 1952 with his brother OB LAWTON PATS origins of Funspot. Back in 1952, Bob, an operator from over in Concord
John, who sadly passed away in THE HULKING AFTER fresh from graduating with a degree and the first game he brought us was
2003. During the boom years of BURNER COCKPIT in chemistry, swapped test tubes for Tank. That one machine took more
the Eighties, they ran Funspot CABINET AND SMILES. golf clubs and built a course on the than the whole room of nickel and
arcades across New Hampshire “WE PAID $11,000 FOR THIS IN second floor of the Tarlsen building in dime games we had. It showed us
and even as far afield as Florida. APRIL 1987, WHICH WAS A HUGE Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, a short what videogames were going to do.
AMOUNT OF MONEY BACK THEN. walk from Funspot’s current home. I loved that guy. We stayed with him
GARY VINCENT BY 1 JULY THAT YEAR, IT HAD In partnership with his brother John, for years!”
FUNSPOT MANAGER AND ACAM PAID FOR ITSELF. PEOPLE WERE the pair built up the business over So Funspot rode the videogame
PRESIDENT QUEUING UP TO PLAY IT!” the following two decades, adding wave from the pioneering Seventies,
QGary took a summer job at Bob, the founder and general rifle galleries, a skee-ball alley and through the Golden Age of the
Funspot in 1981 and never left. manager of Funspot, can talk about numerous other arcade attractions. Eighties and into the last real hurrah
He was instrumental in creating any of the machines in his colossal Then one day in the mid-Seventies, of arcade cabinets in the Nineties.
the museum and he still spends arcade – officially named the biggest in walked an animated Italian, who And they’re all still here for gamers
many hours restoring old in the world by Guinness World began gesticulating wildly… to enjoy. Classics like Robotron and
cabinets, ready to bring them Records in 2008 – as if it were an old “He was waving his hands and Asteroids, obscurities such as Space
onto the arcade floor. friend. And Bob has a lot of friends. saying, ‘Let me get rid of all this Fury and Quantum, monsters like the
Over 600 machines are spread junk and put in some good G-Loc full-motion 360 cab and a row
MIKE STULIR across three floors and walking games’,” laughs Bob. “He was of linked-up Daytona USA machines.
ACAM BOARD MEMBER through the building is like taking
QMike is one of the many a tour through the history of
volunteers who devote their arcades. You’ll spot ancient
time to making ACAM such an baseball flicker games, electro-
extraordinary place. “I want mechanical machines from the
to make sure these pieces of Sixties, scores of pinball tables
Americana are here for future and even one of those ‘Love
generations to see and enjoy,” he Tester’ gadgets.
says, proudly. There’s a whole mini-golf
» Cabinets as far as the eye can see.
course, too; a sweet nod to the
COMPUTER SPACE 1971

» Bob Lawton (far right) regales his nephew Steve (centre) QThis is where it all started.
and RG’s Paul Drury with tales from the arcade business. Inspired by the mainframe game
Spacewar, Nolan Bushnell and
Ted Dabney created their own
simplified version, which became
the first commercially produced
cabinet. This sleek cabinet
looks impressive, especially sat
opposite Atari’s Pong.
INDY 4 1976
QThis imposing four-player
racing game greets you at the
top of stairs as you enter ACAM
» They just don’t make upright » Anyone fancy a two player
driving cabinets anymore… game on, erm, anything… and it’s a poignant reminder of
the arcade’s long history. “It was
the third videogame we got after
Tank and Seawolf and during the
summer of 1976, it was taking
$140 a day,” smiles Bob.
DOMINO MAN 1983

QAn excellent example of creative
cabinet design, this game features
a moustached, balding artist, who
would soon swap his dominoes
for beer mugs in Tapper. One
» ACAM boasts over 300 cabinets, » Controversial game Death Race of the many donations to the
from old favourites to real rarities. coexists with the inoffensive Pong. Museum since its official launch in
January 2000, this one came from
Randy Lawton, Bob’s nephew.
We may be spoilt these days by Even the lighting, décor and though you may want to consider
having access to all these titles background music has been lovingly visiting during its annual International WACKO 1983
via downloads and emulation, but chosen to recreate the arcade as it Classic Videogame Tournament in QNo, you are holding the
nothing beats the thrill of playing your was in its Eighties heyday. “It brings late May. Now in its 16th year, the magazine correctly. “This is from
favourites on an original cabinet in back memories of when I first started event attracts the cream of arcade that era when manufacturers
their natural arcade habitat – a habitat here,” says Gary, wistfully. “All the gamers from around the globe, would do anything to make their
that has sadly almost vanished. sights and sounds I remember from meaning you can test your high game stand out,” remembers
“I was noticing classic games my first summer working here in scoring skills against numerous world Gary. “It must have cost lots more
were disappearing and arcades were 1981. It’s kinda cool.” record holders or at least grin as you to make it crooked like that. I love
disappearing,” explains Gary Vincent, “Gary’s a visionary,” enthuses spot famous faces from such films as that people went the extra mile
general manager and part of the Mike Stulir, who sits on the board of King Of Kong and Chasing Ghosts. with a bizarre cabinet like this.”
Funspot family for over 30 years. “So directors of the museum. “He can When you do get to finally walk
at a staff meeting in September 1998, recognise good ways to entertain through the hallowed doors of this SPACE HARRIER 1985
I asked if I could gather all the older and inform the public. We have gaming mecca, make sure you check QA compelling reason for why nothing beats
games together, like a museum to students from computer development out the ‘Retro Gamer Wall’, where playing a game on the original hardware,
celebrate the history of gaming.” programmes use us as a resource. you’ll find past articles on Funspot this full-motion cockpit cabinet tosses you
Gary’s idea slowly evolved into the One college eliminated one of their taken from our pages, and then seek through the Fantasy Zone with gay abandon.
American Classic Arcade Museum, course textbooks on the basis of out Bob Lawton himself and say we Modelled here by Missile Command champ
or ACAM for short, a superlative what they could learn from us. Last sent you. Despite being in his 80s, Tony Temple, who put his back out shortly
collection of over 300 classic arcade time they visited, they brought three Bob still opens up the arcade every afterwards. Is the game worth the injury? Yes.
games housed on the top floor of busloads of students to come and find day and always provides a warm
Funspot. Walking along the aisles out about gaming in the old days!” welcome. “I just love working,” he
of cabinets, admiring a pristine Who said learning can’t be fun? laughs over a beer in the arcade’s
Death Race, smiling at the Pac-Man Whether you want to explore the DA Long tavern, named after his
machine on which Billy Mitchell history of videogaming or simply grandfather. “My family all work here,
famously (or infamously, if you know enjoy playing all the machines that too. It’s my life!”
the back-story) achieved his ‘perfect consumed your pocket money as a
game’ and stopping for a sit-down on child, ACAM is an essential visit for For more on this marvellous place,
Buck Rogers is a magical experience. retro gamers. It’s open all year round, see www.funspotnh.com.
JOUST
QYear Made: 2012
QLocation: Seattle, WA, USA
QPerson: John McAllister
QScore: 107,301,150
ASTEROIDS
QYear Made: 2010
QLocation: Renton,
Washington USA
QScore: 41,338,740
ROBOTRON
QYear Made: 2009
QLocation: Renton,
Washington USA
QScore: 1,236,950
GARY BRACEY
“It was always Do
nkey Kong for me
Walter Day tells Retro Gamer about Twin really got me hook
spent a fortune (an
. The first game tha
ed into videogame
d many hours) on
s… and one which
t
I
Galaxies and the birth of score attacking !”
Why did you decide to travel could merge into a sort of higher-state Tony Mattan to make a world record How did you go from an oil broker,
America collecting high scores? of consciousness and out-think the attempt and he did last for 24 hours, to a comedian and then owner of
I loved playing videogames so program. And, such people would be scoring about 24 million points. But, Twin Galaxies arcade? That’s quite
much that I opened an arcade as recognisable by their unprecedented to my surprise, during his marathon a trajectory.
an excuse to be able to play more scores and unmatchable skill set. the media began to call from far away Jon Bloch and I used to do
and more videogames. It was called cities like Kansas City, St Louis, Des Vaudeville-like skits, performing
Twin Galaxies and it opened on 10 When did you realise that the Moines, Atlanta and Chicago, wanting sporadically in the Catskills (Upper
November 1981 in Ottumwa, Iowa. general public was interested in updates on Tony's progress. This was State New York) and in Iowa. And,
I practice Transcendental Meditation high scores? only the beginning. Interestingly, as also, I was an accomplished Rag
every day and, like many people In 1982 a local gamer named Tony more and more high-score attempts Time Piano player, appearing on
who practice TM, I noticed increases Mattan showed me a copy of the began to manifest, Twin Galaxies posters in the Eighties. Then, during
in my mental clarity and eye-hand January edition of Time magazine. would invariably be a part of each the Spring and Summer of 1980, I
coordination. So, I was already It had a cover story on videogames story in the media as we would be was working in downtown Houston
very open to the idea that the best sweeping the world, and in the the adjudicators of the event. A media as an oil broker, creating deals
gamers would be people who were story was mention of one Steve expert once estimated that Twin between the majors (Conoco, Exxon,
using more of their latent mental Juraszek of Illinois who had scored Galaxies was in the news more than Tenneco) and the traders (Tesoro,
capacity and it would express itself 15 million points on Defender. Not 10,000 times during the 1982-1986 Tosco and Apex). It was here in
in terms of higher and higher scores surprisingly, the public was viewing era, concluding that on any given day Houston that I found videogames as
achieved in competitive gaming. So, this as the world record and people during that time there was someone my true love and the first seed of
I went on a personal quest to find all over America were bent on going for a world record on a video desire was planted to someday own
the greatest gamers, the ones who breaking Juraszek’s score. I allowed game and the media was covering it. my own arcade.
TEMPEST
QYear Made: 2002
QLocation: New Hampshire, USA
QPerson: Laszlo Takac
QScore: 1,491,910
PAC-MAN
QYear Made: 2012
QLocation: Beavercreek, OH, USA
QPerson: David Race
QScore: 3,333,360
QTime: 3:33:12.69 seconds
DONKEY KONG
QYear Made: 2015
QLocation: New York City,
NY, USA
QPerson: Robbie Lakeman
QScore: 1,141,800
Q*BERT
QYear Made: 2013
QLocation: Flemington, STAR WARS
New Jersey USA QYear Made: 1984
QPerson: George Leutz QLocation: New York USA
QScore: 37,163,080 QPerson: Robert T
Mruczek
QScore: 300, 007, 894
SPACE
INVADERS FROGGER
QYear Made: 2013 QYear Made: 2012
QLocation: Flemington, QLocation: Virginia, USA
NJ, USA QPerson: Michael Smith
QPerson: Richie Knucklez QScore: 970,440
QScore: 184,870
How did it feel when There are inspiration culture, honoring the iconic industry
Twin Galaxies was numerous games that test a man’s remained to pioneers, the legendary game
recognised by The soul. And, they are so difficult that be a high- designers, the celebrated world
Guinness Book Of it takes a major amount of practice score champ. champions and the historic milestones
World Records ? and luck to raise your high score and landmark events. Plus, I am
It happened in the summer of 1983. even 1,000 more points. They are all What’s the most writing a musical based on my
They had never recognised games played on Twin Galaxies Tournament impressive high score endurance experiences running Twin Galaxies
because they were intimidated by Settings (which means you get only a test you’ve witnessed? back when the City of Ottumwa
the mass of details and variations in total of five men). They are Robotron, Recently, George Leutz, of New became the “Video Game Capital of
games and gameplay, acknowledging Defender, Stargate, Q*bert and York City, lasted about 85 hours on the World (1981-1984).” These new
that it was a field that they were Missile Command. And, of course, one quarter, playing Q*bert to a new projects have me excited so I don’t
reluctant to try and master. So, they there is Donkey Kong, the most world record, eclipsing a record that miss running TG.
relied on our expertise. Our contests legendary contest game of them all. had stood for more than 30 years.
and adjudication supplied them with Is it disappointing to see all your
all their scores for the 1984, 1985 When do you feel the golden period Why did you leave TG and do you hard work currently undone?
and 1986 books. And, then later, the for scores was and why? regret it? TG is about to start up again under
2008, 2009 and then much of the The Golden Age of High Score I want to focus on the educational new leadership. So, all is well in the
first four or five Gamer’s Editions. Competition lasted from 1980-1985. and historical aspects of our gaming Video Game Capital of the World.
After that time, there were fewer legacy by creating a set of videogame
What’s the ultimate arcade game arcades available and very few trading cards that commemorate
for score chasing and why? promotions or contests. By then, little the history of the global videogame
Pong
THE TENNIS CLONE THAT HELPED BUILD THE ARCADE SCENE
»ATARI, INC
»ARCADE
» RETROREVIVAL
» 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 your opponent’s defences with a cleverly angled ball.
It may have had archaic visuals and extremely simple sound, but it really didn’t
matter. Pong was a gateway into another world, a gateway that proved that
monitor screens could create more than just passive entertainment, no matter
how enjoyable it may have been.
While Pong enjoyed great success in arcades, it also dominated homes
thanks to an insane number of official and unofficial clones that ported the game
at every opportunity. My fondest memories are playing a variation of Pong that
came with numerous other games on my aunty’s Binatone system, but there
were lots of other devices around and your own memories may be different.
Pong may seem old hat, but if you do manage to find a version to play, you’ll
discover that it’s still ridiculously addictive.
If you spent your youth hunched over an
arcade cabinet blasting aliens, Computer
Space is where it all began. Paul Drury
talks to Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney
about the granddaddy of videogames
“I turned to the fraternity

brother I was playing against
and said: ‘This is a great game!
We could get people to put a
t’s summer 1966 and a young
I
quarter in to play this at Lagoon!’”
Nolan Bushnell, sporting exclaims Nolan. “I envisioned a
sideburns but no bushy beard yet, row of screens running from a
is strolling through the Lagoon central computer, each with
Amusement Park in Farmington, a coin slot. Then we looked
IN THE KNOW Utah. He’s manager of the games around us at this million
PUBLISHER: NUTTING ASSOCIATES department, working there to help dollar computer and thought,
DEVELOPER: SYZYGY
pay his way through university. He ‘Mmm, we’ve got a long way
smiles at the rows of pinball tables and to go…’”
RELEASED: 1971
electro-mechanical machines, guzzling It wouldn’t be until the next
PLATFORMS: ARCADE
coins from eager players. decade that, as co-founder
GENRE: SHOOT’EMUP Back at the University of Utah, of Atari, Nolan would see
Nolan is up late, playing Spacewar! his vision of aisles of arcade
in the computer lab into the early machines realised. For now, the
hours. The game, created by Steve prohibitive hardware costs –
Russell and friends at MIT in 1962, Nolan estimates even the
has two starship commanders locked
in a deep space dogfight. It’s a big
hit on campus. And suddenly, a
connection is made…
THE MAKING OF: COMPUTER SPACE
“Plus Larry never got anywhere with

the programming.”
“The cycle time of the machines
was simply too slow to support
multiple screens,” agrees Nolan.
“Things like drawing the rocket ship
display screens cost $20,000 – meant I told everyone I was working

his videogame dream would have
to wait. He graduated in 1968 and
joined Ampex, a prominent American
on a videogame and they all
electronics company and pioneer in
audio and video technology.
thought I was loony
NOLAN HAD THE LAST LAUGH, THOUGH…
“I’d worked at Ampex for about
a year, and as an engineer you get
all these trade magazines,” explains for six years before transferring to still took a lot of computer time. We’d
Nolan. “There was an ad in there that the Videofile division in Sunnyvale, gone down from four, to three, to
alerted me to the Data General Nova California. “I shared an office with two screens. An electro-mechanical
computer. Up to then, minicomputers Nolan and he took me over to game cost around $900 and I thought
were like $40,000, and then this Stanford to look at Spacewar!,” we could charge a little more than
comes along for $4,000 and I’m like, recalls Ted. “I thought it was great… that, but not $3,000 a screen! The
‘Woah, this might be good enough!’” if you had a big enough computer! economic proposition was gone…”
Nolan eagerly sent away for And so the quest to bring
I didn’t know if he was mad or
the manuals to this breakthrough not but I thought it was something videogames into the arcades almost
machine and began making paper worth trying.” died with the Sixties. Then, at the
designs for a Spacewar! setup with start of the new decade, there came
Ted and Nolan teamed up with
four screens running from a single programmer Larry Bryan, who had
computer. With four coin slots access to a PDP computer and was
collecting quarters, he hoped it could to be responsible for the coding, and
earn enough to pay for the high they began calculating how many
initial hardware costs and become games they could run from one
a viable proposition to sell, not to computer. “We concluded there
bars, but amusement parks. “I told was no way it was going to work. It
everyone at Ampex I was working on just wasn’t fast enough,” notes Ted.
a videogame,” smiles Nolan, “and
they all thought I was loony.”
Well, not quite everyone. Ted
Dabney had joined Ampex in 1961,
working in the military products unit
» The iconic Computer Space flyer. Nolan:

“The girl was a
topless dancer at a bar called The Brass
Rail. It was done
by Dave Ralston. We always thought he
had a little thing
with her but we never knew for sure.”
» Former RG editor Martyn Carroll
spotted this cabinet at E3 in 2004.
screen, the project was suddenly

back in business. There was just one
problem: the circuitry didn’t exist.
So, in 1970, Ted moved his daughter
out of her bedroom and converted
it into a workshop, where he began
tinkering with an old telly and off- outline of your craft. Each dot you
the-shelf components bought from saw on screen corresponded to a
electronics stores. discrete diode on a circuit board
“I started by figuring out how inside the machine. These were
to move something on the screen. arranged in a matrix, one for each
It took me quite a while but finally direction the rocket ship could face.
I got these counters to do what I “What Nolan did was pretty smart,”
wanted them to, so you could change chuckles Ted. “He created the diode
them by one bit and get very slow matrix and just before it went into
I got a little square moving on

WKHVFUHHQ1RODQVDLG¶1RZZH
QHHGDURFNHWVKLS·
TED JOINS THE DOTS…
movement of a little square on the production, he laid it out on the board

screen or by two bits and get faster in the shape of the actual rocket ship,
an epiphany. Ironically, a game called so if you had a problem, you could
Computer Space only became a movement. The next thing was, well,
what are you gonna move? Nolan easily figure out what part wasn’t
reality when one key component was working properly.”
removed – the computer. said: ‘We need a rocket ship!’”
The ship you command in your “Rotating the rocket was tricky,”
“Nolan’s a smart guy and he adds Nolan, “but the eyeball is quite
was dicking around with a TV set, quest to outgun flying saucers intent
on your destruction was fashioned forgiving. The dots are changing
adjusting the vertical and horizontal position on a 16x16 matrix and the
hold and seeing the picture move,” from a series of dots, forming the
places you put the dots aren’t quite
says Ted. “He asked me why that right, but by having the separation
happens. I explained it to him and of the dots, your eye kind of fudges
he said: ‘Could we use this?’ I said: it and says, ‘Yeah, this is the same
DEVELOPER ‘Well, we’d have to do it digitally rocket ship…’”
HIGHLIGHTS because with analogue we wouldn’t Now, we all know that in space
have any control.’ I explained we’d no one can hear you scream, but
PONG PICTURED
SYSTEMS: ARCADE need a counter for the sync and blasting alien scum wouldn’t be half
YEAR: 1972 one for the video and let the video
SPACE RACE counter change in respect to the sync
SYSTEM: ARCADE counter. He said: ’Could we do that?’
YEAR: 1973 I didn’t know yet…”
ISAAC ASIMOV By replacing the expensive
PRESENTS SUPER QUIZ computer with circuitry built from
SYSTEM: ARCADE
CHUCK E CHEESE EXCLUSIVE cheap electronic components
YEAR: 1979 that could display and manipulate
images on a standard television
BEND IT LIKE BUSHNELL

IF YOU’VE SEEN Computer Space in action, you’ll notice that aer launching a shot
at those vicious saucers, you can ‘bend’ your bullet towards your intended target
by rotating your ship. It’s an ingenious feature, which later appeared on Combat for
the VCS, though it emerges it was more a case of necessity. “The missile starts out
from the front of the rocket ship, but when the ship moves, the front of the ship is in
a different place on screen,” explains Ted. “There was no way we could ‘remember’
a point on screen, so it had to move in relation to the front of the ship. Let’s call it a
guided missile!” Ted added in a clever feature to signify a successful hit, too. “I just
inverted the video so the screen flashed white. It was a cheap, easy way to create
the sense of an explosion.” Ted also used this inversion technique to signal extended
play and called it ‘hyperspace’, yet another debt that Atari’s biggest hit, Asteroids,
owes to its granddad…
but proves rather inconvenient to

Asteroids players, used to their ship
slowing down and stopping if you
leave off the thrust. This is further
compounded by the deadly accuracy
of your flying saucer foes. Why did
Nolan seem intent on killing the first
generation of videogame players with
such regularity?
Once you’ve spent some time
“The idea it was too hard never
trying to blast those pesky saucers
crossed my mind,” he laughs. “All
while dodging their bullets within
my friends loved it, but then all my
a strict time limit, we think you’ll
friends were engineers. It wasn’t until
notice several things. Although
we put it into a beer bar and people
Computer Space is clearly inspired
as much fun if performed in silence. were totally baffled that we thought
by Spacewar!, it is certainly no
Cleverly using a 6V Zener diode, a maybe we’ve overshot our mark! As
clone. It’s a single-player game, for
voltage regulating device that just for making Computer Space a one-
a start, and there’s no central star
happened to give off pink noise as it player game, the coin-op industry
exerting a gravitational pull either.
did its job, Ted added a little amplifier was based around solitary game
We also think you’ll be struck by the
and an integrator that charged up and players. I mean, Bally turned Pong
difficulty. Your ship is in perpetual
decayed to fade the volume out. “I down because it was two-player!”
motion, which may adhere to the
built the sound circuits and motion With the game elements starting
laws of physics in outer space
circuitry,” he says, proudly. “Then to come together, Nolan decided
Nolan made them into a game.” to present his idea to Nutting
At this point, RG is profoundly Associates. The California-based
aware that we are talking about a
game that, despite its huge historical
importance, most of you have » The starfield backdrop was created by a counter on the board
that overflowed and plotted dots across the screen.
probably never played. Coming
from a time before arcade machines
used microprocessors, there is
no ‘code’ for the usually helpful
MAME to emulate, so unless you
live near the Funspot arcade in New
Hampshire, which has an actual
machine in its classic games room,
may we recommend the convenient
‘simulator’ found at www.
computerspacefan.com, an excellent
site that also catalogues the location
of all surviving cabinets.
company had had considerable
success in the coin-op industry with
IN THE Computer Quiz, but with that product
BEDROOM reaching the end of its commercial
life, it was eager for new machines
SOME READERS MAY be aware of the to manufacture. “I don’t think they
ongoing dispute as to where the pioneering really understood what a videogame
work on the Computer Space circuitry was, but they thought it sounded like
actually took place. For decades, it was
a capital good idea,” Nolan winks.
thought that Nolan ousted his daughter
from her bedroom to set up shop there “I’d only really got dots on the screen
but, more recently, Ted has gone on record but I presented myself pretty well as
as saying it all happened at his house. We an up-and-coming smart boffin – I
asked Nolan to clear up the controversy. was speaking British for you there –
“The real answer is that it was in both,” so they hired me as chief engineer.
he explains. “Ted was doing his work I left Ampex and was working for
and I was doing mine. Quite frankly, I had
forgotten he was working in his daughter’s
Nutting in the day, helping them » Ted Dabney in 1970, when his daughter’s
bedroom as well. The blogs can get carried finish up some projects, and at bedroom became the cradle for Computer Space.
away. I fuelled it by saying once that I didn’t nights I was working with Ted on
think he even had a daughter. That was Computer Space. I specified in my
grist for the mill…” contract I would retain rights to all
Ted has a slightly different take on the videogame technology, though.”
things. “My daughter Terri used to babysit
The Computer Space circuitry
for Nolan, so he knew I had a daughter, and
his wife back then, Paula, would not let him had been coming together nicely,
do anything in that house. He didn’t even thanks to some assistance from had this suspicion that no one would
own a soldering iron.” an undergraduate on placement have worked out how to do it as
at Ampex by the name of Steve cheaply as I had. They had one in
Bristow, and now that he had a understandably enthusiastic about the coffee shop at Stanford, using a
position at a major player in the his groundbreaking project to bring PDP-10, I think. I thought they’d done
coin-op business, Nolan was Spacewar! out of the computer a great rendition of Spacewar!, but I
lab and into the arcades. Then did a quick costing and thought, ‘This
he received some startling news. is no competition.’”
Someone else had had just the Nolan was right on both counts.
same idea. Galaxy Game was far more faithful
As a student at Stanford in the to the source material, but due
mid-Sixties, Bill Pitts had been to basing their machine around
an actual computer rather than
When we put it in a bar,

SHRSOHZHUHWRWDOO\EDIÁHG
NOLAN UNDERSTANDS THAT COMPUTER SPACE IS HARD ENOUGH WHEN
YOU’RE SOBER
similarly entranced by Spacewar!. custom circuitry, it was hugely

After graduating, he teamed up with more expensive at around $20,000
school friend Hugh Tuck, whose in total and considerably more
hardware know-how and family unreliable. Though it could never
money nicely complemented Bill’s hope to recoup its cost in quarters,
software skills. By the summer of
1971, their version of Spacewar!,
entitled Galaxy Game, was almost
ready to meet the public, when Nolan
heard news of the project.
“I had some trepidation when I
went over to see what they were
doing,” acknowledges Nolan, “but I
The prototype cabinet featured a

joystick-cum-trigger controller, which
snapped after a single day out in
the field. For the version put into
production, four buttons were used
Galaxy Game beat Computer Space instead – rotate left, rotate right,
to market by two months, debuting thrust and fire – which may have
in September 1971, and thus has bemused tipsy punters but was at
the honour of being the first arcade least able to physically withstand
videogame. That original machine their drunken advances.
was replaced by a superior version November 1971, with both proud More pleasing to players was the
the following year, utilising a PDP-11 parents accompanying their baby. stylish cabinet the game sat within.
that supported two play screens “Ted and I took it over in the “Form follows function,” states
simultaneously, which remained in back of my station wagon, and as Nolan. “This was a space game and
situ at Stanford’s Tresidder Memorial soon as we plugged it in, there so should have a space age cabinet.
Union throughout the Seventies. was an immediate cluster around I made a model from Plasticine. I had
For more on this innovative oddity, the machine and play after play,” a little bit of plastic for the screen and
see chapter two of Replay, Tristan enthuses Nolan. “We were convinced a piece of wood for the back, and
Donovan’s wonderfully readable we had a major hit on our hands. But moulded it to that shape. Ted found a
history of videogames, or visit the you see, the bar was a hangout for fibreglass guy who figured out how
machine itself in its new home at Stanford students, all smart as hell. to make it into the cabinet. I sent my
the Computer History Museum in Lots of engineers and maths and model to the manufacturer and they
Mountain View, California. physics majors. Newton’s second scaled it up.”
Undeterred, even encouraged by law wasn’t a big problem for them! Fortunately, this didn’t result in a
the appearance of this unexpected We put it in another few places and Spinal Tap Stonehenge-style fiasco,
rival, Nolan pressed on, with you could best describe the clientele and around 1,500 – although Nolan
Ted joining him at Nutting and as bimodal. They had no clue about
proceeding to build a prototype what was going on. They’d say: ‘I
cabinet ready for field-testing. The can’t control this thing. How do you
game debuted at the Dutch Goose make it go right and left?’ I remember
bar in Menlo Park, California, in trying to teach people about the
thrust control and it just wasn’t part
of their DNA.”
Worse still, the less cerebral
crowd seemed to have taken their
frustration out on the machine.
» Controlling your ship can take some getting used to, thanks to authentic outer space physics.
thinks the figure may have been
as high as 2,200 – of the futuristic-
looking Computer Space machines
were manufactured.
And the game flopped. Well, that’s
what the received wisdom seems to of which less than 100 are accounted for.
» Nolan poses with a surviving Computer Space cabinet,
conclude. We wish to challenge this
notion. The sales figures may have
been dwarfed by future hits like Pong Andy Capp’s Tavern, it sat next to a
and Asteroids – which, you could Computer Space cabinet, convincing
Nolan that, in gameplay terms,
,·PWUHDWHGOLNHDURFNVWDU,W·V
EHHQ\HDUVFRPLQJDQG,ORYHLW
TED DABNEY IS LIVING PROOF THAT GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO
WAIT IN THE GAMES INDUSTRY
argue, was a spiritual successor – simplicity was the key to success. with your hands as well as your mind,
but at the start of the Seventies, a It was a philosophy that he and it has a special place in your heart.”
successful pinball table would only Ted would adhere to when they While Nolan went on to gain
sell around 2,000 units. It provided left Nutting and formed Atari the fame and fortune with Atari, Ted
an income stream for Nolan and following year, thus kick-starting the left the company in 1973, after an
Ted, which helped to fund the Pong whole videogames industry. acrimonious falling out with his
project. Indeed, when the very “I felt this was a medium, former friend. His crucial role in those
first Pong prototype was placed in not just a product,” says Nolan. early days of the games industry
“Remember, there were more games went unacknowledged for years,
on the computers at university than but recently, due to the efforts of
Spacewar!. I’d done a game called games historian and author Leonard
Fox And Geese, there was a baseball Herman, among others, the situation
game… people were programming! is changing.
I was very happy with Computer “I don’t give a diddly-squat about
Space. When you create something games,” laughs Ted, “but getting
this recognition is fantastic. I’m
treated like a rock star. It’s been
40 years coming and I love it!”
Thanks to Marty Goldberg and Jerry Jessop

for their help with this article.
Space Men
We talk to three industry legends about
their connection to Computer Space
STEVE Nolan was my version when I started took over the 40 or so
BRISTOW supervisor at Ampex working at Nutting in March coin-operated games that
had several and he had me working on of ’72. Production was just Syzygy/Atari had placed all
placements at some prototype circuits, starting in earnest and I over Berkeley and Oakland.
Ampex while which turned out to be was the only person who I had two Computer Space
studying at the University portions of the memory and troubleshot and fixed the machines and one was in
of California at Berkley motion controller boards for boards. Of course I told Larry Blake’s, a bar at UC
in the late Sixties and Computer Space. I saw the people what I was doing Berkeley, near a Galaxy
early Seventies. He later schematics for the game in and how cool it was! I was Game, and I’m sure we out-
followed Nolan to Nutting the office he shared with responsible for assembling earned it. The coin box was
Associates and worked on Ted and I saw pieces of and maintaining the never overflowing, but, in
the two-player version of the prototype in a more two-player version at the fairness, it was a one-gallon
Computer Space, before assembled form when I AMOA show in Chicago in paint can, which could hold
moving to Atari, where he visited them at Nutting. I November ’72. After that, a lot more than the
stayed until 1984. first saw the production I returned to school and Pong prototype!
AL I first saw Computer the fundamentals of his day. They gave up and
ALCORN Space when Nolan patented motion circuit went with buttons. I
was a and Ted invited some of and I went from there. never actually serviced
colleague of their Ampex friends over Remember, Nolan told a Computer Space –
Nolan and to Nutting. I thought it was me Pong was going to Steve Bristow has more
Ted’s at Ampex and an interesting machine but be a home game, so it experience with that –
was one of Atari’s first didn’t expect it to be a great had to use far fewer chips but I do recall servicing
employees. He created success. When I came to than Computer Space! a Pong cabinet at the
Pong, which became work on Pong, Nolan gave I remember Nolan and Stanford student union
the first major hit for me a set of schematics Ted talking about one of and competing with a
coin-op videogames. He for Computer Space, but I the first locations for a Galaxy Game by Bill Pitts.
stayed with Atari into the really didn’t use them, as Computer Space machine I would be scooping
Eighties, working on such they were drawn in a style at a mall. The machine quarters out of our game
successes as the home that made it difficult to had a prototype joystick while Bill was
Pong and the VCS. understand. We discussed and it was destroyed in a struggling with his.
I was hunting for a it had an aged-looking ECLs and TTLs. Most of

ARCHER Computer Space for two-page typed note them have had their ID
MACLEAN ages, and eventually one lying in the bottom, chemically removed to
has been in came up on eBay about which basically said, ‘Any prevent cloning back in
the games 12 years ago. It was a bit problems, call Nolan direct the day. Once it was
industry for dead and had a large foot on (415) 961-9373’. I think restored, it has been
over 30 years, creating sized ‘kick’ hole on the he’s gone a few places in great demand from
such home computer lower front. This didn’t since then! Amazingly, museums and television
hits as Dropzone, IK+ put me off as I believed it’s been 100 per cent companies. The best was
and Jimmy White’s I had the electronics skills reliable since getting it when it was used for the
Whirlwind Snooker. He to sort the PCB out and working in 2001. The actual film presentation
also restores arcade my mate John is an expert screen is an ancient valve- at the 2009 BAFTA
cabinets and, among his at candy-apple sparkly based TV, which takes a Fellowship award given to
large collection of pristine paint sprays on Sixties- minute to ‘glow’ into life, Mr Bushnell himself, nearly
machines, is a beautiful style fibreglass beach and the chips used on 40 years after he
blue Computer Space. buggies! When it arrived, the PCBs are Jurassic-era designed it.
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
FOR
NUTTING INDUSTRIES
NUTTING
INDUSTRIES
When you think of the pioneers of the modern coin-op industry or the game
console business, names like Bushnell and Baer come to mind along with
companies like Atari or Magnavox. As Marty Goldberg shows, the last name
Nutting deserves a similar level of reverence
hile most talk of the early and asked me if I would be interested in repackaging
W 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
his teaching machine into a coin-operated game,” says
David. That idea was a plan to get both brothers into
the coin-op industry, an industry they knew nothing
about, with a new ‘game’ based on a product Bill
had been an investor in. That product, a teaching
machine for the US Navy, was designed to test
students by using a filmstrip projected onto a screen
to ask multiple-choice questions. Students would then
answer by pushing A, B, C, D or E buttons. During
Nutting Associates (DNA) were a succession of one of their meetings, one of the other investors
companies spanning a 17-year period of innovation, jokingly suggested, “Why not put a coin slot on the
resulting in products that either redefined the way quiz machine and make it an entertainment device?”
things were or led the way in showing how things So now here was Bill asking if he could leverage
were moving to become. All three were also created David’s design and engineering background to do that
by the venerable David Nutting. very thing. “I want you to help repackage my group’s
The story begins in 1966 when David was working multiple-choice teaching machine into a coin-operated
at Brooks Stevens Design Associates, a product design quiz game,” came the call to his brother David in
firm with experience in every industry. Seriously, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, setting up the same successful
every industry. By this time Brooks Stevens had start-up formula mirrored later by Bushnell/Dabney and
designed everything from the original Oscar Meyer Jobs/Wozniak; the visionary and the doer.
Wienermobile to logos and packaging for Miller As David recalls, “Bill was learning that coin-
Brewing to the very first SUV, the Jeep Wagoneer, operated equipment was sold through distributors
which David had assisted on as well. It was around this located in the major cities. Bill flew out to Milwaukee
time in 1966 that David got a call from his brother, Bill where we spent several days putting together a plan.
Nutting. “Bill gave me a call and told me about his idea At the same time, Bill visited distributors in Chicago,
NUTTING INDUSTRIES LTD
3404 NORTH HOLTON STREET MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN 53212
S: NUTTING INDUSTRIES
IN THE KNOW
■ All three companies were started by
the same person, David Nutting.
■ They also all shared the same

location, though Dave Nutting Associates
eventually moved to Chicago.
■ Dave Nutting Associates pioneered

the use of microprocessors in pinball
and videogames.
■ Gun Fight was the first videogame with

bitmapped graphics.
■ Dave Nutting Associates also did the

even more popular follow-up to Gun Fight,
entitled Boot Hill.
■ Programmer Jamie Fenton (GORF )

started as a research assistant in a Robotics
and AI Lab at UW-Milwaukee.
■ GORF came from Jamie’s college

nickname, Froggy. “I had frog stuff all over
my office. David wanted to do a shooting
game (with the rifle on the trackball). He
created a GORF character from that.”
■ Managers at MCI’s Red Baron

Amusement Centers weren’t your typical
arcade managers of the time. They were
given training in working with people and the
supervision of children.
■ Sea Wolf was almost named ‘Charlie

the Tuna’ thanks to executive Richard Welu
during a period when Bally was licensing big
names. It was pointed out that Charlie was
a loser (‘Sorry Charlie’) and instead it was
named Sea Wolf… by a night maintenance
man who was a fan of the Jack London
novel of the same name.
» [Fig. 1] Midway’s Gunfight (1975). The first videogame with

a microprocessor, thanks to Dave Nutting Associates.
136
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN 53212
FIG.2
TIMELINE
I.Q. COMPUTER DEVELOPED.
LAUNCHES NUTTING INDUSTRIES
AND, TOGETHER WITH BROTHER BILL’S
NUTTING ASSOCIATES AND THEIR
COMPUTER QUIZ TWIN, OPENS UP
THE COINOP INDUSTRY TO THE NON
19
TRADITIONAL LOCATIONS OF ARCADES,

67
BARS AND BOWLING ALLEYS.
RED BARON IS RELEASED. A HIGH

TECH ELECTROMECHANICAL GAME
THAT USES FILMSTRIPS TO PROVIDE
PRERENDERED FLIGHT SCENES,
» [Fig. 3] David Nutting working at the
drawing board in 1972 at MCI. FIG.3
EXPLOSIONS AND EFFECTS FOR
GAMEPLAY. PREDATES LASERDISC
19
GAMES LIKE DRAGON’S LAIR, WHICH

70
USED THE SAME CONCEPT. » [Fig. 2] The original headquarters for all three
companies at 3404 N Holton Street in Milwaukee, WI as
it appeared in 1972 when it was known as MCI.
MCI IS FORMED FROM THE ASHES OF
NUTTING INDUSTRIES. RED BARON
AMUSEMENT CENTER DEBUTS LATER
IN THE YEAR, THE FIRST ARCADE
Detroit and New York, learning more about the he US coin-operated industry was in the
T
CHAIN CREATED AND OPERATED BY A
COINOP MANUFACTURER MCI. BALLY
RESPONDS IN KIND TWO YEARS LATER
business. My expertise was design and engineering midst of a long battle against the stigma of
19
WITH THE ALADDIN’S CASTLE CHAIN and Bill’s was in marketing. So our verbal arrangement gambling and organised crime; something
72
OF ARCADES. at that time was that I would design and engineer the it would not shed until the 1970s when
final product and Bill would be the marketing and sales. videogames took over the industry. New York State
DAVID NUTTING AND JEFF
FREDERIKSEN FOUND DAVE
I had a good friend who was an electronic engineer even had a ban on pinball games that lasted for over 30
NUTTING ASSOCIATES with Cutler Hammer. Harold [Montgomery] designed years, treating them no differently than slot machines
AND CREATE THE FIRST all the circuitry and I designed the cabinetry and or other gambling devices. By the late 1960s, the
MICROPROCESSORDRIVEN
PINBALL MACHINE. THEY electromechanical devices like the projector.” industry had organised under the Music Operators of
ALSO DEVELOP THE FIRST The arrangement worked fine as the prototype was America (MOA). The MOA’s existence owes itself
19
MICROPROCESSORDRIVEN VIDEO
74
COINOP HARDWARE.
developed and tested successfully; that is until another to the age-old battle against the US music industry
relationship – one that usually takes a toll in any start- that Steve Jobs more recently fought in the format
BALLY SUBSIDIARY MIDWAY MFG up – took precedence. Bill’s wife Claire decided she of digital rights management (DRM) and ‘renting’
RELEASES GUN FIGHT, THE FIRST didn’t like the arrangement and played the divorce card, of digital music. That being the music industry has
MICROPROCESSORBASED VIDEO
ARCADE GAME. DEVELOPED BY
threatening to become another notch in a staggering consistently tried to squeeze every nickel and dime
TOM MCHUGH FROM THE DISCRETE statistic. Silicon Valley has the highest divorce rate in out of people’s enjoyment of music that they could.
ELECTRONICDRIVEN GUN FIGHT California, and California itself is 20% above the rest The MOA was started in 1948 by a group of influential
BY TAITO, HE DOES SEA WOLF THE
FOLLOWING YEAR BEFORE LEAVING of the nation. Bill didn’t want to become part of the jukebox distributors and operators to fight against the
19
FOR RURAL WISCONSIN AND statistic, so he called David and said he was going repeal of the jukebox royalty exemption. It eventually
75
RELATIVE OBSCURITY.
to manufacture the game in California and that David grew to become a powerful organisation representing
should shut down his operation. The news wasn’t the entire spectrum of coin-operated devices, including
BALLY RELEASES THE DAVE NUTTING
ASSOCIATESDEVELOPED HOME what David wanted to hear, but it was also obvious electromechanical, pinball, pool tables, jukeboxes and
LIBRARY COMPUTER, LATER KNOWN to David that the current working relationship he had vending machines.
AS THE PROFESSIONAL ARCADE
with his brother wasn’t going to work. He had already At the time of the release of Computer Quiz and
AND ASTROCADE. DESIGNED TO
BE A HYBRID GAME CONSOLE AND sunk way too much money into the operation to stop. IQ Computer, the MOA had been working hard to
PERSONAL COMPUTER, IT’S THE So the brothers went their own ways and started fight the typecasting of coin-operated machines,
19
FIRST WITH FULLCOLOUR HIRES

77
BITMAPPED GRAPHICS. their own companies to market the same game. Bill, specifically pinball – a stigma that had severely
under Nutting Associates, would be marketing it as limited the number of locations operators could place
Computer Quiz and Dave, under Nutting Industries, machines. For instance in Los Angeles, California,
MIDWAY MFG RELEASES JAMIE
FENTON’S GORF. FEATURING SEVERAL would be marketing it as IQ Computer. Setting up about six hours south of where Bill was living, pinball
GAMES IN ONE, INCLUDING VERSIONS a manufacturing location at 3404 N Holton St in machines were banned until the mid 1970s. The
OF GALAXIANS AND SPACE INVADERS,
Milwaukee and hiring Eugene Wagner for marketing, Nutting brothers’ games proved to be the right tool at
19
IT ALSO FEATURES SPEECH SYNTHESIS

81
AND BECOMES AN INSTANT CLASSIC. David’s game became an instant success (as did the right time as operators used the machines to work
brother Bill’s). their way into new locations. Both games could go
MIDWAY MFG RELEASES DAVID
NUTTING AND ALAN MCNEIL’S
WIZARD OF WOR. WITH ITS CREEPY
ORGAN MUSIC AND TAUNTING FIG.4
SPEECHSYNTHESISDRIVEN LINES,
IT ALSO BECOMES AN INSTANT
CLASSIC AND ALONG WITH GORF
19
IS IN GREAT DEMAND BY COINOP

88
COLLECTORS TO THIS DAY.
DAVE NUTTING ASSOCIATES IS

SHUT DOWN BY BALLY. THE
SURVIVING MEMBERS GO ON TO
19
FIELDS SUCH AS QUANTUM PHYSICS

90
AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT.

» [Fig. 4] A page from Bally’s own project logbook showing some of the projects being pursued in 1978. A fair portion were by Dave Nutting Associates (listed as DNA).
FROM THE ARCHIVES: NUTTING INDUSTRIES
everywhere because of their perceived edutainment

value. Operators would get into a location with the
game, establish a relationship and then slowly bring in WHERE ARE
pinballs, pool tables and vending. In a lesson learned
by both Nuttings and later leveraged by Nolan Bushnell
THEY NOW?
with his creation of the fake competitor Kee Games,
the fact that there were two manufacturers of ‘Quiz’ David Nutting
games also awoke the marketplace and opened up Retired and living in Arizona, in 1984 David
more operators and locations. In the amusement had moved to Colorado to study quantum
industry at that time, a great manufacturing run for a physics. He’s now the author of two books,
machine like a pinball was somewhere around 1,000 to the 2005 released Language of Nature –
1,500. Computer Quiz had a run of 4,200 units and IQ
FIG.5 Quantum World Revealed and the 2012
Computer had a run of 3,600. Secrets to a Creative Mind: Become the
Over the next several years, David and Nutting Master of Your Mind.
Industries continued on the edutainment arcade game
path using the same filmstrip technology, starting with
a two-player version of IQ Computer called Dual IQ Jamie Fenton
Computer and then various quiz replacement packs Jamie now lives in Sunnyvale, California.
as well as another version of the unit, called Golf IQ. Spending the last 30 years working for a
David also looked to diversify by hooking up with long line of game, graphic and soware
a manufacturer and distributor in London, England, company start-ups, she currently works for
creating a subsidiary to market non-coin-operated Amazon’s Lab 126 on the multimedia and
» [Fig. 5] The manual for Nutting
versions to educational institutions as Modec Inc, and Industries’ IQ Computer. performance teams for the Amazon Kindle
by expanding into food service vending machines Together with its twin Computer and Kindle Fire tablets.
Quiz by Nutting Associates, it
via some patents that Harold’s father owned. It was opened up locations formerly
the game offerings that needed to grow, however, closed to arcade games thanks
to their seedy reputation over
the preceding decades. Alan McNeil
Aer creating the follow-up to Berzerk,
called Frenzy for Stern Electronics, Alan
“I wanted to be the industry also went on to do Winter Games and

Sub Battle for Epyx, but has chiefly spent
leader and develop the the last 30 years as a soware developer

writing apps across a plethora of platforms
first microprocessor pinball” as a consultant.
DAVID NUTTING ON OBTAINING INTEL’S FIRST MICROPROCESSOR DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM
FIG.6
and in 1969 they introduced The Puzzler designed film that functioned by jumping to different animations,
by that same London firm. Ward Marty Johnson much in the same way LaserDisc games like Dragon’s
would replace Eugene as marketing head by the end Lair would some 12 years later, the player was given
of 1969, just as they were working on their most the sense of flying a WWI biplane into aerial combat.
ambitious project. Initially titled ‘Leisure Time Coin It was accompanied by recordings of actual machine-
Game’, by the time of its unveiling in October 1970 it gun fire and plane engines along with haptic feedback
was renamed Sensorama. The first arcade game to in the form of the controls vibrating every time the
feature a professional sports tie-in, it was designed for plane’s gun was fired. Unfortunately, Nutting Industries
placement at bowling alleys and featured 13 audiovisual ran into bad financial problems afterwards, forcing » [Fig. 6] A special coin David Nutting had
minted to give out at the Music Operators
bowling lessons given by pro bowler Dick Ritger. David shut it down and start over… of America (MOA) show in 1968 – the
By 1970, though, it was clear that these educational It was in the exact same location, and with some main coin-op show in America.
arcade games were running their course, and with of the same people, but on paper Milwaukee Coin
electromechanical (EM) arcade games already being
dominated by the likes of Bally, Midway, Chicago
Coin, Williams and Sega, a new format was needed. FIG.7
Brother Bill Nutting and his Nutting Associates got
their new format in the form of video-display-driven
arcade games when Nolan Bushnell had called up Bill’s
sales manager David Ralstin out of the blue. David
was certainly open to the same synergy between
new technology and games happening, and went so
far as to place ads in local newspapers looking for
people to submit ideas. However, overall he wanted to
expand the projection technology into fully projected
games based far away from the realm of quizzes.
Looking to create a unique first-person experience with
WWI airplane dogfights, in 1970 he began work on
what would be the last game released under Nutting
Industries, Red Baron. Using a pre-rendered animated
FIG.8
Industries (MCI) was a brand new company. MCI David Nutting partner Bally did manage to succeed
was carrying on where NI had left off and producing with its own in 1974… by purchasing American
film-driven war-themed arcade games like Blue Max, Amusements and rebranding it as the (more recently)
Desert Fox, U-Boat and Flying Ace. However, it was well-known Aladdin’s Castle.
the direction that David and the MCI board wanted to
take in 1972 that really set MCI apart from other coin- ith the success of the locations and
op companies. Firms at the time sold to distributors
and what are called operators, the people who actually
run the machine on location. At the time, most
locations were usually arcades, bars and bowling alleys.
Coin-op companies might put their own machines out
W the EM arcade game market starting
to shrink during 1974, the MCI board
wanted to concentrate its resources
on the Red Baron locations. David, meanwhile, wanted
to investigate the new form of electronics called
at these locations for testing during development, but microprocessors. The gateway into this futuristic world
they never actually owned the locations. arrived via an Intel rep who had stopped by MCI to
One of MCI’s customers gave it the idea to change extol the virtues of the firm’s soon-to-be-released
all that. During the 1960s, Jules Milman and his 4040 4-bit microprocessor. He took new hire Jeff
company American Amusements Inc had sought to Frederiksen, who had experience programming a
wipe out the negative image of arcades by designing Burroughs mainframe computer, down to an Intel
a new breed that were to be placed at the then new seminar in Chicago. “I wanted to be the industry
concept of mega shopping centres in the Chicago leader and develop the first microprocessor pinball.
» [Fig. 8] David Nutting’s brother Bill with area, more commonly known as shopping malls. I convinced them to sell us one of the first
his most famous product, Computer Space.
FIG.9 Called Carousel Time, these family-friendly locations microprocessor development systems,” says David.
with carpeting and a ban on smoking and eating on Developed under a consulting contract with
the premises were far different than their seedy penny Bally, the pinball project also led to the creation
arcade counterparts. The success of Carousel Time of the final Nutting company in this article, Dave
led the MCI board to decide it should look into running Nutting Associates. David formed DNA, a game
its own mall-based locations featuring MCI games. engineering firm, as a partnership between him and
Based on the successful Red Baron game (which had Jeff Frederiksen in the early summer of 1974. On
spawned the recent Super Red Baron follow-up by 20 August, Bally in turn sent them two Flicker pinball
MCI), the first Red Baron Amusement Center debuted machines (a game yet to be released) to retrofit
in the Milwaukee area Mayfair mall in 1972. Within the into solid-state microprocessor-based prototypes as
year they had grown to about seven locations in the proofs-of-concept. Completed by September, the new
Midwest. Nolan Bushnell also tried to duplicate the system was demoed to Bally management at the end
idea in 1973 with Atari’s own mall-based arcades in the of the month and over the next several years became
San Francisco Bay Area, such as at Bay Fair Mall, but it the blueprint for the burgeoning microprocessor-based
never quite caught on (at least not until he combined it pinball industry, whose machines were distinguished
with pizza to create Chuck E Cheese). However, future by their glowing LED score displays.
» [Fig. 9] Jamie Fenton’s video coin-op development station
around the time of her games GORF and Robby Roto.
DEFINING GAMES
Wizard Of Wor 1981

Gun Fight 1975 Sea Wolf 1976 Boot Hill 1977 David Nutting and Bob Ogdon’s game
Released by Bally subsidiary Midway Featuring a life-size periscope, it’s The 1977 follow-up to Gun Fight, GORF 1981 was inspired by the scene in Alien,
Mfg, it was originally titled Western essentially a videogame version of Boot Hill was programmed by Alan Jamie Fenton’s classic shoot-’em-up where Sigourney Weaver is tracking
Gun and released by Taito in Japan. Midway’s earlier electromechanical McNeil who later did the arcade features several games in one, along the escaped alien via a small monitor.
DNA turned it into a microprocessor- games Sea Raider and Sea Devil. Its classic Berzerk for Stern. Using dual with speech synthesis: “We used Using the same speech system
controlled arcade videogame, advanced sound effects and first- joysticks to control the positions of the the TI speech chip – sometimes and style of taunting as GORF, the
introducing soware coding to the person environment proved a big hit cowboy and his gun, it also features a [it] would vocalise using garbage standout feature is its very theme:
industry. According to David Nutting, in the mid-1970s and it remained one colourful western backdrop that the memory and it sounded like people the wizard. “When we put a voice
its release caused a RAM shortage of the most popular games of the game is projected onto via a reflective speaking in tongues.” With levels that into the machine, that got us into the
in other industries. It’s also the first period until Midway released Taito’s glass technique common in games included licensed versions of Namco’s mythology of who, exactly, was doing
game to feature bitmap graphics, a Space Invaders in 1978. That same of the period. Besides expanded Galaxians and Taito’s Space Invaders, the talking. So we invented the Wizard.
concept only previously available in year, the sequel Sea Wolf II was also gameplay, it also added a death that reason alone is why there are not We used the Wizard to disrupt the flow
high-end graphics research systems released, allowing two-player action song and burial of the player on the many GORF ports out there, according of the game,” explained co-designer
at universities and corporations. with side-by-side periscopes. infamous Boot Hill. to Jamie. Bob Ogdon to Arnie Katz in 1982.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: NUTTING INDUSTRIES
It was right around this time that the duo pursued that really impressed David. I remember the place
their greatest accomplishment, however. The Intel [where DNA was located] vividly. It was a commercial
8080 had been released that past April, and according space shared with the Red Baron arcade game chain,
to David, “As soon as we were able to acquire and there were a lot of games to play with. You just
the 8080 processor we developed our videogame wandered around with an extension cord.”
hardware based on a mass RAM system. For every According to David, the first game they started
pixel on the screen we had a dot in memory, giving for Bally subsidiary Midway on their new hardware
us full control of the entire screen.” What David is was a baseball game (eventually released as Tornado
describing is the frame-buffer-based process now used Baseball), but it would be Tom McHugh’s project
by every videogame coin-op and console known to
man: bitmapped graphics. Already in use in high-end
that would hit the market first for Bally in November
1975: Gun Fight, Midway’s licensed version of Action
graphics research computers at the time, David and
Jeff were the first to see its potential in videogames.
Video arcade games and home consoles in that period
Taito’s Western Gun. In a process similar to what
they had done for the Flicker pinball machine, the
game was gutted and retrofitted with the bitmapped
Graphics
were manually generating hardware-based sprites microprocessor-based system they had designed. In 1981, David Nutting and Bob Ogdon created
(called ‘stamps’ in coin-op industry speak), even once With Gun Fight, the video coin-op industry had just a spin-off from DNA called Action Graphics
microprocessor-based games became more common. met its future. And as Dave further notes, it wasn’t to develop games for the Bally videogame
So the process they introduced was truly far ahead of the only industry to be affected. “Our system used system (at that time owned by Astrovision and
its time, enough so they knew they’d need to look for a frame buffer of RAM that would write to the CRT. renamed the Bally Astrocade). The firm was
some programmers to hire for future projects. RAM in 1975/76 was in short supply. In order to get staffed by many of the same people under
Jeff had been attending UW-Milwaukee at the a good price on RAM, Midway had to commit over DNA who had originally been programming
time he joined MCI and studying under Richard three million dollars on their first release. This order for the system when it was directly under
Northouse, a professor in the School of Engineering consumed over half of all RAM in production in the Bally. Many of these games were direct
and Computing. Approached for some students world at that time, causing great shortages to other ports of Bally/Midway coin-ops but under
skilled in programming, Richard contracted out two: industries.” Also according to David, Taito turned different titles, such as Muncher (Pac-Man),
Tom McHugh and Jamie Fenton. Recalls Jamie, “I around and copied their 8080-based hardware for its Incredible Wizard (Wizard Of Wor), and Space
entered the game business a little reluctantly. All game Space Invaders. Fortress (Space Zap). Action Graphics also
the tales about Bally being part of the Mafia etc. From there, the now classic Sea Wolf (by Tom) and did original games like Solar Conqueror. As
Since I was in Milwaukee, I did not know about the the racing 280-Zzzap (by Jamie) games followed, along the third-party demand for other consoles
Chicago scene. For a few weeks we worked for with the previously mentioned Tornado Baseball. The like the 2600, 5200 and Colecovision started
Richard and were later hired on directly to DNA. My string of hits led Bally to buy out DNA outright, and the to explode in 1982 and 1983, Action Graphics
first assignment was ‘Mirco Pin’. Mirco was a pinball group moved down to Chicago to essentially become started doing contract work creating games
company that Jeff and David pursued a relationship Bally/Midway’s research and design wing in the same for many of these third-party companies, or in
with independently of Bally. It was like the Bally Fireball way that Cyan was for Atari. It was followed later in the some cases porting games they had done on
but had more going on. After that I got to work on year by the start of the design of Bally’s simultaneous another platform. In an example of the latter,
a blackjack game on the videogame hardware and entry in to the new home computer and programmable they did Activision’s ports of Beamrider for the
Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, Colecovision
and Commodore 64. Action Graphics lasted
“This order consumed over half of a year after even DNA had been shut down,
though by that time (considering the collapse
all RAM in production in the world of the US console industry) it was doing
mostly computer games.
at that time”
FIG.10 DAVID NUTTING REVEALS HOW GUN FIGHT’S PRODUCTION CAUSED A GLOBAL RAM SHORTAGE
FIG.11
console markets: The Bally Home Library Computer.
Created as a full-colour bitmapped personal computer
and gaming console (the first bitmapped frame-
buffered console, in fact) that could also be leveraged
in new coin-op designs, it saw a mail-order-only
release in September 1977, with wide release in 1978
as the Bally Professional Arcade. More hits followed for
DNA, most notably Wizard Of Wor and Jamie’s smash
game GORF. However, the video coin-op industry
» [Fig. 11] The back of the microprocessor-driven went through a crash starting in ‘82, causing many
Flicker pinball machine’s backglass showing the
modifications Jeff and David made to support LED- firms to either downsize or leave all together. Sadly,
based scoring (the first of its kind). DNA didn’t survive and was shut down by Bally in early
1984. Interestingly though, this was just as Bally was
acquiring the game firm Sente (founded by several ex-
Atari coin-op engineers and helmed by none other than
Nolan Bushnell), which would serve the very same
purpose as DNA over the next four years.
Special thanks to Keith Smith.

» [Fig. 10] DNA developed this hybrid game console and computer system in 1976, released
in 1977. It was later renamed the Bally Professional Arcade and then Astrocade.
NUTTING INDUSTRIES LTD ARCADE CLASSICS | 43

THE MAKING & REMAKING OF: PAC-MAN
CRAIG GRANNELL TALKS TO TORU IWATANI ABOUT HOW HE

CREATED THE MOST ICONIC CHARACTER IN VIDEOGAMES HISTORY,
DEVISED ONE OF THE MOST ENDURING AND COPIED GAME IN THE KNOW
FORMATS, AND HOW HE REVISITED HIS CREATION FOR XBOX 360
ith modern-day game characters often being This gentle, good-natured gameplay was no accident, as the
W 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
game’s designer Toru Iwatani explains. “In the late Seventies,
videogame arcades, which in Japan we call ‘game centres’,
were just playgrounds for boys, and the only videogames on
offer were brutal affairs involving the killing
of aliens,” he remembers. “My aim was to
Pac-Man? According to a May 2008 report by come up with a game that had an endearing
the Davie Brown Celebrity Index (dbireport.com), charm, was easy to play, involved lots of light-
which scores celebrities to evaluate potential hearted fun, and that women and couples
product spokespeople, Pac-Man was recognised could enjoy.”
by 94 per cent of US consumers, outstripping Iwatani started thinking about videogame
even Mario. Pac-Man’s appeal is, ironically, akin to ideas in which the key word was the verb ‘eat’. PUBLISHER: NAMCO/MIDWAY
Hollywood heavyweights like Tom Hanks. And, yes, the pizza rumour is largely true –
DEVELOPER: NAMCO
Part of this appeal is no doubt down to the fun, suitably, while at a lunch, a fast-food favourite
RELEASED: 1980
peaceful nature of Pac-Man and his actions. He forever changed the course of gaming history.
explores a simple maze, munching dots, pursued “With ‘eat’ established as the key word, a shape PLATFORMS: ARCADE, VARIOUS
by a quartet of cartoon ghosts. When Pac-Man » Toru Iwatani with an altogether cuddlier caught my eye,” recalls Iwatani. “I had ordered GENRE: MAZE GAME
version of Blinky/Akabei, along with similarly
eats one of the maze’s four power pellets, the a round pizza, and it was missing a piece.” In
soft versions of Pac-Man.
ghosts turn blue and flee, having suddenly a ‘eureka’ moment, Iwatani says, “the shape of
become edible and decidedly non-threatening. However, even what is now Pac-Man flashed through my mind.”
when a ghost is consumed, its eyes ‘escape’, hastily retreating to Even in those early gaming days, videogame characters
the central ghost pen, whereupon it’s reborn. had a little detail, but Pac-Man was forever destined in his first
Hack-Man incarnation to remain a yellow disc with a basic mouth, like an
incredibly simplified version of Iwatani’s lunch. He notes that
Iwatani not only developed rudimentary artificial intelligence
for the ghosts, but ensured each one had its own personality
With its efficient, simple some suggested at the time that other components should be of sorts, due to moving and attacking Pac-Man in its own way.
gameplay and aesthetics,
Pac-Man was popular fodder added, such as eyes, but then there would be no end to the “The adversarial TV cartoon Tom And Jerry helped shape the
for the hacking brigade. additions. “As design concepts, both Pac-Man and the ghosts relationship between Pac-Man and the ghosts,” recalls Iwatani.
Basic hacks involved minor have a simplicity and endearing charm,” Iwatani says of his “Had the programming been such that the four ghosts constantly
gameplay tweaks, such as decision to keep the graphic design streamlined, also suggesting attacked Pac-Man’s present location according to the same
speeding things up, while
that the visuals of the game helped it appeal to female gamers of algorithm, the ghosts would look like a string of beads. Where’s
slightly less basic hacks
messed about with the maze, the day. the thrill in that? So I introduced AI-type algorithms that had the
graphics and sound, adding The elegant clarity of the character design also influenced the ghosts coming at Pac-Man from all directions.”
to the original game’s pristine game itself. The food for Pac-Man to eat was initially strewn all And so we were introduced to Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde
polish a veneer of sticky and over the screen, but Iwatani was keen to ensure gamers would (Akabei, Pinky, Aosuke and Guzuta in the original Japanese
semi-random digital jam.
The hideous Joyman, with its immediately know what to do. “I wanted to simplify gameplay release). According to Iwatani, the ghosts attack in waves, before
ghastly audio and broken maze operation, and so the idea occurred to me of constructing a maze dispersing and attacking again, which gives the player some
layout, most notably kicked in which movement was restricted to the four basic directions regular breathing space and appears more organic than the kind
Pac-Man in the head with all – up and down, left and right,” he says. With this structure in of incessant attacks that had plagued earlier arcade games like
the subtlety of a size-ten boot.
place, the game’s objective became more obvious, and the Space Invaders. (Over time, these waves are harder to identify,
The most effective hacks
are those that respect the lead character soon gained his moniker, ‘Pakku Man’, based on and the ghost attacks become swift and relentless, somewhat
original formula – Hangly- Japanese slang ‘paku-paku’, which describes the contradicting Iwatani’s desire for a non-stressful game,
Man’s amended mazes – but sound of the mouth while eating. (The original but providing a necessary long-term challenge
GL’s Piranha is an exception. game’s title subsequently became Puck Man. The for seasoned players.) Although gamers often
Removing the maze and
shifting the setting to a US publisher, Midway, renamed it Pac-Man to stop disagree with exactly how the algorithms work in
claustrophobic underwater wily hoodlums amending the ‘p’ in ‘puck’ to an ‘f’.) practice, Iwatani has in the past stated that Blinky
cavern – the eponymous With the game’s basic content dealt with, is designed to chase Pac-Man, but that Pinky’s
piranha pursued by ravenous Iwatani realised it wasn’t yet much fun, and so goal is to aim just in front of Pac-Man, hence why
octopuses – gives the game
enemies were added to the mix, providing tension the two often seem to ‘sandwich’ the hero. The
an edge in terms of focus and
originality that other hacks and excitement, and making it a challenge for players movement of Inky and Clyde is a lot more random,
typically lack. to grab food from the maze. Unusually for the time, the end result being that Pac-Man is pursued in a
I designed the game so players of

any age and either sex could play it
straight away, without reading a
game manual TORU IWATANI
» When Pac-Man won awards, it didn’t mess about:

these are for the ‘most successful coin-operated
game in history’ and ‘game of the century’.
natural way, rather than in a robotic, pre-defined

manner, which makes the game seem more real.
The attacks aren’t entirely one-sided, however;
Conversion capers
as noted earlier, the maze contains four power
pellets, which temporarily transform the ghosts
With myriad Pac-Man conversions available, we
into a ‘scared’ blue form, enabling Pac-Man to look at the most curious examples
turn the tables, hunt them down and eat them. “The
inspiration for the power pellet was the spinach
in the TV cartoon Popeye,” explains Iwatani. “The
power pellets didn’t exist in the planning stages at
all – they emerged during the development stage as
a feature for turning the game around, and made the game vastly
more interesting.”
Although the completed Pac-Man ended up shipping well
over quarter of a million units, Iwatani notes that the game’s
impact wasn’t immediate: “In Japan, the game met with a
lukewarm reception at first, but it then proved to be a long seller
over several years.” Amusingly, its success in the USA also took ATARI 2600 VIC-20
Embarrassingly drawing attention to itself via While most VIC-20 owners had Atarisoft’s dire
people by surprise, with ‘experts’ of the time judging Rally-X to an ‘Atari National Pac-Man Day’, this conversion conversion, Japanese Commodore fans were
be 1980’s game to watch. However, Iwatani’s ability to attract all supposedly resulted from marketing pressure. A enjoying HAL Laboratories’ superior take on
kinds of gamers, rather than just teenagers keen on blowing up flickering mess, the game’s dreadful maze layout Pac-Man. Commodore renamed the game Jelly
aliens, hit home. “Overseas, it was a massive hit – people who and ropey gameplay led to a shortfall in sales, Monsters outside of Japan, but fell foul of Atari’s
normally didn’t play videogames became avid fans, and there with five million cartridges left gathering dust. legal hammer of doom, and withdrew the game.
was much media coverage of the playing of Pac-Man,” he recalls.
The game has also stood the test of time, being converted
to myriad platforms, and it regularly appears on compilations
and various online services to this day. “I designed the game so
that players of any age and either sex could play it straight away,
without reading a game manual,” says Iwatani of his creation’s
enduring popularity. “The game also contains numerous detailed
stratagems for reading the players’ psychology.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Iwatani claims he’d not revise his
game, given the chance to go back and do so. “At the design
stage, there was a ‘shutter’ feature, which opened and closed,
MSX FUJITSU FM-7
acting as an obstacle in the path of the maze,” he says. “But I’d Namco’s 1984 MSX release eschewed the Instead of following the MSX conversion’s
change nothing from the final game. Why? Because Pac-Man is horizontally stretched mazes of most home method of dealing with varying aspect ratios
complete to such an extent that to add or to subtract anything at conversions, instead shifting the score display to between arcade and home screens, 1984’s
all would be unacceptable.” the side of a smaller maze that retained the arcade Japanese FM-7 Pac-Man release rotates the maze
parent’s aspect ratio. This device remains in use by 90 degrees. This means no stretched maze and
Despite having worked on a range of titles over the years, today – eg: in Pac-Man plug-and-play TV games. no weeny graphics, but the change disorientates.
including Time Crisis and Ridge Racer, it’s clear Iwatani’s heart
always remained with his disc-based creation. During the
GAME BOY ADVANCE iPHONE

A touch of the crazies descended over Nintendo The Pac-Man conversion for Apple’s handheld is
HQ when the NES Classics line reached Europe. mostly unremarkable and accurate, but the lack of
With collectable boxes ditched and prices raised, tactile controls results in curious control methods:
you got a botched port of the bog-standard NES ‘swiping’, an on-screen D-pad, and tilting to move
conversion for more than the superior Pac-Man Pac-Man. Swiping works best; directions are
Collection cost at the time. Nice. confirmed via an on-screen joystick.
» Semicon’s mid-Nineties Hyper Pacman provides an almost Bomberman-like take on Pac-Man,

throwing strange boss fights into the mix.
Pac-Man milestones A brief overview of notable arcade-based
MS PAC-MAN (1981) SUPER PAC-MAN (1982) JR. PAC-MAN (1983)
Fed up waiting for Namco’s Namco’s Pac-Man sequel Midway again did the naughty,
Pac-Man sequel, US distributor disappointed many outside of creating this effort without
Midway struck a blow for Japan, due to the fact that the permission, and Namco
gender equality by releasing gameplay was substantially terminated Midway’s licensing
GCC’s Pac-Man hack. Along altered. You still clear mazes, but agreement. Namco still
with speeding up the game and munch targets behind gates that doesn’t recognise the game as
amending the hero, Ms Pac-Man open when keys are guzzled. A official. With its scrolling levels
includes new mazes, more ‘super power dot’ makes Pac- obliterating the original’s tightly
varied ghost behaviour and Man grow Hulk-like, to devour honed strategic gameplay, it’s
moving fruit. everything in his path. easy to see why.
» A rampaging Pac-Man on level one devours a ghost before laying eyes on the cherries. Meanwhile, a resurrected Pinky » Pac-Man Arrangement, released in 1996 as part of Namco Classics Collection Vol.2, is a
sets out for revenge. successful Pac-Man update, with pretty graphics and interesting new features.
Eighties, he was involved in both Pac-Land and Pac-Mania, with However, some major changes were made to the formula, in
DEVELOPER the former being his favourite. “It pioneered action videogames order to keep the game relevant and ensure it was more than
HIGHLIGHTS in which the scene flows horizontally. According to its creator, just the original game reskinned.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. was Rather than the player having to clear a maze to proceed,
influenced by Pac-Land,” he says, proudly. Pac-Man Championship Edition plays like a time-attack game,
However, it was during 2006 that Iwatani finally got the chance and the player has a strict time limit in which to score as many
to both return to Pac-Man’s roots and design a brand new points as possible. As with Pac-Man, this is done by consuming
engaging, modern-day evolution of his original creation. Instead dots and ‘scared’ ghosts, but the longer you stay alive, the more
of the arcades, the chosen platform was Xbox Live Arcade, and each dot is worth (and the faster the game becomes). Also, the
the game became Pac-Man Championship Edition (PMCE). maze is now split in half. Clear one half of dots and bonus fruit
“The time was right for a next-generation Pac-Man, because appears in the other; eat said fruit and new dots are spawned
LIBBLE RABBLE! (PICTURED) the Xbox Live Arcade environment supports real-time in the previously cleared half. “The horizontal maze came about
SYSTEM: ARCADE competition with score-ranking via the internet, and improved due to the prevalence of widescreen displays,” explains Iwatani,
YEAR: 1983 design through its hardware specification,” explains Iwatani noting that the split-maze device also creates non-stop action,
PAC-LAND about the origins of the highly acclaimed game. “My aim with unlike the original Pac-Man, which ‘interrupts’ players upon a
SYSTEM: ARCADE the game was to achieve legitimate evolution, with simplicity level’s completion. “And the timeout feature increases the sense
YEAR: 1984 of game design and absence of the superfluous as my guiding of speed and excitement in the game, making it a very thrilling
RIDGE RACER principles, because, in my opinion, few players look for experience to play. Also, score ranking via the internet
SYSTEM: ARCADE complexity in gameplay.” provides competition, which has been a great success.”
YEAR: 1993 Guided by the same ground rules that defined Iwatani adds that one of the key aims was to have
Pac-Man – immediacy, simplicity, immunity to people worldwide competing, the logical modern-day
language and cultural differences, and “that sense equivalent of Eighties’ high-score table on the original
of wanting to play and have fun, which is what the Pac-Man. It works brilliantly, ensuring you’ll always
world’s videogame players are looking for” – want to return for one more game.
Pac-Man Championship Edition broadly retains Perhaps ironically, PMCE was, unlike Pac-Man,
the original’s core gameplay, tasking the player critically acclaimed right from the start. 1UP.com
with navigating a maze to eat dots, fruit and ranked it alongside Geometry Wars in terms of a
power pellets and avoiding roaming ghosts. classic game format being reworked, noting that
Pac-Man follow-ups
PAC & PAL (1983) PAC-LAND (1984) PAC-MANIA (1987)
Here, Namco again moved Pac-Man finally left the maze, Pac-Man finally returned to his
further from the original gained legs, arms and a roots in Pac-Mania, although as
Pac-Man. Ghosts can only be face, and was tasked with you can see his surroundings
stunned rather than eaten, battling through this early are markedly different. The
and now flipping cards opens side-scrolling arcade game, its isometric maze scrolls, and
gates to reveal items. The ‘Pal’ levels peppered with Pac-Man the ghosts tend to roam in
of the title is the infuriating imagery. Although repetitious, packs. Although, in Pac-Man’s
Miru, who makes off with your the game is initially fun and it’s favour, he can now jump and he
bonus items, taking them to the more successful than Namco’s occasionally finds bonus items
inaccessible ghost pen. previous two efforts. that speed him up.
» Piranha is a decent Pac-Man hack, removing the maze

and thereby creating a different and tougher game.
With grateful thanks to Tetsuya

Pac-Man’s guiding principle is Hayashi for invaluable assistance
‘fun first’
» Several levels in and the ghosts become faster – you have in realising this interview.
little time to eat them after eating a power pellet. TORU IWATANI
it was “a lot more than just a tarted-up Pac-Man.” Joystiq’s of videogame aficionados, and then design products to suit
Jared Rea blogged: “A better name for it would have been each,” he suggests, thoughtfully. “A sumptuous party dress
Pac-Man 2, […] a name that gets the point across that Pac-Man may be of limited practical value in daily living, and the same
Championship Edition is the first true sequel to the game since applies to over-elaborate videogames in the videogame market.”
Ms Pac-Man.” On retro titles – ‘pick up and play’ games popularised by the
Iwatani modestly suggests that some of the acclaim might internet, XBLA, Nintendo DS, Wii and iPhone – Iwatani thinks
be due to low expectations for a Pac-Man game, and says the this might be a sign that the actual game, rather than aesthetics,
response of game players exceeded his expectations, citing the is again becoming the main concern for developers: “Hardware
many internet-based critiques that offered “splendidly glowing specifications 20 or 30 years ago restricted powers of expression,
evaluations”. (Happily, and despite claims to the contrary, and so the rules of the game were decisive in attracting users.
Iwatani also assures us that PMCE is not necessarily to be his The current boom in retro games is evidence of a universal
swansong, since he continues to be involved in videogame fascination with game-playing itself.”
production. Although at this point in time (2015) he’s yet to have We finish off the interview by returning to the subject of Pac-
been significantly involved in a new game in the way he was Man. We’re keen to know how Iwatani feels to be the designer
with PMCE. He’s not left our thoughts completely however, as behind a game that almost everyone knows – one that perhaps
he made a cameo appearance alongside Pac-Man in Adam only Tetris can challenge in terms of its incredible widespread
Sandler’s recent movie Pixels. appeal? “People view the work in different ways, from different
With 30 years of experience in videogames design, including viewpoints. Some see it as being broad and shallow. For others,
the most iconic games character of them all, Iwatani is now, it is narrow yet deep and praised,” considers Iwatani. “What is
perhaps suitably, involved in teaching aspects of videogames gratifying about this is that people find such different reasons
design to students at Tokyo Polytechnic University, along with for loving it.” And as a final word, Iwatani reckons that there are
conducting research into games for social purposes. Although still things his 35-year-old creation can teach modern-day games
Pac-Man has always remained popular throughout the years, designers, developers and publishers. “Pac-Man is the perfect
we wondered what Iwatani made of the games industry’s videogame because its design gives top priority to the player and
tendency towards over-complication and movie-like games, to a spirit of service,” he says. “Its guiding principle is ‘fun first’.
along with the relatively recent resurgence in retro-orientated This concept is in my view invincible and what I look for in the
titles. “We should carefully gauge the preferences of light users, videogame creators of today, that they understand the importance
who normally don’t play videogames, and the preferences of capturing people’s hearts.”
Star Wars
“YOU’RE ALL CLEAR KID”
»ATARI INC
»ARCADE
» RETROREVIVAL
» 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 the Atari 2600’s plodding The Empire
Strikes Back) but it was the first game to fully capture the joy of the Star Wars
films, and I lapped it up.
Everything about it was perfect. The sit-down cabinet felt (with a lot of
imagination) like you were strapped into your very own X-wing fighter, the
controls were incredibly precise (although you may struggle a little with them
nowadays) and the aesthetics were amazing. TIE fighters roared across the
screen, fireballs hurtled towards you at frightening speeds and the dreaded Death
Star loomed ever closer. Add in the wide variety of sound effects straight from
the film and some of the best ‘digitised speech‘ around and the end result was a
truly magical experience that ate up your credits at a truly alarming rate.
What made Star Wars so great was the sheer amount of action that was
going on. While the aerial dogfights with opposing TIE fighters were fun, it was
the exhilarating race down the Death Star’s trench that proved to be the game’s
real trump card. After reliving the movie so many times in the school playground,
the ability to finally participate in the real thing (or as close to it as possible) was a
revelation. Thank goodness we now have a stand-up cabinet in the office.
One of gaming’s biggest arguments has always been,
‘Which is better, Dig Dug or Mr. Do?’ While everyone has
their own answer, Kieren Hawken went digging to see
what everyone’s favourite clown has to offer
hey say that in the videogame clone) it was struggling to break into the US
T 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.
market and needed something to grab people’s
attention, Mr. Do! did just that.
The name itself was both unique and
memorable; short and snappy with a big
exclamation mark to drive it home. Do himself
was just as appealing; a fun and friendly clown
adorned with lots of bright colours. Other
Universal Entertainment hit the sweet spot operators had already found that bright and
itself when it came up with Mr. Do! in October bold colours attracted a larger audience away
1982. Although the company previously had from the standard demographic of arcadegoers,
reasonable success with Space Panic in 1980 Atari’s Centipede and Konami’s Frogger have
(regarded as the very first platform game) and both used this to great effect and became
Lady Bug the year after (an interesting Pac-Man very popular with casual players, Universal
was very much trying the same strategy. In
fact, programmer of the Atari 2600 version
Ed English remembers the original Mr. Do!
prototype that he was involved in testing was
quite different to the final product. “I was the
first person to receive an early version
e’s no
» [Arcade] Sadly, ther
Mr. Do!
co-operative play in
ULTIMATE GUIDE: MR DO!
ALPHAMONKillStheTseER
guys to light each
Q
‘EXTRA’ and
letter of the word
gain a bonus life.
MULTI-MONSTER TOFFEE APPLE

These can
Q be used to
Watch out for thes
Q e nasties as squash your enemies or
they will eat up all your fruit to block their path.
!
BseLU Eme M Es A y
NIE
fearso fellow onl
QThe
er the
appear once you ent
bonus mode.
PIXEL PERFECT
It’s amazing what yo
u can find undergroun
d
BONUS CHERRIES
QCollect
QCollect al
l these as
th
ese object alternative an
extra poin s to gain way of clea
ts the stage. ring
bonus mod and to enter the
e.
MROur.herDo: aOdirt!-digging
Q
lethal
clown armed with a
bouncy ball!
MON, theSyTwilER
l
QYour main foe
are killed
chase you until they
or kill you!
» Universal went for
a bright vibrant
design for Mr. Do! in
order to try and
attract all sorts of gam
ers..
CLOWNING AROUND
We quiz Ed English about
his 2600 conversion
How did you come to work on Mr. Do! try different things to figure out how the
for the Atari 2600? hardware worked. And no manual said,
Aer graduating with a Computer ‘You can’t do that.’ So we did innovative
Science degree, I landed a job in techniques like reloading sprites and
Miami, programming embedded chess field registers (image blocks) mid-
machines for Fidelity Electronics. There raster scan and interlaced the screen
I learned game theory and was tutored to get more graphics to display. It was
by a chess grandmaster. The idea was uncharted territory and fun to explore
he would teach me to play better chess what was possible.
so I could teach the computer to play Humble is being generous. The
better. Great fun! From there, Parker Atari 2600 did not have any operating
Brothers hired me to help reverse- system, Programmers had to write
engineer the Atari 2600 and to develop all the code on their own. 128 bytes of
games for it. Aer disassembling some RAM, 4KB or 8KB of program ROM,
’t match
of the best game cartridges to learn and some registers you could write fashion, the boxart didn t here.
» In typical Eighties
how they programmed, I was ready for to make images display and sound gam e’s visuals, there’s not a clown in sigh
the
my first game assignment, converting effects. I worked with a four-byte
the Frogger coin-op into an Atari 2600 stack. Slim pickings, but, like a puzzle
cartridge. That took me 16 weeks and trying to put it all together, it was a lot
I made some good use of the Atari’s of fun programming.
limited capabilities to reuse sprites,
while painting the screen, and to do Were you pleased how it turned out,
two-part harmony music while doing are there any ways you wish had
sound effects. My Frogger cartridge improved it?
sold four million copies the first year. Overall, I was pleased with how Mr. Do!
I le Parker Brothers with another for Atari turned out. It had challenges
engineer, Ed Temple, and we started a in the game layout that required
game development company, Individeo. some clever coding to map onto the
We liked to say, ‘Two Ed’s were better limited Atari 2600. Sometimes I had to » [Arcade] When you
start a level a
than one!’ Individeo developed all of interlace Mr. Do! and the cherries when small tunnel has alre
ady been dug for you
.
Coleco’s Atari 2600 games for two they were on the same horizontal
years. Mr. Do! was the first Atari line, as there were only two sprites to
cartridge I programmed for Coleco. work with. So, one frame I would show
We also programmed Front Line, Roc Mr. Do! and the next frame I’d show
NES
N’ Rope, Cabbage Patch Kids (never the cherries. It was done in a way to
released), Looping and a couple others minimise the flashing of Mr. Do! to not
TACK OF THE CLO

for Atari 2600 systems.
How hard was it back then to

be too tiresome on the eyes.
AT It was the Eighties,
so of course Mr. Do! had its copycats
squeeze a state-of-the-art arcade
game into the humble Atari 2600?
I always thought the programmers who
worked at Atari were handicapped in a
way; they had a manual that told them
how the hardware worked. We had to
» Ed English pro
grammed the Ata
2600 version of Mr ri
. Do!. FRUITY FRANK BOB’S GARDEN
AMSTRAD CPC AMIGA
QProgrammed by Steven Wallis and published QA public domain game written by Justin
by Kuma Computers, you are not going to find Leck, Bob’s Garden is very highly regarded
many more direct Mr. Do! clones than Fruity among Amiga fans and we can see why. It
Frank. The object of the game and how it plays is almost perfectly copies across everything from
almost identical; dig through dirt, collect the fruit, the original Mr. Do! while adding a few small
kill the baddies with boulders or your ball and features of its own. The colourful graphics
move onto the next level. The only real change is are really nice and the sprites in particular are
omission of the bonus letters to gain your extra very well animated. It really sings in the sound
life. One of the most pleasing things about Fruity department too with a wide range of great tunes
Frank is how good it looks, utilising the CPC’s full playing throughout the game. Add in some great
palette to great effect. presentation and you have a real winner.
less
» [Atari 2600] There’s a lot
version.
space to dig tunnels in this
The final game changed the look
of Mr. Do! to be more colourful
Ed English
of the Mr. Do! arcade game, which I still the moment you start. This is because the
have,” he remembers. “The final arcade monsters start chasing you from the moment
game changed the look of Mr. Do! to be more they appear and can also move faster than our
colourful, to appeal to a wider audience, based hero. Carefully-dug tunnels gain you valuable
on feedback Universal was given. The all-white seconds and also allow you to create traps. The
clown character for the Mr. Do! prototype I giant toffee apples in Mr. Do!, act much like
was given was the Mr. Do! I became familiar the boulders in Dig Dug, in that they can be
with. It wasn’t until after I completed the Atari dropped on your foes to squash them, but be
2600 version of Mr. Do! that the final changes careful how you do it because you might end
were made.” Interestingly Coleco, which Ed up squashing yourself! They can also be used
was contracted to, acquired the rights for the tactically, too, to block a path behind you, for
home console versions of Mr. Do! well before example. Although this does only work for a
the game was even finished, just to stop Atari short time, as the enemies can eventually push
getting its hands on it. them out the way. The level doesn’t finish until
all the fruit is harvested, or you kill all enemies.
r. Do! became part of a short Another key element of Mr. Do! is the
M trend of digging games, started

by Namco’s Dig Dug around six
months earlier. Other arcade
games that followed this lead
were Taito’s The Pit and Sega’s Thunderground,
albeit to far less success. Although, at a glance,
Mr. Do! appears to be nothing more than a
Alphamonsters, these fellows are basically an
enemy with one letter of the world ‘EXTRA’
pinned to them. When you kill them, you light
up that specific letter, collect all the letters and
you not only end the round early, but also get
a neat little animation and an extra life. The
latter of which is extremely useful as there are
blatant clone of Namco’s game, it does, in fact, no continues in the game. From time to time
play quite differently and requires a far more a bonus item will appear in the centre of the
e
tactical approach. The basics of both games are screen, these are usually an item of food such r you can tak
you are cleve apple.
very much the same: dig tunnels, kill monsters as a cake or cheese. When you collect these, » [Arcade] If ies at once with a falling
enem
out all the
and score as many points as possible, however the screen turns red and all the enemies are
Mr. Do! adds so much more to the equation frozen for a short time. This also calls out an
with more monsters to contend with, who are Alphamonster and, after a short pause, a group
also of greater intelligence, and the need of blue monsters who will not only come
to collect fruit. Random tunnel-making after you, but also eat your fruit. If you
won’t get you anywhere in this game, manage to kill the Alphamonster during
you will need to plan your route from this sequence the blue meanies
MR. EE! MR. DIG HARD CHEESE MR. DOO

BBC MICRO ATARI ST ZX SPECTRUM ACORN ARCHIMEDES
QWithout doubt one of the most famous Mr. Do! QPublished by leading PD label Budgie UK and QAs you can imagine the Speccy has more QPublished on the cover of Archimedes World
clones out there, Mr. Ee! is so close to Universal’s programmed by Robin Edwards using the STOS than a few Mr. Do! clones in its library, but this is magazine, Mr. Doo is a great clone for the acorn
game that we’re amazed the developer wasn’t game creator, Mr. Dig is a pretty lacking clone of definitely the most interesting one. Published by machine. Instead of a clown, though, you now
sued. Everything about this game is pretty much Mr. Do! for the Atari ST. The graphics are average dk’tronics (of Popeye and Maziacs fame) in 1983 control a wizard, but the core gameplay is exactly
identical to the original coin-op from the graphics at best, the music has disappeared and the bonus it was programmed by the duo of Paul Johnson the same. The only real additions to the game are
(including the actual Mr. Do! sprite) to the tunes system has gone walkies too. You also rarely get and Eugene Farrell. The first unusual element is the power-ups that can be collected. These help
and sound effects. The level layouts are the more than a couple of bad guys on screen at one that you are now a little guy in a bulldozer and you you turn the tables on the enemy and complete
same, the bonus system’s intact and even the time, making the game incredibly easy. Mr. Dig is appear to be collecting cans of Coke, as opposed the levels quicker. Mr. Doo has lovely colourful
vertical field of play has been ripped. There isn’t definitely one of the poorest clones we tried out, to fruit. Instead of a ball you now launch this graphics, great digitised sound and addictive
a lot more we can say about Mr. Ee!, it’s which is a real shame as the ST has no flashing green block at the enemies. Hard gameplay that will keep this game right at
just Mr. Do!, but with a different name. decent alternative. Cheese is fairly basic, but a lot of fun. the front of your Archimedes disk box.
VERSION CAPERS
CON All the Mr.Do! conv
ersions that you can shake an ap
ple at
SHARP X68000 ATARI 2600 COLECOVISION APPLE II

QThe Sharp X68000 version of the game was QAs you can probably imagine, several sacrifices QOf the early ports, the ColecoVision iteration QThe Apple II version was never going to be
included on a double-disk set with the equally- had to be made to port Mr. Do! to the Atari 2600. of Mr. Do! has always been the most highly pretty, but its coders did a fairly decent job, all
excellent sequel Mr. Do’s Castle (using the The biggest problem is the lack of resolution, regarded, and rightly so in our opinion. The things considered – you can certainly tell what it
Japanese title Mr. Do! Vs. Unicorns). The X68000 which means you can’t form any complex tunnel colourful graphics certainly look the part and the is. Bar a few odd beeps here and there, the sound
version of the original Mr. Do! looks to be an systems to escape the bad guys. It also plays a developers did a great job of replicating the audio is almost non-existent, though: another flaw of
exact port of the original coin-op’s source code, little on the slow side. It’s a cut-down version, on Coleco’s console, too. The only flaw with this the hardware, unfortunately. Thankfully, Apple II
so it is pretty much arcade perfect in every single sure, but its flaws don’t spoil the core game too version is the bland single-colour sprites, which Mr. Do! does remain authentic in the
way, including the use of the correct screen ratio. much, thankfully. look a bit naff next to the rest of the visuals. all-important gameplay department.
NEOGEO ATARI 8BIT GAME BOY COMMODORE 64

QKnown as Neo Mr. Do!, this version for the QProgrammed by DataSoft, the Atari 8-bit port QOcean’s Game Boy conversion of the game QAnother home computer conversion by
powerful SNK console is more of a remake than of Mr. Do! very much rivals the ColecoVision port is another that takes a few liberties in order to DataSoft, it won’t come as any surprise to learn
a straight conversion. The most striking addition when it comes to the early conversions. While suit the hardware better. The levels now scroll, that it’s incredibly similar to its Atari 8-bit port.
is the outlandish backgrounds, which can the colours are not as vibrant as its competition, instead of taking up a single screen and many of The only real differences coming in the form
actually be quite distracting at times. The the multi-coloured sprites are a huge the layouts have changed. The Game Boy version of a smaller range of colours and slightly less
best new feature, though, is the power- improvement and the audio is far also has in-game music and little animations impressive sound effects. It cements itself as
ups, these add a whole new element to superior. This version also nails it in after each stage. A fun, portable and very another very solid version of an already great
the already excellent gameplay. the gameplay stakes too. playable rendition. arcade game.
MSX SUPER NINTENDO

QAs you would expect, given the almost identical QAlthough THQ isn’t a company renowned for its
hardware, the MSX has many similarities with quality, this late 1996 SNES port is terrific. Why it
the ColecoVision port. Once again we have rather came about so late in the system’s life, though, is
bland single-colour sprites mixed with otherwise anybody’s guess. It remains close to the arcade
attractive graphics and gameplay that stays very while adding a few minor enhancements in both
close to the coin-op. The addition of annoying the audio and visual departments. SNES owners
in-game music is not so good though! should track this one down.
e
have completed thre
» [Arcade] Once you are treated to a short animation.
you
consecutive stages
ND IN THE CLOWNS
SE
You might want to
look away if you’re
scared of them
CIRCUS CHARLIE MAD CLOWN

QAnother clown to feature QMad Clown is one of the
in a game carrying his name, opponents from the 1994 SNES
Circus Charlie is a hugely game Super Punch-Out!!. He
enjoyable 1984 Konami coin-op is the third fighter you face on
that was later ported to several the world circuit and utilises
home systems. The game is his circus skill of juggling balls
set over seven different circus- to great effect along with his
ATARI CLOWNS themed stages. KINKY PINKY oversized fists. ADAM
QAlthough they were never QOne of the most fearsome QAnybody who’s played
actually named, the two RONALD bosses from Eugene Levy’s SWEET TOOTH Capcom’s 2006 zombie
clowns that appear in the MCDONALD excellent 1988 Williams arcade QMarkus ‘Needles’ Kane, (or slash-’em-up Dead Rising will
popular 1980 Atari 2600 game QMore than just a videogame game Narc, Kinky Pinky is the Sweet Tooth, as he’s more be very familiar with Adam.
Circus Atari are among the character, Ronald McDonald is right-hand man of Mr. Big and commonly known) is one of the One of the most annoying and
earliest examples of clowns known for his association with responsible for running his popular characters from the downright violent characters in
in a videogame (having first a certain fast food brand. He hugely-profitable seedy Twisted Metal series. He’s the the game, his twin chainsaws
appeared in arcades in 1977). appeared in a wide range of porn business! definition of killer clown and cause some real damage.
different titles going right back got more darker as the series
to the Atari 2600. progressed.
KICKMAN BONKER DROPSY
QKickman is the titular QBonker The Clown appeared QThe newest entry in our
character from an obscure in three of the four Clay Fighter gallery of clowns, Dropsy is the
1981 Midway arcade game. It games, a popular series of star of last year’s fan-funded
plays a little like Kaboom! with fighting games by Interplay PC game of the same name.
your character trying to catch that originated in 1993. The A traditional point-and-click
balloons in his hat while riding game was notable for its use adventure, it was ported to iOS
a unicycle. Interestingly it also of rendered clay models and shortly after, with an Android
features a cameo by Pac-Man. comical interludes. port currently in the works.
are turned into toffee apples. On very rare of the difficulty was well paced so you could
occasions dropping an apple on an enemy will gradually improve your skills and reach higher
cause a diamond to appear, if collected this will levels. It had a fun, carnival-like theme with
not only reward you with 8,000 points, it will simple but rewarding gameplay. Overall it was
also complete the stage for you and give you a a great orchestration of gameplay, audio and
free game, this was a very unique feature for an visuals. A real gem was created!”
arcade videogame in the early Eighties. Mr. Do! had a real lasting impression on
» [Arcade] Be very car
Ed. “When my partner, Ed Temple, and I left as you can easily squ
eful dropping apples,
ash yourself.
r. Do! ended up being the most Parker Brothers to start a game development
M successful game released

by Universal by quite some
margin. Although it spawned
numerous sequels, including
the excellent platformer Mr. Do’s Castle, none
of them quite captured arcade audiences in the
way the first game had. We had to know if Ed
company, we rented a small three room office
in Massachusetts,” he remembers. Us two
‘Ed’s’ ended up programming all of Coleco’s
Atari 2600 games for two years and they
would always ship the arcade games to our
offices. It was a small building and the other
tenants were mostly accountants and lawyers
English knew if it was a winner from the day he who would knock on the door to see what
first got to test it “As soon as I saw the Mr. Do! all that noise was. It was nearly always Mr.
arcade game I knew it was a winner. Colourful Do! blaring out the music and sound effects. I
animated graphics, intuitive, addictive gameplay, still have that very same arcade cabinet in my
increasing challenges, with fun sounds and house to this day, in fact I even called my cat
music. As a player/programmer exploring the Mr. Do!.” We couldn’t let Ed go without asking
arcade prototype game that was sent to me, I one last question, though, which one is better
always felt I could do better next time – Mr. Do! or Dig Dug? “Mr. Do! makes
I played it. Mr. Do! would get trapped Dig Dug eat dirt!” Ed laughs.
or have an apple fall on him and it was
always my mistake. The acceleration Special thanks to Ed English.
Arcade games that never made it home
» Hitting multiple enemies with the bell is not only an effective

tactic, but a high-scoring one. Each enemy is worth twice the
points of the last, making combos worth trying.
» Attacking with the trailing bell requires planning – you’re

responding to enemy movements rather than directly assaulting
them, and enemies can still evade when the bell is moving.
» Returning characters from previous games have received a

makeover for their appearance in Tinkle Pit, but retain their old
abilities – these Pookas from Dig Dug can travel through walls.
» When a whole cake is collected, this slice will grow

into a whole cake and a new slice will spawn. Growing
your items is an important step to achieving high scores.
TINKLE PIT
Q Developer: Namco Q Year: 1993 Q Genre: Maze Game CONVERTED ALTERNATIVE
QIf you ever need reminding that the arcade around the maze, but these are single-use and PENGO 1982
market of the early Nineties was a weird, can only defeat one enemy at a time. Stages are
transitional scene, Tinkle Pit should serve well. cleared by eliminating every enemy. Every few Sega’s block-kicking penguin has appeared
Despite the declining popularity of traditional stages, a boss will appear which takes multiple on a variety of formats since his debut,
maze games and the market’s preference for the hits to defeat. including the Atari 2600, Commodore 64 and
3D games which were finally beginning to come Tinkle Pit manages to keep things interesting, Game Gear. However we’re big fans of the
of age, Namco chose to release Tinkle Pit into with good scoring mechanics largely responsible 1995 Mega Drive remake which features new
arcades in 1993. That’s the same year it released for this. Greater scores are awarded for knocking mechanics and a multiplayer mode, as well
Ridge Racer. But while it’s true that Tinkle Pit is out multiple enemies with the bell, encouraging as an excellent conversion of the original
something of an anachronism, it plays rather well. you to leave longer trails. However, long trails arcade game.
You play as a young blonde chap, who happens allow enemies more time to leave the bell’s path.
to be accompanied by an anthropomorphic sleigh Additionally, each stage contains pick-ups which
bell. He’s promptly plonked into a maze to fight award more points. These come in small and large
all manner of enemies, including familiar Namco varieties, and you’re encouraged to pick up large
characters drawn from games such as Toy Pop items to allow small ones to grow. Pick up all eight
and Dig Dug. The main way to defeat enemies is large items and you’ll get a major bonus.
with the bell. Pressing a button fixes its position, There’s a lot to like about Tinkle Pit and Namco
allowing your hero to run around the maze while fans will enjoy spotting all the returning characters
leaving a trail of string behind. When the button is – there’s even a power-up which turns you into
released, the bell will follow the trail back to your Pac-Man. However, thanks to its Japan-only
position, knocking out any enemies it encounters release and the general decline of maze games
along the way. You can also collect yellow energy as a genre, it’s easy to see why Tinkle Pit didn’t
balls which are thrown forward and bounce receive any conversions.
THE UNCONVERTED
ARBALESTER
Q Developer: Seta Q Year: 1989 Q Genre: Shoot-’em-up
CONVERTED ALTERNATIVE
NBA JAM 1993
QIf you’re not well versed in medieval
After blowing the arcade sports
weaponry, that title might seem a
genre wide open, it was inevitable
bit strange to you. An arbalest is a
that NBA Jam would make the trip
crossbow variant, which is of course
to home consoles, and it eventually
perfect for a game about fighter planes.
arrived on the Mega Drive, Mega-CD,
Arbalester is a rather traditional shoot-
Game Gear, Game Boy and SNES. It
’em-up in the same vein as the likes of
happens to be a fair bit better than
1942 – no bullet hell here. As well as
Rim Rockin’ Basketball, too.
shooting forward, your plane bombs
ground-level targets by default, and
comes equipped with an exchangeable
secondary weapon that can send RIM ROCKIN’
miniature planes or massive flying
fortresses at the enemy.
Visually the game takes an age to
BASKETBALL
» A relatively unremarkable shoot-’em-up, but Arbalester get going, with very little variation Q Developer: Incredible Technologies Q Year: 1991 Q Genre: Sports
includes some impressively large enemies. in the sea backgrounds of the early
stages, though it does pick up a little QRim Rockin’ Basketball is a strange
later on with the inclusion of cloudscapes and forests. Much better are the release. Struggling forth on noticeably
gigantic bosses on offer, but these are sadly few and far between. Arbalester dated hardware, the game offered a
is a largely unremarkable shooter, with little to distinguish it from the more more serious take on basketball than
accomplished competition that had arisen in the late Eighties. This likely put the likes of Midway’s Arch Rivals. The
paid to its chances of a NES release back then, but paradoxically increases game switches perspective as the
the appeal of the game today – it has the simplicity of a mid-Eighties shoot- ball is turned over to the opposing
’em-up but feels fresher due to a lack of familiarity. team and players are limited to simple
shots and passes. Certain fouls are
included and the occasional graphical » The attacking team is always running upwards, as the
CONVERTED ALTERNATIVE touch such as a shattering backboard viewpoint changes at each turnover.
enlivens proceedings, but overall this credits only last for a fraction of a
1943: THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY 1987 is not spectacular work. quarter. As a result, playing a full
Capcom’s shoot-’em-up also has a realistic The game’s major saving grace game of Rim Rockin’ Basketball is
theme, but as the sequel to the popular 1942 is its multiplayer, as up to four ridiculously expensive, especially
it received a number of home conversions, players are supported by the cabinet. when multiple players are involved.
appearing on the major home micros as well as However, there’s a major downside Games from Incredible Technologies
the NES and PC Engine. Arcade-perfect versions to this – a full game will last the best never received home conversions,
later appeared on Capcom Classics Collection part of an hour as the game counts explaining the failure of Rim Rockin’
Volume 1 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. down its quarters in real time, but Basketball to make it to consoles.
BEST LEFT IN THE ARCADE » This screenshot actually looks pretty

interesting, which gives a rather
misleading impression of Mirai Ninja.
Sorry, readers.
MIRAI NINJA
Q Developer: Namco Q Year: 1989 Q Genre: Run-and-gun
QLicensed from a film of the same name, Stage design in Mirai Ninja is incredibly
Mirai Ninja is a run-and-gun game that was dull, with flat layouts that barely differentiate
exclusive to Japanese arcades. The basic themselves from one another. Enemy design
premise isn’t too different from games such is similarly bland, with few foes providing
as The Legend Of Kage, with a seemingly any real challenge – even the bosses are
limitless supply of ninjas zapping in to pushovers. Worse yet, power-ups are limited
provide shuriken-fodder. The game doesn’t to a screen-clearing smart bomb and a triple
look too bad, with nice stylistic touches like a shot. It feels extraordinarily dated, bearing
life indicator written in kanji, and it contains in mind that ninja games such as Strider
some rather neat sections with massive and The Revenge Of Shinobi appeared in
rotating sprites that admittedly look very the same year. If licensing was the factor
impressive. Unfortunately, that’s where the that prevented this from making a home
praise ends. appearance, we should be grateful.
THE
LEGACY OF
ROBOTRON
“The human race is inefficient and therefore
must be destroyed.” Ten words that kicked off
the cult of Robotron. Along with some of the
new wave of game designers who helped
revitalise the twin-stick shooter for the
modern age, Mike Bevan explores
the enduring appeal of Eugene
Jarvis and Larry DeMar’s
arcade masterpiece
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.”
control. I wanted to make a game with with echo decay from Firepower for firing,
significantly more firepower. I was also and I threw in a Defender explosion
inspired by the early Commodore PET for a robot hit, and I started feeling the
game Chase, which used 24x80 line text- tension and release. Then when I dialled
based graphics, where the player tried to up the robot count to 128, the adrenal
run away from enemies while luring them cortex overload was complete. Within
into a minefield to their death. Throw in moments, I was a sweating, gasping mass
elements from Defender and Pac-Man and of smoking neurons…”
you’ve got a lot of the gameplay. The fact that Robotron ’s action takes
“We started with the game engine from place in a claustrophobic single-screen
Defender /Stargate. I concentrated on the arena sets it apart from the pair’s
character/projectile behaviour, level design previous games, and helps ramp up
and game mechanic, while Larry basically the tension to coronary-inducing levels.
did everything else, including all the mind- “Where the cool thing about Defender
obotron. Its very name blowing special effects. To move the pixels, was the freedom to fly beyond the single-
R
can send even the Larry and I specced out what we called the screen space into an entire planetary world,
most battle-hardened Robotron graphics DMA chip, which may Robotron was all about the tension of
arcade fan into a volley have been the first graphics co-processor confinement,” Eugene muses. “There was
of nervous spasms for a colour bitmapped system capable of no escape from the confrontation, no fight
and involuntary rendering arbitrary-sized programmable or flight, only fight or fight.”
muscle twitches. An 2D images. The DMA chip made possible One small ray of hope among the
unrelenting barrage of digital cybernetic all the amazing explosion and particle overall nihilism of the game is the ability to
hostility in a single black screen, this effects in the game, as well as powering the save members of the last human family:
savage blaster chewed up players and gluttonous pixel rate.” Mommy, Daddy and little Mikey. Quick
their coinage as if there was no tomorrow, Notwithstanding the game’s splendid reflexes can save them from electrification
which was rather apt considering the presentation and masterful use of colour by Hulks or reprogramming by roaming
game’s apocalyptic storyline. Yet despite and sound, it’s the now-familiar twin- Progs into cybernetic zombies. “This
its unyielding nature, Robotron remains joystick control system that’s Robotron ’s ‘family’ has direct parallels with the
highly regarded among retro gamers and crowning glory. With the first stick to move Defender astronauts,” says Eugene. “I
developers alike, something that’s evident the player character and a second to guide felt strongly that a game has to be about
from RG’s Desert Island Disks feature over an unending stream of bullets, it’s far more than just killing – first from a play
the years – it’s still the foremost requested easier to get to grips with than Defender ’s mechanic perspective. If everything is just
game among our castaway list of veteran complex controls. Robotron wasn’t the first a shoot-kill then the game gets old and
designers. videogame to use it, but it was arguably the stale quick. Spicing it up with a rescue
Created by Eugene Jarvis and Larry first shooter that needed dual-stick controls dynamic enriched the game and added a
DeMar, Robotron was the third videogame as a conscious design choice. So was there lot of variety to play.”
the pair designed for Williams Electronics, a ‘eureka!’ moment when Eugene wired up As for the game’s renowned
following the equally well-received that second stick for the first time? difficulty, Eugene is unrepentant,
pairing of Defender and Stargate. It’s a “Totally,” Eugene grins. “I started with revealing that it could have been
nightmarishly dystopian vision, as the one-joystick control, where you would just even more evil.
encircling robotic horde hunts the last try to lure the robots into electrodes like
surviving human family, seeking the the Chase game. And it was fun – for about
rapid demise of our goggle-eyed hero.
“The game was inspired by a number
five seconds. Then I realised you have to
kill shit. Once I wired up the second 2600
ROBO LOVE
MARK TURMELL SMASH TV
of influences,” recalls Eugene. “First stick for firing and screwed it to the control “Robotron is the greatest game of all time. It’s
off, I loved Al McNeil’s robot killer game panel, I knew I was on the right track.” why I joined Williams/Bally/Midway and created
Berzerk. The great sounds and primal kill- Eugene’s experience as a sound engineer Smash TV. I went there to revive the dual-joystick
mechanic. Eugene is still a good friend of mine,
or-be-killed action were a huge rush. But on Williams’ pinball games came in handy and I learned many lessons from him that I use to this day.”
I became frustrated by the single-joystick at this point. “I used the old ball-lock sound
“In the Eighties, the arcade scene
was dominated by hardcore
players, the type that would be
playing Call Of Duty and other FPS games
today,” he reflects. “Robotron actually
went out even harder
at first, but it was just too brutal. The ROBO
controls required independent motion
of both hands, which was very new, and
LOVE
TIM SKELLY
even today many players can’t walk and STAR CASTLE
“Robotron was hugely
chew gum at the same time. We had to
groundbreaking. In fact,
lighten up the game.” I named my book of videogame cartoons
We can only imagine what sort of state aer it: Shoot The Robot, Then Shoot Mom!.
our wrists and synapses would have been I overheard a kid giving tips to a friend, and I
in if he hadn’t. Interestingly, it seems that just had to use it as my book title…”
if you were left-handed, you might have
had a small advantage. “Observing
cigarette burns on control panels, I could
tell that Robotron had about a 50/50 mix
of right- and left-handed players, which is
very unusual since lefties make up only
10-15 per cent of the population,” he
remarks. “Because lefties have to adapt
to a right-handed world, they are more
ambidextrous than righties. Hence they
make better Robotron players!”
West Hero, went some way to capturing multi-chamber world like Smash TV,” he
Welcome to the the spirit of the arcade original. Even

Eugene and Larry’s sequel to the game,
says, referring to his famously violent
gameshow-themed shooter. “In arcade
Pleasure Dome
“When Robotron came out, I felt that the
Blaster, abandoned the twin-stick model,
and, despite flourishes of brilliance, was
something of a flop. “Blaster is fun, but it
[design], the rule was ship the game
when it becomes fun, and with Robotron
a simple random-number-driven world
twin-stick control would rapidly dominate failed to resonate with players for a few generator did the trick, obviating the need
the industry,” Eugene reveals. “But reasons, including the videogame crash for a hugely detailed world. So Mark, John
surprisingly few titles came out – probably and a tiring of space themes,” Eugene and I wanted to go back and do this huge
due to the hardcore nature of the interface admits. “We faced the problem all 3D world culminating in the fabled ‘Pleasure
and the rising dominance of casual players. flight games have suffered for many Domes’. Also, we were really jazzed to
A big problem was the standard single years. The action is very compelling and develop a new storyline based on Running
joystick or joypad in consoles such as NES exciting on a primitive visual level, but Man and RoboCop memes.”
and Atari 2600. The ubiquitous single-stick it is hard to get meaningful gameplay The final instalment in Eugene’s
paradigm effectively locked the twin-stick and interaction as you blow through the unofficial Robotron trilogy, 1993’s Total
genre out of the consumer space. Most universe at the speed of light. Repeat play Carnage, featured a distinctly Gulf War-
of the ports suffered from lack of dual becomes a huge issue.” inspired atmosphere, and ditched most
joysticks, hardware performance, or if there One arcade game directly influenced of the static arena ‘lock-ins’ of Smash
were two joysticks, how do you nail them by Robotron was Atari’s excellent vector TV, something that Eugene admits may
down to the coffee table?” shoot-’em-up, Black Widow, as its creator, have been a mistake in terms of player
The hardware issue plagued many Bruce Merritt, explains: “We had a excitement levels. “For Total Carnage,
of the official home ports of Robotron, Robotron game in Atari engineering’s we tried a scrolling mechanic, and the
although some third-party efforts, such common area and many of us had game really lost something,” he admits.
as Paul Holmes’ Spectrum homage Wild calluses from wrenching the joysticks, “It became just a fire-hose kind of
shooting brains and protecting shooter without the tension.”
» The utterly beautiful Geometry Wars franchise is arguably our nuclear family. It was Outside of Eugene’s own
the most popular Robotron clone of recent times. definitely inspirational in inventions, there were a
the use of controls in Black few other interesting takes
Widow – it was hard to argue on the format, including Jeff
how effective two sticks were Minter’s surreal but brilliant
in escaping in one direction homage, Llamatron, which
while firing in another.” was released as a shareware
By 1990, arcade videogame title for the Atari ST and
hardware had evolved enough Amiga. Midway’s Robotron
to tempt Eugene to return to X, released in 1996 on the
the twin-stick shooter genre, PlayStation and PC, and
with Mark Turmell and artist later ported to the N64,
John Tobias. “The original brought the original
concept for Robotron was game up to date in
really more in line with a huge 3D, with varying
EUGENIUS!
The ten best games of Eugene Jarvis… aside from Robotron
01 DEFENDER
Defender’s stark beauty, multi-
08 CRUIS’N USA
The first in Eugene’s much-admired
dimensional gameplay and stunning driving series, Cruis’n USA was a
pyrotechnics were a revelation back in lighthearted take on the arcade racer,
1980, more surprisingly given that it was with a physics engine that favoured
Eugene’s videogame debut. It revitalised spectacular spins, crashes and airborne
the fortunes of manufacturer Williams vehicles over realism. The game’s
to such an extent that Stan Jarocki, visuals, which were painstakingly
marketing head at arch-rival Midway, digitised from real-life locations, are
was heard to comment: “For a first effort, a real asset in bringing the various
Defender is amazing.” courses from around the US to life.
02 FIREPOWER
This highly regarded pinball table from
04 BLASTER
Vid Kidz’ last videogame, this unofficial
06 SMASH TV
Eugene’s triumphant return to the
09 CRUIS’N
legendary designer Steve Ritchie was
the first electronic pinball machine to
Robotron follow-up is a fast-paced
3D space shooter. Despite negative
twin-stick shooter, Smash TV is an
ultra-violent gameshow-themed blaster
WORLD
Racing games were big business in the
feature now-standard elements like comparisons to Robotron, Blaster is a where big guns, rather than points, mean Nineties, so it was inevitable that Eugene
‘lane change’ and multi-ball. Eugene great bit of programming; its psychedelic prizes. Building on Robotron, it adds an would be asked to produce another. This
was responsible for the game’s soware Lego-brick visuals convey a real sense exploration element, a variety of funky time there’s a globe-trotting theme and a
and memorable sound effects, while the of speed. The game’s rarity and heritage weapons, and some particularly gnarly new stunt system. Aer one last sequel,
table’s classic layout went on to inspire has made it popular with collectors, with bosses, including the infamous Mutoid 1999’s Cruis’n Exotica, the series became
the hit video pinball simulation, David’s the attractive Duramold cabinet being Man. Winning a brand new VCR was the highest-grossing arcade racing
Midnight Magic. particularly sought aer. never so much fun. franchise of all time.
03 STARGATE
With Defender’s massive success under
05 NARC
This controversial scrolling shooter was
07 TOTAL 10 THE FAST AND
their belt, Eugene and Larry le Williams
to form their own company, Vid Kidz.
one of the first games to use the digitised
graphics technique later made famous
CARNAGE
The final slice of twin-stick mayhem
THE FURIOUS
Licensed from the popular 2001
Stargate, the sequel to their debut hit, by Mortal Kombat. Narc’s body count from Eugene and Mark Turmell, Total street-racing flick, this arcade racer is
was the first project under this new would make Arnie blush – blowing the Carnage takes place in a fictional Middle very much the spiritual successor to
moniker. It features similarly blistering appendages off drug lords with Uzis and Eastern state where a crazed dictator is the Cruis’n series. The Fast And The
gameplay, adding new enemies and rocket launchers is entertainingly silly, in cahoots with evil space aliens. Despite Furious lives up to the name of Eugene’s
features, like the Stargate itself, which although pacifists can go for the less some clever ideas, it doesn’t scale the production company, Raw Thrills,
served as a portal to nearby humanoids lethal approach of arresting suspects for loy heights of its predecessors, but is providing a high-octane rush through a
in distress. bonus points. still an enjoyable romp. variety of well-known US locales.
need the complete info of 2D to be able to
success depending on how well handle the central nervous system overload influential, of the new wave of twin-stick
players were able to utilise the 3D Robotron is known for.” shooters was Bizarre Creations’ Geometry
camera.
“Llamatron was a very cool The twin- Wars, originally included as an Easter
egg in Project Gotham Racing 2. “When I
and humorous take-off,” says Eugene,
praising Minter’s take
on his game. “But like almost all the
stick revival
Ironically, it was one of the banes of a retro
started at Bizarre, I ended up working on
PGR1, being given most of the tasks the
more senior coders couldn’t be arsed to
classic arcade titles, the 3D thing just gaming fan’s life that turned out to be do,” says designer Stephen Cakebread.
never worked out for Robotron. The 2D the saviour of twin-stick shooting games “One task happened to be the code that
complete information God’s-eye view is – the rise of the first-person shooter. “It interfaced with the Xbox joypad, so one
what makes the game happen. Getting wasn’t until the dominance of FPS games evening while prototyping some code that
whacked in the back or blindsided in a drove dual-stick adoption in the Xbox and dealt with the two analogue sticks I got a
3D world will never be fun. You really PlayStation DualShock controllers that little bored, and because I was aware of the
the twin-stick approach became standard, idea of the twin-stick shooting mechanic,
almost 20 years after Robotron,” says and already had some code reading both
ROBO LOVE
JEFF MINTER LLAMATRON
Eugene. “Next, the rise of retro players and
the indie development community on Xbox
sticks, it felt natural to experiment making a
twin-stick shooter.
“Eugene Jarvis was my absolute hero back then, Live Arcade created the current twin-stick “One of the big differences in play that I
and his designs had a major influence on my own game renaissance in its original 2D form.” noticed was the importance of position in
style. My favourite was without doubt Robotron. One of the first, and arguably most Robotron, due to the eight-way shooting,
This superlative game was presented in what was
whereas position in the first Geometry
the signature style of Jarvis and Larry DeMar – fast action, large
numbers of brightly coloured enemies, and wonderful explosions Wars is fairly unimportant – mostly you
that shattered the enemies into tiny pieces all over the screen when just circle forever. This added an extra layer
shot. A twin-stick control system allowed you to move and fire with to the gameplay in Robotron, so I wanted
great precision and accuracy – an absolute necessity in a game that to replicate that feeling in the later GW
was brutally, beautifully, sensually difficult.”
games, but without limiting fire direction.
So its influence on Geometry Wars is that it
made me aware that you can make a fairly
tactical game even when it’s very chaotic,
and prompted me to work on the gameplay
to increase the number of decisions the
player had to make. Robotron’s design is
excellent, and anyone making a modern
twin-stick shooter should definitely play it,
as it has a lot to teach.”
“My first experience of a game of that
type would have been Llamatron on the
Atari ST,” says indie developer Charlie
Knight. “I think I must have discovered
Robotron after playing that. Robotron’s
a really pure game, and I think that’s a lot
of the reason it’s so well regarded. I’d say
» Wild West Hero was a slick Robotron clone on the
I got more from Llamatron on account of
Spectrum, which traded robots for lots of cowboys. it being much less punishing, but it lacks
FANCY A CHALLENGE?
Eight rock-hard arcade games
04
01 02 03
SUPER ZAXXON
DONKEY KONG SINISTAR TEMPEST For some reason, Sega saw fit to make the
The King Of Kong goes to great lengths to Sinistar is notable for being modified to be Dave Theurer’s abstract vector shooter sequel to its hit isometric shooter scroll at
convince us that Donkey Kong is the hardest far harder than originally intended, aer brought a nightmare into the arcades, being roughly twice the speed, making slamming
arcade game. We haven’t played everything dollar-hungry arcade operators complained inspired by a childhood dream of monsters into a wall or missile less a threat, more a
to compare, but we’d guess it was pretty that players were lasting longer than two pouring out of a hole in the ground. Like foregone conclusion. The claustrophobic
close, given the notorious Elevator stage, in minutes. It also features perhaps the most Robotron, Tempest is a wonderfully pure tunnel sections only serve to make things
which Donkey Kong bounces lethal springs terrifying videogame boss of its era, the blaster, testing players’ nerves before even trickier. Suffice to say it wasn’t nearly
across the screen at breakneck speed. eponymous Sinistar. “Run, coward,” indeed. completely and utterly overwhelming. as popular with arcade goers as the original.
Robotron’s punch and immediateness.

I can’t think of many other games that
come close to it in this sense. In terms of
it being an influence, it’s the essence of
every twin-stick that followed, and my own
are no exception. Bullet Candy, my first
commercial game, started life as a fairly
dull clone before I realised that it’d be more
fun to put my own spin on it. More recently,
with Scoregasm, I guess in terms of the
game’s structure and pacing the influence
is more diluted, but the essence is still there
for all to see.”
“I was a huge Robotron fan, but was
hugely let down by the Genesis version,”
says Radiangames’ Luke Schneider. » Scoregasm is an excellent recent twin-stick
shooter that requires nerves of steel to master.
”Without the dual joysticks of the arcade
version, the immediate and visceral ports of those two titles. And then there’s
connection to the action was severed. I Fireball, which was directly influenced
picked up a PlayStation with a DualShock by twin-stick legend Geometry Wars 2 ’s
for Metal Gear Solid, and its real influence Pacifism mode, but is, of course, not a twin- aim controls.
on me was instilling a strong desire to stick shooter since there’s no shooting. For Ultratron 3,
create a dual-stick shooter. Trying to “Despite the influx of twin-stick shooters we’re throwing in a bunch of old arcade
replicate Robotron on dual-analogue sticks from both myself and other developers, memes in order to liven it up somewhat.
isn’t wise, though, because the eight-way there’s still a couple of unique things We’ve got dots to gobble, which earn
directionality is so important to the design, about Robotron’s design that still makes money to spend on upgrades. We’ve got
and analogue sticks aren’t eight-way. playing the arcade version special today: pets that you buy in the shop between
“When I started Radiangames, my the eight-way directional focus and the levels, which follow you around and help
first game had to be a twin-stick shooter. ‘everything spawns in at once’ wave zap the enemies in one of three distinctive
JoyJoy was released in 2010. Since then, design. Those elements combine with ways. And lastly we’re un-evolving the
I released two other twin-stick-influenced the authentic 8-bit era sound effects and level spawning away from the Ultratron 2
games, Inferno and Ballistic, with enhanced graphics to create a game that will remain style of constantly spawning enemies,
a classic forever.” making it more like contemporary titles
Developer Puppygames such as Mutant Storm.”
ROBO LOVE
STEVE WOITA QUADRUN
is unleashing a whole trilogy
of Robo-influenced twin-
With the current resurgence of games
utilising the dual-stick mechanic, from
“While I was at Atari, I would take breaks that stick shooters, starting with Super Stardust Delta to Lara Croft And
involved walking to the very back of the building, Ultratron for the Xbox 360 The Guardian Of Light and Minotron, and
which had a small arcade that included many
classics, one of which was Robotron. I found that
and PC. “Ultratron was a dozens of quality PSN, Xbox Live Arcade,
this was the only videogame that I actually got exercise playing, very traditional eight-way Xbox Live Indie and iOS titles to choose
and I always felt great aerwards. The bonus chain design was movement, eight-way from, there’s never been a better time to
awesome and had a pinball scoring way about it – the first collection shooting, Robotron-esque celebrate the twin-stick shooter. “I love
was 1,000, then 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 points thereaer. If game,” says coder Caspian that developers today are inspired
you died or ended the wave, it would reset to 1,000 points for your
next pickup. This design element was brilliant. It was just magic.” Prince. “Ultratron 2 added the by classic titles like Robotron and
now-ubiquitous mouse-to- Smash TV,” says Eugene proudly,
08
07
06
05
FLYING SHARK JOUST 2 R-TYPE GHOSTS ’N’ GOBLINS

Modern shooters are designed so nearby Joust 2 was a victim of circumstance, The R-Type games, alongside Konami’s The Ghosts ’N’ Goblins series as a whole is
enemies won’t fire on you, giving players being designed as a kit conversion for Gradius titles, are renowned as some of notably difficult, but the original is probably
a sort of survival buffer. Toaplan’s early arcade cabinets with vertical monitors, the most punishing shoot-’em-ups ever the hardest of the lot – even the opening
shoot-’em-ups, which also include Twin the most common at the time because of created, requiring superlative reflexes and stage requires pixel-perfect timing and a
Cobra and Truxton, feature baddies that the ubiquity of Pac-Man. While the original the memorising of large chunks of their high degree of skill just to make it to the
have a habit of firing mercilessly, even if used a horizontal screen, giving you plenty level layouts to even have a remote chance first boss. Adding insult to injury was the
they’re right on top of you. The result? Much of warning of incoming enemy buzzard of seeing them through. R-Type’s famous fact that Capcom made you play through
cursing, angry clattering of joysticks and attacks, the sequel’s restrictive field of mothership is not for the faint-hearted, and the game twice to reach the true ending and
very little change le in our pockets. vision made for a far tougher game. the rest of the game is harder still. rescue your sweetheart.
ROBO EVOLUTION
20 games with a debt to Eugene Jarvis’s
classic blaster
BLACK WIDOW CRYSTAL QUEST

With a twin-stick control scheme The first game to support full colour on
hijacked from Robotron, Bruce Merrit’s the Mac, Crystal Quest was a mouse-
underrated vector-graphic blaster tasks driven title where players guide a
players with keeping a series of webs WILD WEST HERO SLIMEY’S MINE sphere around the screen, collecting
clear of marauding enemy bugs. Black Along with the authorised conversions, Simon Pick’s quirky C64 shooter, a sort crystals while avoiding or shooting
Widow is fast, fluid and compelling, and a number of third-party clones made of cross between Robotron and Pac- enemies. The action gets hectic on later
as with Robotron, it’s a game that ideally their way onto home computers in the Man, sees our frog-like hero zipping stages where enemy numbers approach
requires playing on an original arcade Eighties. Paul Holmes’ Wild West Hero, around caverns, zapping nasties and Robotron levels, and bullets ping
cabinet to fully appreciate its genius. released on the ZX Spectrum, was one collecting jewels. It’s extremely good dangerously around the arena.
of the finest. Atariso obviously thought fun, doubly so because of its hilarious
so too, signing up Paul for the official sampled sound effects, with baddies
Spectrum Robotron port, which sadly that emit gurgling screams on dying,
never materialised. accompanied by shouts of, “Got him!”
GUN SPIKE (AKA

CANNON SPIKE)
Developed by shooter king Psikyo in
LLAMATRON collaboration with Capcom, Gun Spike MUTANT STORM
Jeff Minter’s loving Robotron pastiche was a NAOMI-based arcade game that Another of the early games of the ‘twin-
dials down the rabid difficulty, and the appeared to draw heavily from Smash stick revival’, Mutant Storm displays
result is a considerably more genteel TV. It features a variety of selectable plenty of evidence for Robotron being
offering with a liberal sprinkling of hairy
ROBOTRON X heroes from previous Capcom arcade GEOMETRY WARS a major blueprint, in the same way its
Midway’s 1996 3D revamp features games, including Mega Man, Arthur Starting life as an Easter egg in Project
Minter touches. Bouncing bullets, smart predecessor, Space Tripper, channelled
super-enhanced hero U-Gene (geddit?) from Ghosts ’N’ Goblins, and Cammy Gotham Racing 2, Geometry Wars is
bombs and herd bonuses are just some Defender. An updated version, Mutant
strapping on his blaster to fight a range from the Street Fighter series. probably the most well-known of the
of the goodies on offer, and you can even Storm Reloaded, was later released
of familiar enemies along with some games that led the resurgence of twin-
Blu-Tack two joysticks to the floor for for the 360, while this original release
all-new bad guys. It’s a decent effort, stick shooters. More free-form in design
the full arcade-style experience. recently made its way to iOS devices.
with faithful 3D re-creations of foes and than Robotron, its glowing visuals and
those famous shattering explosions, spectacular particle-based explosions
but the in-game camera can be a little were reminiscent of vector arcade
disorienting at times. games like Asteroids and Tempest.
GEOMETRY WARS: BLAST FACTOR

One of the first twin-stick shooters
RETRO EVOLVED 2 available for the PS3, Blast Factor
The mini-game proved popular enough features a concept pinched from Sixties
for Bizarre to release a sequel, Geometry sci-fi flick Fantastic Voyage, although
Wars: Retro Evolved. The second sequel sadly no Raquel Welch. Basically, you’re
was even better, and included modes stuck inside a body in a tiny ship, and the
like Pacifism, in which players have no game revolves around battling hostile
weapons, and enemies can only be killed viruses and ridding surrounding cells of
by flying through gates. hostile infections.
EVERYDAY P-3
SHOOTER BatCat Games’ innovative shooter sees
Released on PC and PSN in 2008, you piloting a nano-ship in a Petri dish
this unique title, created by Jonathan setting, striving to protect a central
Mak, is described by its author as “an nucleus. One clever touch is the ability
album of games exploring the expressive to use up the life force of the nucleus
power of abstract shooters”. Against a to give yourself a weapons boost, turn
soundscape of crunching guitar riffs, the your ship into a projectile, or release a
game makes frequent visual nods to Rez, devastating shockwave. But take care: if
Centipede and I, Robot. the nucleus dies, it’s game over.
I MAED A GAM3
W1TH Z0MBIES ULTRATRON
Ultratron is a Robotron-esque twin-
1N IT!!!1 stick shooter, sporting attractive neon
Despite its stupid title, I MAED A graphics and a variety of niy power-
GAM3 is a decent Robotron clone, with ups. The opening stages are a little
zombies, natch. The most impressive leisurely, but it doesn’t take long before
thing about this XBLIG title is how many the game starts throwing ambush levels
it has sold – over 300,000 have blasted and bosses into the mix to add to the
zombies and been driven nuts by the merriment. Best of all, the 360 version
annoying background song to date. can be had for just 80 Microso Points.
BALLISTIC
Indie developer Radiangames’ debut
release was a twin-stick shooter called
JoyJoy. Ballistic carries on the tradition,
being a lovely-looking blaster with
an interesting weapon system and a
SCOREGASM surprising amount of depth. Those with SUPER
80 Microso Points to spare could do
BEAT HAZARD Charlie Knight’s follow-up to Bullet
a lot worse than heading over to Xbox
STARDUST DELTA MINOTRON
Candy mixes Jarvis with trippy, Minter- Released on the Vita, this remarkably
This mash-up of Super Stardust and Live Indie Games to give it a go. With 2010’s Minotaur Project, Jeff
esque visuals to create a game that’s pretty game was the second twin-stick
Robotron has a neat gimmick, allowing a bit tasty. Played across a branching, shooter in the Super Stardust series, Minter announced a return to the quick-
you to use your own music, from which non-linear galaxy, creating a different following the acclaimed Super Stardust fire production values and arcade-style
the game spawns its own unique levels. experience each time, Scoregasm HD. The visual hook of both games is purity of his classic catalogue. Minotron
But be warned: it features some of the flings baddies, bullets and scoring the rotating 3D ‘planet’ that spins below is a re-imagined take on Llamatron for
most over-the-top strobe effects ever opportunities at you thick and fast, and your ship as you move, scrolling orbiting iOS, with sprites lied directly from the
seen in gaming. If you thought Space is a welcome addition to the genre. asteroids and hostiles with it. Atari ST original, and the return of old
Giraffe was a bit too in-your-face, you favourites like ‘screaming Mandy’ – the
might want to give it a miss. homicidal floating Mandelbrot.
IN THE KNOW
» Publisher: Nintendo
» Developer: Nintendo
» Released: 1981
» Systems: Arcade, Various
» Genre: Platformer
COIN-OP CAPERS: DONKEY KONG
Martyn Carroll takes a definitive look back It’s even commonly suggested that
Donkey Kong played a part in
scuppering negotiations that would
at Nintendo’s timeless classic and unravels see Atari release the Famicom in the
US. All that aside, the deals resulted
in Coleco receiving the home console
its brilliance by speaking to the very people rights and Atari settling for the home
computer rights.
Coleco immediately played an ace by
who know the coin-op intimately bundling the game with its ColecoVision
console, causing hardware sales to
skyrocket. It also put the game out on
the Intellivision and Atari 2600 consoles.
Such was the popularity of the game
The facts are that in July 1981 that even the scaled-down 2600
Nintendo produced Donkey Kong version shifted more than 4 million
as an upgrade kit for Radar Scope, units, generating a massive $100 million
its Galaxian-inspired game released in sales. Atari itself released the game
the previous year that, despite initial on its 400/800 computers and ported it
success, had largely flopped in the to several others, including the VIC-20,
US. The majority of US-based Radar C64, TI-99/4A and Apple II. Inevitably,
Scope machines were converted, unlicensed clones with cheeky titles
clearly indicating that the space shooter like Donkey King and Killer Gorilla
hadn’t been pulling in as many quarters flooded many computer platforms in
as hoped. The new game certainly the early Eighties. Nintendo, meanwhile,
did the trick, as Nintendo quickly went capitalised on the success of the
from manufacturing conversion kits original with a couple of arcade sequels
to building dedicated cabs to meet and a range of Game & Watch handheld
the massive demand. This led to two titles. Mario would, of course, go on to
cosmetic ‘flavours’ of Donkey Kong: the dominate Nintendo’s character roster for
new, widely produced blue-coloured the next decade, but our anthropoidal
hen it comes to iconic cabs with added side art, and the friend swung back into contention in the
W 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
rarer converted Radar Scope cabs that
retained their original red paintwork.
A year on from its initial release,
Donkey Kong had reportedly earned
Nintendo $180 million. This success led
to a clamour of console and computer
manufacturers looking to license the
mid-Nineties with the release of a new
Donkey Kong title on the Game Boy,
and the first of Rare’s Donkey Kong
Country games for the SNES.
The original game may be
approaching its 30th anniversary,
but it is most certainly far from
history. It goes without saying that coin-op. Once more, the whole episode being forgotten. In recent years it
it has single-handedly defined the is now swamped in folklore, with deals has even been thrust back into the
platform genre and introduced us to done that supposedly led to lots public consciousness thanks to the
not one but two of the most popular of hand-wringing and toy-throwing. high-profile battles over the Donkey
videogame characters ever – the Kong high score world record. Die-
titular gorilla and his tormentor Mario. hard players Billy Mitchell and Steve
Such is its impact that some enduring Wiebe have also been involved in a
videogame myths have built up around long-running battle to claim the world
its creation. Was the game supposed record, with their efforts to one-up
to be called ‘Monkey Kong’ but the each other’s achievements memorably
name got misinterpreted somewhere chronicled in the 2007 documentary
along the way? Probably not. Was the The King Of Kong. Earlier this year, a
game originally designed as a vehicle brand new competitor named Hank
for Popeye and Brutus? Apparently so. Chien appeared and entered the fray,
Was the game responsible for saving an so now it’s a three-way fight for the
ailing Nintendo of America from certain most coveted title in competitive
bankruptcy, and providing the Japanese videogaming. In October 2015, Robbie
parent with the funding and impetus Lakeman claimed the coveted title with
to develop the Famicom and therefore a colossal score of 1,177,200 – but it will
change the course of gaming forever? have probably changed hands again by
Quite possibly. the time you read this!
the expert
The battle to be ‘King of Kong’ was famously fought between
Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe. That all changed in February 2010
when newcomer Hank Chien set a (now broken) new record
Q 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
» Name: Hank Chien very rapidly on MAME and after three
» Age: 36 months I reached the kill screen. At
» Date of birth: that point, I decided to find a public
4 August 1974 machine and thanks to the internet I
» Hometown: found one pretty quickly at Barcade
New York, USA in Brooklyn. I then searched eBay and
» Occupation: Craigslist for my own machine and after
Plastic surgeon a few months I was able to find one in » Upon passing the fifth level, the game loops until level 22, » Is it better to take the low or high route? Expert players
reasonable shape for a reasonable price. where a bug prevents further play. always opt for the latter.
Q At what point did you realise that Q Can you describe the events that Q Your achievement generated lots
you had a chance at the crown? led to you scoring 1,061,700 points of press once Twin Galaxies verified
My initial intention was not to break on 26 February 2010? it. It must have been a pretty crazy
the world record. I really was just After my first million point game, I few weeks for you…
playing for fun. In fact, I was actually did not play much because I After I broke the world record it was
going to try to break a million was discouraged by the Twin Galaxies really crazy. People were calling my
and then sell my machine. rules for scores over a million. Basically office, my home, my parents’ home,
I wasn’t even sure I could at that time it had to be done live in front email, Facebook, you name it. I was
even break a million until of a referee. The rule was changed in flooded, and that’s on top of my
I actually did it. It was 13 November 2009, but with the holidays ordinary busy life. It was fun to get all
September 2009 and I and work, Donkey Kong took a back that attention, but only for about a day!
had a business trip that day seat. However, in early February I put
and had a flight to catch in two my mind to it. In the coming weeks, I Q Did Billy Mitchell or Steve Wiebe
hours. My high score at the time had several very close games, so I knew offer their congratulations?
was around 940,000. I started to play a I could do it. Then came 26 February, a Billy Mitchell acknowledged my
game in those two hours and I scored Friday. Ordinarily I would have been at achievement, but I have not spoken to
1,037,700 and barely caught my flight. work, but a huge snowstorm covered him directly. I would like to meet him
My first million point game was only the city and my car was buried in snow at some point. Steve Wiebe called and
12,500 points shy of the world record. so I was stuck at home with nothing to emailed to congratulate me personally.
At that point I realised I had a shot and do but play Donkey Kong. In the evening
I started playing seriously and recording I had a really good start and didn’t die Q Billy reclaimed the high score in
my attempts. until late in the game. The rest is history. July this year, then Steve grabbed
Things to look out for when

Platforming Perils attempting to topple the silly gorilla
Bloomin’ Barrels Loopy Lifts Pesky Pies

Jump them, smash them or Be careful jumping to and Don’t end up with pie on your
simply avoid them. Just don’t get from the lifts, and be sure not to face. Time your jumps and beware
flattened by them. get yourself caught up in the gears of the conveyor changing direction.
at the bottom.
Flamin’ Flames Jumping Jacks

The flames are a pain and You need to position yourself
they feature on most screens. carefully to dodge these fast-moving
Avoid them wherever possible. hazards. Tricky in later levels.
the sequels
There are dozens of Donkey Kong
spin-offs, but only three true sequels
Expert strategies Donkey Kong Jr

Released: 1982
from the newest The success of
challenger to the Donkey Kong meant that the
sequel arrived faster than a
Donkey Kong tossed barrel on a greased
world record girder. But what’s this?
There’s not a single barrel
QTOP TIP to be seen. Donkey Kong
For beginners, just clear has been caged by Mario
the boards as fast as you and the moustachioed one
can. On the barrel board always keep has unleashed all manner of
an eye on the barrels above you and jungle critters in an attempt
prepare for the worst case scenario. to stop DK’s plucky son from
There really aren’t many secrets; it’s rescuing his dad. Donkey
just a matter of practice. Kong Jr is a platform game,
» Hank pictured here practising on his very own Donkey but a lot of time is spent traversing vines and chains, which
Kong cab in his Manhattan apartment. QBONUS PLAY can be cumbersome. It doesn’t help, either, that Junior is
When playing for a high rubbish at jumping, and the result is a slightly awkward
it once again in September. It looks score, it’s a combination sequel that, while utterly charming, lacks the smoothness
like neither of these guys plan to of knowing when to hang around and and grace of the original.
give it up any time soon. Are you accumulate points and when to finish
planning to try to take it back? the stage to claim the bonus. It is not Donkey Kong 3
Steve is a great player and he has always beneficial to stay around on Released: 1983
been working hard to reclaim the world a board as the bonus timer ticks down DK Jr played a little on the
record, so he deserves the top spot. very fast, particularly in the later levels. sluggish side, but you certainly couldn’t
Congratulations to him! I do plan on You have to know when you can level that at this fast-paced shooter that’s
taking it back, but my main goal is to ‘beat the clock’ and when you just far removed from the platforming roots
maximise the game to the best of my have to call it quits. of the series. The title character is once
ability, whether it is a world record or again the cranky nemesis, but Mario
not. In my original world record game, I QHAMMER TIME by now had better things to do, leaving
held back a lot and made some careless Whether to grab the goofy urchin Stanley to step in and deal
mistakes, so I know I can do a lot better. hammer or not is a with DK. The frantic action takes place
To score high you have to take a lot of complicated question. On the barrel over three stages set in a greenhouse,
risks and be really aggressive. board the top hammer is safe, but and in each one Stanley must continually blast the pesky
the bottom hammer is dangerous. I primate with his insect spray gun, forcing him up into the
Q What kind of high score do you grab it when I’m playing for points rafters where stinging bees ultimately await him. It works
think is possible, with a perfect run? but when I’m playing for survival I’ll brilliantly as an arcade game, in that you offer up a credit
The current world record is nowhere usually skip it. On the conveyers and and get your five minutes of fun, but the game lacks variety
near the maximum. The thing about rivets, that’s even more complicated. I and doesn’t warrant repeated plays, thereby denying it the
Donkey Kong is that there are so many could probably write a short book on it. lasting appeal of its forebears.
variables and so many ways to play
the game, it’s hard to say exactly what QRIVET ROUTE Donkey Kong (GB)
the maximum score is. I think that the There are two patterns Released: 1994
achievable maximum score is close to on the rivets that are When it comes to resurrecting
1.2 million, but it would require a lot of commonly used, yet there is no and reinventing a franchise, nobody
skill and luck to pull it off. The theoretical consensus even among the top does it better than Nintendo. This
maximum is a lot higher – maybe 1.5 players as to which is better for game, launched alongside the Super
million. A great thing about the game survival or for points. In one pattern Game Boy in 1994, is a perfect
is that the world record will always be you clear all the rivets on the left and example. It begins as a nifty homage
beatable. This saga isn’t over yet. then try to grab the top hammer. In to the original coin-op, with the
the other, you clear all of the rivets arcade’s four screens authentically reproduced with a few
Q There’s been talk of The King Of except the one on the level with little extras thrown in, but instead of the game looping back
Kong becoming a dramatised movie. the bottom hammer, then grab the to the beginning once DK hits the deck, it instead presents
If this happened and you were bottom hammer and run across. the player with a squillion extra screens to negotiate. In the
featured in the film, who would you Even those two patterns are not majority of these, Mario must find an oversized key and
like to play you? foolproof and you have to know what carefully carry it to the locked door, which leads to the next
I don’t think there are any Hollywood to do when it falls apart. level. Part-puzzler, part-platformer, this is an excellent update
actors good looking enough to play me, that deservedly spawned its own spin-off series in the Mario
but if I had to choose, maybe Brad Pitt vs Donkey Kong games on the GBA and DS.
or Johnny Depp could do it!
the machine
Donkey Kong fan Chris Ellison shows off his
rare red-coloured machine, which he has
painstakingly restored to mint condition
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 sides. I wanted a red DK really
badly but man, this thing was a mess.”
Undeterred, Chris transported the cab
home and began the process of bringing it
back to its brilliant best. “Donkey Kong was and
always will be a passion for me,” he says, “and
it’s just as much fun now as it was back then.”
CABINET
To restore my Donkey Kong, I began by lightly sanding
down the entire cabinet to give the primer something
to adhere to. All of the imperfections including the
busted edge and the place where someone had MONITOR
attempted to cut a hole were reconstructed with
The monitor is the original Sanyo
Bondo putty and sanded flat. The primer was shot
20EZ that has been recapped – this
with a spray gun. I couldn’t get the oil paint to shoot
is where all the capacitors on the
correctly so it was applied using a foam roller. The
monitor PCB are replaced. It is
paint colour was matched by removing a red chip from
currently using the original flyback.
underneath the coin door where it hadn’t seen daylight
since 1981.
BOARD
The original board had developed
bad RAM somewhere. Since I don’t
have the expertise to do this kind of a
board repair, I sent it to Dick Millikan
of Auburn, Washington, who is known
for board repairs. Dick sent me a
working board. Being a huge Donkey
Kong fan, it was mandatory that the
Brasington kit was installed. This is an
add-on kit that enables the game to
save high scores. It’s also necessary if
you want to install the D2K: Jumpman
Returns hack. D2K is amazing!
CONTROL PANEL developer Q&A

The control panel has been replaced We speak to industry veteran Garry Kitchen to find out how
with a reproduction. Interestingly
enough, the original panel was using he managed to squeeze Donkey Kong onto the Atari 2600
the Radar Scope red button for jump,
which I chose to re-use. The P1 and How did you get into It was a three to four month schedule, which was
P2 buttons are the original Nintendo game development? about half the time that should have been allotted.
dark blue. The new instruction cards In the mid-Seventies, The deadline was immovable, with the ROM
are also reproduction, as well as the while in college cartridge needing to go into manufacturing in time
dust cover. studying electrical for a holiday shipment. I worked without sleep for
engineering, I was the final 72 hours to deliver it on time. It took me a
hired by a small month to physically recover from the ordeal.
engineering consulting
company. Among The game is often criticised for only featuring two
other projects, I of the original’s four screens. Given more time,
developed and do you think you’d have been able to squeeze in
patented a handheld those extra screens?
billiards game called There were two factors that prevented me from
Bank Shot, based on including the other two screens. The cartridge was
a 4-bit microprocessor and an array of 72 LEDs. 4KB in size, and the beta version of the game, after
When the Atari 2600 came out the handheld games three months of labour and two screens complete,
started to suffer at the expense of the newest, came in at around 6KB. I was over by 2KB. Bigger
greatest thing – videogames. In response, I bought cartridges were available, but Coleco made the
an Atari machine, opened it up and reverse- financial decision not to go for an 8KB cartridge,
engineered it so that we could compete in that despite my recommendation and pleading. So,
space. I’ve been developing games ever since. rather than having an extra 2KB to play with and
ARTWORK add more screens, I had to spend the last month
How did you land the job of converting Donkey crunching out 2KB just to make the two screens
The control Kong to the Atari 2600? fit in a 4KB cartridge. The second
panel itself At the time, around 1981/1982, there factor was the schedule. There
is in good weren’t a whole lot of independent was no time left. The other screens
shape. It is videogame developers who knew would have been impossible on the
not dented, how to program the Atari 2600. allowed schedule.
warped, or I had the knowledge as I had
Swiss- reverse-engineered the platform The game was a huge seller, with
cheesed. The the previous year. My brother Steve sales of more than 4 million units.
control panel owned an engineering company Were you lucky enough to get a
overlay is in and he had a relationship with an slice of the profits?
decent condition, though it has a executive at Coleco – I believe his I got a very, very tiny slice. Enough
hole worn in it at the front. I have name was Eric Bromley. Steve got to make it worthwhile, but I
a new overlay for it that I found on the Donkey Kong contract with Coleco certainly didn’t get rich off it.
eBay about a year ago. I will install and subcontracted the project to me. It’s all
it when I restore the machine about relationships. Looking back, how do you reflect on the game?
cosmetically. Regarding the Not to pat myself on the back, but I still love the
joysticks, which are Seimitsu/SNK Did you get any assistance from Nintendo? game. I thought it turned out pretty well. From
LS-30s, one of them was new No, nothing. My only source was the actual arcade my perspective I focused on the quality of the
when I got the machine, while the game. I had direct access to a machine, which game experience that was in the cartridge rather
other has moderate wear. Coleco provided, but I didn’t get to keep it! than lamenting the fact that the other levels were
missing. I really wanted to get the iconic first level,
What would you say was the most challenging with Mario jumping over barrels, to feel as close to
aspect when working on Donkey Kong? the arcade game as possible, and I’m comfortable
I wanted the 2600 version to look just like the with how that turned out.
arcade game, but there was a technical problem.
The Atari hardware did not have enough memory These days you’re involved in iPhone development
to display a full bitmap background – the at AppStar Games. What’s your take on the Apple
COIN MECH background memory only held enough bits to devices’ importance?
The coin cover half the screen, so the video display driver The importance of the iPhone cannot be
mechanisms would display either a repeating pattern or a overstated. The single most important thing it
are original. reflecting pattern. With this limitation you could has done is change the buying habits of the
I decided not display the slanted ramps that were such an videogame consumer. Two years ago my eight-
to paint the important aspect of the look of the game. This year-old son would ask me for a $30 cartridge for
coin door and frustrated me until I came up with a technical his Nintendo DS. Today he asks me if it’s okay to
leave the coin entry wear marks solution to overcome the limitation, allowing for download a $0.99 iPhone game, and he’s equally
for authenticity’s sake. slanted ramps. It required a rewrite of much of the satisfied with the experience. Apple has taught the
code but I think it was worth it. consumer that good games can be had for under
$2 and the games industry will never be the same.
How long did you work on the game, and were The genie is out of the box and the industry will
you up against a deadline? never get it back in.
The conversions
02
Naturally, one of the
most popular arcade
games of all time has
more than its fair share
of home conversions.
Here is the lowdown…
01
V
B rs
e
e i
st o
n
03
01. CPC 02. Atari 2600 the intensity at which is another great port. Atarisoft offering, C64 visuals look authentic,
(Best Conversion) This is a poor conversion, Kong lobs his barrels is Released in 1983, it’s the owners received this and the gameplay and
That Stuart Campbell even by Atari 2600 relentless, and coupled first official port to include equally impressive one by controls are solid. It’s
awarded it the prestigious standards. It’s missing with Mario’s weedy jump all the stages – impressive Arcana, which also did the missing the Cement
accolade of best 8-bit two stages (Cement is a perfect recipe for considering it was one CPC version. Featuring all Factory stage and the
arcade conversion of all Factory and Spring), DK irritation. In this version of the earliest titles for four stages – although this sounds and music differ
time back in issue 76 looks like a deranged it also takes Mario an the C64, and subsequent time it’s worth noting that from the arcade version.
should be a big indicator gingerbread man, the unnecessarily long time to ports on machines they follow the original This is the most popular of
of how good this version barrels look like cookies, climb ladders – although boasting far more tech Japanese level order all the home conversions,
plays. Featuring big, and the behaviour of the this might have something managed just three. With – great sounds, smooth which is why the cart
bright colourful visuals, enemy flame sprites to do with the giant arse great presentation, and gameplay and all the stayed in production for a
faithful gameplay, and – they simply yo-yo from that Sentient Software the option to tweak the cut-scenes, it’s another staggering five years.
all four stages, it’s a one end of the screen has retrofitted him with, difficulty of the game, great conversion.
nigh-on perfect conversion to the other – is easy to only visible when he’s this is generally the more 07. Apple II
for Lord Sugar’s unfairly circumvent. The controls climbing ladders. popular of the two C64 06. NES Despite no Cement
mocked wonder aren’t great either. versions that saw release. As you would expect Factory, this conversion
machine, which is 04. C64 (Atariso) being on the NES, and still offers an authentic
why we’re awarding 03. Spectrum This superb version 05. C64 (Arcana) from Nintendo, this is a game of DK, delivering
it best conversion. Poor graphics aside, by Douglas D Dragin As well as the great great conversion. The some of the more trivial
04 08 10
05 11
06 09 12
07 13
W r
V
o si
e
r o
st n
elements of its arcade its controls let it down, amazingly, features all four the game is the complete pick up on, but most will of all the conversions
parent – such as the ‘how though this has more to stages, which is really package featuring all four see this as a good-looking published by Ocean.
high can you get’ intro do with the inaccurate quite unbelievable. This is levels from the arcade and complete port that
screen and the inclusion of nature of the console’s as good a job as Atarisoft game in the US order. certainly puts the dismal 13. Intellivision
Pauline’s girly possessions disc-stick controller than could be expected to The gameplay is nice 2600 effort to shame. (Worst Conversion)
– at the price of good anything else. Coleco muster up on the modest and smooth too. A Mario looks like Q*bert
graphics and sounds. It’s also released a version tech. Taking this into great conversion. 12. MSX in dungarees, Donkey
the nippiest conversion for its Coleco Adam account, this is another Unsurprisingly, the MSX Kong like Swamp Thing,
of the game out there, computer. It doesn’t look decent conversion of DK. 11. Atari 800 conversion, which was and Pauline like an orange
and one of a handful to as good as the console Without doubt the best also by Sentient Software, dinosaur. It only features
allow players to tweak port, but it does include all 10. TI-99/4A version to be found suffers from the same two stages and it controls
the difficulty. four stages. Biggest surprise of the on an Atari machine, issues that plague its like a dead body. It’s
night, though, goes to this and was another of a similar Spectrum port rumoured that this version,
08. ColecoVision 09. VIC-20 fantastic conversion for disproportionate number – namely it doesn’t look developed by Coleco, was
Once again no Cement The graphics are below the TI-99/4A. While the to include all four great and Donkey Kong so bad that, upon seeing
Factory stage, but par, and the game isn’t visuals look a little washed stages. There are slight seems to be working it, Mattel thought the
nonetheless a decent very smooth, but it’s not out, and the sound effects differences to the arcade himself into an early grave company was trying to
effort that looks and all bad news: the game are painful, the sprites do original that only astute at the top of the screen. sabotage its machine. We
plays well. Unfortunately sounds fantastic, and, look nicely detailed and Donkey Kong fans will This is probably the worst can believe it.
JONTI DAVIES MEETS YU SUZUKI – LEGENDARY GAME
PROGRAMMER, FERRARI OWNER AND PART-TIME
PHILOSOPHER – TO DISCUSS SEGA’S MOST
ICONIC DRIVING GAME, THE 1986 CLASSIC
THAT IS OUTRUN
Y
u Suzuki joined Sega in 1983, his first assignment was the [pan-America] course actually doesn’t change very much, so
Champion Boxing on the SG-1000. From there, Suzuki’s I revised my plan and decided to collect data in Europe instead…”
progress began to gain momentum. By the end of 1985 Although Cannonball Run clearly had a great influence on
he had already established himself at the vanguard of coin- Suzuki’s work with OutRun, the game also bears what must have
op development, having masterminded a couple of major successes been a coincidental similarity to the euphoric scene in Ferris
for Sega in the form of Hang-On and Space Harrier. But Suzuki’s Bueller’s Day Off (also a 1986-vintage production) in which Ferris,
journey towards becoming a legendary videogame producer was the sassy Sloane at his side, speeds off in a rosso corsa Ferrari
about to shift to a higher gear, and it was the following year’s OutRun 250GT. Regardless, Suzuki’s attention had been diverted away
driving game that turned Suzuki into an internationally renowned from America, towards Europe.
programming superstar. Suzuki’s maverick approach to game development would,
Before a brief diversion to code the thrilling sci-fi blast of during the Nineties, become accepted practice (12 years later,
Space Harrier in time for a December 1985 release, Suzuki’s for example, fellow Sega-man Yuji Naka would take his Sonic
attention was first centred on the racing genre. The result of Adventure team to South America purely for research purposes),
Suzuki’s initial drive was Hang-On (which appeared in Japan’s but in the mid-Eighties Suzuki was already doing things the
arcades in July 1985), a high-speed bike racing game where interesting way, literally journeying around the world just to
players literally felt as though they had to hang on to the coin-op make sure that his game would be the real deal. Suzuki’s plans
cabinet’s handlebars. Part of Suzuki’s motivation for Hang-On’s culminated in a European research adventure. “Because of the
production was a desire to see to it that Sega overturn Namco as ‘transcontinental’ concept,” he recalls, “I felt that I should first
IN THE KNOW Japan’s leading manufacturer of racing games, and while Hang- actually follow such a course myself, collecting information with
On was a superb title – and one which radically altered Sega’s a video camera, a still camera, and other equipment. I started out
image – he accepted that his first racing game alone hadn’t been from Frankfurt, where I hired a rent-a-car, and I installed a video
sufficient for Sega to overtake its main rival, the developer of camera on the car. I drove around Monaco and Monte Carlo,
Pole Position. Namco was still synonymous with driving games; along the mountain roads of Switzerland, stopping in hotels in
Sega was being lapped. Suzuki wasn’t fond of repetition, so Milan, Venice and Rome, collecting data for a fortnight. I have
instead of producing another bike racing game he opted to create many happy memories of that trip. There were many places I
the car driving game that would become OutRun. visited where communicating in English wasn’t sufficient: one
Well, that’s one side of the story. The other, less weighty but time, when ordering a meal, I thought I had asked [in a European
» PUBLISHER: SEGA
equally important reason for Yu Suzuki’s determination to create language] for a single bowl of soup but was surprised when four
» DEVELOPER: AM2 OutRun came from a Burt Reynolds flick, as he confesses to bowls of soup were brought to me!”
» RELEASED: 1986 us: “The main impetus behind OutRun’s creation was my love Soup or no soup, there was still much work to be done during
» SYSTEMS: ARCADE, VARIOUS of a film called The Cannonball Run. I thought it would be good Suzuki’s fortnight in Europe. “The next step was to talk with
» GENRE: DRIVING
to make a game like that. The film crosses America, so I made local people in the places I visited, and [later] to make those
a plan to follow the same course and collect data as I went. But discussions and other episodes reflected in the game,” Suzuki
I realised, once I’d arranged everything, that the scenery along remembers. The result was a unique videogame snapshot of the
Version mid-Eighties, a Japanese interpretation of European geography.
OutRun is in many ways the game that is most representative
excursions of bubble-time Japan’s extravagances: it’s a production with

concessions to luxury (driving a Ferrari Testarossa, sitting
Sega Mark III/Master System Mobile inside a state-of-the-art coin-op cab), taken at endless high
This was the first console OutRun on a mobile phone? Yep, speeds across effusively bright European-styled country, all to
conversion of OutRun, appearing and there are some keitai versions an inspirational soundtrack where the only hint of melancholy
in Japan on 30 June 1987 – less available in Japan that look superior
than 12 months after the coin-op to some of the 8 and even 16-bit
arrives beyond the final checkpoint, as Last Wave fades out.
debuted in Japan. It wasn’t a bad console renditions of the game. Even while the bubble lasted, however, there were some
effort, either: in terms of presentation it’s superior to most Shame about the controls, though… limits. Sega’s resources were not endless and the technology
8-bit computer versions, and the game also supported the available to Suzuki at the time – while fearsomely powerful
Mark III’s Yamaha YM2413 FM sound unit, which helped Commodore 64 compared with other hardware of a mid-Eighties vintage – didn’t
ensure the soundtrack didn’t sound too far removed from the The loading times on this
original tunes heard in the coin-op. 1987-vintage C64 version were stack sufficient memory to facilitate all of Suzuki’s dreams. As a
unbearable, and the gameplay wore consequence of these and other factors, most notably a lack of
Mega Drive livery that was only vaguely similar time, Yu Suzuki found it necessary to make a few compromises
In August 1990 OutRun was to the real OutRun. There was no during OutRun’s development. It turns out that these cuts were
released on a Mega Drive cartridge, choice of routes, and only Magical Sound Shower and Splash
having been successfully ported
not to any great gameplay detriment, yet Suzuki was instinctively
Wave were represented (albeit in an approximated way) on
to the console by conversion C64 OutRun’s soundtrack. On the plus side, there were a few unhappy with being forced to sacrifice any of his ideas: “I was
specialist Sanritsu Denki (now an POKEs you could input to either stop the clock from ticking only able to put around half of the things I wanted to do into
independent developer known as SIMS, this company was down or to enable you to pass through other vehicles. Thank OutRun,” he says. “Because of budget and development time
at the time wholly owned by Sega). The Mega Drive version goodness for the Saturn. limitations, some of the contents I’d planned had to be squeezed
of OutRun was notable for featuring a new, exclusive song
called Step On Beat. Sinclair ZX Spectrum or cut. I’d made preparations for eight individual characters and
The Probe-developed 1988 I wanted to include various events at each checkpoint, which
PC-Engine Speccy version of OutRun was, would have made the player experience a story; something
This Japan-only PC-Engine like the Commodore 64 release, like the Cannonball Run film. I also wanted to give players a
conversion by NEC showed up at published by US Gold. Also like that
the end of 1990. It’s an excellent
choice of supercars to drive, so that they could enjoy differences
Commodore 64 title, it was barely a
piece of work, easily outstripping fraction of the game that players knew from the arcades. in car performance.”
the Master System version while Of course Suzuki’s hoped-for garage of driveable Ferraris was
giving the Mega Drive release a good run as well – in spite of Amstrad CPC eventually realised to near-perfection in 2003’s OutRun 2, but
the supposed superiority of the Mega Drive hardware. OutRun on the CPC, also released for the original game he had to be satisfied with just one Ferrari.
in 1988 and programmed by Probe,
Sega Saturn wasn’t much better than the “Naturally I was yearning for Ferraris,” Suzuki says. “Above all,
The brilliant Saturn version of Spectrum version: it had no in- the most talked-about car of the time was the 12-cylinder Ferrari
OutRun was released in Japan game music, and again it looked Testarossa. The first time I saw the car was in Monaco, and I
under the Sega Ages banner in like a distant, ugly relative of the coin-op. On the plus side, was really moved by its beauty – I thought, ‘there is no choice:
September 1996. Not only does this CPC OutRun had the proper route-switching setup (which
this is the only one’. There are many other charming Ferraris,
disc contain both the Japanese the Commodore 64 release infamously was without) and
domestic and international variations on the arcade code, it was bundled with a tape of the music from the arcade but memory problems made it impossible to include them in
but it also features a 60fps refresh rate that outperforms the version, so you could stick that on the stereo while playing the game… So we decided that the player’s car should be the
coin-op’s 30fps standard. The Saturn build even includes and sort of trick yourself into believing you had a virtual 12-cylinder Testarossa.”
newly arranged versions of the classic four-song soundtrack, arcade in your bedroom. On returning to Japan, Yu Suzuki and his team set out to
which were personally reworked by Hiroshi Kawaguchi in
early 1996. This OutRun release was handled by Game no MSX/MSX2
conduct further research. Suzuki had already explored the
Rutsubo, another specialist Japanese conversion outfit. OutRun on the MSX and MSX2
was released in 1988. It was a » Selecting a track from the car stereo
simple reduction of the coin-op, is one of OutRun’s simple joys.
Dreamcast looking even more stripped-down
While certainly highly respectable (although a lot more colourful)
versions of the game, OutRun in than the C64 version. Although MSX OutRun was released
both Shenmue II (where it appeared immediately after the FMPAC sound source cartridge
as a mini-game) and Yu Suzuki came out, this Pony Canyon-published release failed to take
Gameworks (as part of a five-game advantage of the new hardware add-on, resulting in a blippy-
retrospective compendium) differs from the original arcade sounding mediocrity.
in a couple of areas: specifically, the player’s car is a generic
Ferrari-style motor but not the original Testarossa design, Commodore Amiga
while the timbre of the music is also slightly changed. In spite For those who were lucky enough
of these discrepancies, both Dreamcast appearances were to own an A500 as early as 1989,
in fact produced by Game no Rutsubo, who had done such a Probe had an Amiga conversion of
spellbinding job with the Saturn version. OutRun that resembled the coin-op
much more closely (at least to the
Game Gear point where it was obvious what the source material was)
This was the first handheld version than the CPC and ZX versions it had also coded.
of OutRun, released in 1991. As
expected, the Game Gear version Atari ST
struggles to re-create the look of Likewise, the ST version of OutRun,
the coin-op, but it does succeed in which was released in 1988, shortly
achieving a first for OutRun outside of the arcade: plug in a before the Amiga build appeared,
Link Cable and two-player racing becomes an option. was a continent away from the
8-bit computer ports it outran.
Game Boy Advance
This surprisingly fine version of DOS
OutRun appeared along with dinky DOS users weren’t left out of
takes on After Burner, Space Harrier the OutRun conversion circus,
and Super Hang-On as part of either: Sega published a version
the Atari-published Sega Arcade programmed by Distinctive
Gallery, which was released in the UK in January 2003. Software employees (under the
Ironically, in spite of its quality, the Bits Studios-converted Unlimited Software alias) in 1989. It was a worthy effort,
GBA OutRun never appeared at retail in Japan. although the Amiga and Atari ST versions had greater shine.
THE MAKING OF: OUTRUN
the car in front

“Five of us squeezed into a car and drove is a testarossa
for three hours to see a [privately owned] Turbo OutRun
Turbo OutRun was the first of
Testarossa” YU SUZUKI ON HIS TEAM’S DEDICATION TO FERRARI’S HOTTEST CAR OF THE EIGHTIES
many pseudo-sequels to Yu
Suzuki’s original formula, and
this one gets even closer to
potential for OutRun’s scenery and environment throughout as Suzuki explains: “At the time of OutRun’s development, the Cannonball Run inspiration by virtue of its setting
as a pan-America race. It also introduced a turbo
his European rent-a-car expedition; his team’s next objective driving games were made whereby a collision with another
feature for limited quick boosts.
was to learn more about the Testarossa, but this was fraught car would automatically result in an explosion, and they had
with problems, as Suzuki relates: “Only a tiny number of many things that would be impossible with real cars. Even Battle OutRun
Testarossas had been brought into Japan, so we had some if you were good at driving actual cars, the skills needed in An exclusive game for the
Sega Master System, Battle
trouble finding an owner to help us with collecting car data. those games were completely different. I wanted to make OutRun stripped away all
Eventually, five of us squeezed into a small car and drove for a driving game where people who were skilful drivers of of the notions of luxurious
three hours to see a [privately owned] Testarossa. We took cars could also achieve good results in the game. For that driving from the original OutRun game and replaced
photos of it from every side, at five-degree intervals, and we reason, where at all possible, we simulated features such as them with cheap criminal-chase ‘thrills’. Hmm.
also recorded the sound horsepower, torque, gear ratios and tyre engineering close
OutRun Europa
of the engine.” to those of real cars. For features that were difficult to control, This entry in what was
Suzuki’s work on OutRun was a model of thoughtful, we added AI assistance. For its time, I think the level of becoming a series of sort-of
conscientious design. Suzuki has previously spoken of OutRun’s production was very high.” OutRun games appeared on
keeping a notepad and Dictaphone next to his bed, so that The AI assistance Suzuki speaks of was used to particularly the Game Gear, SMS and C64
in 1991. It tried to be the Sega-authorised contender
he could quickly note any ideas he had in dreams. It’s no good effect with the handling of the Testarossa. The ‘drift’ to Taito’s excellent Chase HQ, but failed due to
coincidence that OutRun’s opening stretch of road is traffic techniques Japanese racing game developers tend to talk shoddy design and cheap production values.
free: this was to ensure that players stood no risk of being about are, according to Suzuki, essential in good driving
discouraged by suffering a collision early in the game, so games – if the car’s tyres grip the road surface too closely, OutRun 3-D
soon after inserting a 100 yen coin to play. Instant explosions the handling of the car will be too twitchy – but prior to Another SMS release,
OutRun 3-D was designed
on collisions between vehicles, too, in spite of being prevalent OutRun this wasn’t commonly appreciated by driving game
to take advantage of the
in racing games prior to the OutRun era, were not to Suzuki’s developers. The response of OutRun’s Ferrari was pitched SegaScope 3D Glasses.
liking, and he deliberately omitted this faddish conceit when perfectly, however, neatly averting all of the frustrations that It seemed futuristic, although the developer’s
designing both Hang-On and OutRun. On the other hand, players feel when they’re attempting to control cars which lack of confidence in the concept was belied by
Suzuki reckoned that zooming out into the lead and then just are prone to understeer, oversteer or ‘twitchiness’. And it’s its reassurance-veiled-as-a-boast, “WITH 2-D
MODE!”
staying there for the rest of the race wasn’t much fun either, just as well, really: not only did OutRun present endless
which is partly why OutRun is a race against the clock, rather one-way traffic through which you had to weave a path, but OutRun 2019
than an inter-vehicle competition. it also presented a choice of routes at the end of each stage, F-Zero meets OutRun in this
Yu Suzuki’s personal gameplay preferences happened demanding that you swerve left or right to head towards the Mega Drive release from
1993.
to be in tune with those of the majority of players, leading next easier/trickier area. In a game as gorgeous as OutRun,
The diverging routes of
to design decisions that would help OutRun to push driving while the primary thrill was in the ride, part of the fun was OutRun at least are retained here, however, the
games away from their tendency towards ‘the impossible’, just seeing what the next stage looked like. Suzuki concurs, Ferrari has been replaced with an awkwardly styled
rocket car… from the future.
OutRunners
» Failure to get a move This is one of the better
on results in a very OutRun sequels, the coin-op
angry flagman. version featuring linked
cabinets for multiplayer
racing and the System Multi 32 board powering late
sprite-based graphics drawn in a style similar to Yu
Suzuki’s 1988 classic, Power Drift.
OutRun 2 / OutRun 2 SP
This great game had a full
Ferrari licence with eight
drivable supercars, as well
as new game modes and
awesome Chihiro-powered 3D graphics. It was the
first real sequel to OutRun, and it had only taken 17
years to arrive.
Sega Ages 2500 Vol. 13:

» The opening stretch of track was OutRun
kept free of traffic so as not to This is in part a sequel
deter players too early on. to OutRun and in part a
conversion of the original
game, in dull polygonal 3D graphics. A new Arrange
mode means you needed to overtake rivals within
each stage, and then stay ahead of them until the
end of your drive.
OutRun 2006:
Coast 2 Coast
This is the homecoming of
OutRun 2 and SP, collecting
fine Xbox, PS2, PSP and PC
conversions of the arcades together with additional
console/computer-exclusive material. Essential.
explaining that the emphasis on the scenery was deliberate: “I be in tune with the feel of the Testarossa’s acceleration and
wanted to make a game where you could enjoy magnificent handling. This is explained in part by Yu Suzuki’s balanced
changing scenery and landscapes while driving, commitment to OutRun’s sonic, visual and responsive aspects
and really get a nice sensation from playing it – not a stoic – “I couldn’t think of the game and music as detached, separate
racing style of play.” things,” he tells us – but there’s also the fact that Hiroshi
From the use of a roofless Testarossa and the choice of Kawaguchi, after working with Suzuki to deliver the excellent
Coconut Beach as the game’s first stage, to the names of the Hang-On music, was beginning to understand Suzuki’s wishes
soundtrack selections (breeze, wave, shower) and the various and his way of thinking. We ask Yu Suzuki to reveal his favourite
pastel shades used to draw the sky, OutRun feels almost tangibly OutRun cut and he responds without any hesitation: “Magical
fresh; the perfect game for summer. We mention this to Suzuki, Sound Shower.”
quietly hoping we haven’t just perceived the experience horribly Aware of all five senses (he has even contemplated the
wrong all these years. “Yes, that’s correct,” he nods, to our potential for games that challenge players’ sense of smell), Yu
relief. “I wanted to make stages where you could smell the fresh Suzuki wanted to make OutRun a tactile experience – not just
fragrance of new leaves and flowers, like in the green meadows something to appeal to the eyes and ears. Hence the cabinet
of Switzerland, so I’m happy that you were able to sense that.” designs he commissioned, which were early examples of coin-
For such a cohesive, finely crafted game, it’s surprising to op setups capable of delivering force feedback to players at
hear that the team behind OutRun was very much a randomly appropriate moments, such as whenever the Testarossa crashed
assembled group of individuals from within Sega. “The team into a roadside signpost. There were four flavours of OutRun
consisted of four programmers, five graphics designers and one cab – Deluxe and Standard moving types, an upright with a
sound creator,” Suzuki says, “and we had the [coin-op] cabinet force feedback wheel only, and a cockpit version without any
made by commissioning another team. The game development such movement. The appeal of the jolting DX and SD versions
team was made up of people who happened to be available at was overwhelming, and after their initial trial runs non-feedback
the time, so I wasn’t able to assemble the team according to my cabinets became relatively rare in Japan. Regardless of the » Cutting it this close can be
incredibly frustrating.
wishes. I wrote all of the important planning and programming presence/absence of moving parts in these prestigious cabinets,
parts myself; I don’t think anything was really influenced by the all of them used Nanao-brand monitors. It was essential that
development staff. I recall the bulk of development work taking OutRun’s super-quick sprite-scaling and undulating roads were
between eight and ten months to complete. However, during displayed on the best possible screens, and it was fortuitous
those eight to ten months I was almost living at Sega,” he laughs. that these cabinets were the last wave of Sega machines to
Although the other programmers and graphics designers use Nanao monitors. As part of a cost-cutting exercise,
working on OutRun appear, according to Suzuki, to have subsequent Sega coin-ops would use lower-spec Samsung
had scant influence on shaping the game, one man – Hiroshi displays – while the Nanao screens would stay bright forever,
Kawaguchi (the artist formerly known as Hiroshi Miyauchi) – had the later Samsung monitors were prone to screen-burn and
a tremendous effect on what has become one of the most highly visual signs of ageing.
regarded aspects of OutRun’s production: its music. Kawaguchi The OutRun arcade machines had an unexpected effect on
joined Sega as a programmer in 1984, coding alongside Yuji the crowds of players who used to hang out at Japan’s game
Naka on the SG-1000 game Girl’s Garden while writing music centres; no previous driving game had inspired such dedication.
purely as a hobby outside of work. Suzuki heard some of And players went to extraordinary lengths in the pursuit of high
Kawaguchi’s tunes and was so impressed that he commissioned scores. Around 1988 it was common in Japan to find OutRun
him to produce the soundtrack for Hang-On, after which machines with broken gearsticks: the so-called ‘gear ga-cha’ trick
Kawaguchi quit his role as a programmer and became a full-time – where opportune gear-down/gear-up shifts would be rewarded
in-house composer at Sega. with a prolonged white-exhaust speed boost – was published
Yu Suzuki, himself a guitarist, had specific requests of in Japan’s then-widely read Gamest magazine, along with a
Kawaguchi for his OutRun assignment: “During the planning photo-led guide to explain the intricacies of the move. Arguably
stage I explained in detail to the sound engineer what type of the most aggressive of OutRunners were not playing in the
tunes were needed. I told him that basically I wanted eight-beat intended spirit of the game, but such determined play helped to
rock rhythms at a tempo of 150bpm. I remember selecting a establish OutRun as a phenomenon in the arcades, as well as a
number of tunes to be used as points of reference. In those commercial success that covered Yu Suzuki’s travel expenses
days we couldn’t use samplers or PCM sound sources, so the many times over.
timbre of the tunes was a synthesizer creation, which led to us Yu Suzuki has always been blessed with a clear vision of what
having some difficulty when attempting to trim data quantities he wants, even if – as in the case of the unfinished Shenmue
for playback of the tunes. I remember wanting some guitars and saga – he hasn’t always managed to get it. But with OutRun,
voices in the soundtrack, but it was impossible to achieve with Suzuki’s vision was realised as perfectly as could have been
the technology of the time, so I ultimately had to give up.” hoped for, leaving players and its designer and programmer with
The final soundtrack represents one of the finest, enduring a supreme, satisfying experience born out of red metal, pastel
examples of Japanese videogame music. OutRun offers players skies and accelerating away towards the horizon. We’ll leave Yu
a choice of three tunes – Passing Breeze, Magical Sound Suzuki with the final word; he deserves it: “OutRun’s concept
Shower and Splash Wave – via a mock car-stereo screen was not about frantically racing to just barely take first place. It’s
before the action begins. It’s a concise collection of aurally about giving a ride to a beautiful woman, who sits at your side,
luxurious numbers, each upbeat and catchy to the point where and driving around in a luxurious car with just one hand on the
players would anticipate every subsequent bar. Somehow these steering wheel, taking first place in the race by a wide margin
tunes fit OutRun’s graphics perfectly, and they even seem to – and with time to spare.”
Yu Suzuki
Timeline HANG-ON
(released 1985; Arcade
SPACE HARRIER
(1985; GBA version
AFTER BURNER II
(1987; Arcade
POWER DRIFT
(1988; Arcade
VIRTUA RACING
(1992; Arcade
VIRTUA COP
(1994; PS2
VIRTUA FIGHTER 2
(1994; Arcade
version pictured) pictured) version pictured) version pictured) version pictured) version pictured) version pictured)
THE MAKING OF: OUTRUN
DEVELOPER
HIGHLIGHTS
“The main impetus behind
SPACE HARRIER
SYSTEM: ARCADE
OutRun’s creation was my
YEAR: 1985
VIRTUA FIGHTER 2 (PICTURED)
love of a film called The
SYSTEMS: ARCADE/SEGA
SATURN
YEAR: 1995
Cannonball Run. I thought
SHENMUE
SYSTEM: DREAMCAST
it would be good to make a
YEAR: 1999
game like that”
YU SUZUKI ON HIS FASCINATION WITH THE BURT REYNOLDS FLICK
» The open road, a blonde gal at

your side, Magical Sound Shower
playing. Thanks, Yu.
» Decisions, decisions.
» OutRun’s hilly tracks and

undulating scenery add to the
great sense of speed.
FERRARI F355 SHENMUE SHENMUE II PROPELLER ARENA VIRTUA FIGHTER 4 OUTRUN 2 PSY-PHI SEGA RACE TV
CHALLENGE (1999; (1999; Dreamcast (2001; Dreamcast (unreleased; Dreamcast (2001; PS2 (2003; Xbox (2006; Arcade (2008; Arcade
PS2 version pictured) version pictured) version pictured) version pictured) version pictured) version pictured) version pictured) version pictured)
BATTLEZON E
AVALAN CHE
MAJOR HAVOC I ROBOT
ATARI FOOTBALL
WARLORDS
STAR WARS
CLOAK & DAGGER
FRO M TH E
RETRO GAMER DIGS UP THE FILES OF THE CLASSIC COMPANIES OF OLD
Atari Inc
Formed by two engineers, Atari rose to Ted: “He took me off to Stanford to see
[Spacewar!] so I could help him come up
define the early games industry. However, with ways to do such a thing.”
The original plan was to bring the
its rapid expansion hid the looming experience direct to the arcade via a PDP
threat of bankruptcy that defined its INSTANT EXPERT or comparable minicomputer, and a third
partner with programming experience, Larry
early days, right through to the corporate Atari Inc was founded on 28 June
1972 but technically began in 1969
as a partnership between Nolan
Bryan, was brought in to that end. It turned
out to be a short partnership, however,
overindulgence and personality clashes Bushnell and Ted Dabney called
Syzygy Engineering.
when this approach was quickly found to be
cost prohibitive, but they did get a name for
that oversaw its ultimate downfall Atari’s first arcade game was
Pong in 1972. Its first consumer their engineering group out of it – Syzygy
product was a home version of Engineering. If this plan for an electronic
Pong for Sears in 1975. arcade game worked out, the two planned
tari’s origins go back to Ampex According to their boss, Ed DeBenedeti:
A and a little-remembered division

called Videofile. A document
storage and retrieval system that used
“Nolan was the dreamer and Ted was the
plodder. Ted’s engineering work and ideas
were conservative perhaps in the extreme.
The Video Computer System
(VCS), better known as the Atari
2600, began its life in August of
1975 and was released on 14
October 1977.
to have Syzygy be a contract-engineering
firm for the arcade industry.
When it was decided to move to a non-
videotape and television displays to Nolan and later interns Al [Alcorn] and general purpose format – or ‘state machine’,
Warner Communications
search for and reproduce documents, Steve [Bristow] were brilliant, inexperienced bought Atari in 1976 for an where the game is comprised of zero code
it was capable of recalling a full page enough that they had no idea of what one estimated $32 million. It gave but rather hardwired through chip logic – it
out of the phone book and printing it could not do.” away half of it in 1984 for no became Ted’s turn to do the heavy lifting.
money – just promissory stock.
accurately. An analogue engineer who In a sense, Ted’s experienced approach He designed all the circuitry to put a spot
Atari’s top game properties
goes by the name of Ted Dabney had been to engineering would serve well to give are Pong, Breakout, Asteroids, on a modified television screen and move
working in the ‘Input/Output’ group at Nolan’s inexperience and forward-looking Centipede, Battlezone, Missile it around, and Nolan shopped it around for
Command and Tempest.
Videofile, responsible for the cameras and manner a solid foundation as the two someone who may be interested in funding
Atari affected the popular
printers used to record and later print out embarked on a side project together. culture of the early Eighties to
the development of a final product, as well
documents, when he found himself with a Already enjoying daily games of Go in such a degree that it became as manufacturing and distribution. Finding
new office mate. Just out of college, the the office on Ted’s custom-built board, synonymous with high technology. closed doors everywhere he looked, and
It even affected US politics, as
young Nolan Bushnell had moved out to Nolan talked about wanting to pursue the term ‘Atari Democrat’ was little interest in the arcade industry mecca
California from Utah after getting an entry- bringing computer games to the arcade created to describe Democrats of Chicago, he finally found a coin-op
who supported the development
level job at Ampex. environment. Tapping the more experienced of high-tech industries to stimulate
company locally that was interested.
Skill and personality-wise the two Ted, he began partnering with him on trying the US economy of the time. Nutting Associates had previous successes
couldn’t have been more different. to make the dream a reality. According to with electro-mechanical games such as
D
MISSILE COMMAN
Space, and subsidising daily operations Go, the clerk picked Atari, not knowing
He definitely had no ideas with a coin route, Nolan looked to get
their first contract. Their first client was
that he would be choosing the name of
the company that would define electronic
about TV games of any sort Bally, which contracted them to produce
pinball playfields and, more importantly,
entertainment for years to come. On 27
June 1972, Atari Inc was officially born.
TED DABNEY ON NOLAN’S VISION WHEN THEY STARTED WORKING TOGETHER
an electronic driving game. Nolan hired Nolan and Ted decided to keep the Syzygy
former Ampex intern Al Alcorn to work name for the engineering portion of their
Computer Quiz and saw the potential on the proposed game, and allowed him venture, and use Atari for their outward-
of this new format. Hiring Nolan as lead to get acclimated to their video circuitry facing business activities.
engineer to finish adapting Ted’s work into from Computer Space. Nolan had seen
a game while performing other duties at the a demonstration of the first videogame A surprise hit
company, Nutting became the future of the console, the Magnavox Odyssey, that past After putting several test cabinets of
industry for a short time. May, and decided to have Al do an arcade Pong out into the wild – most notably
Having talked Ted into leaving Ampex version of its tennis game. By the time Al one at Andy Capp’s Tavern that sat right
and joining him at Nutting, by the end was done in August of 1972, Nolan was next to a Computer Space unit – a funny
of development Nolan was itching to outvoted two to one to make Al’s warm-up thing happened. Pong was a big success,
have more input on the business side of game, Pong, Syzygy’s actual game for Bally. drawing in far more money than the
things. The two left Nutting by the spring It was during this time that Atari got its Computer Space machines were, to the
of 1972 and decided to make Syzygy now-legendary name. When looking to extent that the Atari staff were afraid that
Engineering their main source of income. formally incorporate Syzygy Engineering, when they reported back to Bally on how
Funding the startup with it was found that several other companies the test run was doing, Bally wouldn’t
money from Nutting’s were already using the name. Giving the believe them. Wary of this, they under-
purchase of Computer clerk a list of names based on moves from reported the earnings numbers, and Bally
BY THE NUMBERS still thought they were exaggerating.
With Bally stalling on accepting the game
$40 million The amount 2 The number of competitors $189 The cost of the Atari 145 The number of and looking to possibly pass it off to its
of profit generated by Atari Atari had in video arcade 2600 at launch. manufacturers making games
as its golden age began in games in 1972. for the 2600 worldwide at the subsidiary, Midway Manufacturing, and Atari
1 The number of knowing how well the game was actually
1977, the year it released the time of the crash.
25 The number of manufacturers making games
hugely successful Atari 2600.
competitors by 1974. for the Atari 2600 at its 1977 5,000 The number of shares doing, Nolan, Ted and Al had a decision to
$539 million The amount it release. Of course, it was just allegedly sold by Ray Kassar make: either let Pong sit in limbo to maybe
$98.95 The cost of Atari’s
lost in 1983, as the industry’s
first home console, Pong,
Atari itself, although third- based on insider knowledge of be rejected altogether, or look to go into
crash was under way. parties would quickly appear. Atari’s performance. manufacturing for themselves. They chose
in 1975.
the latter, and Ted concocted a plan that
COMPUTER SPACE RELEASED BY
SYZYGY PARTNERSHIP FORMED
TIMELINE
ATARI INC FORMED. BOARD OF
TED DABNEY FORCED TO QUIT,
SEPARATE MANAGEMENT AND

BUT REMAINS ON THE BOARD.
‘COMPETITOR’. WHILE HAVING
ENGINEERS, THEY SHARE THE

ATARI BEGINS RELATIONSHIP
KEE GAMES IS FORMED AS A

THE FIRST TEN PRODUCTION
BUSHNELL, S FRED DABNEY
WIVES PAULA N BUSHNELL

(TED DABNEY), AND THEIR
DIRECTORS ARE NOLAN K
WITH CYAN ENGINEERING
GRAN TRAK 10 RELEASED.

SAME ASSEMBLY LINE
NUTTING ASSOCIATES
AND JOAN M DABNEY
PONG UNITS SHIP
LAYOFFS ENSUE
1969 1971 1972 1972 1973 1973 1974
including old industry hands like Bally and

Chicago Coin, and new companies like
Allied Leisure. Already competing for a spot
at the well-established coin-op distribution
table, Nolan came up with the idea to
create a ‘competitor’ to increase the cash
flow of the company. It would have its own
building, exhibit on its own at the industry
shows, and have its own purchasing,
sales and engineering group, which would
include another former Ampex intern, Steve
Bristow, but all its manufacturing would
Nolan send a carefully crafted letter to Bally, be done on the Atari assembly line. This
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? suggesting that it officially reject Pong so
that Atari could develop a new game for it.
company, Kee Games, could clone Atari
titles, allowing the company to sell them
The letter worked, and Atari became a full ‘exclusively’ to two distributors at once.
Ted Dabney 1986 before moving
through a string
design and manufacturing arcade company.
After leaving Atari Inc
in 1973, Ted worked of engineering The wheels come off
for arcade company management positions New horizons Financial disaster struck in the form of
Meadows for a time as at various entertainment From there the growth was explosive, with Gran Trak 10. The game was so badly
well as several other companies in the Nolan and Ted hiring people off the streets engineered that they started coming back
non-arcade engineering Nineties and early to fill the manufacturing needs, and Nolan to Atari in droves, forcing Al Alcorn to
jobs. He even briefly 2000s. He’s currently VP
hiring more engineers and management come out of his sabbatical and redesign
worked for his ex-partner of engineering at uGetit,
again when he created a mobile social gaming to help with the growth. Tension began to them, and forcing an even more lengthy
Nolan Bushnell the pizza number callout firm that combines develop between Nolan and Ted on how delay to this already costly game. Then,
After leaving Atari, system for the early gaming with ‘social the company should be running, however, on top of that, an accounting error set
Nolan headed his Chuck Chuck E Cheese, as shopping’. Former Atari and Nolan decided that there wasn’t room the selling price of each unit to $995,
E Cheese Pizza Time well as the Chuck E employee Roger Hector for two heads – a fact that became obvious when it cost $1,095 to manufacture it in
Theatre until facing Cheese-branded Isaac also joins him there. to Ted when Nolan hired someone to come the first place. It resulted in pushing Atari
bankruptcy. Funding Asimov Presents Super
several start-ups under in and help restructure the business and even further towards bankruptcy, and the
Quiz arcade game in
Catalyst Technologies the late Seventies. employee roles. When they asked Ted what company ended up losing half a million
in the Eighties and He’s currently enjoying he did at Atari, he knew his time was up; dollars between 1973 and 1974. By the
briefly returning to retirement while reacting he was forced out of the company, with end of 1974, Atari began to fully merge Kee
video arcade games to the recent interest in management firmly in Nolan’s hands, as into its parent and offloaded its Japanese
under Sente, he ran a his involvement in early Atari began its ‘Innovative Leisure’ period, operation to Nakamura Manufacturing Co,
string of entertainment videogame history with
companies including
By continuing to pump out new games better known as Namco.
surprise, wonder and
PlayNet and uWink, based on sports themes while doing Things started looking a bit better in
gracious interviews.
which eventually engineering research for an eventual move 1975 as Kee’s management entrenched
closed due to poor into the consumer market, Nolan looked itself at Atari. Kee president and Nolan’s
market performance. to stay ahead of the game. As Al Alcorn next door neighbour Joe Keenan became
He is currently relates: “Nolan didn’t want to define us president of Atari; Gill Williams became
partnered in Anti-
as the best coin-op game designer and VP of manufacturing, helping to smooth
Aging Games and
is an advisor to the manufacturer; instead he focused broadly out issues there; and Kee’s lead engineer,
current owner of the on the entertainment business. We were Steve Bristow, became VP of engineering.
Atari brand, Atari SA creating new, disruptive products in the Along with Steve came top engineering
(formerly Infogrames). leisure industry. Nolan figured people would talent and future stars like Lyle Rains,
Steve Bristow spend more money on what they want, not who, together with Steve, had created the
Since leaving Atari in what they need.” But things soon took their blockbuster Tank at Kee. Several arcade
1984 after more than toll on the fledgling company. classics would be released in 1975 that
a decade, Steve has
Nolan had made some bad hiring would go on to become more known for
worked as an engineer at
decisions for the financial management their Atari 2600 versions but served the
Al Alcorn various communications
After leaving Atari Inc firms. Sadly, the Atari portion of the company, and it soon needed ultimate goal of helping Atari get back
in 1983, he became pioneer passed away in to lay off employees. To make matters on track: Anti-Aircraft, Jet Fighter, and
an Apple Fellow in early 2015. worse, it started facing intense competition the multiplayer Indy 800. The biggest
from others entering the videogame market, development, though, was the fulfilment
FROM THE ARCHIVES: ATARI INC
TECHNOLOGY LTD AND RENAMES
DIVISION AND RENAMES IT ATARI

GOES TO JACK TRAMIEL, WHICH
FIRST MUST-HAVE GAME. LATER
VIDEOGAMES ALL YEAR ROUND
COMPUTERS, THE 400 AND 800,
COMMUNICATIONS FOR ABOUT
THE VIDEO COMPUTER SYSTEM

ATARI’S FIRST HOME CONSOLE,
ATARI CORPORATION. WARNER

BUT ALSO BEGINS ITS DECLINE
RECORD SALES OF $2 BILLION,
NOLAN BUSHNELL FORCED TO
E CHEESE. THE ARCADE GAME
SPACE INVADERS IS RELEASED
IS REPLACED BY JIM MORGAN

RELEASED IN ARCADES. ATARI
WHICH SHIP IN NOVEMBER AT
ATARI IS BOUGHT BY WARNER
THE SAME TIME ASTEROIDS IS

IDEA, WHICH BECAME CHUCK
BATTLEZONE IN THE ARCADES

FOR THE 2600, THE SYSTEM’S
$28 MILLION, IN ADDITION TO
E.T. FOR THE 2600. ATARI HITS
WARNER COMMUNICATIONS.
5200 AS WELL AS THE MUCH-
ATARI’S CONSUMER DIVISION

ATARI INTRODUCES ITS FIRST
VIDEOGAME/PIZZA PARLOUR
THAT YEAR ATARI RELEASES

RELEASED. ATARI SETS UP A
QUIT ATARI. TAKES CHUCK E
RAY KASSAR RESIGNS, AND

NIGHT DRIVER IS RELEASED
ATARI RELEASES THE ATARI

KEE GAMES RELEASES THE
REPLACED BY RAY KASSAR
BEGINS ASKING RETAILERS

THE FUNDING OF NOLAN’S
BRANDED HOME PONG, IS
MALIGNED PAC-MAN AND

CHEESE WITH HIM AND IS
(ATARI 2600) IS RELEASED
TO BEGIN SELLING HOME

THE SEARS TELE-GAMES-
HE ROLLS INTO TRAMIEL
MAINTAINS THE ARCADE

MISSILE COMMAND AND
ATARI INC IS SPLIT UP BY
GAMES CORPORATION
BLOCKBUSTER TANK
PINBALL DIVISION
IN SEPTEMBER
1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984
of Nolan’s wish for Atari to enter the microprocessor-based game console. » Nolan Bushnell inspecting rows of
consumer arena. First codenamed Stella and then officially Pong units ready to ship out in 1973.
named the Video Computer System (CX-
Homecoming 2600), it was released in 1977 and proved
Al Alcorn and several engineers had been to be the path to true greatness for the
working on bringing Pong to homes. The company when it became an icon of the
move to the consumer market meant videogame industry in the early Eighties.
shrinking the large logic-based arcade It sold well that first season in 1977 but
board to a small integrated circuit, for proved financially harmful to Atari the
which a partnership with chip manufacturer following year when manufacturing delays
Synertek and its IC designer Jay Miner caused a shortage of the console for the
was formed. The end result was a product 1978 Christmas season. As in the arcade
that put Atari on the map in the consumer industry years before, Atari was soon
market when it released through Sears joined by competitors eating up the new
in time for Christmas 1975. The research console market – Bally with its Professional
and development firm Cyan was also busy Arcade, Magnavox and Philips with the
during Pong’s home release, working on a Odyssey2, RCA with the Studio II, and
microprocessor-based home console that
had the potential to more than make up for
programmable console pioneer Fairchild
with its Channel F a year before Atari’s It was just business,
the Gran Trak 10 fiasco.
Still realising that it wasn’t enough to
console. Atari needed to separate the
VCS from the pack. nothing personal
completely save the company and expand Also contributing to Atari’s familiar NOLAN BUSHNELL ON FORCING OUT ATARI COFOUNDER TED DABNEY
operations like he wanted to, Nolan began financial problems for 1978 were a
looking for more investors in Atari, and lacklustre arcade line-up, such as Sky the head of the consumer division. It didn’t
eventually, an actual buyer. As 1976 began, Raider, Ultra Tank and Smokey Joe. help matters that Nolan began butting
the buyer appeared in the form of Warner To make matters worse, there was heads with Warner on issues like the
Communications. Warner had been on a tension between Nolan and Warner future of the pinball division, or even the
buying spree to expand its operations, and Communications. Nolan had been accused future of the VCS.
the acquisition of an expanding videogame of being a lax CEO since the purchase, By the autumn of 1978, Nolan had
firm like Atari fit nicely into its plans. The almost “checking out” of the much- crossed the line by trying to hold meetings
deal was signed in October 1976, officially needed daily running of the company, in secret without Warner staff. Warner put
making Atari a Warner subsidiary. and by his own admission that was the Nolan out to pasture after a reorganisation
Under Warner, development of Atari’s case. Consequently, it left more room for plan and, like Ted years before, he was HOLOGAMES
consumer line began to blossom, the Warner and its installed executives to flex left with no recourse but to quit that As the electronic toys craze hit
most prolific aspect of which was Cyan’s their muscles, such as Raymond Kassar, December. Ray Kassar was now left in in the late Seventies and early
Eighties, Atari had a brief foray
» Enjoying a round of Battlezone during its develo into its own handheld electronic
pment are: (left to right) devices and board games under
Lyle Rains, Dona Bailey, Ed Rotberg, Jeff
Boscole and Owen Rubin (seated). its new electronic games division.
Starting in 1978, Atari released
Touch Me, a handheld game based
on its own arcade game of the
same name, which competed
with and lost against a game from
Milton Bradley inspired by Touch
Me, Simon. Atari planned to follow
up with handheld games based on
arcade properties like Breakout and
the licensed Space Invaders, and
even planned advanced tabletop
hologram-based products like the
Atari Cosmos and Atari Spector.
Alas, it was never to be. By the
early Eighties, the electronic games
market was lagging in the US
and Atari shut down the division.
Atari not only lost some advanced
games in the process, but it lost
the company’s third employee,
Al Alcorn, who had been heading
the Cosmos project and quit
shortly after.
SIX OF THE BEST
Asteroids [1979]
The classic space shooter that influenced
a generation, and it’s still fun to play. While
most will have to settle for playing this
game on pixelated technology, nothing
compares to playing in its original crisp
vector monitor format.
Centipede [1980]
Another innovative game, Centipede
improves on the bug theme initiated by
Galaxian. Set in a dynamically changing
garden playfield and complete with » Two shirts designed by Dan Kramer for internal use at
vibrant colour scheme, this top-down Atari to celebrate the release of his Atari 5200 Trak-Ball.
shooter proved a smash hit for Atari.
charge and began heading what many to Atari’s public presence in the videogame
Warlords [1980] consider the golden age of the company, craze of the early Eighties that it dominated.
Still one of the best multiplayer video if not the entire Atari brand. Not without a What many now take for granted or
arcade games of all time, its home port
for the 2600 was just as fun and one of little speed bump to start out with, though. attribute to Nintendo during its Famicom/
the only times you’ll hook up four paddles. NES heyday was actually pioneered by
The arcade version includes a breathtaking Under new management Warner during this period. Atari-themed
3D cut-out reflected backfield. Shortly after coming to the company, Ray magazines, movie placements, toys,
had begun bumping heads with some of clothing, party favours, costumes,
Tempest [1980] the Video Computer System programmers, jewellery, storybooks, big budget cinematic
Atari’s first colour vector game, this
fast-paced shooter that has you rotating
calling them “high-strung prima donnas” commercials, collectables and more built
around geometric shapes is again one in an off-the-record portion of an interview the brand into a commercial juggernaut.
that just looks best on a vector monitor. with the San Jose Mercury News that By 1982, Atari had become Warner
A capable home version wasn’t released ended up getting published. A meeting Communications’ golden goose. Comprising
until Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar.
designed to be a pep talk in early 1979 80 per cent of the videogame industry,
proved to be the last straw for some, as he Atari was doing slightly over $2 billion in
Missile Command [1980] managed to alienate even more. sales and producing more than half of
Global thermonuclear war, Atari style. The
home ports dumbed down the gameplay VCS and Atari 400/800 engineer Joe Warner’s $4 billion in revenues, and over
for use with a single joystick and button. Decuir related: “Ray called a meeting of 65 per cen of its profits. Warner saw only
Accordingly, Atari engineer Dan Kramer the entire engineering team, coin-op and continued growth, and did what it could to
was inspired to design a home version of consumer – a bit of ‘blah blah’, and then he force what should have been considered
the arcade trackball.
started talking about what we were going unmanageable growth, if not a bubble
to do. He was excited about the [400 and waiting to burst. This included frequent
Tank [1974]
A classic that many will never have a 800] computer. He said we were going second-guessing of Atari management,
chance to play, as it’s a discrete logic to sell them in designer colours so that creating a dual management. Money-losing
game that therefore cannot be emulated. women would buy them, and that we deals such as the now-legendary E.T.
It’s satisfying using dual sticks to would also have home decorating software. tie-in were forced on Atari, and a string
manoeuvre your tanks through a maze
while you attempt to blast your opponent.
A number of women I knew in engineering of ongoing projects that would have put
decided to resign because of this. One the company far ahead in both consoles
of the VCS programmers asked him how and computers were cancelled in favour
ONE TO AVOID he was going to deal with the creative
talent – the game designers. He said he
of more incremental advancements like
the Atari 5200 console and the XL series
knew about creative types from dealing of computers. Not that some of Atari’s
Slot Racers (2600) [1978]
This, Warren Robinett’s warm-up game with towel designers at Burlington Mills, his management, such as Ray Kassar, weren’t
for the much more successful Adventure, previous company. A core of programmers enjoying their perks; Learjets, limousines,
is Atari on autopilot. While an original were disgusted, and formed Activision.” yachts and luxury office remodelling were
concept, it was done better in later coin- Fortunately, much of the coin-op talent all on the menu.
ops like Spectar and Targ. 2600 games are
not known for their inspired graphics, but stayed on to thrust Atari to the front just The signs of the end for the company
the cars don’t even look like cars. as the market began exploding thanks were beginning as it enjoyed its record
to Taito’s Space Invaders. A string of profits that year. By August of 1982,
now-iconic hits were released from 1979 warehouses around the US began piling
onwards, including Asteroids, Battlezone, up with unsold inventory thanks to the
Centipede and more. The consumer division glut of competing consoles on the market.
and its Video Computer System rode the As Gordon Crawford, a representative of
wave in 1980 after a timely licensing of the investment group that brokered the
Space Invaders for the console came to original sale of Atari to Warner related:
fruition. Giving the lagging console its killer “At the January ‘82 Consumer Electronics
app, it was soon joined by an expanding Show there were three or four new video
third-party market thanks to Activision, and hardware systems and about 50 new
sales really took off. software systems – all the warning lights
The catalyst for Atari’s golden age went on for me. Then, at the June CES,
was Warner Communications itself. As it was worse! There were about 200
a powerhouse media company, it began software systems. This was a business
leveraging its wide net of subsidiaries to add where the year before it had been
FROM THE ARCHIVES: ATARI INC
» The Atari Spector, a ‘holoptic’ tabletop

game that never saw release.
essentially a monopoly, and now there were 1984, Warner brought in a firm to evaluate the consumer arena. The still-profitable coin
literally hundreds of new entrants.” all its holdings and formulate a plan of division, responsible for Atari’s incredibly
Warner and Atari management became action, and Atari was at the top of the list of prolific arcade output, was initially kept and
partners in a cover-up of how Atari was subsidiaries that it was suggested to dump. reformed as Atari Games, and soon after
starting to suffer. Producing artificial reports The Murdoch takeover was averted that majority ownership was sold to Namco of
and a trumped-up projection of earnings March after Warner bought out his stock, Pac-Man fame.
for the final part of 1982, members in both but the writing was already on the wall for Much like a last-second swoop of the
management groups began selling off Atari. Warner began looking for companies paddle in Pong to save you from your
shares to insulate themselves. The most
THE NAMCO to buy it outright, but when it couldn’t, Atari opponent scoring that winning point,
notorious example was Ray Kassar himself,
CONNECTION was split into pieces. the Atari brand was rescued from being
who did so shortly before the December In 1974, due The consumer division and most of completely wiped out in 1984 and would
1982 announcement that earnings were to mounting Atari’s manufacturing and distribution survive the crash. However, the drama,
losses, Atari
far short of the previously announced decided to capabilities were sold to Jack Tramiel in successes and failures of the well known
projection. It eventually led to him being sell its exchange for no money down and the company were to be far from over…
forced from his position at Atari by that fledgling taking on of most of Atari Inc’s debt. Folding
Japanese operation, run by
summer, but the damage was already done Hideyuki Nakajima, to Namco. it into his Tramel Technologies Ltd (TTL), Special thanks: Curt Vendel, Jerry Jessop, Ted
to the industry. Hideyuki agreed to stay on and he renamed TTL to Atari Corporation and Dabney, Allan Alcorn, Steve Bristow, Owen
run Namco’s new division, which
would initially release licensed
began a new chapter of the Atari brand in Rubin, the Smithsonian.
The bubble bursts Atari games before moving on to
Shock waves spread as investors began producing its own. Thus started a
long partnership between the two
to question the viability of the entire companies. By the early Eighties
videogame industry, and stock prices it was Atari that was licensing
Namco games, and these were
plummeted. Layoffs began at Atari that such big hits that many are
January, and throughout the rest of 1983 frequently regarded as Atari-
and 1984 many of these new competitors created titles today, such as Dig
Dug, Pole Position and Xevious.
that Crawford had witnessed began closing. By February 1985, Namco
The videogame market crash had begun. purchased the Atari arcade
division, by then known as
Atari tried to minimise its losses by Atari Games. Hideyuki was
starting up advanced research divisions sent to oversee all of Namco’s
in computing and graphics, as well as US operations, and by 1987
had pooled his own money
expanding its areas of consumer reach together with other Atari Games
in markets like next-generation medical employees to buy the company
from Namco and make it
devices and telephone research. By employee-owned. Shortly after
September of 1983, Warner brought in the purchase he created Tengen
James Morgan, VP of tobacco company to allow Atari Games to enter the
home console market. In 1994,
Philip Morris, to replace Kassar and turn the Hideyuki and the rest of the Atari
company around. However, Warner began Games staff sold their company
mounting heavier and heavier earnings and back to Warner, then known as
Time Warner. Sadly, Hideyuki’s
stock losses as Atari lost millions a day, and long association with the Atari
by winter of 1983 Warner itself was facing brand would itself end later that
» In the early Eighties, special summer camps dedicated to personal computers
year when he passed away on 11
a hostile takeover by Australian publishing started springing up, with parents sending their kids in the hopes of getting a
June 1994 from lung cancer.
head start in this new field. Atari ran several camps across the US, where kids
magnate Rupert Murdoch. In January of could program their Atari 800 in between distractions like swimming and hiking.
Arise Knight Arthur! The dead are abroad and the princess
has been taken. Lances will be lobbed, monsters will
be mashed, underpants will be aired. As Martyn Carroll
discovers, it’s all in a knight’s work
Ghouls ‘N Ghosts opens on a dark game filled with cartoon-quality characters. But it
and stormy night. Ominous clouds was the background graphics that really made the
gather and lightning pierces the gloom, difference. Gone was the sparse scenery of the
but Arthur fears not. He bounds through original, replaced by beautifully-drawn backdrops
the boneyard on his quest to save his loved one and that scrolled on a separate layer, creating a
overthrow the forces of darkness. convincing parallax effect. Add in the visual tricks,
There’s a definite scene of déjà vu hanging like the first stage’s stormy weather, and the result
over this scene. In Ghosts ‘N Goblins, released was a platformer filled with atmosphere.
three years earlier in 1985, Arthur found himself The improved aesthetics were down to Capcom’s
in a similar cemetery, knee-deep in the undead, CPS-1 hardware. Ghouls was the second title to use
with the same noble quest ahead of him. Even it – shooter Forgotten Worlds being the first – and
» [Arcade] Taking the high path is usually the best, if only the soundtrack was the same, albeit in an earlier the custom 68000-based 16-bit system gave the 2D
to prevent nasty things dropping on your head.
arrangement. The difference was the visuals. visuals a clear boost. In contrast the original game
Arthur and the enemy sprites were now larger ran on a 6809 CPU, the same processor used in the
and more detailed, allowing series director Tokuro Commodore SuperPET and Tandy CoCo. If the original
Fujiwara to better realise his aim of creating a was a 16mm movie then Ghouls was the 35mm
The improved aesthetics were down

to Capcom’s CPS-1 hardware. Ghouls
was the second title to use it
» [Arcade] The annoying broken bridges in the second
stage result in an unpleasant death.
ULTIMATE GUIDE: GHOULS ‘N GHOSTS
PIXEL PERFECT The game’s gorgeous sprites, laid

bare for your viewing pleasure
Arthur
(Magic Armour) Arthur Arthur Arthur Chest
Arthur (Old Man) (Duck)
(Underpants)
Skeleton Flame Skull

Murderer Flying
Magician Vulture Goblin Guillotine
Ogre Mayfly
Orc Man
Man-eating Red Arremer
Rock Turtle Flower
Evil-faced King
Tower
Fire Bat
Beholder
Mud Hand
Antlion Armoured
Sonic Weasel Mud Man Princess
Prin Prin
remake – Evil Dead versus Evil Dead 2, if you like.
Ghouls was also able to maintain its artistic flair
DEVELOPER Q&A throughout the game. The original became quite drab
and samey once you ventured underground and into
the castle, yet the follow-up continued to delight with
Programmer Ste Ruddy reflects on his
cracking Commodore 64 version its increasingly imaginative stages (the third stage,
Baron Rankle’s Tower, where Arthur had to traverse
How did you get to work on wiggly gargoyle tongues, was a highlight). And then
the conversion? » [Arcade] Arthur goes tongue surfing in the tricky third
there were the bosses. Who could forget Shielder, the
Software Creations was doing a stage. Try not to get chomped. first stage’s green-skinned guardian who held aloft his
fair bit of work for US Gold and it own fire-spitting skull? Screenshots of this encounter
was really just the next game I got were common in magazines, showing how the boss
following on from LED Storm. It dwarfed poor Arthur. In action it was even more
was my last C64 game as I was impressive as Shielder stomped around the screen,
doing more and more NES work. arms waving and tail swishing. The new bosses were
so imposing that Astaroth, the chief baddie from the
Had you played much of the game beforehand? first game, was relegated to mini-boss status. His
Sadly not. I’d played Ghosts ‘N Goblins to death but I crown was assumed by Lucifer, a mega-boss who
hadn’t seen Ghouls ‘N Ghosts in the wild until well into the literally filled the screen.
development of the game. By which time I was quite good » [Arcade] Arthur lights up the screen, and sends the dead As in the original game, to reach the final boss
scampering, with a charged-up magic attack.
at it, although not keen on paying to play! you had to play through the game twice – only then,
providing you collected the powerful Psycho Cannon
How much help did you receive from Capcom?
We didn’t get any, really. We received a board from US Gold
and that was it. Fortunately it was one with a debug mode,
so I do remember Andy Threlfall [the graphic artist] spending
quite a lot of time staring at the test graphic pages. Apart
from that it was just a case of playing the game over and
over. It was a hard job but someone had to do it.
BOSS RUSH The chief architects of evil
and how to topple them
What were the trickiest parts of the game to replicate? SHIELDER

Well, technically, it was a full-screen colour scroll. Chasing
QThe game’s first
the raster to update the colour was always fun, with an
boss certainly makes an
optimised sprite multiplexor supporting some of the massive
impression. Having defeated
sprites that the game used. But, to be honest, just fitting the
dozens of regular-sized foes
sodding thing into the memory of the C64 was probably the
you’re suddenly hounded by this
trickiest part of the port.
snarling giant who pulls
off his own head and spits
What aspects of the port are you most proud of?
fireballs at you. He also tries to stomp
Getting a playable interpretation of the arcade Ghouls ‘N
you with his massive clawed feet.
Ghosts using a joystick.
How to beat it: In classic Monty Python
style: run away! Then, as he follows and
And which parts do you wish you could improve?
lowers his head, turn and fire straight into
The most annoying thing was the fact that we were rushed
his face. Basically, keep your distance.
right at the end to get it out. This meant some silly bugs slipped
through. I’d have loved just a couple more weeks to fix ‘em.
How do you feel the port holds up today?

I think it’s a good interpretation of the arcade game. The
graphics are good, it’s playable and has awesome music.
That said, being a programmer, I look at it and think of
all the things I could do better now.
CERBERUS
QThis boss leaps from the flames that engulf the end of the
second stage. The ‘Hound Of Hades’ blazes across the screen,
leaving behind a fiery – and deadly – trail. He also conjures up
deadly fireballs that rain from the sky. All of this ensures you
receive a toasty reception.
How to beat it: The best technique is to crouch in the centre of
the screen (to avoid his leap) and then hit him when he lands.
Don’t forget to dodge the falling fireballs.
weapon on your second run-through, could you finally

face Lucifer. For many players the prospect of finishing The most annoying thing was
the game just once was a distant dream - the series
is famous for its notorious difficulty level and Ghouls the fact that we were rushed right
only enhanced that reputation. As before, randomly-
spawning enemies made life extremely tough and at the end to get it out
it wasn’t possible to change your direction when Ste Ruddy
jumping, so accidentally leaping to your doom was a
common occurrence. Perhaps the biggest annoyance and outlandish bosses that lay ahead were ample
was the weapon system which was carried over reward. Plus, anyone who could one-credit Ghouls was
from the first game. You couldn’t drop and swap your instantly crowned King Of The Arcade.
weapons, so if you unintentionally picked up one of the The game debuted in Japan in December 1988
lesser weapons you were stuck with it until you found under its original title of Daimakaimura (Great Demon
an alternative. World Village). The following month it arrived in the
Ghouls did bless Arthur with some new abilities. west at London’s ATEI show where Newsfield’s
You could now shoot arrows vertically as well as Robin Hogg played it and considered it to be one
horizontally – perfect for targeting flying nasties. The of Capcom’s finest games. “Ghouls ‘N Ghosts is a
game also introduced the magical gold armour, which, considerably stronger title than nearly all other Capcom
once worn, let you unleash special charged-up attacks. games so far,” he reported in The Games Machine
These additions did make the game slightly easier, magazine. “The graphics have to be seen to be
but make no mistake, it was still really bloody hard. believed and the thoroughly addictive gameplay should » [Arcade] Arthur, clad in his Magic Armour, takes on
Perseverance paid off, however, as the warped stages see the crowds flooding to the arcades.” Astaroth and his clone.
GASSUTO ASTAROTH LUCIFER

QAs the name suggests QRegular series boss QThe final, final boss of the game can only be confronted if
this boss is a swirl of hot Astaroth returns to you’re carrying the Psycho Cannon (available on your second
air. At its core is an evil eye bother Arthur towards the end of the fifth stage. playthrough). The bad-tempered Lucifer doesn’t budge from
that keeps you forever in sight. He will try and frazzle you with flames emitted his throne but he’ll attempt to crush you underfoot and zap you
Occasionally the eye will get from either of his grinning mouths. As he’s a with his laser fingers.
mad and emit lightning that master of illusion you also have to beat two How to beat it: Don’t be deterred by his size. Stand just to the
leads to a brief storm. The ‘clones’ a little later on in the brawl. right of his left foot and blast the Psycho Cannon into his face.
boss also swells in size, How to beat it: As with Shielder, stay back A dozen or so hits will finish the job.
making it more difficult to avoid. and just keep jumping up and
How to beat it: This boss will basically circle you hitting him in the head. If he gets
so just keep hitting the eye as it goes around. A too close crouch quickly to
good projectile weapon, such as the dagger or avoid his flame attack.
discus, is required.
OHME
QThe biggest boss in the game is several
screens in length and appears to be
some kind of rotting fish beast. Ohme
doesn’t actually move but its bloated body BEELZEBUB
secretes maggots and worms that try QOstensibly the final boss, this giant fly blocks the exit to the fifth and final
and prevent you from destroying their stage. It continually changes between his true form and a swarm of smaller
disgusting host. Eww. flies that buzz around the screen. It will also fling green blobs of death at you,
How to beat it: Avoid the maggots and just try to concentrate on plucked straight from its abdomen.
shooting the boss’s protruding innards. Begin with the middle one How to beat it: Run to avoid the swarm and then hit it hard when it forms into a
and then work outwards. fly. Using the dagger’s doppelganger magic will make quick work of this one.
CONVERSION CAPERS How the various home
versions measured up
COMMODORE 64
QThis C64 game is held in high regard
and it’s easy to see why – it’s a conversion
masterclass. The graphics, the animation,
the attention to detail: everything about it
is impressive – and, of course, Tim Follin’s
SID tunes are simply out of this world. It’s
hard to imagine how Software Creations
could have executed this any better. It’s
real ‘lightning in a bottle’ stuff.
ZX SPECTRUM MEGA DRIVE
QTopping Elite’s Spectrum version of Ghosts ‘N QThis was one of several early titles that
Goblins wasn’t going to be easy but Software highlighted the Mega Drive as a capable platform
Creations managed it, just. There isn’t much for coin-op conversions. It’s not arcade perfect
colour or background detail on display but all of – the animation is a little choppy and some
the stages are here and it plays really well. The visual tricks are missing – but it’s nonetheless
128K version is the one to go for, as there’s no a very fine version that unsurprisingly became
annoying multi-load and it features Tim Follin’s an import favourite. The ‘practice’ mode is a nice
excellent AY tunes and effects. addition, resulting in less hair-tearing.
ATARI ST AMIGA
QIt took Software Creations 12 months to create QArriving a few weeks after the ST release,
the ST version and it was time well spent. The Software Creations went back and enhanced
colours are muted and the scroll isn’t as smooth the graphics for the Amiga version. Compare
as you’d hope but it’s a faithful conversion. the screenshots: the Amiga version features a
Once again Tim Follin worked his audio magic, taller display and includes more detail, such as
producing a series of original compositions the clouds and background trees. The only thing
alongside arrangements of the coin-op’s tunes. missing is the parallax scrolling effect.
AMSTRAD CPC MASTER SYSTEM SUPERGRAFX

QThe CPC version is much more colourful than QSega did an admirable job of replicating QGhouls ‘N Ghosts was one of just seven titles
its Spectrum counterpart, but it’s let down by its the game on its 8-bit Master System console. released for the enhanced PC Engine. The sound
scrolling, being the only home version to ‘push Movement is quite slow but this has the benefit of and graphics don’t quite match the Mega Drive
scroll’ when you reach the edge of the screen. making the game easier. It also features unique version, but the hardware’s extra memory is
Not having Arthur fixed in the centre means it is ‘shops’, accessible via certain chests, that let used to improve the animation. In short, the
easy to run into nasties when the screen scrolls, you upgrade Arthur’s helmet, body armour and game runs better on the SuperGrafx compared to
and it’s worse when climbing as the screen boots. This adds a splash of strategy and makes the Mega Drive. It also includes the full opening
scrolls horizontally then vertically. up for any technical shortcomings. scene from the original coin-op.
SHARP X68000 PLAYSTATION/SATURN

QThe Japanese computer hosts many QThe first three games were brought together
arcade-perfect conversions and Ghouls is a for the second Capcom Generations collection
great example of this. It may have arrived six which was subtitled Chronicles Of Arthur.
years after the coin-op but if you run them side In addition to arcade perfect ports there’s a
by side you’ll not be able to tell them apart. fascinating library featuring game history,
There’s also a bunch of options to play around original artwork and playing tips. Prior to the
with, including multiple difficulty settings later Capcom Classics Collection this was the
ranging from very easy to, gasp, very difficult. must-have compilation for fans of the series.
SPOOKY SEQUELS AKA ‘The Further Adventures Of Knight

Arthur In The Demon Realm’
GHOSTS ‘N GOBLINS:
SUPER GHOULS ‘N GHOSTS MAKAIMURA ULTIMATE GHOSTS ‘N GOBLINS GOLD KNIGHTS
PLATFORM: SUPER NINTENDO PLATFORM: WONDERSWAN PLATFORM: PLAYSTATION PORTABLE PLATFORM: MOBILE/IOS
YEAR: 1991 YEAR: 1999 YEAR: 2006 YEAR: 2009
QSNES owners rejoiced when Capcom QThis often-overlooked fourth entry QFollowing the two Maximo spin-offs Capcom QArthur returned for this new two-part
announced that the third game in the series was was released exclusively in Japan for the returned to the series roots with a classic 2D challenge – and he wasn’t alone, as you could
a Nintendo-exclusive title. It was essentially monochrome WonderSwan. Despite the title, entry that benefited from wonderful 3D-style now choose to play as different knights with
more of the same, with Arthur blessed with new and the return of enemies from the earlier backgrounds. Arthur was now more athletic unique abilities. The gameplay was largely
weapons and abilities, including the all-important games, this was a distinct entry in the series that than ever, being able to block, dash, climb and unchanged, though it was more forgiving than
double jump. The graphics and animation featured imaginative stages and bizarre bosses. even fly. His task was no easier, however, as the before (a good job, given the touchscreen
were great, although the game suffered from It was also brutally difficult, as you’d expect, trademark difficulty returned with a vengeance controls). Various ‘cheats’ could also be
slowdown when the action intensified. without the double jump to save your skin. (though there was a novice mode). purchased for real-world money. Hmm…
Ghouls and other Capcom titles, such as Strider to challenge him. All of these versions were enhanced
and Final Fight, helped establish the CPS-1 board as by Tim Follin’s fantastic audio work.
an arcade mainstay. As the titles were 2D and sprite- Versions for the Master System and the PC Engine
based they lent themselves to home conversions and SuperGrafx followed. There was no version for the
many followed. The first conversion of Ghouls hit the Super Nintendo – it instead received Arthur’s third
Japanese Mega Drive in August 1989. It was coded by outing, Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, as the series made
Yuji Naka, who would go on to head up Sonic Team, the jump to home systems (see box out). There was
and was admirably close to the coin-op (Fujiwara once also the Gargoyle’s Quest series for Nintendo systems,
joked that the Mega Drive version even featured the where one of the flappy little demons that menaced » [Arcade] Excuse me! The party gets out of hand as the
same bugs as the original, suggesting that the 68000 Arthur became the protagonist. The entertaining 3D end of the night draws near.
code was ported to some degree). spin-off Maximo was released for PlayStation 2 in
In Europe US Gold picked up the Ghouls licence, 2001 and this was followed by a sequel.
as part of its ongoing deal with Capcom, and In 1994, six years after the arcade debut of Ghouls
commissioned Software Creations to develop it for ‘N Ghosts, the first arcade-perfect conversion arrived
home computers. The 8-bit releases were generally on the Sharp X68000 Japanese computer. Ports for
very good (the C64 version in particular being a the PlayStation and Saturn arrived in 1998 as part of
highlight), with the only real omission being the final the Capcom Generations series that also included
battle with Lucifer (these versions ended when the first and third games in the series. The games
you swatted Beelzebub, the giant fly, although the also appeared on Capcom Classics Collection for
» [Arcade] Watch out for the giant mud hands as you
Spectrum version did throw up an extra platforming PS2 and Xbox in 2005, and PSP the following year. navigate stage four’s slimy slopes.
section which led you to the princess). The ST and Ghouls was absent from the recent Capcom Arcade
Amiga versions were both solid titles and they did Cabinet collection, raising the possibility that Capcom
feature the Lucifer fight, with the only difference being has future plans for the game. Hopefully, Arthur’s
that you didn’t have to battle through the game again adventure isn’t over just yet…
» [Arcade] This cool

doppleganger is one of
the better power-ups to
appear in the game.
» [Arcade] The ominous cloud and question mark

telegraph that Arthur’s quest isn’t over.
the evolution of
From humble origins to a

world-conquering fighter
I
f there’s one franchise that has and a franchise that would alter the gaming
changed the shape of gaming as landscape forever, something that would shape
we know it more than any other, us as gamers and change our perceptions
it has to be Street Fighter. Having of what games could and should be. Call it
a friend or rival watch over your shoulder as hyperbole if you want, but we defy anyone to
you set a new high score and keenly input your name a more influential or important game than
initials (most likely in the form of some kind of Street Fighter II – some on a par, perhaps, but
shorthand profanity) is great and all, but having none that could claim to have had a quantifiably
them eat humble pie from a plate made of your greater and longer-lasting effect on gaming as
own skill? Priceless. we know it.
Street Fighter may not be solely responsible But it’s an odd tale all the same, one where
for the concept of competitive gaming, nor an innocuous fighter is somehow the basis for a
was it the first game to introduce the idea. But sequel that takes the world by storm and spawns
by allowing us to select a character we could a million imitators. Later follow-ups proved SFII ’s
identify with and make work, the Street Fighter quality to be no fluke; Capcom’s success story
series without doubt forged many of the tenets seemingly wrote itself as the franchise evolved.
by which we currently (and probably always And while Street Fighter II might be the one
will) go head-to-head with each another under game that stands out as defining the franchise,
the watchful eye of a digital referee. each chapter has its own story to tell and its own
And Street Fighter has done so much more relevance in the grand scheme of things.
for us, too. It’s given us the perfect way to vent The original’s sketchy special move
frustration with the real world by wailing on commands; the sequel’s unexpected brilliance;
virtual schmucks at the end of a bad day. It’s III ’s unwavering determination and peerless
given us a forum in which to chase our ideals quality despite a dying market; IV ’s ballsy
of developing gaming skill, while so many rejuvenation of a genre long thought dead. Hell,
other games just want to take us on a nice all this rags-to-riches story is missing is a John
“experience” holiday or patronise us until we Parr soundtrack and a kickass montage. Join us
can’t see straight. And it has defined, more than them as we retread the steps that took Capcom
any other series, the rules under which modern to unexpected greatness and established a
gaming competition takes place. franchise to be forever remembered as one of
It came from nowhere, another also-ran the classics. Not many games make it to 28 and
fighter somehow paving the way for a game still look so spritely, after all...
While Street Fighter II
stands out as defining the
franchise, each chapter has
its own story to tell
拳
龍
昇 ARCADE CLASSICS | 95
Humble Beginnings
I
f it’s true that the mightiest of oaks » Special move inputs don’t always register
can grow from the smallest acorn, properly, making on-demand fireballs tricky.
it’s no great surprise that the
unstoppable force that is the Street
Fighter franchise came from something so
microscopic in importance.
Street Fighter was just one of any number of
competitive fighting games to emerge in the mid-to-
late Eighties, the only things really separating it from
the rest of the pack being little more than gimmicks
– a deluxe version of the cabinet featured large
pressure-sensitive buttons rather than the simpler
version’s six-button layout, while electing not to inform
the player about the existence of Ryu’s special moves
gave the game an air of mystery and excitement. The
deluxe cabinets were later phased out as, predictably,
heavy-handed use in the search for the strongest
attack led to damage, though the standard six-button
system employed by many modern fighting games
started life here.
While the game itself was somewhat
unremarkable in many respects, it did help launch
the careers of some big names in Japanese
development. The production and direction team of home computer system at the time to mixed effect.
Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto would go Tiertex, the studio responsible for handling the ports,
on to join SNK and work on rival franchises Art Of even went so far as to release its own unofficial sequel
Fighting and Fatal Fury, while Mega Man legend Keiji in the form of Human Killing Machine, a fighter of
Inafune got his break at Capcom drawing up character questionable content based on the same engine as the
portraits for Street Fighter. version it developed for the ports of Capcom’s game.
The game proved fairly popular despite its simple Cheeky, perhaps, but the 8-bit era was hardly a hotbed
premise, later being ported to just about every major of morality…
Just one of many games looking

» Joe gets a little extra screen time in the game’s intro, punching through
a wall to set the scene for the fighting extravaganza. Yo, Joe! to further the one-on-one fighter
the challengers
Ryu Ken Retsu Geki Joe Mike
Always searching for Ryu’s sparring partner A disgraced Kenpo The generic ninja will see A kickboxer and the Legal issues forced
stronger opponents in and friend, Ken Masters instructor, Retsu is the you now. The expected first of two American Capcom to swap some of
order to develop his skills, started out as an exact first hurdle on your array of shuriken and opponents in the original, the character names in
Ryu embodies purity – copy of the Japanese quest to winning the teleport attacks are all Joe is nothing special. Street Fighter II, leading
while others seek fame poster boy (and one tournament. It’s not hard accounted for in this And while he may not Capcom to argue that
and fortune, he seeks that only appeared as to see why the bald guy rather bland character, have come back to the American boxer
only to better himself. The player two’s character hasn’t appeared but it takes external Street Fighter Mike and SFII ’s
face of the Street Fighter in versus mode) but in another game influence to flesh him tournament, he may Balrog (originally
franchise and later developed since – he goes out – according have been loitering Mike Bison) are
present in every his own traits. down easy and to the comics, outside – some two separate
single game Fear his flaming doesn’t have he’s an suggest that he’s characters. So
to carry the Dragon Punch, much in the assassin from the blonde dude in that’s canon
name and spamming way of special a rival clan the original Street now. Deal
so far. thereof. attacks. to Ibuki’s. Fighter II intro. with it.
96 | ARCADE
RETRO GAMER
CLASSICS
THE EVOLUTION OF STREET FIGHTER
it
what
o d u ced
intr ve buttons to
re-sensiti ck
Q Pressu ths of atta
h various streng b utton
unleas d six-
w-standar
Q The no g htin g games
r fi
layout fo g ’s most icon
ic
of gam in
Q Some lar c h arac ters
and popu
before
street
fighter
Heavyweight Champ
While not perhaps a spiritual forerunner
to modern one-on-one fighters, Sega’s
arcade machine is acknowledged as
» Considering the artistry of later games, the » Letting a second player interrupt the action was a being the first competitive fighting
original’s portraits are ugly by comparison. bold step in the right direction for Capcom. videogame. Side-on boxing isn’t the best
representation of the sport, mind.
Yie Ar Kung Fu
Konami’s fighter paved the way for
Street Fighter and the developer must
have been kicking itself – Yie Ar Kung Fu
is probably the better game, in truth, but
Capcom beat Konami to the punch with
a stellar sequel.
» With Adon defeated, it’s just Sagat to go. Good » Two or three meaty hits from the Muay Thai Way Of The Exploding Fist
luck with that – the dude is a total beast. master is all it takes to end a round in his favour. A far more accurate portrayal of martial
arts than one that includes blazing
what happened next the competition fireballs and gravity-defying spins,
Beam’s game worked on a points
Not very much, to be perfectly honest. Street Fighter It was an interesting time for the fighter, the genre
system rather than employing energy
was just one of many games looking to further still very much in its infancy. The few games Street bars, just like real-life competitions.
develop the concept of the one-on-one fighter, Fighter had in the way of competition all found
though Capcom’s take on the idea wasn’t really that themselves in the same boat, albeit pushing in
much more inventive or professional than any of its different directions, to try and turn an interesting
peers. Indeed, it was a fairly quiet few years for fight concept into a clearly defined genre. IK+ enjoyed
fans, following the release of Street Fighter, with very some success, the three-way fights (and ability to
little on offer. Home computer gamers would enjoy drop your trousers) setting it apart from similar games,
the likes of Palace’s far more satisfying Barbarian while various publishers would try other angles –
and EA’s somewhat terrible Budokan for competitive Barbarian toyed with extreme violence, Ninja Hamster
fighting, but little did we know that Capcom was with cartoon-style silliness and Galactic Warriors with
hard at work on a game that would change gaming mech-based combat. Nobody had a clear advantage
history forever. over the fledgling genre... well, not yet, at least.
Lee Gen Birdie Eagle Adon Sagat

Street Fighter’s first The geriatric Chinese England’s burly punk hits Bringing tonfa to a fist This Muay Thai expert You’ve faced the expert,
wall (who you fight assassin seems simple hard, and that’s enough – fight isn’t really on, but turns the screen into now here’s the master.
on the Great Wall Of enough here, but later it only takes two or three the second English fighter a blur of legs that rips Brutal damage and moves
China), Lee is about games reveal the successful hits for him to (who is also named after through Ryu’s health for all occasions make him
twice as fast as every intricacies of his fighting lay Ryu out. His speed isn’t a golfing term – read into bar, if you’re not careful. a tough adversary, though
character previously style – he’s the only up to much, thankfully, that what you will) does His attacks Ryu will always
faced and relentless in character in the Street so he’s not all just that. The favour speed come out on top
his rushdown. Again, Fighter roster that that much of extra range over brute eventually – that’s
he’s not come back to the has two separate a challenge, serves him force, as is why Sagat has
competition, but stances that especially well, though demonstrated that nasty scar
there are reports completely when kept the upper-class by his Jaguar on his chest and
that he could change his at bay with a bouncer has style to Sagat’s bears an eternal
be Yun and arsenal of barrage nothing on more powerful grudge towards
Yang’s uncle. attacks. of fireballs. Dudley’s poise. Tiger style. Japan’s finest...
ARCADE
RETRO GAMER | 97
CLASSICS
The Game
That Changed
Everything
Q
uite how Capcom went from
shipping such a run-of-the-mill
fighter to creating one of the most
SFII’s influence on the genre and
important games of all time in the
space of one sequel is beyond us. But everything
about Street Fighter II is just… right. The cast of
on gaming cannot be understated
characters, spanning a handful of stereotypes and
clichés, are easy to identify with. The controls, now Even when it got things wrong, Street Fighter II » Scoring fights is an arbitrary hangover from older
games, though modern fighters still do it.
tuned to actually keep up with quick player input and still ended up being right. The ability to cancel
properly register special move commands, are fluid normal moves into specials was, believe it or not,
and responsive. And the music… Main composer a bug rather than a design choice – a bug that has
Yoko Shimomura may not have been particularly shaped an entire genre and one that without which
fond of fighters but she absolutely nailed it with the the fighting game as we know it would be really
amazing selection of character-specific themes. You quite different. The concept was later embraced by
only have to look at all the cover versions, remixes Capcom, who developed it into a fully-fledged feature
and repurposed theme tunes that litter the Internet with hit counters and everything, though it’s hard to
to see just how much impact these pieces of music believe that just a staple of the genre came about
have had. by accident.
» Beating Bison is no mean feat, especially if the

arcade owner has bumped up the difficulty.
the new challengers

Guile Blanka E. Honda Dhalsim Chun-Li Zangief Balrog
A US Air Force pilot Gaming’s most notable Throwing yourself Stretch Armstrong’s An undercover The Red Cyclone is No, it’s not Mike from
looking to defeat wildman, Jimmy headfirst at opponents Indian cousin has agent out to avenge Russia’s finest wrestler the original game.
Bison and avenge his Blanka was raised and slapping them unparalleled range, her father’s death and let’s be honest Remember? Capcom
deceased friend and in the jungle after a infinite times aren’t due to his mastery at the hands of M. here – who wouldn’t be said so, so it must
comrade, Charlie. plane crash (which exactly traditional of Yoga. He can Bison, Chun-Li is intimidated by a guy that be true. He’s still
While he has only gave him control over Sumo techniques, we breathe fire and later notable as one of practiced his moves on called M. Bison in the
two special moves, electricity...). The feel, though Honda teleport too, which the first female bears? His 360-degree Japanese games, so
they work so well manual describes has made them his aren’t things that have competitors to feature input command throw people have taken to
in tandem that he his fighting style as own. A powerful been covered in any in a fighting game. Spinning Piledriver is simply referring to
doesn’t need any Capoeira, which is character and a Yoga DVDs Her nimble style and his signature him as ‘Boxer’
more. And yes, obviously downright terrifying we’ve seen. barrages of kicks move, though to avoid any
Guile’s theme bollocks. one in the Which isn’t made her his lariats confusion. His
does go with He’s just right many. Any. extremely are equally hobbies include
everything. crazy. hands. Whatever. popular. useful. punching.
98 | ARCADE
RETRO GAMER
CLASSICS
Regardless, its influence both on the genre and home conversion and remarkably, it’s still to this day in the space of a few years with slightly different
on gaming in general cannot be understated. This Capcom’s best-selling game. The first official arcade takes on the one-on-one brawler. Midway’s Mortal
was the game that developed the idea of direct variant came in the form of Champion Edition, letting Kombat was another key competitor, digitised
competition rather than asynchronous, back-and-forth players use the four boss characters and addressing graphics and controversial levels of gore helping it to
score attack. This was the game that cemented several issues, while Hyper Fighting was Capcom’s mainstream success. Even home platform exclusives
the idea of having separate characters with unique way of going toe-to-toe with all the board hacks doing started trying to best official ports of the Capcom
move sets as a must-have feature. And this is the the rounds. Super later added new four characters, game; the likes of Team 17’s Body Blows, Eternal
game that, for many, represented the first steps into with SSFII Turbo finally unleashing Super Combos on Champions and Clayfighter were among those that
the world of gaming, be it a daunting few plays in a the world. wanted a slice of this booming genre.
dingy arcade or the thrill of having what seemed like a
perfect arcade game in your own home. This was the
game that changed everything.
the competition
The cutthroat arcade scene wasted little time in
other
what happened next
jumping on Street Fighter II ’s spectacular success
and for several years, the market was awash with
street
The insane popularity of the arcade original
spawned myriad home conversions and coin-op
fighters looking to pull the rug out from under
Capcom’s accidental classic. SNK came to the fore
fighters
updates, some less legitimate than others. The during this time, with Fatal Fury, Art Of Fighting, Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior’s Dreams
SNES port was, for a long time, the most faithful Samurai Shodown and King Of Fighters all emerging Developed as a prequel series to Street
Fighter II, the Alpha games fleshed out the
characters and introduced new ones to
develop the franchise’s universe. Technical
elements like the super meter arrived, as did
new features like the Alpha Counter.
what
it Street Fighter Alpha 2
ed
n t r oduc A continuation of the original Alpha’s ideas,
i r
aracters fo ility Alpha 2 introduced Custom Combos – a
ab le ch
Q Select rep laya b system that let players burn super gauge in
pth and
ented de mple of a order to unleash unique strings of moves and
unpreced re’s first e xa
hting gen by mistake g
specials that might not otherwise combo. Oh,
Q The fig em, albeit and a handful of new characters too.
st amin
com b o sy
co m petitive g
he ve ry notion of in g tu rn s and
QT ative to tak Street Fighter Alpha 3
alte rn
as an g scores
comparin The pinnacle of the sub-series and still
one of the greatest fighters ever made.
Selectable fighting styles and a wealth of
characters offered even greater freedom
and depth – hardly surprising, seeing as how
this came out after Street Fighter III.
Vega M. Bison Cammy T. Hawk Dee Jay Fei Long Akuma

Another name swap The Shadaloo boss and Both British secret One of SF’s worst cases The only character in Yeah, okay, so the new The embodiment of evil
victim, the clawed cage final opponent in SFII service agent and of racial stereotyping, the series designed challengers were all and the antithesis of
fighter’s Japanese (Vega in the Japanese former Shadaloo Native American by Capcom US and pretty much dodgy Ryu. He’s the younger
name of Balrog actually version, to tie up the puppet, Cammy’s past combatant T. Hawk (or among the most hated. stereotypes. Still, Fei brother of Ryu and
makes far more name-swap silliness), is somewhat messy but Thunder Hawk to his Coincidence? Another Long’s kung fu skills Ken’s sensei and has
sense. His arrogance Bison’s Psycho Power that’s not to say it hasn’t friends) actually fills a iffy racial stereotype, offered a far closer gone totally off the
and grace in battle gives him incredible made her an exceptional gap in the roster pretty mainly notable for representation of a rails in his search for
make him a love/hate combat potential. If fighter. Simple to use, well – a large, heavy- his ‘Maximum’ real martial art than ultimate power. A
character, though you’ve not screamed quick and relatively hitting character trousers – a anything presented by recurring secret boss
most that have his name in powerful, she’s that doesn’t word that would the series so far, hence in the franchise –
faced a skilled frustration, probably one have to rely read the same him becoming a be on the lookout
Vega player will you didn’t of the best all- on grapples. vertically on fairly popular for his Raging
probably lean grow up in the round fighters in Not that that both sides of addition to Demon. You might
towards hate. Nineties. the series. makes it okay. the screen. the roster. want to jump.
ARCADE
RETRO GAMER | 99
CLASSICS
Desperate Times...
W
ith the world and its dog having But determined to buck the trend and take back its
developed a bunch of 2D fighters crown from the genre’s new 3D pretenders, Capcom
and saturated the market to the came good with a gorgeous and inventive return
point where not even the hardcore to form. A brand new cast (with the exception of
could really bring themselves to care, the late returning fighters Ryu and Ken) gave willing players
Nineties wasn’t a good time to be a beat-’em-up an entire new roster of archetypes to learn and the
fan. Capcom had been plugging away with the Street Parry system – while not exactly embraced at the
Fighter brand through the popular Alpha spin-off time of release – would go on to create a moment
franchise but when it came to develop a full sequel, that will go down in gaming history forever. At the Evo
apathy had set in within the fighting community to 2003 tournament, the high-level feature seemed like
a dangerous degree. And with 3D fighters starting something beyond the grasp of many, but when Daigo
to really come into their own as well, it seemed like parried all 15 hits of Justin Wong’s Chun-Li Super Art
Capcom was fighting a losing battle. and responded with a perfect combo to win, the room » Some players could never bring themselves to fly the
nest, sticking with good ol’ Ryu and Ken.
SFIII was determined to take back its erupted and the entire world stopped to take notice of
fighters once more. There could literally have been no
crown from the new 3D pretenders better advert for 3rd Strike.
» Backgrounds and music stack up beautifully what happened next

with the gorgeous sprites and animation. With the 3D boom and the almost entirely new cast
causing III to be far less of a success story than its
predecessor, Capcom pulled its old trick with a pair
of updates to the arcade version. 2nd Impact brought
several new characters, the ability to escape throws
and the first example of EX special moves, while 3rd
Strike arrived a good two years later, bringing with it yet
more new fighters, a refined input system for advanced
abilities and balance tweaks that would make it perhaps
the greatest 2D fighter ever made. Stellar Dreamcast
ports of the first two games (as the Double Impact
it
what collection) and 3rd Strike brought the action home, plus
o d u ced
intr , a risk/rew
ard it would later appear alongside Hyper Street Fighter II
ry syst em
rs
Q The Par ce d p la ye on the Anniversary Collection, released for PlayStation 2
for advan veral
mechanic ffering se and Xbox to mark 15 years of the franchise.
b le S u per Arts, o te r
Q Selecta charac
lay each quick
ways to p bo s, allowing the competition
g gle c om o n
Q True ju hits Capcom’s rivals had really started to establish
land extra
players to p ponents themselves by this point, although the real threat
airbo rn e o
didn’t come from Midway or from SNK – it came from
polygons. With PlayStation taking then-revolutionary
the new challengers

Makoto Q Remy Twelve Alex Dudley Elena Ibuki
The young Japanese Street Fighter’s France’s answer The gooey experiment Another brawler, A gentleman boxer If you thought Chun-Li The original has
Karate expert isn’t for mystery man, little is to Guile is far more that is Twelve is albeit one with a is the perfect was all legs, you generic ninja Geki
everyone, though her known about what Q delicate and elegant probably the worst few more tricks up counterpoint to ain’t seen nothing but SFIII gets the
rushdown style makes actually is. Favouring than his military character in SFIII, his sleeve than usual. Balrog’s bullish yet. Elena’s stunning far more interesting
her Street Fighter brute force over speed analog, though though many have Originally intended approach to fisticuffs animation remains Ibuki, another fragile
III ’s glass cannon – and lengthy combos, he’s not much less learned him for just as a replacement for – Dudley’s butler is one of the highlights character that excels in
land your big combo he’s a fierce opponent dangerous. His extra that reason – nobody SFII frontmen Ryu always on hand and of SFIII, those stupidly rushdown play and in
and you’ve probably in the right hands, special moves also expects his bizarre and Ken, his play-style the pugilist can even long legs flailing confusing the opponent
won but sit back and not least make him a fighting style, and with didn’t help him fit throw roses with his around the screen into making mistakes.
defend and it’s as because somewhat powers of flight and this role, nor did the taunt, a makeshift constantly and many Her taunt reverses
good as his taunt more invisibility, fact that they projectile of her specials linking the opponent’s
over. ups his interesting he can be both perfect for together into controls
defence character tricky to came carving an one fluid briefly, if
by a lot. to learn. catch. back. opening. combo. successful.
100 | ARCADE
RETRO GAMER
CLASSICS
other street fighters
Street Fighter EX Street Fighter EX2 Street Fighter EX3
With the 3D revolution But that didn’t stop a A PlayStation 2 launch
in full swing, Capcom sequel from surfacing, title, but not one of
didn’t want to be too improving matters the better ones. The
late to the party it slightly but still not to an same dodgy 3D visuals
helped start. It did, extent where the game returned, joined this
however, turn up has any worth above 2D time by a tag mechanic
horrifically dressed and versions of the game. A similar to the Versus
half-cut – Street Fighter, it seemed, side mode did pave the way for SFIV ’s series and Tekken Tag Tournament. Not
was not cut out for life in 3D. character-specific Trials, though. one of the series’ high points.
» In truth, Sean’s move pool isn’t dreadful – it’s

his lack of priority really hurts him.
» Yun is by far the better of the Lee twins, although

Yang’s style still won him plenty of fans.
strides in 3D home gaming and arcade boards

growing more powerful at a shocking rate, 3D fighting
games like Virtua Fighter, Tekken and Soul Blade
proved far more interesting and novel to gamers than
the sprite-based visuals they had been fighting with
for a decade. Despite dwindling interest in traditional » Letting Q taunt isn’t the best idea – even with Urien setting up Aegis Reflectors everywhere, the robotic freak is still a monster after a taunt or two...
2D fighters, the push for quality resulted in some of

history’s finest fighters – 3rd Strike is without doubt
Capcom’s best while SNK’s answer, Garou: Mark Of
The real threat didn’t come from
The Wolves, is right up there as well. What, no love
for Mortal Kombat? No. Move along. Midway or SNK, it came from polygons
Necro Oro Sean Yun Yang Gill Urien Hugo

SFIII ’s version of Two arms? Sod that, If you wake up in a Genei Jin is Yun. His The runt of the litter, The game’s every-bit- A rushdown charge He’s number one,
Blanka, if you will, Oro can beat you with fighting game one day third Super Art lets Yang started life as a as-cheap-as-expected character is a rare apparently. SFIII ’s
replete with an just one. Among the and your Super Art him stylishly link almost palette swap of Yun boss, Gill can either beast indeed, and Urien Zangief equivalent
electrocution attack franchise’s oddest is a one-hit fireball, it any of his specials but later got given use his super gauge fills the role brilliantly. as no less than three
and a screen-spanning fighters, this old guy’s shouldn’t take too long into one destructive his own moves and to rain fire down on He could probably do command grabs (and
spin, albeit horizontally unconventional style to work out that you’re combo with the right abilities. Which, sadly, the screen for insane with wearing more two more in his Super
rather than vertically. won him few fans at a joke character. Sean execution, making made him worse. damage (even if than just a pair of Arts), but he has more
He’s not much of a launch, but the fact is SFIII ’s Dan, then – him a perfect choice He’s a decent fighter, blocked) or conserve pants when going into ways to close distance
threat, but you can’t that he’s mained by no amount of training for high level players. though his custom it to resurrect when a fight, though his crazy than the Russian ever
help but feel for a one of the UK’s best under that filthy Doing one damage, combo Super Art is defeated. And if that’s combo potential makes did. Don’t
character who has players, Zak Bennett, scrub Ken is going his hat spin taunt is nothing compared to not cheap, we don’t up for his inability to expect that
to apologise shows there’s to do anyone perfect Genei Jin. know what is. dress himself. to make him
every time something any good, for easy to play,
he’s late. there... after all. trolling. though...
ARCADE
RETRO GAMER | 101
CLASSICS
A Legend
Is Reborn
T
he eight years between Street Fighter entire cast of world warriors from the series’ most Combos, offered similar depth – many newcomers
EX3 and IV represented the longest popular game while mirroring its accessibility. could throw out hopeful Ultras, but most characters
the series had ever gone without a SFIV was designed to be instantly familiar and could combo into their ultimate attacks with the right
new game, largely because many that proved to be one of the core strengths of this set-up. Street Fighter was back on top.
senior Capcom figures weren’t exactly behind late return. But as well as ensuring a low entry
the project. But relatively unknown Capcom barrier and a balanced playing field, Capcom also what happened next
producer Yoshinori Ono pushed relentlessly for a did a great job of making IV a multi-tiered affair With the current hardware generation poised to
new Street Fighter game despite opposition from that could be employed by players of all skill levels. overflow with me-too shooters, Capcom’s timing in
his peers and superiors. Take the Focus Attack, for example. Newcomers bringing back Street Fighter was absolutely perfect.
After the roaring success of the HD remake of could use it to stun hesitant opponents for a free Long-dormant fighting fans rose from their slumber
Super Street Fighter II, though, the Capcom suits combo, intermediate players could use its armour to seek out arcade units, with the improved home
were left little choice but to sit up and pay attention properties to absorb single blows in a similar way version bringing competitive fighting back to the
to Ono, who was put in charge of bringing back to SFIII’s Parry (using a dash to cancel recovery or masses just like SFII had done 17 years before. The
Street Fighter properly. The thinking behind the activation of the actual attack) while pros could use Super version added new characters and selectable
belated comeback was simple – set between SFII it to cancel attacks, leading to some of the game’s Ultra Combos, and Arcade Edition bringing a further
and SFIII, Street Fighter IV would bring back the flashiest combos. The comeback mechanic, Ultra four to bring it in line with the latest coin-op version.
» Some characters, such as Gen, can combo

from Super Combos into Ultra Combos.
the new challengers

Abel C. Viper Cody Dan El Fuerte Evil Ryu Gouken Guy
French amnesiac Many claim she Final Fight veteran The series’ leading It might have a couple What would happen ‘You must defeat Another Final Fight
Abel remembers looks more like an Cody makes his return joke character makes of wrestlers already if Ryu’s search for Sheng Long to stand a star, leaving Haggar
nothing of his past... SNK character than here, after debuting in his main series debut, but Fuerte’s spindly power took him down chance’, reads Ryu’s as the only absentee.
except for massively a Capcom one but the Alpha sub-series. having been formally form, crazy speed and a darker path? He’d original SFII victory Still, he’s busy fighting
complicated close- Viper fits into the He’s still rocking introduced as a parody Lucha Libre skills set get a few new moves quote. Well, now’s Galactus in Marvel
combat moves. It’s SFIV cast just fine. the convict look and of the way SNK were him apart from the and be better at your chance. Gouken Vs Capcom 3. Guy’s
likely that he Her combat suit chucks stones around thought to be ripping stocky grapplers. fighting, apparently. is Sheng Long, Ryu American ninja
was a discarded lets her burn and like a child, plus off Capcom’s fighters. He’s an annoyance Makes perfect and Ken’s former awesome-looking
prototype in the electrocute, with he’s apparently And the strangest as much as a usable sense. Another Alpha master making his first combos won him
program that led to the jump jets in her heels even left a part about him? He’s character, mostly callback, Evil Ryu playable appearance many fans – we
creation making her one of knife on the not actually because he never entered the fray in here. Not just an April like him for his
of SFIV’s two with floor in every rubbish. shuts Arcade Fool’s joke, ‘Profound...
boss, a Super place he up. Edition. then... sadness...’
Seth. Jump. might go. win quote.
102 | ARCADE
RETRO GAMER
CLASSICS
the Future
other street fighters
Thanks to the success of Street Fighter IV, the Marvel Super Heroes Capcom Vs SNK 2: Mark Street Fighter
franchise is once again big news and it will come
Vs Street Fighter Of The Millennium 2001 X Tekken
as no surprise to learn that Street Fighter V was
Pitting Marvel’s finest Not strictly a Street While hardly retro (on
announced in 2014. What is surprising however
nonsense warriors Fighter game perhaps account of having come
is the amount of effort Capcom is putting into the against a host of but Capcom’s out this year, SFXT gave
game, and it appears to have been taken on all the Capcom’s martial representatives in CVS2 a mammoth cast of
feedback from Street Fighter IV. artists may not have came predominantly Street Fighter stars the
By far the biggest news about Street Fighter V seemed fair. But by from its leading fighting chance to beat down
turning everything up brand. Of all of the older 3D fighting’s finest. And
is that Capcom is revamping many of the classic to 11, Capcom managed to make it a crossover fighters, this is easily the one they did – though the SF guys and gals
characters, so they look and play differently. It’s a frenetic and exciting crossover. that still holds up best. work way better in a 2D game.
bold move, but one we’re confident will be pulled
off. It’s also bringing back plenty of old stalwarts,
including Birdie, Nash and R. Mika, but has
introduced plenty of new characters soon. Needless
to say, we can’t wait until the game hits in 2016.
what
intr it
oduc
Q The Fo
cus Attac ed
crumple k: a charg
that abso eable
rbs blows
used to c and can b
Q Full on an ce l attacks e
line integ
whole wo ration, turn
rld into yo ing the
Q Trials m ur very o
ode, an in wn arcad
practically ventive w e
teaching ay of
combos
and skills
» Dan used to be a joke character but in SSFIV, he’s

not entirely awful. Good, almost. Wow.
Capcom’s timing in bringing

back Street Fighter was perfect
CLASSICS | 103
The World Warriors
I
II I
I
I III I II
II II
II IV I III
III III
III Guile
Guile II IV
IV IV
IV III dudley
dudley
I C.Vip
C.Viper
er I
joe IV abel
abel
II guy II
III III
I IV I I IV I
II Balrog
Balrog II II hugo
hugo II
III III III III
I
IV I IV II IV IV
Mike
Mike II cody
cody remy
remy Cammy
Cammy
III
III
IV
IV
rufus
rufus
I alex
alex france england
II
III germany
IV
Ken u.s.a
mexico
jamaica
I
II
III
IV brazil
spain italy
T.Haw
T.Haw
T.Hawk
k
I
II I
III II I I
I IV I III II II
II Blanka
Blanka II IV III III
III III Dee Ja
Jay
y IV
IV
IV IV Vega
Vega rose
rose
El Fue
Fuerte
rte sean
sean
kenya
I I I
II II II
III III III
I IV I IV I IV I
II Q II gill
gill II seth
seth
II
III III III III
IV IV IV IV
twelve
twelve elena
elena
M.Bis
M.Bison
on urien
urien unknown
104 | ARCADE
RETRO GAMER
CLASSICS
THE EVOLUTION OF STREET FIGHTER
I I I I
II II II II
III I III I III I III
IV II IV II IV II IV
Birdie
Birdie III necro
necro III Makoto
Makoto Retsu
Retsu
III
IV IV IV
Zangie
Zangief
gief Gouken
Gouken E.Hon
E.Honda
da
I I I I
II II II II
III russia III III I III
I IV
IV IV IV II
II Geki
Geki
eagle
eagle oni
III Ibuki
Ibuki III
IV IV
Akuma
Akuma
sakura
sakura
I I
II II
III III
IV IV
oro Ryu
I
II
japan
III
IV
Evil
Evil Ryu
Ryu
Hong china
kong
india
south
korea
I I
II II
III III
Turkey thailand IV IV
I I I
yang
yang Chun
Chun-L
n Li
Li
II II II
III III III
IV IV IV
juri
juri Fei Lo
Long
ng yun
I I I I
II II II II
III III III III
IV IV IV IV
hakan
hakan I Adon
Adon I dan I lee
II II II
III III III
IV IV IV
Dhalis
Dhalism
lism Sagat
Sagat gen
ARCADE
RETRO GAMER | 105
CLASSICS
IN THE KNOW
» Publisher: Atari Inc
» Developer: Atari Inc
» Released: 1980
» Genre: Shoot-’em-up

COIN-OP CAPERS: MISSILE COMMAND
Retro Gamer takes a definitive look back on the development team, though,
with Dave in particular being affected
by the game’s theme and gruelling
at a classic arcade game and unravels its development schedule and suffering
nightmares as a result.
Nuclear nightmares aside, there was
brilliance through those who know it best no denying that Missile Command was
an incredibly good game that instantly
became a huge success when it was
released in arcades. It became a huge
money-spinner for Atari, and it has
been firmly ingrained in popular culture,
with the hulking cabinet appearing in
everything from Chuck and Fast Times
At Ridgemont High to, appropriately,
Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
We’d argue that Missile Command’s
success was down to a combination
of its topical setting, the popularisation
of the shoot-’em-up genre that was
brought about by the release of Taito’s
Space Invaders, and for also being an
incredibly tight game that requires
real skill to play – we’ve never been
hat you’re even reading enter the picture, the gameplay soon able to get anywhere near Tony
T 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
becomes very, very hectic. It’s also
worth noting that Missile Command
cannot be finished or won in any
traditional sense – it is simply an
endurance test between man and
machine. ‘The End’ is therefore
inevitable. Deep, man. Very deep.
Temple’s impressive world record, no
matter how many times we’ve tried.
Undoubtedly another key aspect of
Missile Command’s popularity was its
clever implementation of a trackball.
With any other control method at the
helm the game just isn’t the same
the role of a poor chap working the Missile Command’s core concept – play it on MAME with a joypad or
busiest day of his life inside a missile came about as a result of the Cold keyboard if you don’t believe us – and
defence facility. War between the Soviet Union and this is because the ball is perfectly
The brainchild of Atari’s Dave the United States. Initially there were attuned to the game’s frenetic and
Theurer, Missile Command tasks plans to make the game as realistic as reaction-based gameplay, giving
you with protecting six cities from possible, as the cities you had to defend players an unrivalled sense of speed
airborne missile salvos (you can read were all based on real-life locations and precision that many other games of
an exclusive interview about the along the Californian coastline. The the time simply couldn’t manage.
game’s creation with Dave and Rich cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, You need only look at the few home
Adam on page 62). In the game you Santa Barbara, San Diego, Eureka and ports and countless unofficial clones
have access to three mounted missile San Luis Obispo were all originally to know that a joypad simply isn’t as
launchers, which each hold ten rounds due to appear as the cities for each effective in helping you pull off the
of ammunition. Activated by three fire stage, but the idea to set the game superhuman feats of dexterity that
buttons – one on the left and right of on the real-life Californian coast was are needed to survive on the later
the screen, with a third in the middle eventually dropped due to the potential stages and reach the highest scores.
– you must use them tactically and controversy that it might create. Instead, Despite the stiff challenge it poses,
skilfully to shoot down the approaching the player ended up defending six though, Missile Command’s sheer
thermonuclear missiles as precisely unnamed, unrecognisable locations. simplicity means that anybody can play
as possible, and play continues until Despite its nameless setting, the it, even if few of them will ever be able
the six cities you are defending are game was based on the very real to truly master it.
destroyed. The game starts off threat of all-out nuclear war, which It remains a sensational piece of
deceptively easy, but as missiles was considered a distinct possibility work that once again proves that the
begin splitting into multiple targets at the time of Missile Command’s simplest of game concepts are nearly
and low-flying planes and satellites development period. This took its toll always the best.

the expert
Tony Temple has secured records with both Twin Galaxies and
Guinness on Atari’s classic arcade machine, having broken a
20-year-old record to get it. Here’s how he did it…
Q When did you first encounter a guy called Roy Shildt. He’d held the
Missile Command? score since 1984 and no one had come
Well, Missile Command just happened close since. I thought it was beatable,
to be the main game that was sited at so changed the settings on my cab
my local videogame emporium, Rita’s to tournament settings, and starting
Café in Bristol. This would have been in playing. In March 2006, I scored 1.9
around 1981 or so. It was pure chance million points and got into the 2007
more than anything; the fact is that Guinness Book Of Records as a result.
PROFILE it could have been any arcade game I’ve since increased my world record
» Name: Tony Temple from the golden era, I suppose. It was score. In August 2010 I managed
» Age: 42 sat alongside a Gorgar pinball machine 4,472,570 points and became the first
» Location: and a Moon Cresta upright cabinet. person to get past the ‘kill screen’ on
Wiltshire Rita’s was a grotty old place, so with Missile Command in tournament mode.
» Key Twin Galaxies hindsight, it was a miracle they had
World Records: such a prestigious game – and original Q How long does it take to set your
Missile Command [Arcade] too. I recall they had a lot of bootleg high score?
4,472,570 games over the years. I would go The scoring rate on Missile Command
Super Missile Command [Arcade] there, and sit with a warm, 20p milky tournament settings is about a million
164,630 cup of piss-weak tea, and play Missile points every 40 minutes or so. My
Command for hours. and made my desire to conquer the current 4.4 million point world record
game greater than the older people who score took just under three hours.
Q Why did it appeal to you? played it, perhaps.
I was drawn to it primarily because of Q What sort of practice would you
the controls – they were pretty unique Q When did you realise that you put in to get your score?
and complex for the time. I really liked had a good shot at the record? Well, being at the age I am and with a
the idea of having total precise control In 2005 when I got my cab, I discovered young family, a mortgage to pay and
of the game in all directions. It wasn’t Twin Galaxies and saw that there were job responsibilities, not as much as I’d
just a case of moving left, right, up and two types of Missile Command score like. But I’ve been able to focus in on
down and one fire button – you could recognised by Guinness. One was the the game intently when I’ve needed
move the crosshair in all directions, as marathon settings world record score, to. I play very little now but do put in
slow or fast as you liked, and then have which was, and still is, 81 million points intensive play before playing live in the
to decide which of three fire buttons to – to beat this would require you to play US, which a bunch of us do each year.
use. Whereas other players were turned the game for over two days straight. When I went for a new world record
off by the complexity and relentlessness That wasn’t very appealing, to be in 2010, I played every other night for
of the game, I just saw it as a huge honest – that’s a test of endurance, not around two months. It’s not a huge
challenge. And, of course, the subject skill. But the other score type, known sacrifice, to be honest, and I wouldn’t
matter resonated with everyone at that as tournament settings, looked more really regard it as practice – after all,
time – nuclear war was seen as a real of a challenge. If you’re familiar with every time you play, it could be ‘the one’
possibility, and Missile Command I think Missile Command, you’ll know that you where the world record drops! The best
played on many of those fears we had normally get a bonus city every 10,000 way to learn Missile Command is to get
as kids. At 13 years old, we were all points. Well, in tournament mode, you in there and play it.
quite impressionable, I suppose, and get no bonuses at all. Once the six
imagining that you were saving the cities are gone, that’s it. The high score Q How did it feel to beat a record
world probably helped my gameplay here was 1.69 million points, held by that had stood for over 20 years?
Things to look out for if under

War Games nuclear attack from a rogue nation
Cursor Silos Satellites and Bombers

This cursor is used to set the There are three defence silos Occasionally satellites and
launch trajectory of your missiles, at your command: Alpha, Beta bombers appear in the middle of
which explode where it’s placed. and Omega. Activation of each is the screen and drop more missiles.
denoted by the three fire buttons. They can be destroyed first.
Cities Missiles and Smart Bombs

The object is to ensure the There are two types of threat:
protection of the six identical- standard missiles and smart bombs,
looking cities in the game. which can sneakily change path.

the sequels
Despite the lack of a true Missile
Command 2, there are several spin-offs
Liberator
Top tips to help you Released: 1982
reach the finish line Aside from Missile
Command VR – a virtual
in record time reality offering that appeared
QDON’T PANIC in 1994 – there were no
The fundamental rule with arcade sequels to Missile
» In the event of a nuclear war, we want Tony to be
manning the missile shields. this game is not to panic. Command, which is very
There is a lot going on, and players tend strange considering how
It felt good, of course. It was nice to be to lose control, firing shots off all over popular it was. Liberator,
recognised for the achievement. I wasn’t the place. This will not help your game then, is like a spiritual
splashed all over Time magazine or at all. There is no need to fire three sequel to Missile Command
anything, but it’s nice to be listed in the missiles up to take out just a single one that was based on the popular Atari Force comic series.
Guinness book. The most pleasing thing coming down! And if you are playing in The game is essentially an inverted take on the Missile
was simply beating a score that many marathon mode, remember you get a Command concept in that players must destroy bases
people saw as impossible, and to start bonus city every 10,000 points. rather than defend them. Targets are situated on a rotating
flying the flag for us here in the UK. No planet, and players launch their attack via four immovable
one had come near to the world record QTHE RIGHT BASE spaceships that are positioned in each corner of the screen.
in over 20 years, so it was seen as big Try to use the appropriate Moving a targeting crosshair with a trackball, players must
news in classic arcade gaming circles. missile base. If a missile destroy all the targets before their ships are destroyed.
I think it did a lot to resurrect interest in is coming down the right-hand side of
the game – I know of a few guys in the your screen, try to use your right-hand Super Missile
USA who went out and bought a cab as base to take it out. Command
a result of seeing my score. Released: 1994
QSAVE THE The Lynx has many
Q Did Roy Shildt congratulate you MIDDLE MISSILES underrated gems and this is
for beating his record? You’ll notice that the one of them. This excellent
Actually he did. As the previous record missiles from the centre base do travel update to Missile Command
holder for over 20 years, he was at a slightly faster speed than those offers all the thrills and
surprisingly gracious – much to his from the side bases. Try to use your spills of the original arcade
credit. I don’t think he was particularly two side bases’ missiles first, and save game, but also a few neat
happy about it – who would be? – but your middle ones – they come in handy twists too. In addition to
he acknowledged my ability, before when shooting down the smart bombs introducing new enemies
going off on one about trackball settings, on the later waves. Work on your and updating the graphics rather nicely, by far the best
Twin Galaxies, his comic book, The King ‘spreads’ – a line of missile clouds you upgrade to the game was a new power-up system whereby
Of Kong, Arnold Schwarzenegger and can create about halfway up the screen players were awarded money at the end of each stage,
Billy Mitchell’s hot sauce. Roy tends at the start of the later waves. This which could then be put towards specific power-ups that
to get a little worked up about quite tactic buys you a bit of thinking time. either boosted your missile capabilities or your defences. It’s
mundane things. He has what I think we a solid follow-up that also featured a similarly decent update
could call ‘passion’. Or maybe he’s just QTHE TRACKBALL of Asteroids on the same cartridge.
5150; I’m not sure which. Get used to the speed of
the trackball. Every one is Missile Command
Q Is it true that there’s a fierce rivalry different – some are really responsive VR and 3D
between you? and others you have to fight hard with. Released: 1995
Well, I suppose there is, yes. People Once you’ve got the feel of it, you can Missile Command 2 never
have built up this King Of Kong scenario start to play more instinctively. This got beyond the prototype
around us – but the reality is slightly is key to getting high scores. Things stage as Atari presumably
less gripping. Roy shouts loudly about should start to become second nature, struggled with how best to
Missile Command and Tony Temple and you’ll find yourself shooting things extend the original concept.
every now and then to whoever will down without thinking about it. It would be 14 years before
listen to him, and I just sort of shrug my fans got an arcade follow-
shoulders and get on with life. Roy is QPLANES AND up, and this came by the
a colourful character and can be pretty SATELLITES unusual way of Missile
difficult to deal with. He’ll tell you that As a general rule, try to Command VR, which ambitiously took the core gameplay
he’s the true champion, and that he shoot planes and satellites down as and, as its title implies, blasted it into the computer-
could beat my score any time he likes. soon as they appear. Removing the generated world of virtual reality. Split into three stages,
I’ve never met the guy but I suspect I danger early is a good idea anyway, this sequel saw players trying to defend bases from hostile
will play him soon, head to head, which plus the quicker you remove them, alien invaders. Virtuality, the game’s developer, released the
will be quite something. Many people the quicker you’ll get an opportunity to game for the Atari Jaguar as Missile Command 3D, where
want to see that happen, and I’m shoot more, generating more points. it’s the only title compatible with the console’s VR headset.
warming to the idea now.

the machine
As well as being the world champion at Missile Command, Tony is
the owner of one of the most immaculate examples of the cabinet.
And some of you might have even played it in the flesh…
“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 for me –
on and off for over a year! It was stripped, cleaned and
photographed. New parts were sourced from the US,
and the side art was completely rescanned, reprinted
and reapplied. The attention to detail is frightening.”
BUTTONS
Obviously a key element to the game!
These are sealed switches that aren’t
made any more. The start buttons
are illuminated in red; the fire buttons
are standard. You can also find these
buttons on the old Atari Sprint and
Asteroids cabinets. Getting hold of
replacements is really difficult, and as
they are sealed units, they cannot be
fixed. When they go, they go!
MONITOR
Standard 19-inch Wells Gardner
monitor. Archer put a NOS
one in during the restoration
process. These raster monitors
are becoming very difficult to
source now. The bezel is actually TRACKBALL
smoked glass – again an idea The trackball is quite a complex bit of kit and is what makes
Archer had, just to add his own the game so challenging. The trackball itself is actually a
signature to the restoration and standard candlepin bowling ball, would you believe! I have
the machine. This was custom a brand new one that I must get round to fitting. It sits on
made and cut at a glass factory, two rollers on the X and Y planes. The faster you roll the
and had the lettering screen ball, the faster these spin. Optical sensors track the speeds
printed on. The bezels on of the two rollers in relation to each other and the gubbins
standard machines are Perspex. inside the game translate these movements to the position
Again, it just makes the cab a of your crosshair. They are pretty easy to maintain – two
little different, but keeps it true to drops of sewing machine oil every couple of months in the
the original machine. bearings keeps things nice and smooth.

MARQUEE
Dave Theurer, the guy who wrote
developer Q&A
the game, is notoriously quiet and We speak to Rob Fulop, the man behind two of the Atari 2600’s
reclusive about his time at Atari.
Luckily, I managed to get a lead, best conversions: Space Invaders and, of course, Missile Command
and via a friend, he agreed to sign
some bits and pieces for me. I sent How were you involved with available base instead of the three in the original
my marquee off in the post to him, the 2600 port? coin-op. It is very easy to make a game like Missile
and Dave very kindly signed it, as We had a brainstorming Command overly difficult, and it is also pretty easy
you can see. As far as I know, this session to come up with to make the game very easy to beat. The trick is
is the only signed Missile Command possible new 2600 games. to find the balance between the two and craft a
marquee in the world, which makes On the list were two very ‘difficulty ramp’ that kept getting a little harder
my machine particularly unique. popular Atari coin-ops, each time. Missile Command taught me all about
Missile Command and the importance of creating a dedicated system
Asteroids, both of which that allows the programmer to easily tweak a lot
were deemed impractical to pull off on the limited of variables. There was actually a development
COIN SLOTS 2600 hardware. Over lunch, Brad Stewart started
discussing various approaches to each game, and
version of the game where I could change values
on screen while the game was running. This was
We’ve kept these to take original
that lunch turned into a whiteboard-filled scribble- invaluable in finding the right combination of
quarters – I think they could be
fest, after which we pitched the 2600 programming speeds and timing variables so that each level
adapted to take UK coins. I have
team our ideas about how both games could be could deliver the challenge that was needed.
20 quarters dated from 1980 – I
done. We each were given 30 days to come up
know that’s pretty nerdy, but they
with a live ‘kernel’, which would display the main Were you happy with the final result?
were a gift from Walter Day – and
game elements on the screen. Yeah, I remember adding the final explosion at the
the coin mechanisms do work fine,
end, after the player loses, and playing it through
but I tend to keep the machine on
Did you work with Dave Theurer on the project? and really feeling good about it.
freeplay for ease of use. If you look
I had gotten to know Dave from the year before.
closely, you’ll see that Archer did a
Prior to my work on Missile Command, I had Can you tell us any interesting anecdotes about
particularly personal modification for
delivered a version of Space Invaders for the Atari your time working on the game?
me on the coin slots themselves…
800 where I had decided to not One Friday, I had gone out to
copy the original, and my ears a long Mexican lunch with a
were ringing from the criticism that bunch of fellow programmers,
I received both from the market which included a few rounds of
and my peers as a result. People margaritas. This was a typical
just wanted the game they knew Friday activity, although it was
from the arcade, end of story. So unusual for me to drink, since I
when I sat down to make Missile wasn’t a big fan of drinking during
Command, I decided that I would the day. But for whatever reason
make as faithful a rendition as I this day I had consumed half a
possibly could. As the 2600 version pitcher or so of strong margaritas.
was coming together, I would drop in and chat with So now I basically stumble back to work at 2:15
Dave about the finer points of Missile Command. in the afternoon, flat-out drunk. I sat down at
RESTORATION I remember looking at the original attack tables my workstation and had the presence of mind
Archer believes that my cab is and the smart bomb algorithm. And, of course, the to decide that, given my condition, it would be a
probably of better quality than those scoring system was a straight-out copy. good time to make a backup of my current version,
that rolled off the production line. It which hadn’t been backed up in a few weeks – all
wasn’t cheap, but then I felt I was Did you ever receive feedback from him about the of our work was kept on eight-inch floppy disks
investing in something special. He finished game? How did he feel about it? at the time. So I dug out the Missile Command
is particularly proud of the job he The coin-op group was very doubtful that any backup disc and put it in the spare drive next to
did – and rightly so. I’ve had it for sort of good game could be made on the Atari my original development disk, which I worked
six years, and despite being moved 2600. They had built all of their games on custom off every day. Then I promptly copied my two-
around a fair bit and two boys in hardware with whatever amount of memory they week-old backup version over my current version,
the house, it’s held up well. The needed to get the job done. I remember them effectively throwing away my past two weeks of
community estimate that there are being quite impressed when they played the work in one single drunken keystroke. I was so
fewer than ten Missile Command finished game, not as much with my work, but with disgusted! Needless to say, I came in at 7:30am
uprights in the country right now, what was possible with the 2600 hardware. I think the next morning and worked all day Saturday and
so it really is a piece of history. Your Missile Command and Asteroids changed people’s Sunday to restore the game to its pre-margarita
readers may have played it at one of perception of the 2600 as a development platform. state. Along the way I swatted a few nasty bugs
the many retro shows it’s been to. that had crept into the code somehow, and overall
How long a deadline did you have and did any improved a lot of the game’s performance. This is
other staff work on it with you? typical of what happens whenever I’ve blown away
There was no official deadline, but it was assumed something in a game and had to revert to an older
that a single game should take from 5-9 months. I version. Rewriting the code always improves it.
think Missile Command was done in seven months.
Finally, have you played any other conversions
What was the hardest thing about the Atari 2600 of the game? How do you think yours holds up?
project, from a technical viewpoint? I really haven’t played many other versions of
Getting the right feel of the onslaught and figuring Missile Command other than my own, and the
out how to balance the game with only one original obviously.

the conversions
02
Appearing at a time when clones
were commonplace in the market,
there is an absolutely ridiculous
number of official and unofficial
ports of Missile Command. Join us,
then, as we compare all the ports to
carry the Atari seal of approval
01 03
V
B rs
e
e i
st o
n
01. Atari 8-Bit Command ports, this two silo bases, it still plays scenario, as detailed in and satellite enemies from featured both a classic
[Best Version] version was missing a full a faithful game of Missile the game’s manual. the arcade game. Sadly, and ‘ultimate’ mode that
The version that Atari complement of missile Command, and what it players still only had a swapped out the silos
put out for its 400/800 silos, limiting the depth of takes with one hand – 03. Atari 5200 single base with which to for spaceships and also
line of computers was a its gameplay. Regardless, there are no bombers or The 5200 also received defend their six cities. As added alien enemies,
great effort that featured this is still an impressive- satellites – it gives back a decent conversion of such, this version feels CG cut-scenes, bosses,
a few nice improvements looking conversion. with the other by allowing Missile Command that more like an enhancement and allowed players to
over the 2600 port. This Incidentally, this version players to influence the featured a number of of the Atari 2600 port spend points earned
included vapour trails also appeared as a built-in behaviour of the missiles improvements over the rather than a more faithful on purchasing shields
being left behind the game for Atari’s ill-fated and speed of the target 2600 port, although arcade conversion. and upgrading their
enemy rockets, and XEGS console. cursor. This port was also that is probably to be missiles. The PC version
the inclusion of the the first to do away with expected. As well as a 04. PC and is the one to play as it
bombers and satellite 02. Atari 2600 the Cold War setting, crisper and more colourful PlayStation supports mouse controls.
enemies. Sadly, like all Even though the Atari replacing it with a less nuclear war, this version This game was an official Essentially a baby trackball
of Atari’s 8-bit Missile 2600 version is missing contentious alien invasion also included the bombers remake from Hasbro. It controller that’s been

SPECIAL THANKS TO TONY TEMPLE FOR HIS HELP AND ASSISTANCE THROUGHOUT THIS ARTICLE
04 06
05 07
W r
V
o si
e
r o
st n
turned on its head and touch-screen controls version features redrawn which is official, is simply on the Xbox controller – terrible version. Here, you
given buttons for feet, and its automatic silo graphics, allows you called Missile Command, it’s just a crying shame command two missile
it’s a control system that, selection, the game takes to dual-wield silos and and also features an movement with the silos, actuated by the A
as you would expect, a while to get challenging, includes a two-player obligatory graphically analogue stick isn’t all and B buttons, while the
works quite well for but it’s still a good port. head-to-head mode. Sadly enhanced remake – one that fantastic. target cursor is steered
dragging cursors around The game featured two no classic mode, though. that supplants the missile using the D-pad. Sadly,
the screen. modes, classic and ultra, silos with electricity 07. Game though, the visuals,
with the latter throwing 06. Xbox 360 pylons that direct energy Boy Color animation and gameplay
05. iPhone in new enemies and As we’re clearly happy into the sky. Sacrilege. [Worst Version] are where the game falls
Atari also released, but cleaning up the visuals. to fill this page with late The Live Arcade version After purchasing Atari down. The explosions
then oddly pulled, a Atari recently plugged the adaptations that push does feature a classic properties, Hasbro flicker, hang in the sky for
decent iOS version of gap left by its mysterious the very definition of the mode that attempts to released a portable ages and are too tiny. It
Missile Command for disappearance with an word ‘conversion’, we had replicate the one-button- conversion of Missile makes the action feel far
Apple’s devices. Due to update called Missile to include the Xbox 360 to-one-silo control system Command for the Game too imprecise – a big no-
the immediate nature of Command Ultra. This port of Missile Command, with the face buttons Boy Color. Sadly, it was a no for Missile Command.

THE MAKING OF: SPACE INVADERS
In a rare interview with Japan’s godfather of videogames,

Jonti Davies speaks with Tomohiro Nishikado about the birth of
the game that triggered a revolution 37 years ago
F
or a man who single-handedly turned his country into a
nation of videogame junkies, and without whom Shigeru IN THE KNOW
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
tenth year at Taito, Nishikado alone produced a global phenomenon in
the mesmerising and boldly innovative Space Invaders.
Let’s head back to 1978. “At the time,” says Nishikado, “the
block destruction [Block Kuzushi] game Breakout was really
popular in Japan, and I was hooked on it myself. I’d made a few » PUBLISHERS: TAITO
games up until that point, but when I experienced Breakout it
» DEVELOPER: TOMOHIRO NISHIKADO
made me want to drive myself to develop a game that would
» Ex-Taito visionary, Tomohiro Nishikado. » RELEASED: 1978
surpass it.” But where many developers would have been more
than content to code a superior clone of Breakout with a few » SYSTEMS: ARCADE, VARIOUS
clever enhancements (which is precisely what another Taito » GENRE: SHOOT-‘EM-UP
designer, Akira Fujita, would do a decade later), Nishikado took a
completely different stance as he sought to surpass the addictive
‘bat, ball and block-breaking’ system of Atari’s 1976 classic.
Thanks to his keen perceptive powers, Nishikado was able to see
beneath the surface of Breakout and identify the mechanism that
was causing him and so many other young Japanese to put their
100-yen coins in the slots of Atari’s cabinets.
“For me,” Nishikado elaborates, “the really interesting element
of Breakout was the art of deciding on a number of targets and
that sense of achievement you’d get from destroying a whole
group of blocks simultaneously to clear the stage. I analysed
the exhilaration players felt when playing Breakout like this, and
I eventually decided to capitalise on this [gameplay design]
by trying my hand at a shooting game where Breakout’s
quadrilateral targets would be replaced with targets that had
more interesting forms.”
Had Taito’s top man not told Nishikado to make changes to the
design of his project, Space Invaders would have ended up with
people taking the roles of those “interesting forms” Nishikado
was looking for. “During the development process, I had the
enemy targets set as humans,” he reveals, “but Taito’s
then-president told me to stop using humans in such a
way. I initially thought, ‘Okay, if I substitute the humans
with monster-like creatures, that should work out fine’.
But then I saw a newspaper article saying that Star
Wars had been extremely well received in America, so
I decided on using space aliens instead of monsters.
Star Wars had just hit the theatres in America and was
about to be premiered in Japan, so there was a bit of
a ‘space boom’ happening. And that’s why I opted to
make my game’s targets aliens from outer space.”
With that settled, Nishikado continued with his
work as an independent entity within Taito, which is
how he liked to operate in those days (even today, he
seems to value autonomy: his Dreams outfit works
with/for 20 or so Japanese soft cos, maintaining
complete independence). Apart from the cabinet
design and some sound work, Space Invaders was
exclusively Nishikado’s baby: “I let a new employee

Star Wars had just hit the theatres in he realised that his new project was too ambitious for the
technology and software he had to hand – new tools would be
America and was about to be premiered required, and who better to produce them than the engineer-
programmer himself?
in Japan, so there was a bit of a ‘space “There really was no microcomputer hardware in Japan
during the late 1970s,” Nishikado laments, “so I used American
boom’ happening … That’s why I decided hardware [including the Intel 8080 CPU] as a reference point
and then took it upon myself to remodel it. Also, there was
to make my game’s targets aliens from no game development environment to speak of, so I began to
create my own development tools from scratch. I drew up a
outer space NISHIKADO REVEALS THAT GEORGE LUCAS’S WORK HAD AN

rough specification document and started programming while
consulting that paper, but I was thinking about the efficiency
EFFECT ON SPACE INVADERS, AS DID H.G. WELLS AND MARINE LIFE… of the tools I was making more than anything else, which
complicated things. Because of that, I would create and program
work on the sound source and produce Space Invaders’ audio an original development tool and then realise that I’d soon need
effects, but apart from that, all of the other work – namely the another tool as well, so I’d build that from scratch next… in the
planning, the design, graphics design, coding the software, end, this process took up about half of Space Invaders’ entire
building the hardware – I did entirely by myself.” He managed development period.”
to turn the game around in remarkably quick time, especially Those six months of preparatory work were, of course, quite
given how his first job was the daunting task of producing his worthwhile. The limitations of 1978 vintage hardware and
own development tools specifically for this project: “From memory capacities caused Nishikado no end of headaches,
the initial conception of the idea right through to the though. As he worked towards realising his Star Wars-inspired
completion of the game,” Nishikado confirms, “Space dreams of a game to tap into the space boom, he was also faced
Invaders took me approximately 12 months to with the realisation that capacity and power were at a strict
produce.” That was the year that was. premium. Still, Nishikado accepted that he had to work with
Having joined Taito with a degree in what was available, reconfiguring and reworking until he had
Engineering from the electrical engineering- the tools and hardware required to get the Space Invaders he
focused Tokyo Denki University, Nishikado could see in his mind’s eye onto a monitor. Ever the innovator,
was apparently seen within the company as he quickly moved on from the most primitive of methodologies
something of a go-to man for any hardware- to something altogether more forward thinking: “At first,”
related tasks. His first three games for Nishikado says, “I drew a plan for the screen layout on paper
Taito – 1970’s Skyfighter and its sequel the and then put that up on the screen, but if I wasn’t happy with
following year, and 1972’s Borderline – were it because it didn’t look good, I would have to start drawing
all mechanically operated creations; games without a new frame action and put that up as a replacement, and so
screens. Nishikado’s great skill was to improvise on. That was the process I was using – I really wasn’t able to
with existing materials and create something that was draw any good results that way, though. So in view of that, I
entertaining and challenging. With Space Invaders, however, created something that these days we take for granted: paint
» Space Invaders spawned many copycats, but far » The ‘Nagoya shot’ technique in action: finding invulnerability as the Invaders encroach was just
from irritating Nishikado, he takes an ‘imitation is one of the tricks discovered by Japan’s fanatical players of the game in 1978.
the greatest form of flattery’ approach.

tools, whereby I could use a light pen to easily make corrections

to the graphics. This enabled me to complete the graphics with
ease and in relative comfort. I think that, at the time, this was a
groundbreaking development tool.”
Space Invaders Twelve
Thanks to his inventive time-saving measures, Nishikado
was able to work with greater efficiency once the groundwork
had been done and his development environment had been
established. And as his processes became smoother and less
jarring, it became much easier for him to express influences other
than Star Wars. In particular, the enemy forms in Space Invaders
began to take on new subtleties and idiosyncrasies. Nishikado
explains: “I took the octopus-like aliens from H.G. Wells’s War SPACE INVADERS PART II RETURN OF THE MAJESTIC TWELVE: THE
(Arcade, 1979) INVADERS (Arcade, 1985) SPACE INVADERS PART
of the Worlds as a starting point, to influence the design of the IV (Arcade, 1990)
Tomohiro Nishikado’s first direct Although Nishikado was no longer
biggest enemy targets in the game. For the targets in the middle
sequel to Space Invaders was, at the helm, Taito went ahead with Known as Super Space Invaders ’91
of the screen, I modelled them on the image of a crab, and for the he admits, not as big a hit as the a jazzed-up Invaders sequel in outside of Japan, this introduced
uppermost enemies I was thinking of squids. I was imagining the original. Still, it had some interesting 1985. Return of the Invaders again scrolling backgrounds, shields and
enemies as marine life. The aliens’ movement was basic because features, including increased increased the variety of Invaders’ power-ups. It also featured a series
of the low memory capacity I had to work with, which meant I complexity to the movement of its movement patterns, as well as of stages in which you needed to
enemy targets. brightening things up. protect cattle from UFOs…
could only program two patterns [of movement]. But I felt that in
some ways, simple was best.”
It’s probably just as well that Nishikado was content (to a
point) with simple design, because the specs of the Space
Invaders hardware would allow nothing greater. Getting the
hardware properly and advantageously configured was in
itself a great and time-consuming challenge: “For the base CPU
board, I remodelled an existing game board,” Nishikado recalls.
“I replaced the ROM section with RAM and then developed
Monitor ROM. This enabled 16 blocks of data to be input using SPACE INVADERS DX AKKANBEDER / SPACE SPACE RAIDERS / SPACE
the keyboard, which meant it was possible to use the keyboard (Arcade, 1993) INVADERS ‘95 INVADERS: INVASION
Featuring a traditional Space (Arcade, 1995) DAY (PS2, 2002)
to execute programs. I made various functions and features in
Invader Mode, a two-player split- This great Space Invaders parody This Sammy-developed Space
the Monitor ROM, including an option that would let me save screen Battle Mode and a Parody took a pun to arrive at its title: Invaders spin-off brought the series
any programs I made to cassette tape. Of course, I also included Mode, Space Invaders DX was an ‘akkanbe’ is what kids say as they into Earth Defense Force territory,
a function so that I could produce graphics while looking at experimental game whose best pull one eyelid down and stick their arming a few heroes with big guns
the monitor. I used the one kilobyte of static RAM available at features would be better developed tongue out to make a funny face at and telling them to kill Invaders who
the time to compose 64 units of eight kilobytes each lined up in Space Invaders ’95/Akkanbeder. another kid, a teacher or a parent. have already landed on Earth.
for the program area, but the performance was very bad and I
remember occasions when data would become corrupt because
» The population of Japan took the title screen’s encouragement to ‘Insert Coins’ to excess, children
and adults alike.
SPACE INVADERS SPACE INVADERS SPACE INVADERS

ANNIVERSARY POCKET (PSP, 2005) REVOLUTION
(PS2, 2003) This neat compilation contains four (DS, 2005)
Notable for including an original 3D variations of the original Space Nishikado himself developed
Mode, Space Invaders Anniversary Invaders (namely black and white, Revolution, using the opportunity to
was an unremarkable collection of colour, cellophane colour effect incorporate touch-screen controls
variations of Space Invaders and and upright cab styles) as well as (digital controls remain far superior),
Part II. The PSP attempt would Part II, Return, Majestic Twelve 13 Invader types and a variety of
prove much more worthwhile… and Akkanbeder. new power-ups and settings.
3D SPACE INVADERS SPACE INVADERS SPACE INVADERS GET

(Mobile, 2006) EXTREME EVEN
Providing the option to turn Space (DS/PSP/XBLA, 2007) (Wii, 2008)
Invaders into a first-person shooter Arguably the best Space Invaders This recently released WiiWare
of sorts, the Taito-developed 3D sequel, Extreme is probably what exclusive turns the Space Invaders
Space Invaders is surprisingly Nishikado has in mind when he principle upside-down by putting
ambitious given that it is a game says: “I think that shooting games the player in control of the Invaders,
you can play on your mobile phone. have become too difficult and too with the objective being to complete
Defending on the go! centred on catering to enthusiasts.” a successful invasion of Earth.

Attack of the Clones
of static noise. Nowadays,
developers have gigabytes of
memory to work with, but at the
time I only had kilobytes…”
How many times will we get away with using In spite of those trying limitations,
variations on the same pun? Nishikado must have realised that he
had a hit on his hands when groups of Taito
employees began gathering at his desk for a go
on the prototype version. “Once the game was close to being
finished, quite a few people from [Taito’s] development division
were so pleased with it they began to play it regularly,” he smiles.
“However, because they were playing Space Invaders using my
development tools, I wasn’t able to get any work done while
they were playing, which bothered me a lot. Having said that,
although I developed Space Invaders alone, I think that in the end
it was improved and perfected thanks to consultation with the
people who were playing the game around me.”
INVADERS (BBC MICRO, 1982) AVENGER (C64, 1982) While the floor-level workers at Taito were rightly impressed
IJK Software’s Invaders was one of the earliest Another early attempt at bringing Space Invaders with Space Invaders and were the first people in the world to
computer format clones of Taito’s international hit. home was Commodore’s Avenger, which managed to become hooked on it, the ‘Suits’ were, according to Nishikado,
Monochrome and colour versions were released (the reproduce the coin-op’s formula with only a minimum of
latter only for Model B computers). cuts and compromises.
a picture of doubt and scepticism: “In those days I was given
complete freedom to work on games as I saw fit, so at the start
of the project no one expressed any opposition to the idea. Along
the way, though, I had to explain – mostly to businesspeople and
salespersons – the game’s shooting system and how there was
nothing else to compare it with at that point. I had to outline how
being invaded by these aliens would result in a game over, how
enemies would shoot at the player and so on. That was difficult;
they generally didn’t give Space Invaders a good evaluation –
they didn’t seem to rate it very highly.”
Part of the execs and salespersons’ problem with the game
was that it did something unusual; something they either couldn’t
3D INVADERS (CPC, 1984) PEPSI INVADERS (ATARI 2600, 1983) comprehend or simply didn’t see as an appealing factor in a
More ‘quasi-isometric’ than three-dimensional, this This limited-run promotional ‘advergame’, commissioned project they were backing: “Up until Space Invaders, shooting
effort at replicating/improving the original Space as you might guess by Coca-Cola, replaces Space games didn’t feature enemies that would attack the player,”
Invaders formula really struggles to imitate the playability Invaders’ alien enemies with the letters P, E, P, S and I. Nishikado explains. But that wasn’t the only feature that met with
of Nishikado’s game. Very clever, that.
doubting voices: “Also, even if you still had missiles remaining,
if the Invaders got to the bottom of the screen and successfully
carried out their invasion, it would result in a game over. To tell
you the truth, both of these features were vehemently opposed
by the sales and businesspeople…”
The final build of Space Invaders satisfied its creator to an
extent, but Nishikado had some regrets even as soon as the
game was in the wilds of Japan’s ‘game centres’ (the places we’d
call arcades). “The capabilities of the Space Invaders arcade
hardware were really low,” Nishikado sighs. “I wanted to produce
colourful images, but it just wasn’t possible with that hardware
SPACE INVADERS: FUKKATSU NO HI (PC CHICKEN INVADERS (PC, 1999) – so as soon as the game was complete, I began to develop a
ENGINE, 1990) Chicken Invaders is a 1999 vintage poultry-based clone plan for new high-level hardware.” Initially, that wasn’t possible,
This great PC Engine conversion also includes a ‘New of Space Invaders, complete with eggs and drumsticks so the game appeared in monochrome form. Eventually, Taito
Version’ of the game, where the protective bases are in lieu of laser fire. As it’s freeware, you might like to give came up with an ingenious solution that went some way towards
removed as your ship gains the assistance of a shield. this game a shot. Don’t be a chicken, etc. placating Nishikado’s desire for a colourful game: multicoloured
cellophane screen overlays were placed over the displays of
existing cabinets. Over in the States, Bally/Midway would pull the
same trick with its upright cabinet.
While Space Invaders was by no means a rushed job – in spite
of completing work on the game in just 12 months, Nishikado
was not working to a set deadline as such – the limitations of the
technology at his disposal meant the final build was not quite
where he wanted it to be: “For one thing,” says Nishikado, “I
really wanted to include a feature in the original Space Invaders
where the Invaders would split up and form groups… but at least
SPACE INVADERS (WONDERSWAN, SWEET INVADERS (MOBILE, 2006) this ended up appearing in Space Invaders Part II.”
1999) In one of the least imaginative and most shameful If Nishikado was slightly unimpressed by his own production,
This port of Space Invaders for Bandai’s WonderSwan conversions of Space Invaders, 2006’s Sweet Invaders the same could not be said of Japan’s population at large.
handheld replicates Nishikado’s original work, only ‘innovates’ by displaying bitty ‘stunners’ in the Tapping into the tremendous local interest in science fiction,
inverted as black sprites on a clear background. background of its ‘erotic’ take on the game. Space Invaders was very much of its time – a 1978 vintage game

Businesspeople and salespersons …

generally didn’t give Space Invaders a
good evaluation – they didn’t seem to
rate it very highly THE SUITS COULDN’T SEE A GLOBAL HIT EVEN IF
TOMOHIRO NISHIKADO DEMONSTRATED AND EXPLAINED IT TO THEM
DEVELOPER
HIGHLIGHTS
» Space Invaders‘ clear outline of its high-score system ensured that players would try to play » Tomohiro Nishikado’s work remains relevant 37 years on from its conception, marking the game
cleverly and keep on returning. out to be, what we already knew, one of the greatest ever to grace our planet. » SPEED RACE DX
SYSTEM: ARCADE
YEAR: 1975
for the inhabitants of Japan in 1978. The coin-op was an instant to be said – a relatively short-lived phenomenon. On the one » SPACE INVADERS PART II
(PICTURED)
hit, zapping games right into the core of Japanese culture and hand, Nishikado reckons: “Sales of Space Invaders were really
even reportedly causing a shortage of 100-yen coins as a by- much higher than I had anticipated.” But on the other, matter of SYSTEM: ARCADE
YEAR: 1979
product of its phenomenal success. When we mention this myth/ factly, he tells us: “The following year, once sales of the game
legend to Nishikado, he seems like he wants to laugh it off as a had started to decline, I was asked to produce Part II, which I » LUNAR RESCUE
fanciful exaggeration, but it definitely holds an element of truth, developed dutifully, but it wasn’t such a big hit [as the original].” SYSTEM: ARCADE
as he concedes: “The effect of Space Invaders was certainly 1978 was a hugely significant year for Taito and games in YEAR: 1979
noted among businesses using 100-yen coins a lot, but I don’t Japan in general, but in terms of the volume of notable games, it
know whether the coins actually became less common because would be superseded year on year thereafter. As early as 1979,
of the game…” Nishikado was seeing his compatriots gaining ground, even if
Nishikado can’t take credit for the housing of his PCB, mind, much of the basis for their successes had been laid by Space
as he had nothing to do with the coin-op cabinet’s design: “The Invaders and what Japan collectively termed the ‘invader game’
cabinet was designed and produced by a separate team,” he boom: “When I saw how smooth the movement was in Namco’s
says. Like the Western versions of Space Invaders manufactured Galaxian – and how colourful it was, too – I remember thinking
by Bally/Midway, Taito’s Japanese Space Invaders cabinets Space Invaders had lost [the battle]. There were many shooting
were eventually presented in different flavours – some upright games that used Space Invaders as a basis after that,” Nishikado
machines, some in a cocktail-table style. After some comparison concludes, although he doesn’t sound at all bitter about that
work, Taito’s preference was for the table format, as Nishikado situation. Without Space Invaders, there’s a chance that
relates: “Originally, the cabinet was intended as an upright Japanese shoot-’em-ups would not have developed,
design. The table-type cabinet saved a lot of space, though, so or at least not in the amazing way they did during
that version ended up supplanting the upright model.” T.T. Space the 1980s and 1990s. It’s not merely Taito that owes
Invaders, as it was dubbed by Taito in Japan, was a sensationally Nishikado a (metaphorical) debt, but also the other
popular machine. Later on, however, Taito would release an Japanese developers (Namco with Galaxian included)
upgraded version of the upright, which would ultimately prove to who took inspiration from Space Invaders and, on a
have a longer life in Japan’s quickly changing game centres. The global scale, the millions of people whose first experience
later addition of proper colour graphics (a notable improvement of the power of videogames was the heroic act of saving
on the ‘black-and-white graphics with colour overlay’ solution) the Earth from invasion by pesky aliens who were wont to
cemented Space Invaders’ place as a ‘safe bet’ in bars, game scuttle their way towards the planet’s surface.
centres and other locations. Nishikado isn’t keen on the latest examples of shooting
The legacy left by Space Invaders is so immense and multi- games – “In recent years, I think that such games have
branched that it’s almost impossible to quantify the game’s become too difficult and too centred on catering to enthusiasts,”
influence on the world. It has appeared in countless TV shows, he tells us – but he remains committed to the enduring
either by way of a passing reference or as a central theme; it has phenomenon that began in his office at Taito in early 1978: “I still
provided the impetus for numerous musical projects (search want to make simple shooting games,” he smiles.
Google Images for the sleeve to 1981 dub LP Scientist Meets
the Space Invaders); it has even inspired artistic movements.
Yet in Japan, the game itself was – like most trends here, it has

Golden Axe
IF ONLY ALL JOURNEYS WERE THIS FANTASTIC
»SEGA
»ARCADE
» RETROREVIVAL
» 1989
Golden Axe is a strange game. It’s not the greatest side-
scrolling 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 I’m sure
you’ll agree.
The enemies you face are no less exotic and consist of Harryhausen-styled
skeletons (some of the hardest foes in the game by the way) mace-wielding
giants, busty Amazonians and gigantic, armour-clad knights that carry swords
longer than your actual character. Yikes! Then, of course, there’s the final
showdown with old Death Adder himself: a huge monstrosity of a man who
wields the titular Golden Axe.
Your able warriors, the stout Dwarf Gilius Thunderhead, beefy barbarian Ax
Battler and the sexy Tyris Flare are more than able to deal with Death Adder’s
minions, and if you get bored of hacking them up with swords and axes you
can always hop on the back of one of Golden Axe’s many mythical beasties and
smoke ’em with a handy fireball. If all else fails then there’s your magic potions to
rely on. Each warrior favours a certain element: lightning for Gilius, earth for Ax
and fire for Tyris, which can be powered up by kicking the occasional pixie in the
arse and grabbing it’s dropped potion. Who says crime doesn’t pay? When your
gauge is finally filled you can let rip with anything from a minor earthquake to
summoning this big fella on the right. I love the smell of burning Death Adder in
the morning…

Cinematronic’s Dragon’s
Lair remains one of the
most iconic arcade games
of all time and has been
released for almost every
computer and console
platform under the sun.
As the classic arcade
game enters its third
decade, Martyn Carroll
unravels the tangled
history of Dirk’s daring
adventure

THE LEGACY OF DRAGON’S LAIR
D
ragon’s Lair is the most Mattel, where he developed handheld
divisive of games. For some, LCD games, Rick set up Advanced Micro
it doesn’t even deserve to be Computers in San Diego. Working out of
called a game, as it’s seen his garage, he created a fantasy-themed
essentially as an interactive adventure game that used a roll of cash
movie where the player does little more than register paper as its ‘display’. On the paper
prod Dirk away from danger. For others, the Rick added various scenes, each with a
title alone is simply enough to excite the hand-drawn picture and a text description.
synapses and whisk them back to 1983 when The player would choose their desired
goggle-eyed gamers bumped and jostled multiple-choice option and the computer
to get a glimpse of this extravagant new would quickly spin the roll to display the
game that featured cartoon-quality sound required scene.
and animation. For those amazed by the Rick went on to replace the paper roll
attract mode, amused by Dirk’s screams and with a strip of film, then added sound via a
confused by Daphne’s one-piece when the tape recorder, and later still transferred his
game first arrived in arcades over 32 years adventure game to a LaserDisc. This new
ago, there will always be something special – technology allowed him to randomly and
magical, even – about Dragon’s Lair. almost seamlessly jump between scenes,
While fans are always incredibly quick to but he was still using static images. The
argue that Dragon’s Lair is more than just whole thing was a bit flat. He needed to
a movie, the title has certainly benefited breathe life into it, and having seen the
from the type of bonus material you’d find animated feature The Secret Of NIMH at
attached to treasured films. Releases on the cinema, he knew who he wanted to do
CD, DVD and more recently HD-DVD and just that.
Blu-ray have featured mini-documentaries The Secret Of NIMH was the first film
and interviews with the creators along from LA-based Don Bluth Productions, the
with deleted scenes and other extras. studio formed by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman
As such, the story of how Dragon’s Lair and John Pomeroy following their well-
came together is rather well known, publicised resignation from Walt Disney
but it’s always worth recapping simply Productions. Life as an indie was hard
because the game’s origins are actually so however. NIMH opened to limited success
surprisingly primitive. in June 1982 and production of the
The concept was first developed by second film was derailed by industry-
Rick Dyer in 1979. Having quit his job at wide strike action.

P
icking up the story, Gary
Goldman says: “We suffered
a union strike at the end of
July. Our crew of about 110
artists and technicians were reluctantly
escorted from the studio. That strike lasted
73 days and during that time, our investors,
concerned about the ramifications to the
budget, decided to back out. Don, John,
our production manager, our receptionist
and I were the only ones left in the
building. We thought our company was
done. Two months into the strike we
were contacted by Rick Dyer. He came
to the studio and pitched his idea of us
partnering with him to make an animated READERS REMEMBER
LaserDisc arcade game. He had seen The Q“I first saw it in the arcade that was tacked
Secret Of NIMH with his wife and told her onto the side of my local Odeon cinema. I was
that we had to be the ones to produce the utterly blown away by it. I must have stood there
» Could someone give me a little we haven’t all seen before,” reported
hand here?
animation. So, even though we didn’t really and watched that attract sequence about 20 John Holmstom on the expo. “Most
know anything about games, we agreed times and knew the voiceover off by heart. I didn’t of the new games were variations on
to join him in the adventure – videogames play it because it was expensive and I wanted to recognisable and overused themes which
were not in union contract at that time. buy sweets, so at that point it was the best game aren’t going to shake up many arcades.
There was a sigh of relief among us ever too me. Obviously when I did eventually play Only one game stood out from the rest
regarding our destiny as it I realised otherwise, but for a while that – Dragon’s Lair. It’s such a revolutionary
a company.” game was just magical.” concept that it will undoubtedly cause a
Relief quickly turned to panic as great deal of excitement in the arcades. It
team Bluth had just 16 weeks to create THE LAIRD could ultimately make the other games at
something that could be demonstrated the show seem like mere antiques.”
at the Amusement Operators Expo being Buoyed by the success and with
held in Chicago in March 1983. Rick completion costs covered, the team
Dyer knew that other companies were Lair became a national name. All the news returned to California to finish work on
developing LaserDisc games so they stations across the nation reported on the the game. In total the project would
needed to be first to market, in the US convention, showing colour footage of the feature around 20 minutes of hand-drawn
at least. That frantic four month period gameplay. The distributor, Cinematronics, animation. “We completed it in May,”
witnessed the creation of Dirk the bumbler, was able to pre-sell more than 3,500 units continues Gary. “Rick Dyer started testing
Daphne the beauty, the castle, the quest, of the unfinished game. All of the costs it in arcade situations, making changes
the pitfalls and pratfalls. Hundreds of ideas for production, programming and game and excluding rooms that didn’t entertain
were turned into thousands of drawings as cabinet construction and shipping were or confused the players. He also tweaked
Dragon’s Lair came to life. paid for with advances on those sales.” the programming ‘event’ windows – the
March arrived and the team had three Reaction to the game was unanimously amount of time allowed to make your
scenes (or ‘rooms’) ready to show off at positive. A typical viewpoint appeared move. The game started shipping to
the expo. And show off they did. “We in the July 1983 issue of Video Games arcades in early July, selling in excess of
couldn’t believe it,” says Gary. “Dragon’s Magazine. “The 1983 AOE offered very 8,000 machines.”
» Creators of a legend. From left to right: Don

Bluth, Rick Dyer and Gary Goldman.
» The animation in Dragon’s

Lair still looks lovely.
» Poor old Dirk faced all sorts

of deadly encounters.

DRAGON’S SPAWN Sequels to – and spin-offs from – the original arcade game
1984
SPACE ACE (Arcade)

QThis 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.
1990
1993 2002
DRAGON’S LA1R (NES)

QElite’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) DRAGON’S LA1R 3D (Multi)
QThird time lucky for Elite. This platformer is hardly QPart sequel, part update, this return to the world
groundbreaking, particularly within the SNES library, but of Dragon’s Lair is not unwelcome. It plays it safe,
it’s polished and engaging and lots of fun. It’s challenging adopting the typical action-adventure-platformer
1991
too, though fair, and there are plenty of nods to the approach, but the cel-shaded visuals are spot-on and
original arcade game to spot. the animation is authentic. A ‘nice’ game.
1991 2004
DRAGON’S LA1R (GB) DRAGON’S LA1R 111 (PC)

QSubtitled The Legend, this handheld spin-off is a QMark this as a failed experiment. It’s basically
straight rip of Spectrum platformer Roller Coaster, DRAGON’S LA1R 11 (Arcade) Dragon’s Lair 3D turned into an interactive movie
also by Elite. It helps that the source is a brilliant little QThis belated sequel arrived in arcades seven years late – and it was probably seven so that the gameplay matches that of the original.
game, but no real effort has been made to link the years too late. For fans though there’s real magic at work here. The animation is top A definite whiff of ‘Why bother?’ makes this one for
game to the Dragon’s Lair world. Bizarre. drawer, with proceedings taking a surreal turn as Dirk is whisked through time. completionists, or possibly masochists.

» Beware the Mudmen. Things are
about to really heat up.
CARTOON T1ME
QCartoon serials based on hit videogames have occupied
Saturday morning TV schedules for years, stretching right
back to the early Eighties. Dragon’s Lair was a better fit than
most, being based on a game that actually boasted traditional
animation itself. Ruby-Spears Productions developed 13
episodes that were initially broadcast on the American ABC
network between September 1984 and April 1985.
In each 30-minute show, Dirk (who now spoke rather than
just shrieked) would rescue Daphne or protect the kingdom from Singe the
dragon and his conniving cronies. The animation was adequate, the stories were
diverting and the whole thing was good fun – providing you were eight years old.
Co-creator Gary Goldman singles out
the series as the one the main reasons
why Dragon’s Lair remained in the public
D
uring that summer of ‘83 it READERS REMEMBER consciousness long after the game’s
seemed that everyone was popularity had cooled in the arcades.
Q“I remember seeing it when I was but a
playing – or at least standing in The show has been re-run several
youngster and being amazed at the graphics
line waiting to play – Dragon’s times on US television over the years
(compared to anything else in the arcade at the
Lair. It was massively popular. Operators and in 2011 Warner Bros released the
time). The kid I was watching must have played
plonked TVs on top of machines so that complete series on Region 1 DVD.
it to death, as it seemed I was watching a full
punters could more easily watch the game
cartoon. I thought it was easy. I popped my coins
being played. The fact that it cost twice as
in and lasted about ten seconds… Didn’t play
much to play as other machines (fifty cents game as a wide-eyed nine-year-old, he’s
it much after that.”
per credit in the US, rather than the usual currently putting together a feature-length
quarter, to cover the increased outlay for NOKGOD documentary entitled Inside The Dragon’s
the LaserDisc technology) didn’t dampen Lair. “I walked into the arcade one day and
the enthusiasm. a crowd of people were all huddled around
“We were awestruck,” admits Gary. waiting to play. It was like the lines to see this one game,” he says. “My young brain
“Not only by the results of the Chicago Raiders Of The Lost Ark.” could barely even comprehend what was
convention preview, but by visiting the One of those waiting impatiently in the going on. Two of my favourite things,
arcades in the LA area. It was kind of crazy, line for Dragon’s Lair was Jeff Kinder. animation and videogames, coming
seeing the crowds around the machine. “I was on vacation with my family in together in such harmony that it felt like a
We were invited to come to The Largest Wildwood, New Jersey,” says Jeff, who wish come true. I was in a state of euphoria
Arcade in the World in Denver, Colorado, years later would establish a Dragon’s Lair and I hadn’t even played the game yet.
where they had the game, spot lit, all alone, website. “As I walked around an arcade I Once I did get to play the game, however, it
separated from the other games with a noticed a huge crowd around one of the did to me what it did to many other gamers
red carpet and gold-coloured ropes for games. A TV that was sitting on top of – it took my fifty cents and killed me
the players to line up to play. They had put the machine and when I quickly. My attraction wasn’t diminished
three TV monitors on the top of the arcade saw the screen I said to though. It was such a different concept at
allowing the crowds of kids to watch the myself ‘That’s nice, they’re the time that there was no way I could ever
action from several directions. There were showing cartoons on the forget it.”
at least 75 to 100 players standing in line TV’. When I finally edged The game was a success for all parties
through the crowd and saw that involved. Don Bluth Productions, who
those cartoons were actually part initially viewed Dragon’s Lair as a stop gap
of the game I just couldn’t believe between movie projects, ploughed the
it. My jaw hit the floor. After waiting
15 minutes for my turn, my game lasted
about 15 seconds. But I was hooked.”
Someone else clamouring to play
was Martin Touhey. Spellbound by the
» Despite the limitations of the platform, this remained an impressive » At least when you die you’re rewarded with a funny
conversion that captured the spirit of the original game. fatality scene. Get used to it as you’ll see it often.

» Coleco’s original Dragon’s Lair adaptation » Against the odds, the Commodore Amiga version delivered an
for its Adam home computer. authentic Dragon’s Lair experience.
» Dragon’s Lair may have had simple

gameplay, but it looked amazing.
profits into videogame development. Its what we did! Writing Dragon’s Lair for the
second LaserDisc game, the sci-fi romp C64 was an absolute blast.”
Space Ace, arrived in 1984 and this was READERS REMEMBER John’s C64 version was released in late
followed by a Dragon’s Lair sequel. Gary Q“When this came out, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was expensive 1986, with Spectrum and Amstrad CPC
says: “The money flowed and the profits but I had to have a go. I died almost instantly and never played it versions following a few months later.
funded Space Ace and 70 per cent of again having felt utterly cheated out of my pocket money. I just Review scores were so-so, with many
Dragon’s Lair II.” 70 per cent? In March watched everyone else waste their money instead!” critics bemoaning the game’s tough-as-
1984, distributor Cinematronics pulled the boots difficulty level, but the allure of
FREDGHOSTMASTER
plug on the sequel despite it being close Dragon’s Lair was still strong and the game
to completion. It appeared that the novelty was a solid chart hit. In 1987 Software
of LaserDisc games had rapidly worn off Projects created a fresh set of levels based
and their popularity was on the wane. The on arcade scenes not featured in the Adam
craze was short-lived and it pretty much
began and ended with Dragon’s Lair. Yet
“WE F1RST RELEASED original and released it on C64, Spectrum
and CPC as Dragon’s Lair Part II: Escape
the game’s legacy was to live on.
THE AM1GA VERS1ON From Singe’s Castle. A ‘new’ plot involved
Dirk venturing back into the castle to steal
AT THE WORLD OF
H
it coin-ops end up in the some of Singe’s gold – presumably to keep
home and Dragon’s Lair was Princess Daphne in the pre-kidnap lifestyle
no different, despite it being
impossible to convert the game COMMODORE EVENT she was accustomed to.
In 1988, Randy Linden and David Foster
AND WE HAD TO KEEP

to the computers and consoles of the time of US publisher ReadySoft acquired
with any degree of accuracy. the rights. Their plan was admirably
Mere insurmountable tasks weren’t bold – to release a faithful version of
about to stop Coleco however. The RUNN1NG BACK TO Dragon’s Lair for the Amiga computer. The
manufacturer was planning an add-on lengthy process involved separating the
module for its ColecoVision console that
would play CED discs (effectively vinyl
THE OFF1CE TO GET foreground elements from scenes with
static backgrounds and then reducing
records that stored video). Dragon’s Lair
was the perfect killer app for this new kit
MORE STOCK” the colours used in these elements (to
16) and compressing them. Having
and Coleco reportedly stumped up $2m to READYSOFT’S DAVID FOSTER minimised the data, they tackled the
licence the game. Unsurprisingly, plans for
this ambitious add-on were soon scrapped
» The visuals were
and Coleco was forced to adapt rather cartoon-like, but not a patch
than convert the game. The result was a on the arcade original.
multi-load affair for its Adam computer that
featured scaled-down versions or rather
interpretations of popular scenes from the
original. The game was released in 1984
and available on both cassette (that cleverly
pre-loaded the next level while you were
playing the current one) and floppy disk.
The Adam was not a popular computer,
so it was left to UK firm Software Projects
to give Coleco’s version greater exposure.
Software Projects boss Alan Maton picked
up the Adam version while on holiday in
France and brought it back to show his
team in Liverpool. “Software Projects had
the Adam version and we were all looking
at it,” recalls in-house programmer John
Darnell. “I had written a Commodore 64
turbo loader and saw that just as the Adam
loaded the next level from tape whilst
playing the game, the C64 could potentially
do the same. ‘Go for it,’ said Alan. ‘We will
sort out the copyright issues.’ And so that’s

» Software Project captured the essence of
Dragon’s Lair, but not the visuals.
READERS REMEMBER
Q“I was completely mesmerised by Dragon’s
Lair and loved the intro, but then again I was only
around six or seven years old when I first saw
it and never had the chance to play it. Back then
I thought what I was seeing was actual game
graphics rather than just stock footage running
off a LaserDisc.”
TOXIEDOGG and not so much having to memorise
all the exact moves and timings. We make
sure that the helpers can be turned off
Following its successful debut on the for those interested in the true Dragon’s
Amiga, versions for the ST, PC and Mac Lair experience.” The game also included
were released. ReadySoft then converted several new scenes designed in-house
a second set of scenes and, like Software at ReadySoft.
Projects, released them with the subtitle
T
Escape From Singe’s Castle. For Dirk’s he brisk sales of these home
»Dragon’s Lair was released
challenge of optimising processor usage on various high definition return, ReadySoft introduced some player versions demonstrated that
and maximising disk space. The finished formats, meaning anything aids in the form of three difficulty levels, Dragon’s Lair still resonated
product shipped on six full-to-the-brim with a remote can play the save game slots and clearer on-screen with gamers. It wasn’t too
iconic game.
floppy disks and yet featured just 15 per hints. “I think the helpers make the game surprising then when interest was shown
cent of the arcade game. much more accessible to casual gamers,” in the partially completed sequel. Leland
It was a huge hit regardless. “We says David. “We have found that most of Corporation approached the Bluth team
couldn’t produce them fast enough to our customers are interested in getting and offered to finance the completion,
meet the demand,” says David. “We first through the game and seeing all of the and in 1991 Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp
released the Amiga version at the World of animation, bringing back the memories, finally arrived in arcades. “I’m not sure
Commodore event in Toronto in December
1988 and we had to keep running back to
the office to get more stock. We ended
up selling more than 1,000 units at the
“THE PHENOMENON 1S THAT 1T
show alone. In the first three months we
produced 60,000 units, times six disks each.
WAS A H1STOR1C AND MEMORABLE
We had a custom disk format designed to
fit more data on each disk and also thwart
MOMENT 1N THE L1VES OF THOSE
piracy, so we were going flat out copying
disks on reworked Amiga external drives
WHO SAW 1T WHEN 1T F1RST
with the rotation speed tuned down. The
drives kept breaking down and we would
APPEARED 1N THE ARCADES”
have to keep buying new ones.” COCREATOR GARY GOLDMAN
DRAGON’S COBRA COMMAND

QPerhaps best known as an early Mega-CD
LEGACY
FMV game, Data East’s Cobra Command was
actually released in arcades in 1984. Gameplay
is a mix of shooting enemy craft and rapidly
Seven games that owe following directional commands which are
relayed over the chopper’s radio by your officer.
a debt of gratitude to The animation from the Toei studio is great and
Dragon’s Lair the action barely lets up for a second. Forms
SUPER DON a fantastic double-bill with the 1985 car chase

epic Road Blaster (Road Avenger). MAD DOG MCREE
QU1X-OTE QThis light-gun game sees you shooting
QFollowing the success of Dragon’s Lair, a no-good troublemakers in a Wild West town.
number of coin-op manufacturers flirted with Featuring video footage of real actors delivering
LaserDisc tech. This was the first – and only terrible lines in hackneyed situations, the actual
– release from Japanese developer Universal. gameplay boils down to the reflexive type first
While the animation is far from Bluth standard, introduced in Dragon’s Lair. Enemies appear
it’s very similar to Dragon’s Lair in story and on the screen and if you’re fast with your aim,
execution. There’s one difference however – the they hit the dust. Too hesitant and it’s a trip to
video display is overlaid with graphics showing Boot Hill for you. Very silly but fun nonetheless,
your score, lives etc. Hints are also displayed, particularly in the arcade with a crowd of mates
reducing instances of trial and error. rooting for you.

» Dirk’s mother-in-law is not
best pleased that Daphne has
been kidnapped. Again.
what went into Leland’s decision,” says

David, “but I would imagine that the home
market success of Dragon’s Lair played into
it.” Interestingly, the trailer to Time Warp
displays the note ‘Licensed exclusively
to Nintendo’, yet Gary cannot recall the
Japanese firm being involved.
ReadySoft converted the arcade sequel
to home computers, and was once again
forced to leave many scenes out. Some of
these unused scenes were picked up and
used in a new release confusingly titled
Dragon’s Lair III: The Curse Of Mordread.
As with Escape From Singe’s Castle, this
‘third’ title included some exclusive new
scenes to help make sense of the story.
David says: “We needed a new beginning
and ending when we went back and made
READERS REMEMBER
subsequent versions based on the same
material, so we made our own. I suspect ■ “I saw it in Porthcawl and there were always big queues around it.
that technically we did need approval There were two guys who were always on it and could complete it on one
for this and I’m not sure if that was ever credit and it was probably the best game ever to a young me.
requested or received, but I do recall that Because of that, I’ve got a weird fondness for Dragon’s Lair and have
the Bluth Group was quite hands-off at the picked up quite a lot of the home versions over the years. I actually quite
time. Its interest was in feature movies and like the SNES platformer, the original GB version is a decent version of
the Dragon’s Lair rights were a sideline.” Roller Coaster and I also really enjoyed Dragon’s Lair 3D (which is what
It would appear that Don and his the original game should have been and might have been if they’d had the
partners weren’t too protective of the rights technology at the time) on the PS2.”
» Software Projects
if Elite’s trio of Dragon’s Lair games for SHINOBI experienced much-needed
success with its Dragon’s
Nintendo consoles are anything to Lair conversion.
» Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp

saw Dirk constantly zipping
through time.
ANOTHER WORLD SHENMUE

QEric Chahi’s 16-bit classic has more in QIt would be rather foolish to call Sega’s
common with Dragon’s Lair than you may at Shenmue derivative outright, yet one of its
first think. How do you escape the tentacles key features – Quick-Time Events – can be
at the beginning of the game? You push up. traced directly back to Dragon’s Lair and the
How do you reach the teleporter at the end other interactive movies of the era (via 1996’s
of the game? You push left. In addition, both Die Hard Arcade which dabbled with timed
games dwell rather lovingly on death, and button prompts during cutscenes). While
perversely it’s often fun to get killed in a variety Shenmue’s QTEs are just a small part of an
of ways just so you can witness the inventive innovative masterwork, some would argue
fatality sequences. BRA1N DEAD 13 that this ‘feature’ has been a blight on gaming HEAVY RA1N
QHaving spent a number of years successfully ever since. QBeautiful, tragic, compelling, exhilarating.
converting the Dragon’s Lair games to home It’s easy to go overboard with the adjectives
formats, ReadySoft put the ports on hold when discussing Heavy Rain, the stunning
and developed this original interactive movie noir-inspired PS3 game from Quantic Dream.
for home systems. Predictably the game What’s really amazing though is that the
borrows very heavily from Dragon’s Lair, with game, in which the player has no direct control
the usual button prompts advancing the story, over characters and the action is affected by
but the quirky animation and delightfully dark timed events, shouldn’t really work in this
plot help the game stand on its own two feet. day in age. Yet it does, brilliantly, as proved
Also, as a bonus, some of the death scenes are by the game’s wide critical claim and strong
bleakly hilarious. commercial success.

go by. The NES (1990), Game Boy (1991) 2001, Capcom published a surprisingly
and SNES (1993) releases were all platform faithful version for the Game Boy Color,
games far removed from the arcade and then in 2002 Ubisoft readied an all-new
original. Much more faithful were the CD- Dirk adventure for PC and home consoles.
ROM versions which ReadySoft rolled out Titled Dragon’s Lair 3D, the gameplay
from 1993 onwards. These finally provided was updated to give players direct control
PC and Mac users, as well as owners of over Dirk, while the distinctive look of the
jazzy CD-equipped consoles like the Mega- original was replicated.
CD, CDi and 3DO, with the closest thing yet “We used source material from the
to the full arcade experience at home (if original Dragon’s Lair to help us apply
you excused the slightly ropey Cinepak-era the look to the 3D version,” says project
video quality). director and lead animator Thomas Konkol.
“We were very lucky to have access
1
n 1997, Digital Leisure (the new name to the original backgrounds and some
for ReadySoft) released versions of animation cells.” These were provided by
Dragon’s Lair with vastly improved the original co-creators who had a hand
video for CD and DVD. This year also in the development. “They were very
saw the launch of Jeff Kinder’s LaserDisc helpful in providing original art assets,
gaming website, which he initially created » This version was started by Derrick Rowson and finished by Paul Hodgson and Andy Walker. giving us creative art direction, and on
to document the restoration of a battered occasion, visiting the studio to assist and
Dragon’s Lair arcade machine that he’d answer questions. I remember Don Bluth
bought. “I was so excited to finally be came by my office and looked at the 3D
able to own one of my all-time favourite READERS REMEMBER Daphne model I was creating and gave me
games,” says Jeff about the machine. Q“One of the video rental shops in town had a bunch of arcade very helpful advice on how to adjust her
“Since the cabinet was in really bad machines, and one day I was there I saw this amazing game people proportions to make the model look more
shape, I figured I could rebuild the cabinet were crowding around. It was truly a thing of beauty, and I dearly like the 2D animated version.”
with new wood and restore it back to its want that Dragon’s Lair film to happen.” In 2006 the focus returned to the original
original condition. As I worked on this NORTHWAY game with the first HD release from Digital
project, I took pictures and put them on Leisure. This proved to be painstaking
the internet to show others my progress. work for David Foster and his team. He
After a month or so, I started getting tons says: “We went back to the original film
of emails from people commending my that had been in a vault for 20 years and
work and asking if I knew where they could had it transferred to a digital format in
find a Dragon’s Lair machine or if I had
any other information about the game or
other LaserDisc games. Back in 1997 there
was very little information about LaserDisc “THERE WERE AT LEAST 75 TO
game on the internet, so I started doing
research and making connections with 100 PLAYERS STAND1NG 1N L1NE
WA1T1NG TO PLAY. 1T WAS L1KE
people who had other games. Over a
short period of time, many of these people
THE L1NES TO SEE RA1DERS OF

started helping me and the popularity of
the site really exploded.”
Dragon’s Lair was very much a
product of the Eighties, yet its mysterious
indefinable showed no sign of waning
THE LOST ARK”
with the arrival of the new millennium. In COCREATOR GARY GOLDMAN
» The ambitious sequel put Dirk into

even more precarious situations.

READERS REMEMBER 1NS1DE THE

DRAGON’S LA1R
Q“I saw a massive crowd around a machine,
and once I fought my way to the front I saw
the most spectacular game I’d ever seen!
Literally a cartoon! If only it wasn’t so ruthlessly We chat to director Martin Touhey about
difficult I’d have played it. I also think it was his upcoming Dragon’s Lair documentary
the first ever game that cost 50p a credit.
Shocking in the days of 10p machines!” Why did you decide to document Dragon’s Lair ?
» Constant conversions over the years has ensured Dragon’s Lair
continues to strike a chord with gamers. FREESTYLER Dragon’s Lair had a significant impact on my life. It’s
stuck with me like glue for decades. I felt that by having
HD. Although it was great resolution it a subject that I was personally attached to would benefit
showed up all kinds of dust, hair and other a documentary. Not only was Dragon’s Lair a personal
artefacts that weren’t particularly visible in The polarising effect of Dragon’s Lair favourite of mine, but it was also a very interesting subject
SD but were glaring in HD. So we ended might be the reason why a question mark to tackle. There are very few games out there that have had
up spending six month doing hand touch- hangs over the movie. But then, even those the same kind of longevity. Dragon’s Lair was also a game
up on a frame-by-frame basis to tidy up that hate the game and wish they’d never that had many ‘firsts’. The animation angle alone was really
the video, but we ultimately had a much wasted a single credit on it must surely enough to warrant a documentary about the game.
cleaner version which looked great in HD.” appreciate its groundbreaking impact and
admire its 32 year legacy. How is the project progressing?
T
his HD print has been used “It’s the animation,” says Gary, when The project is coming along quite nicely. We’ve interviewed
in subsequent releases for asked about the game’s timeless appeal. about 20 people so far including animators Don Bluth and
many platforms including Wii, “It’s well executed and still entertaining, Gary Goldman. We’re still in production and will be launching
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iOS even to the children of those who played a Kickstarter campaign to help with the additional production
and Android. So what next for the original it during the Eighties. It’s not a great costs as well as post-production. As it stands right now the
Dragon’s Lair? A 3D version? A 4K version? game, it’s a memory game. I think the release date of the film is up in the air, but we’re shooting for
“We always have Dragon’s Lair plans phenomenon is that it was a historic the first part of 2014.
in the pipeline,” says David. “However, and memorable moment in the lives of
we’re sticking with the core game. We’ve those who saw it when it first appeared The various home releases over the years have included
discovered that this is what fans want the in the arcades. It’s one of those first- documentaries and interviews with the creators. Why
most. If a Dragon’s Lair feature film was time experiences that takes place at an should fans check out your documentary?
ever produced then there might be interest impressionable age, like going to see your I’ve seen the mini-docs and interviews, but what I find
in a movie-themed version of the game.” first animated film in a theatre. It scars missing from them is a solid compelling
Talk of a Dragon’s Lair movie has the brain and you remember it forever, narrative. We want to create a film that tells
circulated for many years. Over to Gary especially if you were entertained by it and a story that everyone can appreciate and
Goldman: “It’s still on our list of feature everyone your age was talking about it. enjoy, not just Dragon’s Lair fans. It’s all
films we want to make. We’ve probably “We know that there are still plenty of about creating a film with a narrative and if
done twelve rewrites on the script. It isn’t fans out there. We continue to receive mail you have all the right elements in place and
about the game. It’s the backstory about from fans expressing their gratitude and they’re hitting on all cylinders then you’ll
Dirk, Daphne, their history. It’s a prequel to inspiration to seek a career in animation. end up with a film that’s greater than the
the game.” That’s pretty amazing.” sum of its parts. So far all I’ve seen out
there is parts.
» The cel-shaded visuals in
Dragon’s Lair 3D clearly evoke the You can follow the documentary’s
original game. progress on Twitter (@dragonslairdoc)
and Facebook (facebook.com/
dragonslairdoc).
» Documentary director Martin Touhey, at Don Bluth’s house (photo by Justin Maine).

The fizzing bombs may
never actually detonate
but Bomb Jack exploded into
arcades regardless and left a
lingering afterglow. Martyn Carroll
looks back at the much-loved coin-
op and its 30-year legacy

ULTIMATE GUIDE: BOMB JACK
The game features some fantastic cartoony graphics*
Extra Coin Mechanical

Bird
Power Ball Happy Jack
Special Coin
Mummy Multiplier
Enemy Coin
Firebomb Robot
Powered-up Jack Drill
* Names may be made up…

Unhappy Jack Bomb Bonus Coin UFO Orb Explosion
ebuting in arcades in 1984, Bomb sprites and brilliant backdrops. Anyone Yes you can position yourself to lure
Jack was developed by Tehkan, with a passing interest in gaming can enemies, and use platforms as barriers
the Japanese videogame easily identify the game, in particular the to block their movement, but in Bomb
company that would later opening round with its iconic pyramid and Jack you have much more freedom of
change its name to the more familiar sphinx background. It has become a classic movement and control over your character.
Tecmo. Bomb Jack was something of a videogame image. Rapidly tapping the jump button to hover
departure for the firm, as most of its earlier There’s also the audio. Jack zips along is a key skill, as is pulling down to descend
titles were far more elaborate in execution. Its to various tunes (including, in a bizarre more quickly or up to ascend higher.
1981 debut, Pleiads, was a multi-stage shooter bit of music licensing, The Beatles’ Lady Bomb Jack is also a high-score junkie’s
in the style of Phoenix, while 1983’s Senjyo Madonna), but it’s the shrill sound effects dream. Quickly gathering up all the bombs
utilised a smart 3D trick to simulate advancing that are most memorable. There are and moving onto the next round is fine, but
alien ships. Star Force, released the following bleeps and chimes that are impossible to do it in style you must follow the ignition
year, was a super-slick vertical shooter of some to adequately communicate in print – no sequence and only collect bombs with
repute. So Bomb Jack, with its single-screen combination of ASCII characters can sparking fuses (‘firebombs’). On top of this,
platforming antics, certainly wasn’t pushing illustrate them. And who can forget the you need to build up the score multiplier
any boundaries. tense alarm sound that accompanies the by grabbing the bonus coins that appear
Yet it has become a title that’s instantly occasional presence of the ‘Power Ball’ – a on-screen. For such a ‘simple’ coin-op, the
recognisable. At a time when new coin-ops special pick-up that allows Jack to thwack scoring system is really clever and one of
were released at a rate of knots, and were enemies for a short amount of time. the keys to the game’s lasting appeal.
often similar in style and appearance, The Power Ball is probably why the Of course, when we talk Bomb Jack
Bomb Jack stood out in even the gloomiest game is often likened to Pac-Man, as the we’re not just contemplating the coin-op.
arcades thanks to its colourful, cartoon two titles really have little else in common. The game was converted to many home

computers and consoles, officially in well, sadly never materialised.
the Eighties and Nineties and more recently Elite’s Steve Wilcox has revealed that two
by homebrew teams who have ported the of the three games were complete but the
game to fill a gap in a system’s software company “lost focus” on Bomb Jack World
library. The small sprites and single-screen as its mobile phone business began to take
view made the game particularly suitable off. Indeed, Elite did release the original
for conversion and the majority of home game for mobiles in 2003.
versions are admirably close to the arcade Versions of Bomb Jack for sixth-
coin-op original. generation consoles arrived shortly after.
One system that surprisingly didn’t The game was included as part of Tecmo
receive Bomb Jack was the Nintendo Hit Parade, a PlayStation 2 collection that
Famicom/NES, but that’s because it got featured six other Tehkan-era titles. It was
something more – or at least something released exclusively in Japan in 2004. The
different. Released in 1986, Mighty Bomb following year Tecmo Classic Arcade
Jack is Tecmo’s expansive, adventure- arrived on Xbox. Happily, this improved
themed follow-up. There are static screens compilation, which featured Bomb Jack
in which you simply need to collect all the and ten additional arcade titles, was
» Mighty Bomb Jack took
bombs, just like in the original, but these a conversion of Mighty Bomb Jack for the place in a treasure-filled,
released outside of Japan.
are connected via scrolling sections where Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST and PC. bomb-packed pyramid. Second-hand copies of Tecmo Classic
you plunder pick-ups from chests and Following these computer and console Arcade can be picked up fairly cheaply and
explore secret rooms. Confusingly, this fun sequels, Jack made a belated return to it plays perfectly on the Xbox 360 – ideal if
reworking was also adapted for Nintendo’s the arcade in 1993 – and he wasn’t alone. you’re looking for a quick ‘blast’ of Bomb
»A glimpse of the unreleased
arcade VS System, but its origins are on Developed by Nippon Microcomputer Mighty Bomb Jack for the Jack on a more modern system.
the Nintendo console. Kaihatsu (NMK), Bomb Jack Twin was Game Boy Advance.
Even more confusingly, UK-based Elite a direct update to the original game that
Systems, which converted the original paired Jack with a red-caped partner (Jill?).
Bomb Jack to home computers, released Now, two players could work together to
its own follow-up for the Commodore 64, defuse all the bombs, while at the same
Commodore 16, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad time competing against each other to
CPC in 1987. Simply titled Bomb Jack II, the secure the highest score after each round.
game retained the original’s single-screen In addition there were more locations (you
approach and collect-’em-up objective, moved around a world map, like in Pang)
but unwisely fiddled with the gameplay. and the speed of the game was ratcheted
Jack could no longer fly freely around the up a notch.
screen; instead he could only leap from Bomb Jack Twin was never converted to
platform to platform. The initial full-price home systems, although Elite planned to
release included a copy of the original bring it to the Game Boy Advance in 2002
game as a bonus (or perhaps a peace as part of a compilation called Bomb Jack
offering). Elite had more success with its World. The pack, which was to include
third Bomb Jack game, which was actually Bomb Jack and Mighty Bomb Jack as
Bomb Jack was brilliant, but let’s not forget about the firm’s other classic coin-ops
Star Force (1984) Tehkan World Solomon’s Key Rygar (1986) Silk Worm (1988) Ninja Gaiden (1988)
Known as Mega Force in some Cup (1986) (1986) Not to be confused with Taito’s A side-scrolling shooter with a Tecmo’s most enduring
regions, this vertical shooter is Released to capitalise on the Created by Michitaka Tsuruta, Rastan. While they’re similar neat gimmick. In co-op mode franchise, which has graced
so good that it almost belies its 1986 World Cup, this fantastic Solomon’s Key mixes puzzle games, Rygar is faster-paced (which is the only way to play many home systems over the
age, but it really was released football game would be enjoyed and platforming elements. It’s and more fun. Our hero romps really), one player pilots a years, actually began life in the
in 1984. It’s a relentless blaster long after the competition perhaps better known outside through mythical lands, chopper while the other drives arcades as a scrolling beat-’em-
that looks as good as it plays. It ended. It popularised the top- of the arcade thanks to the carving up beasts with his a jeep, working together to up. Overlooked but not forgotten
was later converted to several down viewpoint used in later many home conversions, but spiky weapon. A belated 3D destroy enemy forces. Like a – the coin-op version was
home systems including the football games and featured a the original remains one of the sequel was released for PS2 lot of Tecmo games, this was a included as an unlockable bonus
NES and MSX. trackball controller. jewels in the company’s crown. and Wii years later. hit in the arcades and at home. in Ninja Gaiden Black on Xbox.

Bomb Jack wasn’t the only coin-op with sequels developed

especially for home systems
Frogger II: Threeedeep! (1984)

With a sub editor’s nightmare of a subtitle, Frogger
leapt from coin-ops to consoles and computers for
the second game in the series. The perilous action
now played out over multiple screens, and from this
point on Frogger would enjoy a long career o
of the arcade.
Yie Ar Kung-Fu 2 (1985)

The classic fighting game never received
a coin-op sequel, but the head-bashing
continued unabated on the MSX. The
sequel, which introduced new adversaries
and, yes, flying ninja babies, was then
ported to other home computers by Ocean
for its Imagine label.
Space Harrier II (1989)

Forget Planet Harriers. The first Space Harrier
sequel arrived on the Mega Drive as one of the
console’s launch titles. Sega released console
sequels and updates to many of its most popular
coin-ops including OutRun, Aer Burner, Wonder
Boy, Shinobi and Golden Axe.
Gauntlet: The Third

Encounter (1990)
Following the Deeper Dungeons expansion
pack, this sequel to the first two Gauntlet arcade
games was released for the Atari Lynx. In a (da)
departure from the original, new character classes
included Nerd and Android! Gauntlet III and IV later
appeared on home systems too.
Parasol Stars (1992)

The further, brolly-bashing adventures of
Bub and Bob were developed by Taito for
the PC Engine rather than arcades. Ocean
then picked up the rights and converted the
game to computers and consoles.

How Jack fared when he made the jump to computers and consoles
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 SG-1000
chubby sprites reveals that this is based The Master System never received a version of Bomb
on the divisive Commodore 64. It’s an Jack yet the game did appear on the earlier Sega
improvement though, with extra space console, the SG-1000. And it’s a fine attempt, courtesy
to manoeuvre and more responsive of Sega itself, who obviously knew how to get the best
controls. The game requires a hey out of the modest hardware. The character graphics
320Kb of RAM, so running it on real are crude and the bombs look like boxed pumpkins,
hardware may be tricky. But it’s worth emulating to see how the C64 version could have but the gameplay is fast, tight and admirably close
turned out with some extra work. to the coin-op original. Years later Bomb Jack was
unofficially released for the MSX-1 and it was this
version that was ported rather than any of the other
ZX Spectrum MSX-2 Z80 releases.
This is one of the most celebrated arcade conversions Released in 2004 by the Kralizec
on the Speccy and it’s not hard to see why. It features team, this heady homebrew port was
nicely detailed graphics, decent sound effects (the reviewed in an early issue of Retro
old beeper putting in a lively performance) and quick, Gamer (Issue 13, back issue fans) and
responsive controls. It’s basically as close to the coin-op awarded 90 per cent. The high score
as Speccy owners could genuinely expect. Perhaps the was definitely deserved as this is a Game Boy
only problem is the backdrops which, while well drawn, sterling piece of work. The graphics Released in 1992, this version might have been late to
are slightly too prominent, causing Jack and his enemies and sound are authentic (the in-game the party but it was well worth the wait. The Game Boy
to sometimes get ‘lost’. A minor issue though, and it music from the coin-op is carried over, was oen burdened with overly-ambitious conversions,
certainly doesn’t take the shine off this great game. unlike other home versions) and the so it’s pleasing to find that Bomb Jack ’s single-screen
gameplay is equally true to the original. If you discount the PS2/Xbox versions, which play is a perfect fit for the Nintendo handheld. The
are arcade perfect, this is the best, most faithful Bomb Jack conversion available. graphics are crisp and show up well on the tiny display
and the game zips
along at a nice speed.
The sound is great too,
featuring a couple of
compositions that play
over the main menu and
the Game Over screen. A
top job all round.
PC-8801
The NEC computer, obscure outside of Japan, was home to a surprisingly large
videogame library that included a reasonable conversion of Bomb Jack. Graphically
it has to be the most ghastly version ever released! The colours are garish beyond
belief and to top it off, the platforms and borders are all rainbow-coloured. Character
movement is a bit choppy and prone to flickering, but the game plays well enough.
The PC-8801 featured a capable sound chip that’s put to good use, rattling out some
tap-along tunes.

Commodore 16
The C16 was often home to horrible coin-op ports, and in
that dubious regard this doesn’t disappoint. The graphics
are messy, movement is jerky, sound is spasmodic –
and that’s being kind. Due to lack of memory, there are
only two backdrops, and to view the second you have to
load the other side of the tape! The real killer though is
the difficulty level which is ridiculous. It’s possible to get
chomped by a bird within two seconds of starting a game.
This is one platform where Bomb Jack II was better.
ST/Amiga
Arriving several years aer Elite’s 8-bit attempts, you’d expect the ST and Amiga
versions to be pretty much arcade perfect. Visually they’re not far off, but both suffer
Amstrad CPC from sluggish and twitchy character movement. Being able to zoom smoothly around
No sign of a lazy Spectrum port here, thankfully. This the screen is one of the coin-op’s key assets but it’s just not represented here and
dedicated CPC version is genuinely delightful – there’s a it really spoils things. There’s a curious STOS/AMOS feel to the whole game. Both
copious amount of colour splashed around and plenty versions are more or less identical, which explains them being grouped together,
of authentic arcade sounds accompanying play (it’s just although the sound on the Amiga sound is slightly better.
a shame there’s no option for in-game music). While
colourful, the characters do lack detail. Jack’s face,
for example, is just a white blob, so some of the fun
expressions seen in other versions are missing. Overall
though, this is (just about) the best of Elite’s Bomb Jack PS2/Xbox
conversions for 8-bit computers. The versions for the PlayStation 2 and
Commodore 64 Xbox are identical to each other so can be
The SID chip is given a good run-out here, with catchy spoken about in the same breath. Both are
tunes (care of Mark Cooksey) popping up at every included in Tecmo arcade compilations
opportunity. This is not to the detriment of other areas and are essentially arcade perfect – the
as this is a decent enough conversion featuring the fast, emulation really is spot on. A few additional
fluid gameplay of the original. But visually something game options would have been welcome,
is a little off, at least when compared to the coin-op. as those that are included are just the
The sprites are too chunky so the action plays out in coin-op’s dip switch difficulty settings (you
somewhat cramped conditions. On the upside this can alter the speed of the birds, the number
enhances the game’s cute, cartoon feel. The C64 version of enemies and so on). Screen settings are
is not poor or wrong, just different. limited to zooming in and out.
How Alberto Gonzalez and Ricardo Fernandez ported Bomb Jack to the Game Boy
How did you land the Bomb Jack game. I didn’t know much about » Ricardo (left) coded the conversion while
Alberto handled the audio.
job initially? the sound of original arcade so I
Alberto Gonzalez: At the time our composed new music, although for
employers, New Frontier, were the in-game music I used the Atari
working very closely with the ST version as a reference. There’s a
European publisher Infogrames. We video of me on Facebook playing a
did many 8-bit versions of its 16-bit prototype ROM with the very same
games. Infogrames got the licence Game Boy I used for composing the
and entrusted the conversion to us. music (tinyurl.com/nle67p4).
program on the Spectrum and
Did you have access to the arcade Because the Game Boy screen the assembler code is very similar
version during development? was small, did you ever consider between both machines so it
AG: Yes, they sent us the arcade making the display scroll like Taito wasn’t hard to adapt. It took us
board but we had no place to plug did with the Game Boy version of approximately four months to
it in! So in the end we used the Bubble Bobble? finish the game. For a conversion
Spectrum version as a reference. Ricardo Fernandez: No not really. of this kind you can’t use too much
We did have some input from For us it was very important to from other versions, so
Tecmo to polish it, mainly relating see all the action at once, so we the graphics, code and
to the control of the character like immediately ruled out any kind music all had to be
pressing down on the pad while of scroll. created.
falling to fall faster.
How did you find coding for the
Tell us a little about the music. Game Boy?
AG: I composed and programmed RF: It was not hard, it was
all the sounds and music in the actually pretty fun. I learned to
MACH BREAKERS
Q Developer: Namco Q Year: 1994 Q Genre: Sports
QBy the mid-Nineties, regular athletics games to allow even first-timers a fair chance of success.
were no longer enough for gamers – or at least, This is aided by the game’s structural improvements
that was Namco’s perspective. Eschewing the over the original Numan Athletics – events are now
charms of real-world athletes like Daley Thompson, easier to pass and players are offered a choice
Numan Athletics was a cult hit featuring superhuman of events after the initial sprint is complete. The
athletes. Namco was pleased enough with its game is visually appealing too, with the kind of
performance that it quickly put a sequel into gigantic sprites and scaling effects that had become
production, and Mach Breakers arrived the next year. commonplace in 2D games by the mid-Nineties. In
Mach Breakers offers players a choice of seven fact, much of the game’s appeal lies in the sense of
extraordinary individuals with ordinary names, like humour conveyed by the visuals, as it conjures up CONVERTED ALTERNATIVE
the American all-rounder Johnny and the Japanese some ridiculous sights. Our favourite is the Godzilla
speedster Makoto. They’re pitted against each other stomp that follows a failed monster-hauling session.
NUMAN ATHLETICS 1993
in a variety of events, and while the opening sprint It’s not hard to see why Mach Breakers didn’t Mach Breaker’s predecessor Numan Athletics
is just extraordinarily fast, things quickly turn bizarre. make it home, as it’s one of those titles which clearly is similarly awesome and features events
There’s no 110-metre hurdles event here – instead illustrates the differing expectations of the home and including train-pushing and building-jumping.
your chosen superhuman needs to kick their way arcade markets – there’s simply not enough content If you’re looking to pick up the home release
through thick walls of ice. Even stranger events here to justify a home release, especially given the though, you might be in for a bit of a struggle
await, from monster-hauling to missile-chucking, and multitude of conversions that would have been – it was released exclusively in Japan.
even miniature shoot-’em-up sections that resemble needed in the generational transition of the mid-
a light version of Atari’s classic Tempest. Nineties. It’s a multiplayer classic that is at its best
It’s a rather excellent multiplayer game, with up when swallowing coins, and we’re glad that Namco
to four players able to join in and simple controls recognised that.
» Hauling a Godzilla-style monster along is one of the

most impressive sites the game has to offer, but it’s no
pushover – precise timing is needed to succeed.
» There’s no joystick usage at all in Mach Breakers – every action

takes place across the three buttons, with those on the left and
right filling in for directions.
» Characters are varied and play uniquely, with participants

rated on their performance in speed and strength. Choose
wisely to compensate for the events you’re not so hot at!
» It’s clear that the athletes in Mach Breakers are more than just
human, with manga-style superhero flourishes accompanying
many of the most impressive in-game actions.

THE UNCONVERTED
BEST LEFT IN THE ARCADE

LORD OF GUN
Q Developer: IGS Q Year: 1994 Q Genre: Lightgun shoot-’em-up
QLord Of Gun aims to offer variety to While Virtua Cop arrived in the same year
players, with each stage offering a different as Lord Of Gun, it’s a little unfair to draw a
setting and new weaponry. However, almost comparison between the two – they were
every aspect of the game is laughably bad. developed for very different markets by
The visuals are awful, featuring unattractive companies in wildly different positions.
sprites with some of the most atrocious However, it’s harder to forgive the fact that
animations to have appeared in a Nineties Lord Of Gun struggles in comparison with
arcade game. This would be forgivable if the Operation Wolf, a game released seven years
game played well, but there is no semblance earlier. By failing to recognise the advances
of a difficulty curve on show. Hostages are made in the intervening years by games
often identical to enemies, meaning that like Alien 3: The Gun and Steel Gunner,
players will be relying on shouts of “I’m a IGS doomed Lord Of Gun to irrelevance.
hostage” to identify them – always a solid Thankfully, the developer left the genre alone
design choice in noisy arcades. entirely in the following years.
HOT SHOCKER
Q Developer: E G Felaco Q Year: 1982 Q Genre: Maze
CONVERTED ALTERNATIVE
MIDNIGHT RUN 1995
QHot Shocker is one of the stranger As we mentioned, Winding Heat ’s
releases of the early arcade market. predecessor did manage to make
The game resembles Konami’s early it home. A PlayStation version was
release Amidar, but has moved from released in 1997, exclusively in Japan.
a grid format to an octagonal maze Be warned, though – before you rush
that resembles a spider’s web. You’re to import it, know that the conversion
tasked with avoiding enemies, while is no classic, thanks to some jerky
visiting every part of the maze with visuals and sloppy handling.
wire in order to connect phone lines
and move onto the next level. Most of
them move around the web and only
serve to slow you down in order for the
WINDING HEAT
more lethal enemies to catch up to you,
Q Developer: Konami Q Year: 1996 Q Genre: Racing
but a lightbulb appearing at the fringes
will zap careless players. QKonami certainly waited a long
» Each stage has a distinct colour scheme, including one The main addition to the Amidar time to follow up on Road Fighter
with an invisible web.
formula is that of a power-up, which – despite making its debut in 1984,
gives your hero a temporary boost a sequel didn’t appear until the
in the form of speed and invincibility. It resembles an enemy with different mid-Nineties. Luckily for fans of that
colouring though, so it’s easy to miss. Hot Shocker’s failure to leave the sequel, the 1995 release Midnight
arcade is easy enough to explain – as the only game manufactured by E G Run, a new game was much quicker
Felaco and a pretty derivative one, there was no mileage in licensing the to arrive as Konami released Winding
game for home systems. And if you were a clone programmer, was there any Heat just a year later.
sense in skipping the innovator to clone the imitator? No, there was not. Winding Heat offers a surprisingly
large number of cars, with 14
available – each of which also has » There might only be four racers, but the battles are always
intense on Winding Heat ’s mountain passes.
multiple tuning options. The excess
CONVERTED ALTERNATIVE continues in the on-track action, as With market preferences shifting
while only four drivers take part in towards more realistic racers like
AMIDAR 1981 each race, they’ve got to contend Gran Turismo, arcade racing games
Amidar was the obvious inspiration for Hot with heavy traffic as the races take were having a hard time attracting
Shocker, and is easily the more famous game. place on public roads, which bring attention in the console market.
Konami’s game was only converted to the Atari to mind the mountain passes of the It’s likely that Winding Heat didn’t
2600 officially, but a large number of unofficial Initial D series. Races are fun and make it home for that reason – its
clones exist for a variety of formats including frantic thanks to some track design predecessor, which did manage to
Cuthbert Goes Walkabout, Traxx, Crazy Tracer that holds up well, but the handling is reach the PlayStation in 1997, never
and Crazy Painter. disconcertingly loose. gained much of a reputation.

PAPERBOY
When Paperboy rode in to arcades in 1984 he brought with him colourful
cartoon visuals, a unique control method and fun gameplay. Darran Jones
speaks to creators John Salwitz and Dave Ralston and finds out how they
managed to create the ultimate busman’s holiday

THE MAKING OF: PAPERBOY
JUST A BIT OF
I
t’s amazing what effect alcohol can
have on you once it’s swilling around
your innards. Some people get an HARMLESS FUN
Don Traeger may have been
increased sense of confidence, while instrumental to Paperboy’s
others suffer from a lack of judgement final success, but that didn’t
that sees them making decisions they’d mean that Dave and the rest of
otherwise normally never consider. In the the team liked to make
things easy for him (all in the
case of John Salwitz (currently senior
name of a good joke, you
development director at Electronic understand). “I remember that
Arts) and Dave Ralston (a designer for we made this bogus earnings
Locomotive Games) the aforementioned report for him,” recalls Dave,
alcohol consumption allowed them to which instantly jogs John’s
memory and sends him into
overcome a stumbling block on one guffaws of merriment.
of the most popular games of 1984: “It was our first field test when
Atari’s Paperboy. you’d put the game out in an
“Back in those days Atari was famous arcade, and I think Don must
have gone on vacation right
for having Beer Fridays,” laughs Dave
after it happened. Anyway, he
Ralston who, along with Will Noble, was went away for a whole week
Paperboy’s designer and lead artist. “We and while he was absent we
had a tapper there on the premises and got somebody in marketing
one particular Friday there had been a (probably Jackie Sherman) to
type up an earnings report so
party; when John and I came in the next that it looked like all the others,
day there was still plenty of beer in the » As the week progressed, the obstacles got harder and harder to negotiate.
except of course, the earnings
keg. Anyway, we dragged it outside onto were horrible. It just showed
this atrium and did some brainstorming.” 40-minute interview and it soon becomes a very good view of the action in our that the game had absolutely
“I think that was the magic moment obvious that the two friends both have a game and that it would work far better tanked and then I just wrote
across the front of it ‘Project
when everything clicked,” agrees John, huge amount of respect for each other than a side scroller or a top-down. As Cancelled’. We just left it on
Paperboy’s lead programmer. “Dave and the game that they brought kicking for the game itself it grew out of the fact Don’s desk and waited for him
had these wonderful storyboards that and screaming into the arcades after a that there were five boys in my family to come back from vacation.
showed a projection of the entire street 24-month gestation period. But where and I was the last one and we were all It was far from the truth as it
actually tested very well.”
and we literally populated it that very day. did the original concept first come from? paperboys, so I just took it from there. I
We probably knocked out around 60-70 “There had been a game that had just think I was a really good paperboy. In
percent of where all the characters in the come out in the arcades called Zaxxon fact, I seem to remember that I was a
game would finally end up.” which had this really cool isometric great paperboy,” he continues. “The one
“We were probably stupid for never perspective and it felt really fresh,” recalls thing I can remember about those days
doing that sooner,” laughs Dave. The Dave. “We saw it and realised that is driving around as a family and seeing
laughter continues throughout our the isometric perspective would offer newspapers on roofs and in bushes and
stuff. Not everyone was a good paperboy
in real life and I think that was at the heart
of the idea. I just thought it would be an
interesting twist for a game.”
Interesting Paperboy most certainly IN THE KNOW
was. Most games of the time saw you
shooting down wave upon wave of
vicious aliens, negotiating mazes or
jumping across simplistic platforms; they
certainly didn’t allow you to participate in
your part-time job.
Set over seven days, your task was
to deliver papers to subscribers, while » PUBLISHER: ATARI
causing as much damage as possible to » DEVELOPERS: JOHN SALWITZ

the homes of non-subscribers. Papers DAVE RALSTON
could be replenished en route and once » RELEASED: 1984

you’d completed your daily round you » PLATFORMS: ARCADE, VARIOUS
could take part in a short but exhilarating » GENRE: ACTION
obstacle course. It may have sounded
simplistic, but with each street being
littered with obstacles it took real skill to
negotiate them, especially if you tackled
‘Hard Way’, Paperboy’s final street.
Paperboy may have been exciting
and fresh back in the early Eighties, but
those beautiful visuals, state-of-the-art
controller and slick gameplay did come
at a price: the aforementioned 24-month
time period…
“It took two years mainly due to some
» While you scored points for breaking the windows of non-
of the changes we had to make along the
subscribers, care had to be taken not to hit any others. way,” explains Dave. “It was pretty much

everything really, from changes in the John, in particular, far more freedom substantially and schematically, it basically
schematic style, to alterations to the actual than when the project had first started. went through a radical shift.”
controller. It certainly took us a while to “Originally Paperboy started off life as a As well as having to deal with the
figure all those things out.” low-resolution game (about 320 x 240 change in hardware, the cost of the
Fortunately, it wasn’t all bad news, as pixels) before Doug Snyder created the machines meant that the game had to be
one of the main differences – and for new medium-resolution System II board created as efficiently as possible, which
the two men, the most satisfying – was for it,” begins John. Which explains in turn added to Paperboy’s development
the change in hardware, which gave why it looks very different to earlier time. “That game is literally made up of
games of the same period. “The little 8x8 blocks,” continues John. “The
hardware changed backgrounds were painstakingly created
one by one; it’s a lot like building with
bricks, except the bricks have already
been painted. The animations and
characters were built using some pretty
primitive tools, and so due to the cost of
putting all that together, we couldn’t really
do a lot of extra things and we were very
deliberate when putting it all together.”
Paperboy’s conception may have
been long and arduous, but one thing
that did make a difference was the sheer
amount of playtesting that the game
went through. Over the course of its
two-year development time, Paperboy
went through numerous focus groups
» Due to its arcade success, Paperboy

appeared on a variety of home formats,
so we’ve gathered a small selection
here. (Above) C64, (Below left to right)
Amiga, Atari Lynx, Master System,
Spectrum, Game Boy.

“WE DID HAVE A JOYSTICK ORIGINALLY, BUT WHEN DEVELOPER

HIGHLIGHTS
WE FOCUSED THE GAME WITH [IT] IN PLACE, IT JUST 720º
DIDN’T GO DOWN WELL AT ALL... WE WANTED TO TRY SYSTEM: ARCADE
YEAR: 1986
SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE UNIQUE” DAVE RALSTON KLAX

SYSTEM: ARCADE
YEAR: 1989
and playtests before it was eventually other people in the building that I think it
released to a more than satisfied public. was one of the best ways that you could RAMPART (PICTURED)
SYSTEM: ARCADE
When Atari had a new game in ever understand what really did and didn’t YEAR: 1990
development it would simply take a work. You could tell when your game was
prototype down to a local arcade, leave it good because people were coming over
in there for the day and judge its success at lunch and plenty of other times and
on the amount of quarters that rolled were literally interrupting your work just
in. It was a concept that wasn’t lost on so they could have one more go. We’d
John and it also allowed one of the other just sit there and watch them play.”
key players in Paperboy to come to the While plenty of playtesting ensured
foreground: marketing rep Don Traeger. that Paperboy was a hit with its target
“Atari’s playtesting process was the audience once it was eventually released,
most beautiful test there was; it really there were still plenty of other problems
doesn’t get any better,” gushes John. that the team needed to solve. While
“We did a lot of focus group testing as well the most recognisable aspect of the
and that was where Don Traeger really arcade machine is the shining chrome
started to get involved. In fact, Don is a
very big part of the reason why Paperboy
handlebars that adorn the front of it,
they weren’t in place at the beginning of
CONVERSION
ever got finished, because he was not Paperboy’s conception. CAPERS
» The original arcade flyer. Note the machine shot showing With the arcade game proving
only the original marketing partner on it, “We did have a joystick originally,” to be so popular, Paperboy
those famous handlebars.
but he also came in at a point in the game begins Dave, “but when we focused the quickly started appearing on
where we were really struggling. game with the joystick in place, it just various home consoles and
“We’d just had this really horrific focus didn’t go down well at all. computers. Indeed, it was
group, and it was just heartbreaking and “I think the joystick was confusing at recently released on the 360’s
Xbox Live Arcade, but neither
frustrating for the team because we really the time because of the perspective Dave nor John have had a
cared about the product we had created. that we were using,” he continues. “We chance to play it yet.
So anyway, he came in, ran that focus had always had something at the back “I remember the NES version,
group, came out and everyone – I mean of our minds that we wanted to try for me at least, being a huge
surprise,” recalls John. “Right
everyone – was saying horrible things something a little more unique and the after we did Paperboy, we
about the game. Afterwards he comes joystick feedback that we received kind of dove into 720° and right after
out with this really big smile and says, confirmed that.” Leaving the joystick idea that it was Cyberball and right
‘That was great, we learned a lot from that.’ behind, John and Dave left the unique after that it was Rampart – we
After that he proceeded to help us really control mechanism – “it was basically a were just so focused on our
own work. We never thought
understand what was going on.” Star Wars flight controller that was just about how we could continue
Traeger played another important role modified for Paperboy” – in the more marketing a product, we
in Paperboy: that of the actual Paperboy than capable hands of Milt Loper. were all about what can we
himself. Asking about the origins of “Atari at that time had a very active do next, and it always had to
be completely different. If I’m
Paperboy’s speech brought many a laugh mechanical shop,” begins John, when
truthful we were coin-op purists
from John until he admitted that the we ask him about the creation of those and for us, coin-op hardware
main character’s voice belonged to none iconic handlebars. “It was amazing; those was so much more powerful
other than Traeger, who’s now CEO of guys could pretty much build anything than anything that was in the
Locomotive Games. But how does being and it was part of Dave’s philosophy that home. So I think the real truth
is that we probably looked
the voice of a videogame character stack we should always try and innovate in all down our noses at anything
up to being a CEO? “To this day he takes things. In the end we decided that the that wasn’t coin-op at the time,
a lot of pride in the fact that he was the controls were just another area that we purely because of the difference
voice of the Paperboy and people still had a chance to innovate in. You also in hardware and what you
could do with it. At the time I
remember him for that,” laughs John. “It have to keep in mind that back in the
don’t think we understood the
was no actor we used; it was just the early Eighties, we didn’t know for sure potential of home sales – this
marketing guy.” was Atari after all – and we
While Traeger started taking control had just got through the VCS
of Paperboy’s focus groups, Dave and nightmares and so we didn’t
really have an appreciation of
John quickly found out that one of the what Nintendo was doing at the
easiest ways of getting feedback for the time at all until it really took off.”
game was to simply carry on working on
it. “One of the other key ways that you
did testing at Atari was that if anyone was
going to walk over to your lab or cubicle
you would just let them play the game,
which is amazingly dissimilar to the way
things happen these days,” says John.
“There was just so much casual play from » Get hit by a car and you certainly knew about it.

that even the joystick would become a causes John to burst into fits of laughter. controller in that we were very excited
foundation for control, or the trackball for “He was one of the senior execs at Atari about it. So anyway, I looked at Mark
that matter. We just saw them as kind games, and he was a very big, very and told him, ‘You just watch, it’s going
of stepping stones to other controls. In strong guy. And in all the controls that to survive and everything.’ He basically
the end it turned out that the handlebars we used there was always this thing looked me straight in the eye and said,
themselves made for the most natural called the ‘Stubben rule’. Basically, if the ‘No it won’t.’ He then decided to give the
way of playing Paperboy. We never controller could survive Dave then it was thing a massive twist to see if he was right
tried to create them as a way of simply going to be okay. So obviously with this and it practically came off in his hands. It
increasing sales; it has always been about controller, this piece of chrome steel that didn’t survive him at all and Mark’s not
what was best for the actual game.” was bolted onto the front of the machine a big guy, so that particular incarnation
With Paperboy’s controls system now had to be really resistant to leverage and never even got close to the rule.”
decided, one other factor had to be taken anything else you could think of.” Eventually the handlebars were in
into consideration: namely, would the While the final handlebars eventually place, and they helped to give Paperboy
chrome handlebars be strong enough passed the test with flying colours, John a thoroughly different experience to
to withstand the vigorous assault of the recalls an earlier prototype that didn’t fare all the other games that were around
average arcade-goer? quite so well… at the time. Once you gripped those
“There was a guy at Atari called “The funniest story I remember is that handlebars in both hands, you were
Dave Stubben,” begins Dave, Mark Cerny came into the lab one day
which immediately and we had just gotten this brand-new

ready to set off on your delivery route “For some reason when people rode have had the safety commission coming
through suburban America. With its down the street they just didn’t expect down on us even more.”
brightly coloured houses, traditional mail to see them,” continues John. “Which is Despite numerous playtests, stressful
boxes and copious amounts of speech, strange,” interjects Dave who, like John, is focus groups and snapped handlebars
you could almost imagine that you were once again fighting back laughter. “I see at various points in its creation, Paperboy
actually riding down a sidewalk and these things all the time.” was a huge success for Atari and remains
delivering papers. To further add to the Dave may well be used to seeing the a beloved classic to many gamers today.
realism, John and Dave ensured that the grim reaper and unicycle-riding punks With the benefit of 30 years of hindsight
majority of obstacles you encountered whenever he goes for a Sunday drive, but we are eager to know what changes John
also added to the authenticity. Therefore, one thing that is noticeably absent from and Dave would have made to the game » At the beginning of each day you’d be immediately
dangerous dogs would chase you up the Paperboy is the ability to play as an actual if they’d had the time and opportunity. told how many subscribers you had left.
street, huge cars and motorcycles would girl. As John explains, the absence of a “One thing we did think about at the
zip across each road’s junctions, and there female delivery girl was down to memory time was to ship Paperboy as a serialised
were even remote controlled cars and restrictions and not for any other reason. game,” reveals John. “At the time
self-aware lawn mowers to avoid. While “Physically, our ability to put more than everything in arcades was based on how
the hazards would get stranger the further one character into that hardware would much replay you would get out of it, so
you progressed, they were nothing like have been very expensive at the time,” we did once consider shipping out just
the obstacles that John and Dave had he tells us. “The system constraints just Easy Street and then releasing the other
originally intended to use… stopped you from doing a lot of things two roads three to six months later. I think
“Initially, we wanted Paperboy to have a and you were literally counting every byte if we’d gone with this serialised release
surreal feel to it,” explains John, about the you were putting into things. The central we would have sold more units.”
game’s distinctive look. “We went crazy character of the game used an enormous “Man, that’s greed, pure greed,” laughs
» As a reward after finishing your paper round, you got
for a while and the focus groups that amount of memory, particularly graphics Dave. “If I was to return to Paperboy to ride along an obstacle course.
saw it just didn’t get it,” says Dave. “We memory (EEPROM) so the storage of that today the only element I can think of
had things like speedboats going down would have been very prohibitive. So we expanding would be the whole BMX
the middle of the street, giant snails at were really stuck with a single character biking side of the game and maybe
the various junctions and even ducks in no matter what we did. As for the choice working a trick-based scoring system
business suits that would walk up and
down the sidewalk. Just really bizarre
stuff like that,” he chuckles. “The actual “OUR ABILITY TO PUT MORE THAN ONE CHARACTER
perspective was the same, the look of the
art style was the same, and it was just
INTO THAT HARDWARE WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY
all these wacky characters that weren’t
received very well.
EXPENSIVE AT THE TIME... YOU WERE LITERALLY
COUNTING EVERY BYTE” JOHN SALWITZ
between whether it should have been a into it. You could have style points for
paperboy or a papergirl, you just kind of throwing papers while in a jump, or doing
go with the thing that’s the most obvious, a flip or whatever. I think that would have
except of course for the giant snails and worked really well…”
all those other things… I’m sure we talked While Dave muses about his
STILL GOING
Amazingly, Atari’s Paperboy is
about it at the time, but there would have super-athletic Paperboy that was never still wowing gamers, and it’s on
been no practical way for us to get more to be, we were keen to ask John why he Microsoft’s 360 of all things.
than one character in the original game.” thinks their creation remains so enjoyable Converted by Digital Eclipse, the
With the thought of what didn’t make to so many of today’s gamers. “We had Xbox Live version of Paperboy
features online leader boards, a
it into the game still fresh in their minds, a wonderful team,” he concludes after variety of achievements (some
we are keen to ask the pair what other a brief pause, “and the people involved of which are incredibly hard
aspects of Paperboy ended up on the are still my very dear friends. We had a to earn) and an assortment of
cutting room floor. really good time working together, and to online two-player games.
Sadly, while the game is as
“Well, I remember just how much be able to work with four or five people
enjoyable as ever – although if
trouble we went to in trying to give the and have each of them focused on a we’re brutally honest, the 360’s
Paperboy a throwing animation,” muses completely different part of the game and D-pad isn’t a match for the
Dave as he ponders the question. “In still be able to talk about it afterwards is arcade machine’s handlebars
the end though it was proving to be a really rare and wonderful experience. I – taking the title online wasn’t
perhaps the smartest move that
such a nightmare we just decided that feel Paperboy was successful because the Digital Eclipse has ever made,
he shoots them out of his head.” Other team was successful.” mainly because it’s just so
missing features included proper physics damned laggy.
and motion that would see newspapers Still, it’s certainly not bad for
400 points (around £3.50) and
bounce off walls or get caught in hedges;
while an updated look would
a larger obstacle course, which at one have been nice it certainly beats
stage was even going to be the basis for being a paperboy for real.
a sequel; and the ability to ride down the
other side of the street. “I particularly liked
this one,” admits Dave, “and we talked
about how we would implement it for
ages. We initially talked about going down
the other side of the street and having it
» Mindscape’s sequel was so bad, this is the only mention we’re
go in the reverse direction and bringing » Successfully finishing the obstacle course saw you being
going to give it. The N64 version wasn’t much better. more traffic into play, but then we would treated with a pleasant congratulations screen.

Asteroids
SHOOT, SHOOT AND SHOOT AGAIN
»ATARI, INC
»ARCADE
» RETROREVIVAL
» 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 thruster, but this
must be managed carefully as it takes a while to slow down, meaning
it’s all too easy to fly into an errant asteroid. As more pieces fill the
screen, the game gets incredibly tense as you try to find a safe place.
You can send your ship into hyperspace, which may get you out of the
way of an incoming rock, but the more you use it, the more time you’ll
have added somewhere you don’t want it.
Add a couple of highly accurate flying saucers that appear at certain
stages to hurry you along, and Asteroids is a game like no other. Every
game plays out differently, meaning it is always fresh and exciting.
Although it received several ports and sequels in the years that
followed, nothing is as good as the original. A true arcade classic.

"Operation initiated! Rescue hostages!" On hearing
this command, gun in hand, players engaged in
Operation Wolf, the first in Taito's influential series
of military shooters. Martyn Carroll lobs a grenade
and blows the lid off the complete series
s you play Operation Wolf on 68000-powered hardware, as and Commando became hits around
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
opposed to Z80 setups. The visuals
were cutting edge for their time, with
differently-sized enemies providing a
sense of perspective, capped by the
supersized soldiers who’d pop-up in
the world. You played an anonymous
Green Beret but his name might well
have been James Braddock, John
Rambo or John Matrix.
Then there was the gun. Mounted
explosions. It really is difficult to miss your face and open fire. on the front of the game’s hulking
and success seems guaranteed. The POW rescue theme added a great cab was a mock submachine
Taito must have been thinking huge amount to the game’s appeal. gun. Sticking guns onto cabs wasn’t a
much the same when it readied This was no carnival shootout with new thing – Midway has been doing it
the game for its Japanese debut tin cans; this was an intense battle since the Sixties, first on mechanical
in November 1987. The developer where you were up against enemy games and later on videogames,
didn’t need to plant the game in test militia armed to the teeth. Taito and Taito itself released a gun game
locations to know that it had created clearly tapped into that jingoistic vein called Attack in 1976. The trend
a sure-fire hit. Operation Wolf was of Eighties American cinema where continued into the early Eighties with
one of those rare titles where all of movies like Missing In Action, Rambo titles such as Mazer Blazer from Stern
the key elements were just right. and Turkey Shoot from Williams. But
First off, the concept was brilliant. the Operation Wolf gun was a doozy,
Taito took the shooting gallery being based on an Uzi 9mm. It was
games from time immemorial and no plastic prop – it was finished
created a slick new version for the
Eighties arcade. It wasn’t the firm’s
» [Arcade] Enemies
first gun game – New York Captor come thick and fast,
(1985) and Cycle Shooter (1986) even on the opening
Communication
predated it – but these were simplistic Setup stage.
and cartoony. Operation Wolf was
far more contemporary, running

THE HISTORY OF OPERATION WOLF
Taito clearly tapped into that jingoistic

vein of Eighties American cinema
Artwork © Taito

in metal and incorporated a There’s also some confusion
geared motor so you felt the kick over the level structure and whether
when you pulled the trigger. The stages must be played in order or
gun was a gimmick, yes, but it didn’t not. The answer to that lies in a
look and feel like a gimmick. The dipswitch setting. When ‘Language’
finishing touch was a red button next is set to ‘English’ you play the game’s
to the barrel which you used to fire six stages in order, beginning with
grenade rockets. the Communication Setup and
The operation of the gun has been ending with the Airport. Yet when
a source of confusion over the years. the switch is set to ‘Japanese’ more
Is it a lightgun or is it a gun that works than just the language changes.
like a joystick? The presence of an Instead you can choose which of
optic sensor inside the gun proves the first four stages you wish to play
that it is a lightgun. You can also tell from Communication Setup, Village,
by the way the screen flashes white Power Magazine and Jungle. By
each time a shot if fired – this is to completing Jungle you will open up
brighten to screen so that the gun’s Concentration Camp which leads
position can be registered. And if to the Airport, so in the Japanese
» [Arcade] When using MAME the

you’re still not convinced, try playing version it’s possible to finish the n addition to the English and
bonus ‘Warning!’ screens can be
the game with your hand covering the game by completing just three Japanese versions there’s a accessed by using a cheat.
end of the gun. No light no firefight. stages. However such hastiness further intriguing variation:
is penalised. If you don’t complete original and emulated. If
Communication Setup, for example, you’ve played Operation Wolf using
the number of enemies increases MAME, or on the ‘arcade perfect’
in each stage (because, as the story Taito Legends collection released
goes, the enemy is able to radio in in 2005, you may have noticed that
reinforcements). Similarly, the Village a few things don’t tally with your
stage rewards you with a health memories of playing the game in the
boost while Power Magazine tops up arcades. The most obvious omission
your ammo. As such the Japanese is a ‘boss’ encounter at the end of
version includes an element of the Jungle stage where you have to
strategy as you can choose which of shoot an army general who’s holding
» [Arcade] Grenades are a great option when armoured
vehicles rumble onto the screen. the initial stages are worth the effort. a female hostage. Also missing are
L Former Ocean France programmer Christophe Gomez reveals

the story behind the 16-bit versions of Operation Wolf
Did you have Commodore Amiga in order to make pressure to release before Christmas. the machines then. I wish I could have
access to the sure we were maintaining compatibility. This industry will never change. Luckily implemented support for a lightgun.
coin-op during the we did not have to cut corners in order After leaving Ocean I joined Loriciels and
development? What would you say was the biggest to release on time. I was young and helped with the Atari ST version of its
Not at the beginning. technical challenge you faced? stubborn so I wouldn’t have let the game West Phaser game, which was shipping
We got it very late, The arcade game was famous for its go if it wasn't finished. with a lightgun. I even created a version
toward the end of smooth horizontal scrolling and huge of Operation Wolf which worked with
the project, and it sprites – two things that the Atari ST There's an open-top tank that's the gun but, unfortunately, Ocean and
helped me tune the game. But we did wasn't very good at! So this was the specifically unique to your version. Loriciels never reached an agreement
receive all the art assets from the arcade. main challenge. And then the more Did you add this? about it. This would have been the
I remember that they came in a bunch features I added the more I needed I don't recall creating new vehicles. If ultimate version of Operation Wolf.
of 16x16 blocks, each using its own to optimise the code so it would my memory is correct I think there were
palette of 16 colours. It was a real work run smoothly. I had to rewrite some some vehicles in the assets we received
of patience to recreate everything. significant parts of the code several that were not used in the arcade game.
times in order to deliver an enjoyable
Which was the lead platform? experience to players. Were you pleased with the finished
The Atari ST or Amiga? game, and would you have done
Atari ST was the lead. I chose it because How long did the development take? anything different given the chance?
I was more familiar with it. Midway Were you pressured to get the game I was very happy with the reviews. My
through development, once the main out before Christmas? goal was to be as close to the arcade
technical hurdles had been resolved, I believe it took six to eight months to as possible and I believe I managed to » [Amiga] The unique open-top tank makes
an appearance in Ocean’s 68000 version.
we started porting my code to the complete it. And yes, there was a lot of do this, considering the limitations of
150 | RETRO GAMER


The coin-ops that followed in the
wake of Operation Wolf
MECHANIZED ATTACK 1989
QSNK’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 Terminator-
style robots and oversized end-of-level
bosses into the mix.
LINE OF FIRE 1989

QSega 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 behind-
enemy-lines scenario was well presented,
thanks to Sega’s Super Scaler tech, and
the game provided adequate thrills for fans
of Taito’s games.
There was no blood on show but » [Arcade]
Shoot the
soldier! Shoot SPACE GUN 1990
the body count was off the scale and the coconut!
DON’T shoot
the kid!
QRather than release another rat-a-tat-tat
war game Taito shifted the setting to outer
the soundtrack was a chorus space for its next shooter. Inspired by
Aliens, you had to rid a space station of
of screams bizarre creatures while rescuing colonists.
Stages were a mix of side-scrolling and
the intermission scenes that pop of violence. There was no blood on into-the-screen sections, and a special foot
up between stages. These see you show but the body count was off panel let you reverse direction.
shooting soldiers and/or helicopters the scale and the soundtrack was a
on a static screen. It’s possible to chorus of screams. At the time it was BEAST BUSTERS 1990
access these intermissions using a quite contentious, particularly in the QSNK upped the ante with this outrageous
cheat in MAME, and the Jungle boss UK, post-Hungerford massacre. Chris shooter that made Mechanized Attack look
graphics are present in the ROM, so Jenkins of ACE magazine claimed like a corporate paintball event. Zombies
it’s a mystery as to why they don’t that playing the game filled him with had overrun the city and the job of cleaning
appear under emulation. “bloodlust”. He wrote: "Operation up was down to you and two pals. That’s
Operation Wolf made its UK debut Wolf takes realism a little too far and right – Beast Busters had three guns bolted
at London’s Associated Leisure raises questions as to whether these to the front of the cab for triple the amount
Preview show in October 1987 games ought not to be subject to of bloody fun.
and staff from the Emap stable of some form of monitoring.”
magazines were there to see Taito’s Perhaps more concerning for the STEEL GUNNER 1991
latest offering. Commodore User's game’s target audience was the price QBefore the likes of Point Blank and Time
Mike Pattenden was bowled over. of entry. In the UK at the time games Crisis were huge arcade hits, Namco
“Forget After Burner,” he reported, cost 20 pence a credit, but Operation released this fast-paced two-player
brushing aside Sega’s big release, Wolf was one of the first where shooter where you were tasked with taking
“I have just played the Game Of The operators were encouraged to up it to down an army of manic cyborg terrorists.
Year and much of next year too. 30p! This premium didn’t affect the A souped-up sequel arrived the following
Operation Wolf is a brilliant game.” game’s popularity. An ACE journo year that was widely sold as a conversion
Clare Edgeley from Computer & kit for Operation Thunderbolt.
Video Games was also impressed.
"The game is extremely playable,” TERMINATOR 2 1991
she wrote. “The action’s non-stop QOf all the tie-ins to try and capitalise on
and doesn't let up for a second.” the mega success of James Cameron’s
The reaction was generally » [FM Towns] movie, this slick shooter from Midway was
excellent, although most reviewers The Jungle
probably the best. The digitised graphics
boss hostage
did comment on the game’s level scene, as appear comical now but at the time they
seen in the really did impress and gave the game a real
impressive
FM Towns movie feel. An overuse of Arnie sound bites
conversion. improved things further.
RETRO GAMER | 151

How the many home versions of Operation Wolf
compared to the original – and each other
ZX SPECTRUM AMSTRAD CPC

QThe Spectrum wasn’t the best at fullscreen QThe same team responsible for the Spectrum
scrolling but the team at Ocean managed to release produced this even better version for the
produce a surprisingly smooth and playable CPC, thanks chiefly to the liberal use of vibrant
effort. Colour was obviously scarified to make colour. The only slight criticism is that the game
it work, but the well-drawn graphics prevented scrolls too fast – it’s like you’re shooting out of
it from becoming a monochrome mess. The the window of a speeding vehicle! It’s still a very
preferable 128K version featured no multi-load. good coin-op conversion, though.
» Although far from a

common sight these
days, it’s still possible
to find working
cabs in some of the
dustier arcades.
FM TOWNS AMIGA
QThe enigmatic Japanese computer received a QThere was essentially zero difference between
fantastic version that was unique in a number of the Amiga and Atari ST versions, with Amiga
ways: there was a laser sight option, a ‘3D Scope’ expert Benoit Aron deftly converting the ST
mode (that supported 3D glasses) and a full CD- source. The sound was slightly better on the
audio soundtrack, making it the only version of Amiga, as was usually the case, and it came on
Operation Wolf to feature in-game music. There two disks rather than three, but owners of either
are no half measures here. machine would be happy.
PCDOS NES
QThe PC often lagged behind when it came to QThe first version of the game to hit console
coin-op conversions but not here. The colours was something of a misfire. The graphics were
were slightly off and the sound was lacking but too small and only a limited number of sprites
overall this looked and played very much like the appeared on the screen so it often felt a bit
68000 versions. In terms of content the only real sparse. It did deserve points for supporting the
absence was the ‘Warning!’ scene that appeared NES Zapper, although it’s debatable whether
in some other versions. using the gun improved things much.
152 | RETRO GAMER

recalls stepping into a London s Ocean readied its home

arcade and seeing seven Operation
Wolf machines lined up – and he
still had difficulty getting a game.
Such scenes ensured that Operation
Wolf would go on to become the top
versions for release in
November 1988, Taito was
already about to debut
the coin-op sequel. It may have been
developed in haste, to capitalise
earning coin-op of 1988. on the hit original and counter the
The game’s success in the arcades inevitable clones that were gearing
attracted Ocean Software who up, but Operation Thunderbolt was
licensed the game for conversion to in many ways the perfect follow-up.
home computers. The 8-bit versions It was basically a frenetic rehash of
were handled by Ocean’s in-house the original with an even bigger body
team: Andrew Deakin programmed count and enough new features to
PC ENGINE COMMODORE 64 the Z80 versions (ZX Spectrum, hook expectant gamers.
QArriving at the tail end of 1990, three years QAnother excellent 8-bit version from the Amstrad CPC and MSX), while Colin The basic rescue scenario
after the coin-op’s debut, this version was boys at Ocean. The pace was slower, being Porch handled coding duties on the returned, but there were now a total
belated but brilliant nonetheless. It was based closer to the coin-op than the Z80 versions, and C64. The results were generally very 18 hostages to liberate (up from six)
on the Japanese language version, so you were most of the main features were included – in good, with the original’s gameplay and the number of stages increased
able to select your starting stage, and as a fact, all six stages were crammed into a single accurately replicated, and the from six to eight. Crucially, the stages
special bonus it aped the sequel by adding a load. The icing of the cake was support for the Spectrum, CPC and C64 releases alternated between the familiar side-
two-player co-op mode. third-party NEOS mouse. were further improved with a second scrolling view and a new quasi-3D
version that included support for approach where enemies rushed
the Magnum Light Phaser lightgun. towards you. This scaling effect
The 8-bit games did jettison a few required some extra hardware grunt
‘bits’ from the original – there was no and the standard 68000 set-up was
Jungle boss, no intermission scenes supplemented by the same ‘sprite
and, most noticeably, no showdown zooming’ feature that was used in
against the enemy gunship. In Taito’s Full Throttle.
contrast, the Atari ST and Amiga The most obvious addition,
versions, which were developed by however, was the second gun. The
Ocean France, included all of these nameless hero from the original was
elements and the finished games revealed as Roy Adams and he was
were generally very good. partnered with the no-nonsense-
The licence sounding
ATARI ST
MSX
QAs you can tell from the screenshot this
paid off for
Ocean. In the To beat the Hardy Jones.
Taking on the
QOcean France did a fine job here. The game
featured all of the stages – the bonus ‘Warning!’
was a quick port of the Spectrum version.
What you can’t tell is that is runs quite a
UK Operation
Wolf was
game you basically enemy with
a pal was
scene was slotted between stages one and two,
and the Jungle boss made an appearance – and
bit slower, affecting the playability a little.
A homebrew version for the MSX-2 was
crowned best-
selling title of
had to kill the undeniably
fun, even if the
visually the game was close to the coin-op. There
were just some frame-rate issues that dragged
released in 2006 that was quite similar to
the NES release, but it suffered from jerky
Christmas 1988
– and it stayed
population of a sheer number
of on-screen
it down a notch. character scrolling. at the top of
the all-formats
small nation enemies was
absurd. To
chart for a further three months. It beat the game you basically had to kill
was a fan favourite too, winning three the population of a small nation.
awards at the 1989 Golden Joysticks Rather than using lightguns the
(as voted for by C&VG readers): Best sequel utilised a pair of positional
8-bit Coin-op Conversion, Best 16-bit guns that directly controlled invisible
Coin-op Conversion and Overall 8-bit cursors on the screen (although they
Game Of The Year. could be made visible by collecting
More home versions followed the new laser sight upgrade). It’s
over the next two years. Taito not clear why Taito didn’t use
itself developed the PC, NES and
Master System versions, while Ving
produced a deluxe disc edition for the
FM Towns computer that featured
MASTER SYSTEM PC/PS2/XBOX an exclusive CD soundtrack. Perhaps
QVisually the Master System version was QOperation Wolf was one of 29 games even more interesting was NEC’s PC
quite close to the NES game, with perhaps included on Taito Legends, released in 2005. Engine port which was the first and
better use of colour and more graphical detail. However, as mentioned in the main article, the only version of Operation Wolf to
But the playability was vastly improved and the game wasn’t ‘arcade perfect’ as advertised as team up two players for some co-op
game stood out as the best and most complete it was missing both the ‘Warning!’ scene and action. There’s no prize for guessing
8-bit version available. Support for the Light Jungle boss. The games also, sadly, lacked where NEC got that idea.
Phaser sealed the deal. lightgun support. » [Arcade] The sequel features three separate bosses,
including this eyepatch-wearing commando.
RETRO GAMER | 153

lightguns second time around but phenomenal but with two it's out of
it’s believed to be down to reliability this world! Expect this to be at the top
issues. The sensor inside the original of the 1989 Xmas software charts for
lightgun was prone to failure, due whoever gets the licence. It's a 99 per
to wear and tear, so positional guns cent certainty it'll be Ocean.”
tended to require less maintenance. Robin wasn’t completely right.
» [SNES] The SNES version of Operation Thunderbolt
Ocean did pick up the licence, of features multiple characters and an expanded backstory.
course, but Operation Thunderbolt

peration Thunderbolt
debuted in Europe at wasn’t a Christmas chart-topper.
the Amusement Trades It debuted in fifth position on the
Exhibition International all-formats chart over the festive
show in January 1989. The reaction period, with Ocean’s conversion of
was slightly muted compared to another Taito coin-op, the fantastic
the original – it was a sequel after Chase HQ, racing to the top spot. The
» The Taito Legends collection all, treading roughly the same versions themselves were a mixed
features the first two games along
many other titles from the firm’s
path – but it was still expected to bag. The Amiga and ST versions,
rich arcade past. do the business for Taito. coded by Ocean’s John Brandwood,
C&VG’s Clare Edgeley were commendably close to the
wrote: “Judging original. On the other hand the 8-bit » [Arcade] Helicopters are tough, particularly armed ones.
Take them down with a carefully aimed rocket.
by the success of versions were lacking, perhaps due
its predecessor I to added complexity of the coin-op. including the sci-fi-themed Space
expect Operation Andrew Deakin returned to code Gun (1990), the four-player Gun
Thunderbolt will the Spectrum and CPC versions Buster (1992) and cops ‘n’ crims
make a killing." Robin and the results were a little messy, shooter Under Fire (1993). Yet Taito
Hogg from Newsfield particularly during the 3D stages. wasn’t done with the Operation series
enthused about the The C64 version, meanwhile, was and in late 1994 it would attempted to
extra firepower: “The an infamous misfire due to the resurrect it with a two-shot salvo.
carnage with just original coder exiting the project late The first was a belated home
one gun was pretty in the day and members of Ocean’s version of Operation Thunderbolt for
in-house team having to pick up the the Super Nintendo that introduced a
pieces. Given the circumstances it bunch of console-exclusive features.
wasn’t as terrible as it In a nod to the ‘Japanese’ version of
might have been. Operation Wolf you could choose the
In the years order in which you played the initial
following the stages. You could also select from six
release of Operation different soldiers and it was all a bit
Thunderbolt Taito pointless anyway as the characters
would release you picked had no effect on the
several more game. The stages were straight
gun games from the coin-op but it wasn’t arcade
perfect. Perhaps tellingly the game
was not released outside of the US.
Then, almost six years after the
Special release of Operation Thunderbolt,
than ks to Steve at the third game
k.org in the series hit
ArcadeArtwor
for supplying arcades. With the title
the original Operation Wolf 3 you
k
arcade artwor might think it was a follow-up
to the earlier games, but it was
an in-name-only sequel. Roy and
Hardy were gone, replaced by male
and female commandos codenamed
Operation Wolf 3 was like a

return to the staid shooting gallery
games of old
154 | RETRO GAMER

You may soon be able to
emulate the final game in
the series
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 make a huge impact and these days
is currently looking to change that. He it’s undoubtedly the least well-known
says: “The game seems somewhat game in the series. Unlike the rival
rare and forgotten so there’s definitely shooters mentioned above it received
value in getting it running. It runs on no home conversions and it isn’t
a PowerPC-based hardware and I even possible to emulate it in MAME
tend to handle most of the PowerPC at present. Hopefully that will soon
systems in MAME. It also shares many » [Arcade] Operation Wolf 3 opens with a surprisingly sedate shoot-out in a factory. change and more people will at least
hardware features with other Taito be able to revisit Operation Tiger.
systems of the time which makes it Hornet and Queen Bee. It wasn’t magnificent original and its worthy Nothing of real note has happened
interesting to work on.” the usual do-or-die mission behind sequel. The game wasn’t ported to to the series since 1998. In 2005
To date Ville has managed to get the enemy lines either, as this time a a single home system, which isn’t Operation Wolf and Operation
attract mode running but there’s still radical group was holding the world surprising, really. Thunderbolt were added to the Taito
some obstacles to overcome. “There’s to ransom – or as the attract mode At this time gun games were Legends collection that appeared on
an emulation bug that causes the game put it: “Huge force of terrorists ‘Skull’ becoming more popular than ever, PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. Then in
to lock up more or less randomly. occupied some island they are armed with franchises like Virtua Cop (1994), 2008 the NES version of Operation
Once that’s fixed the game should with nuclear weapon.” Righto. Point Blank (1994), Time Crisis (1995) Wolf was added to the Wii Virtual
be close to a playable state. Sound The game itself took place over six and House Of The Dead (1996) Console, but it was disappointment
emulation also need implementing. static scenes where guys in brightly- becoming mainstays in the arcades. all round as this already average
As with all emulation things it’s hard coloured garb would pop into view Taito wasn’t going to be left out and version didn’t even support the
to predict when it all comes together. and open fire. The reason for their in 1998 released the fourth game in Wii Remote – despite the original
Oen a small discovery can lead to gaudy attire was due to the graphics the series, Operation Tiger. Aiming to game supporting the NES Zapper.
rapid progress over just a couple – yes, they were digitised, and the stand out, the deluxe version featured But, let’s be honest, even if it did
of weeks. Hopefully we’ll see more colours helped them stand out from a massive 50in screen and the Uzi- work with the Wii Remote, waving
improvements later this year.” the backgrounds. Digitised graphics style guns made a welcome return. a plastic stick around would be no
For progress updates follow don’t age well, as we know, but even The game also ran on Taito’s new way to play Operation Wolf. Indeed,
@VilleDevs on Twitter. back in 1994 Operation Wolf 3 looked PowerPC hardware so the visuals you could argue that all of the home
ropey. Midway’s Terminator 2 gun were given a welcome boost. This versions are pretty pointless because,
game did it before and did it better. time you played captured soldiers regardless of quality, none can ever
Two positional guns were once again tasked with escaping from enemy replicate the feeling of playing the
used, but they were now plastic and territory while busting out the rest of coin-op with its authentic-feeling
similar to those seen on Space Gun. your team. The action unfolded over gun controller.
One nice touch was the red slider the usual six stages. That desire for the true arcade
on the barrel which you used to fire Although more enjoyable that the experience has led to Operation Wolf
grenades, pump-action fashion. In third game, Operation Tiger didn’t (and to a lesser extend its sequel)
another change players were given becoming very popular with coin-op
unlimited ammo, meaning you could collectors, joining such wish list
hold down the trigger and unleash a favourites as the Atari Star Wars
hail of bullets, only pausing to reload. games, Cinematronics LaserDisc
titles and Sega sit-down cabs. If

peration Wolf 3 was like a you’ve got your own personal arcade
return to the staid shooting then it surely needs a gun game, and
gallery games of old. few gun games are as imposing or as
Indeed, it even featured a iconic as Operation Wolf.
bonus scene where you had to shoot
glass bottles and clay pigeons. It was
a case of wolf by name not by nature,
» [Arcade] Operation Tiger, the fourth and final game in the
and it fell far below the ranks of the series, debuted in arcades in 1998.
RETRO GAMER | 155

KABLAMMO! Point Blank burst
into arcades in 1994, determined
to inject them with some quirky
gameplay that was both family
friendly and trigger happy. Sorrel
Tilley apprehended designer
Yutaka Kounoe to find out more…
nexplicably titled Gun Bullet in Japan,
I 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 ultra-
violent games, but the development
department were a little more flexible
about designing them,” he explains.
“However, to make this game appeal photo graphics, in the style of Lethal therefore would be the creation of
to a wider demographic, we held back Enforcers, but with Konami and Taito an all-new, wired gun. “The recoil
on the onscreen blood. I wanted to already having hits on the market, it was was the biggest problem in the gun’s
make Point Blank attractive to couples Namco’s preference (and mine) to take development. The concept was born
on dates, so I made sure there wasn’t on a new challenge. We decided to make out of an obsession of my boss, Shigeki
a drop of blood in any of the debris a wacky, comical mini-game collection. Tohyama, who was Namco’s resident
flying about. Even in Tekken, a game The finance department didn’t see the Doc Brown character. Tohyama was
we created that allowed you to savour IN THE KNOW value in it and said it was no good, but a very unique individual, always
the exhilaration and satisfaction of PUBLISHER: NAMCO we were determined to work day and beavering away on a strange invention.
decimating your opponent, we used CG DEVELOPER: INHOUSE night to create a fun game.” “The electronics team carried out
effects that look like blood, but upon RELEASED: 1994
Kounoe had just finished working on repeated experiments with the recoil
closer inspection, there really isn’t any. the rail shooter Lucky & Wild, which gun under Tohyama’s direction, but
PLATFORM: ARCADE, PLAYSTATION
Actually, the Point Blank prototype used a fixed-position light gun. The first these guys were nearly in tears with
was a serious game with digitised GENRE: LIGHT GUN SHOOTER challenge in Point Blank’s development frustration – ‘We can’t get the recoil

THE MAKING OF: POINT BLANK
aware that handguns are commonly

reloaded by sliding a magazine into a
hole at the bottom of the grip. Dreams
of re-enacting scenes from Bad Boys
were sadly dashed, though. “Games included enemy frequency and location,
» Point Blank also featured a Street Fighter II-style trash-the-
with this feature would have been more probabilities, and so on. All stages,
sports-car bonus stage. unique and realistic, but it was never multiplied by the four difficulty levels,
we need!’, ‘The product’s gonna used, since I didn’t throw myself into multiplied by the two player modes,
be no good!’ We had stressed the any other gun games after Point Blank.” made lots of categories for fine tuning,
importance of blow back, but the “There’s one more interesting thing and the development server we had at
components couldn’t deliver a high about the GunCon’s development,” that time was slow. So every morning at
enough voltage, so the kick was Kounoe adds. “It could read the screen 3am I would ride my bike to Namco and
disappointing. Luckily, Tohyama was coordinates to within a single pixel work on data alone in the dark office.
an adaptable boss with far-reaching without failure, thanks to the tenacity In the early hours when the place was DEVELOPER
knowledge and construction skills, and
inventing was his forte, so he said ‘Why
of Namco’s employees. With such
perfect accuracy, we were able to
deserted, I had the server all to myself
and I could use it with more efficiency,
HIGHLIGHTS
not try increasing the voltage only at create our finely tuned level designs. but I was working in the shadows,
DIG DUG
SYSTEM: ARCADE
the precise moment you activate the However, when the cabinets were thinking ‘Is a ghost gonna appear any YEAR: 1982
solenoid?’” For readers without degrees about to be shipped from the factory, minute now?’ I jumped out of my skin LUCKY & WILD PICTURED
in electronic engineering, a solenoid is they discovered a minute error in the when the bosses arrived at 7am and SYSTEM: ARCADE
a coil of wire which converts electrical guns’ initial settings. So right at the tapped me on the shoulder! It’s a good YEAR: 1992
energy into hydraulic motion – in other end of development, I had to oversee memory though, putting all my effort TEKKEN
words, the perfect component for a gun the production of a manual on how to into creating one game.” SYSTEM: ARCADE
recoil mechanism. “With Tohyama’s recalibrate the gun sights! When you’re Despite his own herculean efforts, YEAR: 1994
hint, the team succeeded in working on a groundbreaking new Kounoe still attributes much of Point
achieving the powerful kick we product, things can happen that no one Blank ’s success to teamwork. “One of
were looking for.” Kounoe also is prepared for. An important lesson!“ the reasons it’s so perfectly tuned and
let slip that during his time at Kounoe was no stranger to hard patiently made is that when it was in
Namco, he filed for a patent work. Most projects he was involved production, all kinds of people on breaks
on an innovative reloading with at Namco required long hours and from other projects would drop by to
mechanism using the base of the sleepless nights. “When I was making try it out. Even now I feel overjoyed that
gun. If you’ve ever seen an action Point Blank, I entered the data for every I finished development of a hit game
movie, you will surely be stage all alone and by myself. This data safely – and no ghosts appeared!”
DOCTOR, DOCTOR. . .
“AT THE BEGINNING of the project we planned ideas by making simple one-page
pencil drawings. We had about 60 of these idea sheets lined up so we could consider
the variety. On one of them I had written ‘Save the old geezer’, and that was the start of Dr
Don and Dr Dan. They became mascot characters and ended up being painted on the side of
the cabinets. The characters’ look was decided by gathering ideas from all the designers on
the project and holding a contest. I made a rough sketch just to show them my initial ideas for
the characters – one round, the other tall and thin. It must have made quite an impression on
them, because all of the submitted mascot candidates were almost identical to my original
sketch! I wanted them to look like sombrero-wearing Mexican brothers, but the final design
was kind of ‘safe’ – a Sesame Street-type odd couple.” » Ninjas can be
deadly. Even
cardboard ones.
» I was stung by a bee once. Twenty quid for a » The octopus stage was apparently very popular » Don’t count your chickens before you frag them.
jar of honey! with the ladies. Nobody knows why. Seriously, there’s no time.

franchise. Darran Jones swings his Cypher and
speaks to key staff behind the series
I
t’s been 26 years since Strider highly enjoyable game, even if it’s not
Hiryu first swung his Cypher quite as good as the 1989 original.
sword and made that dizzying “I have never felt that Strider became
run down an exploding successful,” reveals original creator
mountainside that captivated all Kouichi ‘Isuke’ Yotsui, when we ask
who saw it. Since then he’s been him about the popularity of the ninja he
something of a recluse, using his ninja helped create in 1989. “However, while
skills to hide in the shadows and only we were making Strider, we always felt
occasionally coming out to shine, but that we were in middle of creating a
otherwise content to simply cameo very entertaining game.”
in a number of other Capcom games, He’s right as well. Strider is an
particularly versus fighters where his incredibly enjoyable game, one that
insane ninja skills are put to extremely pushed graphical boundaries when it
good use. was first released. Taking on the role
To celebrate his 25th anniversary, of Strider Hiryu, your aim was to bring
Capcom unleashed a brand new game, down the evil dictator Grandmaster
Strider, which aimed to appeal to the Meio, armed with just your Cypher laser
» This section of Strider’s last game tests gravity and your
orginal fanbase, as well as a brand new sword and your insane agility. Hiryu
reflexes. Wimps need not apply. generation of gamers. It’s actually a could swing up gantries, run down

THE STORY OF STRIDER
at
We always felt th dle
we were in midery
of creating a v
e
entertaining gamKouichi Yotsui

d tro ub le ke ep ing the
We ha u nd er what
amo unt of d ata
was availab le
Kouichi Yotsui
» Yes we’ve shown a variation of this

screenshot so many times, but it
remains an amazing gaming moment.
mountainsides, leap huge chasms and even exploding mountainside to hitching rides on the » Hiryu even alien and unique. You never forget the time you
manages to look
operate in zero gravity. He was quite simply backs of various dinosaurs, while his travels took cool when he dies. flew around the anti-gravity boss, desperately
magnificent, but he also caused issues for Yotsui, him from the snowy slopes of Siberia to the Bless him. pummelling the fire button before you’re flung
who struggled with the technology limitations of heart of a floating battleship. Variety was the into a nearby wall, or watching a group of
» He might be a
the time. “We had trouble keeping the amount spice of life in Strider, and this was none more sub-boss, but he’s still Russian dignitaries transform into the hammer
of data under what was available,” he admits. apparent than when facing off against created with lots of and sickle-wielding Ouroboros. It’s a testament
“Hiryu’s various action movement data had taken its insanely nutty bosses. “We created care and attention. to their timeless design that so many have
up more than half of the whole graphic data multi-cultural and unfamiliar looking been included in Double Helix Games’s reboot,
amount space.” enemies to surprise players,” continues but which is Yotsui’s favourite? “I like the
And yet many would argue that it’s worth it. Yotsui when quizzed about Strider ’s visual style of Lago Mechanic, the abilities of
Watching Hiryu in motion as he climbed walls, exotic art design. “Creating these Anti-Gravity Device, Mecha Pon’s charm and
sliced his way through enemies and nimbly enemies was also important to expand the clever functions which Ouroboros has,”
avoided enemies was mesmerising, and it’s the world within the game.” he tells us, clearly warming to the subject.
pleasing to see that new developer Double Helix And what magnificent creations those “I like Solo’s coolness, Kuniang MA Team’s
Games has managed to retain his deadly grace enemies were. Robotic gorillas, brash beauty and the dignity which Grandmaster
for its reboot. As far as Yotsui was concerned, Amazonians, metallic dinosaurs and an Meio has. Yes, it’s safe to say I like all
Strider’s graceful animation was always the airborne pirate all vied for your attention, of them.”
thing that drove his game. “It was the most while even the lowliest of enemies felt
G
important thing,” he explains to us. “This is an amers agreed, and Strider became
action game, therefore the player should be a big success for Capcom, no
able to enjoy it by just controlling Hiryu. We at
The gamemthak
doubt helped by the Manga comic
tried to make players be entertained by just
Grin was ing that had been released in 1988 (in collaboration
making Hiryu run, jump or go through unknown with Moto Kikaku) and the 1989 NES game that
environments. By adding movement such as followed a few months after Yotsui’s arcade
jumping, running, sliding, clinging and climbing It’s widely known that Capcom had commissioned Grin to make game. The NES game is quite interesting
it will be even more entertaining. We felt that a game about Strider as far back as 2008. What isn’t known is because it’s a completely different beast to
defeating unexpected enemies that appear in what type of game it was going to be. Aer extensive digging an Yotsui’s effort, playing to the strengths of the
front of you by using all those movements would anonymous source was able to confirm a few things about the title. host hardware but clearly losing out as a result.
give the players extreme pleasure. To enable all “Grin made the deal with Strider overlapping Bionic Commando You still play as Strider Hiryu, but the pace
these cornerstones, Hiryu’s agility had to be the before anyone knew how Bionic Commando would be received. At of the game is greatly diminished, making him
most important [thing] of all.” that time I think that relations with Capcom were good. I guess they feel slightly less effective as a result. The story
In addition to Hiryu’s impressive athleticism, started to outline a new project thinking Bionic Commando would be a is also different to the arcade game, and a little
it was the game world itself and its weird and hit.” We’ve thought this ever since Grin was revealed as the developer, more detailed due to the nature of the platform
wonderful bosses that really helped separate as Strider would have fit perfectly into its two-game template. it’s on, making it more in line with the story told
it from its arcade peers. Strider had dramatic Our source goes on to reveal the following about Strider’s in Tatsumi Wada’s original manga anthology.
set pieces that ranged from running down an gameplay. “It took many different turns. First we did a super There are Metroidvania-like design aspects to
abstract design that was completely unique. That was the first take. the game as well, with the ability to return to
Then the project landed in the hands of Grin Barcelona. From that previous levels once new power-ups have been
point I have absolutely no idea.” acquired. While it’s a fun addition to the Strider
Capcom went on to approach Grin with other smaller titles, canon, it lacks the grace and fluidity of Yotsui’s
including mentioning Mega Man, but the ideas were eventually
dropped, the Bionic Commando Rearmed team was separated and
Grin itself closed down a year later.
» While the NES game is an enjoyable adventure it’s not a patch on

the superb arcade game.

: ‘
y and gamep lay
us the storon vel
©John Szczepaniak
hi Yotsui tells ic second le

Kouic s behind Strider’s ic
mechanic ing into an unde
rground
lves by runn
to escape the wo aster Meio’s secre
t
Hiryu manages l is in fact Grandm
2 tunnel. Hir yu
base. Most of the
dis cove rs this
weapon manufac
tun ne
turers who broug
ns po
ht Me io’s
rted here to be en
an ger do
gaged in
wn
a are tra
we re se nt to Sib eri
the ir test weapons.
on them and ap on s. Mecha Pon is on
e of
types of we
developing new
s base completed
t was sent to thi
of the ma nu fac turing teams tha ing the Anti-Gravity
One By us
The entire Euras

ian continent is
under 3 these devic
Me io ma
es
na
an d the Anti-Gravity Device.
ged to float the
new moon, The
Third Moon, wh
wh en the pla
ich made
n to burn
1 Grandmaster Me
After completing
io’s contr ol.
the mission at Ka
zah Federation’s
Device,
him very happy.
the wh ole
It is said that thi
liv ing ex istence
s was the mome
on Earth flashed
nt
into Meio’s mind
.
to es ca pe from the down

is trying
capital city, Hiryu wh ole of Siberia
ing through the
continent by runn r ’s gaming
lves attac k him . re drawing Stride
while Siberian wo Back then we we ils. To draw
This is the boun
ty hunter Solo. His
powered
o. Mosquitos
6 map on pieces of
paper using
ma
pe
ny
nc
pa pers together,
5 armor is designe
existed on earth
d on the mo
long before huma
sq uit
n beings were
this slope we ha
and while doing
d to stick so
this it made us sc
ared. We started
pers together rea
lly
the most ing this many pa
they we re alrea dy thinking, ‘is stick sil ly idea?
born. Back then d) creatures. a simple-m inded and
mpleted (pe rfe cte worth it for such laughingstock?’
developed and co ed with a big cla
p! ing to become a
do not get swatt Aren’t we just go
As long as they
noise]
[Makes clapping
Flying
ve noticed that the
I am sure you ha items to the
4 Mosqueman is the
traitor Hiryu. Th
one who
is was a small ha
de liv
ras
ers
sm en t towards Meio
Hiryu is fighting
against
by the manufactur
ers that were se
nt to Siberia.
10 enemies who ha
like movements
an d pe
ve dance-
rform
While Hiryu was tiful Ta ijutsu (a sort of martial
8 running through
Siberia, he was
chased
beau
art). Kuniang MA
als o sk y pirate s,
Team, who are
know of Meio’s
MA Te am’s Balrog, as they
by Kunia ng flying battleship,
airship group an
d suffered owered by it in
have been overp
k. Hiryu
a surprise attac the past.
ships itude and
flies between air a super-high alt
name Hiryu is now at
to fight them.
Hiryu means ‘Fl
Th e
ying
s freely
9 being pushed to
the enemy’s ship
an
his limits
d tak ing it
. He
ov
is
er.
invading
This was
Dragon’, so he flie tion scene
mine, as this ac
In arcade game
s, the an d es se ntially a real pleasure of vie!
in the sky
7 second lev
rta
el
nt
ca rries a
rule. We have
becomes a drago
n
Siberia.
originated from
an old pir ate mo
ve ry im po running across
who have
to make players
’s controls on
learned the game
lev el thi nk , ‘we want
the first
s game!’
to see more of thi
t pu rpo se , we added
For tha
pe d scenarios
speedier-develo
mo re ve ntu res ome
and
tch between
changes. The ma
pla ye rs an d us always gets
the
cond level.
settled on the se

» Strider II is the
one weak link in an
otherwise solid chain.
» Capcom kindly supplied us game, a thing that becomes while working on the home sequel. “Not a great
with some amazing concept far more noticeable when using deal,” he honestly tells us. “I believe it was only
art from Strider 2.
wall jumps or climbing. You ‘cult’ popular really.”
never feel quite as in control of Strider II went on to receive decent scores
Hiryu as you do in the arcade on home computers, with the Spectrum version
outing, which takes away from the game. It’s still being particularly popular. It’s not a good game
a robust action game – something Capcom could though, failing to capture the sheer atmosphere
turn out in its sleep during its NES period – but it that the original game oozed from every pixel.
pales in comparison to Yotsui’s interpretation of Despite this, Chris feels that Tiertex did get some
the ninja. things right, revealing, “I think it captured the
Home conversions of the arcade game soon main gameplay elements of Strider, the agility.”
followed, with the majority of home computer The Mega Drive, Master System and Game
versions being handled by US Gold, which Gear versions came out a little later and were
passed coding duties to Tiertex. Sega did its known as Journey From Darkness: Strider
own conversion of Strider for its Mega Drive Returns in the US. Considering the power of
and Master System, while the long-gestating PC the host machines they were all far weaker
» A huge amount of behind- Engine game (it was first announced in 1990 but than the home computer counterparts, let
the-scenes detail went into released in 1994) featured animated cut-scenes, down by clunky controls, drab-looking levels
the creation of enemies.
Red Book audio and a brand new level. Tiertex’s and poor stage design. While Strider Hinjo no
conversions were hit and miss for the most part, longer transforms into a robot, his new shuriken-
with its 16-bit conversions fairing better, although throwing shenanigans add little to the game
it’s impressive just how much of the original and it’s little wonder that Capcom conveniently
arcade game the various conversions could fit ignores all versions of Strider II.
in. The Sharp X68000 is the clear winner, It may have ignored the dull platformer it had
but was hardly a fair comparison due to allowed US Gold to licence, but Capcom certainly
its sheer amount of power and its actual wasn’t ignoring the fact that Strider still appeared
cost (around £1,000). to be popular with gamers. In fact, Capcom was
Tiertex nevertheless managed to planning a sequel of its own…
impress Capcom, and soon secured the Capcom had released Marvel Vs Capcom:
rights to make a console and computer Clash Of Super Heroes in 1998 and tested the
sequel, 1990’s rather disappointing Strider II. waters by including Strider Hiryu as a prominent
Interestingly, it starred a brand new Strider, playable fighter. Gamers were instantly drawn
» Solo returns in Strider 2, called Strider Hinjo, who now sported a to the acrobatic ninja, giving Capcom the
so he’s been given a suitable gun in addition to his Cypher but could also confidence to continue with its own sequel. It
» The design of Strider 2 upgrade over his first look.
follows on closely from the turn into a laser-spewing robot when engaging wouldn’t be easy however, as Yotsui had long
original arcade game. bosses. He was otherwise identical to Strider since left Capcom. In fact he’d already made his
Hiryu, with his own one-man crusade against own spiritual successor to Strider in the form of
a new superb villain. Chris Brunning, who Mitchell Corp’s delightfully nutty Osman.
worked on the home computer versions, Step forward Sho Sakai, who found himself as
did tell us the reason for the similarities art director on the highly anticipated sequel, which
between the two Striders. “The character was first released in arcades in 1999 before being
was the same in the versions we did, just ported to Sony’s PlayStation in 2000. Strider may
re-coloured,” referring to the sprite used have seemingly lost its heart with the departure of
in Tiertex’s arcade conversions. “That Yotsui, but just one play of Capcom’s sequel was
was an internal decision as far as I am enough to know that the developer knew exactly
aware.” He goes on to reveal that there what it was doing. “There was naturally lots of
was no involvement from Capcom from a pressure,” begins Sakai about the challenging
developer point of view, which may explain sequel, “but I was also deeply honoured to be
why it’s just not in the same league as the able to work on the design of the sequel to the
arcade game that inspired it. legendary Strider, which more than compensated
This wasn’t the first time that Tiertex for the pressure I felt.”
had made a non-computer sequel to a And that pressure was palpable because
popular coin-op – HKM: Human Killing Strider’s fan base is small but incredibly loyal.
» Even the lowliest enemies Machine was a sequel to Street Fighter Sakai definitely felt it, finding himself in the same
had a large amount of – so we were keen to know if Chris and situation as current developer Double Helix
attention paid to them.
the rest of the team felt any pressure Games. “The [hardest thing was] the need to

» At the beginning
of each stage you’re
treated to these cool
cut-scenes.
ble Helix
The momenttoDuou
p its game
knew it had
We’ll admit to be a little concerned aer hearing
that Double Helix Games would be handling Strider ’s
reboot (although we’re happy to be proved wrong). Even
we didn’t go to the following lengths though…
“Right aer the game was announced at Comic-Con,
satisfy the diehard,” Sakai continues. “It was we got an email from a Strider fan who had dissected
tough to strike the right balance: if you keep the footage of the game found on the web,” recalls
things too similar to Strider then the sequel a bemused Jorge Osequera. “He sent screenshots of every lasting impression, which is quite an
wouldn’t be interesting, but if you change too location in the footage that had the Kazakh star flipped. He included amazing accomplishment.”
much then fans would not accept it.” shots from the original game and did side by side comparisons One of the most impressive bosses is Strider
to point out where we went wrong. We always knew that the old- Hien, who acts as a suitable nemesis for Hiryu
T
he solution was to effectively remake school fans would be the most critical, but that email was a huge and is unlockable on the PlayStation version.
Strider, with the final game featuring reality check for us. Just thinking about the process that this fan He’s the entire creation of Sakai, who revealed
two of Strider ’s original stages and went through to make sure we got the details right really inspired the following interesting revelation about him. “In
many other elements, including retreads of us to double down on the details.” If you’re reading this article my original design, he wore a long-sleeved top.
memorable set pieces and notable bosses such Strider fan, we’d love to hear what you think of the finished game. When I checked the pixel art, though, for some
as the bounty hunter Solo and the Kuniang reason he had been drawn without any sleeves
MA Team. The first three levels of Capcom’s RIGHT WRONG at all! Meanwhile, the cut-scene illustrations
explosive sequel could be tackled in any stayed true to my original design, so his sleeves
order, finishing off with a return to the floating are intact. Hien is the only character who sports
battleship Balrog and another trip to The Third summer and winter wear!”
Moon, the base of Grandmaster Meio. Hiryu himself arguably remained the star of
It was all topped off by some amazing new the show, with Capcom boosting his already
visuals that perfectly captured the spirit of the powerful moves to make him more like the one-
1989 original. Although the gaming world was man army that appears in Double Helix Games’s
actively embracing 3D technology, Capcom stages were divided into smaller sections that sequel and Capcom’s Vs games. Infinitely faster
wisely decided to make Strider 2.5D, with typically ended in a boss battle. Memorable than his 1989 counterpart, he’s now got a variety
neat 3D backgrounds giving the game some encounters include a skirmish with a robotic of useful jumps – including a double jump – for
impressive depth and slick rotation effects. wooly mammoth, riding along the back of the quickly changing direction or propelling himself
“With the move to 3D backgrounds, we were gigantic Emperor Dragon (an encounter that’s off walls and a useful boost attack that enables
able to make the levels more than just basic replicated in the new Strider) and taking out a him to launch plasma waves from his Cypher,
horizontal traversal against a backdrop,” explains huge Kraken. “Bosses are an important part of giving him a fighting chance against Grandmaster
Sakai about Strider 2 ’s distinctive look. “Some Strider for sure, and I think the highly original Meio’s many generals.
of the enemies were created in 3D as well, so designs are what makes them so memorable,” Despite being a genuinely thrilling arcade
the confluence of 2D and 3D was one of the key explains Sakai. “Although many bosses are game, Strider 2 wasn’t a success for Capcom,
aspects of the title.” quickly defeated, they still make a and while it was released across all regions it
Another key aspect was ensuring that Strider
original
remains a surprisingly low-key game, which
I think the highly

2 ’s bosses were just as over-the-top
as those found in the arcade original.
Capcom’s team happily obliged,
n s are w hat makes them
delivering an impressive menagerie
desig
so memorable
» Strider 2 ’s
of foes in addition to those returning lead artist Sho
from Strider. Each of Strider 2 ’s Sho Sakai Sakai gets into
character.

ttle
classic videogame ninjas do ba
-off as
It’s a deadly face
RAIDEN NINJA ZOOL JOE SCORPION STRIDER LEONARDO RYU

MOST LIKELY TO: HAMSTER MOST LIKELY TO: MUSASHI MOST LIKELY TO: HIRYU MOST LIKELY TO: HAYABUSA
Whinge about his MOST LIKELY TO: Have an identity crisis MOST LIKELY TO: Look like a MOST LIKELY TO: Say something MOST LIKELY TO:
personal life Beat up LEAST LIKELY TO: Own a pet dog palette swap Ride on the back of a turtley irritating Lose his family
LEAST LIKELY TO: anthropomorphic rats Get sponsored by LEAST LIKELY TO: LEAST LIKELY TO: brontosaurus LEAST LIKELY TO: heirloom
Star in a proper Metal LEAST LIKELY TO: Iron Bru Properly train it Get his own game LEAST LIKELY TO: Become a ninja LEAST LIKELY TO:
Gear game Win this ninja Get another hamster Appear in any
ROUND
showdown Tiertex sequel more good Ninja
Gaiden games
ONE
RAIDEN VS NINJA HAMSTER ZOOL VS JOE MUSASHI SCORPION VS STRIDER HIRYU LEONARDO VS RYU HAYABUSA
QNinja hamster or not he’s still just a hamster, QAlthough he’s from the Nth Dimension, Zool is Q“Get over here!” screams Scorpion as he flings QRyu immediately leaps into action, grabbing
and Raiden cuts Metal Gears in half before actually a pretty rubbish ninja. Joe Musashi easily his trusty tethered spear in Hiryu’s direction. Leonardo and pulling off his deadly Izuna Drop.
breakfast. Raiden ends the battle by stepping jumps over the Chupa Chups Zool throws at Hiryu effortlessly slides under the incoming Unfortunately for Hayabusa, cheeky Leonardo
on the hapless hamster before he’s even had a him, returning fire with deadly lethal shurikens. weapon and proceeds to slash at Scorpion with simply retracts his head into his shell, leaving
chance to squeak. Silly Zool. his Cypher. Win. Hayabusa with a broken neck.
WINNER: RAIDEN WINNER: JOE MUSASHI WINNER: STRIDER HIRYU WINNER: LEONARDO
ROUND
TWO
RAIDEN VS JOE MUSASHI STRIDER HIRYU VS LEONARDO

QRealising the power of his opponent, sneaky QTrained by Splinter, Leo is the strongest of all
Joe Musashi (from the Mega Drive version of four turtles. Years of training can’t prepare him
Shadow Dancer) sets his pet dog on him. Raiden for Strider Hiryu’s awesome skills though. Left
proceeds to bitch about his personal life, causing shell-shocked, he soon sods off for some much-
Joe and his faithful hound to slink off in disgust needed pizza with his brothers.
FINAL
WINNER: RAIDEN WINNER: STRIDER HIRYU
ROUND
STRIDER HIRYU VS RAIDEN
QConfident that he won’t lose a battle in a box
out found in a feature that’s entirely dedicated to
him, a casual Hiryu wades in. Raiden easily cuts
him down in seconds. Did we mention he cuts
Metal Gears in half before breakfast?
WINNER: RAIDEN

» Fans of Strider will be pleased to hear that he remains

as agile as he was in his earlier games.
beings James. “Solo, the cyborg bounty

» Hiryu still has plenty of enemies to cut down, but has far hunter, for example, has always looked very
more powers available now.
cool and threatening, but had a limited set of
actions and was quickly defeated. In this latest
R
is a pity considering its actual brilliance. egardless of Strider ’s new game Strider, however, he realises his full potential
Despite his fan base, Hiryu was once again direction, it’s all for nothing if with an arsenal of powerful attacks that will
relegated to the sidelines appearing in numerous Strider Hiryu himself doesn’t feel surely test players’ skills in an extensive battle.
cameos and the occasional versus fighting like the titular ninja. After completing the It’s been a challenge to update classic bosses,
game in the intervening years. A Strider remake game several times it’s clear that Double but seeing them do all of these things that you
was revealed to have been in the works at Grin Helix knows what its doing. The controls only fantasised about as a child has been very
Barcelona in 2009, but was quickly cancelled feel fluid and precise, Hiryu himself powers rewarding, not to mention very cool.”
by Capcom at its prototype stage. Grin itself through stages, while his repertoire of tricks James also feels confident that gamers
disappeared shortly afterwards and the hope of a is extremely impressive. It may not look like a will enjoy the many new abilities that Hiryu
new game died with it. Strider game (it’s a little too drab-looking for now has at his disposal, revealing that the
Just four years later however, Capcom used our tastes) but it certainly feels like one. “The team looked both to the past and present
the San Diego Comic Con to announce the trailer first thing we did was to make sure to nail to ensure that their hero still felt like the
of a brand new Strider game – to an ecstatic Hiryu’s core movement and Cypher-slashing Strider Hiryu gamers know and love. “When
response. As the days passed gamers began gameplay,” reveals Jorge. “We knew that if developing the character for this latest Strider
to voice concerns due to the previous output of we couldn’t get that perfect, the rest didn’t game, both the recent Marvel Vs Capcom
Double Helix Games, but as new information matter. Beyond that, it was all about fleshing and arcade iterations were analysed, and
continued to drip out of Capcom HQ, it became out the world and story. We’re all fans of those characteristics which best served the
clear that the studio did understand the the original games so we really wanted to gameplay and visual presentation of the
» James Vance (top)
importance of the franchise it had been handed. capture the essence of the classics. You’ll and Jorge Oseguera character [were] implemented,” he continues.
“We love the Strider fans, both the older see familiar themes throughout the levels as have been crucial “From a visual perspective, the character has
generation and the newer generation, and we well as characters from the previous games. to the success of been updated to match the artistic design and
Strider ’s reboot.
take all the feedback from them very seriously,” Tony Barnes (Strider ’s design director) has been HD fidelity of current systems, but maintains
assures Strider’s producer Jorge Oseguera. making games for over 20 years and is a huge the silhouette, colour scheme and key
“When the game was first announced, we Strider fan. In the early [21st Century] he created poses and animations of the Marvel Vs
were all very nervous for the reveal. We were a bucket list of games that he wanted to make. Capcom series, resulting in a fresh
confident in the game we were making, but Strider was in his top five. On top of that, we yet recognisable design. The core
first and foremost we wanted to hear from the had the creative team from Capcom in Osaka, gameplay rests upon a refined iteration
Strider fans. It was such a relief once the trailer which included one of the original game’s artists. of Strider’s bedrock of running, sliding,
hit the web and the fans had positive things to I hope that gives the fans some comfort and lets jumping and climbing, and is infused
say about the reboot. I still get goose bumps them know that Strider’s in the right hands.” with actions from the Marvel Vs
watching the reaction from the crowd at SDCC The one thing that does impress with Strider Capcom series as well as an array
when Strider Hiryu first appeared on-screen.” is just how good the new boss battles are. of new abilities.”
It takes more than a good trailer to make a While a few new enemies appear, many of the Strider was released in
good Strider game however, and the biggest mayors from the original game return and they 2014 and it proved to be
surprise about Double Helix’s new Strider all put up tough, challenging fights. In short, they a perfectly acceptable
was that it plays out more like a Metroidvania, act exactly as you’d expect them to and we update of the classic franchise,
meaning the original NES game seems to be as couldn’t be more happy. “Modern technology » There are plenty although Capcom currently has no
of returning bosses,
every bit as inspirational as its arcade counterpart. and an expansive game design have provided many of which are plans for a further sequel. It’s a pity, but
What we’ve played so far suggests that is plenty the opportunity to update and polish classic boss far tougher to defeat perhaps understandable. He might not
than before. It’s a
of DNA from the original arcade game, but we game mechanics, battle length and pacing,” faithful update. have the legacy of some videogame
were still keen to know the reasoning behind icons, but there’s no denying that the
the team’s new design choices. “We wanted to character has touched a lot of gamers in
keep Strider’s fast action and fluid gameplay front the last 25 years. “From the way he moves
and centre, but we also wanted to create a much to the way he talks, he’s the embodiment of
more expansive and immersive backdrop that cool,” concludes James when we ask about
would support an adventure that takes multiple Strider’s enduring popularity with his fan base.
hours to unfold,” admits Jorge. “While I wouldn’t “But it’s a coolness born from the original design
say that we are straight up Metroidvania, we’re of the character that isn’t necessarily good or
definitely influenced by Metroidvania games, and evil, and certainly isn’t topical or trendy. He’s the
wanted to marry elements of that sort of non- timeless badass that everyone wishes they
linear adventure and exploration with Strider ’s could be – that is why it feels so empowering to
furious Cypher-slashing action.” pick up the controller and become Strider Hiryu.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Special thanks to Laura Skelly and Maiko Hinson for making this article possible

ZERO GUNNER
Q Developer: Psikyo Q Year: 1997 Q Genre: Shoot-’em-up
QYou might well be familiar with the name much has been used. With that exception, the game
Zero Gunner, but if you are it’s almost certainly feels vastly more traditional than its successor, with
because of its excellent sequel Zero Gunner 2, enemies heading down from the top of the screen.
which is one of the many worthwhile shoot-’em- There’s a nice variety of stages available, from the
ups on the Dreamcast. The original game is rather deserts of Algeria to windmills in the Netherlands,
less well-known, having never received a home but the game doesn’t look tremendously good –
conversion. Zero Gunner arrived in arcades in 1997, stage backgrounds are repetitive, with little in the
powered by Sega’s ageing Model 2 board. The way of notable landmarks. Sound is also a little
game puts you in charge of a helicopter gunship weak, with military-themed music that fits the action
in the year 2016, fighting to take back control of the
world’s militaries from terrorists. This flimsy premise
without ever grabbing your attention.
However, these weaknesses don’t change the fact
Converted Alternative
is reason enough for you to take to the skies in Asia, that Zero Gunner is underpinned by some extremely
UNDER DEFEAT 2006
the USA and Europe, blowing up all manner of other solid game design. Its conventional approach to the While Zero Gunner 2 did receive a home
aircraft as well as bosses including battleships and genre doesn’t break any new ground in the way conversion, it’s G Rev’s blaster that feels
massive planes. that Zero Gunner 2 did, but nevertheless provides a closer to the original game, thanks to the
The primary gimmick in Zero Gunner is the lock- challenging, satisfying blast. Level design is of a high limited helicopter rotation. You can pick this
on feature, which allows your helicopter to roam the standard and the bosses are excellent, with the multi- one up on Xbox 360 or PS3, but we still have
screen while still directing fire at the targeted enemy target battleship proving to be one of the game’s a soft spot for the Dreamcast conversion.
– a feature that would later be expanded upon by highlights – just as a similar section did years later in
the sequel, which offered full 360 degree rotation. In Under Defeat. If you’ve played one too many bullet
Zero Gunner, your lock-on capability is limited, with a hell shooters and grown tired of them, playing Zero
helpful bar on the left of the screen showing just how Gunner could be just the change you need.
» Lock-on ability is strictly limited in Zero Gunner, with

this meter showing you how much time remains before
you’ll need to re-target the enemy.
» Unlike its successor, in Zero Gunner you’ll always be facing off

against enemies arriving from the top of the screen. This causes
the game to feel a little less interesting.
» Targeting enemies is pretty simple – the first untargeted

shot to connect with an enemy will place a crosshair on that
enemy until it is destroyed or you stop shooting.
» While the scenery is varied by location, the muted colour

scheme makes the backdrops look unnecessarily repetitive. It’s a
shame, as the international theme is otherwise good.

THE UNCONVERTED
ZAVIGA
Q Developer: Data East Q Year: 1984 Q Genre: Shoot-’em-up
QZaviga adds the extra dimension of height rarely includes any high-level obstacles
to vertically scrolling shoot-’em-ups, but to encourage you to swoop down. The
somehow manages to be less interesting top-down perspective also limits the game
than the likes of Zaxxon despite being two to two levels of height. With the game’s
years more recent. The key mechanic is most interesting mechanic rendered rather
the ability to change your ship’s height – pointless, all that remains in Zaviga is a
flying low opens you up to smashing into Xevious knock-off with uninteresting enemy
mountains and ground-based enemies, while patterns and less variety in scenery.
flying high makes it harder to hit ground- We’re not surprised that Data East backed
based enemies as you’re limited to dropping its other 1984 shoot-’em-up B-Wings, which
bombs on them. was eventually converted to the Famicom. It
The problem is that 98 per cent of the wasn’t the most memorable shoot-’em-up,
time, there’s little reason to take the extra but we’re grateful for that fact that it spared
risk involved with flying low, as the game home users this shambles.
GIGANDES
Q Developer: East Technology Q Year: 1987 Q Genre: Shoot-’em-up
Converted Alternative
MERCS 1989
QOn first impressions,
Gigandes is a mess. The It’s an obvious pick, but Capcom’s
game is visually quite ugly game remains one of the best in its
for its time, and the tiny orb genre. While Sega’s in-house Mega
spacecraft fires some pretty Drive conversion lacks the multiplayer
weedy weaponry. Thankfully, of the arcade release, it made up for
the game improves massively it with a brilliant original mode in
when you learn what that which each character packs their own
orb design is for – your unique weaponry – just like FixEight.
spacecraft is able to equip
weapons on different parts
of its body depending on
» It’s perhaps ironic that the biological horror stage offers some of the
nicest sights in Gigandes.
where it makes contact with
a power-up. Flying upwards
FIXEIGHT
into a power-up will provide
Q Developer: Toaplan Q Year: 1992 Q Genre: Shoot-’em-up
you with that weapon on top of your craft, for example. Weapons can also be
rotated around the body of the ship, allowing for four-way fire with all of your QFixEight is the sequel to Toaplan’s
weapons. This provides a thoughtful approach to the shoot-’em-up genre that cult hit OutZone, a top-down
was atypical for the time. shooter which took the Commando
You’ll need the multi-directional fire, too – while the early levels consist formula and turned everything up
largely of open air, assaults from all directions become more common and to 11. FixEight adopts the same
stage walls begin to appear, preventing frontal assaults on your enemies. It’s gameplay as its predecessor,
a shame that Gigandes never made it home, as it could have been replicated increasing the number of playable
pretty well on either the Mega Drive or PC Engine. But East Technology never characters to eight and refining
developed any console games itself, and never appears to have had a big the weapon system. Like OutZone,
enough hit for other companies to pursue licensing. FixEight allows players to utilise a
forward-facing wide shot or a straight
stream of shots that can be fired in
any direction. However, new charge » The huge explosions in FixEight convey a great sense of
Converted Alternative pads replace the single-use power- carnage, especially when battling multiple foes.
HELLFIRE 1989 ups of OutZone, making for far less buzzsaws. The music is relatively
frustration when you’re looking to bland, never quite reaching the
While Hellfire doesn’t quite offer the same change. The changes enable the heights achieved by its predecessor’s
flexibility as Gigandes in terms of weapon player to enjoy the excellent stages, tunes. However, the game is fast-
choice, it does allow the player to switch which are filled with a variety of paced and packed with carnage,
between forwards, backwards, vertical and excellent hazards. Beyond the adding technical proficiency to the
diagonal shooting to tackle some tricky stages. standard enemies, you’ll be forced excellent sprite work to produce one
The excellent Mega Drive version is pretty easy to contend with moving mid-air of the best-looking shoot-’em-ups of
to find and comes highly recommended. platforms and a maze lined with the early Nineties.

IN THE KNOW
» Publisher: Konami
» Developer: Konami
» Released: 1989
» Genre: Scrolling beat-’em-up

COIN-OP CAPERS: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles
We take a definitive look back at one of the Eighties’ most popular
arcade games. Tonight, Martyn Carroll dines on turtle soup
Despite the Turtles being faster
than their foes and boasting powerful
specials, the game has earned a
reputation as a contemptible coin-
muncher. It’s true that the later bosses
can be a fairly cheap, but they’re
certainly not invincible. In our experience,
at the height of the game’s popularity,
players were always eager to pump in
extras credits and continue, or buy-in
and help out their buddies – surely a
clear indicator that Konami had produced
a winning coin-op that delighted both
players and operators.
eenage Mutant Ninja resist Konami’s arcade game. Based on Konami must have been pretty
T 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
the animated series, it was a scrolling
beat-’em-up where you went up against
evil Shredder’s army of Foot Soldiers and
various bosses including Rocksteady,
Bebop, Krang and the Shred-head
himself. It was slick, fast and fun, with
plenty of humour and jokes for fans, yet
pleased with the game too. Having
already experienced huge success
with its first TMNT outing – a platform/
adventure game developed initially
for the NES – the company wasted
no time in bringing the arcade game
home. It developed a well-received
never happened). Just when you easily the game’s finest feature was its NES conversion, which expanded
think it’s finally died a death, a new co-op play. Some versions of the cab on the coin-op by adding a couple of
comic, TV series, toy line, videogame or offered support for four players, allowing exclusive new levels. Home computer
movie reminds us all that those reptilian you and three mates to each take control rights, meanwhile, went to Brit publisher
rapscallions who shout ‘Cowabunga!’ of a Turtle and fight together. Mirrorsoft, which commissioned
and scoff pizza have been around for The move list was pretty standard for Probe to convert the coin-op to the
over 25 years, and will probably be this type of game. Bashing the attack Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore
around for 25 more. button would result in a simple combo 64, Amiga, Atari ST and PC in 1991.
But no matter how long TMNT move, with your Turtle performing Like a lot of arcade conversions, these
remains in favour, it will never be more an impromptu back kick should you releases suffered from single-fire-button
popular that it was in 1990. This was the be approached from behind. Hitting syndrome, where players had to clumsily
year when the phenomenon reached its the jump button followed by attack push up and fire to jump.
peak and TMNT became an unstoppable would perform one of three moves In recent years, the arcade game
force. The animated series was playing depending on your height: a flying has popped out of its shell on a couple
heavily on TV, the first movie was doing kick (low), a diving kick (mid) or a of occasions. It was included as an
big business at the box office, and the vertical weapon attack (high). Finally, unlockable extra in the 2004 game
tune ‘Turtle Power’ by pretend rappers hitting attack and jump together would TMNT 2: Battle Nexus, and was
Partners in Kryme was topping charts unleash your Turtle’s special move. probably the best thing about it. In
everywhere. And of course there was Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello all 2007, Ubisoft put the coin-op out
the TMNT coin-op from Konami, which performed a sweeping attack capable of on Xbox Live Arcade complete with
was released in 1989 but by 1990 was defeating multiple enemies with a single Achievements and a co-op mode. If
established in arcades the world over. blow, while Raphael was blessed with you’re an X360 owner looking for a
If you’d been suckered into the Turtles a unique roll-and-kick combo that was nostalgia trip, 400 MS points is a small
craze then it was simply impossible to useful against some bosses. price to pay to party like it’s 1990.

Until recently, Patrick Wheeler held the Twin Galaxies’ TMNT high
score with a haul of 1,085 points. We find out the story behind the
score and why he has no plans to reclaim the record…
Q Can you tell us how long you’ve Q Why did you decide to have a crack offered the original bounty took first
actually be gaming for and what you at taking on the Twin Galaxies high place, so I decided to submit my, at the
like about it? score? Were you confident you could time, seven-month-old score. I did this
The past 22 years, starting with the beat it? because none of the other players could
NES at age seven. I credit games like Another TMNT player offered a bounty finish the game, and I didn’t feel that
Battletoads, Contra, Life Force and on the Twin Galaxies forum in 2008 and, their recordings were actually worthy of
Punch-Out!! for giving me the skills since I already knew the game inside first place.
necessary to compete at a higher level. and out, it was an easy cash-in.
» Name: Patrick Wheeler Q Can you explain to us what you
» Age: 30 Q When and where did you first play Q Is your 1,085 score the one you mean by ‘leeching’?
» Location: Diboll, Texas TMNT and what were your initial claimed the bounty with, or did you It’s possible to gain an infinite number
» Key Twin Galaxies impressions of the game? do it with a lower score, and then of points by hitting the projectiles that
World Records: I remember playing the game at a build on it later? enemies throw at you, as each one is
Metal Slug 3 [Arcade] bowling alley when I was around ten There was a bit of drama. I made worth one point. Doing this excessively
years old. At the time I thought it was a recording to claim the bounty – I would disqualify the recording though.
10,213,610 points
one of the most fun games I had ever finished the game with a score of [The Twin Galaxies rules for the game
Sunset Riders [Arcade]
played, because it was different from the 555, with no leeching – and sent it to state: “While some leeching is permitted
1,010,930 points
typical platforming and shooting games him. He accused me of cheating, so I in regards to opportunities against
Jailbreak [Arcade]
that were common on game consoles then submitted the recording to Twin certain bosses (50 points maximum),
9,999,900 points
during that time. Galaxies for verification, and it was too much will result in your score being
verified as legit. About three weeks disqualified.”]
after that, a higher score from a third
player was verified and this one was Q In April 2011, a new top score of
full of boomerang leeching. So, the next 1,311 points by Saulo Bastos was
day – 12 January, 2009 – I recorded verified by TG. Will you try and
a new score of 1,085, which was reclaim the record?
basically the same as my previous one, No, I won’t. I’ve already finished the
but with added boomerang leeching. I game many times, and seen everything
didn’t submit it because I don’t agree there is to see. The only thing that could
that boomerang leeching is a legitimate possibly be left to do is find an obscure
tactic that should be allowed. However, point-pressing technique to exploit, but I
later that year the same person who have no interest in doing that.
Q Is it easier, or more difficult, to get

a high score when playing with other
players on a game like Turtles?
It’s more difficult to score highly when
playing with other players for two
reasons: there are less enemies for
each individual player to defeat, and it’s
harder to manipulate the movements
and actions of each enemy because an
enemy’s focus tends to change from
» Things can get pretty frantic when all four Turtles are in play. » Hit fire hydrants to blast enemies with water. one player to another.
You’ll have to beat these bosses

to total the Technodrome
Rocksteady General Traag Shredder

An early boss in many TMNT Having previously defeated The chief adversary tries to
games. Move up and down to Granitor, you must face his confuse you with clones. Just keep
dodge his gunfire, and jump to formidable boss. He’s pretty slow plugging away with your combos
avoid his running charge. so keep moving around the screen. and specials until he falls.
Bebop Krang
Similar to Rocksteady, only The toughest boss in the
slightly more powerful. Attack at game. Use diving kicks where you
close range, then quickly jump can, or if you’re playing as Raphael,
away before he retaliates. spam his special move.

rick s
Pat
AL t h e s e q u e l s
SURVIV Of the many Turtles games, these ones
stay true to the original coin-op
GUID E
TMNT III: The
Useful tricks to Manhattan Project
help you freak the Released: 1991
The NES already had its
Foot Soldiers own Turtles game, so the
QDO IT WITH DON coin-op was released on the
Use Donatello. It’s much Nintendo console as TMNT
» When Rocksteady and Bebop charge, jump out of the
way and they’ll smash skulls. The dolts. easier to finish the game II: The Arcade Game. This
in one credit with him, due to his long game then, from Konami,
Q Tell us briefly about your MAME attack range. It’s possible to finish was a NES-exclusive sequel
setup. What’s it like? with one of the other turtles, but it’s to the coin-op that was
I use my PC with a PlayStation 2 considerably harder, especially against essentially an extra set of levels rather than a full-blown
DualShock controller attached through a certain bosses. follow-up. The main difference was that each Turtle had
USB adapter. their own special move. These were almost too powerful,
QPOINT TAKEN particularly against the bosses, so to prevent the game from
Q How do you think the game holds Hit the rope that the robots being a walkover you lost a little energy each time you used
up 20 years on? fling toward you. Every one. Overall, it was a fun yet derivative continuation of the
I think it holds up well. The graphics are hit is worth one point even though it coin-op. Note that there was a 1992 PC game called TMNT:
colourful and detailed, control is accurate, doesn’t actually damage the enemy. Manhattan Missions but it has nothing to do with this game,
and it’s the perfect length for this type of Also, hit the boomerangs that enemies being more of an adventure game with fighting elements.
game. Most of the reviews say it’s unfair throw at you. They’re worth one point
and cheap, and that it’s designed to suck each too. TMNT: Turtles
quarters. Despite what these people In Time
say, it’s possible to finish TMNT without QKEY POSITION Released: 1991
taking any damage at all. I’ve never done Your character has more This was the true sequel
it, but I’ve come close enough to know vertical range than the to the TMNT coin-op. The
that it’s possible. enemies, so use it to your advantage. visuals were slicker (some
The best way to handle an enemy is lovely sprite-scaling effects
Q Out of all of your records, which to move above or below them, then were added), the action was
one are you most proud of? stop moving and time your attack to faster and more frantic, the
My most impressive score is 10,213,610 hit them as they move up/down to Turtles were blessed with
in Metal Slug 3 . This is a very complex approach you. new moves (included a run
game that requires nearly two hours and shoulder barge), and
to finish. The entire game must be QINCH FORWARD everything was tuned to perfection, resulting in one of the
memorised to point-press properly, To avoid being mobbed by best beat-‘em-ups to grace the arcades. Home versions
because each segment of the game is enemies, advance through followed, with the SNES version renamed TMNT IV to
unique and you never do the same thing the levels gradually. By inching your remain consistent. The Mega Drive version was titled TMNT:
twice. It took me 300 hours over way forward, you’ll only spawn one or The Hyperstone Heist and featured different stages. More
a period of seven months to finally two enemies at a time, which makes recently, the game was given a graphical makeover and
break the 10 million mark, and the the game a lot easier. released for X360/PS3 as Turtles In Time Re-Shelled.
feeling of satisfaction after doing that
was incredible. TMNT
Released: 2007
The Turtles returned
to cinemas in 2007 and
Ubisoft was on hand to
create games based on the
CGI movie. Every platform
received a generic tie-in
except for the Game Boy
Advance, which was treated
to this delightful scrolling
beat-‘em-up. The game
introduced a few RPG-lite elements, but thankfully they
didn’t detract from what was essentially a straight-up, old-
school brawlathon. The graphics were great too, making this
one title to track down and cherish. In 2009, Ubisoft released
a game for the Nintendo DS called TMNT: Arcade Attack,
which failed to recaptured the nostalgia of the Konami
coin-ops anywhere near as well as this GBA offering.
» The skateboarding stage is not as tricky as it first
appears, as it’s more about dodging than attacking.

the machine
Pride of place in James Dinndorf’s games room is a four-
player TMNT coin-op. Here, he reveals how he transformed
an old Desert Assault cab into his most wanted machine
“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 cabinets that TMNT came in. The game
worked fine and the cabinet was in excellent shape, which
was crucial to me since it meant that the power supply,
monitor, and wiring all worked. I handed the owner $400
and loaded the game into my friend’s truck.
“I’m very pleased with how well my TMNT turned out;
it’s one of my favourites in my collection. I get a kick out
of playing it with my friends and reminiscing about the old
arcade days. It’s like reliving a part of my childhood.”
CONTROLS
The control panel was one of the
more difficult tasks during this project.
I began by removing the old joysticks
and buttons, followed by the control
panel overlay. I found a nice NOS
TMNT overlay and discovered that the
holes for the joysticks and buttons did
not match the old holes. I drilled new
holes, which was tricky since some of
the new holes overlapped with the old
ones. After some very tedious hours,
it turned out very well. TMNT originally
used leaf joysticks, but I decided to
opt for microswitch joysticks. The leaf
joysticks are difficult to find, and in my
experience they’re not as accurate as
microswitch joysticks, particularly the
diagonal directions.
ARTWORK
Having good side art was
extremely important to me
since it’s one of the most iconic
elements of the TMNT cabinet.
I was able to find a company
that produced nice quality
reproduction side art. It came
as two giant adhesive sheets
that had to be cut to fit the
cabinet’s dimensions.

CABINET
The cabinet is in great shape. After
developer Q&A
the old artwork was removed, it We speak to Dave Semmens, the man behind the Spectrum and
was lightly sanded and repainted.
I’ve since repainted the front of the Amstrad CPC versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
cabinet and coin door as well. The
wood is still in excellent shape, with Tell us when were
no noticeable damage. you bitten by the
programming bug?
I had a ZX Spectrum
and had a dabble at
BASIC but thought
that there must be a
PCB better way of coding
I found a working TMNT PCB on
for it. I bought a
the internet. Since TMNT is a four-
Z80 assembler and
player game and of the JAMMA
taught myself to code
standard, it uses separate wiring
on evenings and
harnesses for the third and fourth
weekends. I was a
player controls. I ended up finding
school kid at the time.
those harnesses through the KLOV
forums and, after a little soldering,
How did you get the TMNT job?
everything wired up nicely. I’ve
I was offered the contract as Probe could convert
recently acquired a Turtles In Time baddies also reused body parts (legs, body and
to most platforms but really struggled to find
PCB and am in the process of heads) and this saved enough memory to fit it
someone to take on the Spectrum and Amstrad
constructing a JAMMA switcher all in.
CPC versions.
that will allow me to run both TMNT
games in the same cabinet. The first Turtles game was a full-colour affair,
Did you have access to the coin-op machine
during development? where as you opted for monochrome graphics on
I travelled down to the south coast to play the coin- the Spectrum. What was the reason for this?
op. I took my artist with me and we had a day on DS: The detail of the isometric levels and the way
the machine. We also had an end-to-end video of the sprites moved over them did not lend itself to
the game. It was not uncommon in the early days the limited attribute colours of the Spectrum. It
to do conversions after a quick play of the game would have caused quite a bit of colour clash.
and then only having photos of the screens.
The first game was a huge hit for the publisher.
How long did the conversion take, and what do There must have been a lot of pressure on you to
you remember as being the most challenging come up with the goods.
aspects of it? The games industry was always full of pressure to
MONITOR It normally took a couple of months to code a deliver the goods so it became the normal way of
The monitor was the only part in game. Programmers had their own libraries working. We always used to have tight deadlines
need of some serious work. The of sprite routines and scrolling routines so it and it was always hard to fit as much into the
colours were washed out and the was a straightforward job to get the bulk of the conversion as the publisher wanted, so I became
picture was warped a little and over- work done. The challenge on this game was the used to it. I remember working 48 hours straight
stretched. I opted to go for a new isometric view of the levels. I had only worked in through on some games as deadline approached.
monitor. I bought a 25-inch monitor 2D previously and this game needed X, Y and Z. Thank God I was young, as it would probably kill
from a company that builds arcade The Turtles could move in and out of the screen me now.
monitors using a universal chassis and jump onto different height sections so it all
and a good TV tube. It worked took some working out. The other challenge was Were you happy with the end result?
flawlessly and looked 100 times how to store all the graphics for each level. The I was very happy with the way the game played,
better than the original monitor. answer was to split the sprites up into component and we fitted all the levels in and delivered on time.
parts so that the Turtles used the same body parts That’s fine by me.
but I overlaid their individual weapons on top. The
Did you remain in the games industry, and what
are you up to these days?
I moved onto other games and other systems
COIN MECH including ST, Amiga, PC, Game Gear, Master
Original TMNT machines used a System, then onto the newer home systems. I
dual coin door layout. However, this left the industry around five years ago. I had
cabinet used a single door with four moved from programmer to senior to lead and
slots, which I actually like more. then into team management as a producer. Finally
I decided to customise the coin I became development director at Acclaim in
slots by adding colour-coated coin Cheltenham. Unfortunately, a third redundancy
slot inserts that correlate to each opened my eyes to the fact that it was time to find
player’s colour. I think it adds a nice something more stable.
touch and it’s one of my favourite I currently work as a project manager for a
components of the machine. company in Sheffield. I still have some good
friends that live the games development dream,
but I’m happy with my life as it is now.

developer Q&A the conversions
Martin Bysh reveals why the 16-bit
versions were sadly lacking
How did you end up with the job of
converting Teenage Mutant Ninja
We reveal the
Turtles to the Atari ST and Amiga?
After completing Viz for Probe Software
home conversions
they offered me Turtles. It looked like a
straightforward conversion so
that were totally
I accepted. awesome,
Did you work alongside Hugh Riley
(graphics) and Jeroen Tel (music), or
or le you
was everything done remotely?
I never met or even spoke to Hugh or
feeling
Jeroen. Everything was supplied by Probe. This was typical of the
Probe method.
shell-
shocked
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 01. NES additional exclusive levels shock horror – genuinely
presented the most problems. Porting a game from ST to Amiga (Best Version) and greatly extended decent scrolling. Probe
could take as little as a couple of weeks, whereas porting from Bar the arcade-perfect levels from the arcade were masters at getting
superior hardware down would always present problems. I had Xbox Live Arcade original. A few changes the best out of Lord
specialised in such ports prior to Viz and TMNT, converting games version, we think the are made to the boss Sugar’s machine, and
from one to the other, often in as little as a week. NES offering is the best roster (the end battle Teenage Mutant Hero
port of Konami’s arcade against Bebop and Turtles: The Coin-Op
How long did it take to complete the job? game. It looks the part Rocksteady now has was no exception. Like
I can’t remember exactly how long the development took, but it with bright colourful you fighting Baxter the other 8-bit ports,
overran considerably. We ran into problems on certain Amiga 1000s visuals and well animated Stockman), but this is an it lacks the killer pace
with the unusual Amiga compressed disk format we were using. sprites, and also plays the otherwise excellent port. and constant assault of
part with solid collision enemies that the original
Did Probe monitor your progress and give you feedback as the detection and authentic 02. Amstrad CPC coin-op offered, but
development progressed? representations of the All the 8-bit computer this is still an excellent
Probe monitored progress, but not at strict intervals. The industry original levels. Like the ports are of a very port that even non-CPC
was beginning to mature at that point, but it was still pretty other home versions, it high standard, but our owners will appreciate.
informal. The job of producer eventually emerged to bring order, loses out due to the lack favourite is easily the
but it was quite a recent addition to the games industry then. And of four-player support, CPC offering. For starters 03. Commodore 64
the average producer’s lack of technical knowledge and experience, but it does make up it looks glorious, with The C64 version isn’t
combined with the independent character of the invariably self- for this oversight with bright, cartoony visuals, quite as good as the
taught programmers, artists and musicians, left them as little more the inclusion of two excellent animation and – Amstrad offering, but
than glorified messengers, passing notes between us.
How pleased were you with the finished product? 01

V
B rs
MB: Not very. This was the 13th game I’d published without rest,
e
e i
st o
and I’d begun to tire of the process, which was reflected in the final
n
product. The Probe system, while very lucrative for them, was not
enjoyable for a developer. Previously I’d had much more control
over products, managing the graphics and sound, or even taking a
product to beta before selling it. Creating Probe games felt as dull
and uncreative as the quick Amiga-ST ports I’d been doing, but
whereas the ports took a couple of very well-paid weeks, Turtles
took many months. I’d say that Turtles was one of the main drivers
for me leaving the industry and going to university. I returned
to it after uni, but by then it had become big business and after
managing a large team of developers for a film tie-in, I left it about
12 years ago. With the exception of TMNT, it was fun while it lasted.

we still had a lot of the colourful visuals character screen tied

02 fun with it. The colour
scheme may not be as
that work so well on
the Amstrad and C64
in with the style of the
characters in the film,
nifty as the CPC game, versions. Luckily, the but it was an otherwise
and the sprites are a Speccy offering has perfect port and a steal
lot smaller, but they some great detail in its at just 800 points. Sadly,
remain perfectly formed large sprites, meaning the game is no longer
and well animated. The it still manages to on sale, so if you missed
backgrounds are of a very capture the humour and it on its original release,
high standard, while the larger-than-life appeal of you’re now out of luck.
collision detection is very Konami’s original coin-op.
similar to the Amstrad Collision detection is 08. GameCube/
offering, and a darn sight very good, while Probe Xbox/PS2
better than the ropey has done a good job of The worst thing about
16-bit offerings. It again trying to capture all the this port of Teenage
suffers from a lack of elements of the arcade Mutant Ninja Turtles was
pace and urgency, but game. There are often that you had to endure
this is mainly down to the more enemies on-screen playing the decidedly
fact that so few enemies than the other 8-bit average Teenage Mutant
(typically three) are ever versions, meaning that Ninja Turtles 2: Battle
03 04 on-screen, meaning it
never feels as exciting to
it’s a little more frenetic
than the Amstrad and
Nexus in order to unlock
it. Once unlocked, it
play as Konami’s coin-op. C64 offerings. revealed itself to be an
Despite these issues, extremely authentic port
the Commodore 64 06. PC of the arcade original.
version is another worthy Teenage Mutant Ninja The only differences
conversion that fans of Turtles on the PC suffers were some alterations to
the arcade original will from all the same the music and the loss of
still enjoy. problems that were an many of the voice clips,
issue on the other 16-bit presumably because
04. Atari ST computers. It’s better Ubisoft didn’t have the
05 06 In some ways the Atari than the Amiga version, rights to use them.
ST port is extremely but on a par with the
similar to Probe’s woeful Atari ST offering. Like 09. Commodore
Amiga offering. It’s the other home versions Amiga (Worst
redeemed by a number it lacks the four-player Version)
of important differences support found in the Amazingly, the Amiga
though. The scrolling, original arcade game, but version of Teenage
while far from perfect, the two-player action is Mutant Ninja Turtles is
isn’t as juddery as the fast-paced and helped extremely poor when
Amiga offering, and there along by the sheer compared to its 8-bit
07 08 is a decent representation
of the original theme
number of enemies that
constantly attack you.
peers. The scrolling
throughout is very jerky
tune playing along in the It’s probably our favourite and off-putting, while
background. Collision version out of all the the animation is also stiff
detection is also slightly 16-bit offerings, but it’s and stilting, lacking the
better that its Amiga still a disappointment – smooth-flowing visuals
counterpart, although it more so when you put it of the arcade game. It
still doesn’t feel as tight up against the superior earns additional points
as the 8-bit games. It’s 8-bit versions and the fun for having far more
far from perfect, and falls NES game. on-screen enemies than
short of the superior 8-bit the 8-bit games, but this
09 offerings, but it’s a rare 07. Xbox simply highlights the
W r
V
Live Arcade
o si
e
triumph for the Atari ST, poor collision that the

r o
st n
which typically flailed Unsurprisingly, the Xbox Amiga port suffers from.
behind Commodore’s Live Arcade version of It also lacks the extended
Amiga when it came Teenage Mutant Ninja and additional levels
to conversions. Turtles was an exact port that were found in the
of the arcade original. NES game, making the
05. ZX Spectrum Ported by conversion whole thing a massive
The Spectrum kings Digital Eclipse, it disappointment for fans
conversion of Teenage featured all the levels of the arcade game. The
Mutant Ninja Turtles is from the original arcade final nail in the coffin
another slick port, and game, and also boasted was a complete lack of
further testament to online play, enabling you music in the game and
Probe’s coding skills. to play with up to three extremely weedy sound
Unlike its peers, the other people online. effects. A disappointingly
Spectrum offering is in Released to tie in with bland port that could
monochrome, lacking the 2007 movie, the have been a lot better.

of al
r
al ci
fe
tri Spe
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BOOK OF

In association with magazine

Senior Art Editor

Distributed in the UK, Eire & the Rest of the World by

ISBN 978 1785 464 348

FEATURES RETRO REVIVALS

8 WHEN ARCADES 28 PONG

76 OUTRUN ULTIMATE GUIDE COINOP CAPERS

n t h ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. decades like Williams, Gottlieb, Bally and

fI yowere tn and arty Ge

intrade ga on a nit was Stanford called Spacewar!.

» Atari sought to expand locations for

» The ‘Fantasy Forest’ arcade room

od appeared,” says celebrated arcade microprocessors. Before the 8080 and

es pr ic co ht fr designer Eugene Jarvis. “Going from

e E e o f ins to t be hundreds of millions of crazed players

mu e Bev velopf decad

Mikssic delling o r driving games… The excitement of

cla st thri game of original titles was thrilling to players.”

» Galaga (1981), the

and Tempest,” says Ed. “There is a case

evisi e of took delivered a string of licensed hits, from

Tho al d n pl tur to market, with Super Space Invaders

N ade e, an gy working to revive an Eighties hit. “I new hardware.

to fitled ov arcade hardware as the players. “I had

» Daytona USA was Sega’s shot back

Mark Starkey, owner of London’s The

» The infamous Fatality

» Twin sit-down racing cabinets of

games, which had set new graphical

wayside, others rose to prominence.

» SNK was one of the last companies on the 3D

its hands, quickly broadened the concept Sega World in the

r g ARCADE GAMES companies disappeared, it’s notable

s you arcading HAS ALWAYS BEEN

Th o hic ing tin YOU CAN’T REPLICATE AT

Where arcade conversions once sold home hardware, in recent

and Konami, the genre’s

COMPUTER SPACE 1971

DOMINO MAN 1983

“I turned to the fraternity

“Plus Larry never got anywhere with

display screens cost $20,000 – meant I told everyone I was working

» The iconic Computer Space flyer. Nolan:

screen, the project was suddenly

I got a little square moving on

movement of a little square on the production, he laid it out on the board

BEND IT LIKE BUSHNELL

but proves rather inconvenient to

When we put it in a bar,

similarly entranced by Spacewar!. custom circuitry, it was hugely

The prototype cabinet featured a

Thanks to Marty Goldberg and Jerry Jessop

I was hunting for a it had an aged-looking ECLs and TTLs. Most of

W video arcade industry

■ They also all shared the same

■ Dave Nutting Associates pioneered

■ Gun Fight was the first videogame with

■ Dave Nutting Associates also did the

■ Programmer Jamie Fenton (GORF )

■ GORF came from Jamie’s college

■ Managers at MCI’s Red Baron

■ Sea Wolf was almost named ‘Charlie

» [Fig. 1] Midway’s Gunfight (1975). The first videogame with

leader and develop the the last 30 years as a soware developer