History of arcade video games

The first arcade game, Computer Space, was created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, the founders of Atari, Inc., and released in 1971; the company followed on its success the next year with Pong.

The industry grew modestly until the release of Taito's Space Invaders in 1978 and Namco's Pac-Man in 1980, creating a golden age of arcade video games that lasted through about 1983.

The arcade market began recovering in the mid-1980s, with the help of software conversion kits, new genres such as beat 'em ups, and advanced motion simulator cabinets.

There was a resurgence in the early 1990s, with the birth of the fighting game genre with Capcom's Street Fighter II in 1991 and the emergence of 3D graphics, before arcades began declining in the West during the late 1990s.

Bushnell got the idea of recreating the game on a smaller computer, a Data General Nova, connected to multiple coin-operated terminals.

He and fellow Ampex employee Ted Dabney, under the company name Syzygy, worked with Nutting Associates to create Computer Space, the first commercial arcade game, with location tests in August 1971 and production starting in November.

Bushnell, having failed to patent on the idea, considered these competitors "jackals" but rather than seeking legal action, continued to have Atari devise new games.

Bushnell opted to settle out of court, negotiating for perpetual licensing rights to Baer's patents for Atari as part of the settlement fee, which allowed Atari to pursue the development of additional arcade games and bringing Pong in a home console form, while Magnavox continued legal against the other manufacturers.

Notably, the release of Death Race in 1976, which involved driving over gremlins on screen, drew criticism in the United States for being too violent, and created the first major debate on violence and video games.

[16] Many arcade games since then have been based on "the multiple life, progressively difficult level paradigm" established by Space Invaders.

Western audiences became accustomed to this level of abstraction, making later Japanese-made arcade games and titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System easily accepted by these players.

[4] Time reported in January 1982 that there were over 13,000 arcades in the United States, with the most popular machines bringing in over $400 in profit each day.

[4] Twin Galaxies, an arcade opened by Walter Day in Ottumwa, Iowa, became known for tracking the high scores of many these top video games, and in 1982, Life featured the arcade, Day, and several of the top players at the time in a cover story, bringing the idea of a professional video game player to public consciousness.

[22] Arcade machines also found their way into any area where they could be placed and would be able to draw children or young adults, such as supermarkets and drug stores.

[4] The Golden Age was also buoyed by the growing home console market which had just entered the second generation with the introduction of game cartridges.

Arcades had taken steps to make their venues as "family fun centers" alleviate some concerns, but parents and activists still saw video games as potentially addictive and leading to aggressive behavior.

These fears not only affected video game arcades, but other places where youth would normally be able to hang out without adult supervision such as shopping malls and skating rinks.

[4] Arcade games became relatively dormant in the United States for a while, declining from the peak financial success of the golden age.

[29] Despite the downturn in 1984, John Lotz of Betson Pacific Distributing predicted that another arcade boom could potentially happen by the early 1990s.

Besides the other avenues of technical advances, the hardware for arcade machines had shrunk small enough that the core electronics could be fitted into cocktail-style cabinets or half-height bartop or countertop versions, making them ideal for placement in more adult venues.

Street Fighter II introduced modern elements to the genre and created the fundamental one-on-one fighting game template, featuring numerous characters with backgrounds and personalities to select from and a wide range of special moves to use.

[64][65] Namco responded with 3D fighters such as Tekken (1994) and 3D light gun shooters such as Time Crisis (1995),[55] the latter running on the Super System 22.

DDR later released in the West in 1999, and while it did not enjoy the same popularity in Japan initially, it led the trend of rhythm games in arcades.

[72] The relative simplicity yet solid gameplay of many of these early games has inspired a new generation of fans who can play them on mobile phones or with emulators such as MAME.

Much of the consistent popularity and growing industry is due to several factors such as support for continued innovation and that developers of machines own the arcades.

[79] Despite the global decline of arcades, Japanese companies hit record revenue for three consecutive years during this period.

The arcades of Japan are multi-floor complexes (often taking up entire buildings), split into sections by game types.

[82] In the Japanese market, network and card features introduced by Virtua Fighter 4 and World Club Champion Football, and novelty cabinets such as Gundam Pod machines have caused revitalizations in arcade profitability in Japan.

The reason for the continued popularity of arcades in comparison to the west, are heavy population density and an infrastructure similar to casino facilities.

Former rivals in the Japanese arcade industry, Konami, Taito, Bandai Namco Entertainment and Sega, collaborated during the period.