Classic Arcade Games

Say Hello To My Golden Axe

2009-10-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

A classic side-scrolling arcade beat ‘em up (or hack and slash) that introduced many new cool features to the genre was the epic “Golden Axe”, relaseased in 1989 by Sega. The game included was set in a medieval and fantasy world, where the three main characters (Ax Battler the Barbarian, Tyris Flare the amazon and Gilius Thuderhead the dwarf) have magic powers unique to each of them. Ridable beasts called “Bizarrians”, very menacing-looking bosses, great visual effects when the powers were activated and enemies shrieking when you killed them (even their dead bodies stayed in sight instead of vanishing, like was the rule) were some of the innovations that made this game a hit.

The plot is basically about beating an evil entity known as Death Adder that has captured the King and his daughter, and threatens to destroy The Golden Axe and the royal family unless the people of Yuria accept him as their ruler. Before getting to the palace to kick Death Adder’s ass though, you’ll have to fight his henchmen, including men armed with clubs and maces, skeleton warriors, and knights.

Check out this great fan site named Death Addler’s Castle and go see what the original arcade game looked like at the Killer List of Video Games. If you have the need to play this fantastic game right now, don't worry, it's normal and you can find a Golden Axe online clone clicking on the link (sorry couldn't find the real thing). Now go blast them!

What Fun Games Are All About

2009-09-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

Since the blog is focused on arcade games (and especially the free ones), it seems fitting that I recommend you one of the best I’ve come across while looking around the web. I’m talking about iFunSpace, a site presenting a pretty good selection of browser based flash games. The one I’m most interested in is the Arcade Games section –for obvious reasons- but you can also explore the rest of the games in the puzzle, card and brain games areas.

Apart from the online playing, you can mingle with other gamers through a chat feature, posting comments about the games, and even challenging your pals to beat your high scores (or at least try), which is pretty cool. To get this kind of exchanges with other players you’ll need to register an account on the site though.

Let me tell you that bringing a social or community feel to arcade games is a genius of an idea, and iFunSpace really seems to be exploring its potential when encouraging gamers to challenge and interact with each other. Me likes the fact that anyone can play the arcade games for free, whenever and as much as they feel like and all on their own browser (meaning they don’t need to download anything).

I’ll recommend you a couple of fun games that you definitely have to try out: I really like Crazy Coins, always have, and you have some classic arcade games like Pacman, Super Mario and Q*Bert. Last but not least you can play Curveball, Raiden X and Spikey’s Bounce Around, which really managed to caught my attention and made me want to come back for more. In fact, I’m off to play some of them right now, see you there!

Ain’t afraid of no Ghost ‘n Goblins

2009-09-16T06:57:00.000-07:00

I just couldn’t continue to ignore a truly awesome arcade game that’s considered one of the most difficult games ever made, so once again you’ll have to suffer by reading my incoherent ramblings about the classic sideways scrolling platformer “Ghost ‘n Goblins”. Released in 1985, the game puts you in the role of a certain brave knight named Arthur, and your objective is to rescue the Princess (sounds familiar?) by fighting ghosts, zombies, demons and other undead creatures.

The high difficulty of the game has to do with the fact that you can lose a life if you don’t finish the level within three minutes, or if your character is hit twice by an enemy (also, you’re returned to the start of the level) and that in order to defeat the game, you must complete it twice. But that’s not all, as you’ll face moving platforms, ladders and water & fire hazards.

Luckily, not everything is bad news, and you’ll also find power-ups such as bombs and daggers that will help your cause a great deal. And if you have lost your armour because of an enemy, you can find it along the way and put it back on. If you're dying to play Ghosts n Goblins you can try it out with that online version and reminisce old memories. I also recommend reading some good GnG tips & tricks, a little strategy and info and funny trivia about the game so you know your stuff before slashing those zombies.

Just say yes to Narc

2009-09-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you mix a pair of ultra-violent and badass narcotics agents, a great cooperative gameplay, nasty attack dogs, a couple rocket launchers and an evil mastermind only know as “Mr.Big”? An awesome and one of a kind side-scrolling arcade shooter is what you get! Hitting arcades in 1988, Narc happened to be released at the time of Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drug extravaganza, which is probably why it got away with such carnage: they were “only” blowing up dealers, junkies and such criminals after all.

Of course that instead of killing the offenders, you can just arrest ‘em (and the game even gives you a higher score if you do). Controlling either Max Force or Hit Man, you hit the streets and it’s game over for all the scum involved in the drug trade! You can even confiscate the drugs and the money for special points, and you’ll need to pick up a number of safe cards of a certain color in order progress to the next stage.

In 2005 a new version of Narc was released for the Playstation 2 and Xbox consoles, but I haven't played and according to most reviews it's trash. Play a cool NES version of Narc, check what the original arcade version looked like or read some trivia about the game.

Pilot your Raiden fighter

2009-08-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

Let’s flash back to the year 1990 for a moment, and you’ll find yourself guiding your fighter plane in the most popular over-head vertical scrolling shooter arcade game of that time: Raiden (The title in Japanese translates to "Thunder And Lightning"). Sticking to the formula that became the standard of that era and genre, you will be piloting the experimental fighter know as the “Raiden Supersonic Attack Fighter” through several levels while you blow up massive waves of alien warships with your missiles and bombs. Collecting powerups is a must if you want to survive long enough to battle the large and nasty bosses and defend Earth from the invading extraterrestrials.

Play a remake of this classic game that is called Raiden X, and blow those aliens back to where they came from! Also check out some cool Raiden tips and hints or learn a little about the history of the game taking a look at the Killer List of Videogames.

Altering the Beast

2009-08-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you about this side-scrolling, beat ‘em up arcade game that is sure to make you raise your eyebrows in disbelief that some much awesomeness can be possible. You take control of a shapeshifting hero, who has been raised from the dead by Zeus himself in order to rescue his kidnapped daughter, Athena. Did I mention something about the hordes of undead, demons and level bosses that you’ll have to fight if you wanna get a chance to rescue her? Didn’t think so!

But worry not my friends, as beating some white two-headed wolves (hint, hint: Do you think this wolf might be the Cerberus dog of Greek Mythology? I do! ) will reveal the power-ups orbs (“Spirit Balls”) you need to increase your strength and size and eventually transform into a beast powerful enough to clean the floor with all of them. And that’s not all, as you can turn into a different one in each level. Becoming a werewolf, a dragon, a tiger, a bear and more you’ll get a set of special abilities with each creature, such as the dragon’s ability to fly.

Yes, you got it! It is no other than the groovy “Altered Beast”, developed by Makoto Uchida and released in 1988 by Sega. With Ancient Greece-inspired scenery, two player cooperative gameplay and lots of action, you are really missing out if you’ve never played this game. Luckily, you can go play this Altered Beast online version. Catch some tricks and hints at the Arcade History site, and if your in the read mood take a look at this funny review about the game (gifs and all!).

The Terrors (masks) of Splatterhouse

2009-08-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

I must confess that the next game I’ll discuss used to scare the bejesus outta me when I was a kid. Considering that this side-scrolling beat ‘em up was released in 1988, and that it contains pretty violent scenes with some serious amounts of blood, levels full of corpses, demons and other disturbing creatures, it comes as no surprise that “Splatterhouse” was the first game to get a parental advisory disclaimer.

It also was a shock to discover many years later, that the main character actually was not Jason Voorhees -the killer from the Friday the 13th series of slasher movies, but just some guy named Rick who has to rescue his girlfriend Jennifer from the infernal creatures inhabiting The West Mansion (also known as “Splatterhouse” and supposedly the mansion of Dr. Herbert West, H.P. Lovecraft’s “Reanimator”). At the time everyone and their mother just assumed that this was a Jason / Firday the 13th arcade game and didn’t pay attention to the backstory, which states that Rick is under the influence of the “Terror Mask”, a Mayan (or is it Aztec?) sacrificial artefact that looks an awful lot like a hockey mask and provides the wearer with great strength.

Instead of the more classic style of scrolling fighters like Final Fight and such, you’ll be able to walk left and right but not forwards or backwards into the screen. You can use several weapons to fight off the horde of monsters you’ll come across, such as a meat cleaver, wood rods, bones and a shotgun.

I've read somewhere that they are making a remake for the next generation consoles, and I say bring it on! (but port it to PC too!). You can visit West Mansion: The Splatterhouse Homepage, a nice and pretty extensive fansite or the official site for the 2010 Splatterhouse remake to get more info about the game.

Contra or The Toughest Game to Beat

2009-07-29T05:54:00.001-07:00

Another arcade classic from the year 1987 that I’d like to bring to your attention (yes, the 80’s are awesome) has to do with fallen meteorites, alien invasions, and marines from an elite unit sent to blow everything up. Does that ring any bells? I bet it probably does and the reason is that this fantastic run and gun game known as “Contra” -and its sequels- were heavily influenced by the very successful action and sci-fi movies of the time, namely Predator, Rambo and Aliens.

Another great game featuring two player simultaneous gameplay, which I’d like to remind you, was something extremely rare to be found in video games at that time. And let’s face it, as good as the single player experience might be, you haven’t really played Contra until you start a multiplayer game and within a couple minutes find yourselves yelling at each other for lagging behind or taking a powerup that the other really needed. Coordination and cooperation is a must if you want to get to the last levels, but you can still have fun messing around with your partner by not letting him scroll onward and such.

You get to be Bill or Lance, the two commando-type and fearless protagonists who are trying to prevent a plot to invade Earth by an alien army called Red falcon. Or something like that. You just shoot everything in sight, jump around avoiding enemy fire and try to collect better weapons and powerups like a flamethrower, a laser gun or a machine gun. There are eight stages in total, six side-scrolling and two behind-the-back, so get going and blow those aliens up!

Play Contra online in your browser with this Java Nes simulator (yes, it supports 2 player shenanigans!) and take a couple minutes to read this nice review of the Contra NES game.

Contra's Title (source Moby Games)
The English title of Contra comes from the way the title is phonetically displayed in Japanese, using the characters "Kon To Ra". The literal meaning behind these characters seems unimportant: "kon" means "spirit", "to" means "battle" and "ra", means some sort of cloth. Literally this would translate to something similar to "Battle Spirit Cloth". An alternate source of translation claims that the title translated is "Soul Big Dipper Gauze".

Regardless of the literal meaning, the title seems to have been written as a "gikun". What that means is that the phonetics of the title are more important than the actual meaning itself.

It has been suggested by some that the intent behind the name is even more complicated than that. "Kon To Ra" purposely chosen to sound like "Contra", a term popularly used to describe armed guerrilla forces in Central America during the 1980s.

Double Intercepting Dragons

2009-07-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

Originally conceived as a Renegade sequel, and now considered its technological and spiritual successor, “Double Dragon” included some additions never heard of before in the beat-em-up genre: a two player cooperative gameplay (hence the title) and the ability to arm your character with an enemy's weapon after disarming them.

When the game starts, you take the role of twin brothers and martial arts experts Billy and Jimmy Lee (“Hammer” and “Spike” in the original arcade versions), who are giving chase to the kidnappers of Billy’s girlfriend Marion, members of a local street gang named the “Black Warriors”. You’ll find yourself punching and kicking here and there, using various fighting techniques like the jumping backward Kick and the invulnerable Elbow Punch, and grabbing any weapon that you can get your hands on (such as whips, dynamite, bats and oil drums).

The game was strongly influenced by martial arts films, especially Bruce Lee’s classic kung-fu movie “Enter the Dragon” (the two main characters share a surname with Bruce Lee and his character in the film, and the villains Williams, Roper and Bolo are all named after characters from the movie).

What the heck are you waiting for? Play Double Dragon online right now, and if you’re having trouble getting to the end, you can have a look at the Wiki Strategy for Double Dragon tips or the Killer List of Videogames for cheats and tricks.

Dragon facts
The kanji characters in the game's title literally reads Sōsetsuryū, which roughly means "Twin Intercepting Dragons", a reference to the game's title as well as a reference to "Sōsetsuken", the fictional martial art style used by the Lee brothers. However, both the game and series are known as "Double Dragon" even in Japan.

Shooting with Wolves

2009-07-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

I fondly remember those nights shooting everything on sight when playing the then quite popular rail-shooter “Operation Wolf” in the arcade way back when. If my mind isn’t playing tricks on me (more than usual, that is) this was the first “shooting gallery” arcade game I ever played. And let’s not forget that this was one of the first of this genre to actually have anything resembling a storyline, and one that had some similarities to real special operations missions.

Using a gun controller (with force feedback to simulate recoil! How cool was that back in the day!?) that was attached to the cabinet, your objective was to shoot as many soldiers, tanks, jeeps choppers and boats as was required per stages (there were six of them) and save the five hostages in the concentration camp.

When invading their bases, you’ll come across an awful lot of enemies that will come out of every possible hole, shooting at you like crazy, tossing grenades, knifes and even more stuff. Fortunately you can throw them grenades and knives too!

Go to take a look to the Operation Wolf entry's on the Killer List of Videogames, for a nice gathering of hints and tricks, and go check it out with this or this online version of the game right here on your browser.

Fighting in the Streets

2009-07-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

Coinciding with the release of the fourth game in the series, I will now ramble about a fighting game that first presented some of the conventions that would be (and still are) the standard in later games of the genre. That game is no other than the original arcade classic “Street Fighter” and those features were the six attack buttons, special command based techniques and bonus rounds.

Controlling a Japanese martial Street Fighter known only as Ryu, you’ll compete in an international tournament and fight in a series of matches against other characters controlled by the computer, in order to prove you’re the greatest fighter in the world.

Whenever a second human player enters the tournament, he / she will take control of Ken, who is a former trainer partner and now rival of Ryu. Whoever wins will continue to travel around the globe fighting the rest of the opponents. After defeating all nine fighters from the five different countries you travel to (Japan, USA, England, China and Thailand) you’ll face the final boss named Sagat (who would reappear in the sequel).

Probably what I remember most about the game are the special moves and techniques that can be achieved by specific button combinations. These would be largely expanded on later games, but the initial three were the “Psycho Fire”, “Surge Fist” or “Hadōken” (everyone who has played this game has said it at least once during combat!), the Dragon Punch” “Shoryūken” or “Rising Dragon Fist, and last but not least the “Hurrican Kick” or “Tornado Whirlwind Kick”.

If you’ve never kicked an opponent unconscious on Street Fighter, do yourself a favour and play street fighter online (not exactly the same, but more like SF 2), download it and save it for later or get an arcade emulator to play an exact copy and start the fighting ASAP. Click on the link to check some info and pics about the original arcade cabinet and learn all combos and moves in the strategy wiki.

Renegade With a Cause

2009-07-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

Even though you may know this classic arcade masterpiece as “Renegade”, it’s actually a westernized conversion (including changes to all of the sprites and backgrounds) of the original Japanese arcade game "Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun" (which roughly translates to “Hot Blooded Punk Kunio”), probably the first side scrolling beat ‘em up game, and the one which laid the foundations for later classics like Double Dragon and Final Fight.

The story changes quite a bit depending on the version of the game, as on the American version you need to rescue your girlfriend from her kidnappers, kicking faces and other body parts through five levels that take place on the subway, the docks and some unwelcoming streets of Brooklyn. Kunio-kun on the other hand stars the titular high school student Kunio standing up for his bullied friend Hiroshi, instead of the damsel-in-distress plot of Renegade. Each level starts with the some gang members thrashing Hiroshi in front of Nekketsu High School and Kunio going after his attackers to kick the bullying outta them.

Other things changed include the Japanese school uniforms wear by the main character and his pals, the backgrounds and even some characters (one was transformed into a woman, and other changed their skin colour).

Although it’s quite a violent game –the moves you can make include head butts, punches, kicks and flying kicks- there is an undeniable attempt to tone it down with its humorous and exaggerated approach. The game introduced for the first time several trademarks of the beat 'em up genre, including 4-directional control, punch-jump-kick play action, and enemies which can sustain multiple hits. To this day, be it Renegade or Kunio-kun, it has undoubtedly been one of the most influential titles of the video game industry.

Read these good summary about Renegade and the original game with screenshots comparing all versions and check out Wikipedia's entry on Renegade to gather even more info. And you can even play Renagade for free on your browser on that SNES emulator.

Don’t pop my bubbles!

2009-06-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

A very popular platform game that was also released in 1986, had you in the role of two magically turned into dinosaurs (or dragons) guys called Bub and Bob (they shouldn’t have wandered foolishly into that cave of monsters!), who will need to reach the end of the cave to get their human form back and reunite with their girlfriends. Bubble Bobble became an instant classic because of its simple but effective gameplay, a fun 2 player cooperative mode, strategic play (something unprecedented at the time, especially in the platform genre) and a handful of hidden secrets.

Okay, so you have to save your girls and transform back into humans… But what about those freaky monsters that are running around the caves? They don’t look too friendly if you ask me… Well, there’s where the bubbles will come handy! You just trap the monsters inside the bubbles, and then blow them all to hell! Oh yeah, in order to do that, you’ll need to pop the bubbles by jumping into them.

But that’s not all, because the bubbles can also be used to reach areas of a level that you didn’t think you could access. They turn into temporary platforms that you’ll need to make use of in order to reach some high places in later levels. Also, you better eat all the fruits and stuff that you see onscreen, and keep an eye open for the very helpful power-ups you’ll encounter like lighting, water and speed.

The popularity of the game made way for a long series of sequels and spinoffs, and I have no doubt that one of the things that helped in making it so well-known was the infectious and catchy music written by the Japanese team Zuntata. Take a look at a detailed analysis of the arcade version and a look back at Arcade History (you can also hear the song). Last but not least, follow the link to play Bubble Bobble (you can even play with a friend!).

Trivia

-This was one of the first games to feature multiple endings.

-In 1996, Taito announced that they lost the original source code program to Bubble Bobble following a reorganization - when it came to the recent ports and sequels, they had to work from program disassembly, playing the game and (mainly) the various home computer ports.

-The game forbids the initials 'SEX' on the high score table. If you try, it gets changed it to 'H.!'. In Japan, the letter H is occasionally used as a slang term for perverts.

-Tom Gault holds the official record for this game with a maximum possible 5 823 600 points on March 4, 1988.

-The NES Cover band "The Advantage" covers two songs from "Bubble Bobble" on their self-titled album.

The Disk Armor of Argus’ Warrior

2009-06-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

Taking the role of an undead (zombie?) hero –once a feared barbarian warrior, now turned “Legendary Warrior”- who has risen from his grave, in Rygar you’ll have to battle your way through 27 rounds in a hostile landscape with the only help of a very powerful weapon known as the “Diskarmor”, a shield with a long chain attached to it, in order to reclaim the land of Argool from an evil Dominator called Ligar.

In this arcade side-scrolling platform and action game created by Tecmo in 1986 and originally released in Japan as Argus no Senshi ("Warrior of Argus"), you’ll need to pick up insignias and stars while facing a horde of Ligar’s various minions. Including a wide set of attack and movement capabilities, the only way to stand a chance of getting to the later levels, was mastering these skills and putting them to good use by stopping everything on sight.

It was one of the first adventures to be released for the NES, and it had the particularity of offering multiple viewpoints (for example, an overhead view that could lead to combat situations) besides the typical side-scrolling dynamic. In console versions, the player would receive clues and limited dialogue from large, sage like men that were encountered in stone green temples throughout the game.

According to Wikipedia, in the Japanese original, references to "Ligar" and "Rygar" are one and the same because the Roman syllables "Li" and "Ry" come from the same Japanese character. In this version, the hero is only referred to as "The Legendary Warrior", while both "Rygar" and "Ligar" refer to the main villain.

Clicking on the link you'll be able to feel like the "Legendary Warrior" once more, as you play a far from perfect but still enjoyable Rygar online version (and it is free after all). And since I'm recommending stuff, here is a good article from Hardcore Gaming 101 about the Rygar series.

Get the Thunder Rolling

2009-06-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

This run and gun arcade game (also called an "horizontal scrolling shooter") took a very innovative feature from the super classic Elevator Action (namely the ability for the player to enter doors and hide from enemies) and took it to the next level, also becoming the foundation for a later classic and insanely popular ninja game that you may have heard of (Shinobi, of course man!).

Yes, I’m talking about Rolling Thunder, which also happens to be the name of the most powerful secret

police force, and you my friend, are in control of the main character, the secret agent codenamed “Albatross”. Your mission, should you decide to accept it (sorry couldn’t resist it) is to stop an underground criminal organization located in New York known as “Geldra” (say what? do you mean Hydra?) and their conspiracy to conquer the world, and let’s not forget rescuing the missing agent Leila Blitz who has been previously captured.

Armed only with a handgun (at least at first), you must find your way through heavily guarded hallways and secret passages in order to find Leila and overthrow Geldra’s leader “Maboo”. The game has two different “stories” with five stages each, which makes a total of ten stages. Whenever you get to the end of a stage, a large monitor screen will show you scenes from Leila’s capture and subsequent torture (those bastards!).

Don’t be fooled by the life meter, because after taking two hits (only one in the case of bullets or lasers) you’ll be toasted. The main enemy faces that will keep coming after you are hooded soldiers dressed in different outfits and colours that are known as “Maskers”. Other obstacles include mutated bats, lava men and disturbing shrieking yellow creatures. Feel like playing it? Well, you can play this great free online Rolling Thunder version, or as I have mentioned before, get the latest version of MAME and download the Rolling Thunder Rom to start making those masked fools feel the thunder!

Break out of the Ark(anoid)

2009-05-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

Based upon Atari’s Breakout introduced on 1976 -which by the way was in turn influenced by the 1972 arcade “tennis” game Pong (remember the two paddles and the ball?), our next mould-breaking arcade game was also released in 1986 by Taito, and its peculiar name alludes to a doomed “mothership” from which the player’s controller escapes. Being a game from the "bat-and-ball" genre –in which the player controls a block, also called a "bat" or a paddle, that is used to hit a ball towards another player's bat or game specific object (like a wall of blocks), the classic “Arkanoid” added a plot that redefined the bat as a Vaus spaceship, the ball as an energy bolt and the bricks as a mysterious wall stopping the ship from getting to safety.

Besides keeping the ball from falling by hitting it with your paddle, there are many other things that will keep your mind quite occupied for the duration of each level: be it bricks that need to be hit more than once, flying enemy ships and of course the power-ups. These helpful capsules will have all different effects, like expanding your bat, slowing the ball or multiplying the number of balls, equipping your Vaus with lasers or with a catching device.

Breakout wasn’t very popular actually, but it was Arkanoid the one which revived the genre with some new ideas and took the world by storm. The game was of course ported to several home consoles and computers, and it inspired tons of clones which in general didn’t add much more to the gameplay, with some outstanding exceptions that I will point out to you right here and now so you can play them online: first there’s the old-school Ball Breaker, then you have to Bounce Back, or get a Curveball (a bat-and-ball game with a twist), but let’s no forget the serious firepower of Wreckanoid and last but not least, the excellent and far more stylized Ricochet Recharged and its sequel, known as Ricochet Infinity. Once you are on the site be sure to hang around and try out all the funny games that are free to play!

Ramp for Ages

2009-05-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

This is the first time that I’ll write about games that were released on the same year (1986) ant the reason is pretty simple: too many good games appeared on that year, so I can’t just pick one and skip the rest! One of these instant classic arcade games is no other than the mythic “Rampage”, which featured three giant monsters terrorizing every street and city which they come upon.

The game’s main characters -named George, Lizzie and Ralph- were just ordinary people until they were mutated into humongous monsters as the result of a secret experiment (which obviously went awfully wrong). George turned into a giant ape after swallowing mega-vitamins, Lizzie transformed into a giant lizard once he bathed in a radioactive lake, and Ralph ended up as a giant wolf when he ate sausage scam.

You can go round trashing everything on sight for a total of 768 days of destruction and some. But the most fun you’ll get out of this game is when two other friends join you on your path of devastation. That’s right, three people can play and create havoc simultaneously, each player controlling a different monster.

Each round is completed when a particular city is completely reduced to rubble, eating people and destroying helicopters, tanks, taxis, police cars, boats, and trolleys along the way. Monsters can jump and climb buildings; smashing at the edges for long enough will make them collapse. Buildings also take damage when jumped on by a monster. The police and military are after monsters, so they’ll receive damage from enemy bullets, grenades, shells and so forth, and from falls. Damage is recovered by eating appropriate food such as fruit, plants, roast chicken, or soldiers. If a monster takes too much damage, it shrinks back into its human form.

If you want to play Rampage online follow the link & check out the developer's page, or you can play it in an arcade machine emulator like MAME (Multiple Arcade Macine Emulator) . Then download the Rampage rom (click on Dowload This Rom and enter the numbers) and unzip it into the Roms folder inside the MAME directory (wherever you installed it).

Monstrous Facts

-The game has originally three characters: George (King Kong), Lizzie (Godzilla) and Ralph (Wolfman). But the Atari Lynx version featured a fourth character named Lester, a giant Ratman, who could join in the fun since the Lynx had 4-player support.

Outrunning every other driving game

2009-05-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

Does it ring a bell if I tell you that in our next game you have to race with your Ferrari Testarossa over a series of short stages, accompanied by a blonde female (presumably you girlfriend) in the passenger seat, trying pass through four checkpoint between five laps within the time limit? This is perhaps one of the most famous old-school arcade racing games where the cars don't have realistic physics, don't get damaged and have insanely fast speed. Shame on you if you are not screaming “Out Run!” like a madman right now!

The game released in 1986 was designed by Yu Suzuki, who in retrospective interviews has classified it as a “driving” game, instead of a racing game. It was one of the first arcade games that gave the players a genuine feeling of speed, achieving its 3D effects using a sprite-scaling technique called 'Super-Scaler' technology (first used one year earlier in Hang-On and Space Harrier). Other innovations were a moving cabinet (that was great!), the possibility to choose the music you listen while driving and the stages (except the first one) thanks to a fork in the road before every checkpoint, and its strong theme of luxury and relaxation.

Starting at a coastal area, the roads are full of sharp turns and dangers, which can cause the car to roll and make you lose time should you fail to avoid them. Unlike many previous racing games that used a bird's eye view, in Outrun the camera –that appears to travel along the road with the car- is a little above and behind the car, so you can see the driver and his passenger, and gives the player the feeling of passing through the action rather than merely observing it.

There is a great Outrun fan site, where you can even play the game online, and if you are hooked with this one you should definitely check the Wikipedia and the Killer List of Videogames entries about the game.

Run this Trivia past your brain

-The classic red racer you use in the game is quite obviously a convertible Ferrari Testarossa (right down to the "Cavallino Rampante" logo featured in the back of the car), however SEGA had not licensed the likeness of Ferrari products and got into a series of legal issues with Ferrari. The eventually settled but it wouldn't be until OutRun 2 that the car would become an "official" Ferrari.

The Year of Kung-Fu

2009-05-06T06:46:00.000-07:00

Quite some time before the well-known fighting games Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were even conceived, a ground breaking one-on-one fighting game called “Yie Ar Kung-Fu” was introduced to the arcades in 1985. It leaded the way in many of the features that became the standard for most of the fighting games developed years later. These included a health bar, a distinctive cast of opponents each with different skill sets, and different combination of moves distinguished by a punch and a kick button.

A tremendous popular arcade game at the time, Yie Ar Kung-Fu follows the main character, named Oolong, as he fights a wide range of martial arts masters –eleven in the arcade version and five to thirteen in the home ports- in his quest to become a Kung-Fu “Grand Master” himself, and to honour the memory of his father.

The game involves fighting some tough antagonists -the initial five by a cascading waterfall, and the final six in a Chinese court yard- in a traditional one-on-one 2D environment. Oolong has a variety of moves he can use to lower his opponent's life bar, including traditional punching and kicking attacks that depend on the direction of the joystick and which of the buttons is pressed. He also has a jumping ability that is unmatched by the rest of the game’s fighters. On the other hand, they do are well armed and have unique weapons and attacks, so it won't be a walk in the park.

If you pay attention, you’ll notice that in spite of the move that defeated them, male characters always fall unconscious lying on their backs with their legs apart, and female characters always fall lying on their sides. Each fighter has ten hit points, and only one battle decides the winner. If you lose the fight, you’ll lose one of your lives and will have to face the same foe again. You must make sure that Oolong defeats every opponent in order to get the opportunity to face the current champion, Blues.

Should you feel the need of taking your mind to a trip down memory lane, make sure to drop by this link and take a look at the Yier Ar Kung-Fu Online game you can play there. Also, the guide that can be found at the Strategy Wiki is worth reading and the article about the game at World of Spectrum brings tears to my eyes (because it sucked!!). If you want to check out other great games that were released this same year, you should definitely give a try to classics like Gradius (Nemesis in some countries), Gauntlet and Space Harrier.

Land of the waka-waka

2009-04-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

Oops, I did it again! So, before today’s game, let’s go over some cool games from 1983 besides Mario Bros: Dragon’s Lair (The first video game to use cel-animated video instead of computer generated graphics), Elevator Action (many hours spent playing it), Star Wars (oh yeah!) and I Robot (the first commercially produced 3D-polygonal game).

Without further ado, let me introduce the first side-scrolling platform game: Pac-Land. And let’s not forget that 1984 was the year where 16-bit processors were used in arcade machines for the first time, resulting in much more detailed and faster graphics.

This side-scroller for 1 or 2 players (not simultaneous) with a cartoony feel to it, featured parallax scrolling for some of the background elements, a feature that would not become usual until much later.

This time around, Pac-Man actually has arms, legs and even a distinguishable face and his mission is to help a lost fairy get back to her home in Fairy Land. That task will prove to be no piece of cake though, because as he travels through Pac-Land, the usual suspects (the enemy ghosts Inky, Blinky, Pinky, Clyde and Sue) will chase him on cars, aeroplanes, pogo sticks and even flying saucers trying to stop his quest. Other obstacles will appear on the way, such as water spurts and quicksand traps. On the other hand, he’ll get flying boots, fruits, and other bonuses along the way.

The game is split into trips, and in each of these trips the objective is to get the fairy (that is kept under Pac-man's hat) to Fairyland and also to return back home to Pac-Man's house. Each trip is divided into a number of rounds, the end of which provides Pac-man with bonus points depending on how much time he has left and also his position in jumping at the end of each round. During each round, our hero can grab a power pellet, which –as in the classic Pac-man game- will cause the ghosts to turn blue, making them edible for points. In some rounds, Pac must use a springboard to jump over a lake.

The majority of the trip involves moving from left to right, but for the final round of the trip, Pac-Man has to travel from right to left back home. Once he completes the trip, he’ll be greeted by Ms. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man. In the US release of the game, Pac-Man's cat and dog in the cartoon series, Sourpuss and Chomp-Chomp, are also there to welcome Pac-Man home. He then begins his next trip following the same objectives as before, although the difficulty is increased.

If you have to chance to play this game, I highly recommend it! I remember watching other people play this game for hours in the local arcade. And once I was old enough to try it, I was hooked for good! So go and try this free online Pac-Land version and have a good time. There also a very good entry about the game at both the Arcade History Database and the site MobyGames. Before I forget it all over again, let me tell you two more games released in 1984 that are worth mentioning here. They are Marble Madness and Paper Boy.

Munch this data

-In the American release of Pac-Land by Bally Midway, the characters' appearances are based on the designs from thePac-Man animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera, to promote the animated series, as well as the video game series. In the Japanese release by Namco, the Pac-Man sprite is closer in appearance to Namco's official artwork of the character with a longer nose, Pac-Man shaped eyes, and (for this game) a feathercap. In addition, both versions feature the main BGM and "jingles" from the aforementioned series; however, the rights to the main BGM in the game belong to Hanna-Barbara, not Namco.

The Moustache thickens!

2009-04-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

After the fantastic Donkey Kong in 1983, it would be the Jump man’s turn to shine as the spin-off “Mario Bros.” hit the arcades in 1984. This is the first game that features Mario as the title character, and the first time that Mario's brother Luigi was officially introduced. This character was an identical colour palette swap of Mario, creating an identical “brother”. There are several stories on how Luigi got his name, from a play on the Japanese word “analogous” to the owner of a pizza joint called "Mario and Luigi's that was near Nintendo of America headquarters in Seattle.

Another story says that Miyamoto was inspired by Joust (an early co-op game) and decided to make the game a simultaneous two player experience. This enabled players to make the choice to work together or, alternatively, against each other, which sooner than later will result in a lot of funny moments.

Mario's occupation –a carpenter- from the Donkey Kong games didn't sit right for this one. A colleague even told the game’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto that his little sprite looked more like a plumber. As a result, Miyamoto gave him a new job as a plumber and put him in a sewer infested with dangerous critters.

Turtles, crabs, and flies come pouring out of the waterworks and the twins have to clean the underground pipes of these vermin by punching the floor beneath them to flip them over, and then kick them off-screen into the water, receiving their reward in gold coins. Enemies include Shellcreepers (turtles), Sidesteppers (crabs), which need to be hit twice, and Fighterflies (flies), which can only be taken down while they touch the platform. Later, enter the Slipice that will freeze the platforms and make your traction very difficult. As the game moves forward, the Mario brothers will have to look out for the water drops that hang below the platforms and freeze into deadly icicles, because they will fall soon after.

They also need to keep an eye for the green fireballs and the faster and even more menacing red fireballs as they will make things more difficult. The POW platform can be hit to knock over enemies and destroy fireballs, but remember that you only get three per level.

Follow the link if you want to play a free flash version of Super Mario Bros (and you do, believe me!). You should also look around the site because you’ll also find other great Mario games such as Super Mario Rampage and Mario Starcatcher 2.

Buggy on the Moon

2009-04-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

First of all I’d like to bring up some cool games that were also released on 1981 (same year as Donkey Kong) and that I neglected to mention on my previous post. Those are Frogger (the one where you had to cross the road with a frog), and of course the sequels to Galaxian and Pacman, which are Galaga and Ms. Pacman respectively.

Now we’ve got that out of the way, let’s proceed with the next year in classic arcade awesomeness. I was considering which game I‘d pick up from this particular year, until I realized that I had no choice but to write about Moon Patrol, because it’s one of my all time favourites.

Okay, so you’re supposed to take the role of a police officer from the moon who -according to the Strategy Wiki- hangs out in a place called “Luna City”, which it’s the home of the “toughest thugs in the galaxy”. Really? In the whole galaxy? I’d like to hear what Darth Vader has to say about that! :)

Luckily, you have a handy moon buggy to travel over the moon’s surface and take those nasty “thugs” down. It won’t be easy tough, because you’ll encounter obstacles such as craters and landmines, and while you’re jumping over them, you’ll be attacked by UFOs from above and tanks on the ground. The good news is that, you can shoot simultaneously at the rocks in front of you and at aliens above while dodging their missiles. Keep an eye on this horde of alien scum tough, as the flying saucers create new craters when they crash.

Another remarkable arcade games that are worth mentioning and that also saw the light on 1982 were Q*bert, Pole Position and Tron. I’ll probably come back to them on later posts because they too are classics on their own right.

I strongly recommend you to start playing Moon Patrol right away if you haven’t already, as you’ll get to see the fun side of the moon! Here you have an online Moonpatrol browser version to get you started (it's not the same, but it's a start). Go and take a look at what the Moonpatrol arcade cabinet looked like if you don't remember or if you've never seen it.

Tricks and Trivia

-You have a better chance of hitting a UFO directly above if you jump while firing rapidly. This

will compress your shots, making it harder for a UFO to slip through the space between bullets.

-Moon Patrol was one of the earliest linear side-scrolling shoot'em ups and the first arcade game to feature parallax scrolling. That means that the foreground and background terrain scroll at different rates, giving the illusion of depth.

Enter the Mustached Hero

2009-04-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Following last week’s self-imposed chronological order,

the next arcade game to be dissected will be no other than the awesome “Donkey Kong” (1981). This fantabulous piece of work is an early example of the “platform” genre, as the gameplay revolves around moving the main character across a series of platforms while avoiding obstacles.

Donkey Kong was not only Nintendo's first real smash hit for the company, but also denoted the introduction of characters that would later become two of their most popular ones: Mario (originally know as "Jumpman") and Donkey Kong.

So, to me that’s probably one of the greatest things that this game accomplished: it introduced one of the most popular arcade characters ever, as it marked the official debut of Mario –err… sorry Jumpman- who had to traverse four different industrial themed levels or structures (which include a construction zone, a cement factory, an elevator-themed level, and removing rivets from girders) to save his girlfriend, Lady (now known as Pauline), from a giant ape named Donkey Kong before time ran out.

Also, Mario must avoid a constant stream of barrels, fireballs, and bouncing rivets to reach his goal. Although not as powerful as in other future games, Mario can find a hammer which allows him to destroy the barrels and fireballs for a limited amount of time. Additionally, Mario can also find Pauline's hat, purse and umbrella for additional bonus points. When all the rivets are removed from the final level, Donkey Kong falls, and the two lovers are together again. Then, the levels will start all over but at a higher difficulty.

Enjoy a very faithful (and most importantly free) Donkey Kong online version, polish your game skills with this guide at Strategy Wiki and check this very cool resource page of classical versions of the game.

Intriguing Stuff (Source Wikipedia)

-The highest recorded score was set by Billy Mitchell on June 26, 2007 when he achieved 1,050,200 points.

-A story on how the game's name evolved was that it was supposed to be "Monkey Kong", but due to a barely legible fax transmission, the screenprinters created thousands of pieces of artwork that read "Donkey Kong" instead. Since the manufacturers were in a rush to get the game released, they opted to change the game's title rather than wait for the artwork to be reprinted.

-Donkey Kong is also notable for being one of the first complete narratives in video game form, told through simplistic cut scenes that advance the story.

-Graphical limitations forced the design of “Jumpman”: Drawing a mouth was too difficult, so the character got a mustache; the programmers could not animate hair, so he got a cap; and to make his arm movements visible, he needed colored overalls.

-Mario was originally a carpenter, not a plumber as he became later with the introduction of Mario Bros. Pauline is the name of Mario's girlfriend in Donkey Kong. In the Japanese version, her name is Lady, but she got her name changed when Nintendo released the Famicom version.

The forgotten Galaxip

2009-03-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

You know, I was thinking that if I were a little more organized I should have followed a chronological order when writing about the games. If that had been the case, this post would have been the second one, as the next game I’ll babble about came after Space Invaders but before Pacman. So, from now on, I’ll try to comment about the coolest arcade games (to me, that is) year by year.

Okay, following that train of thought then, here are the years of the games reviewed so far: Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Pac-Man (1980). That’s right, Galaxian is the next arcade game being broken down today by yours truly.

Galaxian is indeed a legendary single-screen shoot-em-up that took everything that made "Space Invaders" so good, and made it even better on every level. So, my excuse for skipping Galaxian could be that it’s not that different from Space Invaders, and I just wanted to write about Pac-Man cause it was quite a “game changer” (pun intended) at that time.

If you’re thinking that this means I don’t like this classic shoot ‘em up arcade game, think again! I spent quite a long time playing this puppy during my childhood, and I still kill “Galaxians” with my “Galaxip” from time to time.

Each screen opens with a horde or wave of attacking multi-coloured aliens (Galaxians) shifting from left to right at the top of the screen. In contrast to Space Invaders tough, Galaxian adds an element of drama as the aliens quickly break away from the formation and start dive-bombing your Galaxip (or player's ship). Either in single units or in groups of 3, those bastards come down dropping multiple missiles to try and hit you. This results in a not so predictable game play that requires an element of skill on top of strategy.

Needles to say, you must steer clear of every Galaxian and their missiles or you’ll be toast. In the points department, it is important to mention that diving Galaxians are worth more points than those in formation and that the more red escorts that a flagship dives with, the more points it's worth.

The ship can only fire scarcely by default, but when an enemy is hit it rearms right away. All of the Galaxians need to be destroyed before you can advance to the next stage. Of course, this only means that once you have defeated that first swarm, the aliens will replace it with another more aggressive and challenging army in the next screen.

This article about the history of Namco and Galaxian is a very interesting read, as well as the Arcade History entry on the game. And here you have a pretty decent online version of Galaxian that will take you way back in time.

Did you know?

-Galaxian was very successful for Namco and introduced several "firsts". Although true color (as opposed to a color overlay for a game that was otherwise black and white) began appearing as early as 1975, Galaxian took graphics a step further with multi-colored animated sprites and explosions, a crude theme song, different colored fonts for the score and high score, more prominent background "music" and the scrolling starfield, and graphic icons that showed the number of ships left and how many rounds the player had completed.

-The "official" highest score in a game of Galaxian was achieved by Gary Whelan of Manchester, England on 13 August 2004 when he managed to amass a total of 399,290 points.

-Galaxian has spawned several follow-up games. The most popular of these was its immediate successor, Galaga, which largely eclipsed its predecessor in popularity, introducing aliens attacking in intricate formations, multiple guns, and bonus rounds.

Here comes the dot muncher!

2009-03-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, I’m pretty sure you have at least heard the name of the next arcade game in our list. That’s because Pac-man is one of the most popular and influential games of all time! If not THE single most recognized and widely acclaimed video game! After all, Pac-Man is universally regarded as one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of 1980s popular culture.

You control a little, yellow pie-shaped dot-muncher character named Pac-Man who runs around a maze eating every pac-dot and power pellet (and the occasional fruit or item) that he can find in the board in order to advance to the next stage.

To be able to do that, you need to avoid contact with any of the four ghosts that roam the maze and chasing you wherever you go. As you will often cross paths with them, you’ll come to realize that each ghost has its own unique personality: the shy blue ghost Bashful (Inky), the trailing red ghost Shadow (Blinky), the fast pink ghost Speedy (Pinky), and the forgetful orange ghost Pokey (Clyde). One touch from any of these ghosts and a life will be lost. When all lives have been lost, the game ends.

But don’t worry, you can easily turn the tide on your pursuers and become invincible to them for a given period of time by eating one of the four larger, flashing dots (super dots, “energizers” or power pellets) located near the corners of the maze. During this time, the ghosts turn deep blue, reverse direction and usually move more slowly, so Pac-Man can devour them for bonus points before their turn back to their normal color. Once eaten tough, the ghost's eyes float back to their ghost home in the center box, and regenerate in its normal color ready to chase after Pac-Man again. Blue ghosts flash white before they become dangerous again so if you think they’re about to change don’t go after them! The amount of time the ghosts remain vulnerable varies from one board to the next.

Each maze has its own unique bonus fruit or object with bonus points increasing as the game progresses. And if you are running out of lives, you’ll be pleased to know that you’ll be awarded a single bonus life at 10,000 points by default. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you can relax your concentration and start losing lives like crazy!

Follow the link to play a free pacman game in your browser and bring back old memories! You’ll find other great free arcade games too! You just need to have the latest flash player version and that’s it! Go ahead and try it out, and if you manage to survive a few rounds of gameplay, you’ll be treated to a series of humorous intermissions between Pac-Man and the ghosts after certain levels. Once you play you’ll be hooked up for good, as this is one insanely addictive and classic arcade game. You’ll have one hell of a time! I kid you not.

Here are other very interesting tidbits and details that you should check out, such as the history behind the game, or the fact that Pacman being used to test cognitive reasoning on chimpanzees.

Pacman Trivia (from Wikipedia) :

-Initially, Pac-Man's enemies were referred to as monsters on the arcade cabinet, but soon became colloquially known as ghosts.

-A perfect Pac-Man game occurs when the player achieves the maximum possible score on the first 255 levels (by eating every possible dot, energizer, fruit, and monster) without losing a single life then scoring as many points as possible in the last level. As verified by the Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard on July 3, 1999, the first person to achieve the maximum possible score (3,333,360 points) was Billy Mitchell of Hollywood, Florida, who performed the feat in about six hours.

-The game was developed primarily by Namco employee Tōru Iwatani over eighteen months. The original title was pronounced pakku-man and was inspired by the Japanese onomatopoeic phrase paku-paku taberu, where paku-paku describes (the sound of) the mouth movement when widely opened and then closed in succession (munching). Although it is often cited that the character's shape was inspired by a pizza missing a slice, he admitted in a 1986 interview that it was a half-truth and the character design also came from simplifying and rounding out the Japanese character for mouth, kuchi as well as the basic concept of eating. Iwatani's efforts to appeal to a wider audience—beyond the typical demographics of young boys and teenagers—eventually led him to add elements of a maze. The result was a game he named Puck Man.

-When first launched in Japan by Namco, the game received a lukewarm response, as Space Invaders and other similar games were more popular at the time.

-For the North American market, the name was changed from Puck Man to Pac-Man, as it was thought that vandals would be likely to change the P in "Puck" to an F, forming a common expletive.

-After being overlooked by "experts" who judged Namco's Rally-X to be the better of the two games, Pac-Man went on to unprecedented success and became an icon in Japan and in America.

-Pac-Man is often credited with being a landmark in video game history, and is among the most famous arcade games of all time.

-The character also appears in more than 30 officially licensed game spin-offs, as well as in numerous unauthorized clones and bootlegs. According to the Davie-Brown Index, Pac-Man has the highest brand awareness of any video game character among American consumers, recognized by 94 percent of them.

One game that ruled them all!

2009-03-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

As it seems that everyone but me has a blog nowadays, I thought I could finally create one myself. But, what would I write about? Well, there’s no doubt that the subject has to be something I actually care about enough to keep the blog updated at least once a week… That’s when it hit me: it’s gotta be a classic arcade games blog! Then I started hearing voices saying “if you write it, gamers will come”. Okay, maybe not. But still, it’s a subject I really like, and hopefully you’ll enjoy my ramblings too.

I want to start off with a personal favourite and what is considered one of the most successful arcade shooting games. Another good reason to get started with this particular game is that it was released in the same year I was born: 1978 (awesome coincidence). That game is none other than Taito’s timeless Space Invaders.

In case you’ve never heard of this game (shame on you) the premise is basically that our planet is being attacked by bizarrely neat-arranged waves of bomb dropping aliens, and your job is to stop them -with your always handy laser cannon, while you earn as many points as humanly possible!

Gameplay

The game is actually quite straightforward, but the action can end up being distinctly captivating, and in particular you’ll find yourself entranced by (and dreading) the magnetic deep bass pounding sound that the invaders generate. No one can deny that those fright-inducing sound effects were a substantial part of the game's signature tension. I remember getting the jitters every time I played, as I was certain those damn aliens were coming for me at an increasingly faster rate!

The rows of aliens start off at the top of the screen, and to help you defend our beloved Earth, you take control of a laser cannon at the bottom of the screen. You can move it bypressing the left and right buttons and the fire button in order to shoot upwards. The aliens march down-screen in lockstep, and each time the end of the screen is reached they will drop one row closer to the bottom. This never-ending offensive will undoubtedly make you feel claustrophobic whenever you fail to keep them at bay by ducking out from behind your shields to return fire. Your goal is then to earn points by shooting the aliens before they can land. If you succeed in destroying them all, you’ll move on to the next (tougher) level, but should even one of them land, it’ll be game over. Now and then, a flying saucer will pass by along the top of the screen, and it would be a good idea to shoot it down, as you’ll earn extra points.

Here’s a video of the game that will give you a better idea of what I’m babbling about.

Yes, I’m aware that to the newest generations of gamers this may be look and feel like a pretty archaic and old-fashioned game. Sure, Space Invaders is anything but a game with the most outstanding graphics and music you’ve ever heard, but you need to keep in mind that this baby was one of the first shooters created for a commercial video game! It was so widespread at the time that the lack of quarters was customary, and it unleashed a real pop culture phenomenon. It was also the probable cause of kids skipping school, and the assertion that video games were the latest manifestation of the devil. Matter of fact, this great game keeps on going to this day, not only as a nostalgia side-effect, but because gamers still crave for blowing aliens back to wherever they came from. That’s why Taito's Space Invaders has been ported to dozens of platforms, from coin-op to the Nintendo DS, and it has even "invaded" mobiles. There are also free flash versions of the game that you can play on the Net, and you can even play the original thanks to the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) which is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software.

In summary, Space Invaders is a tough nut to crack, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll have a blast. It’s the kind of game that is always worth your time. So, whenever you feel like blasting aliens don’t hesitate to play this fantastic and classic arcade game! Here's a link to a Space Invaders online version so you can get your daily fix and improve your high score in no time.

Interesting facts you probably didn’t know about Space Invaders

-In designing the game, Tomohiro Nishikado drew inspiration from popular media: Breakout, The War of the Worlds, and Star Wars. To complete it, he had to design custom hardware and development tools.

-The highest-ever Space Invaders score was 55,160 points, achieved by Donald Hayes on June 7, 2003.

-A shortage of 100-yen coins in Japan was attributed to the game, and this led to an increase in production of these coins.

-By 2007, it had generated almost US$500 million in revenue.

-Space Invaders was the first video game to have an intermission between gameplay, and to popularize the concept of achieving a high score.

-Game Informer considers it, along with Pac-Man, one of the most popular arcade games that tapped into popular culture and generated excitement during the golden age of arcades. In 2007, Guinness World Records listed it as the top-rated arcade game, and IGN listed it as one of the "Top 10 Most Influential Games".

You can check this and more on that wonderful free encyclopedia known as Wikipedia. There’s also a Strategy Wiki that teaches you how to play and gives a nice trick to get 300 every time you hit the mystery saucer: I’ve never tried that trick myself, but will certainly do now!