What were your favorite Arcade games or Pinball from the 70s and early 80s ?

self | algore

[algore]

I played a lot of Off Road, Defender, Battlezone, Astro Blaster, Galaga in the Golden age.

I know a few people who collect and refurb pinball machines, but I was never coordinated enough to play those so I have no favorite, but I appreciate the art and mechanism as I may a fine watch or automobile.

[conservativeimage]

[BradyLS]

Roger Dean had to have designed that logo.

That, or his biggest fan!

[Dr. Sivana]

Some asshat executive thought that animation was better than truly interactive computer graphics.

The animation was done by Don Bluth (Secret of Nimh, Anastasia).

The point of the game is to make you spend 50 cents. It worked well for that.

The most extreme iteration of a laser disc game from that era was called "Badlands". You were the blond white hatted cowboy on the white horse hunting down the gang that killed your entire family . . . for NO REASON. (important to justify the violence coming up)

The game had only one big button marked SHOOT. Shoot too early, or at the wrong time, and you get hanged. Shoot to late and you get bit by a snake, shot by the gang, or eaten up by that sweet girl running towards you from the cottage who trips over a rock and turns into a giant gargoyle and eats you alive (little Japanese style surrealism thrown in). I had to marvel at the purity of concept.

[moviefan8]

My sister and I would play Joust in the laundromat while my mom washed clothes.

[Dr. Sivana]

almost won the damn game to take home but 1 other guy beat my high score....

What was your high score? Mine was well over 400,000. I made it to the 7th building (repeats after building 4) once.

Exceptional concept and controls and graphics. Only flaw in the game was that death starts getting random with the giant signs on the fourth building when you are forced to go up a narrow side.

[marcusmaximus]

Black Knight.

[Chode]

Battle Zone and Missile Command, and the laundromat round the corner from the bar musta scratched their head since their change machines were always out of quarters...

[The MAGA-Deplorian]

Run! Run! I'am Sinistar!

[V K Lee]

There were two spinoffs during this time (played them on a new Web TV manufactured by Mattel. First was Burger Time in which a baker following a pathway filled with
obstructions while he built his burgers. Plop! There goes another one.

The second was Beauty and the Beast. The beast (Kong, the ape) attempted to reach his beauty by climbing a high rise building, all the while attempting to find opened windows.

Sigh, and then there was Pong; table tennis anyone?

Also enjoyed the game of TETRUS on the portable Intendo.

The Web TV and Intendo both gave up the ghost sometime during the 90’s and were abandoned never to be touched again.

[greenishness]

“Frogger of course, I had the high score!”

They have a Frogger machine where I pick up lunch for my coworkers, played it yesterday love Frogger.

I have a friend that has a machine with about 70 games,many of the ones mentioned in here. I believe Chicago games makes the machine.

One of my favorites from back in the day was Berzerk (1980) Who remembers that one?

[Dr. Sivana]

I was mostly a Williams guy, Midway eventually bought them as well.

At the time, I never cared for the Williams graphics. The pixels seemed fuzzier than the Gremlin/Sega (Carnical, Zaxxon) and Atari System 1 games (Paperboy, Rolling Thunder) of the era. Except for Bubbles, bleak black backgrounds predominated.

I respected Defender, but was not good enough with the controls until Stargate came out. Joust was an original and VERY well executed game, and the trick with the pterodactyl is tricky enough that those who master it deserve their points.

Finally, my only "jump scare" came when I came up on a test arcade room in the Chicago Hyatt Regency near O'Hare. Sinistar was not yet released, and I sat into the cockpit, thinking I was playing a pedestrian raster Asteroids type game, until I heard the ominous, "Beware, I live!". A few seconds later, the giant head comes on the screen, roaring. I had nowhere near enough siniboms, and I spun and was sucked up immediately. I was scared before I laughed. Great game!

I think of Sinistar like the Globalist Deep State. Most of us are little worker bees getting by, unwittingly helping to build Sinistar, and the day will soon be here (if it isn't already) where we hear "Beware I live! Run Coward! Roooooar!!"

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Here’s a run through;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBBtt72aJLA

[V K Lee]

Space Armada on Mattel’s Web TV. Damn that persistent pulsar!

[Dr. Sivana]

Space Wars (one of the first two-player arcade games)

Great game, it was also one of the first real arcade games, period, and held up well when other games of the era looked primitive (Atari Fire Truck, Taito Space Chaser, Atari Sprint 2).

[Army Air Corps]

I am a fellow avid reader.

[Dr. Sivana]

The one game that I played where, for some reason, I was always better than ANYONE, was a unique game called “AstroBlaster”. I basically memorized the pattern on this one too... after MANY, MANY games. It was a fun game.

Fighter Pilots Needed in Sector Wars! PLAY ASTRO BLASTER!

Great game, but damned if I could figure out the "secret codes". Game was way ahead of its time (cool controller, full color medium res graphics, smooth play, multiple screens, and voice synthesis). A very ambitious project well executed.

[voicereason]

Goff! Now there was a game. Phoenix was great as well. I’d add ZooKeeper to the list as well along with Rastan.

[Prole]

Donkey Kong
Tron
Moon Patrol
Wizard of Wor
Joust
Zaxxon
Pole Position
Spy Hunter
Rolling Thunder
Double Dragon
Bad Dudes
Shinobi
Golden Axe
Ninja Gaiden

[Dr. Sivana]

Wasn’t that the game where you had to hit and run down zombies?

Close. They were referred to as "Gremlins".

[Dr. Sivana]

One of my favorites from back in the day was Berzerk (1980) Who remembers that one?

Berzerk! was a well-executed game with simple, but understandable graphics. That and the sequel Frenzy were the only real hits I recall from Stern. It was a major hit. "Evil Otto" was a great addition to a simple game.