If you were to split up arcade games into Generations - how would you do it?

[stigzler]

A bit like we have generations for consoles - how would you split arcade games?

Wikipedia very unimaginatively splits them into:

1   Early history (1971–1977)
2   Golden age (1978-1986)
3   Post-golden age (1987-present)



I'm guessing some delineation on hardware advances would be the best watermark..

SOME IDEAS FROM BELOW:
"Redemption boom" - from ? to ?
"Bronze Age" - from ? to 1978
Early Days - Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pacman
Golden Age - Galaga, Dig Dug, Ms. Pacman
Insert Coin to Continue age  - Rampage, Gauntlet, TMNT
Second Boom - MK2, Street Fighter
Ticket Redemption death - Slam-a-winner, monster drop, Wizard of Oz, Big Bass

[Haze]

A bit like we have generations for consoles - how would you split arcade games?

Wikipedia very unimaginatively splits them into:

1   Early history (1971–1977)
2   Golden age (1978-1986)
3   Post-golden age (1987-present)



I'm guessing some delineation on hardware advances would be the best watermark..

It's region specific too.  A lot of Asian countries seem to consider the golden age to start at around 1991

There's definitely been a strong shift in recent years to ports of Mobile games etc., and prior to that a shift to mostly redemption / gambling style titles (which has been inherited by the mobile stuff, or maybe even was influenced by it)  both of which feel like distinct 'eras'

Japan is different again too, while there are more arcades in Japan still, there are less new games (basically no new PCBs, just downloadable / time rented stuff)  The EXA-Arcadia stuff is the first new PCB in a while there; here we still get the Raw Thrills / GlobalVR type tat.

[big10p]

There's also folks that refer to the 'Bronze Age', which I think is basically any game that pre-dates the boom of Space Invaders.

[leapinlew]

Not sure if these correspond perfectly to years and certainly there are some outlier titles, but here is my take:

• Early Days - Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pacman
• Golden Age - Galaga, Dig Dug, Ms. Pacman
• Insert Coin to Continue age  - Rampage, Gauntlet, TMNT
• Second Boom - MK2, Street Fighter
• Ticket Redemption death - Slam-a-winner, monster drop, Wizard of Oz, Big Bass

[stigzler]

Yerp like these ideas.

However, I also remember another era - things like 18 Wheeler etc. Almost felt like 2000s were the 'autumn years' of arcade games.

[leapinlew]

Yerp like these ideas.

However, I also remember another era - things like 18 Wheeler etc. Almost felt like 2000s were the 'autumn years' of arcade games.

Ya know... games like 18 wheeler, Harley Davidson and any of the linked racing games were never my specialty so I'm not sure if they have a different timeline.

[stigzler]

Yeah - I was in my mid 20s by the 2000s, so playing arcade games felt a bit wrong at that point (but of course, secretly really wanting to still play them, of course!). Whoda thunk I'd be making my own a couple of decades later!

[TOMMYGUN]

By graphics:
Vertex
2D
3D 

[keilmillerjr]

Sorting by year works well to see progression. You can’t really categorize by “years” because while sorting by years can be evident overall, there are games like some metal slugs made later that follow earlier styles.

[gildahl]

I generally agree with the three categories in the first post here, though I don't assign exact years.  While Space Invaders (1978) is a good marker to split "Golden Age" from "Early Arcade", Night Driver (1976) is actually the oldest game in my "Golden Age" list, and Monaco GP (1979) is the last game in my "Early Arcade" list.  So I don't go strictly by year, though there's certainly nothing wrong with doing so.

1987's Street Fighter, makes sense as the next dividing line.  You could call the period from about 1987 to around 1998 the Zombie age; a period when the arcades were somewhat resurrected.  But "Post Golden Age" is probably as good a term as any.  Alternatively, and as I prefer however, you could fork the period after "Golden Age" into three parallel ages:  "Fighters", "Shooters", and "Neo Classic" (the latter being anything not a fighter or shooter), and leave the end of these ages indeterminate.  To me, this makes organization seems more natural since none of these periods really end.  Somewhere around 1998, however, I do introduce a fourth category called "Modern Arcade", which is for games that don't fit into traditional fighter, shooter, or neo-classic categories. 

[paigeoliver]

I find a few very specific branching points.

First is the upgrade to color games in 1979-1980.

The second is the beginning of the 2D Jamma era which was dominated by 16 bit 68000 based systems.

Finally the upgrade to 3D 32 bit games in the mid 1990s.

These generations are most easily seen with the Japanese manufacturers. The American manufacturers were certifiably insane in the mid 1980s. Midway just kept trying to upgrade that Z80 8 bit Kickman hardware well past its expiration date. Exidy wouldn't give up on their obsolete Crossbow platform. Then Atari designed really powerful, really expensive 16 bit hardware that made the Japanese stuff look bad, but then didn't use it very well.

[Mr. Peabody]

I agree with lew's rendition and theme. Essentially, by the game design and conception. By years, I would say Bronze (pre-Space Invaders), Big Bang ('78-9), Golden ('79-83), Silver ('84-87, with a bunch in '84 and 5 being console imitation crap), New ('87/8-92), Interim ('92-96/7), and Modern (3D).

TOMMYGUN's is the most eloquent.

paigeoliver, as usual, has a curious rendering, not to be missed.

[schmerzkaufen]

I'd rather set pre-Pong (~72) into the neolithic and on with the various stages of protohistory and history (~78, ~83, etc)