What year would you pick as the quintessential arcade year?

[Chuckolicious]

I'm dealing with a detail of my home arcade and want some input as to "THE" year of the arcade.

My opinion is 1979, but 77-83 is a valid window.

Thoughts?

[markrvp]

1981

[Blanka]

I would say 1981. In that year Donkey Kong, Galaga and ms. Pac Man were released, and Pac-Man was coming to steam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_in_video_gaming

[bkenobi]

1994...KOF!!!

Apparently that falls outside of the "acceptable" range, so I'd go with 1982 (Dig Dug, Pole Position, Tron, QBert, Joust, Robotron, ...)

[Benevolance]

I think this sort of depends a bit on when you were old enough to go to the arcade.

[Daviea]

I think 1982 was the year.  I recall the arcades very clearly in 1982.  They were incredibly busy and always packed with tons of kids.  Of course, often you had to wait in line to play, but that was OK since it gave you a chance to talk to friends, relax your hands and get excited about playing the next game.  LOL  I've always considered 1982 to be the high point of the arcades, especially if the arcade served food (read: PIZZA) and drinks.  We called them "sodas" back then!  Boy, those sure were some fun times.

The following year, 1983, the arcades (at least in my area) started to take a dive.  I think the part that bothered me (and others) the most was the frequent rotation of the games - they constantly removed cool games and replaced them with others, then back again.  By 1984, the arcades were dead by comparison.  I think Gauntlet/Gauntlet II breathed a little life in what was left of the arcades in '85/'86, but even so it just wasn't the same!  At the very least, the arcades were doing better in 1985 than 1983/1984.

I think the "crash" was caused mostly by the high number of console games and personal computers available at the time.  I freely admit that I was swayed from the arcades because of it.  To this day, I still have fond memories of my old Commodore 64.

Anyhow, my vote goes to 1982!!

David Adams
RAM Controls

[Chuckolicious]

I'm agreeing with 81, from both the game release standpoint and the highpoint in my NYC raised memory.  78-79 I discovered Space Invaders and Lunar Lander, but 81 was pretty crazy.

Reason I wanted to know this is that in my arcade room, I have a ceiling light with a pull chain.  My significant other suggested a quarter as the chain weight.  I thought she had a brilliant idea in that, but now I had to get super detailed with the year of the quarter.  A bit OCD, I know, but whaddya gonna do?   

[Benevolance]

That's some nice attention to detail, that is.

[retrometro]

Heh, one of my favorites list in MALA is an "old school" category of games I like from 1979-1984.  But if I had to narrow it down, it'll definitely be 1981-1982.

For me 1979-1982 games were the hot titles that were ported successfully (note the word successfully :-) to the 2600/intellivision/5200/colecovision.  Once you get into 1983-1984 or so, it took the Amiga/AtariST/NES/Sega Master System to do a descent job.

[bkenobi]

Are you kidding?!  The reason arcades died in 1983 or so was because the NES came out and you could play any game you wanted and you didn't have to bum a ride.  Of course, you had to convince your parents to buy you the game at $40-70 or rent it for $5.  Course, I was never allowed to go to the arcade as a kid on a regular basis, so my opinion is as a console gamer...

[RayB]

hey Kenobi, check your facts. ;-)

I'd also vote for 81/82.

[DaveMMR]

Are you kidding?!  The reason arcades died in 1983 or so was because the NES came out and you could play any game you wanted and you didn't have to bum a ride.  Of course, you had to convince your parents to buy you the game at $40-70 or rent it for $5.  Course, I was never allowed to go to the arcade as a kid on a regular basis, so my opinion is as a console gamer...

If you're referring to the US NES, that came out in 1985.  Even then, bonafide arcade classics came out during the early years of the NES, such as Gauntlet, Ghost 'N Goblins, and Paperboy.  Home consoles did slow down arcades but games such as Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat revitalized them for a short time.  It wasn't until home technology caught up with the arcade hardware (and soon exceeded it) that the arcades we all know was dealt the death blow in the late 90's.  Now it only survives for the more specialized typed of games that can't be recreated at home inexpensively (yet) and redemption games (save for the occasional arcade that caters to the nostalgic and obtains income though other product, e.g. BARCADE in Brooklyn). 

The Japanese NES (Famicom) did come out in 1983, but arcades (game centers) are still popular in Japan.   

[CheffoJeffo]

If I had to pick a single year, it would be 1982 as that was the year when most of the best games were actually in the arcades that I was going to. A lot of them had come out earlier, but were still in active service in 1982.

1983 saw some cool vectors (Star Wars and Star Trek) and a plethora of laserdisc games (Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, MACH 3, Cliff Hanger and others that I can't remember), but by then some really good, but older, games were being rotated out and the inventory just kept churning.

1987/88 was not bad for me personally as I oversaw the game room in our residence. I picked good games that I happened to like playing and earned enough for the op to justify leaving them in place for a reasonable length of time. Rygar, Gauntlet and Double Dragon were staple machine.

C'mon Ray -- it's not like he was out by two years !   Or maybe he was in Japan. Or maybe he is the one who is kidding.

I was reading ArcadeHeroes.com today and there are still some interesting things happening in the world of arcade gaming. I couldn't afford either the cash or space to have the new games in my gameroom, but damn, some of them are pretty cool.

[dmckean]

My memory is every year I can remember until 1998 had great arcade games and then overnight they turned into barren wastelands.

[Turnarcades]

For me the year of gaming was 1988. At this point most of the games I consider worthwhile were out and mixed in the arcades with the classics. England has a very different arcade scene though and being an inner-city lad it was rare to get to an arcade except with a visit to the coast.

The home scene really gathered momentum with the advent of the 16-bit era too about a year later, then the arcades once again had a resurgence locally around 1991 when SF2 came out and for the next 5 years every arcade I visited had some version of it, a hack or one of the clones like Fatal Fury, KOF etc.

[Jack Burton]

2009!

for me at least.

In some ways we've got it better than ever with thousands of games we never got to play playable in MAME, great online communities, cheap cabinets and and boards, and online high score competitons and local tournaments for some games.

Arcades were great, but I think the best times I've had with an arcade game have been at home with my friends in front of my own personal cab. 

It really is a luxurious experience compared to public arcades.  You have infinite credits, perfect controls, sound, and monitors, and it's extremely convenient.

I think the current era is extremely underrated.

[Ummon]

I agree with Jack, some. But in the essential vein of the question posted....I was going to agree on '81....and then I realised the mention of '82 was more appropriate. That year was the PEAK of things, for sure. '82.

[NoOne=NBA=]

'82

[Zebidee]

My initial thought from personal experience was 1983, and the number of people voting for 1982 confirms this.

Huh? Does this make sense?

To explain my logic a bit further, I'd say that my own estimate of 1983 is spot-on for Australia.  Being at the other end of the planet, all the games took a bit longer to get here.  Thus, I reckon the peak arcade year for Australia was 1983.

When consoles came out in the early years, what i really noticed was that they didn't have good picture quality. That was partly because they didn't haver RGB inputs to your TV, and partly due to hardware limitations.  These days, console games have much more snazz & bling.

[u_rebelscum]

You're limiting to '77-'83?!?  The quintessential, or my quintessential?  Classical only or of all time?  Arcade game or arcade hall?  Most number of good games released, or most good games out in arcades, or highest good/bad game ratio?  Highest number of people, or best types of people, or before it got too crowded?

I ask because for me, there are three very distinct periods for arcade games, classic ('80-'85), my teen years ('86-'91), and post high school ('92-on).  My quintessential years were during my teen years, and of those I'd pick '87 or '89.  Not only did I get to go out on my own to the arcades, but most of my favorite games came out during those years, and all my classic favs were still out in the arcades.  As far as games go, '89 was the biggest year in number of favs released for me, plus the '87 games were still in the arcades.  However, the arcade I went closed somewhere around '89-'90, and its decline started a year or so before that, so '87 was a better arcade climate for that arcade.  (The pizza joints arcades, 7-11, and the other arcade were still humming in '89 though.)

I can't say the classic years were my quintessential, mostly since I rarely got to play, and mostly at a small pizza joint not arcades, and as I said above those great games were able to stick around to my teen years anyway.  Still '82 & '83 released quite a few (just over half as many of my favs per year) as during my teen years.  '84 had quite a few good games, too, but it also marked the release of the nintendo VS cabs; they were not arcade quality of the time and took away space from real arcade games.  By '86, most of them were gone from the arcades I went to, just in time for my teen years.


Side note: before doing research, my first guess was that '85 was my year.  However most of the games I (mis)remembered playing that year weren't released until 2-5 years later.

[FrizzleFried]

1982 if I had to pick a single year.  1980  to 1984 if I was able to pick a group of years. 

[TheShanMan]

Friz read my mind.

As to the now vs. then question, for me it would be "then" without question. That was answered definitively when I went to the NW Pinball and Gameroom Show in Seattle last weekend. That was about as close to the real classic arcade experience as I've had in a LONG time (more so than Ground Kontrol even, just because I haven't been there when it's busy, nor have I been there with friends). I haven't had that much arcade-related fun since the mid 80's. It had everything - the games, the sounds, the crowds, and the friends (well, KLOV "friends" who turned into real friends at the show). And I may have plans to create a nice gameroom with a bunch of games, but even with friends over it doesn't come as close to bringing back the memories as going to a show like the one in Seattle (or CAX next month!!! can't wait!!!).