golden age of arcade video games part of a series on thehistory of video games general early history of video games early mainframe games golden age of arcade video games video game crash of 1983 consoles 1st generation 19721980 2nd generation 19761992 3rd generation 19832003 4th generation 19872004 5th generation 19932005 6th generation 19982013 7th generation 20052017 8th generation 2012 genres history of eastern roleplaying video games history of western roleplaying video games history of online games history of massively multiplayer online games lists list of video games in development timeline of arcade video game history vte the golden age of arcade video games was the era when arcade video games entered pop culture and became a dominant cultural force the exact time period is disputed but key moments include the release of space invaders in 1978 and the vectorbased asteroids in 1979moments made possible by the increase in power and decrease in cost of computing technology this led to the rise of both video game arcades and video games in other media such as songs cartoons and movies like 1982s tron other iconic games from this era include pacman defender donkey kong and centipede relevant time period although the exact years differ all timelines overlap in the early 1980s technology journalist jason whittaker in the cyberspace handbook places the beginning of the golden age in 1978 with the release of space invaders the history of computing project places the golden age of video games between 1971 and 1983 covering the mainstream appearance of video games as a consumer market and the rise of dedicated hardware systems and the origin of multigame cartridge based systems sean newton 3d arcade model builder and author of the book bits sticks and buttons states that the defining transitional point which finally ended the first era of arcade gaming known as the black and white age and subsequently ushered in the golden age was with the north american release of midways space invaders the game brought forth with it the power of the microprocessor as well as a cult phenomenon impact which had only been felt up to that point by ataris pong following space invaders ataris asteroids and namcos pacman further solidified the strength of the golden age other opinions place this periods beginning in the late 1970s when color arcade games became more prevalent and video arcades themselves started appearing outside of their traditional bowling alley and bar locales through to its ending in the mid1980s the golden age of arcade games largely coincided with and partly fueled the second generation of game consoles and the microcomputer revolution business the golden age was a time of great technical and design creativity in arcade games the era saw the rapid spread of video arcades across north america europe and asia the number of video game arcades in north america for example more than doubled between 1980 and 1982 in 1980 the us arcade video game industrys revenue generated from quarters tripled to 28billion prior to the golden age pinball machines were more popular than video games the pinball industry reached a peak of 200000 machine sales and 23 billion revenue in 1979 which had declined to 33000 machines and 464 million in 1982 and tempest with 29000 units the most successful arcade game companies of this era included taito which ushered in the golden age with the shooter game space invaders and produced other successful arcade action games such as gun fight and jungle king namco the japanese company that created galaxian pacman pole position and dig dug and atari the company that introduced video games into arcades with computer space and pong and later produced asteroids other companies such as sega who later entered the home console market against its former arch rival nintendo nintendo whose mascot mario was introduced in 1981s donkey kong as jumpman bally midway manufacturing company which was later purchased by williams cinematronics konami centuri williams and snk also gained popularity around this era technology arcades catering to video games began to gain momentum in the late 1970s with games such as space invaders 1978 asteroids 1979 and galaxian 1979 and became widespread in 1980 with pacman missile command berzerk defender and others the central processing unit in these games allowed for more complexity than earlier discrete circuitry games such as ataris pong 1972 the arcade boom that began in the late 1970s is credited with establishing the basic techniques of interactive entertainment and for driving down hardware prices to the extent of allowing the pc to become a technological and economic reality while color monitors had been used by several racing video games before such as indy 800 the golden age also saw developers experimenting with vector displays which produced crisp lines that couldnt be duplicated by raster displays a few of these vector games became great hits such as 1979s asteroids 1980s battlezone and tempest and 1983s star wars from atari however vector technology fell out of favor with arcade game companies due to the high cost of repairing vector displays several developers at the time were also experimenting with pseudo3d and stereoscopic 3d using 2d sprites on raster displays in 1979 nintendos radar scope introduced a threedimensional thirdperson perspective to the shoot em up genre later imitated by shooters such as konamis juno first and activisions beamrider in 1983 this period also saw significant advances in digital audio technology space invaders in 1978 was the first game to use a continuous background soundtrack with four simple chromatic descending bass notes repeating in a loop though it was dynamic and changed pace during stages followed soon after by namcos king balloon developers also experimented with laserdisc players for delivering full motion video based games with moviequality animation the first laserdisc video game to exploit this technology was 1983s astron belt from sega gameplay with the enormous success of the early games dozens of developers jumped into the development and manufacturing of video arcade games some simply copied the invading alien hordes idea of space invaders and turned out successful imitators like namcos galaxian galaga and gaplus though they took the shoot em up genre further with new gameplay mechanics more complex enemy patterns and richer graphics others tried new concepts and defined new genres rapidly evolving hardware allowed new kinds of games which allowed for different styles of gameplay in 1980 namco released pacman which popularized the maze chase genre and rallyx which featured a radar tracking the player position on the map other examples of innovative games are atari games paperboy in 1984 where the goal is to successfully deliver newspapers to customers and namcos phozon where the object is to duplicate a shape shown in the middle of the screen the theme of exidys venture is dungeon exploration and treasuregathering one innovative game qbert played upon the users sense of depth perception to deliver a novel experience popular culture donkey kong some games of this era were so popular that they entered popular culture the first to do so was space invaders the game was so popular upon its release in 1978 that an urban legend blamed it for a national shortage of 100 yen coins in japan leading to a production increase of coins to meet demand for the game the game that most affected popular culture in north america was pacman its release in 1980 caused such a sensation that it initiated what is now referred to as pacmania which later became the title of the last coinoperated game in the series released in 1987 released by namco the game featured a yellow circleshaped creature trying to eat dots through a maze while avoiding pursuing enemies though no one could agree what the hero or enemies represented they were variously referred to as ghosts goblins or monsters the game was extremely popular the game spawned an animated television series numerous clones pacmanbranded foods toys and a hit pop song pacman fever the games popularity was such that president ronald reagan congratulated a player for setting a record score in pacman though many popular games quickly entered the lexicon of popular culture most have since left and pacman is unusual in remaining a recognized term in popular culture along with space invaders donkey kong mario and qbert in 1983 an animated television series produced for saturday mornings called saturday supercade featured video game characters from the era such as frogger donkey kong qbert donkey kong jr kangaroo space ace and pitfall harry arcade games at the time affected on the music industry revenues for which had declined by 400million between 1978 and 1981 from 41 billion to 37 billion a decrease that was directly credited to the rise of arcade games at the time arcade games also influenced the film industry beginning with space invaders arcade games began appearing at many movie theaters in more recent years there have been critically acclaimed documentaries based on the golden age of arcade games such as the king of kong a fistful of quarters 2007 and chasing ghosts beyond the arcade 2007 since 2010 many arcaderelated feature films have been released including wreck it ralph 2012 pixels 2015 and ready player one 2018 which is based upon the novel by ernest cline and directed by steven spielberg strategy guides the period saw the emergence of a gaming media publications dedicated to video games in the form of video game journalism and strategy guides these guides rare to find today discussed in detail the patterns and strategies of each game including variations to a degree that few guides seen since can match turning the machine overmaking the score counter overflow and reset to zerowas often the final challenge of a game for those who mastered it and the last obstacle to getting the highest score some of these strategy guides sold hundreds of thousands of copies at prices ranging from 195 to 395 in 1982 list of popular arcade games see also timeline of arcade video game history the games below are some of the most popular andor influential games of the era legend vector display raster display name year manufacturer legacy notes space invaders 1978 taito japan midway us considered the game that revolutionized the video game industry galaxian 1979 namco japan midway us created to compete with space invaders one of the earliest games using multicolor sprites aliens move in a swooping formation and attack by dive bombing the players ship lunar lander 1979 atari arcade version of an earlier minicomputer game concept first atari coinop to use vector graphics asteroids 1979 atari ataris most successful coinoperated game it is one of the first to allow players to enter their initials for a high score battlezone 1980 atari custom cabinet with novel dualjoystick controls using two 2way joysticks for movement and periscopelike viewer berzerk 1980 stern electronics early use of speech synthesis was also translated into other languages in europe indestructible adversary appears in order to eliminate lingering players this became an oftemployed device eg hallmonsters in venture to increase challenge and limit play duration of arcade games centipede 1980 atari cocreated by programmer dona bailey missile command 1980 atari theme of the game was influenced by the cold war era pacman 1980 namco japan midway us one of the most popular and influential games it had the first gaming mascot established maze chase genre opened gaming to female audiences phoenix 1980 amstar electronics centuri us taito japan one of the first games to feature a boss battle rallyx 1980 namco driving game with overhead scrolling maze first game to feature a bonus round background music when released was predicted to outsell two other new releases pacman and defender star castle 1980 cinematronics the colors of the rings and screen are provided by a transparent plastic screen overlay wizard of wor 1980 midway game featured mazelike dungeons infested with monsters and aliens allowed twoperson competitive play but uniquely also offered twopeople cooperative play defender 1981 williams electronics horizontal scrolling space shooting game that was praised for its audiovisuals and gameplay was predicted to be outsold by rallyx but defender trounced it going on to sell 60000 units tempest 1981 atari one of the first games to use a color vector display donkey kong 1981 nintendo laid foundations for platform game genre as well as visual storytelling in video games and introduced a carpenter protagonist named jumpman a character who would evolve into nintendos mascot mario in subsequent games frogger 1981 konami japan segagremlin north america novel gameplay notable for being free of fighting and shooting scramble 1981 konami japan stern north america first scrolling shooter game featuring forced horizontal scrolling motion galaga 1981 namco japan midway north america space shooting game that leapfrogged its predecessor galaxian in popularity gorf 1981 midway multiplemission fixed shooter game some of the levels were clones of other popular games notable for featuring robotic synthesized speech ms pacman 1981 midway north america namco one of the most popular of all time this game was created from a bootlegged hack of pacman it featured different mazes increasing speed and rewards fruit that required chasing qix 1981 taito the objective is to fence off a supermajority of the play area unique gameplay that didnt have shooting racing or mazes vanguard 1981 snk japan centuri us early scrolling shooter that scrolls in multiple directions and allows shooting in four directions burgertime 1982 data east japan bally midway us climbing game where the protagonist build hamburgers while being pursued by food original title changed from hamburger when brought to the us from japan dig dug 1982 namco japan atari north america novel gameplay where underground adversaries were defeated by inflating them or dropping rocks on them rated the sixth most popular coinoperated video game of all time donkey kong junior 1982 nintendo jumpman was renamed mario in this sequel this was the only time nintendos mascot was featured as an antagonist in any of their games front line 1982 taito while up to this point military themed games featured vehicular combat such as ships aircraft or tanks this is one of the first of many 80s games to feature commandostyle infantry ground combat guns grenades and tanks as the theme joust 1982 williams electronics allowed twoplayer cooperative or competitive play jungle king 1982 taito an early sidescrolling and diagonalscrolling platformer featuring vineswinging mechanics run jump sequences climbing hills and swimming almost immediately rereleased as jungle hunt due to a lawsuit from the edgar rice burroughs estate claiming character copyright infringement on the character of tarzan this version changed the tarzan character to a pith helmetwearing white explorer kangaroo 1982 atari unusual for a platform game there is no jump button instead the player pushes upor up and diagonallyto jump moon patrol 1982 irem japan williams electronics us the first arcade game to feature parallax scrolling pengo 1982 sega a maze game set in an environment full of ice blocks which can be used by the players penguin who can slide them to attack enemies pole position 1982 namco japan atari us after segas turbo revolutionized sprite scaling with their thirdperson cockpit racer namco brought 16bit graphics to the arcade and dropped the players perspective nearer to the road and closer to being directly behind the car the game also incorporated product placements for companies including licensee atari on passing billboards popeye 1982 nintendo nintendo used higher resolution foreground sprites displayed over lower resolution backgrounds achieving comparable visuals to select games in the midway card rack mcr system qbert 1982 gottlieb became one of the most merchandised arcade games behind pacman and donkey kong robotron 2084 1982 williams electronics featured novel dual joystick gameplay which popularized the twin joystick control scheme gravitar 1982 atari not popular in the arcades due to its difficulty but the gameplay inspired many clones like thrust and oids time pilot 1982 konami japan centuri us time travel themed aerial combat game with freeroaming gameplay in open air space that scrolls indefinitely in all directions with players plane always remaining centered tron 1982 bally midway earned more than the film it was based on featured four subgames based on the film xevious 1982 namco japan atari us the first arcade video game to have a tv commercial zaxxon 1982 sega first game to employ isometric axonometric projection which the game was named after crystal castles 1983 atari among the first arcade games which do not loop back to earlier stages as the player progresses but instead offers a defined ending dragons lair 1983 cinematronics us atari europe sidam italy an early laserdisc video game which allowed filmquality animation the first arcade video game in the united states to charge two quarters per play it was also the first video game to employ what would become known as the quick time event this game is one of three arcade games that are part of the smithsonians permanent collection along with pacman and pong elevator action 1983 taito an action game that is a mix of platformer puzzle and shooter genres gyruss 1983 konami japan centuri us often remembered for its musical score that plays throughout the game bachs toccata and fugue in d minor mappy 1983 namco japan bally midway us featured early sidescrolling platforming action mario bros 1983 nintendo a game featuring simultaneous play with mario and his brother luigi as italianamerican plumbers in pestinhabited sewers sinistar 1983 williams electronics first game to use stereo sound it was also the first to use the 49way customdesigned optical joystick that williams had produced specifically for this game notable for appearance of menacing villain spy hunter 1983 bally midway overhead view vehicular combat game that is memorable for its music the peter gunn theme that plays throughout the game star trek 1983 sega space combat sim featuring five different controls six different enemies and 40 different simulation levels features voice of spock and scotty one of the most elaborate vector games released star wars 1983 atari features several digitized samples of actors voices from the movie tapper 1983 bally midway originally aligned with american beer budweiser was revamped as root beer tapper so as not to be construed as attempting to peddle alcohol to minors track field 1983 konami japan centuri north america the first olympicthemed sports game 1942 1984 capcom capcoms first arcade hit featuring pacific aerial combat with a xeviousinspired design standardized the template for aerial shoot em ups featuring vertical scrolling karate champ 1984 techns japan data east us the first popular player vs player fighting game for arcades featured a pair of fourway dual joystick controls for simultaneous play kungfu master 1984 irem japan data east us the first sidescrolling beatemup arcade game paperboy 1984 atari novel controls and high resolution display punchout 1984 nintendo a boxing fighting game featuring digitized voices dual monitors and a thirdperson perspective list of bestselling arcade games see also list of highestgrossing arcade games for arcade games success was usually judged by either the number of arcade hardware units sold to operators or the amount of revenue generated from the number of coins such as quarters or 100 yen coins inserted into machines andor the hardware sales with arcade hardware prices often ranging from 1000 to 4000 this list only includes arcade games that have sold more than 10000 hardware units pacman 400000 space invaders 360000 donkey kong 132000 ms pacman 115000 asteroids 100000 defender 60000 centipede 55988 galaxian 40000 in the us donkey kong jr 30000 in the us mr do 30000 in the us tempest 29000 qbert 25000 robotron 2084 23000 dig dug 22228 in the us pole position 21000 in the us popeye 20000 in the us missile command 20000 jungle hunt 18000 in the us dragons lair 16000 berzerk 15780 scramble 15136 in the us battlezone 15122 stargate 15000 star wars 12695 super cobra 12337 in the us space duel 12038 decline and aftermath see also arcade game history the golden age cooled around the mid1980s as copies of popular games began to saturate the arcades arcade video game revenues in the united states had declined from 8 billion in 1981 and 7 billion in 1982 to 5 billion in 1983 one of the causes of decline was new generations of personal computers and video game consoles that sapped interest from arcades in the early 1990s the genesis mega drive outside most of north america and super nes the super famicom in japan greatly improved home play and some of their technology was even integrated into a few video arcade machines legacy the golden age of video arcade games spawned numerous cultural icons and even gave some companies their identity elements from games such as space invaders pacman donkey kong frogger and centipede are still recognized in todays popular culture and new entries in the franchises for some golden age games continued to be released decades later pacman and dragons lair joined pong for permanent display at the smithsonian in washington dc for their cultural impact in the united states no other video game has been inducted since video game arcade cabinet list of arcade video games the official price guide to classic video games by david ellis 2004 isbn0375720383 the klov top video games lists by greg mclemore and friends reference to the term golden age the dot eaters videogame history 101 