You Are What You Were. Celebrate Retro Pop Culture At Retroland.
Greatness is often found in simplicity. And when it comes to arcade games, there is no greater embodiment of simplicity than Air Hockey, a game that can be learned in less than a minute and is still played, over 40 years since its inception, all around the world. It came upon the scene in the early 70s, and soon after, the distinctive click-clack sounds of two players battling it out could be heard in every arcade across the country.
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The year of 1977 was one filled with numerous events to get all nostalgic about – Elvis Presley died, Roots first aired on television, Fleetwood Mac released Rumours, Star Wars premiered on the big screen, and the Atari 2600 home gaming system was released. The event that perhaps had the most significant impact on the future, however, was the release of the first personal computer.
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Of all the arcade games released over the years, a mere handful have reached iconic status, games that if you lived in a particular generation, there was little chance that you had escaped their magnetism. The Atari mega-hit Asteroids is certainly deserving of this special status. Released in 1979, during the era of Star Wars, it utilized simple black and white vector graphics, an (at the time) impressive array of buttons, and a repeatability factor that was unparalleled.
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The granddaddy of all platform and handheld game stations, the Atari Video Computer System remains a classic. In the tradition of trench warfare and bayonets, Atari maintains its appeal despite its antiquity. And like Kleenex or Xerox, the word itself became synonymous with the activity it represented. In the late seventies and early eighties, nobody played video games. They played Atari. One had to go to the arcade or to the corner of the local sandwich shop to play video games. Atari, on the other hand, offered a comparable selection of games, required no quarters, and could be played at all hours from the comforts of your living room. Let's look back at this innovative video game from yesteryear.
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When the 70s arrived, the old fortune-telling machines of yesteryear seemed a little quaint and outdated. Realizing that Zoltan wasn’t earning a fair share of quarters any more, it was time to pull out the big guns and display the amazing technological leaps that had occurred in the fortune prediction industry. It was time to unveil the Biorhythm machine.
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For all of the mass frenzy created by the introduction of Pong in 1972, the excitement started to wane four years later, as the public was eager for new and exciting arcade games. As a result, future Apple computer creators Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak put their heads together and the result was Breakout, the newest chapter in coin-operated game history that was destined to sweep the world.
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The names of early arcade games left little doubt as to what the player’s responsibilities would entail. Lunar Lander meant sheer frustration as you tried to set down on the moon’s surface. Asteroids put you in deep space, shooting madly at the rocky obstacles bent on destroying you. And with a name like Canyon Bomber, your mission was crystal clear – you were going to bomb some canyons. Let's take a look back at this 1978 offering from Atari.
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Where's the fire? Well, there was no fire, just a fire truck that had to be steered around roads full of obstacles in the 1978 Atari game. The player(s) had to steer a fire truck through the winding streets, accumulating points and--hopefully--earning extended play with a high enough score.
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Not just for video arcades, Foosball has been a staple of bars, restaurants and friendly neighborhood living rooms for the better part of a century. Developed in Western Europe in the early 1900s, the game really took off in America in the 70s - where people could be found spinning their players with reckless abandon on tens of thousands of foosball tables scattered across the land. It remains a wolrdwide pub favorite to this day.
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Strap on that holster and mosey down memory lane. The year was 1975, when the vigilantism of the Old West merged with modern technology. Designed by Taito and distributed by Midway, Gun Fight might have harkened back to the days of the OK Corral, but the inner workings of this popular arcade game were purely state of the art.
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