Favorite 80s Arcade Rule/Feature?

[Krakrok]

  Nostalgia Alert

I'm working on an 80s arcade mashup project. I'd be interested in hearing about what was your favorite 80s arcade rule or feature is or was? What rule or feature do you miss the most in todays games?

Personally, I liked that at the end of levels in some games (like 1942) they would take your remaining life or time or ammo or whatever and count it down really fast while converting it to the score. Powerups that boosted your firepower like double shot, triple shot, fast shot, etc. were also pretty fun to me. Or saving up the magic potions in Golden Axe for the biggest bang when you used your magic.

[tazelbain]

Not 80s but "multi-ball, Multi-ball!, MULTI-BALL!"  I think it'd be fun to see that in an action game.

[schild]

Hm. Tough one.

Continue countdowns were great, especially when you could hit a button to decrease the timer, thereby fucking the guy behind you. Or your friend who can't get a quarter out of his pocket fast enough.

[WayAbvPar]

I liked the dual joystick feature on Robotron. That was cool as hell.

[Trippy]

Personally, I liked that at the end of levels in some games (like 1942) they would take your remaining life or time or ammo or whatever and count it down really fast while converting it to the score.

Along those same lines I liked the store in Forgotten Worlds and how your final score was affected by how much you spent there. The "dial" controller was cool too. I liked how you could skip levels in Gauntlet though of course these days arcade machines can store all sorts of information about your game state. For the really old-school games like Asteroids and Defender it was cool that you could play "forever" if you were good enough.

[Krakrok]

For the really old-school games like Asteroids and Defender it was cool that you could play "forever" if you were good enough.

That's sort of where I'm going with what I'm doing. Just keep dialing up the difficulty each level until the player croaks.

[MisterNoisy]

The powerups from Capcom shooters (SideArms, 1942, etc.) that changed when you shot them.  Big ass screen-clearing bombs, too.

'Bonus' rounds

Bad translation - not AYB bad, but the 'little' errors that you saw now and then.

[Strazos]

I liked when you could hit a button to reset the continue countdown while trying to fish quarters out of your pockets.

Yes, the dial in Forgotten Realms was awesome.

Um...I actually didn't play in arcades much in the 80s...Hell, I was only 7 in 1990.

[Cyrrex]

I liked how, on the Donkey Kong machine (or whatever it was) at our local 7-Eleven, proper usage of a spoonstraw from your Slurpee beverage could be used to gain you infinite credits.  We all thought we were pretty clever as well as shady and dangerous, until such time that the clerk started issuing us free spoonstraws upon our enterance into his establishment.

[Sky]

My favorite arcade game was a "later" one, Double Dragon. Always played it co-op with the singer from my band. Favorite features were being able to put a hold on an enemy while your buddy beat up on him. Or as was usual with us, your buddy missing, hitting you and then a pvp battle. Also, being able to disarm enemies and use their weapons.

Also, Track & Field. The controls and crazy slamming of the machine.

[Yegolev]

Getting multiple ships in Galaga.

Ikari Warriors joysticks.

[Strazos]

I liked games where you could have 4+ players, such as Simpsons, TMNT, or X-Men machines.

[Nebu]

How many of you were even old enough to have memories of playing video games in the early 1980's?  It was such a social thing... right on the heels of rollerskating rinks.

What do I miss most... I don't remember winning arcade games back then.  It was all about the high score (like the Seinfeld Frogger episode).  I guess that would be it for me.  I liked the fact that the arcade games didn't ever end, they just got harder.  I don't like cutscenes... they disrupt my playing. 

[MisterNoisy]

How many of you were even old enough to have memories of playing video games in the early 1980's?  It was such a social thing... right on the heels of rollerskating rinks.

My 'proper' video arcade exposure didn't happen until the mid-late 80's, when my dad PCS'd to Korea.  A couple of blocks outside the enlisted residential buildings, there were no less than 3-4 really good arcades, packed to the brim with bootleg Japanese games in little 4' high cabinets with stools in front of them and a couple of really big titles like the After Burner sit-down, OutRun or Super Hang-On.  50 won/credit (except for the big ones) with a really favorable exchange rate meant you could play for hours on end for practically nothing.  Made friends with the proprietors of a couple of them, leading to free credits and the like to boot.  All the kids from the base went there and killed time, but you were always your own little clique.

Played a lot of shit I never saw again until MAME took off, but it was always you against the machine/existing high score.

Arcades didn't become really 'social' for me until I moved back stateside and Street Fighter II hit, where you'd always run into the same people and because of the nature of the game, engage in some friendly smack-talk.

'I got next!'

[schild]

"I got Next." Heh. That was more of a home thing for me. In the arcades the only people who said "I got next" were the people dropped off by their Mom for an hour while she went shoe shopping. If you spent any time in arcades (I mean, more than 5 minutes a week), you know you just put a quarter on the sill.

God I miss putting quarters on the edge of the controller area.

[Yegolev]

How many of you were even old enough to have memories of playing video games in the early 1980's?  It was such a social thing... right on the heels of rollerskating rinks.

It wasn't terribly social for me due to where I lived.  No arcade, just the random machine in a convenience store or discount store lobby.  I wanted to play with other people, but no one else wanted to play Combat very much.  Even with the occasional co-op arcade cabinet, I wasn't someone with the wealth to dump it into a videogame like that.

[Sky]

We had an arcade in our roller rink; I gamed in rollerskates, so hardcore. Rink is such a funny word. My mother used to date the guy who DJ'd at the rink, so I spent a lot of time playing video games and I'm a hell of a rollerskater. Count me among those who silently slapped a quarter into the sill queue.

[Rasix]

"I got Next." Heh. That was more of a home thing for me. In the arcades the only people who said "I got next" were the people dropped off by their Mom for an hour while she went shoe shopping. If you spent any time in arcades (I mean, more than 5 minutes a week), you know you just put a quarter on the sill.

God I miss putting quarters on the edge of the controller area.

Wow, I thought I might be the only person where that was such a salient part of the arcade experience.  There was an arcade within walking distance from my home.  I probably blew $5 a day there in the summer.  Most of it was putting a quarter on the sill for Mortal Kombat and SF2. 

Another thing that was fun was the social and physical equality that the arcade fostered.  During my arcade heydey in middle school I was probably sub 5' and sub 100lbs.  One of my most easily recalled memories was destroying a 6'5"+ well muscled black guy in a game of Mortal Kombat repeatedly.  Of course, he used Sonia and tried to get me in a cheap ass leg slam lock.  It struck me as ironic that such a masculine person could resort to such a bitchy tactic.   It was fun watching him lose his cool in front of his date.  Of course, I was being an arrogant dick the entire time, "damn, there goes your neck again.  Got anymore quarters?"

I don't ever think there was a fight in the arcade and there were a lot of people there that didn't even remotely get along.

[Mr_PeaCH]

If you spent any time in arcades (I mean, more than 5 minutes a week), you know you just put a quarter on the sill.

God damn that takes me back. 

FAVORITE FEATURES:

WAP brought up Galaga; one of my all-time all-times.  Challenge Stages!  Where you didn't need to worry (much) about dying and instead had 30 seconds or so to just rack up bonus points.  Those ruled.

Not sure how to describe it, but the games that interjected some new 'wandering monster' element when you were killing too much time and not moving on to the next level.  Like in Asteroids when the UFO came out; or in Joust when the Phoenix came.  The Phoenix was a bitch but you could game the UFO in Asteroids and keep killing them to pad your score.  Until the one comes out which fires a super-fast and deadly accurate shot at your current position.  Those sucked.

Generally, loved how the classic arcade games could not be 'won' and got harder and harder.  Also not a big fan of games with the 'insert quarter to continue' features.  If I'm waiting and watching you play and you're just inserting quarters every couple of minutes and continuing I'm not impressed.  Step aside and let someone show you how it's done.  But when you occupy a game for 10, 15, 20 minutes on the same quarter and are going for the high score, you're THE MAN.

[Bunk]

My favorite joy was the day I beat one those "little Asian kids" at Street Fighter 2. I'm talking about the little punks that would rove the arcade in bands and put 20 quarters at a time up on the machine. All they ever played was Ken or Ryu, and it was the same dam combos over and over.

I walked up to one of em one day and picked Honda. No one plays Honda, but I'd practised with him for weeks. It was a joyous day.

I don't know why, but I loved the wrestling arcade games of the 80s. Theres still a TWA machine at a local minigolf place. Must be 20 years old. I loved it, because it had no time limit. You played til the game beat you, each match just kept getting harder. Timers in arcade games blow ass.

[Sky]

I'm talking about the little punks that would rove the arcade in bands and put 20 quarters at a time up on the machine. All they ever played was Ken or Ryu, and it was the same dam combos over and over.

Man, I hated those kids. My buddy the eqholic plays fighters like that. I'd try for some interesting back & forth normal combat and he'd just load up the same friggin' combo, over and over and over *yawn* I did get him back in Soul Calibur 2, though, using Ivy's whip sword. There was one move he couldn't beat so I just tormented him with it until he finally apologized for fucking with me for years :)

Of course, I whip his ass in pc fps which was payback for his dominance in Goldeneye....it's a circle of pwnage.

[stray]

Hey, I'm Asian, my name is Ken, and I played Ken.

And yes, I'd kick people's asses with cheap combos. 

[Margalis]

Magician Lord is an example of a wandering monster gone horribly wrong. This huge thing would come down from the top of the screen and was totally unavoidable and unkillable. When he killed you your next guy would appear in the same place and immediately die again. And it didn't take a long time for that guy to appear either. Man I'm scarred for life thanks to that creepy green floaty tentacled bastard.

[Scadente]

Ah, my most vivid arcade memories are from the family on vacation in Spain. They had loads of them, and they were mostly pretty up-to-date. The family went to the beach, I went to the arcades :) And I fit the "I got next!" demographic back home in Iceland. But then I had Mega-Man waiting at my house. I really loved the Tower of Doom (?), 4-player DnD co-op Sidescrolling fighter. Remember collecting coins for starving children all day, robbing the box and playing it for two days straight with a mate (Evil kids we were).

Recently went to the Trocadero here in London, actually pretty big, but a sad affair. It's dying, had some nice SF2 fights with some randoms, brought back some memories.

As for favorite feature, bonus stages. Like breaking the car in Final Fight and the Barrel Breaking in Streetfighter. Shame, not really any of those in games today. All badly acted cutscenes, with an even worse dialogue.

[Yegolev]

You new nickname is Horrified Orangutan.

Good call on the Final Fight car scene.  I think I saw Final Fight on GameTap....

[Scadente]

The bonus stages felt as a really nice reward. Might be considered "cheap" by todays standards, but they were really effective and challenging. Sometimes requiring alot of skill on the players side to rack up those big bonuses. And to be honest; It really made Sonic a far superior game to Mario (besides appealing to all the "cool" kids and all that ;) (And talking about early ninties SEGA commercials; For the cool kids)). The main thing why the sometimes are far superior to cut-scene rewards is that they reward you while maintaining gameplay, and the reward actually feels rewarding.

Sorry for for going all out off-topic.

[Strazos]

That link just reminds me of how bad early-Genesis stuff looked compared to SNES. Wow.

[Yegolev]

Sorry for for going all out off-topic.

I thought you were just becoming acclimated.  No longer a derail virgin.

I was lameting to my wife last week how there were far more minigames in Final Fantasy VII than the later ones.  Not just the Gold Saucer, I'm talking about the motorcycle chase, snowboarding and whatnot.  Ocarina of Time had some good ones too, especially the horseback archery range.  Maybe they aren't exactly arcade bonus stages, but they are of the same breed and I think more of those would be nice.  Shooting range in Resident Evil 4, too.

[bloort]

SOUNDS..... man, defender and robotron sure make some cool sounds...that's the biggest thing.

As for gameplay, I think the biggest laughs me and my bud had playing games was the first one that got us hooked.  SPACE WARS.  I mean...you had so many options on the playfield...gravity (positive or negative), strength of gravity, speed of ships...and of course....head to head combat. :)  I just found out that this one predated space invaders by one year. far out.

Later on in gaming, super mario bro's came out....2 player game, simple to play and learn with the tutorials....and the thing we would piss ourselves over while playing coop, is that sometimes you didn't always cooperatie with your bud.....and took actions to screw him up instead.  Oh shit...20 , hmmmm....27! years later, we still chuckle and laugh over beers about it.

[stray]

Yeah, Defender was awesome for that.

Tempest had some badass sounds too.

[Stephen Zepp]

SOUNDS..... man, defender and robotron sure make some cool sounds...that's the biggest thing.

As for gameplay, I think the biggest laughs me and my bud had playing games was the first one that got us hooked.  SPACE WARS.  I mean...you had so many options on the playfield...gravity (positive or negative), strength of gravity, speed of ships...and of course....head to head combat. :)  I just found out that this one predated space invaders by one year. far out.

Later on in gaming, super mario bro's came out....2 player game, simple to play and learn with the tutorials....and the thing we would piss ourselves over while playing coop, is that sometimes you didn't always cooperatie with your bud.....and took actions to screw him up instead.  Oh shit...20 , hmmmm....27! years later, we still chuckle and laugh over beers about it.

I don't have any proof of this, but its my understanding that Space War was the "demo app" for one of the first unix operating systems, and/or one of the first iterations of the "C" language--simply cannot remember which, eheh.

Just a bit of useless (and possibly even false!) game dev trivia...

[Samwise]

Spacewar goes all the way back to the PDP-1.  Linky.  I went to the Computer History Museum a while ago and got to see the original version.   

[Ironwood]

I liked different view buttons.  Like in Afterburner, where you could hit switches down at knee level and zoom into the cockpit, or a view from behind the fighter.  There were a few games that you could do this with, mostly the flight/car simulators.  I also really liked any arcade game that gave you a gun (Lethal Enforcers being my all time favourite) or had multiplayer head to head options.  Mostly because you played in pods alongside each other and it was a giggle to grab the fuckers steering wheel or jam your spare foot down on his brake.

[Sky]

Spacewar goes all the way back to the PDP-1.  Linky.  I went to the Computer History Museum a while ago and got to see the original version.   

I found a link to the other video game I played as a kid:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_%28text_game%29

Not quite as old as spacewar ;)

[Moaner]

I liked the bonus rounds in Shinobi even though I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I actually received a perfect.  The speech was pretty cool too, "Mission 1!"

The wolf in Shadow Dancer rocked as well but my local arcade never had the cabinet so I didn't get to play it much.