Waaaay Back in 1975: I haven’t included the 70s in other anniversary retrospectives since selection was pretty light and while ’75 didn’t have tons of games, it did have quite a few that were trying to be different, thus laying the groundwork for other video games that people would soon enjoy. Anti-Aircraft II (Atari) – Shoot down the enemy aircraft, pretty straightforward. Bullet Mark (Sega) – Huge cabinet setup that used some nice looking gun props. It was a pretty simple target shooting game at its heart. Crash N’ Score (Atari) – A Demolition Derby style game where you are supposed to run into the numbered flags. With Sega releasing Showdown this month, it seems we have come full circle on this type of game. Gun Fight (Midway) – This head-to-head Western shoot-out game featured a very important technological leap under the hood – it was the first arcade game to use a CPU. Indy 800 (Atari) – 2 and 4 player games were nice but nothing is quite like an 8 player arcade experience. Combine that with everybody’s favorite arcade genre the racer and you have a winner. Maneater (Project Support Engineering) & Shark JAWS (Atari) – Thanks to movies like JAWS, we got video games like Maneater & Shark JAWS. Both games were simple “avoid being eaten by the shark” type games made to capitalize on the hype of the movie. Atari did that moreso, given that the game was not licensed but they got away with it at the time; Maneater just has a really cool looking cabinet but very odd joysticks. Ski (Allied Leisure Technologies) – Despite the super generic name, this was notable for being the first video arcade game to attempt to do a simulation of skiing using the swivel foot controller. Steeplechase (Atari) – Multiplayer was the hot idea of the day once again where this 1-6 player game was concerned. I came across a working one once, I wish I could have bought it. The only control was a large colored button for each player, which you used to jump the scrolling gates. First player to reach the right side of the screen was the winner. For 1985 and 1995, scroll back up and click on the tabs!

Remember back in 1985, when pastel colors were cool… Depending upon who you ask, or which narrative you decide to follow, 1985 was the year the industry “came back” from the crash it experienced starting in 1983. That is more true for the home console side of things, not so much for the arcade industry as 1984 had many releases which were popular. Karate games like Karate Champ and Kung Fu Master went a long way towards getting people into the arcade, among other great titles. No matter what your opinion about the crash, 1985 marked the time when Japanese development houses like Sega, Konami, Capcom and Nintendo would take a greater lead in developments then they had before, raising their profile among gamers worldwide. While not a full list of ’85 releases (that would reach almost 200 games), here are some of the highlights that came along 30 years ago. A few of which were mentioned by AH readers on our social media channels: Choplifter (Sega) – Suggested by reader Steffen. Choplifter was a very popular home computer game, showing up on pretty much everything with a 6502 processor and then some (I personally own carts of it on the Atari 800 and 7800). Much like Pitfall II, Sega licensed it and showed off what the arcade could do – cramming more enemies, colors, animations and completely new levels into the game making it unique from what home players were familiar with. Commando (Capcom) – It’s kind of like Taito’s Frontline but with better graphics. Gauntlet (Atari Games) – Take out an army of creatures level by level with some friends. Easy enough, right? Ghosts ‘n Goblins (Capcom) – Known mostly for the tough-as-nails approach to the difficulty and a guest appearance by Satan. Gradius/Nemesis (Konami) – scrolling shooters were not new in 1985 but it was titles like Gradius which established ideas that would be emulated by other titles in the genre. Gradius also spawned various sequels and even parody games. Gun Smoke (Capcom) – The 80s were more about sci-fi than Westerns, which had enjoyed huge popularity on TV and movies in decades prior but that didn’t stop Capcom from creating this game, which shares some traits with Commando. Hang On (Sega) – Racing games were not new to the industry by 1985 but the idea of centering the play around motorbike racing was fresh to most people, since most other games focused on Formula 1. (Sega did create a motorbike game in 1976 called Fonz which would lay the groundwork for games like Hang-On). One version of Hang-On featured the innovation of a full motorbike controller, which is now standard for games of this nature. Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom (Atari Games) – Based upon the movie of the same name, the game offers sound advice while you are whipping your way around some caverns – “Stay away from instant death!” Mat Mania (Technos/Taito) – All the fun wrestling offers, minus the monologues and debates over whether this one is real or not. Peter Pack Rat (Atari) – “Mascots” are a dime a dozen, which means not all are well-remembered, such as Atari’s Peter Pack Rat. Pitfall II – The Lost Caverns (Sega) – People know the Pitfall series primarily from its appearances on the Atari 2600 home console but the games went to other home platforms. Pitfall II is a very impressive game for the 2600 but when it made the jump to the arcade it became very different, blending elements from the first two games while adding some touches of its own. It also uses an odd oversized joystick. Ring King (Data East) – Punch-Out wasn’t the only way you could pull off a boxing game as Ring King showed. Road Runner (Atari) – This game is based upon the famous WB cartoon characters and it was stuck in “development hell” for a time, initially using a laserdisc system before scrapping that and going with the ROM version. Rush ‘N Attack (Konami) – Also known as Green Beret, this side scrolling game should have won an award of some kind for the flyer here below. 80s Cheese Activate! Sarge (Midway) – There aren’t a lot of Midway games on the list from this year – Midway was still making games but they weren’t grabbing as much attention as in previous years. One exception was Sarge, a single screen tank game. Space Harriers (Sega) – Among responses of what were people’s favorites from 1985, this one came up the most. The surrealistic art direction and concept for a shooting game combined with catchy tunes and the motion version of the cabinet was proof that arcades still had what it took to provide top tier entertainment. Spelunker (Irem) – Released on a variety of home platforms, this cave exploration platformer still enjoys popularity in Japan Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo) – Among the many game releases this year, none would have the name recognition that this one achieved. While it was found in many homes thanks to being a pack-in title with the NES home console, the game landed in arcades as a part of Nintendo’s PlayChoice cabinets. Those cabinets helped promote NES releases in arcades while the Nintendo Vs. cabinets provided slightly modified versions of NES games to enjoy. The Legend of Kage (Taito) – As mentioned, 1984 was a time when karate games were popular and that set the stage for the next big craze that would take place over the next few years, ninjas. Taito was ahead of the curve on that with The Legend of Kage, where you play as a bonafide ninja on a quest to rescue the Princess Kiri. Yie Ar Kung Fu (Konami) – Did I mention the popularity of martial arts in video games already? If not, then our last example from 1985 will re-enforce that point once again, in this title which was one of many games to lay the foundation for even more popular titles like Street Fighter II. Scroll back up to the top and use the tabs to browse games from either 1975 or 1995!