Arcade Games: The Classics
Arcade games have been around since the 70’s but the more popular ones were not created until the 1980’s and the early 1990’s. As of today, arcades are not as exciting as they were before. This can be attributed to the presence of home consoles and modern computer games. In fact, most of the top arcade games before are already transferred to new console settings today.
Among the many arcade games that were introduced to us, it can be stated that Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are the ones which really made immense impact upon arcade game players. Street Fighter was a game created and developed by Capcom, a Japanese company. Several characters are featured in the game with Ryu being the most popular one. The first version of the game did not gain much of a following. It was Street Fighter II that actually launched the game into extensive popularity. This was because more characters, each with unique fighting skills and special moves, could be controlled and played. The diversity of characters made the game more exciting and fun to play. After some more game developments, it became more complex where three players could be controlled all at once and monsters got involved in the game play. The monsters namely George the giant gorilla, Lizzie the giant lizard and Ralph the large werewolf were included to destroy cities in the game. They could eat people and things along the way but when they eat the wrong thing, the player’s life would run out.
Five years after the introduction of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat came into the arcade scene. It was actually created in response to the success of the previous game. The game was officially released in 1992 after being developed by John Tobias and Ed Boon. Mortal Kombat got very controversial at the time because of the involvement of too much violence in it – players control the character to perform offensive movements in order to kill the opponent with the act being shown using intense graphics.
Because of the success of these arcade games, versions have been included in different consoles like Playstation 2, Gamecube and Wii. Also, film adaptations have been made and released.
On the lighter side of arcade games, lighter side meaning no violence involved, it was Pac Man that reigned. Ask anyone today, even 3-year old kids and they would be able to tell you how Pac Man looks, a solid proof of its popularity. It is a very simple arcade game where you have to move Pac Man to eat the small dots along the way. What makes it more exciting are the gremlins which are after Pac Man, so to proceed on higher levels, the player must try to avoid the gremlins and keep his life points. Since it was such a hit, Miss Pac Man was created, the female version of the character.
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