03 Development History of Arcade Platforms

Development History of Arcade Platforms

What is an Arcade Platform?

 

Intro

 

  In the following blog i will be explaining the history, popularity and timeline of arcade platforms and their features/limitations.

  Now as with anything a good starting point for this blog would be the question what exactly is an Arcade platform and what is an arcade video games machine?

  Well an arcade games platform is simply put a combination of Hardware, software and middle-ware incorporated into a closed case upright system capable of playing a single game. It's entire hardware and chip set is built with the game in mind and is designed to exclusively run games and more specifically a game.

  Now that we understand what an arcade games platform is lets delve a little deeper into what exactly an arcade video games machine is. An arcade machine is an upright box usually made from and stands at about 720cm - 1.3m in height. It is painted in bright decals with the game's art style and lettering. It will often also feature the characters in some form on the case. This is all for the purpose of attracting a customer to it as within an arcade their is a wide choice of games to pick from and standing out is a key feature. Depending on what type of game it is it will have a variety of peripherals on display e.g. Light Guns, Car Seats with full car interiors, Pilot joysticks etc. The cabinet itself houses the chipboard and console which exclusively run the game of choice. Built into the cabinet will be either 1 or more screens for displaying the game, sensors, coin slots and any required peripherals will be tied to the machine through the use of aluminum coils which house the cables.

  Below are some images and descriptions of the various pieces inside general arcade machines.

A chip set or power board which runs the arcade game and connects the peripherals. This will be housed deep within the Arcade unit next it's PSU and fans. (The example shown here is one of the most famous arcade chip sets called the NAOMI it was this architecture which the Dreamcast's board was built from.)

A crude makeshift example of an arcade's PSU which is built to run the chip set, Monitor/s, speakers and peripherals.

 

The various chip boards required to connect the peripherals and speakers to the PSU & chip set of the arcade machine. As you can see the cables for the peripherals are housed within aluminum coils to help protect them and prevent them from being stolen.

 

A more in depth look at the gun peripheral and it's connectors.

 

The slot port where users will put in money to play.

 

A picture displaying a fully built and painted arcade machine.

Arcade Machine Timeline

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Arcade Popularity & Decline

 

  During the late 80's and mid 90's arcades and arcade machines had come into full effect sweeping every area of every major city in both the west and the east. Japan, America and a the UK brought out arcades everywhere. With them came huge crowds of kids and adults alike clamoring around waiting their turn to play the next big game and some were just watching and studying as fierce championship battles occurred between two people. Arcade machines helped bring in King of the Hill combat amongst users whereby people would play until someone was named victor and then the next contestant would step up to the mark. But it wasn't just about competition dating couples would play games and have fun, mothers would bring their children during shopping to keep them happy, tourists would swarm on the nearest arcade on a beach side resort whilst young children and their friends would spend their whole Saturdays popping quarters and eating junk food whilst soaking up the sweaty atmosphere. Arcades were incredibly popular places and were a staple of youth culture, but eventually everything changed and this decade old tradition died faster than when it began and yet there is more than one reason to it's inevitable decline.

  1998 - 2001 is the period in which most people agree arcades began to die (in the West at least.) The problem you see is that back during the 80's and early 90's arcade machines in terms of power and graphical capabilities far exceeded that of PC's or home consoles of the time. But, with the release of the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, N64 & Finally the Dreamcast (which was based off of a arcade chip set) it was inevitable that console's and PC's would catch up. Add to this the extremely wide variety of multiplayer games on offer by the N64 and Dreamcast with 4 controller ports many did not see the need to go to arcades anymore as console's were more than capable of having a couple of friends round and creating a fun atmosphere without the need for spending cash per life off of a game. 

  But that was fine, at least arcades still had the competition and the thrill of the smack talk. But lo-behold that came crashing down as well. With advent and rise of online gaming brought on by the Dreamcast and later mastered by the Xbox, Xbox 360 & PS3 their was no need for competition in arcades any more as you could play against anyone anywhere right from the comfort of your own sofa and with online leader-boards challenges were never easier to master.

  Alas as with anything as technology grows so does our independence there is simply no longer a need for many of us to regularly attend social areas such as arcades for interaction anymore as we have this amazing gift and curse known as the internet it enables us to instantly talk and catch up with one another and also allows us to instantly find a challenger anywhere in the hold willing to beat our score or challenge us to a match of ego's.

The Current Interest in Retro Arcade Gaming

 

  But, just like 8-bit games of old and their resurgence within indie games, many are not simply content to sit by and use the convenience of technology. In today's modern games industry many of the adults grew up around the age of the arcade and now deep into their late 20's mid 30's many of them seek to recreate that atmosphere which they felt as a child thanks to nostalgia. So as many fathers and mothers take their children to the arcades to help experience the sane feelings they had as children their offspring begin gaining a liking towards arcades and tell their friends. In 2014 - 2015 arcades are just beginning to recuperate their losses after almost a decade of decline in popular society. This is due to nostalgia, game fanatics who seek to relive the glory days and in more unbelievable cases a stale market.

  Since 2012 many people when asked on their thoughts on the current games industry and the current offering of games the responses were fairly negative. We live in a modern society where games will sell in millions but the content stays the same just last year the number of FPS's to other genre's outranked them by 3 - 1. So in many cases the resurgence in arcade interest can also be attributed to that of games developers simply not listening to the consumers anymore. Many people are beginning to see that joining online game lobbies with adolescents verbally attacking you is just not as fun compared to the age old friendship of traditional gaming.

The Good/Bad Features/Limitations of Arcade Platforms

 

  Arcade machines like any piece of technology before them will succumb to the same problems wherein there will always be a good and bad features. Much of this is based on upon opinion, others on technical limitation and many cases budgetary restraint. 

  In this case of arcade machines it falls upon the former two. Many of the limitations people would consider to be "limitations" of an arcade machine are nothing more than an opinion based observation. But with formalities aside here is a list of the many features/limitations of the arcades games platform.

  Good Features

  Arcade machines were units designed and created specifically for one certain type of game.   Bad Limitations