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It is flyers like this one that make me glad I changed the format of Arcade Flyer Art Saturday. Despite my best efforts, I could not dig up any information on this game, Fantastic Voyage. Even KLOV, normally a repository of every arcade machine ever made, has no information on this one. It would seem an easy conclusion to make that this has something to do with the 60's movie starring Raquel Welch where a team of scientists are shrunk to a tiny size and injected into a man's body, but alas, it is not. There was an Atari 2600 game based on that movie and comparing the screenshots of it and the ones presented on this flyer lead me to believe that they are completely unrelated. More »
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This is one of those flyers that I wasn't able to find much info on, but after checking it out I think you'll understand why I featured it this week. More »
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Hello, and welcome to Arcade Flyer Art Saturday at its new prime time! You can look forward to seeing it at this same time each week from here on out. This week's offering is the arcade version of Broderbund's PC classic, Lode Runner. More »
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Three years after their hit with Ghosts 'N Goblins, Capcom continued the adventures of Arthur and his heart boxer shorts with Ghouls 'N Ghosts. The gameplay was essentially the same as Ghosts 'N Goblins with a few additional moves such as the ability to shoot weapons straight into the air and being able to shoot while jumping. This game also introduced Arthur's special gold armor. After the arcade, the game was ported to a wide variety of systems including Sega Master System, Sega Mega-Drive, Sega Saturn, PS1, Sharp X68000, Supergrafx and the Virtual Console on the Wii. Much like it's predecessor, Ghouls 'N Ghosts is considered to one of the most punishingly difficult games of the time. More »
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In almost a year and a half of doing Arcade Flyer Art Saturday I would have been hard pressed to choose a favorite. Until now. What makes this one particularly notable is that Computer Space was designed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney for Nutting Inc. prior to their founding of Atari in 1972. It also happens to be the very first commercially available arcade video game. Here is the description of the gameplay from the back of the flyer which I have posted after the jump along with the flyer for the two player version. More »
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For this weeks flyer I chose a classic game with one of my all time favorite posters, Defender. I don't think I need to explain the gameplay of Defender to anyone and if I do, then you should just sell all your consoles now and turn in your gamer card. So instead we'll concentrate on the flyer art itself. Like many of the classic games of the time, Defender had multiple flyers created for it and the ones done for other countries varied in style. In this case, the American versions mainly focused on images of the arcade machine while the Japanese one has an elaborate and brightly colored space scene and features a vastly different arcade cabinet. The German one also attempts to throw in some color by adding some nice chunky color frames. The best of all though is the one pictured above with the sultry space babe. You can tell she is a space babe because of her white wrap-around dress, accompanying silver quilted collar and belt. Also note the absence of foot wear. Because in space, no one wears shoes. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=349347&view=rss&microfeed=true Long before I loved video games I was a pinball fanatic. I spent more money on pinball than almost anything else in my younger years. Ever since I've been doing Arcade Flyer Art Saturday I have perused the many flyers available on The Arcade Flyer Archive. Several months back they added pinball flyers and I was thrilled. In many cases, the art on them is better than the art on the video game flyers. But, alas, pinball isn't a video game so I was barred from using them. And besides, there's not a terrible lot to say about how to play a pinball game and the gameplay doesn't exactly vary wildly. More »
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Hello and welcome to a new year of Arcade Flyer Art Saturday. After a year an a half of doing these I've opted for a shorter, more compact version of this feature. Often times it's difficult to dig up solid information on a lot of these older obscure games and the real point of these things is to show of the amazing (good and bad ) artwork. So on to this week's offering... More »
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Judging from the comments on the article I wrote mentioning a hiatus for the Arcade Flyer Art Saturday feature, a lot of you have grown to love my little pet project. When I first started this feature over a year ago, I really wanted to put a focus on what I considered to be a highly overlooked portion of arcade history. These flyers, lovingly scanned and cataloged by Dan and friends over at TAFA are something that consumers were never really meant to see. They were meant solely for the purpose of enticing arcade owners into purchasing the games for their respective "stores" in the hopes of cashing in on the huge arcade trend of the 80s and 90s. More »
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When I went to the The Arcade Flyer Archive today to start the rigorous search for this week's flyer to feature I saw this note from TAFA's tireless founder, Dan. More »
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Today's Arcade Flyer Art Saturday is special because not only does it have great flyer art, but I played this game just this afternoon in my friends basement. And not on some MAME emulation, but on the honest to goodness stand up machine. More »
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Konami released Devastators into wide release in 1988. Capitalizing on the popularity of Contra, Devastators took on the similar plot device of two guys taking on hordes of enemies. It was set in the far flung future of 1989 and involved a Middle Eastern dictator who had taken over a small country. The country in turn hires the two main characters to save them and according to the flyer, these badasses were "the best, most efficient, ruthless, disciplined and most expensive 2-man team of freedom fighters in the world." Man, that's a whole lot of adjectives. More »
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It's not often that I pick a game that I am unable to find much information on, but something about the Kyros flyer really struck me. Searching around, I was able to find next to no information on the game, even on KLOV or Wikipedia which can usually fill in the gaps for me. After much searching and help from a friend, I discovered that the game was known by a couple of other names and eventually ported to several home computer systems under the name Desolator. So, going on that information, thus unfolds the tale of Kyros aka Kyros' Mansion aka Halls of Kairos aka Desolator. More »
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Usually, the focus of Arcade Flyer Art Saturday is ton retro arcade games, but this week I actually picked a game that only just came out. Why you may ask? Read on and see... More »
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We're going all the way back to 1980 for this week's Arcade Flyer Art Saturday feature, Crazy Climber. Produced by Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd., credited to Nichibutsu (whos name appears on all the buildings n the game) and eventually licensed by Taito, Crazy Climber will surely be remembered by arcade denizens of years past. Crazy Climber was an early relative of the ever popular Rampage and had the player controlling a man who for some unknown reason enjoys scaling the sides of 200 story buildings. The control was done with two joysticks, each one controlling one of the climber's hands, so some ambidextrous coordination was definitely involved while playing this one. It was eventually ported and remade for several home systems, but nothing could quite recreate that two joystick feeling. More »
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Kaneko released B.Rap Boys in 1992 with a semi wide release. It was a beat em up that featured three playable characters roaming the mean streets of a fictional New York seeking to put an end to an evil crime lord and his minions. Each character relied on a different mode of transportation to get them to and fro such as a skateboard, a bike and roller skates. It was controlled with a joystick and two buttons and although the fighting was done with one button, players were able to pull off a variety of moves. More »
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Universal released Super Don Quix-ote in 1984 as their answer to the uber popular Dragon's Lair. Unfortunately it was a rather lame answer. The game followed the adventures of the legendary Spanish hero Don Quixote except that this time Don had magically transformed into a blonde guy with a red, white and blue costume. Along for the ride was Don's trusty sidekick Sancho Panza who literally was along for the ride as he did absolutely nothing. The plot line basically has the made over Don out to rescue his girlfriend Isabella from an evil witch. Along the way he has to fight various creatures including skeletons, mummies, she-demons, a totem pole (ok...), snakes, electric jelly fish, a dragon and of course, the ever popular windmill. The windmill, the title and the inclusion of the characters of Isabella and Pancho are the closest the game ever gets to the original story. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=310579&view=rss&microfeed=true After last week's Arcade Flyer Art Saturday, I promised you something a little different this week. I went through TAFA and dug up the flyers for some of the more seminal and popular games that took video gaming from arcades and into our homes. Sure, a lot the art for these is not what you might consider terribly interesting but sometimes it's good to go back to your roots. You can peruse the gallery at your leisure and after the jump, check out some short explanations of each flyer. More »
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In honor of my trip to Tokyo, I thought it might be interesting to do a little Japan to US comparison Arcade Flyer Art Saturday. This week's choice was a perfect pick since it not only has different flyers for each country, but a rich history of different gameplay as well. So let's dive right into it shall we? More »
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Sega produced Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom for arcades in 1982. This was a perfect example of using a well known character to try and sell an otherwise boring game. The only thing branded "Buck Rogers" was the cabinet itself while the game had next to nothing to do with the hero's story besides the fact that it was set in outer space. It was controlled with an eight way joystick and two buttons with the cabinet coming in a stand up version as well as an enclosed sit down style. More »
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Punk Shot was produced by Konami in 1990 and gave arcade goers a different perspective on the average sports game. Up to four players could choose between two teams, The Ramblers and The Slammers with each team consisting of two members. Basher and Stallion represented The Ramblers while the aptly named Hair and Spike comprised The Slammers. Four different playing fields were available including an alley, a docking pier, a vacant lot and a park. More »
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Konami produced the Aliens game for arcades in 1990, nearly four years after the James Cameron directed movie of the same name. The game was loosely based on the film and players could choose between two different player characters, Lieutenant Ripley or Corporal Hicks although there was no difference between the two except for the graphics. It could be played with up to two people and was controlled with a joystick and two buttons. It was mainly a side scrolling shooter although a few levels had a switched perspective with the characters moving forward down long hallways. The controls were pretty simple with one button letting you fire while standing and the other button allowing you to fire while crouching. More »
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Originally released in Japan by Tecmo under the name Argos no Senshi, Rygar made it to arcades in the States a few months later in 1986. Rygar put the player in the shoes of the Legendary Warrior, Rygar who is called back from the grave to save the land of Argool from the evil Ligar. Interestingly, in the original Japanese version, "Rygar" was actually referring to the main villain while the main character was just known as "Legendary Warrior." More »
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Night Stocker, created by Nolan Bushnell's Sente Games, hit arcades courtesy of Bally in 1986. It was a bit of an odd bird given that it was a driving game and a shooting game combined in one. Despite the fact that the flyer claims it to be "the highest earning system game in history" I was able to find precious little info on the game in my research. But, what I did find (thanks to KLOV) I will relate thusly... More »
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In 1993, Capcom unleashed Cadillacs and Dinosaurs upon an unsuspecting arcade public. The game was a beat-em-up based on Mark Shultz's comic, Xenozoic Tales from the eighties, not to be confused with Cadillacs and Dinosaurs the TV show that was based on the comic but had nothing to do with the game. There was also a second game made, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: the second cataclysm which was based solely on the TV show. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs would remain an arcade only title, never really becoming popular enough to be ported over to the many console systems of the time. More »
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