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.

Grudge Match was put out in 1989 by Yankee Game Technology. According to KLOV and the internets, this may well be the only game that Yankee Game Technology ever made. Grudge Match was a fairly straightforward wrestling game that could be played by up to two players at a time. In the single player version, you would go through a slew of opponents on your way to becoming the world champion wrestler. Each opponent would have to be beaten three times before moving on to the next. The multiplayer version had a continuous play feature that would let the losing player join back in for a rematch with the addition of a few quarters.

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.

Broderbund came out with the Lode Runner arcade machine in 1984 as a direct response to the popularity of their PC version of the game. This was particularly notable since at the time, most games started as arcade games before eventually being ported to home consoles and computers. The home version of the game was also one of the first to include a level editor.

The gameplay consisted of running your little man through a series of mazes while collecting gold coins (sound familiar?). The mazes were made up of bricks and dirt and could be navigated using various ladders and ropes or by blasting holes through the walls with your blaster. As you can probably guess, your progress is impeded by a retinue of various monsters that change from level to level. Once all gold coins are recovered, an escape ladder lowers allowing the player to climb to victory and the next maze level. But don't lollygag! Each level is timed and if you don't get up that ladder before the timer runs out, it's game over.

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.

"EXCITING PLAYER ACTION occurs as coin is inserted and start button is pushed to activate the unit. A rocket ship appears out of nowhere and at the same instant the once friendly flying saucer begins firing missiles at the rocket ship. Now at the controls of the rocket ship, you begin to evade the missiles bearing down on you and maneuver into position to fire your own missiles at the saucers. The thrust motors from your rocket ship, the rocket turning signals, the firing of your missiles and the explosions fill the air with the sights and sounds of combat as you battle against the saucers for the highest score. Outscore or hit the saucers with your missiles more times than they hit you for extended play in hyperspace. Attain hyperspace and the playfield turns white and gives you a vision of daylight in outer space. Thrill to the reality of controlling your own rocket ship in gravity-free outer space. Battle the saucers in a duel of wits and coordination!"

It plays a little bit like Asteroids and you can see a small snippet of the gameplay here. But in the end, who cares about the gameplay, they didn't even bother to put it on the front of the flyer. In this case it's all about the incredible cabinet and of course the sultry model with a flash of panty. Panties: selling video games since 1971.

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.

Arcade Flyer Art Saturday: Pinball Edition

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.

So, today as i was browsing TAFA for tonight's AFAS I noticed that they had quite a few pinball games that were inspired by video games. Finally I had my chance to show off some pinball flyer art! So, for your pleasure I present some of the finest examples of vg inspired pinball games. The Joust one is especially great as they designed it like a tabletop arcade game. Too cool.

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.

Sadly, the American arcade is a dying breed, relegated mostly these days to airports, truck stops and bowling alleys. There are still some good old fashioned arcades out there, but they are few and far between and soon the "arcade flyer" will cease to exist. This makes it doubly important (in my eyes anyway) to make sure that we document and remember some of these games that we may never see again outside of a MAME emulator.

Starting next year, Arcade Flyer Art Saturday will be back in a new format. One of the things I have discovered over the last year is that often there are amazing game flyers that have little to no explanation as to what the actual game is about. In an effort not to leave out some of these gems, the new AFAS articles will be a little bit shorter and more to the point, but still full of as much information on them as I can find. This way, it will be a bit easier for me to bring you some of this great art without pulling out my hair trying to find out what the enemies were in some obscure game no one remembers anymore.

So, today we take a look back at all the AFAS articles of the past year. Some were great, some were ridiculous, but they all did one important thing; they reminded us that gaming is (and was) more than just the latest console and HD game, but an industry with a rich and important history that shouldn't be lost.

Make the jump for the full list of past flyer features.

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.

There is no Arcade Flyer update this month because after posting 300 flyers a month since April I'm just plain burnt out. Stay tuned in January when the regular updates resume. Happy Holidays everyone!

Looking back over the past year I realized I had written over forty different AFAS features and that I was feeling a little burnt out myself. Poring over the hundreds of flyers documented, you come to realize that not every flyer has artwork worth posting and often times the really good ones contain absolutely no information about the game itself. So in a Flyer Art Solidarity pact with Dan, I too am taking a flyer hiatus until the new year.

Don't forget that TAFA is going to be selling off a large portion on their collection at the beginning of next year for a paltry $1 a piece. So, while you're waiting for AFAS to return next you, be sure to peruse The Arcade Flyer Archive site and see if there's any of them you might want to take home with you. My bet is that you'll at least find one.

Arcade Flyer Art Saturday: Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters

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.

Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters was produced in 1994 by Konami as a follow up to, what else, Lethal Enforcers. The original game had you playing a police officer out to clean up the city where criminals are off on a crime spree. For the follow up, they went back in time to the old west where you played a sheriff out to kill outlaws off on a crime spree. Hmm... sounds familiar.

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...

Death Smiles was released in the middle of October 2007 by Cave. The title is a side scrolling shooter that features girls with magical powers and the ability to fly. The whole game has a macabre atmosphere with traditional gothic horror trappings such as pumpkins, witches, bats, familiars, worms etc. The game is controlled with a joystick and three buttons: One button shoots left, one shoots right and the other throws a bomb. A lock-on guided missile attack is also accessible by hitting a combo. Your regular attacks mostly consist of shooting electrical rays at your enemies or jabbing them with your demon scissors or sword. Seeing as it has just come out there's not much more I can say about the game having not really played it (you can see a clip of it here) , but the real fun comes in the form of the flyer, or at least the back of it.

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.

Arcade Flyer Art Saturday: Super Don Quix-ote

Arcade Flyer Art Saturday: The Classics Edition

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.