Midway Arcade Treasures: How Midway Preserved Its Arcade Legacy for a New Generation
By 2003, the classic American video arcade was already becoming a place of memory. The great rows of cabinets that […]
Game Histories
Video Game History
Explore the history of video games and the industry that created them. This section covers individual games, developers, development studios, publishers, gaming publications, companies, technologies, and other people and organizations that shaped the growth of interactive entertainment.
Gaming Events
AMOA Expo ’86: How Out Run, 720°, and Darius Showed the Arcade Industry Was Coming Back
On November 6, 1986, the doors opened at the Hyatt Regency Chicago on an amusement industry that was trying to […]
Game Developers
Mark West: The Atari Animator Behind Road Runner, 720°, Toobin’, and Cyberball
The names attached to classic arcade games are often remembered unevenly. Designers and programmers became the public faces of many […]
Game Developers
Brad Fuller: The Atari Audio Pioneer Behind Marble Madness, Gauntlet II, 720°, and Klax
In the middle of the 1980s, an arcade could overwhelm the senses. Cabinets flashed from every direction, joysticks clicked against […]
Game Developers
Hal Canon: The Atari Audio Designer Behind Marble Madness, Paperboy, Gauntlet, and Super Sprint
Some of the most recognizable sounds of the American arcade boom came from people whose names were rarely noticed by […]
Game Developers
Jack Aknin: The Atari Control Designer Behind 720°, Vindicators, Hydra, and Moto Frenzy
The history of video games is often told through programmers, artists, designers, and composers. Arcade games, however, were never only […]
Game Developers
Earl Vickers: The Audio Engineer Behind Star Wars, Paperboy, Gauntlet, and 720°
Some of the most recognizable memories of the classic arcade era are sounds. The electronic roar of an approaching threat, […]
Gaming Publications
Cash Box: How a Coin Machine Magazine Documented the Birth of the Video Game Industry
Long before video games became a recognizable industry, the businesses that would eventually manufacture, distribute, operate, and display them already […]
Game Developers
Paul Kwinn: The Developer Who Worked from Atari’s Arcade Era to Guild Wars 2
For much of video game history, programmers rarely became the public faces of the games they helped create. Their names […]
Game Developers
Sam Comstock: The ILM Animator Behind Atari’s Marble Madness, Gauntlet, and Hard Drivin’
Long before Sam Comstock was drawing and animating graphics for some of Atari’s most important arcade games, he was helping […]
Game Developers
Will Noble: The Atari Artist Behind Paperboy, 720°, Cyberball, and S.T.U.N. Runner
Long before Will Noble helped animate paperboys, skateboarders, fantasy warriors, robots, and futuristic racing machines, he was drawing with sidewalk […]
Publishers
Mindscape: The Rise, Reinvention, and Fall of a Video Game Publisher
For players who grew up around computers and consoles in the 1980s and 1990s, the Mindscape name could appear almost […]
Game Histories
Marble Madness: How Mark Cerny and Atari Built a Trackball Arcade Classic
When Marble Madness appeared in arcades at the end of 1984, it hardly resembled the games surrounding it. There was […]
Game Developers
Breighton “Rusty” Dawe: The Atari Developer Behind Cloak & Dagger, Paperboy, and RPM.
The history of Atari’s arcade division is usually told through famous games and a handful of celebrated designers. Tempest brings […]
Game Developers
John Salwitz: The Atari Programmer Behind Paperboy, 720°, Cyberball, and Rampart
John Salwitz spent much of the formative arcade era working inside one of the most important game-development environments in the […]
Gaming Publications
Play Meter: How Ralph Lally’s Trade Magazine Chronicled the Arcade Industry from 1974 to 2018
Long before video game websites could report a new release within minutes, before YouTube channels dissected arcade hardware, and before […]
Game Developers
Dave Ralston: The Atari Designer Behind Paperboy, 720°, Cyberball, and Rampart
The names attached to the great arcade games of the 1980s are not always the names players remember. Cabinets were […]
Game Histories
Paperboy: The History of Atari’s Bicycle-Handlebar Arcade Classic
Few arcade games could explain themselves as quickly as Paperboy. There was no galaxy to save, no maze to memorize, […]
Game Histories
Adventures of Lolo 3: How HAL Laboratory Built Its Biggest NES Puzzle Adventure.
By the time Adventures of Lolo 3 reached American players in 1991, the Nintendo Entertainment System already had a crowded […]
Game Histories
Adventures of Lolo 2: How HAL Laboratory Built a Tougher NES Puzzle Sequel
At first glance, Adventures of Lolo 2 looks almost impossibly gentle for a Nintendo Entertainment System game released in 1990. […]
Game Histories
Alfred Chicken: How a 1993 Video Game Mascot Ran for Parliament
In 1993, the video game industry was crowded with would-be mascots. Mario and Sonic had already demonstrated the value of […]
Game Histories
Airwolf: How Beam Software and Acclaim Brought the Supercopter to the NES
By the closing years of the 1980s, the Nintendo Entertainment System had become a natural destination for licensed entertainment. Movies, […]
Game Histories
Al Unser Jr.’s Turbo Racing: How Data East Turned a Japanese Grand Prix Game into an NES Racer
When Al Unser Jr.’s Turbo Racing reached the Nintendo Entertainment System in the United States in March 1990, the game […]
Game Histories
Alien 3: How LJN and Acclaim Turned Fiorina 161 into Three Different Nintendo Games
When Alien 3 reached theaters in 1992, it gave video game designers an unusual problem. The film placed Ellen Ripley […]
Game Histories
Alex DeMeo’s Race America: How Corvette ZR-1 Challenge Became an NES Cross-Country Racer
When Alex DeMeo’s Race America reached American Nintendo Entertainment System owners in 1992, its premise was easy to understand. Choose […]
Game Histories
Air Fortress: From Famicom Disk System Prototype to HAL Laboratory’s NES Adventure
Long before HAL Laboratory became closely associated with Kirby, the company produced a collection of unusual games that experimented freely […]
Game Histories
The Adventures of Gilligan’s Island: How a Television Rerun Became a 1990 NES Adventure
By the end of the 1980s, the Nintendo Entertainment System had become a natural destination for licensed entertainment. Cartoons, films, […]
Game Histories
Adventures of Tom Sawyer: How Winkysoft and SETA Turned Mark Twain into an NES Action Game
More than a century after Mark Twain introduced Tom Sawyer to readers, the boy from the Mississippi River found himself […]
Game Histories
Adventures of Lolo: How HAL Laboratory Turned Eggerland Into an NES Puzzle Classic
In 1989, the Nintendo Entertainment System was crowded with games built around action. Players jumped across pits, shot enemies, explored […]
Game Histories
The Adventures of Rad Gravity: How Interplay Turned Gravity Upside Down on the NES
On store shelves near the end of 1990, The Adventures of Rad Gravity was difficult to mistake for anything else. […]