Capcom Bowling | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Developer(s) | Strata [1] |
Publisher(s) | Capcom |
Designer(s) | Elaine Ditton Richard Ditton |
Artist(s) | Tim Skelly Richard Ditton |
Composer(s) | David Thiel |
Platform(s) | Arcade |
Release | August 10, 1988 [2] [1] |
Genre(s) | Sports |
Mode(s) | Up to 4 players alternately |
Capcom Bowling is a top down bowling sports simulation game developed by Incredible Technologies [3] (under the brand name Strata) and released by Capcom to arcades in 1988. [1] Up to 4 four players could play a single game playing alternately. The controls feature a trackball which is used to control both direction and power, and two buttons which control left and right spin or hook. Comedic animations play for making certain shots.
The game was released in both an upright cabinet and a cocktail version. Most of the upright cabinets are conversion kits for existing cabinets although a limited number of dedicated cabinets were produced. These cabinets featured a birch plywood finish to mimic a bowling lane, a larger marbled trackball and painted side art. [4] The Japanese version featured a different cabinet.
An alternate version, Coors Light Bowling, was released the following year. [4] This version features endorsement from the beer drink Coors Light. The title screen is completely different on this version and some of the animations were changed to add Coors Light references.
In Japan, Game Machine listed Capcom Bowling on their October 1, 1988 issue as being the most-successful upright/cockpit arcade unit of the month. [5] In North America, it was a commercial success, selling about 12,000 arcade units by early 1991. [6]
Your Sinclair called the game "quite fun" but "a little quick and easy". [7]
In 1990, Capcom entered the bowling industry with Bowlingo. It was a coin-operated, electro-mechanical, fully automated mini ten-pin bowling installation. It was smaller than a standard bowling alley, designed to be smaller and cheaper for amusement arcades. Bowlingo drew significant earnings in North America upon release in 1990. [8]
Final Lap is a 1987 racing simulation video game developed and published by Namco. Atari Games published the game in the United States in 1988. It was the first game to run on Namco's then-new System 2 hardware and is a direct successor to Namco's Pole Position (1982) and Pole Position II (1983). It was ported to the Famicom by Arc System Works, making it Arc System Works’ debut game.
After Burner is a rail shooter arcade video game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player controls an American F-14 Tomcat fighter jet and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by destroying incoming enemies. The plane is equipped with a machine gun and a limited supply of heat-seeking missiles. The game uses a third-person perspective, as in Sega's earlier Space Harrier (1985) and Out Run (1986). It runs on the Sega X Board arcade system which is capable of surface and sprite rotation. It is the fourth Sega game to use a hydraulic "taikan" motion simulator arcade cabinet, one that is more elaborate than their earlier "taikan" simulator games. The cabinet simulates an aircraft cockpit, with flight stick controls, a chair with seatbelt, and hydraulic motion technology that moves, tilts, rolls and rotates the cockpit in sync with the on-screen action.
Cabal is a 1988 arcade shooter video game originally developed by TAD Corporation and published in Japan by Taito, in North America by Fabtek and in Europe by Capcom. In the game, the player controls a commando, viewed from behind, trying to destroy various enemy military bases. The game was innovative for the era, but only a mild success in the arcades, and became better known for its various home conversions.
Super Sprint is a racing video game released by Atari Games and Midway Games in 1986. Up to three players drive Formula One-like cars on a circuit that is viewed from above. The game is a successor to Gran Trak 10 and the Sprint series, which were black-and-white games from the 1970s. A sequel, Championship Sprint, was released later in the same year.
An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Machine Manufacturers Association (JAMMA) wiring standard. Some include additional connectors for features not included in the standard.
Super Hang-On is a motorcycle racing arcade video game released by Sega as the sequel to Hang-On. It uses a simulated motorcycle arcade cabinet, like the original game. An updated version was released in arcades 1991 as Limited Edition Hang-On.
TX-1 is an arcade racing simulation game developed by Tatsumi and released in 1983. It was licensed to Namco, who in turn licensed it to Atari, Inc. for release in the United States, thus the game is considered a successor to Pole Position and Pole Position II. It was also released in the United Kingdom, Ireland and mainland Europe via Atari Ireland.
Street Fighter is a 1987 arcade game by Japanese developer and publisher Capcom. It is the first competitive fighting game produced by the company and the first installment in the Street Fighter series. It was a commercial success in arcades and introduced special attacks and some of the conventions made standard in later fighting games, such as the six-button controls and the use of command-based special moves.
Pole Position II is the sequel to racing simulation game Pole Position, released by Namco for arcades in 1983. As with its predecessor, Namco licensed this game to Atari, Inc. for US manufacture and distribution. Atari Corporation released a port as the pack-in game for its Atari 7800 ProSystem console launch in 1986. Pole Position arcade machines can be converted to Pole Position II by swapping several chips.
Gun.Smoke is vertically scrolling run and gun video game and designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released in arcades in 1985. Gun.Smoke centers on a character named Billy Bob, a bounty hunter going after the criminals of the Wild West.
Forgotten Worlds, titled Lost Worlds in Japan, is a side-scrolling shooter video game by Capcom, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1988. It is notable for being the first title released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware.
The Ninja Warriors (ニンジャウォーリアーズ) is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game developed and released by Taito in 1987. The original arcade game situated one display in between projected images of two other displays, creating the appearance of a triple-wide screen. Ports were released for home systems including the Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, PC Engine, and Sega Mega-CD.
Quartet (カルテット) is a run and gun video game released by Sega for arcades in 1986. Quartet allows one to four players to guide a set of characters through a base taken over by an army of robots. Players control either Joe (yellow), Mary (red), Lee (blue), or Edgar (green) across 32 side-scrolling levels. The object of the game is to advance through the level, fighting opponents that come out of portals in the walls, and eventually defeat a boss that carries the door key used to open the "exit door" for the level.
Buggy Boy, known as Speed Buggy in North America, is an off-road racing game developed by Tatsumi and released for arcades in 1985. The cockpit version of the arcade cabinet has a panoramic three-screen display, a feature previously employed in TX-1, but with Buggy Boy having a larger cabinet. An upright, single-screen cabinet was released in 1986 under the name Buggy Boy Junior.
Air Inferno is a 1990 flight simulation arcade video game developed and released by Taito, in Japan, Europe and North America. A spin-off from Taito's Landing series, Air Inferno is an aerial firefighting simulation that involves piloting a helicopter on various rescue missions, shooting a fire extinguisher to extinguish flames while rescuing civilians.
Cobra Command, known as Thunder Storm (サンダーストーム) in Japan, is an interactive movie shooter game originally released by Data East in 1984 as a LaserDisc-based arcade game. Released as an arcade conversion kit for Bega's Battle (1983), Cobra Command became one of the more successful laserdisc games in 1984. A Mega-CD port of Cobra Command developed by Wolf Team was released in 1992.
Enduro Racer (エンデューロレーサー) is an arcade racing game from Sega. It was released in 1986 with two arcade cabinet versions, a stand-up cabinet with handlebars and a full-sized dirt bike cabinet. It is often seen as a dirt racing version of Hang-On, as it uses a similar engine and PCB. The game was later released for the Master System in 1987, the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 in 1988, and the Amstrad CPC and Atari ST in 1989.
WEC Le Mans, known as WEC Le Mans 24 in Japan, is a racing simulation video game released in arcades by Konami in 1986. It was the first racing video game to depict the 24 Hours of Le Mans World Endurance Championship (WEC). The Lap of Le Mans is split up into three sections, during which the time of day changes from day to dusk, dusk to night, and night to dawn.
Ninja Hayate (忍者ハヤテ) is a 1984 laserdisc video game first developed and released by Taito and Malone Films for arcades in Japan and the United States. The game was later ported to the Sega CD video game console as Revenge of the Ninja in 1994.
Then, in 1988, Capcom Bowling — a game Incredible Technologies produced — hit arcades. To roll, players had to aim and spin a trackball. The process wasn't quite analogous to bowling, but it made the game interactive in a way that joysticks and buttons alone couldn't.