Pole Position is an arcade racing simulation video game released by Namco in 1982 and licensed to Atari, Inc. for US manufacture and distribution, running on the Namco Pole Position arcade system board. It is considered one of the most important titles from the golden age of arcade video games. Pole Position was an evolution of Namco's earlier arcade racing electro-mechanical games, notably F-1 (1976), whose designer Sho Osugi worked on the development of Pole Position.
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic racing simulations and more fantastical arcade-style racing games. Kart racing games emerged in the 1990s as a popular sub-genre of the latter. Racing games may also fall under the category of sports video games.
1942 is a vertically scrolling shooter by Capcom that was released as an arcade video game in 1984. Designed by Yoshiki Okamoto, it was the first game in the 194X series, and was followed by 1943: The Battle of Midway.
Spy Hunter is a vehicular combat action game developed by Bally Midway and released for arcades in 1984. The game draws inspiration from the James Bond films and was originally supposed to carry the James Bond brand. The object of the game is to drive down roads in the technologically advanced "Interceptor" car and destroy various enemy vehicles with a variety of onboard weapons. Spy Hunter was produced in both sit-down and standard upright versions with the latter being more common. The game's controls consist of a steering wheel in the form of a futuristic aircraft-style yoke with several special-purpose buttons, a two-position stick shift, and a pedal used for acceleration.
Elevator Action is a platform shooter game released in arcades by Taito in 1983. The player assumes the role of Agent 17, a spy infiltrating a 30-story building filled with elevators and enemy agents who emerge from closed doors. The goal is to collect secret documents from specially marked rooms, then escape the building. It runs on the Taito SJ System arcade system.
Karate Champ, originally known as Karate Dō, is a fighting game developed by Technōs Japan and released in arcades by Data East in 1984. A variety of moves can be performed using the dual-joystick controls using a best-of-three matches format like later fighting games. The game was commercially successful, especially in the United States where it was the highest-grossing arcade game of 1985 and the best-selling home computer game up until 1989. Karate Champ established and popularized the one-on-one fighting game genre, for which it is considered one of the most influential games of all time.
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.
Road Fighter is a racing arcade video game developed by Konami and released in 1984, and was the first racing game from the company. The goal is to reach the finish line within the stages without running out of time, hitting other cars or running out of fuel. The game spawned a spiritual successor, Konami GT (1986), and two sequels, Midnight Run: Road Fighter 2 (1995) and Winding Heat (1996). A Japan-only sequel was also released 14 years later, Road Fighters (2010).
Tennis is a sports video game developed by Nintendo in 1983, and released for the Family Computer (Famicom) in 1984. The arcade game version Vs. Tennis was also released for the Nintendo VS. System in 1984, becoming a hit at Japanese and American arcades that year; it was the sixth top-performing arcade game of 1984 in the United States. Tennis is one of 17 launch games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America and Europe. The game was re-released for the Game Boy as a launch game in North America.
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.
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.
Motos is an arcade game that was released by Namco on September 20, 1985. It runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware but with a video system like that used in Mappy, The Tower of Druaga, Grobda and Dig Dug II.
The DECO Cassette System is an arcade system that was introduced by Data East in October 1980. It was the first standardised arcade system that allowed arcade owners to change games. Developed in 1979, it was released in Japan in 1980 and then North America in 1981.
F-1 Dream is an automobile racing arcade game released by Capcom in 1988. Like many other Capcom arcade games at the time, it was released in the US by Romstar. It also had a PC Engine port released exclusively in Japan on August 25, 1989.
Konami GT, originally known as Konami RF2 - Red Fighter, is a 1985 racing video game developed and released by Konami, using their GX400 arcade architecture. The player drives a sports car which must reach various checkpoints without running out of fuel. A turbo mode increases the car's speed but uses more fuel and puts the player at a higher risk of hitting an obstacle. Fuel power-ups can be found on the road which the player must pick up to make it to the final checkpoint.
Mr. Do's Wild Ride is a platform game released in 1984 as the third in Universal's Mr. Do! arcade video game series. An MSX version was published in 1985.
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.
Monaco GP is an arcade racing game released by Sega in November 1979 in Japan, and January 1980 worldwide. An upgraded version, Pro Monaco GP, was released later in 1980. One of the last Sega games to use TTL chips instead of a microprocessor CPU, the game has players race against a clock and pass rival racers while attempting to earn points driving through five areas.
Up'n Down is a video game developed and published by Sega. It was first released in 1983 as an arcade game, then later ported to the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Atari 8-bit family, and Commodore 64. In Up'n Down the player drives a car forward and backward along a branching, vertically scrolling track, collecting flags and jumping on other cars to destroy them.
Ninja-kun: Adventure of Devil Castle is the first video game in the Ninja-kun series. It was released for arcades, on the Famicom, and MSX by Jaleco in 1984. The MSX version was the only version released outside of Japan, as it was released in Europe under the name "Ninja".
