The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it one of the first consoles with backward compatibility. It shipped with a different model of joystick from the 2600-standard CX40 and Pole Position II as the pack-in game. Most of the announced titles at launch were ports of 1981–1983 arcade video games.
A platformer is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels with uneven terrain and suspended platforms of varying height that require jumping and climbing to traverse. Other acrobatic maneuvers may factor into the gameplay, such as swinging from vines or grappling hooks, jumping off walls, gliding through the air, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a 1991 platform game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Genesis/Mega Drive. It was released in North America on June 23 and in PAL regions and Japan the following month. Players control Sonic the Hedgehog, who can run at near supersonic speeds; Sonic sets out on a quest to defeat Dr. Robotnik, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and seeks the powerful Chaos Emeralds. The gameplay involves collecting rings as a form of health, and a simple control scheme, with jumping and attacking controlled by a single button.
Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who dive down towards the player in an attempt to hit them.
Galaga is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was released by Midway Manufacturing. It is the sequel to Galaxian (1979), Namco's first major video game hit in arcades. Controlling a starship, the player is tasked with destroying the Galaga forces in each stage while avoiding enemies and projectiles. Some enemies can capture a player's ship via a tractor beam, which can be rescued to transform the player into a "dual fighter" with additional firepower.
ROM hacking is the process of modifying a ROM image or ROM file of a video game to alter the game's graphics, dialogue, levels, gameplay, and/or other elements. This is usually done by technically inclined video game fans to improve an old game of importance, as a creative outlet, or to make new, unofficial games using the old game's engine. ROM hacks either re-design a game for new, fun gameplay while keeping most if not all of the items the same, as well as unlocking/reimplementing features that existed in the game's code but are not utilized in-game.
The following article is a broad timeline of arcade video games.
1992 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Dragon Quest V, Final Fantasy V, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, and Super Mario Kart, along with new titles such as Art of Fighting, Lethal Enforcers, Mortal Kombat and Virtua Racing.
Fueled by the previous year's release of the colorful and appealing Pac-Man, the audience for arcade video games in 1981 became much wider. Pac-Man influenced maze games began appearing in arcades and on home systems. Pac-Man was the highest grossing video game for the second year in a row. Nintendo's Donkey Kong defined the platform game genre, while Konami's Scramble established scrolling shooters. The lesser known Jump Bug combined the two concepts into both the first scrolling platform game and the first platform shooter. Other arcade hits released in 1981 include Defender, Frogger, and the Galaxian sequel Galaga.
Namco Museum is a series of video game compilations developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for home video game consoles. The first title in the series, Namco Museum Vol. 1, was released for the PlayStation in 1995. Entries in the series have been released for multiple platforms, including the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and Xbox 360. the latest being Namco Museum Archives Vol. 2, released in 2020.
The Sega Genesis, also known as the Mega Drive outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis. In 1990, it was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tectoy in Brazil. In South Korea, it was distributed by Samsung Electronics as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy.
A side-scrolling video game is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics during the golden age of arcade games was a pivotal leap in game design, comparable to the move to 3D graphics during the fifth generation.
Somari is a side-scrolling platform video game for the Famicom. An unlicensed recreation of Sega's 1991 Sega Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog, the game was sold primarily around Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, and other regions where pirated NES cartridges were distributed. Like the original, players venture to defeat the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik, who plots to turn the animal population of the fictional South Island into evil robots. Unlike the original, the game features Nintendo's mascot Mario as the main character rather than Sonic. The title is a portmanteau of "Sonic" and "Mario".
Pegasus is a clone of the Nintendo Famicom that was sold in the Czech Republic, Poland, Indonesia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the early to mid 1990s.
M2 Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer and publisher, best known for handling emulation of re-released games, such as some Sega Ages titles, Virtual Console titles for Nintendo systems, the 3D Classics series for the Nintendo 3DS and their ShotTriggers range of classic STG games. M2 has also created entirely new titles such as WiiWare games for Konami under the ReBirth moniker and more recently a new GG Aleste game. In addition, M2 currently holds the rights of Aleste series and all NEC Avenue and NEC Interchannel games on TurboGrafx-16 and variants, previously owned by Lightweight.
The 1980s was the second decade in the industry's history. It was a decade of highs and lows for video games. The decade began amidst a boom in the arcade business with giants like Atari still dominating the American market since the late-1970s. Another, the rising influence of the home computer, and a lack of quality in the games themselves led to an implosion of the video game market that nearly destroyed the industry in North America. It took home consoles years to recover from the crash, but Nintendo filled in the void with its Nintendo Entertainment System, reviving interest in consoles. Up until this point, most investors believed video games to be a fad that has since passed. In the remaining years of the decade, Sega ignites a console war with Nintendo, developers that had been affected by the crash experimented with the more advanced graphics of the PC, and Nintendo released the Game Boy, which would become the best-selling handheld gaming device for the next two-decades. Other consoles releases in the decade included the Intellivision, TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Genesis. Notable games of the 1980s included Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, Metroid, Elite, Tetris, SimCity, Galaga, Contra,Pitfall!, Frogger, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Defender, Mega Man 2, The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Super Mario Bros. 2, Bubble Bobble, Double Dragon,Final Fight, Ninja Gaiden, Adventure, Joust, Robotron: 2084, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Arkanoid,Populous, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link,R-Type, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Super Mario Bros. 3, Prince of Persia, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?,Gauntlet, Strider, Tron,Dragon's Lair, Golden Axe, Ms. Pac-Man, Out Run, Dungeon Master,Final Fantasy, Altered Beast, Shinobi, Tempest, Lode Runner, Super Mario Land, Battlezone,Dragon Quest, Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, Pole Position, and Marble Madness.
