'82 here as well. Gun.Smoke and 1942 were my go-tos in the arcade as a young kid. Even back then I was into shoot 'em ups! I remember playing GORF on the Commodore 64 a lot and Pac Man at my dentist's office too.
I loved Gauntlet. "Wizard needs food badly!" is forever burned into my brain. Karate Champ came out in 1984 and was the first 1 on 1 fighter I remember. You each had 2 joysticks and moved them in different directions for the various kicks, punches, etc.
Yie-Ar Kung-Fu was one of my favorites in arcades. And I did manage to beat it, all the way through to defeat Blues (game restarts then). Though Karate Champ came out the year before.
I grew up playing Gauntlet at the local YMCA, along with Do! Run! Run! (Mr. Do), Xevious , Pole Position II, Arkanoid, and one of the first Golden Tee Golf cabinets. Like we were saying at PRGE, this really was the best era for arcade cabinets. You don't really see them around like they were in the 80's... every convenience store, laundry mat, wherever else they could put one. Not to mention the cocktail table cabinets that were a mainstay at nearly EVERY Pizza Put in the nation (back when they served pan pizzas that were the approximate temperature of Venus, in cast iron skillets, directly to your table).
Commando is my favorite from 1985, though I didn't play it until 2 years later. I still have a memory of my best score of 1,135,000 on it. The levels repeat until you run out of lives, increasing your score the longer you play. I'm thankful for emulation/game compilations through the years allowing replays, however my reflexes were much better when I was 9.
I always associated Gauntlet and Ghost 'n' Goblins with Round Table Pizza. They always had those games in there restaurants and the music and sound effects always reminds me of Round Table Pizza.
As a kid in the 80's I remember a lot of these games. I spent way too many quarters on these in the arcade. Most arcade games were quarter munchers. You get to a certain point in the game and it would get really difficult and eat up your quarters. But fond memories for sure 😃
I was too young to really play these with any true skill, but I do have fond memories seeing some of these games back in the day. The local Pizza Hut always had a table top arcade. I remember Commando being there at one point. Arcades were everywhere back then. I also distinctly remember Xenophobe being at a local Big Lots. A lot of times I didn't have a quarter to play, so I just watched the demo on the screen.
1985 was a great year for arcades, you had: Space Harrier, Hang On, Mat Mania, Indy and the Temple of Doom, and so many others. It was indeed the Golden Age for arcades.
My Dad was always the wizard. My brother, the elf. I was always the warrior. Good times. Too bad Mom couldn't play the Valkyrie. We never got very far, but Gauntlet arcade was so great.
My first arcade memory was donkey kong and yie ar Kung fu in 86... at the dairyette (family owned diners dotted around small midwest towns) in Bunker Missouri. Yes it is absolutely as small and backwater as a town can be. Our gas station was a double wide trailer that had would have vhs and Nintendo games for rent around 87. I was so small I had to get a barstool to stand on to reach the stick and buttons. 😂 every new game was exciting and being so young they were all so magical. I wasn't old enough to really hit the arcade until the fighting game resurgence in the early nineties but I always loved the golden age games. Ms pacman was my jam for so long. I still put in a couple hours a week on pacman championship edition now. 😅 It'll never happen but I'd love to see a third coming of the mega arcade. Communal gaming was so much fun. Kids now miss so many great social things it's kind of sad.
It was a great year. Green Beret was what we played over here, Ghosts 'n' Goblins, that gane has been handing me my backside for almost 40 years. Gauntlet is God Tier, and plays great on the ZX Spectrum. Horizon us one I've never seen until now! Love md some Gun Smoke 😁 Kicker is new to me too 🤔 Jetpac, yup that's the one 😎👍 I've bever got on with Yie Ar Kung Fu. The Way of the Exploding Fist was more my jam 😎👍
Gauntlet was SO awesome to play and was my first 4-player game to see in the arcades. The ghosts were always overwhelming me and magic potion was a life saver! lol. If I was not playing I would watch the other players to show support.
Only really played Gauntlet and Ghosts'n Goblins of these games, and even then it was the NES versions. Always wanted to try Yi Ar though- I've played so many fighting games through the years, yet not THE progenitor. Feels incomplete, man.
Dig Dug 2 is awesome and very under appreciated. Rush N Attack was great on the NES, I never did see it in the arcades. Commando & Gunsmoke were actually better on the NES! Or at least I had more fun with the home versions, the arcade versions were tough!
Great video, and I loved playing Yi Are Kung Fu back in 1985 when it came out, it's to bad we never really got a true arcade port for NES, SNES, or even Sega Genesis, there was an NES version, but didn't look no where near the arcade version
Ghost & Goblins was the first arcade game I remember playing during holiday in a hotel. Already thought it was tough as nails :-). I played Yie Ar Kung Fu on the C64. I totally loved it. I found the cover pic so cool. Thanks for the trip through the memory lane!
Kicker, is Shaolins Road, I've never seen it called kicker. Had it on my Amstrad and in my local arcade. Really cool game. It's linked to Yie ar kung fu, I think.
Gauntlet is the first arcade game I remember playing. They had it at the local 2 screen theater back in the day (when a 2 screen theater was the latest and greatest)
A elementary school friend of mine had the NES port of Commando,until this yearI didn't know that Commando was a arcade game Halloween is my third favorite holiday
If it only lasts two minutes, you're doing it wrong... I NEVER spend less than fifteen minutes on a meal! :P I didn't get into gaming until 1987 when we got our NES and SMS, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so I don't think we even had an arcade near us, so I'm more familiar with the NES versions of some of these.
Year I was born. So here’s a bunch more to add to my MAME cabinet. And the uk game might jet set Willy. By Rare if I remember rightly. Could be wrong though. I tend to be.
Was kicker a sequel to Yie Ar Kung-Fu? Kind of... In Europe, Shao-lin's Road (Kicker in the US) was marketed as a follow-up to Yie Ar Kung-Fu. But in other regions it was not billed as a sequel.
Never heard about a sequel to Moon Patrol, cool! 😳 I've always wondered myself if "Rush n' Attack" was just a word pun with "Russian Attack", also considering that the original name was "Green Beret". That name change sounds always a bit hilarious to me...
Fighting games wouldn’t be where they are today if it weren’t for Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Yes there was Karate Champ before it but Yie Ar Kung-Fu was the first fighter to incorporate a heath meter & some special moves, while Star’s the First Lady of fighting games.
didn't really get to yie-ar kung fu til MAME I think. a fun one for sure! commando I don't think I played much of in the arcade, but loved it on NES (there were so many new secrets I don't think were in the arcade game at all) gun.smoke was another one I was more familiar with on NES! also did you know there was a german release that much like probotector turned all the bosses into robots! including one that's right off the 'westworld' movie poster.)
I still prefer the C64 version of Yie Ar Kung Fu, it has a main menu still of the main character kicking alongside Martin Galway's soundtrack and is the best home conversion ever for this game during that era(yes better than the awful NES port). Plays nearly exact with the arcade, and the graphics was really close as well with no slowdown whatsoever.
We had atari at home, and when I asked for quarters when we were out, I would be reminded of the fact that we had atari at home. In some ways I felt better off because arcade cabinets were usually way better than the at home experience, and were that way for decades. I only vaguely knew how much my at home console sucked in comparison.
never seen Horizon before, and I consider myself someone pretty knowledgeable about videogames from this era. Played moon patrol many times. Wierd, I can't find any picture of a arcade cabinet. Seems to be incredibly rare according to International Arcade Museum. Unreleased???
The arcade I went to was serious business. You could never jump into someone's game randomly. You get a quick tongue lashing. Course... This was 3 miles north of Detroit. Folks let you know how they felt about things pretty quickly.
I was a young teenager in ‘85 and remember seeing Dig Dug 2 a few times in two or three different arcades but then after ‘86 or ‘87 they Disappeared! 🙄 It was fun for a while but lacked the “Magic” of the original. Also Yie Ar Kung Fu was one of my Jams back then even though I wasn’t very good at it! 🤦♂️
Man I played so much Yie Ar Kung Fu. I forgot the name of the last opponent but I beat him like 3 times before losing as they repeated the fighters. Someone told me that if you beat everybody 5 times you face a fighter called Dragon and then you get the end!🤔
Isn't it weird that right handed people use the arcade stick with their left hand and left handed people use it with their right hand?. It should be the opposite. Also, I´m right handed and playing arcades I use my left hand to use the stick but if I use a joystick, I use my right hand and I cant use it with the left. Its funny how things work and how we can easily trick the brain.
In 85, I was about 10 years old. I never knew Moon Patrol had a sequel. Love that game and beat both the beginner and expert course. Makes me sick when these millennials refer to the N64 as old school. I usually scoff at their ignorance and tell them that there is quite a bit of gaming that occurred even before the NES released over here.
Use code JOHNRIGGS50 to get 50% off your first Factor box at bit.ly/3l76LDD
I was born in 82. This era of gaming was my introduction to gaming! Happy times😊🎮
82 baby here too. I might have been a few years late but I was playing these games as well :)
I'm a 79 guy so I share in this era of gaming. Nothing but fond memories here😄
'82 here as well. Gun.Smoke and 1942 were my go-tos in the arcade as a young kid. Even back then I was into shoot 'em ups! I remember playing GORF on the Commodore 64 a lot and Pac Man at my dentist's office too.
I was 10 years old in '85, so I do remember these days very well. It was great time for arcade games.
I loved Gauntlet. "Wizard needs food badly!" is forever burned into my brain.
Karate Champ came out in 1984 and was the first 1 on 1 fighter I remember. You each had 2 joysticks and moved them in different directions for the various kicks, punches, etc.
Is that the game featured in the movie Bloodsport?
Yie-Ar Kung-Fu was one of my favorites in arcades. And I did manage to beat it, all the way through to defeat Blues (game restarts then). Though Karate Champ came out the year before.
I grew up playing Gauntlet at the local YMCA, along with Do! Run! Run! (Mr. Do), Xevious , Pole Position II, Arkanoid, and one of the first Golden Tee Golf cabinets. Like we were saying at PRGE, this really was the best era for arcade cabinets. You don't really see them around like they were in the 80's... every convenience store, laundry mat, wherever else they could put one. Not to mention the cocktail table cabinets that were a mainstay at nearly EVERY Pizza Put in the nation (back when they served pan pizzas that were the approximate temperature of Venus, in cast iron skillets, directly to your table).
85 was the year I was born! I love how you showcase the years like this I didn't start gaming until the SNES lol
Commando is my favorite from 1985, though I didn't play it until 2 years later. I still have a memory of my best score of 1,135,000 on it. The levels repeat until you run out of lives, increasing your score the longer you play. I'm thankful for emulation/game compilations through the years allowing replays, however my reflexes were much better when I was 9.
I always associated Gauntlet and Ghost 'n' Goblins with Round Table Pizza. They always had those games in there restaurants and the music and sound effects always reminds me of Round Table Pizza.
Ye Are Kung Fu was my JAM! Used to play it at the grocery store while my mom would shop.
As a kid in the 80's I remember a lot of these games. I spent way too many quarters on these in the arcade. Most arcade games were quarter munchers. You get to a certain point in the game and it would get really difficult and eat up your quarters. But fond memories for sure 😃
Great video. Kicker was a very fun game. Underrated in my opinion. Also, Commando the movie and game are totally underrated.
I was too young to really play these with any true skill, but I do have fond memories seeing some of these games back in the day. The local Pizza Hut always had a table top arcade. I remember Commando being there at one point. Arcades were everywhere back then. I also distinctly remember Xenophobe being at a local Big Lots. A lot of times I didn't have a quarter to play, so I just watched the demo on the screen.
I remember playing Green Beret and Commando on my ZX Spectrum, great times
9:32
Funny, this game just recently came out for Arcade Archives from Hamster but it's called Shao-lin's Road instead of Kicker.
1985 was a great year for arcades, you had: Space Harrier, Hang On, Mat Mania, Indy and the Temple of Doom, and so many others. It was indeed the Golden Age for arcades.
My Dad was always the wizard. My brother, the elf. I was always the warrior. Good times. Too bad Mom couldn't play the Valkyrie. We never got very far, but Gauntlet arcade was so great.
My first arcade memory was donkey kong and yie ar Kung fu in 86... at the dairyette (family owned diners dotted around small midwest towns) in Bunker Missouri. Yes it is absolutely as small and backwater as a town can be. Our gas station was a double wide trailer that had would have vhs and Nintendo games for rent around 87.
I was so small I had to get a barstool to stand on to reach the stick and buttons. 😂 every new game was exciting and being so young they were all so magical. I wasn't old enough to really hit the arcade until the fighting game resurgence in the early nineties but I always loved the golden age games. Ms pacman was my jam for so long. I still put in a couple hours a week on pacman championship edition now. 😅
It'll never happen but I'd love to see a third coming of the mega arcade. Communal gaming was so much fun. Kids now miss so many great social things it's kind of sad.
It was a great year. Green Beret was what we played over here, Ghosts 'n' Goblins, that gane has been handing me my backside for almost 40 years. Gauntlet is God Tier, and plays great on the ZX Spectrum.
Horizon us one I've never seen until now!
Love md some Gun Smoke 😁
Kicker is new to me too 🤔
Jetpac, yup that's the one 😎👍
I've bever got on with Yie Ar Kung Fu. The Way of the Exploding Fist was more my jam 😎👍
Oh man! Gauntlet was my machine at our local pizza place. I played that cabinet every weekend.
I’ve been blessed to see all from 1980-Now good times
Wow! Super nostalgia with Section Z. Just had a massive flash of playing that on the NES! Loved that game.
The Commando arcade game was released in May of ‘85, the movie of the same name premiered 5 months later.
10:10
I think it was called Jetpac and Rare (before they eventually became Rare if that makes any sense) were the ones who made that game.
I was born in 1985 but by 1991 I had played just about all of the arcade games on your list...
Gauntlet was SO awesome to play and was my first 4-player game to see in the arcades. The ghosts were always overwhelming me and magic potion was a life saver! lol. If I was not playing I would watch the other players to show support.
Kicker was also named Shao Lin's Road. 👍🏻
The player character in Kicker looks like Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse but Roadhouse came out in 89!
Only really played Gauntlet and Ghosts'n Goblins of these games, and even then it was the NES versions. Always wanted to try Yi Ar though- I've played so many fighting games through the years, yet not THE progenitor. Feels incomplete, man.
You mentioned it & I remember kids dropping in quarters to pop in a game with me and I'd thank them because they saved my azz! 😂
Dig Dug 2 is awesome and very under appreciated. Rush N Attack was great on the NES, I never did see it in the arcades. Commando & Gunsmoke were actually better on the NES! Or at least I had more fun with the home versions, the arcade versions were tough!
I didn't know there was a sequel to Moon Patrol. I used to love that game.
Great video, and I loved playing Yi Are Kung Fu back in 1985 when it came out, it's to bad we never really got a true arcade port for NES, SNES, or even Sega Genesis, there was an NES version, but didn't look no where near the arcade version
Someone said it below but yes it was just called Jetpac. In addition I believe Karate Champ came before Yie Arr Kung Fu. Great video.
The "famous" game its called Jetpac and it was made by Rare.
Great game on the ZX Spectrum.
Ghost & Goblins was the first arcade game I remember playing during holiday in a hotel. Already thought it was tough as nails :-). I played Yie Ar Kung Fu on the C64. I totally loved it. I found the cover pic so cool. Thanks for the trip through the memory lane!
"If you know what Burger Chef was, its time for your colonoscopy." Hahahahaha! Oh wait, I was born in '78. You're talking to me.
I remember as a kid in the '80s wondering if I was the only one who saw the "Russian" in "Rush 'n Attack".
Commando was in every pizza place, laundry, bar, corner store, gas station when it came out.
Was it?
Kicker, is Shaolins Road, I've never seen it called kicker. Had it on my Amstrad and in my local arcade. Really cool game. It's linked to Yie ar kung fu, I think.
Gauntlet is the first arcade game I remember playing. They had it at the local 2 screen theater back in the day (when a 2 screen theater was the latest and greatest)
A elementary school friend of mine had the NES port of Commando,until this yearI didn't know that Commando was a arcade game
Halloween is my third favorite holiday
Dig Dug 2 was quite rare, never saw it in any arcade.
Karate Champ came out in 1984, so it’s an older fighting game than Yie Ar Kung Fu.
Great episode
I’m 30, so a lot of these are only familiar because of my older siblings. They taught me well!
Arcade games in 1985 kick ass. 😀👍🎮
I was born in June of ‘82. So many wonderful memories in the arcades.
If it only lasts two minutes, you're doing it wrong... I NEVER spend less than fifteen minutes on a meal! :P I didn't get into gaming until 1987 when we got our NES and SMS, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so I don't think we even had an arcade near us, so I'm more familiar with the NES versions of some of these.
Keep doing this arcade videos! Expecially now with all the emulators…. It is much appreciated!
love this video!
Legit LOLed at the colonoscopy line
Did you legit? 😆
Year I was born. So here’s a bunch more to add to my MAME cabinet.
And the uk game might jet set Willy. By Rare if I remember rightly. Could be wrong though. I tend to be.
I never saw that Moon Patrol sequel.
Love the yearly reviews. Thanks! So much nostalgia, unlike most of the viewers, i actually live back than... Damn i am sooo old...
Commando the game and Commando the movie are not related at all. But just for fun, I photoshopped Arnold onto to Commando NES box cover.
Was kicker a sequel to Yie Ar Kung-Fu? Kind of...
In Europe, Shao-lin's Road (Kicker in the US) was marketed as a follow-up to Yie Ar Kung-Fu. But in other regions it was not billed as a sequel.
1 year before I was born. Im glad I grew up during the 90 we had the best games.
Commando, looking a lot like another Capcom classic... Gun.smoke... coincidence???
Never heard about a sequel to Moon Patrol, cool! 😳
I've always wondered myself if "Rush n' Attack" was just a word pun with "Russian Attack", also considering that the original name was "Green Beret". That name change sounds always a bit hilarious to me...
Fighting games wouldn’t be where they are today if it weren’t for Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Yes there was Karate Champ before it but Yie Ar Kung-Fu was the first fighter to incorporate a heath meter & some special moves, while Star’s the First Lady of fighting games.
didn't really get to yie-ar kung fu til MAME I think. a fun one for sure! commando I don't think I played much of in the arcade, but loved it on NES (there were so many new secrets I don't think were in the arcade game at all) gun.smoke was another one I was more familiar with on NES! also did you know there was a german release that much like probotector turned all the bosses into robots! including one that's right off the 'westworld' movie poster.)
I still prefer the C64 version of Yie Ar Kung Fu, it has a main menu still of the main character kicking alongside Martin Galway's soundtrack and is the best home conversion ever for this game during that era(yes better than the awful NES port). Plays nearly exact with the arcade, and the graphics was really close as well with no slowdown whatsoever.
Oh man you’ve gotta have Space Harrier in here. I also loved Speed Buggy from that year.
We had atari at home, and when I asked for quarters when we were out, I would be reminded of the fact that we had atari at home. In some ways I felt better off because arcade cabinets were usually way better than the at home experience, and were that way for decades. I only vaguely knew how much my at home console sucked in comparison.
never seen Horizon before, and I consider myself someone pretty knowledgeable about videogames from this era. Played moon patrol many times. Wierd, I can't find any picture of a arcade cabinet. Seems to be incredibly rare according to International Arcade Museum. Unreleased???
I had played DigDug2 arcade in a pizza place .
I never encountered Horizon or Lizard Wizard.
Time to schedule that colonoscopy. Too funny, John 😅
The moon patrol sequel looks pretty cool for the time.
The arcade I went to was serious business. You could never jump into someone's game randomly. You get a quick tongue lashing. Course... This was 3 miles north of Detroit. Folks let you know how they felt about things pretty quickly.
👍👍
John's that one kid who held his fork like that.
A list of most fair arcade games would be interesting
We had Lunar Jetman in the UK.
I was a young teenager in ‘85 and remember seeing Dig Dug 2 a few times in two or three different arcades but then after ‘86 or ‘87 they Disappeared! 🙄 It was fun for a while but lacked the “Magic” of the original.
Also Yie Ar Kung Fu was one of my Jams back then even though I wasn’t very good at it! 🤦♂️
12:46 Karate Champ 1984
Man I played so much Yie Ar Kung Fu. I forgot the name of the last opponent but I beat him like 3 times before losing as they repeated the fighters. Someone told me that if you beat everybody 5 times you face a fighter called Dragon and then you get the end!🤔
I’ve got commando , can buy it on the switch now
Pinball was making a comeback in 1985.
I still have moon patrol on the commadore 64
Thanks for the colonoscopy reminder, man!
If you're name was Joe Keep in the Wild West, you better hide.
John i need your help pls help me find link sprites in the legend of zelda for nes with tile layer pro
I actually quite like the famicom version of Yie ar kung fu.
My colonoscopy is next week thanks for reminding me
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard FTW
Nothing wrong with canned green beans
"Ni hao," means, "Hello."
What's wrong with the famicom version of Yie Ar Kung-fu?
I don't think digdug 2 was on coleco
Do you sell those hats and if so please let us know how much
coming soon to riggdgames.com
On a mainstream level,I don't think arcades would work in America these days...people don't act the same way anymore.
I'm actually past due on my colonoscopy.
Isn't it weird that right handed people use the arcade stick with their left hand and left handed people use it with their right hand?. It should be the opposite.
Also, I´m right handed and playing arcades I use my left hand to use the stick but if I use a joystick, I use my right hand and I cant use it with the left. Its funny how things work and how we can easily trick the brain.
The games looked more advanced than the home versions. Never played the arcades, too self conscious. Disabled with a poor hand eye coordination.
Lizard Wizard!
Commando Remastered would be Amazing!
In 85, I was about 10 years old. I never knew Moon Patrol had a sequel. Love that game and beat both the beginner and expert course.
Makes me sick when these millennials refer to the N64 as old school. I usually scoff at their ignorance and tell them that there is quite a bit of gaming that occurred even before the NES released over here.