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Let's take a trip back through time and look at some ancient history. No, I don't mean the Greeks, Romans, or dinosaurs. I'm talking video history. When it comes to video games, ancient history takes us back, maybe 20 or 25 years at the most.
No matter what else was going on in the world in the early to mid-1980s, it was an excellent time for video game players and the owners of video game companies. Although coin-operated video machines had been around in some form since the early 1970s, it took some time for them to become commonplace. By the mid-80s, you could find video games at gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants, and pretty much any place where people were available to drop a few quarters.
At the same time, some companies decided to try to market similar games for people to play at home. The home experience never claimed to be the same as the real thing, since the big coin-operated machines had substantially more memory, better controllers, and sound. Home machines typically cost $100 to $200 with $20-$30 for each game, while the big coin-operated machines cost upwards of $500, and only offered one game at a time. |
Classic Game Info
Here are several links for people wanting to know more about the history of video games or emulators.
http://vintagearcade.net/links.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videogame_Timeline
http://www.classicgaming.com/
http://www.mame.net/ |
After arcades came along, you could play video games in lots of places. All you needed for an arcade was a roomful of games. Then kids of all ages would bring their money, and come in and play.
As arcades became popular, several interesting things happened in the home game market. Because a number of low quality games hit the market, home video games hit a big dip for more than five years. In the mid-80s, it took a battle between Sega and Nintendo over "the next generation" of home video consoles (along with some questionable marketing tactics) for the public to start buying games again. Over time, that competition led to today's competition among Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.
The world of coin operated games also reached a saturation point in the mid-1980s. As technology improved, the units cost more, which meant owners either had to charge players more than the standard quarter, or avoid bringing in any new games.
Quite a few arcades also shut their doors. They discovered that it isn't easy to rely on kids and their quarters as a primary customer. Today's arcades almost always blend other options such as rides, photo stickers, and interactive games like basketball shooting, along with standard video games.
All this history points to the fact that over maybe an eight-year period, literally thousands of games attracted plenty of players, who pumped as many quarters into their favorite machines as they could. The home versions also drew their fans.
Like a first car, first love, first pet, or (for geeks) first personal computer, you never forget your first video games. These games hold a special place in your heart, and after all these years, you might want to see if you can find that favorite game again.
The good news is that it's easy to rediscover these classic games. In fact, in just the last few years, it has become easier and easier to track down everything from a pretty good approximation of your favorite game to the actual machine itself. Here's a quick run-down of the various options available for classic game fans who want to use the power of their PC to recreate a nostalgic gaming experience.
Head for the Computer Store
Probably the easiest way to get your favorite game is to buy the software program from a computer store. Past and present game companies realize that there is a market for their previous titles as players from the past age and new players emerge. (What better way for parents to know exactly what their youngster is playing than by giving Junior a game they used to play.)
In the past few years, Midway, Namco, Activision, and Atari have all released various "Anniversary Edition" collections of their older video game titles for the PC and for various consoles. Each collection contains 10-20 games, usually with the original programming. Many of them contain other information about the particular games, such as artwork or trivia such as how the game did commercially or any interesting programming.
For example, the old Defender 2 was later was marketed as Stargate. It contained a never-resolved bug that caused some aliens to fly toward the player's ship, and some to fly away from it.
Play the Real Thing
Another group of classic coin-operated game fans say, "Why play conversions on your computer when you can play the real thing?" For these folks, the real thing means either an authentic coin-op machine or a close approximation. (In the classic car world, the term is "replica.")
Some people engage in a quest to track down where in the world a particular coin-operated machine ended up. Because some companies made only a few thousand machines or created them only for a limited time, some consoles are definitely more difficult to track down than others. For example, Ikari Warriors 3 was a late release, compared to Pac Man, which was much more common. Some of these elusive games have turned up in obscure mini-marts or ferry boats, where no one has played them for years.
With coin-operated machines, price is a big consideration. The going rate for most games, depending on the technology involved, the rarity, the age, and the condition, seems to range between $500 and $2,500.
For instance, a refurbished Ms. Pac Man machine would probably sell for less than a Dragon's Lair machine, which was one of the more expensive laser disc games in its time.
Plus, because many of these games have been played and played hard, some for 20-plus years, many are not in great condition. Original monitors may have images burned in, and the controllers could be loose or sticky. In many cases, the artwork may be damaged.
Many traders have begun making changes or at least trying to restore the machines to their original greatness. Various auction sites sell things like cabinets, pieces of artwork, new monitors, and even controllers.
Other changes you may see to a game are internal. Programming knowledge has improved over the decades, and creative hobby programmers have invested time trying to improve game products from the past.
At some of the classic gamer Web sites, you'll see offers for reprogrammed games, or tips on how to do it yourself. However, in some cases, the program itself is locked into a read-only memory (ROM) chip. So the program can be put into a new circuit board and cabinet, but it can't be reprogrammed.
Find It Online
Finding games online is a bit of a gray area. Generally, it involves scouring various sites for either the exact program or a close approximation. For years, game fans had to rely on public domain/shareware versions of games that were not quite the same as the original. For example, a popular downloadable version of Pac Man was called Munchman.
In some cases, you can download just the file of the game you want or order the original ROM if it's available. In just the last few years, there has been an increase in emulators. An emulator is a program that simulates another piece of hardware.
For instance, suppose you want to play a favorite Playstation game, but you only have a PC. You can download one of the three or four Playstation emulators that have been developed.
Of course, the emulator won't do you much good without a program to run on it. That's the next step. Each of the main emulators includes a list of either the specific games or brands it can run, so you just need to find those games.
MAME, for example, has become the most popular emulator for Windows users who yearn for classic coin-op games. This emulator can run more than 3,000 games from most of the mainstream companies.
But if you're a TI-99 fan (and yes, they are out there), you'll have to find another emulator to play Tunnels of Doom, Tumbleweed, or Parsec. And then some people just want to simulate the actual TI screen and BASIC programming without the information contained in the cartridges.
The good news is that with the right emulator, your gaming days are going to be bright. The less-than-good news is that some of the legal issues are still being worked out. Although no one seems to get upset about the idea of emulators per se, many of the programs that run on them are considered proprietary. So the companies that own the rights to the programs probably won't want their product bought, sold or given away without their permission.
Some sites try to justify legal downloads by comparing the download process to taping a movie off TV for personal use and then giving that tape to a friend. As long as no one is profiting or reselling the tape, and no further duplications are made, it's fine.
Other sites charge for the privilege (often called a "rental fee") for the individual program owned by the owner of the site. Some people say copying any proprietary ROM is illegal, so they only offer the public domain or shareware programs as free downloads. Other sites have plenty of warnings that there are still uncharted waters for ownership. And some sites just ignore the issue entirely or justify why their site is OK.
These legal waters are murky in the still-developing Internet. Movie and music downloading has seen several prosecutions in just the last few years, but computer piracy has been quieter, especially in the area of older titles.
Oh the Options!
If you're looking for classic games, the best option depends on you, your pocketbook, and your technical knowledge.
Coin-op fans will tell you that that playing a favorite game from your past with your PC's speaker and mouse isn't the same or as memorable as actually playing the real arcade machine. Certain features are also unique to certain ROM chips that even the emulator people say they can't duplicate.
For those who like to tinker, and have enough expertise to crack open the ROM, tweak it a little and get the game running again, classic games offer a great challenge. The less nerdy may opt for the emulator option. Why spend thousands on one game (and probably thousands to ship it from some guy in selling it from a mini-mart in North Carolina) when you can have dozens of classic games right on your hard drive?
Of course, the easiest option is just to run over to the budget bin at your favorite computer superstore, buy the game, and start playing, secure in the knowledge that it may not be exactly the same as the original, but it's exactly what the game company wants you to have.
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