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Thread: Favorite year for arcade games

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    celerystalker is a poindexter celerystalker's Avatar
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    Default Favorite year for arcade games

    There have been a few years out there that have been exceptional in the number and quality of games to come out. Over time, primarily due to the arcade games, one year has really stood out as a truly insane year: 1987.

    Many arcade fans only dig the really early years, but to my mind, 1987 is untouchable. Why?

    Time Soldiers
    Black Tiger
    Rastan
    Double Dragon
    R-Type
    Contra
    Guerrilla War
    Heavy Barrel
    RBI Baseball
    Tecmo Bowl
    Bionic Commando
    Blades of Steel
    Dragon Spirit
    Gondomania
    Galaga '88
    Karnov
    Twin Cobra
    Super Dodgeball
    ThunderBlade
    Xybots

    ...and a bunch more. That's a pretty nuts year in my book. I never gave it much thought, but as I keep picking up my favorite cabinets and boards to play, it's disporportionately loaded with games from that one year.

    Anyone have one they like better?

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    Great Puma (Level 12) Steve W's Avatar
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    Even though I have intense love for the early '80s arcade scene, I tend to look back more fondly at the late '80s era. First, is because the games became more graphically impressive and developed deeper gameplay from the high-score-chasing era. Real boss battles became the norm, for example. Second, I had just started my slog through retail hell and I finally had my own money to spend on arcade games. My first paycheck went to buying an NES - my fourth or fifth paycheck went to buying an Atari 2600 Jr. to replace my old six-switch. It was an amazing time in my life for gaming. I don't think I could ever narrow it down to a single year, I'd say that 1986 to maybe 1992 were the greatest years for me. Amazing arcade games, new home consoles coming out all the time, and places like Toys R' Us were clearing out all their old early '80s backstock games for next to nothing. I can still remember going into one Toys R' Us and seeing a bunch of Stadium Mud Buggies and Striker! Super Pro Volleyball games marked down to $9.99. I remember racks of Vectrex games that I didn't buy since I wouldn't have one of my own for more than a decade. So many local convenience stores and supermarkets still had arcade games in them. It was a great time to be alive and a video game fan.

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    celerystalker is a poindexter celerystalker's Avatar
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    Yeah, that window was a thrilling time to be into games. Popping into a 7-11 you'd find a WWF Wrestlefest, TMNT, Quartet... even stores like K-Mart had cabinets up front to play. Even reading about stuff like the CD-i seemed incredible, and arcade games were so much bigger and bolder than what home consoles could reproduce.

    I'm kind of in the same boat. As much as I love the Centipedes and Donkey Kongs of the world, the games like Ghosts 'n Goblins and Rastan that were meant to be beaten had a completely different mystique, and it changed everything for me. It wasn't an endurance test anymore; it was about having the skill to complete a short game that was designed to be attractive but brutally difficult. Once "beating" a game became a thing, the catharsis offered gave a new satisfaction that getting a high score but still dying couldn't.

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