The most overrated classic (pre 1984) arcade game?

[Bloodreign]

Everything you said here makes sense. There are certain genres that I don't much care for and probably don't even have enough experience with to make an educated judgement of what is a good game and what isn't. Not sure I would condemn a game because of that, but I can see your point and get where you are coming from now.

I will have to try Toaplan at some point. I've heard it's worth playing from several people now, but never have tried to track it down.


Just remember, Toaplan is a company, not a game. ;)
They have a worthy list of games:
Fire Shark
Tiger Heli
Slap Fight
Outfoxies
Twin Cobra
Flying/Sky Shark
Fixeight
Batsugun
And some others that escape me at the moment

And Kupo, perhaps my sessions of getting you to beat my score at Toaplan's Fire Shark for Genesis may have spawned some Toaplan respect out of you. :)

[98PaceCar]

Just remember, Toaplan is a company, not a game. ;)
They have a worthy list of games:
Fire Shark
Tiger Heli
Slap Fight
Outfoxies
Twin Cobra
Flying/Sky Shark
Fixeight
Battle Garegga
And some others that escape me at the moment

And Kupo, perhaps my sessions of getting you to beat my score at Toaplan's Fire Shark for Genesis may have spawned some Toaplan respect out of you. :)

Oops. I'm a pretty bad shooter fanatic, I just tend to know the really big name ones. Was there a version of Sky Shark for the C64? That title is sticking in my head for some reason. I know i've played Twin Cobra, but not enough to give it a fair shot. I'll have to see about finding the boards for some of these and trying them out. Thanks for the info!

[Bloodreign]

I believe there was a C64 version of Sky Shark, there may have been one for the Spectrum as well as the NES.

[Buyatari]

Reading what was said above I'd also have to say Dragon's Lair.

It had a crazy following then and still does. I played it once or twice in the day and just didn't get it. Played it in recent times and had the same reaction. While it looked better than others during it's time it just wasn't as fun. Yet there was/is plenty of hype. You'd have to wait in line to get a chance to play it back when it was released and today the auction prices reflect the same hype.

Some of the other picks above don't qualify as hyped and thus can't be overrated.

[Koa Zo]

Reading what was said above I'd also have to say Dragon's Lair.

It had a crazy following then and still does. I played it once or twice in the day and just didn't get it. Played it in recent times and had the same reaction. While it looked better than others during it's time it just wasn't as fun. Yet there was/is plenty of hype. You'd have to wait in line to get a chance to play it back when it was released and today the auction prices reflect the same hype.

Dragon's Lair get my vote for most over-rated early-80's arcade game.
Sure, it is nice to look at, but memorizing when to push a certain direction never fit in with the reflex-action arcade gaming I was looking for.

Just like Snatcher, I don't perceive much "Fun" from interactive digital comics.

[Buyatari]

Actually, no. First, DreamTR's argument is against historical inquisitiveness; under his view of history, we can't comment or interpret stuff that happened before we were born. Why think when you can listen to the echo? 'nuff said, hopefully.

Your second statement is also erroneous- I was careful to take my statements only so far. I'm not making sweeping statements about historical interpretation or reading stuff into other people's topic lines that isn't there. I could have defined the boundaries of my statements more clearly so that everybody was clear what I meant, but I didn't think it was necessary. Woe to him that stirs up the wrath of the person who puts nostalgia over varied knowledge and enjoyment sought in shooting games!

All I said was that I thought, in terms of fun factor, SI was slightly overrated. Yes, I was not factoring in its contributions, but again that's not what I set out to do and the topic doesn't ask for it. Clearly it has some great qualities in terms of character design, scoring and tactics, and the semi-abstract gameplay setup (standing somewhat in contrast to Missile Command), and clearly it helped popularize certain gameplay principles (most of which I think would have seeped into arcade games anyway; consider how different a beast the "mature" late 80s to 90s shooter is from SI and it stands to reason that had SI been a no-show those designs would only have been somewhat delayed).

Fun note: I didn't say that SI sucked. I don't hate it; I just don't find it terribly great fun, and so I find it slightly overrated.

It's more fun (or at least less frustrating) than playing Galaxian, while Galaga is exponentially more fun than Galaxian. Cresta is somewhat more fun than SI and Galaxian in my book (although it definitely has some problems). Minivader (the cabinet test PCB, emulated in MAME) is more fun for me than playing regular SI (without counting shots anyway), although it hasn't got any scoring system to speak of other than waves survived.

I think what they are trying to say is not that because Space Invaders is important it is exempt from being overhyped. What they are saying is that the people who care about Space Invaders don't think it is best game ever either. Most would admit it is dated and many if you asked their favorite game would prefer updated versions a la Galaxian or Galaga. There is not a lot of hype for it being a great game. So it can't be overhyped.

During the 90's when my friends and I were grabbing all the old arcade machines we could find no one ever said "DUDE do you want to come over and play SPACE INVADERS !! "

I didn't visit arcades in the 70's but in the 80's there was never a line to play Space Invaders. Pacmania had hit by then. Now that was hype. There is some hype these days for Space Invaders being an important game but few prefer it over the shooters that would follow.

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

Space Invaders is a clunky, slow-moving, poorly-controlling piece of dookie. With apologies to all who defended and who will continue to defend it, your sense of righteous nostalgia has blinded you to the completely obvious - in the 21st century, Space Invaders is simply not a fun game. Pac Man and Robotron, among many others, have aged gracefully - but this isn't the case with Space Invaders.

I'd also add Galaga and Galaxian to the overrated list - again, these games have lots of historic value, but that's why they belong in a museum, not my games room. Clunky control, unforgiving hit detection, and most of all, they feel slow, whether it's due to relative player v. enemy speeds, the speed at which bullets travel, or the both of those combined. The action may heat up on higher boards, but it still feels sluggish.

[Kid Ice]

Space Invaders blah blah blah

Holy duplicate user ID Batman.

Someone call Gary Shandling.

[slapdash]

My perspective... And this is my perspective from "back in the day", not any nostalgic look back.

Space Invaders: Definitely NOT overrated. You can't understand what a breath of fresh air it was unless you were THERE, or how intense the audio was. A simplistic game? If you're just looking back, of course, and yes it may even be boring it times, and no it can't hold a candle to Galaga. But at the time, it was AWESOME.

Pac-Man: Definitely overrated. Now hold on; it's not a bad game at all. But the hype was just SO big. When I finally got to play it, I was a little disappointed. Yeah, it was fun, but it wasn't the be-all, end-all that the hype implied it was. So definitely an important game, and a good game sure, but it WAS a bit overrated.

[Miss Boris Yeltsin]

My perspective... You can't understand what a breath of fresh air it was unless you were THERE, or how intense the audio was.
So in other words, it's your sense of sentimental nostalgia that makes the game entertaining.

If Space Invaders was really something that itself stood the test of time (rather than people's fond memories of it or desire to be a part of the history they missed out on being what stands the test of time), all those graphical remakes that came out in the early 90s would have done a lot better...

[NE146]

So in other words, it's your sense of sentimental nostalgia that makes the game entertaining.

I don't think so.. I'm a child of the 70's and have nostalgia for a lot of games (Starship I, Sea Wolf,etc.). But I don't play many of them very much whereas I actually still play SI to this day and still have a lot of fun with it....Although, admittedly a) I'm really good at it. and; b) I'm a Space Invaders freak who has always told people how awesome the game was despite their constant naysaying about it to me. LOL


all those graphical remakes that came out in the early 90s would have done a lot better...

One important thing of note is that none of the graphical remakes of the game had ANY of cool little tricks and secrets that made Space Invaders the game it is. So that instantly made most of them fail as sequels (Space Invaders Extreme being an exception though).

SI was and is a strategic, deliberate shooter. In other shooters, you just react to what's coming to you. In SI, managing the enemy formation is a large part of the game. So you can't really compare it to a Toaplan shooter or whatnot :p Anyway, there was no such thing at the time.. SI is and will always be the true pioneer that blasted the way for everything else.

[Buyatari]

I think to make things easier we need to create a list of all the games that DO have the hype. SI might have a few fans but it wouldn't make the list of hyped games while Galaga would. Pacman, Ms Pacman, Tempest, Tron , Crazy Climber , Donkey Kong, Dragons Lair are all super hyped games.

After that list is formed THEN say what shouldn't be there.

[Bloodreign]

Actually I have to correct myself on one of the Toaplan games I listed above, Battle Garegga is Raizing, what I was supposed to have put was Batsugun. That game is from Toaplan, not Garegga.

[megamaniaman]

I think people are missing the point with calling Space Invaders overrated. The main flaw that everyone is having is comparing it to games that came out after Space Invaders. This is definitely the fatal flaw in thinking. The best thing to do is to compare it to video games that came out before Space Invaders. Fact is Space Invaders was by far and away the best game to this point in time. In fact this marked a watershed moment in video game history. It paved the way for many, many, many shooter games to follow. Again Space Invaders was the best game up to this point. It was revolutionary in game play. I do like Space Invaders, but there are definitely other games I like better. But, with that being said there is no game that came out before Space Invaders that I like better.

[slapdash]

So in other words, it's your sense of sentimental nostalgia that makes [Space Invaders] entertaining.

You're not listening (okay, reading). What I said was NOT what I think now, it's what I thought at the time. No nostalgia there, historical context. Read for comprehension, not just to pick at what you disagree with.


I think people are missing the point with calling Space Invaders overrated. The main flaw that everyone is having is comparing it to games that came out after Space Invaders. This is definitely the fatal flaw in thinking. The best thing to do is to compare it to video games that came out before Space Invaders. Fact is Space Invaders was by far and away the best game to this point in time.

Bingo. In an historical context, it was NOT overrated at ALL. It was "the shizznit" to use a bit of slang. Anyone who says "oh it wasn't so good" either wasn't in the arcades at that time, or wasn't paying attention. Or is just trying to be contrary to raise their post count.