Obscure Arcade Games

[Aswald]

You know them: those games you played somewhere, once, but never saw again.

Here are a few...

Red Clash.

Snap Jack.

Jump Bug.

Bosconian.

Cuber- Not even the Killer List of Videogames has this one!

A truly bizarre Space Invaders-type game which involved a grinning elephant head on metal legs and silver rings that grew unless you shot them.

Firebird.

[chadtower]

Time Traveler

I just discovered Major Havoc at klov.com... and now I am dying to play it. I have no idea of an arcade that would have one, though, and I've never seen it.

[Sniderman]

I just discovered Major Havoc at klov.com... and now I am dying to play it. I have no idea of an arcade that would have one, though, and I've never seen it. Heh, shoulda been in Vegas at CGE. Played it for hours. Grand game.

I just picked up my obscure game - Targ. Loved it as a kid, but doubted it existed for years until I found a cabinet to call my own. :D

[Ed Oscuro]

Kyukyoku Sentai Dadandarn ('93 Konami) = silly, fun, and pretty humorous. Amazing soundtrack and graphics as well. It's basically, well, a series of boss battles fought with a pretty decent fighting engine somewhat like a Street Fighter game (or the original Fatal Fury, really).

[bigdaddychester]

I remember playing a holographic type game in the early 90's. I think the cabinet was round and was a bit taller than a cocktail cabinet. Does anyone know what the name might be of this.

-Brian

[chadtower]

Probably Time Traveler, the one I mentioned above.

[Ed Oscuro]

Wasn't that a Konami shooter?

[chadtower]

Wasn't that a Konami shooter?

http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/images/T/cTime_Traveler.jpg

[Arcade Antics]

I remember playing a holographic type game in the early 90's. I think the cabinet was round and was a bit taller than a cocktail cabinet. Does anyone know what the name might be of this.

-Brian

It could be Time Traveler (as Chad mentioned) or Holosseum or even Invaders 2000. They're all pretty weak as games, but an interesting use of the holographic image.


Wasn't that a Konami shooter?

Maybe you're thinking of Time Pilot?

[Ed Oscuro]

Maybe you're thinking of Time Pilot?

Yes, I was! I've seen the machine Chad just posted over at System 16 but had forgotten (thanks for the info).

[bigdaddychester]

I guess my memeory is a bit blurry but I think that is the one Chad. I'll check on the other ones that were suggested also just to make sure.

[Anonymous]

Funny thing about time traveler, the holographic nature didn't impress me, the near flawless video quality did LOL

What did they use, a hard drive? laserdisc?

[Ed Oscuro]

What did they use, a hard drive? laserdisc?

Too early for hard drive. Laserdisc, I'm certain.

[Griking]

I remember playing Targ years ago in a bowling alley when I was a kid. I never saw the game anywhere else.

Another game that I loved that I haven't seen that often was Phoenix

[The Unknown Gamer]

Bosconian wound up on Namco Museum 1 PSX

To answer the Time Traveler question, I asked Sega once they said Laserdisc

[Kid Ice]

There was a game in the late 80s that I really liked called Speed Buggy. It was a buggy racing game where you drove through flags; the harder to reach flags had higher point values. There was also a soccer ball involved. I never saw a console version of this game (I believe a C64 version was done in Europe). It is not emulated. Great game.

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=S&game_id=12763

[NE146]

My mind is full of obscure arcade games.. the 81-82 arcades I went to didn't really have a lot of U.S. arcade games, but rather was filled lots of little jap gems.

Marine Date/Marine Deto: The first Tracball game I ever saw..It was at the local Mom and Pop store for a while then I never saw it again. You "spun" (like in tracball bowling games) to maneuver a bouncy octopus through an underwater maze to reach your girlfriend at the end. This only NOW just got added to mame.. but it's still obviously way from playable and the colors are very off. Even if it does ever get fixed.. I doubt it'll be too playable still since tracball games are always a crapshoot in mame.

PortMan: Used to play this one a lot. I think this one still holds up as relatively fun and is actually emulated well, so give it a try :D You shoot packages up to a moving storage. 2 Screens of fun! :D

River Patrol: One of my all time favorites as a kid.. I used to play it constantly at the mom&pop store.. but then I never saw it again in my life! I thought it was doomed to obscurity then the internet came around and I discovered it was ported to the 2600 @_@ Man what I wouldn't have given to have known that (and had one) back in the 80's. Anyway, these days, it's also playable in Mame and is emulated well. So all is good :)

Other obscure games I played and never saw again until Mame hit..

Ali Baba And 40 Thieves
Fitter / Round-Up (hit right about the time of Rubiks Cube madness) :D
And of course.. SPACE CHASER
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/S/vSpace_Chaser.png
And Space Attack
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/S/wSpace_Attack.png
Unfortunately.. both Space Attack and Space Chaser aren't emulated well at all (poor to no sound) :(

[chadtower]

As an early teen I LOVED this game:

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=10573

They had it at a local arcade and it's the only one I've ever seen. You would log into it (what a concept at the time) and it would save your career stats. Man, now that I think about it I'd really love to have one of those... I wonder if it's mamed, though that batting controller would be hard to emulate.

[Retsudo]

Tailgunner- use to play that when i was in HS
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=T&game_id=10012

Baby Pacman- the one that had a pinball machine hooked to it.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=B&game_id=6987

[tynstar]

There was a game in the late 80s that I really liked called Speed Buggy. It was a buggy racing game where you drove through flags; the harder to reach flags had higher point values. There was also a soccer ball involved. I never saw a console version of this game (I believe a C64 version was done in Europe). It is not emulated. Great game.

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=S&game_id=12763


WOW! Has been a long tome since I have seen that game. I remember that game as a kid. I played it alot. Really fun game.

[scooterb23]

Speed Buggy is one of my favorite C64 games...I believe I have also seen it called Buggy Boy in places. Got it for Christmas 1986 or was it 88...played it once a week at least until I got rid of my C64 in 92-3

One of my favorite obscure arcade games was called Numan Athletics. Think of it as superhero Track & Field. Had events like building scaling, and missile throwing I believe...lots of fun, and very colorful graphics...

[NE146]

Thought I'd just throw in that there is a Bosconian machine just 5 minutes away from me here at work right now at the local mall arcade. :D For those of you locals, it's the Factoria mall here in Bellevue, WA.

I think Bosconian was pretty popular by the way...

[Lady Jaye]

You guys will think I'm weird but I actually like the game Phozon (available on the PSX on Namco Museum 3). Most people couldn't care less about this "form the same atom as the pattern" game, but I like it.

Then again, I like Reactor... (I even have the Atari 2600 port!)

[Dire 51]

Here's an obscure one that my brother and I would play at the local laundromat when I was seven or eight:

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=L&game_id=8415

It may have been targeted at kids ages 3 to 5, but it was pretty fun.

[Sotenga]

Who's ever heard of Zombie Raid by Sammy? It's a decent, bloody shooter that I actually found in an old market long ago. I never really got too far into the game, but I thought it was pretty good. I've rediscovered it through MAME, and it's a dang good game. It's pretty scary and ungodly violent. VERY appropriate for Halloween. 8-)

[slapdash]

Anyone else remember Beezer?

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I like Phozon and Reactor. Games about molecules rock.

My favorites? Fantasy. Kickman. Do Run Run. Astron Belt. Change Lanes. So, so many.

[stonic]

-----

[Jorpho]

Is Sonic Championship obscure? I've heard its release was quite limited.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I played Street fighter Gold version, where you can do 20000 ha-do-kens in a minute, you can change the character only pressing start or automatically (the machine is crazy) and Guile, Sagat and Bison can fly!!!
It´s not a joke x_x

[Sotenga]

I played Street fighter Gold version, where you can do 20000 ha-do-kens in a minute, you can change the character only pressing start or automatically (the machine is crazy) and Guile, Sagat and Bison can fly!!!
It´s not a joke x_x

Gold Version? No, I know it as the Rainbow Version. But I have played it. Whoever made that bootleg was on something more potent than LSD. It's some weird shite, to say the least. x_x

And there's this beat-em-up called Violent Storm, made by Konami. It's just a little too similar to Final Fight, but I think it's just as cool. The graphics are colorful, the sprites are large, the sound effects are clear, and the soundtrack is great. Not too many people know of it. It's apparently the sequel to Vendetta, which was the sequel to Crime Fighters, Konami's first attempt at the beat-em-up genre. All three of these games are pretty good, but VS is the best in my opinion.

[Zaxxon]

Atari put out some obscure stuff before they bit it: Vapor TRX, Radikal Bikers, WAR, others?. None of these really took off.

[Reverend JagDiesel]

anyone hear of a Sega/Gremlin game called Space Firebird?

[The Unknown Gamer]

I thought of two last night. Didn't SEGA put out a 3-D Sonic title in the arcades. I wish I could remember the title, but I can't. Except for seeing it at the CES I never saw it anywhere else.

Believe it or not: Mortal Kombat 1
When it was in an arcade here long ago, they only had it for 2 weeks. True story...

[Aswald]

anyone hear of a Sega/Gremlin game called Space Firebird?

Yes, so that was "Firebird." I'd always thought it was by Nintendo.

[Scoots]

I like Scrambled Egg and Pooyan.

[Kid Fenris]

I really dig some of Capcom's lesser-known brawlers, like Battle Circuit and Armored Warriors. And I was seriously into BloodStorm back in the day, even if everything ManekiNeko says (http://grblitz.overclocked.org/fighters.htm#bloodstorm) about it is true.

One arcade game that I played and enjoyed, back in 1986 or so, involved a blob creature running around a multi-tiered stage, trying to stick himself to the ceiling and drop onto the animal foes that scurried around. I only tried it a few times, and I can't remember the game's title or the company that made it. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

[The Unknown Gamer]

It just dawned on me I made a mistake it wasn't Mortal Kombat 1 but
Street Fighter 1. A game which found itself in another title on the T-16

[Raccoon Lad]

@ Kid Fenris

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=G&game_id=7952

[goatdan]

Cruisin USA: Moving Car thing - It's like regular ol' Cruisin, but the addition of a car that shakes you around like crazy makes the game both nasuating and kinda fun. They had it at an arcade I worked at, and it beat itself so senseless it was broken three days out of four.

Battle Balls - I mentioned I got the JAMMA board in an email... I found this game in 1998 in an arcade at a campground with my friend Gary (who eventually became my GOAT Store partner) and we decided to try it out. We probably spent over $40.00 on it in two days. Never saw it again. I even went back to that campground just to look for it... wasn't there.

Time Traveler - As others mentioned

Krull - Haven't seen it too many places... Played it for a while. Understandable why. Yuck.

Bucky O'Hare - I didn't like the series, but this JAMMA beat-em-up ruled. I can't get it to work in MAME though

Quickdraw Shootout - I think that is the name. You had a gun in a holster, and when screen told you to draw, you had to shoot the bad guy before he shot you. Sometimes, you needed two shots. Extremely simple, but darn is it addictive. And you just can't trick that game. It knows where the gun is at all times.

[Kid Fenris]

@ Kid Fenris

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=G&game_id=7952

Bingo. Thanks, Mr. Card.

[Flack]

Bucky O'Hare - I didn't like the series, but this JAMMA beat-em-up ruled. I can't get it to work in MAME though

I'm using Mame32 0.74, and it works fine for me. Of course I also own the cabinet ...

[goatdan]

Bucky O'Hare - I didn't like the series, but this JAMMA beat-em-up ruled. I can't get it to work in MAME though

I'm using Mame32 0.74, and it works fine for me. Of course I also own the cabinet ...

:(

No dough over here with the same version. It says it works, but when loading it simply stops with a whole bunch of some certain letter or number on the screen. I wish I could get it to work...

Wanna loan me your cabinet? :P

[Daniel Thomas]

I thought of two last night. Didn't SEGA put out a 3-D Sonic title in the arcades. I wish I could remember the title, but I can't. Except for seeing it at the CES I never saw it anywhere else.

Believe it or not: Mortal Kombat 1
When it was in an arcade here long ago, they only had it for 2 weeks. True story...

Ah, yes, the Sonic the Hedgehog arcade. This game was either a) never completely finished, or b) only shown in a couple places in Japan before disappearing. I can't remember which.

Fortunately, you can find the rom for the game lurking around the Internet, which works on the Sega Modeler emulator (I think that's the one). I had it on my computer for about a week or so, but I finally ended up deleting it. Sonic arcade just isn't that good (think arcade Moonwalker). Almost nothing that made Sonic special.

[Kid Fenris]

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=9626

Is this the Sonic arcade game? Klov seems to call it "Sonic the Hedgehog Arcade," appropriately enough, but the title screen reads "Segasonic the Hedgehog."

Anyway, it doesn't look like much, but controlling Sonic with a trackball is an interesting idea. And what is Ray supposed to be, a monkey?

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I played Street fighter Gold version, where you can do 20000 ha-do-kens in a minute, you can change the character only pressing start or automatically (the machine is crazy) and Guile, Sagat and Bison can fly!!!
It´s not a joke x_x

Gold Version? No, I know it as the Rainbow Version. But I have played it. Whoever made that bootleg was on something more potent than LSD. It's some weird shite, to say the least. x_x
Well, there are other version very similar that is the Rainbow (also i played it), but you can´t change the characters with the start button, they change automatically

[Jorpho]

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=9626

Is this the Sonic arcade game? Klov seems to call it "Sonic the Hedgehog Arcade," appropriately enough, but the title screen reads "Segasonic the Hedgehog."

Anyway, it doesn't look like much, but controlling Sonic with a trackball is an interesting idea. And what is Ray supposed to be, a monkey?

I believe Ray is a squirrel.

The game most definitely was finished; the problem is that the finished version is encrypted and not currently playable. The version you can play in MAME is a prototype. Hopefully some day we'll find out what the difference is.

I don't think that particular game was released in America. As I said, though, Sonic Championship (which is not presently emulatable) was apparently released in limited quantities.

[o2william]

I'll throw out a recommendation for Kaos (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=K&game_id=8276), one of my favorites from "back in the day." When I move into a place that has enough room, I'll be looking for a full-sized cabinet of this game. Right now I have the marquee, manual, control panel and a magazine flyer. MAME emulation seems choppy, but at least it's playable.

I also enjoy playing Battle Chopper (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=B&game_id=7037), Naughty Boy (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=N&game_id=8832) and Three Wonders (http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=T&game_id=10089) (specifically the Chariot game) on MAME.

[Gamemaster_ca_2003]

I like Radar Scope and Tehkan World Cup personaly and Do Run Dun.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I love Do Run Run. Came this close > < to getting a full-size coin-op of it very recently, in fact, but passed for a variety of reasons. I'd love to find a cocktail Do Run Run.

[Solid Snake]

I think Boong-Ga Boong-Ga is by far the most obscure arcade game known to man.

It holds the honor of being the only arcade game where you shove a giant plastic finger up the ass of a fake lower torso (bent over, of course), and then get marked on how good you are in the sack, depending on how forcefully you jammed that finger in there. It's Korean.