Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

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emphatic
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by emphatic »

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Marc
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by Marc »

dan76 wrote:These might not qualify as hidden gems but maybe you haven't heard of some of them.

Mr. Do! had some interesting sequels.
Mr. Do,s Castle
Do RunRun
Mr. Do's Wild Ride.

Wild Ride is probably the most unknown. You run around a rollercoaster dodging cars and picking up cherries. It's tough!

Road Runner by Atari. It's a nightmare to configure in mame, you need a trackball. It has a similar look to Gauntlet. I loved Atari graphics from around that time. I know you don't want Atari suggestions but it's doesn't get mentioned a lot.

Metro cross. A weird futuristic side scrolling skating game where you have to jump over barriers.

Mikie. Top down classroom game where you have to budge other students off their chairs and avoid the teacher.

Food Fight. Another one where you really need a trackball but it's playable with a controller. Single screen game where you throw food a chefs and try to reach the ice cream.

Pacland. The greatest early side scrolling platformer. Should've been a bigger hit than it was. The PCEngine version was done by the guy who made the arcade and he fixed a couple of things.

Toobin. You're on a rubber ring going down a stream paddling through gates. Pretty fun.
I'd second Do Run Run. Fantastic little score chaser that gets very little love in comparison to the original.
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BrianC
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

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I was surprised to find out that DoRunRun got a MSX port under its Japanese name of Super Pierrot.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

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GaijinPunch wrote:Crack Down is dope. Have always loved it. Luckily for me, I had an arcade or two with it. I totally sucked at that game. Quite difficult. I owned the PC for my last few years in Japan. Best I could do was up to 4-2.
Wasn't it, though? In terms of other Sega games around the same era with the same type of setup, *this* game was dynamically harder. Lots and lots of things to think about simultaneously, and with the enemies constantly changing/gaining new abilities, it really was a tough learning curve. One of my favorites from that time, which is doubly impressive since I never really got to see it around here.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by GaijinPunch »

And the hottest pair of guys in an arcade game since Bill & Lance from Contra. Just sayin'...
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by louisg »

GaijinPunch wrote:And the hottest pair of guys in an arcade game since Bill & Lance from Contra. Just sayin'...
In the game, weren't they more 80s-future-Anime style like Zillion or the Japan cover of Quartet SMS? God I love that aesthetic.

I remember the computer ports of this being surprisingly good..? Considering it's US Gold, too...
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by GaijinPunch »

louisg wrote: In the game, weren't they more 80s-future-Anime style like Zillion or the Japan cover of Quartet SMS? God I love that aesthetic.
Image

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Final fight meets... Cobra?


And in case you have friends that don't get what all the fuss about the 80's is...

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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by louisg »

GaijinPunch wrote:
louisg wrote: In the game, weren't they more 80s-future-Anime style like Zillion or the Japan cover of Quartet SMS? God I love that aesthetic.
Image


Final fight meets... Cobra?
Oh wow, they really were consistently in tank tops. Our heroes are ready to bust out a full exercise routine and/or dance-off at the drop of a hat!

More hidden gems: I don't think anyone mentioned Route 16 yet..? I saw it recently got a Switch release, and CGR has been talking about the Famicom port (which IMO is better). It's rough around the edges, but I think it's a neat maze game that has some very interesting play mechanics. That I'm a total sucker for car-related games probably has something to do with it though. But it's like Rally X meets Venture.

Teddy Boy I forgot to mention. It's one of my favorite Bubble Bobble-ish games. If you like the arcade one, there's a really excellent sorta-port/sequel onto Sega CD (originally from that download service). Some of the ROMs you find online are bugged out and can crash, but the SCD version is solid. And there's a cute SMS card of it, too.

You know what's neat too is Kickman. I was recently playing the C64 port. While the sound is horrible, it's a unique game worth checking out. Speaking of early American arcade games, I think Solar Fox rules, and that's one that people don't talk about much. Some people like the home ports, but they're all mutilated in some way or another.

Some of the old Konami games could use love-- I'm thinking of Locomotion. It predates Pipe Dream, so if nothing else, it's maybe of historic interest. Road Fighter also might be considered a hidden gem, as could the Konami GT followup.

I guess we're starting to scrape the barrel a little, but there are so many forgotten games that have ideas which weren't revisited much, for better or worse. Something like Max RPM won't blow your mind, but it's cool in that it's a back-view drag-race game and it's all about shifting and drafting. Then there's Midway's Demolition Derby, which is one of the only games about that topic, and probably the only one from that decade. Or that Sega Samurai game that's on Memorial 2 is really interesting in that it's a simple arcade game that still manages to have cinematic pacing.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by Randorama »

At the risk of sounding uninformative...

Almost anything by Taito, Sega, Capcom, Irem and Jaleco from '85 to '90.
In the first half of the '80s companies had to explore game mechanics and work with weaker hardware.

However, what these aforementioned companies produced in the latter half was mostly magic, for a lack of a more accurate word (e.g. respectively Bubble Bobble, Shinobi, Black Tiger, Legend of Hero Tonma, and Avenging Spirit).

I would suggest Data East games, too, but their games started being excellent by '90-'91. I nevertheless adore Comrade Chelnov and Dark Seal (fantasy, isometric run'n gun. Sort of).
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by Stevens »

Crackdown was great, rented it a bunch for the Genesis.

I want to say it was the 1st cab I saw with "Winners Don't Use Drugs". Any chance would anyone happen to know the first game that had that? I did some digging but nothing so far.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by GaijinPunch »

I thought SNK started that trend (with a similar slogan) but we're going off of ancient memories...
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

Act-Fancer: Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (judging from a few credits played on MAME years ago), Ark Area OR Nova 2001 (I'm not sure which one I preferred, it's been years), Atomic Robo-Kid.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by louisg »

Obiwanshinobi wrote:Act-Fancer: Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (judging from a few credits played on MAME years ago), Ark Area OR Nova 2001 (I'm not sure which one I preferred, it's been years), Atomic Robo-Kid.
Atomic Robo-Kid is a funny one. I remember it was Game of the Month in Game Player's mag, had a ton of ports (or quasi-ports), but now it has faded into obscurity. I could never get into it, though I did like the powerups a lot.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by Marc »

louisg wrote:
Obiwanshinobi wrote:Act-Fancer: Cybernetick Hyper Weapon (judging from a few credits played on MAME years ago), Ark Area OR Nova 2001 (I'm not sure which one I preferred, it's been years), Atomic Robo-Kid.
Atomic Robo-Kid is a funny one. I remember it was Game of the Month in Game Player's mag, had a ton of ports (or quasi-ports), but now it has faded into obscurity. I could never get into it, though I did like the powerups a lot.
It's a strange one for sure, I've been playing the PS4 version lately. Sprites are too big, collision detection is dodgy, there are only really two of the five weapons any real use, graphics are all over the place, and yet I can't help but like it. I remember Mr Heli as being a far better riff on this sort of thing, but I've still managed to have some fun with ARK.

Oh, and Saboten Bombers needs to be mentioned in every conversation such as this one. It's the Bubble Bobble to get hammered with friends to.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

I did want to mention Mr. Heli, but couldn't quite remember whether I even played it (seriously), or just liked something else than gameplay about it.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by lilmanjs »

Spiders, a 1981 game from Sigma Enterprises Inc. I'd call a hidden gem. Haven't really heard anyone talk about this, but it sure does get hard not long into the game, but it is a fun one!
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by BrianC »

lilmanjs wrote:Spiders, a 1981 game from Sigma Enterprises Inc. I'd call a hidden gem. Haven't really heard anyone talk about this, but it sure does get hard not long into the game, but it is a fun one!
I heard of it mostly from reading about that Entex tabletop game based on it.
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Re: Good 80's "hidden gems" for arcade?

Post by Obiwanshinobi »

louisg wrote:You know what's neat too is Kickman.
This artwork caught my attention some time ago.
Spoiler
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Either I got a glimpse of it somewhere as a kid, or it's just that masterfully drawn - such a poster boy for a cab!
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