Arcade to console: a fond look at the past

Thanks to LovelyLara for this contribution...

Picture the scene, it’s a breezy Saturday afternoon back in the 1980s and most teenagers are out shopping or going to the cinema, but not me! I was one of those teenagers that loved coin-operated arcade games.

Looking back, I think I was always destined to be into gaming. For me, arcade machines were technically just a training ground for what was yet to come: NES, SNES, Playstation, PS2 and so on. Here I take a look back at some of my favourite arcade coin ops and how they made the leap from arcade to console...

(1) PacMan/Ms PacMan (1980/1981)

This has got to be the be-all and end-all of pure arcade game heaven for me; I spent an absolute fortune trying to beat my score each week. I remember my joy when I found a PacMan machine on a day out to the beach with my family (even now I remember they weren't too pleased that I preferred spending half the day in a dingy games centre rather than getting some fresh sea air).

In all honesty I don’t think I've ever found a great version of this on any games console! The Playstation game, Pac-Man World, was okay but didn’t beat the original arcade version, while Ms PacMan on Nintendo's GameBoy was just plain silly - unlike the arcade version it was slow and wasn't remotely fun.

(2) The Simpsons (1991)

I loved this game. I mean really loved it. The arcade version featured Bart on the skateboard, Homer in his car – and all the sound effects too. It was a classic Simpsons fighting game. It also had Bart's ‘Do the Bartman’ song - which I found hilarious as a teenager (I’m far too sensible to get a chuckle from that sort of thing now, alas!!).

Sadly, I never managed to find a console conversion that was as good. I had The Simpsons game on the PS2 and although it played well and had decent graphics, it felt too "clunky" and couldn't match the arcades. The version on the Nintendo DS really didn’t work for me either; it was extremely annoying to play and surprisingly hard to get through (or is that just me being rubbish?).

(3) Space Invaders (1978)

Another arcade classic... but again, the versions that followed have not been great. They were all a bit dull and slightly nondescript. Lets face it, after a couple of games you learnt pretty quick that nothing could come close to the arcade version - playing it on a TV screen at home wasn't quite the same.

All this nostalgia has left me wondering if there were in fact any games that successfully crossed over from arcade to console ?

Then it came to me...

(4) Donkey Kong (1981)

What can I say other than this was totally, totally addictive and actually one game that works well on probably every games console I've ever played it on. I even had a small handheld game device that only played Donkey Kong!

I drove my family mad with my constant beep beep beeping. I was so addicted that at one point my rechargeable battery even died on me. A true classic and still great fun to this day!

(5) PaperBoy (1984)

Finally, out of the many games that have made the transition from arcade to console I think my favourite has got to be Paperboy; it was completely innovative and totally before its time.
Not only is it a perfect game on so many levels, but it made the jump to console perfectly. At the end of the day, I can’t say I missed not having the arcade handlebars – a normal controller was just as good.

It all reminds me of this with the classic scene from the 1980s film Back to the Future II, when Marty McFly was trying to show off in front of a couple of kids. As he completes a shoot 'em up arcade game with a top score, the kid looks at Marty and says, "You use your hands, that’s a babies toy".

Photo credits:
davidfg, Brainless Angel, Lost Tulsa, Owl Reigns Logico, ChicagoGeek, Kimli