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After last week’s Arcade Flyer Art Saturday, I promised you something a little different this week. I went through TAFA and dug up the flyers for some of the more seminal and popular games that took video gaming from arcades and into our homes. Sure, a lot the art for these is not what you might consider terribly interesting but sometimes it’s good to go back to your roots. You can peruse the gallery at your leisure and after the jump, check out some short explanations of each flyer.
Punk Shot was produced by Konami in 1990 and gave arcade goers a different perspective on the average sports game. Up to four players could choose between two teams, The Ramblers and The Slammers with each team consisting of two members. Basher and Stallion represented The Ramblers while the aptly named Hair and Spike comprised The Slammers. Four different playing fields were available including an alley, a docking pier, a vacant lot and a park.
Konami produced the Aliens game for arcades in 1990, nearly four years after the James Cameron directed movie of the same name. The game was loosely based on the film and players could choose between two different player characters, Lieutenant Ripley or Corporal Hicks although there was no difference between the two except for the graphics. It could be played with up to two people and was controlled with a joystick and two buttons. It was mainly a side scrolling shooter although a few levels had a switched perspective with the characters moving forward down long hallways. The controls were pretty simple with one button letting you fire while standing and the other button allowing you to fire while crouching.
The Arcade Flyer Archive update for September is in with tonnes of new flyers in all three archives. The video game section is especially exciting this time around because Dan went to a lot of trouble to get his hands on some amazing flyers from Japan including Out Run, Art of Fighting 2, Fatal Fury Special and Ikari Warriors. The Arcade & Amusement section is featuring some nice olde tyme shuffle and bowling type game flyers and the Pinball Archive has got some great new pieces with the likes of Buck Rogers, Judge Dredd and Q-Bert’s Quest.
Whether you’re a long time fan of TAFA or a newcomer, there’s plenty of stuff here to keep you occupied. Dig deep and you’re sure to find some gems.
Originally released in Japan by Tecmo under the name Argos no Senshi, Rygar made it to arcades in the States a few months later in 1986. Rygar put the player in the shoes of the Legendary Warrior, Rygar who is called back from the grave to save the land of Argool from the evil Ligar. Interestingly, in the original Japanese version, “Rygar” was actually referring to the main villain while the main character was just known as “Legendary Warrior.”
Rygar contained twenty seven different levels for your hero to travel through, laying waste to enemies with, among other weapons, his Diskarmor. The Diskarmor was a sort of big shield/circular saw blade looking thing with a chain attached for good long distance fighting. A myriad of different monsters were available to slay and extra points could be earned by collecting various insignias and stars. Level thirteen of the game contained a special hidden bonus star that would grant the player a whopping 1000000 points.
Night Stocker, created by Nolan Bushnell’s Sente Games, hit arcades courtesy of Bally in 1986. It was a bit of an odd bird given that it was a driving game and a shooting game combined in one. Despite the fact that the flyer claims it to be “the highest earning system game in history” I was able to find precious little info on the game in my research. But, what I did find (thanks to KLOV) I will relate thusly…
The Arcade Flyer Archive has completed their August update with an additional one hundred flyers in each of their categories (pinball, arcade & amusement, video game). This time around they have managed to lay hands on a Tekken 6 flyer as well as one for the new Silent Hill Arcade Game. The Pinball and Arcade & Amusement sections are featuring games based on popular video game franchises like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and of course, Mario Bros. If you’ve never checked out TAFA, now is the time, and if you are a faithful fan, you’ll find plenty of new stuff to peruse with this month’s update.
