149 Fun Facts About Arcade

Which 1971 game by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney was the first commercial arcade video game?

Computer Space, a coin-op take on the mainframe game Spacewar!, came in a futuristic fiberglass cabinet, but its complex controls frustrated many bar patrons and sales fell short of hopes.

Atari's Pong was built by engineer Allan Alcorn as what kind of assignment from Nolan Bushnell?

Bushnell gave Alcorn Pong as a training exercise, telling him it was a General Electric contract; the table-tennis concept came from the Magnavox Odyssey, and Magnavox later sued Atari for patent infringement.

Why did the first Pong machine at Andy Capp's Tavern break down in 1972?

It was jammed full of quarters: engineer Al Alcorn opened the Pong prototype to find its coin box overflowing, proof for Atari that the game was a hit worth building itself.

Which retailer sold Atari's Home Pong console exclusively during the 1975 Christmas season?

Sears sold Home Pong under its Tele-Games label for Christmas 1975 after toy retailers turned Atari down; Bushnell approached Sears after spotting a Magnavox Odyssey ad in its sporting goods catalogue.

Space Invaders designer Tomohiro Nishikado modelled his aliens on the octopus-like creatures from which novel?

Nishikado based the aliens on the octopus-like Martians of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, and borrowed the space theme after seeing Space Battleship Yamato and Star Wars coverage.

Why do Space Invaders' aliens speed up as more of them are shot?

The processor has fewer to move with every alien shot, so the survivors march faster; Tomohiro Nishikado let the hardware's limits set the game's rising tension.

How did the first black-and-white Space Invaders cabinets add colour to the screen?

Strips of coloured cellophane, orange and green, were stuck over parts of the black-and-white screen; later cabinets dropped the trick for a true colour monitor.

By quadrupling Atari 2600 sales in 1980, its Space Invaders port became home consoles' first what?

A killer app sells the hardware it runs on: people bought the Atari 2600 just to play Space Invaders at home, and Atari pulled far ahead of its console rivals.

Under what title was Pac-Man originally released in Japan in May 1980?

Puck Man, from the Japanese paku paku taberu (gobbling), was renamed Pac-Man for North America over fears vandals would turn the P into an F.

Which Street Fighter II newcomer was the first playable female fighter in the Street Fighter games?

Chun-Li, an Interpol officer, enters the tournament to avenge her father, killed by the crime boss M. Bison; no woman was playable in the first Street Fighter.

Pac-Man's perfect score of 3,333,360 ends at a glitched split-screen level bearing which number?

256 breaks the game: the level counter overflows its single byte, so the right half of the maze fills with garbled symbols and the board cannot be cleared.

Which novelty duo took the song "Pac-Man Fever" to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100?

Buckner & Garcia followed the 1982 hit with a whole album of arcade-game songs, including the single 'Do the Donkey Kong'.

Crazy Otto, an unauthorised Pac-Man enhancement kit, was bought by Midway and released in 1982 as which game?

Ms. Pac-Man began as Crazy Otto, built without permission by General Computer Corporation, which pitched the kit to Midway instead of selling it itself.

Donkey Kong was created to salvage thousands of unsold cabinets of which flop Nintendo game?

Nintendo of America was stuck with about 2,000 unsold Radar Scope machines, so Hiroshi Yamauchi ordered a conversion, which gave Shigeru Miyamoto his first game design job: Donkey Kong.

Donkey Kong's hero Jumpman was renamed Mario after whom?

Nintendo of America's landlord, Mario Segale, owned the warehouse the company rented in Washington state; Jumpman had been named for its echo of Walkman and Pac-Man.

Which company unsuccessfully sued Nintendo, claiming Donkey Kong infringed its King Kong trademark?

Universal City Studios lost because the court found it had no rights to King Kong, and Nintendo thanked its lawyer John Kirby with a $30,000 sailboat named Donkey Kong.

What do Donkey Kong players call level 22, where a timer bug ends every game within seconds?

The kill screen comes when level 22's bonus timer overflows a single byte, leaving Mario only a few seconds before he dies, so no game can go further.

The King of Kong (2007) follows Billy Mitchell's Donkey Kong rivalry with which challenger?

Steve Wiebe, a schoolteacher from Washington state, is a two-time Donkey Kong world champion; his last reign began in September 2010, three years after the film.

Galaga was the 1981 sequel to which earlier Namco shooter?

Galaga (1981) was the sequel to Namco's 1979 Galaxian; its Boss Galaga can capture your fighter with a tractor beam, and rescuing it gives you a dual fighter with double firepower.

Asteroids, Atari's best-selling arcade game, was drawn on what kind of monitor?

Asteroids ran on a vector display, using the Digital Vector Generator hardware built for Lunar Lander to draw crisp lines; players soon found a 'lurking' exploit by hiding at the screen edge.

Which 1981 Atari game co-designed by Dona Bailey was an early arcade hit with women?

Centipede, co-designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg, was aimed squarely at women, Logg later said, as Atari tried to draw more female players into arcades.

Defender was the first video game project of which Williams pinball programmer?

Eugene Jarvis had programmed Williams pinball tables before leading Defender (1981); its joystick plus five buttons for thrust, reverse, fire, smart bomb and hyperspace made it notoriously hard.

Which sitcom built a 1998 episode around a character's bid to save his Frogger high score?

Seinfeld's 'The Frogger' has George try to move the machine across a busy street without cutting its power, since unplugging it would wipe his record.

Q*bert (1982), the hopper who curses in symbols, was the biggest video game hit for which pinball maker?

Gottlieb, renamed Mylstar Electronics in 1983, was owned by Columbia Pictures, so the Q*bert rights stayed with Columbia after the pinball company was sold off in 1984.

What must Q*bert do to every cube of the pyramid to clear a level?

Change its colour: Q*bert hops across a pyramid of 28 cubes and each flips to the target colour when he lands, though in later rounds a cube may need two hops.

Dragon's Lair (1983) stood out for film-quality animation by which former Disney animator?

Don Bluth, who had quit Disney in 1979, drew Dragon's Lair as a cartoon played from a LaserDisc; to save money, his animators voiced the characters themselves.

In Dragon's Lair the player controls Dirk the Daring on a quest to save whom?

Dirk the Daring rescues Princess Daphne from the dragon Singe; the game was such a sensation that the LaserDisc players inside many cabinets broke down from overuse.

Which fruit is the first bonus item to appear in Pac-Man?

Cherry is the first bonus prize, worth 100 points; a bonus appears below the ghost pen twice per level, and each one vanishes within ten seconds if Pac-Man is slow to reach it.

Which 1982 Sega game introduced isometric graphics and shadows to arcades?

Zaxxon (1982) was the first arcade game drawn in isometric projection, casting a shadow beneath the player's ship; the same year Sega's SubRoc-3D used a special eyepiece for stereoscopic 3D.

Capcom's Street Fighter II was the fourteenth game released on which arcade board?

CP System was Capcom's own arcade board; Street Fighter II's combos began on it as a bug the team spotted and left in, and combos went on to become a fighting-game standard.

Which two playable fighters in 1991's Street Fighter II returned from the original Street Fighter?

Ryu and Ken, the only playable characters in the 1987 original, came back alongside six newcomers; old boss Sagat returned too, but only as a computer-controlled opponent.

Mortal Kombat's Johnny Cage was loosely modelled on which action star Midway had hoped to feature?

Midway had wanted a Jean-Claude Van Damme game, but the actor was negotiating a deal elsewhere, so Johnny Cage became a Van Damme-style movie star; Daniel Pesina played Cage and the ninjas.

Controversy over Mortal Kombat's digitized gore helped prompt the creation of which body?

The 1993 US Senate hearings over Mortal Kombat's gore and Night Trap pushed the industry to form the ESRB, the Entertainment Software Rating Board, in September 1994.

Which Sega racing game was the first release on its Model 2 board, co-developed with GE Aerospace?

Daytona USA showed off the Model 2 board's texture-mapped 3D, and Sega built the stock-car racer to outdo Namco's rival Ridge Racer.

Namco's Time Crisis series set itself apart from other light-gun shooters with what mechanic?

Ducking into cover to reload is done with a foot pedal: release it to hide and reload, press it to pop out and fire, all against the clock that gives the series its name.

Dance Dance Revolution debuted in Japanese arcades in 1998 as part of which Konami music-game brand?

Bemani began with Beatmania, the 1997 DJ game; Dance Dance Revolution swapped the turntable for a floor pad and found a worldwide audience.

Which arcade staple did Joseph Fourestier Simpson of New Jersey patent in 1908?

Skee-Ball's first alleys were more than 30 feet long, far longer than the lanes that later became standard.

Mogura Taiji, a 1975 Japanese arcade machine, became a carnival and arcade staple in America under what name?

Whac-A-Mole is the American take on Mogura Taiji, which TOGO released in Japan in 1975; two men brought a prototype to Bob's Space Racers, which refined it and began selling the game.

Which New York City mayor banned pinball in the early 1940s, a ban that lasted until 1976?

Fiorello La Guardia had pinball machines seized and smashed, believing they robbed schoolchildren of nickels; the ban ended in 1976 after Roger Sharpe called a shot before the city council.

Which 1947 machine was the first pinball game with electromechanical player-controlled flippers?

Humpty Dumpty (1947) had six weak flippers in three pairs up the playfield, and they faced outward, the opposite of modern machines.

Which 1992 licensed pinball machine set the modern sales record with 20,270 units?

The Addams Family (1992), designed by Pat Lawlor and sold under the Bally label, shifted 20,270 units; its maker marked the record with a gold-trimmed Special Collectors Edition in 1994.

What happens to Pac-Man's ghosts when he eats one of the four large power pellets?

They turn blue and flee, and each one caught on the same pellet doubles the prize, from 200 points up to 1,600 for the fourth.

Besides the joystick, what does the only button on a Joust cabinet do?

Flaps the wings: the faster a player taps, the higher the knight climbs, and with no attack button, hitting a rival from above is the only way to unseat him.

Dave & Buster's, founded in Dallas in 1982, calls the arcade inside each location by what name?

The Million Dollar Midway grew out of David Corriveau's games parlour in Little Rock, which stood next door to Buster's, run by James 'Buster' Corley; the pair then put games and food under one roof.

An early version of Donkey Kong was drawn up as a licensed game starring which cartoon hero?

Popeye was to rescue Olive Oyl from Bluto in the early design; when that version was scrapped, the roles went to Jumpman, his girlfriend and a giant ape.

Which 1976 Exidy driving game caused outrage by letting players run over 'gremlins'?

Death Race had players run over fleeing 'gremlins' that screamed and left grave markers behind as new obstacles; newspapers and civic groups attacked the game in 1976.

Space Invaders is often said to have caused a shortage of which item in Japan?

100-yen coins are the stuff of legend here: reports spoke of shortages, but numismatists in Japan at the time noticed nothing unusual and designer Tomohiro Nishikado doubted the tale.

Who designed Pac-Man, aiming to make a game women would enjoy as much as men?

Toru Iwatani designed Pac-Man for Namco with a team of about nine, aiming at women and couples; he has said the character was inspired by a pizza with a slice missing.

Which of Pac-Man's four ghosts is red and chases him directly?

Blinky, the red ghost nicknamed Shadow, targets Pac-Man's own tile and speeds up as the dots run out; Pinky and Inky try to get in front of him instead.

Which 1981 Konami game was among the first forced-scrolling shooters, with a draining fuel gauge?

Scramble (1981), distributed by Stern in the US, scrolls sideways across six stages; the jet's fuel gauge drains constantly and is refilled only by destroying fuel tanks on the ground.

Frogger's second half has the frog crossing a river by hopping on logs, turtles and what?

Frogger's river section has the frog ride logs, turtles and alligators, hopping on an alligator's back but never its open jaws; diving turtles also sink beneath the water.

What is the player protecting from the alien waves in Defender?

Defender's landers snatch astronauts from the planet surface and turn them into mutants; lose every astronaut and the planet explodes. You start with three smart bombs that clear the screen.

Which control device does Missile Command use to aim its counter-missiles?

Missile Command uses a trackball to sweep the targeting cursor across the sky, faster than a joystick for the nuclear-panic scenario it simulates; three fire buttons launch from the three silos.

What is the name of the purple snake that chases Q*bert?

Coily, the purple snake, arrives as a bouncing purple egg that hatches at the pyramid's base; Q*bert can lure him over the edge by leaping onto a flying disc.

During arcade gaming's golden age, which 1982 film was closely tied to an arcade game of the same name?

Tron's arcade game restaged the film as four mini-games, light cycle duels among them, and was named Coin-Operated Game of the Year by Electronic Games magazine.

Which Street Fighter II fighter is a sumo wrestler?

E. Honda entered the tournament to prove that sumo wrestlers rank among the world's greatest fighters, after learning that outsiders did not see sumo as a true sport.

Which two Sega games of the early 1990s popularised 3D polygon graphics in arcades?

Virtua Racing (1992) and Virtua Fighter (1993) ran on Sega's first 3D board, the Model 1; Sony staff later said Virtua Fighter's arcade success won doubters over to a 3D PlayStation.

What is regarded as the first microprocessor-based arcade video game, from 1975?

Gun Fight (1975), Dave Nutting's conversion of Taito's Western Gun for Midway, ran on an Intel 8080 microprocessor; earlier arcade games were built from discrete logic chips.

Which Sega submarine game of the late 1960s made a quarter per play the American arcade standard?

Periscope had players torpedo ships through a real viewfinder, and its surprise success pushed Sega to design eight to ten new arcade games a year.

Which 1982 Nintendo arcade sequel casts Mario as the villain who caged Donkey Kong?

Donkey Kong Jr. (1982) casts Mario as the captor who has caged Donkey Kong; his son climbs vines and drops fruit on Snapjaw enemies to reach the key that frees his father.

Which 1984 Namco side-scroller sent Pac-Man walking through towns to carry a fairy home?

Pac-Land (1984) gave Pac-Man arms, legs and a hat and swapped the joystick for buttons: two to run left or right and one to jump.

In 1981's Donkey Kong, before he was ever a plumber, Mario had which job?

Carpenter suited a game set on a construction site; Mario only became a plumber in 1983's Mario Bros., which moved the action underground among the pipes.

In Centipede, what does each segment of the centipede turn into when it is shot?

A mushroom appears wherever a segment is shot, and since the centipede drops a row each time it bumps into one, a cluttered field brings it down faster.

Millipede, the sequel to Centipede, lets players blow up bugs with bombs of which pesticide?

DDT bombs explode when shot, wiping out every bug caught in the cloud; Millipede also swarms the player with bees, dragonflies and mosquitoes.

In NBA Jam, a player who sinks three baskets in a row is said to be what?

On fire means just that: flames follow every shot and the player gets unlimited turbo until the other team finally scores.

Who designed and programmed Atari's tube shooter Tempest?

Dave Theurer designed and programmed Tempest (1981) after Missile Command, taking the idea from a nightmare of monsters climbing out of a hole; the claw-shaped blaster snaps between lanes as the knob turns.

Which 1980 Atari tank game is considered the first successful first-person shooter?

Battlezone's 3D tank view so impressed the US Army that it commissioned a version, the Bradley Trainer, to teach gunners of the Bradley fighting vehicle.

The name Atari comes from a term in which board game, a favourite of founder Nolan Bushnell?

Go players say 'atari' when a stone is about to be captured; Bushnell reached for the term after finding that his first choice of name, Syzygy, was already taken.

In Dig Dug, what are the round enemies in comically large goggles called?

Pookas are the round red enemies in oversized goggles; the other enemy, the Fygar, is a green fire-breathing dragon. Both can be inflated with the pump until they burst.

Dig Dug spawned which Namco puzzle spin-off series, launched in 1999?

Mr. Driller began life as Dig Dug 3 before being reworked as a puzzle game; its hero Susumu Hori is the son of Dig Dug's Taizo Hori.

The 1982 racer Pole Position is set at which real circuit?

Pole Position's single course is Fuji Speedway in Japan; players must first post a qualifying lap under the time limit before the race proper begins.

Peter Pepper in BurgerTime is chased by hot dogs, fried eggs and what?

Pickles, in the form of Mr. Pickle, join Mr. Hot Dog and Mr. Egg in chasing chef Peter Pepper, who can stun them briefly with a pinch from his limited pepper supply.

In Joust, what bird does Player 2 ride while Player 1 rides an ostrich?

Stork is the second knight's mount, while enemies ride buzzards; in each clash the higher rider wins, and a beaten enemy drops an egg that hatches a new knight.

Robotron: 2084 is credited with popularising which control scheme?

Two joysticks split the job: one moves the hero and the other fires, an idea its designer hit on while his hand was in a cast after a car accident.

Spy Hunter plays the Peter Gunn theme because Bally Midway failed to license which franchise's music?

James Bond was the plan, but Bally Midway could not get the rights; the unbranded spy car still plays the part, turning into a boat when it drives through a boathouse.

In Rampage, which of the three monsters is a giant werewolf?

Ralph is Rampage's giant werewolf, mutated by a tainted sausage; George the gorilla got that way through experimental vitamins and Lizzie the lizard by bathing in a radioactive lake.

In Rampage, a beaten monster turns back into what?

A human is what a beaten Rampage monster turns back into before walking off the screen, and any monster still standing can eat the former teammate.

What is the name of the newspaper delivered in Atari's Paperboy?

Paperboy delivers The Daily Sun to the brightly coloured subscriber houses; smashing a non-subscriber's windows scores points, but damaging or missing a subscriber's house costs that customer.

Paperboy's three difficulty settings are Easy Street, Middle Road and what?

Paperboy's routes are Easy Street, Middle Road and Hard Way; on any of them, losing every subscriber ends the game, however many lives are left.

In Gauntlet, the Valkyrie character is given what name on the cabinet art?

Thyra the Valkyrie stands beside Thor the Warrior, Merlin the Wizard and Questor the Elf on the cabinet, yet the game's narrator uses classes only, as in 'Valkyrie is about to die'.

Gauntlet's core design came from which 1983 Atari 8-bit game, prompting a legal threat?

Dandy, John Palevich's 1983 four-player dungeon crawl for Atari 8-bit computers, came first; he threatened to sue, and Atari Games reportedly settled by giving him a Gauntlet cabinet.

Marble Madness (1984) was Atari's first arcade game programmed in which language?

Marble Madness was Atari's first arcade game written in C rather than assembly; designer Mark Cerny drew on miniature golf and M. C. Escher's art for its isometric courses.

Track & Field (1983) was known by what title in Japan?

Track & Field reached Japan as Hyper Olympic; players hammered its two run buttons so hard that worn-out ones were swapped for sturdier controls on later cabinets.

Which 1984 Nintendo arcade boxing game used two monitors stacked vertically?

Nintendo's Punch-Out!! (1984) used two stacked monitors, the top for stats and the bottom for the fight, with a wireframe boxer so players could see past him to the opponent.

In Capcom's first 194X shooter, what stunt lets the player's P-38 briefly escape enemy fire?

A loop-the-loop, set off by its own button, swings the P-38 nicknamed Super Ace out of the play area for a moment so it can dodge incoming shots.

Which 1984 Capcom shooter, set in the Pacific theater, began the 194X series?

1942 (1984) began Capcom's 194X series; despite its Japanese developers, the player flies an American fighter toward Tokyo, because the game was designed for Western markets.

In Ghosts 'n Goblins, knight Sir Arthur sets out to rescue which kidnapped royal?

Prin-Prin is the princess Sir Arthur must win back from the Demon World; a single hit knocks off his armour and leaves him fighting on in his boxer shorts.

In Bubble Bobble (1986), what colour is the dragon Bob?

Bob, the Player 2 dragon, is blue; Bub, Player 1, is green. The pair must rescue their girlfriends from the Cave of Monsters by trapping enemies in bubbles.

Rainbow Islands (1987) carries what subtitle linking it to its predecessor?

Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 (1987) turns Bub and Bob into human boys who climb each island by conjuring rainbows, with rising water forcing the ascent.

Under what title was the arcade version of Contra released in Europe?

The arcade Contra was sold in Europe as Gryzor (1987); the PAL NES version went by yet another name, Probotector, with the commandos redrawn as robots.

In Contra, which commando fights alongside Bill as the second player's character?

Lance Bean is Player 2 beside Bill Rizer; both heroes fight at once, though the European arcade release made the two players take turns.

In Sega's Altered Beast (1988), which god resurrects the hero to rescue his daughter?

Altered Beast (1988) opens with Zeus raising a centurion from the grave to rescue his daughter Athena from Neff; collecting spirit balls transforms the hero into a werewolf, dragon or bear.

Which studio developed Double Dragon (1987), a successor to its own Renegade?

Technōs Japan gave Double Dragon a sting in the tail: when two players beat the final boss together, the Lee brothers must fight each other to decide who wins Marian.

In Sega's Golden Axe, who is the dictator the three heroes seek revenge against?

Death Adder has seized the land of Yuria, and the heroes have scores to settle: his forces killed Gilius Thunderhead's twin brother and Ax Battler's mother.

Final Fight (1989) takes place in which fictional setting?

Final Fight (1989) is set in Metro City, where Mayor Mike Haggar, Cody and Guy battle the Mad Gear Gang to rescue Haggar's daughter Jessica.

Capcom's 1987 original fighter was ported to the PC Engine CD-ROM² in 1988 under what title?

Fighting Street is how Street Fighter reached the PC Engine CD-ROM² in 1988; the arcade original's deluxe cabinet had two pressure-sensitive pads, so hitting them harder threw stronger punches and kicks.

Mortal Kombat II added which two finishers alongside Fatalities?

Babality and Friendship both spare the loser: one turns the beaten fighter into a crying baby, and the other swaps the kill for a friendly gesture.

Which recurring Mortal Kombat villain made his debut in Mortal Kombat II?

Shao Kahn, emperor of Outworld, debuted as Mortal Kombat II's final boss; fellow newcomer Noob Saibot, a hidden fighter, is named for creators Boon and Tobias spelled backwards.

Which studio developed the 1994 arcade fighter Killer Instinct?

Rare, the British studio behind Donkey Kong Country, developed Killer Instinct and Midway released it to arcades; its combo breakers let a fighter caught in a long chain of hits cut it short.

Which newcomer was created as the original protagonist of SNK's The King of Fighters series?

Kyo Kusanagi was created to lead The King of Fighters '94, a crossover that set his new Japan team against trios drawn from older SNK games such as Fatal Fury and Ikari Warriors.

Which arcade system, launched in 1990, ran Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters?

The Neo Geo MVS (Multi Video System), launched by SNK in 1990, held several game cartridges at once, so an operator could swap titles without buying a whole new cabinet.

Which 1992 SNK game introduced a spirit gauge that drained when special moves were used?

Art of Fighting (1992) put a spirit gauge under each life bar: special moves drained it and grew weaker, and a rival could empty it further with the dedicated taunt button.

SNK's 1993 weapon-based fighting series is known in Japan by what title?

Samurai Spirits is the Japanese title of Samurai Shodown; mid-duel, a delivery man runs past in the background throwing in chicken that heals and bombs that hurt.

In the 1991 Simpsons arcade beat 'em up, which family member are players trying to rescue?

Maggie is snatched by Smithers after a diamond he has stolen flies into her mouth and she sucks on it like a pacifier, so Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa give chase.

Which comic-book team starred in Konami's 1989 four-player arcade beat 'em up?

Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989) let four players pick Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo to rescue April O'Neil from Shredder's Foot Clan.

The character designs in the X-Men arcade game came from which 1989 animated pilot?

The game's look came from X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, the 1989 animated pilot, which is why Dazzler joins Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm and Nightcrawler on the roster.

In Sega's 1986 racer Out Run, the player's red convertible is modelled on which make of car?

Ferrari is the make: Out Run's Testarossa convertible was used without a licence at the time, and each stage ends at a fork whose branches lead on to one of five destinations.

How did players steer in the deluxe cabinet of Sega's motorbike racer Hang-On (1985)?

By leaning the whole bike: the deluxe Hang-On cabinet was a replica motorcycle that tilted under the rider, and Yu Suzuki modelled its racing on the style of world champion Freddie Spencer.

In After Burner (1987), the player flies which fighter jet?

After Burner's player flies an F-14 Tomcat, the jet from Top Gun, which inspired Yu Suzuki along with Laputa: Castle in the Sky; the deluxe cabinet rolled and pitched with the plane.

Sega called motion-cabinet games such as Space Harrier 'taikan' games, a Japanese word meaning what?

Body sensation is what taikan means: Space Harrier's cockpit pitched and rolled with the action, a ride-along style Sega repeated in hits such as After Burner.

Sega Rally Championship (1995) is credited as the first racing game to simulate what?

Surfaces with varying friction were Sega Rally's advance: tarmac, gravel and mud each grip differently, so the car's handling changes the moment the road does.

Virtua Fighter's control scheme has just three buttons: Punch, Kick and which other?

Guard joins Punch and Kick as Virtua Fighter's only buttons, yet pressing them in combinations and in different situations opens up a vast range of moves for each fighter.

Which 1994 Sega light-gun game had polygon enemies that reacted to where they were shot?

Virtua Cop rewards restraint: shooting the weapon out of an enemy's hand is a 'justice shot' that spares his life and earns bonus points.

In The House of the Dead (1997), which mad scientist created the undead army?

Dr. Curien unleashed the undead from his mansion in The House of the Dead (1997); whether players save the researchers they meet decides which route they take through it.

Which 1994 Namco light-gun game swapped gunfights for a string of quick-fire target challenges?

Point Blank, called Gun Bullet in Japan, strings together short shooting contests, from hitting targets to sparing cardboard civilians and protecting its mascots Dr. Don and Dr. Dan.

NBA Jam (1993) was Midway's successor to which earlier basketball arcade game?

NBA Jam followed Midway's Arch Rivals (1989), a two-on-two game that let players punch opponents; Jam added the NBA licence and digitised players who leap many times their own height.

Cruis'n USA (1994) was advertised as running on the hardware of which upcoming Nintendo console?

Ultra 64, the working name of the Nintendo 64, was the brand on Cruis'n USA, but the game really ran on Midway's own V-Unit board, unrelated to the console.

Which Japanese guitar-controller rhythm series laid the foundations for Guitar Hero?

Konami's GuitarFreaks (1999) put a three-button guitar controller in arcades six years before Guitar Hero, and cabinets were often linked with DrumMania for combined sessions.

What does the name of Namco's fighting series Tekken mean in Japanese?

Iron Fist is the meaning of Tekken, and the games revolve around the King of Iron Fist Tournament, hosted by the Mishima Zaibatsu, whose boss Heihachi Mishima once threw his own son Kazuya off a cliff.

Tekken 3 jumps 19 years ahead to introduce which new lead?

Jin Kazama, teenage son of Kazuya and Jun, trains under his grandfather Heihachi to avenge his mother, only for Heihachi to turn on him once the tournament's final enemy is beaten.

Puzzle Bobble (1994) was long known internationally by what name?

Puzzle Bobble was released abroad as Bust-A-Move (1994); Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble fire coloured bubbles that pop when three or more of a colour connect.

In Arkanoid (1986), what is the name of the paddle-like craft the player controls?

The player's craft in Arkanoid (1986) is the Vaus, a small ship ejected from the mothership Arkanoid; the game added power-up capsules to the Breakout formula and ends against the boss Doh.

In Breakout, what does the paddle do once the ball hits the top wall?

Shrinks: the paddle drops to half its size once the ball has broken through the red top row and struck the upper wall, and the ball quickens at the orange and red rows, so the game gets harder as a player does better.

Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov first programmed the game in 1984 on which computer?

Pajitnov wrote Tetris in Pascal on an Elektronika 60 at Moscow's Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre in 1984; the machine had no graphics, so the blocks were drawn with bracket characters.

In which 1983 Nintendo arcade game does exterminator Stanley spray insecticide at Donkey Kong?

Donkey Kong 3 (1983) replaced Mario with Stanley the Bugman, who sprays insecticide to drive Donkey Kong up out of a greenhouse while swatting the insects he stirs up.

In Namco's Mappy (1983), the hero is a police officer of what species?

Mappy is a police mouse who bounces on trampolines to recover goods stolen by a gang of cats led by Goro, slamming doors on them as his only defence.

In Rally-X (1980), what does the player's car lay down to stun pursuing red cars?

The car in Rally-X lays down smoke screens that stall the pursuing red cars, but every puff burns fuel from a tank that is already draining as the clock runs.

The bartending game Tapper (1983) originally featured which beer brand?

Budweiser's maker Anheuser-Busch sponsored Tapper (1983), which was built for bars: cabinets had a brass foot rail and drink holders, and early ones used real beer tap handles as controls.

Why was Tapper re-themed as Root Beer Tapper in 1984?

It seemed to advertise alcohol to minors once the beer-branded game, built for bars, reached arcades, so a root beer version was made for them; a Japanese release kept the beer under a local brand.

Which animated follow-up to Dragon's Lair was unveiled in October 1983?

Space Ace, unveiled four months after Dragon's Lair, shrinks its hero to a teenager with the villain's Infanto Ray; an on-screen 'Energize' prompt lets the player briefly turn him back into Ace.

Atari's 1983 Star Wars game has the player fly as Luke Skywalker under which callsign?

The player flies as Luke Skywalker under the callsign Red Five, hearing digitised film dialogue such as 'Use the Force, Luke' while attacking the Death Star in colour vector graphics.

In Elevator Action, what must the player collect from behind the red doors?

Secret documents wait behind the red doors of a 30-storey building; the agent starts on the roof and, once every file is in hand, escapes in a getaway car from the basement.

Kung-Fu Master (1984) is a loose adaptation of which Jackie Chan film?

Kung-Fu Master was released in Japan as Spartan X, the Japanese title of Jackie Chan's Wheels on Meals (1984); the hero Thomas is named after Chan's character in that film.

Air hockey was invented between 1969 and 1972 by employees of which company?

Brunswick Billiards engineers began in 1969 with a game for a low-friction table, but the project stalled until Bob Lemieux revived it as a stripped-down ice hockey with a thin disc and two strikers.

Stern Electronics, formed from Chicago Coin's assets, is best known for which 1980 game?

Stern Electronics, run by Sam Stern and his son Gary, released Berzerk in 1980, a maze shooter whose robots taunted players with synthesized speech such as 'Intruder alert!'.

Which 1990 Williams arcade shooter has players grab cash and VCRs while gunning down waves of attackers?

Smash TV is a deadly game show of the future, inspired by The Running Man: the loot is the contestants' prize haul, and the final boss turns out to be the show's own host.

Which 1931 machine is regarded as the first successful coin-operated pinball game?

Baffle Ball (1931) became the first big hit of coin-operated pinball, selling about 50,000 machines; it had no flippers at all, working like a parlour bagatelle board.

Where did the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre open in 1977?

San Jose, California, got the first Pizza Time Theatre; its mascot began as a rat only because the costume its founder bought, thinking it was a coyote, turned out to be one.

After a 1984 bankruptcy, Chuck E. Cheese's parent was bought by the owner of which rival chain?

ShowBiz Pizza Place's owner, Brock Hotel Corporation, bought the bankrupt Pizza Time Theatre in 1985, then from 1990 began renaming its own ShowBiz restaurants after the chain it had rescued.

Which California punk band shares the soundtrack of Sega's Crazy Taxi (1999) with Bad Religion?

The Offspring and Bad Religion supply Crazy Taxi's music; fares ask for real stops such as Pizza Hut and KFC, which later versions replaced with generic shops over licensing trouble.

The name Namco is a contraction based on which earlier company name?

Nakamura Manufacturing Company, in Japanese Nakamura Seisakusho, gave Namco its name; founder Masaya Nakamura began in 1955 with two rocking horses on the roof of a Yokohama department store.

In 2005, the company behind Space Invaders was bought by which Japanese game publisher?

Square Enix, the publisher of Final Fantasy, bought the Space Invaders maker in 2005; the firm, founded in 1953, sold vending machines and jukeboxes before it turned to arcade games.

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell moved to California after college hoping to be hired by whom?

Disney did not hire fresh graduates, so Bushnell took an engineering job at Ampex instead; as a student he had managed the games department at Utah's Lagoon amusement park.

What is the name of the starship the player pilots in Namco's 1983 shooter Xevious?

The Solvalou fires a zapper at flying enemies and drops blaster bombs on ground targets; bombing certain empty-looking spots uncovers hidden towers called Sol Citadels.

Irem's 1982 lunar-rover game Moon Patrol is often credited with introducing which visual technique to its genre?

Full parallax scrolling, with layers of scenery moving at different speeds, is credited to Moon Patrol, whose buggy must jump craters and mines while shooting down the UFOs that attack from above.

Which 1984 Atari title, complete with a drawing mode called Doodle City, was the first arcade game rendered entirely in 3D polygons?

I, Robot casts the player as a servant robot rebelling against Big Brother, and rendered its 3D polygon graphics at runtime.

Which line does the giant spacecraft in Williams' Sinistar (1983) announce when it is completed?

When the Sinistar is fully assembled it booms 'Beware, I live!', then hounds the player with 'Run, coward!', 'I hunger!' and 'Run! Run! Run!'.

The 1983 tube shooter Gyruss set its action to an uptempo electronic arrangement of which composer's work?

Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor drives Gyruss, whose ship circles the rim of the screen while warping planet by planet from Neptune to Earth.

Which 1985 Konami shooter fills a power-up bar with capsules you cash in at will?

Gradius (1985), sold as Nemesis outside Japan, let players collect capsules to fill a power-up bar and cash in when they chose for speed-ups, missiles, lasers, options or a shield.