I’m a huge fan of arcade games from this era. And I’ll give you props for one thing - most of those are seriously obscure. Many I gotta go try out. Keep up the good work.
I have no words for that "Lover Boy" game. No wonder I never saw it at an arcade when I was a kid. And that "Snake Pit" game looks like an Indiana Jones game - except Indy would never whip snakes like that. ;)
So I’ve been trying to find this game for years. My dad played it at his store and I have memories of it in my head... I’ve probably watched over 1000 arcade videos and looked at compilations trying to find it... finally you helped me find it. I thought I was starting to make it up, because I knew it was top down and with fire and ice looking guys. I thought I had merged the fire guy from some other game like Mario 2 or the creatures from bubble bobble or chap n pop. But no, it exists! My dad was incredible at this game. It was Guzzler! Thank you sir.
No way VASTAR is from 1983. BRUH WHY IT IS OBSCURE?! WHY WOULD SOMEONE IGNORE THIS MASTERPIECE. It's like Xevious but GOD THE SPRITES THE CHARACTER THY ENEMIES IS SO ORIGINAL ALL AND THE MUSIC OMG NO WAY ASFJJDLKFJKL
Demolition Derby was fun. I remember the arcade game had 6 wheels for up to six player on a table top screen. Two Tigers was fun too, but I was young, so I always got the crosshairs 2up instead of the plane 1up. The Cheyenne game was fun, then they made crossbow. I ran into Chiller later at some nasty bar.
By the way, such a shame there isn't any video 'bout obscure games of the 70's... yeah, yeah, Sheriff and Space Invaders, but what 'bout Sky Dider? About poor 'ol Space Launcher? Those where creepily ignored.
When my best friend and I would go to Magic Mountain, we'd always head to a specific arcade and play Twin Tigers for hours...only place we ever found the game and we both loved it.
This was great, I hope you do more obscure Arcade Games as I tend to replay them on MAME and it's always cool to find new stuff I was unaware of existing and give it a shot.
So I'll feel pretty blessed if I saw any of these in person (and my child brain remembers it). Going down the list: Exerion-saw it in a hotel once during a trip. Guzzler-Saw it on Starcade, which doesn't count, but it's something. I, Robot-Yes! Saw it in a grocery store entranceway first and was obviously blown away because the 3D visuals were years ahead of their time. (And also blown away by how purely abstract the game was.) New Sinbad 7-Surely the most obscure game I've actually seen in person. Even as a kid, I knew this was a truly bizarre discovery. Some arcade in a very small nearby town. Roc 'n Rope-I saw this in several places so never regarded it as obscure. I *did* regard it as a pretty un-fun looking game, though. Traverse USA-Grocery store. The tune it plays during gameplay, I for some reason stole and reused in a game I made for the VIC-20. It's just what you did back in the day as a kid I guess. Bank Panic-Absolutely not obscure. Saw it all throughout the 80s. Circus Charlie-Local arcade. Demolition Derby-Gas station. I remember how dark these graphics were. Peter Pack Rat-Obscure? More like ubiquitous. Atari must have had a lot of push with arcades because just about everything they ever produced was generally widely seen in arcades. Seicross-Arcade. I must have spotted it in the late 80s because I remember thinking it looked quite outdated. Tube Panic-Mall arcade during a trip. Two Tigers-Gas station. I actually thought this one was fairly popular.
Great Steamkey -- it ‘s SCRIBBLENAUTS UNLIMITED, classic puzzle-adventure from 2012. Cheers, Gary! Wow this video is a treasure-trove of obscurities -- 1983-84 was a time when I was walking down to our corner arcade a couple of times every week, and even so I’ve only seen a couple of these games. Really interesting how some arcade games were produced and sold in mass quantities worldwide, while others were rarer, maybe never making it out of limited test markets. The arcades in Japan were always a bit larger … but I wonder what kinds of arcades in North America or Europe would have picked up some of the games on this list? Certainly not the ones in my town lol...
There's probably a reason most of these are obscure. Of these, I have heard of about 10 of them and played 2. Dragon Buster is actually quite good. I, Robot is special for being the first game to use fully polygonal graphics.
Yeah...there are a few hidden gems here (Bank Panic and Chicken Shift are a lot of fun, Peter Packrat is a classic, Off the Wall is a riot, a few others are decent), but the majority are only really notable for their role as the uninspired shovelware that led to the pre-NES videogame crash. Some truly great games came out directly before and right after this era, but most of these are right in that stank valley of stagnation after the Golden Era but before Capcom, Konami, Data East, SNK, etc really hit their stride.
Legal a Lista,mas Exerion foi um clássico dos arcades aqui no Brasil. Eu joguei muito Gyrondine taito e Hole land quando criança. Não lembrava que o robozinho falava e fazia didididi...qual a versão do mame que você usa ,ou é uma pcb original?amo esse jogo. Obrigado!
Complex X (58) really caught my eye. It looks like a Robotron platformer. Looking up the arcade cabinet, it looks like a twin stick shooter, although with a button on the top of the right stick? The look and feel is just so distinctive, with the small sprites and Robotron-like graphics.
Complex X was a prototype kit only game licensed to Taito. It never made it past the testing stage - probably due to bad test results. That pic you've seen was someone's idea of what the control scheme was like. Nobody knows for sure since a control panel was never located.
It was this sort of style of releasing games (GLUT OF GAMES) that did in the first round of Video Games; big decline starting in 83 due to the sheer number of games being sold. Fragmented the market, which eventually recovered, but not to the same dollars as before. 78-82 the Big Money Days
I played Lode Runner, but I prefer the original simplistic computer versions to the cutsey graphics used in the arcade port (yes, the computer versions were the original. Started out on the Apple II)
Same, but Irem-slash-Japan knew what they were doing when they made that change. Lode Runner and a whole *SLEW* of other games that only saw popularity in the West were grabbed up for a quick licensing buck... and made more palatable to contemporary Japanese audiences. The Western style of video game in those days never really changed much from the neutral, prosaic, one might say *soulless* presentation of a typical space shooter or platformer with the usual pure black background and such, but the Japanese demanded modernization from their games. Character. Music. Things like that. And to their credit, Lode Runner was *WAY* more popular in Japan than it ever was in the West.
@Neb6 As a kid, I quickly learned an interesting thing about Lode Runner's mechanics by using that editor. If you fill up the entire top row, bad guys will ONLY respawn on the farthest left block of the second row. And if you wall said block off, then only one enemy can ever respawn. He stays in place, while a second enemy gets stuck trying to spawn in.
A lot of these are total conversion kits, or blatant cheap knock offs of other games. There were a lot of manufacturers who just made plug-in boards for different arcade boards that you could plug in, and have a new game using the other board as the hardware. Most of these conversions were cheap, quickly knocked off, junk. But occasionally you ended up with a gem, like Ms. Pac Man. Many arcade game manufacturers sued the makers of these boards. With most of these games, I can identify the original games that have been replaced just from the graphics and sound. And 24:14 Two Tigers!!!! I LOVED that game. I used to play it all the time at the local arcade. It was so much fun. It's another one of those games that's hard to play on an emulator because it requires a steering wheel controller to turn your plane.
The only one's I even heard of are Lode Runner and Son Son. Some of these look good enough to be on the Snes, which surprized me as I wasn't aware they had that kinda graphics back when Robotech was being made.
I stumbled upon the Lover Boy game when I was browsing classic arcade games and that shite is fricking traumatizing for a 12 year old. I originally got into old arcade games cause they usually weren't graphic, but this game taught me otherwise.
Could never get Joyful Road to work on an emulator. I have the SNK collection on Steam and it works. Funny how it was only ported to the Texas Instruments Home Computer which was my first game system.
The great thing about 80's arcade game retrospectives in 2021, is that we can watch, write down titles of the ones that catch our interest, fire up MAME and try them. All without a roll of quarters or even getting off our chairs.
@@junosynth Here's a link to a video of the game in action: th-cam.com/video/4N50JqBnNfg/w-d-xo.html The title of the game is actually "UFO Robo Dangar." I remember playing this game at a video arcade, or some other place, and being impressed by it. I was fascinated with all things mecha/robot at the time.
This is fantastic! Does anyone remember an arcade game that was very very similar to Galaga BUT, you had the chance to win a free game? It seems it starts with the letter M or T. I just can't think of it
Unfortunately, there were dozens of Galaga-like games in the early 80s; this channel, however, is in the process of actually going through every years of the 80s and showcasing *every* game. Theoretically, your mystery game will pop up in one of those. So maybe check back in a few months when all the 80's videos are up, and you'll come across it?
Huh. I was told that in the early 1980s, every single arcade game was just a Pac-Man clone. I look at this video and every single game, even the maze chase ones, has loads of depth and interesting ideas, some of which wouldn't ever be tried again. Methinks retro gamers should do their part in trying to preserve these old titles instead of constantly praising the same revolving door of 90s console games.
I remember playing Circus Charlie. I don't think I've seen any of the others (maybe Phozon). Just my opinion - all the others looked like trash. Derivative rip-offs of Elevator Action, Burger Time, Zaxxon, Galaga, Dig Dug, Robotron 2084, 1942, Spy Hunter, Q*bert...
I think 🤔 I’ve only seen a 1/3 of these and played about half of that ( Third) but many of these games stink or are just plain boring, have really weird inaccurate mechanics/physics and AWFUL! 🙄
I’m a huge fan of arcade games from this era. And I’ll give you props for one thing - most of those are seriously obscure. Many I gotta go try out. Keep up the good work.
I have no words for that "Lover Boy" game. No wonder I never saw it at an arcade when I was a kid.
And that "Snake Pit" game looks like an Indiana Jones game - except Indy would never whip snakes like that. ;)
I think the word you're looking for is"edgy"
F'ing degenerates everywhere lol.
@@aodhablackheart Nah, edgier than chiller? It's just gross...
Great job on this list! Really fun to watch, and I appreciate the individual bookmarks.
So I’ve been trying to find this game for years. My dad played it at his store and I have memories of it in my head... I’ve probably watched over 1000 arcade videos and looked at compilations trying to find it... finally you helped me find it. I thought I was starting to make it up, because I knew it was top down and with fire and ice looking guys. I thought I had merged the fire guy from some other game like Mario 2 or the creatures from bubble bobble or chap n pop. But no, it exists! My dad was incredible at this game. It was Guzzler! Thank you sir.
No way VASTAR is from 1983. BRUH WHY IT IS OBSCURE?! WHY WOULD SOMEONE IGNORE THIS MASTERPIECE. It's like Xevious but GOD THE SPRITES THE CHARACTER THY ENEMIES IS SO ORIGINAL ALL AND THE MUSIC OMG NO WAY ASFJJDLKFJKL
Awesome! So many games I didn't know about!!
Circus Charlie
is probably the most famous one on that list!
Demolition Derby was fun. I remember the arcade game had 6 wheels for up to six player on a table top screen. Two Tigers was fun too, but I was young, so I always got the crosshairs 2up instead of the plane 1up. The Cheyenne game was fun, then they made crossbow. I ran into Chiller later at some nasty bar.
By the way, such a shame there isn't any video 'bout obscure games of the 70's... yeah, yeah, Sheriff and Space Invaders, but what 'bout Sky Dider? About poor 'ol Space Launcher? Those where creepily ignored.
I used to play Exerion in a youth club way back in the 1990s. Forgot its title until now. Thanks 👍
When my best friend and I would go to Magic Mountain, we'd always head to a specific arcade and play Twin Tigers for hours...only place we ever found the game and we both loved it.
8:13 so many years searching for this game! thanks so much!!!
This was great, I hope you do more obscure Arcade Games as I tend to replay them on MAME and it's always cool to find new stuff I was unaware of existing and give it a shot.
Here's a late 80's one - th-cam.com/video/RDh-p0R1MzY/w-d-xo.html
@@GaryRetroGamer Thanks! I hope you do more of these in the future for other Arcade games! Keep up the good work!
@@MSTerMegane67 That's absolutely the plan. I've started work on a mid-80s video, and then it's onto the 90s!
@@GaryRetroGamer Awesome! Looking forward to them!
I loved that Demolition Derby game! They had a 4-player table-top version at Sesame Place back in the day.
I love Son Son. I played it on a Capcom Collection for original Xbox. I just recently discovered they made a sequel for the turbografx 16.
Ahh, 'Exerion'. Who could forget the billboards saying 'Jaleco' in some stages? No 'Vulgus', though? That was pretty obscure....
A lot of these were well known, but more so in Japan, Gyrodine was really popular over there in fact, even got a port to the Japanese Famicom
What other games here would you say were popular/successful over there?
감사합니다.
Nova 2001 and grobda are very fun ! thanks for the video.
So I'll feel pretty blessed if I saw any of these in person (and my child brain remembers it). Going down the list:
Exerion-saw it in a hotel once during a trip.
Guzzler-Saw it on Starcade, which doesn't count, but it's something.
I, Robot-Yes! Saw it in a grocery store entranceway first and was obviously blown away because the 3D visuals were years ahead of their time. (And also blown away by how purely abstract the game was.)
New Sinbad 7-Surely the most obscure game I've actually seen in person. Even as a kid, I knew this was a truly bizarre discovery. Some arcade in a very small nearby town.
Roc 'n Rope-I saw this in several places so never regarded it as obscure. I *did* regard it as a pretty un-fun looking game, though.
Traverse USA-Grocery store. The tune it plays during gameplay, I for some reason stole and reused in a game I made for the VIC-20. It's just what you did back in the day as a kid I guess.
Bank Panic-Absolutely not obscure. Saw it all throughout the 80s.
Circus Charlie-Local arcade.
Demolition Derby-Gas station. I remember how dark these graphics were.
Peter Pack Rat-Obscure? More like ubiquitous. Atari must have had a lot of push with arcades because just about everything they ever produced was generally widely seen in arcades.
Seicross-Arcade. I must have spotted it in the late 80s because I remember thinking it looked quite outdated.
Tube Panic-Mall arcade during a trip.
Two Tigers-Gas station. I actually thought this one was fairly popular.
Great comment! Thanks!
@@axonis2306 x2
Great Steamkey -- it ‘s SCRIBBLENAUTS UNLIMITED, classic puzzle-adventure from 2012. Cheers, Gary!
Wow this video is a treasure-trove of obscurities -- 1983-84 was a time when I was walking down to our corner arcade a couple of times every week, and even so I’ve only seen a couple of these games. Really interesting how some arcade games were produced and sold in mass quantities worldwide, while others were rarer, maybe never making it out of limited test markets. The arcades in Japan were always a bit larger … but I wonder what kinds of arcades in North America or Europe would have picked up some of the games on this list? Certainly not the ones in my town lol...
These are pretty obscure games man. Only recognise a few. Some real nice audio amongst the clips.
There's probably a reason most of these are obscure. Of these, I have heard of about 10 of them and played 2. Dragon Buster is actually quite good. I, Robot is special for being the first game to use fully polygonal graphics.
Yeah...there are a few hidden gems here (Bank Panic and Chicken Shift are a lot of fun, Peter Packrat is a classic, Off the Wall is a riot, a few others are decent), but the majority are only really notable for their role as the uninspired shovelware that led to the pre-NES videogame crash.
Some truly great games came out directly before and right after this era, but most of these are right in that stank valley of stagnation after the Golden Era but before Capcom, Konami, Data East, SNK, etc really hit their stride.
Sky Lancer we used to call it 'Gundam' due to the similarities (and the end boss is a zaku)
Legal a Lista,mas Exerion foi um clássico dos arcades aqui no Brasil. Eu joguei muito Gyrondine taito e Hole land quando criança. Não lembrava que o robozinho falava e fazia didididi...qual a versão do mame que você usa ,ou é uma pcb original?amo esse jogo. Obrigado!
8:48 "Appoooh" looks like a real trip to play.
Complex X (58) really caught my eye. It looks like a Robotron platformer. Looking up the arcade cabinet, it looks like a twin stick shooter, although with a button on the top of the right stick?
The look and feel is just so distinctive, with the small sprites and Robotron-like graphics.
Complex X was a prototype kit only game licensed to Taito. It never made it past the testing stage - probably due to bad test results. That pic you've seen was someone's idea of what the control scheme was like. Nobody knows for sure since a control panel was never located.
@@Schush Cool, thanks for the info!
From i robot to intrepid is insane visual blast
I dont remember this company or these games but most of them look visually, idea and gameplay much better then the most games of the era.
That why is obsure. Most people don't know these games does exist but forgotten from society
It was this sort of style of releasing games (GLUT OF GAMES) that did in the first round of Video Games; big decline starting in 83 due to the sheer number of games being sold. Fragmented the market, which eventually recovered, but not to the same dollars as before. 78-82 the Big Money Days
The only one I know for sure i've seen and played was Demolition Derby. Fun game. A lot of these look interesting and fun.
I played Lode Runner, but I prefer the original simplistic computer versions to the cutsey graphics used in the arcade port (yes, the computer versions were the original. Started out on the Apple II)
But at least the arcade port here fits on the screen. I *much* prefer the Apple2 version of most console ports for that reason alone.
Same, but Irem-slash-Japan knew what they were doing when they made that change. Lode Runner and a whole *SLEW* of other games that only saw popularity in the West were grabbed up for a quick licensing buck... and made more palatable to contemporary Japanese audiences. The Western style of video game in those days never really changed much from the neutral, prosaic, one might say *soulless* presentation of a typical space shooter or platformer with the usual pure black background and such, but the Japanese demanded modernization from their games. Character. Music. Things like that. And to their credit, Lode Runner was *WAY* more popular in Japan than it ever was in the West.
@Neb6 As a kid, I quickly learned an interesting thing about Lode Runner's mechanics by using that editor. If you fill up the entire top row, bad guys will ONLY respawn on the farthest left block of the second row. And if you wall said block off, then only one enemy can ever respawn. He stays in place, while a second enemy gets stuck trying to spawn in.
A lot of these are total conversion kits, or blatant cheap knock offs of other games. There were a lot of manufacturers who just made plug-in boards for different arcade boards that you could plug in, and have a new game using the other board as the hardware. Most of these conversions were cheap, quickly knocked off, junk. But occasionally you ended up with a gem, like Ms. Pac Man. Many arcade game manufacturers sued the makers of these boards. With most of these games, I can identify the original games that have been replaced just from the graphics and sound. And 24:14 Two Tigers!!!! I LOVED that game. I used to play it all the time at the local arcade. It was so much fun. It's another one of those games that's hard to play on an emulator because it requires a steering wheel controller to turn your plane.
7:38 - water skiing in grape soda :D nice
The graphics are pretty darn good
i'm actually just as interested in who some of these obscure companies were, too. fascinating stuff.
19:40 ninja kun was a dlc from Ninja Kid II from UPL
The only one's I even heard of are Lode Runner and Son Son. Some of these look good enough to be on the Snes, which surprized me as I wasn't aware they had that kinda graphics back when Robotech was being made.
Equites! was looking for this one for ages.
Yes! my Favorite Game! including High Voltage and Splendor Blast
@@clarkg_vl43Just seen these two for the first time.
Yeah I don't think people these days realize how many games there really were back then.
How about that shooter with the flying robot rabbits I saw on that ferry crossing to france in 1989?
This video is awesome.
I stumbled upon the Lover Boy game when I was browsing classic arcade games and that shite is fricking traumatizing for a 12 year old. I originally got into old arcade games cause they usually weren't graphic, but this game taught me otherwise.
Ok , so Lover Boy? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🔥🔥🔥🔥
Awesome games.
Could never get Joyful Road to work on an emulator. I have the SNK collection on Steam and it works. Funny how it was only ported to the Texas Instruments Home Computer which was my first game system.
The only two games I've actually managed to play out of these ones is Star Force and Circus Charlie. They were kinda rare to see in arcades..
What was the name of that arkanoid-like game where the ball was a football, and instead of bricks there were players?
The great thing about 80's arcade game retrospectives in 2021, is that we can watch, write down titles of the ones that catch our interest, fire up MAME and try them. All without a roll of quarters or even getting off our chairs.
yes Bank Panic was Top 3 ever,also Cheyenne,Demolition Derby,Timber and Traverse USA are games i got the chance to play once or twice not much more.
I don't remember when these came out, I would like to add to this list:
Zero Hour
Monster Bash
Donkey Kong 3
Anyone know the Isometric arcade game that looks like Zaxxon but you build a robot?
If I recall correctly, it' called "Dengar." I've been looking for that game, too.
@@edrice2621 Yeah the music/melody was really good and I want to hear it again.
@@junosynth Here's a link to a video of the game in action:
th-cam.com/video/4N50JqBnNfg/w-d-xo.html
The title of the game is actually "UFO Robo Dangar." I remember playing this game at a video arcade, or some other place, and being impressed by it. I was fascinated with all things mecha/robot at the time.
I'm pretty sure you're thinking of MAGMAX: th-cam.com/video/xY5RWq3Goj0/w-d-xo.html
Exerion was not an obscure game in Guarujá, Brazil. In the 80's, half of the arcade houses in city had one of it. Circus Charlie was on at least one.
Some of them were ported to the Famicom and some home computers
What's with the pelvic thrusting Sky Lancer lol
Everyone with anbernic handhelds uses these videos religiously
2:37 The infamous Lover Boy...
This is fantastic! Does anyone remember an arcade game that was very very similar to Galaga BUT, you had the chance to win a free game? It seems it starts with the letter M or T. I just can't think of it
Unfortunately, there were dozens of Galaga-like games in the early 80s; this channel, however, is in the process of actually going through every years of the 80s and showcasing *every* game. Theoretically, your mystery game will pop up in one of those. So maybe check back in a few months when all the 80's videos are up, and you'll come across it?
Man, some of these games look like they wouldn’t be out of place on Action 52.
Actually played in 80's arcades Xevious and Sea Fighter
Xevious was a major release and even advertised in magazines by Atari. Everyone saw it.
5. I've played 5 games on this list lol
Huh. I was told that in the early 1980s, every single arcade game was just a Pac-Man clone. I look at this video and every single game, even the maze chase ones, has loads of depth and interesting ideas, some of which wouldn't ever be tried again. Methinks retro gamers should do their part in trying to preserve these old titles instead of constantly praising the same revolving door of 90s console games.
These games were not in coin-op arcades, right? Obscure is right!
Bet bullfight would go over well in 2023
I remember playing Circus Charlie.
I don't think I've seen any of the others (maybe Phozon). Just my opinion - all the others looked like trash. Derivative rip-offs of Elevator Action, Burger Time, Zaxxon, Galaga, Dig Dug, Robotron 2084, 1942, Spy Hunter, Q*bert...
lover boy lol
"Lover boy" must be a hoax. There is no way that would be in an arcade in the 80s.
Uncle Poo, Hunchback Olympics.
classics........
I saw a lot of rip offs on this - amazing.
Hunchback Olympics 🤣🤣🤣
Cool
Roc'N'Rope was not an obscure game, it was ported to pretty much every home system in 1983.
These games I probably never played and heard of
Lover Boy🤣
Lode Runner and Bank Panic were well known arcade games
... THEY HAD PORN GAMES IN THE FIRCKING 1980S
Wut
I think 🤔 I’ve only seen a 1/3 of these and played about half of that ( Third) but many of these games stink or are just plain boring, have really weird inaccurate mechanics/physics and AWFUL! 🙄
Circus Charlie isn't obscure