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Arcade Cabinets
Space Invaders (1978)
Originally released in April of 1978 by Taito in Japan and later brought overseas by Midway later that year, Space Invaders is possibly one of the most influential video games in history. This now simple seeming game was arguably responsible for ushering in the golden age of arcade games and put Japan on the map as the dominant force in the video game industry it still is today. Space Invaders was the first ever video game to have endless gameplay and invented the 'fixed shooter' genre making it the template for countless other subsequent arcade games.
The Space Invaders machine at Blast from the Past is an original model that was imported all the way from Japan with the original Japanese language instructions on the control panel.
Galaxian (1979)
Originally released in September of 1979 by Namco in Japan and later brought overseas by Midway, Galaxian was Namco's take on the 'fixed shooter' genre and was a direct competitor to Space Invaders. Galaxian was one of the first video games to use RGB colour graphics and was the first to use a 'tile based hardware system' which was capable of multi-colour animated sprites and scrolling. Similarly to Space Invaders, Galaxian was incredibly influential thanks to its technological advancements and became one of the best selling arcade games ever.
Galaxian's hardware had a significant influence on the design of Nintendo's later arcade and home console systems and was the basis for their Donkey Kong arcade game. Nintendo's desire to make a home system capable of running an arcade accurate port of Donkey Kong is what led to the development of the Famicom/NES home consoles.
Pac-Man (1980)
Released in May of 1980 by Namco in Japan and later brought overseas by Midway, Pac-Man is another incredibly ground breaking and influential video game.
The head of the team that developed Pac-Man, Toru Iwatani, wanted to create a game that would appeal to both men and women as well as children
Pac-Man has claim to numerous world records, such as being the most succesful coin operated game ever, and has been inducted into various video game museum halls of fame.
The name 'Pac-Man' originates from the Japanese phrase ''paku paku taberu'', which refers to gobbling something up.
Pac-Man was originally named 'Puck-Man' but this name was changed for the overseas release due to fears vandals would change the P to an F.
Defender (1980)
Released in February of 1981 by Williams, Defender was the famous pinball manufacturers first attempt at developing an entirely original video game following the falling interest in pinball in favour of video games.
Defender was one of the first side scrolling shooter games and was praised for its fast paced, challenging gameplay and is considered a breakthrough in game design for its use of full 2D directional movement, multiple goals and complex gameplay.
The game title was inspires by a 1961 television show about defence attorneys called 'The Defenders'
Centipede (1981)
Released in August of 1981 by Atari, Centipede was one of the most commercially successful games during the golden age of arcade video games and similarly to Pac-Man, managed to have a very wide appeal with both women and men. Centipede is a fixed shooter like Space Invaders and Galaxian, however the player is given full omnidirectional movement around the bottom of the screen via the use of a track ball as oppose to a joy stick.
Centipede was the first arcade game programmed by a woman.
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