Obscure Arcade Games Of The 80’s: 1983-1984
A look at some of the lesser known arcade games of the early 80s. How many have you played?
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COMPLETE GAME LIST:
001 – Dr. Micro – Sanritsu
002 – Exerion – Jaleco
003 – Guzzler – Tekhan
004 – Harem – IGR
005 – High Way Race – Taito
006 – Hoccer – Eastern Micro Electronics
007 – Hopper Robo – Sega
008 – I, Robot – Atari
009 – Intrepid – Nova Games
010 – Joinem – Bally Bidway
011 – Joyful Road – SNK
012 – Jump Coaster – Kaneko
013 – Kick Boy – Nichibutsu
014 – Lover Boy – GT Enterprise
015 – Markham – Sun Electronics
016 – Marvin’s Maze – SNK
017 – Money Money – Zaccaria
018 – Mouser – UPL
019 – Mr. TNT – Techstar
020 – New Sinbad – ATW USA Inc
021 – Nova 2001 – UPL
022 – Phozon – Namco
023 – Popper – Omori
024 – Raiders – Century Electronics
025 – Regulus – Sega
026 – Roc’n’Rope – Konami
027 – Saturn – Zilec Jaleco
028 – Scrambled Egg – Technos
029 – Senjyo – Tehkan
030 – SF-X – Nichibutsu
031 – Sinbad Mystery – Sega
032 – Sky Lancer – Orca -1993
033 – Star Jacker – Sega
034 – Stinger – Seibu Denshi
035 – Super Doubles Tennis – Data East Corporation
036 – Super Glob – Epos
037 – Tin Star, The – Taito
038 – Traverse USA – Irem
039 – Tropical Angel – Irem
040 – Uncle Poo – Diatec
041 – Van-Van Car – Sanritsu
042 – Vastar – Orca
043 – Yamato – Sega
044 – Acrobatic Dog Fight – Technos Japan
045 – Appoooh- Sanritsu Sega
046 – BanBam – Sun Elecronics
047 – Bank Panic – Sanritsu Sega
048 – Battle-Road, The – Irem
049 – Ben Bero Beh – Taito
050 – Bull Fighter – Alpha Denshi
051 – Bullfight – Coreland Sega
052 – B-Wings – Data East
053 – Champion Boxing – Sega
054 – Cheyenne – Exidy
055 – Chicken Shift – Bally Sente
056 – Chinese Hero – Taiyo
057 – Circus Charlie – Konami
058 – Complex X – Taito
059 – Country Girl – Royal Denshi
060 – Crater Raider – Bally Midway
061 – Crowns Golf – Namco
062 – Cycle Mabou – Taito
063 – D-Day – Jaleco -1984
064 – Demolition Derby -Bally Midway
065 – Do Run Run – Universal
066 – Dragon Buster – Namco
067 – Drakton – Epos
068 – Driving Force – Shinkai
069 – Eeekk! – Epos
070 – Eight Ball Action – Seatongrove
071 – Equites – Alpha Denshi
072 – Field Day – Taito
073 – Fighting Basketball – Paradise Co.
074 – Fire Battle – Wood Place
075 – Freeze – Cinematronics
076 – Future Spy – Sega
077 – Gladiator 1984- SNK
078 – Goalie Ghost – Bally Sente
079 – Great Swordsman – Allumer Taito
080 – Grobda – Namco
081 – Gyrodine – Crux
082 – Hero – Century Electronics
083 – Hole Land – Tecfri
084 – Hunchback Olympics – Century Electronics – Seatongrove
085 – Imago – Acom
086 – Itazura Tenshi – Nichibutsu Alice
087 – Jack Rabbit – Zaccaria
088 – Jumping Cross – SNK
089 – Jumping Jack – Universal
090 – Kamikaze Cabbie – Data East
091 – Kick Rider – Universal
092 – Kick Start – Wheelie King – Taito
093 – Liberation – Data East
094 – Lode Runner – Irem
095 – Mad Crasher – SNK
096 – Mister Viking – Sega
097 – Mr. Kougar – ATW
098 – Mysterious Stones – Dr John’s Adventure – Technos Japan
099 – Ninjakun Majou No Bouken – UPL
100 – Off The Wall – Bally Sente
101 – Pandora’s Palace – Konami
102 – Peter Pack Rat – Atari
103 – Pinbo – Jaleco
104 – Pirate Ship Higemaru – Capcom
105 – Progress – Chuo Co
106 – Revenger ’84 – Epos
107 – Roller Jammer – Nichibitsu
108 – Rumba Lumber – Taito
109 – Sea Fighter Poseidon – Taito
110 – Seicross – Nichibutsu Alice
111 – Snacks’n’Jaxson – Bally
112 – Snake Pit – Sente
113 – Son Son – Capcom
114 – Spatter – Sega
115 – Star Force – Tehkan
116 – Super Bag Man – Valadon Automation
117 – Super Basketball – Konami
118 – SWAT – Coreland
119 – Three Stooges in Brides Is Brides – Mylstar
120 – Timber – Bally Midway
121 – Tube Panic – Nichibutsu
122 – Two Tigers – Bally Midway
123 – Wai Wai Jockey Gate-In! Jaleco – Casio
124 – Wanted – Sigma Enterprises
125 – Wily Tower – Irem
126 – Zaviga – Data East
127 – Zwackery – Bally Midway
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…
Roc 'n Rope, Exerion, Star Force, Super Glob, and Two Tigers were pretty well known back then. The first three even got home console ports.
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
I don't remember when these came out, I would like to add to this list:Zero HourMonster BashDonkey Kong 3
Lover Boy🤣
8:48 "Appoooh" looks like a real trip to play.
How about that shooter with the flying robot rabbits I saw on that ferry crossing to france in 1989?
Ok , so Lover Boy? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🔥🔥🔥🔥
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.
7:38 – water skiing in grape soda 😀 nice
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…
Hunchback Olympics 🤣🤣🤣
2:42 wtf…
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.
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.
Awesome! So many games I didn't know about!!
Circus Charlie
is probably the most famous one on that list!
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. 😉
Sky Lancer we used to call it 'Gundam' due to the similarities (and the end boss is a zaku)
Roc'N'Rope was not an obscure game, it was ported to pretty much every home system in 1983.
classics……..
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 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)
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
These games I probably never played and heard of
Man, some of these games look like they wouldn’t be out of place on Action 52.
Cool
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.
8:13 so many years searching for this game! thanks so much!!!
lover boy lol
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.
Lover boy is a fucked up😨😅
Great job on this list! Really fun to watch, and I appreciate the individual bookmarks.
Equites! was looking for this one for ages.
Hey Gary – great content! My team and I work with talented creators on YouTube to grow their audiences and would love to connect. Do you have a business email or channel manager I could reach out to?
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.
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.
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.
Anyone know the Isometric arcade game that looks like Zaxxon but you build a robot?
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..
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!
감사합니다.
Actually played in 80's arcades Xevious and Sea Fighter
Nova 2001 and grobda are very fun ! thanks for the video.
What was the name of that arkanoid-like game where the ball was a football, and instead of bricks there were players?
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.
What's with the pelvic thrusting Sky Lancer lol
Lode Runner and Bank Panic were well known arcade games
Ahh, 'Exerion'. Who could forget the billboards saying 'Jaleco' in some stages? No 'Vulgus', though? That was pretty obscure….
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.
19:40 ninja kun was a dlc from Ninja Kid II from UPL