Ooooooh, I never got to play those IRL but I love them in Pinball Arcade.
I know it’s not the same, but you get what you can and be happy you got that much at all.
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Around '89 or '90 there were a few pinball machines I played a lot: Star Wars, and Black Knight 2000 come to mind.
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Another vote for Dragon’s Lair here.
What’s really worth emphasizing is the time period in which the game came out. I was 8 years old in 1983, and arcade games were all about pixel graphics. Pac-Man. Space Invaders. Etc. So—the first time I encountered Dragon’s Lair in a video arcade, and saw someone playing an interactive cartoon??? Let me say, it absolutely blew my little mind!
Some scenes (like swinging on the ropes over a flaming pit, or jumping off the falling disc) were straightforward and easily passed, while many many others were WAY more obtuse. So, yes, my quarters would be gone pretty quickly!
And I did. not. care.
What I was there for was the immersive experience of being inside that cartoon! How long that lasted, or my chances of ever winning, literally did not matter to me.
On the other hand, I can totally see how others more interested in the “gameplay” aspect of games—even at the time!—might have viewed that experience very differently.
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This is my most hated arcade game… and it was made by the guy who designed Dragon’s Lair of all things.
Time Traveler
I waved my hand through the holographic projection and nearly lost my shit. Then I played the game. 
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I played Time Traveler a number of times in my university’s rec area. Yeah, not a great game. I also remember a Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator (sit down version), Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter II, Ataxx, and Altered Beast.
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Probably the best shooter (light gun) series in all of arcade history.
Time Crisis II
Light gun games were pretty cool, but nothing was like the hectic on-rails shooter with cover mechanics of the Time Crisis series. This one munched a lot of my quarters. Having both players taking slightly different cooperative paths in the same environment, felt so right. The pedal was extremely intuitive to use allowing you to take cover and reload or dodge incoming attacks. This made the on-rails system very dynamic. Toss in a partner playing with you and the game was like no other.
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I wasn’t huge into pinball games, but this one gave me the most bang for the buck. I swear I was getting around 10 minutes on a single play. It must have been a “bad money maker” because I suck at pinball.
Superman
Maybe I sucked so bad at pinball that the table designers couldn’t fathom my ultimate style of panic tempered with indecision. I freaked out in just the right way, I guess. I was this table’s kryptonite.
2 Likes