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| − | [[File:Periscope_machine1.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Periscope]]'', an example of an early Sega electro-mechanical arcade game. | + | [[File:Periscope cabinet.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Periscope]]'', an example of an early Sega electro-mechanical arcade game.|link=Periscope]] |
| − | ]] | + | In the mid-20th century, '''electro-mechanical arcade games''' ('''EM''' games) were a staple of amusement [[arcade]] venues across the world. As the name suggests, these are commercial products, typically using simple electric circuits to move physical objects in order to simulate a game - an evolution of slot machines, pinball tables and Pachinko machines (as well as purely mechanical games), and which rose to prominence after the end of World War II. |
| − | '''Electro-mechanical arcade games''' (often abbreviated '''EM''' games) are what arcades used to have before the arrival of arcade video games (which use solid-state electronics like transistors, integrated circuits, printed circuit boards, and microcontrollers, along with a video display). An electro-mechanical game is any coin-operated game that has neither a microprocessor (nor an approximation of one with logic gates like ''SHARK Jaws'', ''Computer Space'' and others used), or a proper display monitor. An electro-mechanical game is run through switches, relays, motors, and lights. Any electronic circuitry in the machine were usually very simple. Evetually, the late 1960s saw the emergence of video projection EM games, which used projection displays for visuals (like ''[[Duck Hunt]]'', ''[[Jet Rocket]]'' and ''[[Killer Shark]]'') and ocassionally solid-state electronics for sounds (like ''[[Night Rider]]''), laying the foundations for arcade video games. | |
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| − | The most common type of electro-mechanical games were pinball machines—all of them up to the late seventies were either mechanical or electromechanical (the industry switched to microprocessors around 1978 or so). Other electro-mechanicals include most early slot machines and Pachinko machines, although the earliest ones were completely mechanical.
| + | Numerous amusement companies designed and manufactured coin-operated EM games between the early 1950s and late 1970s. [[Sega]] began producing games in the early 1960s, with the 1966 release of ''[[Periscope]]'' emerging as their first successful EM venture. Until the mid-1970s, the company structured itself around this market. |
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| − | Besides pinball, there were many other types of electro-mechanical games, ranging from sports games to light-gun shooting games. Usually, rather than displaying the objects on a screen, they were physical objects that were either static or moving, often inside a showcase. Eventually, from the late 1960s, there were electro-mechanical games that used video projection displays, giving them the appearance of later arcade video games.
| + | In the late 1960s, "video projection" electro-mechanical games began appearing, with the likes of Sega's ''[[Duck Hunt]]'' (1968) dropping physical moving targets in favour of projected animated images, helping to set the tone for the first half of the 1970s. With the advent of more complex and reliable "video games" - those which use a combination of [[wikipedia:Solid-state electronics|solid-state electronics]] to draw a picture on a television screen, Sega became less focused{{magref|cb|1975-07-05|229}} on its EM operations, ending with the release of ''[[Plinker's Canyon]]'' in 1976. |
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| − | These games had one big problem: they broke down all the time. This is why you never see any electro-mechanicals anymore (aside from a few really old Skee Ball machines). The mean time between failures on most of these machines could be measured in days. Some were more reliable than others, but in general the more complex ones were constantly failing. Any individual game may have hundreds of moving parts, which were often subject to abuse. This makes functioning electro-mechanicals very rare today.
| + | A number of arcade video games were inspired by electro-mechanical arcade games (particularly the "video projection" type) during the 1970s, until video games eventually replaced electro-mechanical games with the arrival of ''[[Space Invaders]]'' (1978). Due to a reliance on physical moving parts (and by extension, high maintenance costs), all types of electro-mechanical arcade games are difficult to find outside of museums, with most being taken out of service in the early 1980s. |
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| − | ==Electro-mechanical golden age==
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| − | EM games were popular during the electro-mechanical golden age of the 1960s and 1970s, but video games eventually overtook them in popularity during the golden age of arcade video games that began with ''[[Space Invaders]]'' in 1978.{{ref|[http://shmuplations.com/kasco/ Kasco and the Electro-Mechanical Golden Age] (Interview), ''Classic Videogame Station ODYSSEY'', 2001}}
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| − | The electro-mechanical golden age began with the 1959 arcade hit ''Mini Drive'', a [[racing game]] where the player used a steering wheel to control a miniature car across a scrolling conveyor belt inside an arcade cabinet. It was manufactured by Kasco (Kansei Seiki Seisakusho) and became a hit in Japan.{{ref|[http://shmuplations.com/kasco/ Kasco and the Electro-Mechanical Golden Age] (Interview), ''Classic Videogame Station ODYSSEY'', 2001}}
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| − | ''[[Periscope]]'', released by [[Namco]] in 1965,{{ref|[https://twitter.com/onionsoftware/status/604656579934220288 Tweet], [[wikipedia:ja:おにたま|Onion Software]]}}{{ref|[http://bandainamcoent.co.jp/gallery/ayumi/archive/elemecha/ Elemecha], [[Namco]]}} and then by [[Sega]] in 1966,{{ref|Steven L. Kent (2000), ''The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games'', p. 83, BWD Press, ISBN 0-9704755-0-0}} was an early submarine simulator and light gun shooter,{{ref|Brian Ashcraft (2008) ''Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan's Game Centers'', p. 133, Kodansha International}} which used lights and plastic waves to simulate sinking ships from a submarine.{{ref|Steve L. Kent (2001), ''The ultimate history of video games: from Pong to Pokémon and beyond: the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world'', p. 102, [[wikipedia:Prima Games|Prima]], ISBN 0-7615-3643-4}} It became an instant success in Japan, Europe, and North America{{ref|1=Mark J. P. Wolf (2008), [https://books.google.com/books?id=XiM0ntMybNwC ''The video game explosion: a history from PONG to PlayStation and beyond''], p. 149, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 0-313-33868-X}} where it was the first arcade game to cost a [[wikipedia:Quarter (United States coin)|quarter]] per play,{{ref|Steven L. Kent (2000), ''The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games'', p. 83, BWD Press, ISBN 0-9704755-0-0}} which would remain the standard price for arcade games for many years to come.{{ref|1=Mark J. P. Wolf (2008), [https://books.google.com/books?id=XiM0ntMybNwC ''The video game explosion: a history from PONG to PlayStation and beyond''], p. 149, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 0-313-33868-X}} ''Periscope'' revived the North American arcade industry in the late 1960s.{{ref|https://archive.org/stream/NextGeneration24Dec1996/Next_Generation_24_Dec_1996#page/n10/mode/1up}} The game was cloned by [[Midway]] as ''Sea Raider'' (1969) and ''Sea Devil'' (1970). Midway later adapted it into an arcade video game, ''[[Sea Wolf (video game)|Sea Wolf]]'' (1976).{{ref|http://www.pinrepair.com/arcade/sperisc.htm}}
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| − | In 1967, [[Taito]]'s EM arcade game ''Crown Soccer Special'' was a two-player sports game that simulated association football, using various electronic components, including electronic versions of pinball flippers.{{ref|1=https://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=16047}} Sega's 1970 multiplayer EM shooter game ''[[Gun Fight]]'' was a direct precedent to Taito's 1975 arcade video game ''[[wikipedia:Gun Fight|Gun Fight]]'', which in turn was influential on shooter video games.{{ref|[https://www.academia.edu/12148820/Once_Upon_a_Time_on_the_Screen_Wild_West_in_Computer_and_Video_Games Once Upon a Time on the Screen: Wild West in Computer and Video Games], Academia}}
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| − | ===Video projection games===
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| − | In the late 1960s, Japanese arcade manufacturers Kasco and [[Sega]] introduced a new type of electro-mechanical game, video projection games. They looked and played like later arcade video games, but relied on electro-mechanical components to produce sounds and images rather than a CRT display. They used rear video image projection to display moving animations on a video screen.{{ref|[http://classicgames.about.com/od/arcadegames/p/KillerShark.htm Killer Shark: The Undersea Horror Arcade Game from Jaws], D.S. Cohen, About.com}}{{ref|[http://shmuplations.com/kasco/ Kasco and the Electro-Mechanical Golden Age] (Interview), ''Classic Videogame Station ODYSSEY'', 2001}}{{ref|[https://www.academia.edu/12148820/Once_Upon_a_Time_on_the_Screen_Wild_West_in_Computer_and_Video_Games Once Upon a Time on the Screen: Wild West in Computer and Video Games], Academia}} Video projection games became common in arcades of the 1970s. They combined electro-mechanical and video elements, laying the foundations for arcade video games, which adapted cabinet designs and gameplay mechanics from earlier video projection games.{{ref|[https://www.academia.edu/12148820/Once_Upon_a_Time_on_the_Screen_Wild_West_in_Computer_and_Video_Games Once Upon a Time on the Screen: Wild West in Computer and Video Games], Academia}} They also ocassionally used solid-state electronics for sounds (like ''[[Night Rider]]'').
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| − | Starting with ''[[Duck Hunt]]'' in January 1969, Sega introduced video projection games. It used rear image projection in a manner similar to an ancient Chinese [[wikipedia:Zoetrope|zoetrope]] to produce moving animations on a display screen. ''Duck Hunt'' was the first arcade game with animated targets displayed on a screen, in contrast to earlier electro-mechanical arcade games that displayed actual physical static targets. This gave ''Duck Hunt'' the appearance of a video game, several years before the first true video games arrived in the arcades (such as ''Computer Space'' and ''Pong''). ''Duck Hunt'' thus anticipated the kind of light-gun shooter video games that would later appear in the 1970s, and was the first arcade shooter to display a first-person perspective on a screen.
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| − | After ''Duck Hunt'', Sega produced more video projection games. In 1969, Sega released ''[[Grand Prix]]'', a first-person driving/racing game projecting a forward-scrolling road on a screen. The same year, they rreleased ''[[Missile]]'', a first-person vehicle combat simulation that had a moving film strip project targets on screen, and a dual-control scheme where two directional buttons move the player tank and a two-way joystick with a fire button shoots and steers missiles onto oncoming planes, which explode when hit. In 1970, the game was released in North America as ''S.A.M.I.''
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| − | In 1970, Sega released ''[[Jet Rocket]]'', a first-person combat flight sim with cockpit controls that could move the player aircraft around a landscape displayed on screen and shoot missiles onto targets that explode when hit. In 1972, Sega released ''[[Killer Shark]]'', a first-person light gun game known for appearing in the 1975 film ''Jaws''.
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| − | These eventually influenced [[Nintendo]] to produce similar light-gun shooting electro-mechanical arcade games. In 1974, Nintendo's arcade light gun shooter ''Wild Gunman'' used similar technology, but improved it even further by using full-motion video projection to display live-action cowboy opponents on screen.
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| | ==References== | | ==References== |
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| | [[Category:Arcade systems]] | | [[Category:Arcade systems]] |
Periscope, an example of an early Sega electro-mechanical arcade game.
In the mid-20th century, electro-mechanical arcade games (EM games) were a staple of amusement arcade venues across the world. As the name suggests, these are commercial products, typically using simple electric circuits to move physical objects in order to simulate a game - an evolution of slot machines, pinball tables and Pachinko machines (as well as purely mechanical games), and which rose to prominence after the end of World War II.
Numerous amusement companies designed and manufactured coin-operated EM games between the early 1950s and late 1970s. Sega began producing games in the early 1960s, with the 1966 release of Periscope emerging as their first successful EM venture. Until the mid-1970s, the company structured itself around this market.
In the late 1960s, "video projection" electro-mechanical games began appearing, with the likes of Sega's Duck Hunt (1968) dropping physical moving targets in favour of projected animated images, helping to set the tone for the first half of the 1970s. With the advent of more complex and reliable "video games" - those which use a combination of solid-state electronics to draw a picture on a television screen, Sega became less focused[1] on its EM operations, ending with the release of Plinker's Canyon in 1976.
A number of arcade video games were inspired by electro-mechanical arcade games (particularly the "video projection" type) during the 1970s, until video games eventually replaced electro-mechanical games with the arrival of Space Invaders (1978). Due to a reliance on physical moving parts (and by extension, high maintenance costs), all types of electro-mechanical arcade games are difficult to find outside of museums, with most being taken out of service in the early 1980s.
References
