Back To The Arcade - A 1980's Classic

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Back to the Arcade - An Introduction

After nearly 20 years in the making, I have finally finished my classic arcade cabinet.  Somewhere around 1999 I discovered that I could play classic arcade games such as Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Defender, Centipede, and many, many more on my PC.  For me, these classic games were a lot more fun than the current games found in the more 'modern' arcades.

Once I discovered that these were essentially the exact same games I played during my teenage years (including the coin drop) I was hooked by a bit of nostalgia. Throughout my early teen years I wanted these games in my home and tried to replicate the experience through my Atari VCS (2600), then via a Commodore VIC-20, then to the Commodore 64, and finally through my Commodore 128.  Unfortunately the games on those platforms just didn't quite satisfy my desire for the authentic arcade experience.  I'm not just talking about the physical cabinet and controls, I'm mostly referring to the graphics.  Check out these examples...

Donkey Kong - Arcade

Donkey Kong - Atari VCS (2600)

Tempest - Arcade

Tempest - Atari VCS (2600)

For a really good comparison of the different systems, check out Let's Compare Classic (Donkey Kong) on YouTube.

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During the research process I even re-discovered some games that I had forgotten about and played even before the video game craze started with Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Pac-Man. These were games such as Sprint One, Sea Wolf, and Lunar Lander which were all begging for my quarters when our family used to go to the local Straw Hat Pizza in South Lake Tahoe. I will discuss more about these specific games later and why they are special.

Sprint One - Screen Shot

Sea Wolf - Screen Shot

Lunar Lander - Screen Shot

Sprint One (1978)

Sea Wolf (1976)

Lunar Lander (1979)

This blog, which is broken up into multiple parts will document the process that I went through to get to my finished project that I call, 'Back to the Arcade.'

Click the links below to continue the journey.

​Enjoy!

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Continue to Part 1 - The Games

Intro | The Games | Control Panel Configuration | The Controls | Control Panel Lights | Research | Specific Games | Hardware & Software | Game Configurations | Cabinet Build | Artwork | Bonus | Leaderboard | Summary