The Golden Age of Arcade Games Quiz

Answer: Taito / Midway

"Space Invaders" was created by Tomohiro Nishikado and sold by Taito in Japan, first released in June of 1978. In July, it entered the North American market through the Midway division of Bally. As one of the earliest shooter-type video games, "Space Invaders" and its pixelated aliens have become icons in the industry.

Answer: Atari

Designed by Ed Logg and Dona Bailey, "Centipede" was an early success for Atari, Inc. Another shooter-style game, this one had you firing at a centipede (and some other insects) as it wound its way down the screen towards your shooter. It hit the arcades in 1980, and quickly became a hit for Atari.

Answer: Namco / Midway

Toru Iwatani created "Pac-Man", which was first released by Namco in May of 1980 in Japan. In October, it finally made its entry into the North American market, under the Midway banner. "Pac-Man" introduced a new style of video game to the market, something that was NOT a shooter game, or a variation on Pong.

It was also unique in the use of cutscenes, linking different levels of play and creating somewhat of a storyline.

Answer: Konami / Sega-Gremlin

"Frogger" was developed by a team at Konami and released to the public in Japan on June 5th, 1981. The North American release, distributed by Sega-Gremlin, came a few months later in October. The game required the player to move a frog across traffic and across a dangerous river and get it to a safe haven at the top of the screen.

In 1982, "Softline" magazine gave this endorsement to the game: "Frogger has earned the ominous distinction of being 'the arcade game with the most ways to die'".

Answer: Nintendo

"Donkey Kong" was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and was released by Nintendo in both Japan and North America in July of 1981. An early type of platform/puzzle video game, it quickly became very popular, setting Nintendo at the forefront of the video gaming industry. "Donkey Kong" introduced the character of Jumpman, who would come to be known as Mario.

Answer: Sega

"Zaxxon" was developed by Sega and released on January 1st, 1982 and it introduced a different kind of shooter game. The use of axonometric projection gave a third-person view of the plane, making it look like it was flying over a 3-D surface, scrolling left to right. The name "Zaxxon" came directly from the term 'axonometric'.

Answer: Irem / Williams Electronics

Takashi Nishiyama designed "Moon Patrol" and Irem released the game in Japan, while Williams Electronics did the same in North America, both in 1982. "Moon Patrol" is widely accepted as the first game to introduce parallax scrolling (where the background moves by more slowly than the foreground) in side-scrolling video games.

Answer: Gottlieb

"Q*bert" was released in North America in October of 1982 by Gottlieb. Designed by Warren Davis and Jeff Lee, the game was originally developed with the name 'Cubes', and even briefly had the possible titles 'Snots And Boogers' and '@!#?@!' before settling on "Q*bert".

Answer: Bally Midway

"Tron" was developed by lead programmer Bill Adams for Bally Midway and released in 1982 in the same year as the Disney movie that inspired it. "Tron" had four games within the gameplay that were based on scenes from the movie: The I/O Tower, the MCP Cone, Battle Tanks, and Light Cycles (my personal favourite).

Answer: Capcom

Capcom released "1942" worldwide in December of 1984. It was designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and was a vertically scrolling shooter game that had the goal of reaching Tokyo and destroying the Japanese air fleet. It was followed up by "1943: The Battle of Midway" in 1987.