Arcade

Various (Namco, Atari, Konami, Capcom, Sega) · 1971 – 1990s

Coin-operated arcade games defined the first golden age of video gaming. Standing cabinets filled malls and arcades worldwide. At their peak in 1982, US arcades generated over $8 billion annually — more than Hollywood box office and recorded music combined. Pac-Man alone earned over $2.5 billion by 1990.

The golden age of arcade games ran roughly from 1978 to 1983, sparked by the global success of Space Invaders and Pac-Man. Japanese manufacturers like Namco and Taito competed fiercely with American companies like Atari and Williams. Hardware pushed boundaries every year: vector graphics (Asteroids, Tempest), sprite scaling (Zaxxon), and early 3D polygon rendering all debuted in arcade cabinets long before reaching home computers. The crash of 1983 slowed the North American industry, but Japanese arcades continued thriving through the decade, producing legendary fighting games, shoot-'em-ups, and beat 'em ups that remain benchmarks of game design.