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January 05, 2021

Top 5 golden-age arcade games

1 hour 16 minutes

Today Mark is talking the golden age of arcade games, which ran from 1979 til around 1983. Mark and Nick start with their own childhood arcade memories, and Mark gets quizzical about the American quarter as a “unit of fun”. As this was recorded during the Quarantimes, conversation inevitably turned to the decline in in-person entertainment like arcades and cinemas.

(00:00) - Introduction

(10:38) - Nicholas's pick: Pac-Man

(22:17) - Mark's pick: Space Invaders

(26:57) - Nicholas's pick: Defender

(32:44) - Mark's pick: Pole Position

(36:41) - Nicholas's pick: Mario Bros

(46:58) - Mark's pick: Paperboy

(48:40) - Nicholas's pick: Galaga

(53:22) - Mark's pick: Asteroids

(56:17) - A primer on vector graphics

(59:56) - Nicholas's pick: Robotron 2048

(01:03:32) - Dispatches from the past

(01:08:38) - Building the final list

(01:11:20) - Honourable mentions

(01:13:08) - More of Nicholas Bond

Nick blogs at the Retrogame Deconstruction Zone, and you can find him on Twitter @MrVGBrow.

Links

High Score documentary series on Netflix
Psygnosis (the video game publisher with the owl logo Mark was trying to think of)
10 hours of arcade noise
Masters of Doom
Podcast My Startup

...more

View all episodes

By Mark Steadman