Soviet Arcade Games from the 70s and 80s (opens in new tab)

(arcadeblogger.com)

256 pointsvideotopia7y ago35 comments

35 comments

33 comments · 15 top-level

blondin7y ago· 4 in thread

OMG, i will definitely put my hands on any game, arcade or not, that has a ship wheel! it looks so awesome. we have all these forms to explore and yet we have been leaning towards standard forms introduced by consoles for years now... i was reading how gamers were so happy about the new xbox controller announced at E3 recently, and yet as a casual gamer i see the same thing. maybe their latency / responsiveness issues is all that was addressed.

videotopiaOP7y ago

Completely agree. What makes these old arcade machines (Western games included) are the uniqueness of the controls. Trackballs, Spinners, 360 joysticks, thrusters, yokes all added to the immersion. These are the things that connected players to arcade cabinets and the games. Today's androgynous joypads just don't do that.

freeflight7y ago

Feels obligatory to mention Steel Battalion with its massive controller setup [0], that was an early 2000 console game.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Battalion#/media/File:St...

1 more reply

marcins7y ago

This is what’s so exciting about the Play date (https://play.date/) - I have the hope it brings back that retro vibe, with a different input mechanic for a twist.

a_t487y ago

You would definitely enjoy alt.ctrl.GDC (https://www.gdconf.com/alt.ctrl.gc) - it's a section of the Games Developer Conference Expo dedicated to people using alternative/experimental control schemes.

rmason7y ago· 4 in thread

I'm the wrong generation for most of these games. But I did play a significant amount of pinball back in the day.

Never been there but if I ever get to Las Vegas the Pinball museum will be on my list of places to visit.

http://pinballmuseum.org/

reaperducer7y ago

if I ever get to Las Vegas the Pinball museum will be on my list of places to visit

Hurry.

https://vitalvegas.com/pinball-hall-fame-close-seeks-funds-s...

DrScump7y ago

Also watch for events at the Museum of Pinball in Banning, CA, east of L.A. http://www.museumofpinball.org/

corysama7y ago

https://www.pacificpinball.org/ in Alameda CA is really great.

rmason7y ago

Thank you! I'm going to be out in SF this winter and I will definitely check it out.

gbuk20137y ago· 2 in thread

Wow this brings back childhood memories! I played several of those and “Sea Battle” was my favourite. :) I think it was the physicality of the controls - I can still remember the smell of the rubber on that periscope! The actual gameplay was very primitive, very much in line with some of the Flash games that were so popular in the past on the web.

I also had a handheld “game console” which was a one-game thing with an LCD with 4 buttons that would move a wolf character out of a famous cartoon to the 4 corners of the screen to catch falling eggs.

nbaksalyar7y ago

This “handheld game console” is in fact a complete clone of Nintendo Game & Watch. :)

RandomGuyDTB7y ago

Probably from Elektronika, maybe you can recognize it from here: https://www.gameandwatch.ch/en/faq-questions-answers/game-wa...

1 more reply

SOLAR_FIELDS7y ago· 2 in thread

In the article it states that visitors to the museum get 15 kopeks to operate the machines. 100 kopeks is one ruble. 1 dollar is 64 rubles. Therefore it costs something on the order of 0.001 cents to operate one of the machines. That’s some crazy inflation!

e-max7y ago

You have a small mistake in your calculation. 0.15/64 = 0.002$ which equals 0.2 cents. But!

It's much worse, actually. Russia conducted redenomination in 1998 with a coefficient 1000. Which means that 1000 old rubles were replaced by 1 new ruble. So considering this it would be 0.0002 cents.

glintik7y ago

Actually, in 1980th an official rate per US dollar was 0.6-0.7 RUB. But black market deals were 8-10 RUB per $.

abruzzi7y ago· 2 in thread

Funny, I visited the Moscow museum just a couple weeks ago. What I especially enjoyed was was this solenoid based basketball game. Two player, about 15 places on the playing field where the ball could land. Each player the to hit the right button first to engages a little solenoid that would “throw” the ball towards their net and eventually score a basket. It was a reminder that for me, sometimes the simpler games are more fun that the complex high tech games.

icelancer7y ago

Yes! This is a great game and existed in ice rinks and other places in middle America while I was growing up in the 1980s and early 1990s.

EDIT: Ah, here it is! Turns out TFA says specifically the Moscow game is an exact clone of Sega Basketball:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wv2hqhh2Zc

joezydeco7y ago

Which came out two years after Midway's Basketball... ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0HCOOra_qs

markussss7y ago· 1 in thread

During my recent visit to Saint Petersburg, I visited the Museum of Soviet Arcade Games, and I would highly recommend all the games to everybody who is interested in the games! In case you are in the city, it's one of my top 5 places to visit, at least if you are interested in games. I went there alone, but I would highly recommend bringing a friend, as some of the games are designed for two players, and it's far more fun to play with a friend than a random stranger.

My favorite games were Sniper and Sniper 2, but I would recommend trying everything.

lowercased7y ago

Similar museum trip in Moscow in ... 2011? 2013? I think Sniper was a fave until I tried Gorodki. :)

EDIT: http://game-game.com/32102/

Also, morskoi boy: http://morskoy-boy.15kop.ru/en/ and flash version: http://morskoy-boy.15kop.ru/en/game/

darkpuma7y ago· 1 in thread

Amusingly, Morskoi Boy/Sea Battle was one of the games in the arcade aboard Typhoon class SSBNs. A submarine game, on a submarine.

walrus017y ago

Apparently the Akula/Typhoon even had room for a 4x2 meter "swimming pool" and sauna.

https://www.rbth.com/economics/2015/07/28/a_navy_day_tour_of...

_b8r07y ago· 1 in thread

There's a really awesome video game museum in Berlin on Karl Marx Allee that features an East German Soviet PolyPlay arcade machine with Wasserrohrbruch running on it. It's a terrible game, but the museum is worth a visit for anyone not going to Russia who wants to try a few Soviet-era games.

bmsleight_7y ago

The pain game is worth the entrance price alone. Pain Battle 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computerspielemuseum_Berlin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4HDIiakT7E

FillardMillmore7y ago· 1 in thread

I presume the high score list on the machines contained 10 or so entries of the same score? That is of course, after the machine calculates and redistributes the scores of the top performers.

inflatableDodo7y ago

You are thinking of communism. This is the USSR, the scores are all sent to Moscow and then one point is reissued to each player. Then anyone who asks what happened to the rest of the points is sent to the gulag.

dang7y ago

And from 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10171304

steveklabnik7y ago

I've been lucky enough to visit this place twice; it's one of my favorite things to do in Moscow.

8bitsrule7y ago

Very interesting images! (Of course St. Petersburg!)

I'm left wondering about the soundtracks on these machines. (Maybe it's mentioned somewhere and I missed it?) I assume that they had sound (going by USSR synth tech) ... and not that the proprietors simply played pirated rock recorded on old x-ray plates!

duxup7y ago

I remember seeing a photograph of what was supposedly the inside of a Typhoon submarine and they had a similar submarine video game cabinet as the one in this article.

cosmodisk7y ago

NI remember when my dad used to take me to arcades when I was a little kide: the sea battle was there! Nice.

avip7y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI&t=14s

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35 comments

33 comments · 15 top-level

blondin7y ago· 4 in thread

videotopiaOP7y ago

freeflight7y ago

Feels obligatory to mention Steel Battalion with its massive controller setup [0], that was an early 2000 console game.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Battalion#/media/File:St...

1 more reply

marcins7y ago

This is what’s so exciting about the Play date (https://play.date/) - I have the hope it brings back that retro vibe, with a different input mechanic for a twist.

a_t487y ago

rmason7y ago· 4 in thread

I'm the wrong generation for most of these games. But I did play a significant amount of pinball back in the day.

Never been there but if I ever get to Las Vegas the Pinball museum will be on my list of places to visit.

http://pinballmuseum.org/

reaperducer7y ago

if I ever get to Las Vegas the Pinball museum will be on my list of places to visit

Hurry.

https://vitalvegas.com/pinball-hall-fame-close-seeks-funds-s...

DrScump7y ago

Also watch for events at the Museum of Pinball in Banning, CA, east of L.A. http://www.museumofpinball.org/

corysama7y ago

https://www.pacificpinball.org/ in Alameda CA is really great.

rmason7y ago

Thank you! I'm going to be out in SF this winter and I will definitely check it out.

gbuk20137y ago· 2 in thread

nbaksalyar7y ago

This “handheld game console” is in fact a complete clone of Nintendo Game & Watch. :)

RandomGuyDTB7y ago

Probably from Elektronika, maybe you can recognize it from here: https://www.gameandwatch.ch/en/faq-questions-answers/game-wa...

1 more reply

SOLAR_FIELDS7y ago· 2 in thread

e-max7y ago

You have a small mistake in your calculation. 0.15/64 = 0.002$ which equals 0.2 cents. But!

glintik7y ago

Actually, in 1980th an official rate per US dollar was 0.6-0.7 RUB. But black market deals were 8-10 RUB per $.

abruzzi7y ago· 2 in thread

icelancer7y ago

Yes! This is a great game and existed in ice rinks and other places in middle America while I was growing up in the 1980s and early 1990s.

EDIT: Ah, here it is! Turns out TFA says specifically the Moscow game is an exact clone of Sega Basketball:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wv2hqhh2Zc

joezydeco7y ago

Which came out two years after Midway's Basketball... ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0HCOOra_qs

markussss7y ago· 1 in thread

My favorite games were Sniper and Sniper 2, but I would recommend trying everything.

lowercased7y ago

Similar museum trip in Moscow in ... 2011? 2013? I think Sniper was a fave until I tried Gorodki. :)

EDIT: http://game-game.com/32102/

Also, morskoi boy: http://morskoy-boy.15kop.ru/en/ and flash version: http://morskoy-boy.15kop.ru/en/game/

darkpuma7y ago· 1 in thread

Amusingly, Morskoi Boy/Sea Battle was one of the games in the arcade aboard Typhoon class SSBNs. A submarine game, on a submarine.

walrus017y ago

Apparently the Akula/Typhoon even had room for a 4x2 meter "swimming pool" and sauna.

https://www.rbth.com/economics/2015/07/28/a_navy_day_tour_of...

_b8r07y ago· 1 in thread

bmsleight_7y ago

The pain game is worth the entrance price alone. Pain Battle 2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computerspielemuseum_Berlin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4HDIiakT7E

FillardMillmore7y ago· 1 in thread

I presume the high score list on the machines contained 10 or so entries of the same score? That is of course, after the machine calculates and redistributes the scores of the top performers.

inflatableDodo7y ago

dang7y ago

And from 2015: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10171304

steveklabnik7y ago

I've been lucky enough to visit this place twice; it's one of my favorite things to do in Moscow.

8bitsrule7y ago

Very interesting images! (Of course St. Petersburg!)

duxup7y ago

I remember seeing a photograph of what was supposedly the inside of a Typhoon submarine and they had a similar submarine video game cabinet as the one in this article.

cosmodisk7y ago

NI remember when my dad used to take me to arcades when I was a little kide: the sea battle was there! Nice.

avip7y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI&t=14s

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse