Vintage Arcade Game Links

Looking for more information about your favorite classic arcade games and pinball games of yesteryear? Here are a bunch of fine pages to help you in your quest!

Game Info and Collector Resources

ArcadeCollecting.com - This site has lots of links for the classic arcade game collector, including screenshots of classic games, an archive of classic arcade game art, lots of technical information and game hacks.

Arcade Restoration Workshop - This is an amazing site dedicated to the restoration and preservation of video games mainly arcade games but also has some links for classic console games.

ClassicArcadeOnline.com - This is a great resource for classic arcade game collectors in the Pacific Northwest. He’s got lots of good links, and some really interesting projects. His Multi-Williams cabinet has to be seen to be believed!

Roger’s Classic Arcade Tips and Tricks - This site has lots of great techniques for getting high-scores in your favorite classic arcade games. There are a huge number of arcade games covered here!

Bell Springs Pinball - This company publishes books for folks who want to repair and maintain their own pinball machines, including :"Pinball Machine Care and Maintenance: How to Purchase, Adjust, Maintain and Repair Your Own Pinball Machine", "The Pinball Repair Directory" and "The Pinball Tips Newsletter".

Showcase Slots  - Slot machine sales including antique, used and refurished slot machines

Game Art and Music

Kohina: Old School Game and Demo Music - This is a really cool internet radio station broadcasting over 48 hours of chip music from classic arcade, computer, and console games, as well as chip music from democoder efforts. They broadcast using the ogg vorbis open-source music standard, but you can listen even without a player as long as your machine supports Java 2.

Directories

Arcade Game Websites - A collection of links to lots of websites related to classic arcade games and arcade game collecting.

Video Games HQ - This site is a pretty shameless attempt to get you to view advertising, but they do have a really nice collection of links to game related sites.

Arcade Enthusiast Conventions and Events

The California Extreme Classic Arcade Games Exhibition - This is an annual celebration of classic coin operated pinball machines, video arcade games and other novelties you once found in game arcades. Provided by private collectors, every game is set on free-play and you can play as much as you want. Lots of rare and interesting prototype arcade games are shown as well. The show is once a year in August in San Jose, California.

Midwest Gaming Classic - A classic arcade and console gaming convention held in June in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Formerly known as Jagfest (dedicated to Atari’s ill-fated Jaguar game console) they have now widened their scope to include other consoles and a great selection of classic pinball arcade games.

Texas Pinball Festival - Over 100 pinball and classic arcade games set on free-play for your playing enjoyment. This celebration of pinball is held in Irving, Texas near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. Attractions include a tournament with a pinball game as a prize, a costume contest, guest panelists, and a swap meet!

Classic Coin-Op Companies

Bally / Midway / Williams - Ah, what once was. It’s so easy to get the games this company produced confused with the games they distributed, as they distributed some very famous Japanese games in the US, like Namco’s Galaga and Pac Man, Taito’s Space Invaders, and Data-East’s Burgertime. Internally, they produced many, many hits, including Omega Race, Gorf, Rampage, Tron, Satan’s Hollow, Wizard of Wor, Tapper, Spy Hunter, and Xenophobe. More recent hits included Cruisin’ series (Cruisin’ USA, Cruisin’ World , etc.), and NBA Jam.

Alas, they don’t produce coin-op arcade games anymore, but they do seem to release console games based on the old brands, so I suppose they are still worth a mention. Why have the Japanese companies gone on to be huge successes while the US companies wasted away to nearly nothing?

Konami - This Japanese company brought us Frogger, Scramble, Super Cobra, Time Pilot, Gyruss, Yie-Ar Kung Fu, Track and Field, Life-Force, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons, Contra and X-Men in the arcades, as well as many, many hit games on game consoles, such as Castlevania and Metal Gear Solid. Most recently responsible for the Beat Mania series (including Drum Mania, Guitar Freaks, and Keyboard Mania), the innovative Police 911 (with motion-sensor technology), and the Yu-Gi-Oh card game.

Namco - This Japanese company brought us Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Mappy, Xevious, Pole Position, Galaxian, Rally-X and Rolling Thunder... so many of the classic arcade games that we though of as being from Atari were actually developed by Namco. This powerhouse still provides great hits today, like Ridge Racer, Tekken, and Time Crisis.

Sega(USA)(Japan) - Perhaps more known for their game consoles and more recent arcade efforts, Sega has none-the-less been around since the beginning, with games like Pengo, Turbo, Zaxxon, Up ’n Down, Hang-On, Choplifter, Space Harrier, Outrun, Hot Rod, and Golden Axe. Although no longer producing their own home game console, Sega is still a force to be reconned with, providing software for consoles by other manufacturers like Sony and Nintendo, as well as continuing to have success in the arcades with games like Virtua Cop, Initial D, Virtua Fighter, Sega GT, Sega Rally, Crazy Taxi, Top Skater, Die Hard Arcade, and many others.

Stern - Stern’s website now proclaims "Stern is the only coin-op pinball manufacturer on the planet!". Sad but true... all their competitors have pretty much left the pinball arena, and often are no longer in the coin-op world... if they exist at all! (Sega’s pinballs are really made by Stern.) Originally called "Chicago Coin", Stern also produced several highly influential coin-op video games, including Astro-Invader, Berzerk, Frenzy, and lesser known Turtles, and The End. Stern seems to make their living these days churning out pinball games based on popular licenses, like Monopoly, the NFL, Playboy, Austin Powers, Lord of the Rings, The Sopranos, The Simpsons, and Harley Davidson.

Taito (Japan)

The Pinball Factory - Heir to the Bally / Williams pinball license. They sell parts for Bally and Williams pinball machines and claim to be producing new games for sale!

Digital Pinball Machines by A8 Audio - Hungarian jukebox company A8 Audio has produced an interesting digital pinball machine that uses a horizontally mounted flat screen monitor to simulate the classic pinball experience. Their machine plays some interesting pinball, one based on Viking adventures, the other based on soccer, as well as a billiards and hockey games.

Arcade Collector Clubs and Groups

Video Arcade Preservation Society (VAPS) - This site hasn’t seen any updates for some time now, but this is a world-wide group of classic arcade game collectors. Hopefully they will have some events in the future.

Games to Play on Browsers, PCs and Consoles

Arcade Games Free Download - Free download software has a collection of nice arcade games for Windows computer. Several categories including Desktop,screensavers, education,games.

Digital Downs - A virtual horseracing game patterned after a real or virtual horse racing track operating in the U.S.A. . Features include training, racing, breeding, expert vet, tons of stats, "live" auctions, special events and competitions plus much, much more.

Games NY- A games and electronics store based in New York.

Melody Memory Game - A simple melody memory game. Have fun listening to short original melodies and matching them. Play until you get a Superior score. Then move up to the next of 9 levels of difficulty.

Gamehacked Flash Games- A flash games site with tons of different flash games.

Game Space - Yet another site of flash games with annoying advertisements.

PSP Downloads - Wallpapers, tutorials, cheats, e-books, articles, and more for the Playstation Portable.

Skill Arcade Tourament Games - You guessed it... more flash games!

Wired Arcade - Wouldn’t you know it... games... written... in Flash! Who’d a thunk it?

Non-Video Games

Backgammoned.net - Free online resource for backgammon players.

The Crafty Puzzles Company - Beautiful handmade teak collapsible 3D puzzles. The ultimate brain teasers, each puzzle will test your lateral thinking and test your IQ.

Friends

Follow The Rainbow - A great site that helps you save money on things you buy all the time!

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