Arcade games started from a humble title, Pong, and then went on to become a rage. The games primarily evolved around a simplistic design and raw game play. The newer arcade games made the use of immense leaps in the graphic technology. The arcade games were designed to be played with a group of friends in pubs, malls and restaurants.
These days arcade games are more than isolated gaming sessions. Arcade games have numerous communities and clans committed to keeping the tradition.
The arcade games later appeared on home consoles. They started out as redemption games, pinball machines and video games.
The popularity suffered as the arcades were labeled as seedy, unsafe places. They saw resurgence with the advent of the “two players fighting each other” games such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and Killer Instinct.
But, then, again the game consoles and PC’s with 3d accelerator cards successfully dwarfed the advantage arcade games enjoyed. The success of arcade games over the previous generation of home computer was the ability to customize and use the newest graphics and sound cards.
The steep decline ensured that they could no longer fund their technologies.
By late 90’s the internet made matters worse for the arcades. The human to human competition was taken to a newer level.
Since then, the arcade games have been ported to other consoles and emulated on PC’s. Today the online arcade games have a huge fan following with thousands of tournaments being held online every year.
The online arcade games are evolving at a fast pace and the arcade world visualizes an altogether different future for the industry.