Arcade

  • Ninja Baseball Bat Man

    Introduction Irem released Ninja Baseball Bat Man in arcades in 1993, and it remains one of the most gleefully strange beat ’em ups of the era. A set of priceless baseball artifacts has been stolen, and the league commissioner sends a team of four robotic ninja ballplayers – Jose, Ryno, Roger and Straw – to…

  • The Ninja Warriors

    Introduction Taito developed and published The Ninja Warriors in 1987, with cabinets reaching operators in February 1988. Its defining feature was hardware rather than software: the cabinet housed three contiguous monitors, the outer two reflected into place by mirrors, producing an extraordinarily wide playfield that no home console of the era could reproduce faithfully. The…

  • Toki

    Introduction TAD Corporation released Toki in Japanese arcades in December 1989 under the title JuJu Densetsu, with Fabtek handling the North American release as Toki in February 1990. Akira Sakuma designed it around a premise no other platformer of the era shared: an evil sorcerer transforms the hero into an ape and abducts the woman…

  • X-Men: Children of the Atom

    Introduction X-Men: Children of the Atom launched on Capcom’s CP System II board in Japan on 8 December 1994, reaching the rest of Asia weeks later and North America during 1995. It was the first fighting game Capcom built around licensed Marvel characters, and the ambition shows in every frame: sprites far larger than those…

  • Pang

    Introduction Pang was developed by Mitchell Corporation and published by Capcom in 1989, appearing as Pomping World in Japan and as Buster Bros. on North American cabinets. The premise is simple enough to grasp in one glance and surprisingly hard to master: bouncing balloons drift around the screen, and the player fires a harpoon straight…

  • Raiden

    Introduction Raiden reached arcades in September 1990 and became the breakout success of its developer, Seibu Kaihatsu, after years of lower-profile releases. Distribution was split by territory: Tecmo handled Japan while Fabtek brought the game to North American operators. Players pilot the Fighting Thunder fighter craft against an alien invasion, working through eight densely populated…

  • The King of Fighters 2003

    Introduction The King of Fighters 2003 was developed and published by SNK Playmore, released for arcades in 2003 as a significant structural overhaul of the series, replacing the traditional fixed three-character teams with a rotating tag system where any of three selected fighters could be swapped in in real time during a match. This tag…

  • Crossed Swords

    Introduction Crossed Swords was developed by Alpha Denshi and published by SNK, released for arcades in 1991 as a first-person perspective sword-fighting game, an unusual viewpoint choice that put players directly in a knight’s boots rather than viewing combat from the side as most fighting games of the era did. Players guide a young prince…

  • Baseball Stars 2

    Introduction Baseball Stars 2 was developed and published by SNK, released for arcades in 1992 as a sequel to the original Baseball Stars, refining the series’ arcade-style take on baseball with team customization and more detailed player statistics than most sports games of its era attempted. Players can build and manage a custom team, adjusting…

  • Metal Slug 6

    Introduction Metal Slug 6 occupies an unusual place in the Metal Slug series’ history: rather than an official SNK release, it is a bootleg arcade board built by unlicensed manufacturers using Metal Slug 3’s engine and assets, remixing stages, enemy placement, and weapon balance into what plays as an unofficial remix rather than a genuine…

  • The King of Fighters ’96

    Introduction The King of Fighters ’96 was developed and published by SNK, released for arcades in 1996 as the third entry in the annual King of Fighters series, continuing its three-on-three team tournament format pulling characters from across SNK’s other fighting franchises. It introduced a reworked dodge system and a faster, more aggressive movement style…