Electro-mechanical games (EM games) are types of arcade games that operate on a combination of some electronic circuitry and mechanical actions from the player to move items contained within the game's cabinet. Some of these were early light gun games using light-sensitive sensors on targets to register hits, while others were simulation games such as driving games , combat flight simulators and sports games . EM games were popular in amusement arcades from the late 1940s up until the 1970s, serving as alternatives to pinball machines, which had been stigmatized as games of chance during that period. EM games lost popularity in the 1970s, as arcade video games had emerged to replace them in addition to newer pinball machines designed as games of skill .
79-515: Thunderhawk , known as AH-3 Thunderstrike in North America (in Europe known as Thunderhawk AH-73M ), is a combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Core Design and released for Amiga and MS-DOS in 1992. A remake was made and published by JVC Musical Industries for Sega CD in 1993 and for MS-DOS in 1996. An Atari Jaguar CD port was planned but never released. In
158-407: A Super Shot basketball skill-toss game manufactured by Doyle & Associates, was released in 1985 and became a hit, inspiring numerous imitators within a year, leading to super shot games becoming popular in the late 1980s. In 1990, Capcom entered the bowling industry with Bowlingo , a coin-operated, electro-mechanical, fully automated mini ten-pin bowling installation; it was smaller than
237-400: A Western theme and was one of the first games to feature competitive head-to-head shooting between two players, inspiring several early Western-themed shooter video games . Notably, the game's concept was adapted by Tomohiro Nishikado into Taito 's shooter video game Western Gun (1975), which Midway released as Gun Fight in North America. Sega's Jet Rocket , developed in 1969, was
316-461: A combat flight simulator featuring cockpit controls that could move the player aircraft around a landscape displayed on a screen and shoot missiles onto targets that explode when hit. The game displayed three-dimensional terrain with buildings, produced using a new type of special belt technology along with fluorescent paint to simulate a night view. At Japan's 1970 Coin Machine Show, Jet Rocket
395-546: A forward - scrolling road projected on a screen. Taito's similar 1970 rear-projection driving game Super Road 7 involved driving a car down an endlessly scrolling road while having to dodge cars, which inspired Tomohiro Nishikado to develop the Taito racing video game Speed Race (1974). Chicago Coin adapted Speedway into a motorbike racing game, Motorcycle , in 1970. Speedway also had an influence on Atari founder Nolan Bushnell , who had originally planned to develop
474-472: A zoetrope to produce moving animations on a screen . They often had vertical playfields that used mirrors to create an artificial sense of depth. It was a fresh approach to gun games that Sega introduced with Duck Hunt , which began location testing in 1968 and released in January 1969. It had animated moving targets which disappear from the screen when shot, solid-state electronic sound effects, and awarded
553-457: A "God's eye view." Many simulators also include "mission builders" which allow the player to create their own missions. Combat flight simulators are among the most computer and graphics demanding applications at any given time, as they are real-time applications with multiple processes happening at once. This leads many simulation fans to constantly upgrade their hardware, including the most advanced graphics cards. These sims have also given rise to
632-426: A 1970s driving game, The Driver , which projected live-action video footage filmed by Toei Company . There were also two EM racing games from 1971 that gave the illusion of three-dimensional holography, Bally's Road Runner and Sega's Monte Carlo . The player's car was animated with holographic-like technology, while the rival cars were standard model cars like other EM games. During a collision, an animation shows
711-622: A clone market in North America. Japanese manufacturers responded by releasing new game concepts every few months to stay ahead of the clone competition, but the American clones gradually succeeded in driving Japanese firms out of the North American market in the early 1970s. Despite this, Japan continued to have a thriving local market with more than 500,000–700,000 arcade machines by 1973, mostly consisting of EM shooting and driving games from Japanese manufacturers alongside pinball machines imported from
790-628: A driving video game, influenced by Speedway which at the time was the biggest-selling game at his arcade, but he ended up developing Pong (1972) instead. Atari eventually developed a driving video game later on, Gran Trak 10 (1974). Sega's EM driving games Stunt Car (1970) and Dodgem Crazy (1972) are seen as precursors to later driving video games that involve ramming cars, such as Exidy 's Destruction Derby (1975) and Death Race (1976) as well as Atari's Crash 'N Score (1975), while lacking their dynamically changing open arenas enabled by video game technology. Kasco used 8 mm film for
869-439: A gun-like peripheral (such as a light gun or similar device), similar to light gun shooter video games. "General" arcade games refer to all other types of EM arcade games, including various different types of sports games. "Audio-visual" or "realistic" games referred to novelty games that used advanced special effects to provide a simulation experience. Coin-operated arcade amusements based on games of skill emerged around
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#1732852665893948-432: A healthy arcade environment for video games to flourish in the 1970s. The success of Periscope led to American distributors turning to Japan for new arcade games in the late 1960s, which in turn encouraged competition from traditional Chicago arcade manufacturers. American arcade firms such as Midway Manufacturing , Chicago Coin and Allied Leisure responded by cloning the latest novelty games from Japan, establishing
1027-410: A higher score for head shots . Missile , a shooter and vehicular combat game released by Sega in 1969, had electronic sound and a moving film strip to represent the targets on a projection screen. A two-way joystick with a fire button was used to shoot and steer the missile onto oncoming planes displayed on a screen, while two directional buttons were used to move the player's tank; when
1106-427: A moving sky-blue background from a film canister on a rotating drum. The game was a hit, but too large for most locations, so it was followed by a scaled-down version, Sky Fighter II , which sold 3,000 arcade cabinets. In 1972, Sega released an electro-mechanical game called Killer Shark , a first-person light-gun shooter that used similar projection technology to Sega's earlier shooting games, and made an appearance in
1185-642: A new wave of EM arcade games emerged that were able to generate significant earnings for arcade operators. Periscope , a submarine simulator and light gun shooter , was released by Nakamura Manufacturing Company (later called Namco) in 1965 and then by Sega in 1966. It used lights and plastic waves to simulate sinking ships from a submarine, and had players look through a periscope to direct and fire torpedoes, which were represented by colored lights and electronic sound effects. Sega's version became an instant success in Japan, Europe, and North America, where it
1264-504: A non-programmable electro-mechanical computer that played games of Nim , using electro-mechanical relays, buttons, and lightbulbs. The device, intended solely for entertainment, saw nearly 100,000 games during the fair, and may have inspired the Nimrod , a full digital computer programmed to play Nim at the 1951 Festival of Britain , considered as one of the precursors of the video game. In 1941, International Mutoscope Reel Company released
1343-556: A physically impossible amount of weapons compared to real-life aircraft loadouts. Examples of console or PC games include Ace Combat , H.A.W.X. , and Project Wingman . Many arcade combat flight simulators in amusement arcades are housed in cockpit arcade cabinets that use motion simulator technology, often incorporating hydraulics . Popular examples include the original arcade versions of After Burner , Thunder Blade and Air Combat . Sega's R360 motion simulator cabinet notably features full 360-degree rotation, used by
1422-468: A plane is hit, an animated explosion appears on screen, accompanied by the sound of an explosion. According to Ken Horowitz, it may have been the first arcade game to use a joystick with a fire button. Missile became a major arcade hit for Sega in the United States, inspiring a number of manufacturers to produce similar games. Midway later released a version called S.A.M.I. (1970) and adapted it into
1501-458: A primary objective that must be completed to successfully complete the mission, there are other targets in each missions such as tanks and SAM launchers but these are only used to help the player boost their score. The primary target is usually a major structure like an enemy base or a bridge. Usually the player is equipped with a standard set of weapons - 16 missiles, 76 rockets, and a machine gun with unlimited ammunition. On some special missions
1580-543: A screen, resembling a windscreen view. It had collision detection, with players having to dodge cars to avoid crashing, as well as electronic sound for the car engines and collisions. This gave it greater realism than earlier driving games, and it resembled a prototypical arcade racing video game , with an upright cabinet, yellow marquee, three-digit scoring, coin box, steering wheel and accelerator pedal. Indy 500 sold over 2,000 arcade cabinets in Japan, while Speedway sold over 10,000 cabinets in North America, becoming
1659-414: A similar format but had a longer cabinet allowing a longer road. Capitol Projector's 1954 machine Auto Test was a driving test simulation that used film reel to project pre-recorded driving video footage, awarding the player points for making correct decisions as the footage is played. These early driving games consisted of only the player vehicle on the road, with no rival cars to race against. By
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#17328526658931738-410: A strong presence in arcades for much of the 1970s. In Japan, EM games remained more popular than video games up until the late 1970s. Japanese arcade manufacturers initially lacked expertise with solid-state electronics and found Pong -style video games to be simplistic compared to more complex EM games, so it took longer for video games to penetrate Japan than it had in the United States. Meanwhile in
1817-479: A study sim or a survey sim, Lock On: Modern Air Combat is an example of a game that attempts to bridge the study/survey gap with highly detailed models of several US and Russian aircraft. Before multiplayer games became popular, many simulators could only be played by a single player. This continued to be the standard until the late 1990s when most titles included some sort of multi-player/network capability. In single-player combat simulators, every entity other than
1896-638: A variety of hardware add-ons such as " HOTAS " (hands on throttle and stick) controllers that allow full control of most functions without touching the keyboard. Voice control and head-tracking view control systems are also available for home flight sim enthusiasts. The tables below define rough guidelines of what might classify as combat flight simulation games. Electro-mechanical game EM games typically combined mechanical engineering technology with various electrical components , such as motors , switches , resistors , solenoids , relays , bells, buzzers and electric lights . EM games lie somewhere in
1975-408: Is a genre of simulation games that focuses on modelling an aircraft's systems as accurately as possible. Advancing computer technology made this possible, with the development of highly detailed models that improved upon the fidelity of avionics, weapons systems, physics, flight models, graphics, etc. and allowed for fully interactive cockpits where virtually every control was mapped and functional. This
2054-673: The Atari 2600 that simulated flight combat, two examples being Mattel's Air Raiders (1982) and Milton Bradley's Spitfire Attack (1983). Later in the 1980s, it became a trend for arcade flight combat simulators to use hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinets . The trend was sparked by Sega 's "taikan" games, with "taikan" meaning "body sensation" in Japanese. Yu Suzuki 's team at Sega (later known as Sega AM2 ) developed hydraulic motion simulator cockpit cabinets for flight combat games such as Space Harrier (1985), After Burner (1987) and
2133-461: The R360 games. In the early 1990s, arcade flight combat simulators began adopting 3D polygon graphics. Taito's Air Inferno (1990) was a 3D flight simulator utilizing a motion simulator cockpit cabinet. Atari Games followed with the 3D flight combat simulator the following year, Steel Talons (1991). Namco then followed with the 3D arcade combat flight simulator Air Combat (1993). During
2212-530: The massively multiplayer Fighter Ace , WarBirds , Aces High , World War II Online , Ace Online , War Thunder , Fighter Wing 2 and others). Many players of both video games and simulators seek games for their replay value . Simulators enhance the replay value by offering a variety of single missions consisting of short, randomly generated missions as well as longer campaigns consisting of several smaller mission or objectives. Most campaigns are "dynamic flowing," which means they change according to
2291-554: The 1950s, EM games were using a timer to create a sense of urgency in the gameplay. An example of this is the boxing game K.O. Champ (1955) by International Mutoscope Reel Company. By 1961, however, the US arcade industry had been stagnating. This in turn had a negative effect on Japanese arcade distributors such as Sega that had been depending on US imports up until then. Sega co-founder David Rosen responded to market conditions by having Sega develop original arcade games in Japan. From
2370-480: The 1970s have remained popular in arcades through to the present day, notably air hockey , whac-a-mole and medal games . Medal games started becoming popular with Sega's Harness Racing (1974), Nintendo's EVR Race (1975) and Aruze 's The Derby Vφ (1975). The first whac-a-mole game, Mogura Taiji ("Mole Buster"), was released by TOGO in 1975. Mogura Taiji became the second highest-grossing EM game of 1976 in Japan, second only to Namco's F-1 that year. In
2449-416: The 1980s. A new type of driving game was introduced in Japan, with Kasco's 1968 racing game Indy 500 , which was licensed by Chicago Coin for release in North America as Speedway in 1969. It had a circular racetrack with rival cars painted on individual rotating discs illuminated by a lamp, which produced colorful graphics projected using mirrors to give a pseudo-3D first-person perspective on
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2528-462: The 1990s to early 2000s, there was a transition from traditional video game platforms like arcades, to consoles such as the original PlayStation , for their ability to be played at home. PC games remained popular during this time, as many publishers continued to produce games primarily for the PC platform. Due to the limitations and the relative simplicity of the controllers available for gaming consoles at
2607-505: The EM industry with sports games such as Crown Soccer Special (1967), a two-player game that simulated association football using electronic components such as pinball flippers, and Crown Basketball , which debuted in the US as the highest-earning arcade game at the 1968 Tampa Fair and also had a quarter-play option. Sega released an EM game similar to air hockey in 1968, MotoPolo , where two players moved around motorbikes to knock balls into
2686-478: The US or Russia. The sophistication and intricacy of these simulators continued to grow, and in 2008 the Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) released DCS: Black Shark , the first of a series of simulations that featured a complete and detailed cockpit with all the relevant switches accurately modelled and functional, and mapped over 500 key-commands. DCS also supported a variety of input devices aside from
2765-469: The United States, after the market became flooded with Pong clones, the Pong market crashed around the mid-1970s, which led to traditional Chicago coin-op manufacturers mainly sticking to EM games up until the late 1970s. EM games eventually declined following the arrival of Space Invaders (1978) and the golden age of arcade video games in the late 1970s. Several electro-mechanical games that appeared in
2844-419: The United States. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell , when he was a college student, worked at an arcade where he became familiar with EM games such as Chicago Coin's Speedway (1969), watching customers play and helping to maintain the machinery, while learning how it worked and developing his understanding of how the game business operates. Periscope established a trend of missile-launching gameplay during
2923-466: The actual aircraft cockpit, often with a full-motion platform. Combat flight simulation titles are more numerous than civilian flight simulators due to the variety of subject matter available and market demand. Many free flight simulators , such as the open source Linux Air Combat , Falcon 4.0 , Digital Combat Simulator and Rise of Flight , can be downloaded for free off the Internet. Prior to
3002-452: The arcade games G-LOC: Air Battle and Wing War . A survey simulation is a classification of simulator that includes a variety (or survey) of aircraft from the period in question. This type of classification applies to many historical combat simulators, and typically includes aircraft from all nations participating in the conflict. Early simulators suffered from flight models and instrument panels that differed little between aircraft. As
3081-427: The arcade video game Guided Missile (1977). Midway also released the submarine-themed missile-launching games Sea Raider (1969) and Sea Devil (1970). Joysticks subsequently became the standard control scheme for arcade games. Sega's Gun Fight (1969) had two players control cowboy figurines on opposing sides of a playfield full of obstacles, with each player attempting to shoot the opponent's cowboy. It had
3160-418: The biggest arcade hit in years. Like Periscope , Speedway also charged a quarter per play, further cementing quarter-play as the US arcade standard for over two decades. Other EM racing games derived from Indy 500 included Namco's Racer and Sega's Grand Prix , the latter a 1969 release that similarly had a first-person view , electronic sound, a dashboard with a racing wheel and accelerator, and
3239-404: The catalyst for the "novelty renaissance" where a wide variety of novelty/specialty games (also called "land-sea-air" games) were released during the late 1960s to early 1970s, from quiz games and racing games to hockey and football games, many adopting the quarter-play price point. As Japan's arcade industry grew rapidly, a new category of "audio-visual" novelty games began being manufactured in
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3318-405: The category of "flight simulation." Simulator realism can be classified as the following : Arcade-style combat flight simulators have various elements that are less realistic than other simulators, such as simplified controls and physics models, compressed or non-existent start up times, emphasis on close-range dogfighting over beyond-visual-range combat for modern jets, and the ability to carry
3397-475: The century saw advancements in technology that increased the capabilities of these simulators, simplifying and improving their weapon handling and flight models, as well as updated visuals. Titles featuring these improvements include Jane's Combat Simulations , a line of flight simulations originally developed by Electronic Arts and later continued by the company Third Wire , as well as the series Strike Fighters: Project 1 and Wings over Europe . The "study sim"
3476-479: The earliest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator (1982) had crude graphics, simple flight models, and a combat option with "dog fighting" in a World War I Sopwith Camel . Shortly after Microsoft Flight Simulator was released for the 8-bit computer, Microsoft released Jet in 1985. This simulator used simple filled wire frame graphics and a small generic battle space to allow players to fight MiGs in an F-18 or F-16 . There were also titles released for
3555-544: The electro-mechanical driving game Drive Mobile , which had an upright arcade cabinet similar to what arcade video games would later use. It was derived from older British driving games from the 1930s. In Drive Mobile , a steering wheel was used to control a model car over a road painted on a metal drum , with the goal being to keep the car centered as the road shifts left and right. Kasco (short for Kansai Seisakusho Co.) introduced this type of electro-mechanical driving game to Japan in 1958 with Mini Drive , which followed
3634-553: The game at #1 in their Top Mega-CD Games of All Time, with the sequel Battlecorps being fourth on the same list. Retro Gamer included it on their list of top ten Mega-CD games. Next Generation called it the best game release for Sega CD. In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the Sega CD version 27th on their "Top 100 Video Games". The game sold about 300,000 units in Europe. Thunderhawk spawned two sequels, Firestorm: Thunderhawk 2 and Thunderhawk: Operation Phoenix . Firestorm
3713-514: The game, the player flies a fictional AH-73M attack helicopter . The game consists of several campaigns for each one of ten world areas. The campaigns are themed around real events or activities in these areas (e.g. escorting a UN humanitarian convoy during the Bosnian War , fighting pirates in the South China Sea , etc.) A typical campaign consists of four or five missions. Each mission has
3792-544: The highest-grossing EM arcade game of 1977 in the United States. Namco's F-1 is believed to have been influenced by Kasco's Indy 500 , and in turn F-1 provided the basis for Namco's hit racing video game Pole Position (1982), which was co-designed by F-1 designer Sho Osugi. EM bowling games called "bowlers" included Bally Manufacturing 's Bally Bowler and Chicago Coin's Corvette in 1966. EM baseball games included Midway's Little League (1966) and Chicago Coin's All Stars Baseball (1968). Taito entered
3871-944: The hit Steven Spielberg film Jaws (1975). In 1974, Nintendo released Wild Gunman , a light-gun shooter based on the Laser Clay Shooting System that used full-motion video-projection from 16 mm film to display live-action cowboy opponents on the screen. Several EM arcade games gave the illusion of holography in the 1970s. The San Francisco based Multiplex Company used its "rotating cylindrical hologram" technology to provide animation for several shooting games from Kasco and Midway. Kasco used it in Gun Smoke (1975), Samurai and Bank Robbers (1977), while Midway used it in Top Gun (1976). These games predated Sega's later arcade video game Time Traveler (1991) in their use of holographic-like technology. Kasco's Bank Robbers
3950-455: The landscape. In Japan, it was one of the top ten highest-grossing EM arcade games of 1977, and it released in North America the same year. One of the last successful EM shooting games was Namco's light gun game Shoot Away (1977), which was Japan's third highest-grossing EM arcade game of 1977 and highest-grossing EM arcade game of 1980 , while maintaining a presence in Western arcades into
4029-414: The late 1960s from Japanese arcade manufacturers, with the four largest being Sega, Taito , Nakamura Manufacturing, and Kasco. Their "audio-visual" games were exported internationally to North America and Europe, selling in large quantities that had not been approached by most arcade machines in years. This led to a "technological renaissance" in the late 1960s, which would later be critical in establishing
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#17328526658934108-403: The late 1960s to 1970s, with the game's periscope viewer cabinet design later adopted by arcade video games such as Midway's Sea Wolf (1976) and Atari 's Battlezone (1980). In the late 1960s, Sega began producing gun games which somewhat resemble first-person shooter video games, but which were in fact electro-mechanical games that used rear image projection in a manner similar to
4187-663: The late 1960s, EM games incorporated more elaborate electronics and mechanical action to create a simulated environment for the player. These games overlapped with the introduction of arcade video games, and in some cases, were prototypical of the experiences that arcade video games offered. The late 1960s to early 1970s were considered the "electro-mechanical golden age" in Japan, and the "novelty renaissance" or "technological renaissance" in North America. A new category of "audio-visual" novelty games emerged during this era, mainly established by several Japanese arcade manufacturers. Arcades had previously been dominated by jukeboxes , before
4266-512: The late 1970s, arcade centers in Japan began to be flooded with "mole buster" games. Mogura Taiji was introduced to North America in 1976, which inspired Bob's Space Racers to produce their own version of the game called "Whac-A-Mole" in 1977, while Namco released their own popular "mole buster" game called Sweet Licks (1981). Electro-mechanical games experienced a resurgence during the 1980s. Air hockey, whac-a-mole and medal games have since remained popular arcade attractions. Hoop Shot ,
4345-454: The late 1970s. In 1975, Taito released the arcade video game simulator Interceptor , an early first-person combat flight simulator that involved piloting a jet fighter using an eight-way joystick to aim and shoot at enemy aircraft. Sega's last EM combat flight simulator was Heli-Shooter (1977), which combines the use of a CPU processor with electro-mechanical components, screen projection and audio tape deck. The gameplay involves
4424-453: The middle between fully electronic games and mechanical games. EM games have a number of different genres/categories. "Novelty" or "land-sea-air" games refer to simulation games that simulate aspects of various vehicles, such as cars (similar to racing video games ), submarines (similar to vehicular combat video games), or aircraft (similar to combat flight simulator video games). Gun games refer to games that involve shooting with
4503-613: The most sophisticated helicopter simulation of the time. In 1996 it was exceeded by Jane's AH-64D Longbow , a game created by Origin Systems and released by Electronic Arts as part of the Jane's Combat Simulator series. The sequel, Jane's Longbow 2 (1997), was one of the earliest simulations to take advantage of hardware accelerated graphics, including advanced lighting. 1998 saw the release of Enemy Engaged: Apache vs Havoc by Empire Interactive , which allowed players to choose to fly for either
4582-495: The mouse would tilt the helicopter in the specified direction, and make it start moving in that direction. Pressing the left mouse button fires weapons. When the right mouse button was held, moving the mouse up and down changed altitude, while side to side yawed the helicopter side to side. The game received critical acclaim, and the Mega CD version was a bestseller in the UK. Mega placed
4661-429: The next and will only be rebuilt in view of limited resources, realistic time and strategic priorities, etc.). A notable pioneer in this area was Andy Hollis , producer of the Jane's Longbow series ( Jane's AH-64D Longbow and Jane's Longbow 2 ). Digital Image Design , with their release of F-22 Total Air War in 1998, allowed for a transparency into the larger strategic battlefield by use of multiple screens and
4740-442: The opponent's goal; it also used an 8-track player to play back the sounds of the motorbikes. Air hockey itself was later created by a group of Brunswick Billiards employees between 1969 and 1972. The arrival of arcade video games eventually led to the decline of electro-mechanical games during the 1970s. Following the arrival of arcade video games with Pong (1972) and its clones, electro-mechanical games continued to have
4819-640: The player piloting a helicopter using a throttle joystick (to accelerate and decelerate) and pedals (to maneuver left and right) across a realistic three-dimensional landscape and shooting at military targets across the landscape. In Japan, it was one of the top ten highest-grossing EM arcade games of 1977 , and it released in North America the same year. The 1980s experienced a wave of more advanced simulation video games, with companies such as Atari Inc. releasing their own game called Red Baron in 1980, which used QuadraScan graphics and sound effects to simulate first-person flight combat. Other games such as
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#17328526658934898-589: The player's aircraft around a landscape displayed on a screen and shoot missiles at targets that would explode when hit. The game displayed three-dimensional terrain with buildings, produced using special belt technology along with fluorescent paint to simulate a night view. Upon its debut, the game was cloned by three Chicago arcade manufacturers, which led to the game under-performing in North America. Sega released several other similar EM flight combat games, including Dive Bomber (1971) and Air Attack (1972). Combat flight simulator video games began appearing from
4977-440: The player's car flipping into the air several times. One of the last successful electro-mechanical arcade racing games was F-1 , a racing game developed by Namco and distributed by Atari in 1976. The gameplay is viewed from the perspective of the driver's viewpoint, which is displayed on the screen using a projector system. It was the highest-grossing arcade game of 1976 and 1977 in Japan (ahead of every video game), and
5056-508: The players' own aircraft are controlled by the program's "AI" ( artificial intelligence ), and modern video games create very sophisticated and intelligent AI with independent behavior for adversaries and allies. Multiplayer games, which usually also contain AI, allow players to oppose one or many human players. After the growth of the internet, many simulators were created that exist only or primarily as internet multiplayer versions (e.g., Air Warrior ,
5135-555: The popular Falcon 4.0 , a detailed simulation of the USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon . Other development of these simulators includes a collaborative and specialized effort between Electronic Arts and Jane's in the 1990s, with titles such as Jane's Longbow , Jane's Longbow 2 , Jane's F-15 and Jane's F/A-18 . Helicopter simulations began in 1986 with the title Gunship by MicroProse . Nine years later, in 1995, Digital Integration Ltd. released Apache Longbow ,
5214-414: The results of each successive mission (e.g. if the player destroys a "target of opportunity" which turns out to be a truck carrying an enemy leader, then the campaign starts to take a different path). Some campaign models have been developed which are fully dynamic, and where successive missions take place in an environment which is persistent (if a building is destroyed in one mission, it remains destroyed in
5293-436: The rise of modern-day video games, electro-mechanical games (EM games) were produced that used rear image projection in a manner similar to a zoetrope to produce moving animations on a screen . This technology led to the rise of flight simulation arcade games , initially in the form of EM games. One such EM game was Jet Rocket , a flight simulator released by Sega in 1970 that featured cockpit controls that could move
5372-440: The rockets are replaced by a weapon that is critical to the success of that particular mission, such as a runway cratering system when the primary objective is to destroy an airbase or a bomb when destruction of a bridge is the primary objective. The control system for Thunderhawk was fairly unusual for the platforms supporting a mouse. It used the mouse for basic control, plus some keyboard input for rarely used commands. Moving
5451-580: The stigma of pinball. The transition from mechanical arcade games to electro-mechanical games dates back to around the time of World War II , with different types of arcade games gradually making the transition during the post-war period between the 1940s and 1960s. At the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair , in April 1940, Edward Condon of the Westinghouse Electric Company displayed the Nimatron ,
5530-741: The technology got better, so did the diversity of aircraft, which forced the virtual pilot to learn the carefully modelled strengths and weaknesses of the various types of aircraft (e.g. the different fighting and flying styles of a Spitfire versus a Messerschmitt 109 in IL-2 Sturmovik or a Mitsubishi Zero versus a US Navy F4F Wildcat in Combat Flight Simulator 2 ). Modern jet survey simulators have been developed as well, such as US Navy Fighters (USNF) and Jane's USAF by Jane's/Electronic Arts, typically with simplified and generic modelling of radar, navigation, and weapons. The turn of
5609-1424: The time, flight simulators remained largely absent from consoles for years to come. Several rival publishers rose during this period such as NovaLogic with titles like the Comanche Series that simulated helicopter combat, and Electronic Arts with Jane's WWII Fighters which improved upon features such as detailed visible damage. Newer software in the genre include Digital Combat Simulator (released in 2008 and mostly simulating modern aircraft), Rise of Flight (released in 2009 and set in World War I ) and IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover (released in 2011 and set in World War II ). These three are examples of accurate simulation PC games , as opposed to arcade-style air combat games such as Bandai Namco Entertainment 's highly-successful Ace Combat series. Combat flight simulators are classified according to their historical period, type of aircraft, and level of detail. This method of classifying means that many simulators belong to more than one category, which leads to arguments about what can be considered actual simulations instead of games. Generally, simulations are expected to be imitations of real-world technology, while games are not; therefore, every game with flying in them does not fit into
5688-724: The traditional joystick, throttle, and pedals, featuring built-in support for TrackIR and virtual reality with 6 degrees of freedom which, in conjunction with the interactive 3D -cockpit, created a very realistic experience. Modern jet simulators are usually classified by their historical context or level of details ( study versus survey ). There have been many modern jet sims that concentrate on existing fighters (several AV-8 Harrier II sims, and others such as Fleet Defender by MicroProse, and F-22 Lightning 3 and F-22 Raptor by NovaLogic) , whereas others concentrate on future fighters (e.g., F-22 Total Air War by Digital Image Design in 1998). While many simulators either classify as
5767-705: The turn of the 20th century, such as fortune telling , strength tester machines and mutoscopes . Normally installed at carnivals and fairs, entrepreneurs created standalone arcades to house these machines More interactive mechanical games emerged around the 1930s, such as skee-ball , as well as the first simple pinball games. However, when pinball was first introduced, it lacked features such as user-controlled flippers, and were considered to be games of chance . This led to several jurisdictions to ban pinball machines fearing their influence on youth. Alternatives to pinball were electro-mechanical games (EM games) that clearly demonstrated themselves as games of skill to avoid
5846-413: Was Heli-Shooter (1977), a combat flight simulator that combines the use of a CPU processor with electro-mechanical components, screen projection and audio tape deck. The gameplay involves the player piloting a helicopter using a throttle joystick (to accelerate and decelerate) and pedals (to maneuver left and right) across a realistic three-dimensional landscape and shooting at military targets across
5925-500: Was a commercial success, becoming the eighth highest-grossing EM arcade game of 1978 in Japan. Taito also announced a holographic-like arcade gun game at the AMOA show in October 1975. In 1977, Kasco released a shooting EM ninja game called Ninja Gun , which helped introduce a number of American children to ninjas in popular culture by the early 1980s. One of the last EM games from Sega
6004-514: Was considered the best game at the show. Upon its debut, the game was cloned by three Chicago manufacturers, which led to the game under-performing in North America and Sega leaving the North American arcade market for years. Sega released several other similar EM flight combat games, including Dive Bomber (1971) and Air Attack (1972). Tomohiro Nishikado developed the target shooting EM game Sky Fighter , released by Taito in 1971. The game used mirrors to project images of model planes in front of
6083-560: Was created using the same game engine as the original Thunderhawk . Another Core game, Shellshock , also used the Thunderhawk engine. Combat flight simulation game Combat flight simulators are vehicle simulation games , amateur flight simulation computer programs used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for professional pilot and military flight training which consist of realistic physical recreations of
6162-413: Was important as modern jet combat aircraft and helicopters have a variety of complex electronic and weapon systems that are specific to a particular aircraft. Early iterations of simulators in this genre include the release of EF2000 by Digital Image Design (DiD) which quickly garnered a dedicated following, including a user group that produced a detailed online manual of weapons and tactics, as well as
6241-400: Was the first arcade game to cost a quarter per play, which would remain the standard price for arcade games for many years to come. The success of Periscope was a turning point for the arcade industry. Periscope revived the novelty game business, and established a "realistic" or "audio-visual" category of games, using advanced special effects to provide a simulation experience. It was
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