Video games have now been popular for well over thirty years. From the moment kids picked up the game pong, there was no turning back. When something as simple and basic as two sticks hitting a square ball across the screen looks captivating, we all knew that video games were here to stay. They have since been a fixture in pop culture.

Many historians believe the first real arcade game that touched a nerve with people was Space Invaders back in 1978. It was actually the first game that would allow the player who had the highest scores to record their initials so everyone can see who was the king of the machine. I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it’s popularity, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt.

But when the decade of the 80s finally came, arcades would become immensely more popular. Video game creators from companies such as Nintendo, Sega, Konami, Activision, and many others would be working double time to get their innovations out in public for all the world to see.

80’s arcade games showed much more polish than their 70s predecessors. Many of the games involved more than just one button. They had a real story behind them with protagonists as well as villains. It didn’t take long for children as well as adults to become became hooked. Arcade machines would be commonplace in restaurants, malls, supermarkets, and pool halls.

At this time video game consoles started to perk up during as well. In the early 80s, Atari, and to a lesser extent Intellivision were popular ways to to get your video game fix on, if you weren’t able to go to the local arcade. But when Nintendo came out with its 8-bit NES console, that’s when everybody knew that video games were going to be huge.

But even with the incredible popularity of the Nintendo Entertainment System, there was still no comparison to the arcade games. No matter how great the NES might have been, it just could not compete with the high glossy graphics and bone-crunching sounds that their arcade counterparts had to offer.