How Genres Moved from Arcades to Consoles
By Douglas Faulkner
Over the past generations that video games have been around, a variety of gaming genres have been created. Most of them found their footing during the early generations of consoles, but few came from the breakout generation of video games.
Back when arcade games were at the peak of their popularity, developers faced many challenges when trying to distinguish their games. These struggles can be owed to a lack of established design philosophies and tech limitations at the time.
Today’s games use design principles that incorporate familiar elements to make their games more accessible. Generations of examining the industry’s biggest successes and failures have created these principles, so such ideas did not exist back then.
Pac-Man is a title that has stood the test of time by functioning as a maze game that pushes the player to keep moving. By forcing them to avoid enemies while collecting dots, the game works as a constantly shifting puzzle.
Other arcade classics like Dig Dug and Q*bert were likely inspired by Pac-Man's structure and success. When Nintendo's first console came out though, interest in expanding on this genre of games dwindled.
The Nintendo Entertainment System reignited interest in video games at home after the market's crash in 1983. This crash can be attributed to earlier console titles falling short in both quality and content. Games were and still are priced higher than other forms of media entertainment today, so there is an expectation for them to be worth their cost.
Puzzle games today hinge on offering players a wide range of scenarios with new mechanics to keep gameplay refreshing. Early titles only had so many assets they could use, so puzzle games like Pac-Man had little means of meeting this new market standard.
Not every classic struggled with this transition though. The platforming genre is still defined by avoiding obstacles with well-timed inputs today as it was back then. The original Donkey Kong set the groundwork for this genre and its successor Super Mario Bros. would expand upon it.
The console title set the standard for market expectations by using the side-scrolling camera to give each level more content. By hiding portions of the level off-screen, the game could run smoother and replace obstacles that the player had already overcome.
Another significant genre that originated from the arcades was that of shooters, though its evolution has been drastic compared to others. Space Invaders was one of the first. It was a top-down game that had players line up their shots to take down an enemy fleet.
Galaga, another arcade classic, advanced this gameplay structure by providing the enemy with a variety of ships and taking away the player’s cover. These two titles would become the basis for a sub-genre known as shoot ‘em ups.
When transitioning to consoles, the shooter genre got quite diverse. Duck Hunt popularized the light-gun device for a while and started the sub-genre of shooting galleries. Games like Contra moved away from the top-down perspective and utilized controls from the platforming genre with a side-scrolling camera to create the run-and-gun sub-genre.
Even with the popularity of modern multiplayer shooters today, games are still utilizing these sub-genres. Cuphead is an indie run and gun that managed to make over 6 million in sales. Many virtual reality games are shooting galleries thanks to their remotes allowing them to function as light-guns.
Video games have changed a lot over the years. They’ve been around for over four decades now, so it is truly fascinating to see how they have evolved from the arcades.