Step by step MobyGames is proving to the whole gaming world that it is not a "US-centric" database some people claimed it to be. The addition of classic Japan-only computer PC-88 and PC-98 a year ago was one of these important steps. We already have almost 1000 PC-98 games documented, still counting.

And now, FM Towns makes its triumphal entry - a Japan-only computer launched by Fujitsu between 1989 and 1997. By far a more modest system than PC-98 in terms of game wealth (though not in technical prowess - this CD-ROM-based system was capable of advanced graphics and sound), with only a few exclusive games, FM Towns has nevertheless a greater appeal to the international gamer, mainly thanks to its unique enhanced versions of famous games - from the only known 256-color version of LucasArts' early classic Zak McKracken to the fully voiced (in English and in Japanese!) interpretation of the seminal RPG Ultima VI.

FM Towns Marty, an interesting (though rather obscure) console system based on (and compatible with) its computer progenitor, has also been added.

Welcome to MobyGames, happy contributing and approving!

Finally. How long have you waited for it, Oleg?

That's what I was about to say, congratulations Oleg!

Hehe, yeah, persistence pays off :)

But anyway, we should all congratulate the site for making one more step towards completion...

Now if only Sharp x68000 were added too... :)

I would totally approve this addition too! ^^

Congrats for the FM Towns addition, btw

I wonder if Moby will ever list arcade games...

Yeah, it's a dying breed of gaming in NA. Lets document them before they go the way of the dodo.

Well, the Neo Geo is already part of the database, and there's basically no difference between the AES and MVS. We'll probably eventually include stuff like the CPS2 and Naomi, but earlier custom built machines don't really fit into the way the database is designed.

Neither do Browser games, but we document them anyway. I see no reason not to have an "Arcade" platform.

The way I see the hypothetical Arcade platform is that Neo Geo, CPS2 and Naomi are the tech specs. For the earliest games that tech spec would say "Analog Circuitry" (or something similar)

It may require some tech-spec tweaking obviously, though nothing really different from other platforms considering.

*wonders how one acquires a screenshot*

Your way :)

Although the graphics MAME produces are often not very representative for what they would look like on the arcades. Particularly with early 3D Arcade games.

Cover scans are the real problem by the way ;)

You mean the boxes where they were packaged in? Not so hard. Could probably fake a few just as long as it says "THIS SIDE UP". :p

My those are big boxes.

Definitely: if the database design is flawed, then we must reform the elements of it that keep these out. There may be a large sum of fiddly details to track but even if there were eg. a thousand, if we could take care of one every day within three years we'd have our platform ready to go. I've been waiting for the arcade platform here for longer than three years.

Bloody hell, doesn't anyone listen to me? An arcade game is a black box. The only tech specs we need to handle are the controllers, the number of screens and the number of players. Who cares what hardware it runs on, as long as you can feed it with coins?

What he said. Don't forget to take your pills, Iggy.

Hear hear. Let KLOV handle the hardware details; we actually are interested in software. (The purists will here argue that on arcade machines, the hardware IS the software.)

This argument /should/ also apply to terminal and mainframe games.

As "Arcade" is a genre, I would list them as "Coin-op". As for the tech specs, I say that's above my pay grade.

The "arcade" genre is an empty signifier. It denotes... quarter-munching action?

But an "arcade" game doesn't necessarily have to be in an arcade. It could be in a bar, or a super market, or an antique store. Coin-op would be a better title, but then are we going to start including redemption games like Skee-ball? Gamefaqs does.

Yet, there are arcade videogame machines operated by card, a-la credit card, not by inserting coin. It's almost the same, but still.

Use of the term "arcade" is roughly 180 times as popular as the very specialist term "coin-op". I would eventually like to see redemption games etc. in here but that's a different conversation 8)

If we added a platform for "arcade" games, we'd have to figure out just how far that definition would stretch. Electromechanical games? Electromechanical games with a display? Pinball games? Pinball games that use a video display? Gambling games? Hell, slot machines? Fruit machines?

How about arcade systems that use interchangable cartridges? Would we have MVS Neo Geo games as "Arcade" or "Neo Geo"? What about Mega-Tech? CPS2? Naomi? Playchoice-10 has a bunch of NES ports of arcade games (and even a pinball machine).

Now, believe me, I'd love to see arcade games find their rightful place here. It's just that there's so many edge cases and debatable inclusions that I think if there's any plan to add it someday, we should work out the details as early as possible.

Thumbs up, it's as good time to start as any :)

There's so much stuff to dig in... For example, Chip n Dale for NES was released in 1990, yet it MAWS states it was released for PlayChoice in 1987: http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/romset/pc_rrngr

So strange, maybe they mean the hardware release date, I just dunno.

As for electromechanical games. I'd say keep them out. We're a video game database (it says so on the front page title bar). So a screen is a must, and more importantly the primary gameplay should be made visible on the screen. So a pinball or hoop shooting game with a LED score display shouldn't count. I think generally we can look at the games www.arcade-history.com lists as "video game". That would leave only a small handful of titles that might be borderline for us.

As for gambling machines. We don't allow gambling websites to be added to the database as browser games, so it shouldn't be allowed to add gambling machines either. It can be summed up pretty clearly as: "No machines that can reward the player with money".

As I said before I think separate arcade platforms like Neo Geo and Naomi should just be tech-specs.

We really have a bad habit of not informing users when deciding stuff in the approver forums. This isn't in the FAQ, I believe.

Wow, MobyStandards should be updated more often.


Way to go, oscilloscope tennis!

I'm all for including those early oscilloscope and CRT games from the 40s and 50s. They are hard to classify platform wise though.

Way to go, oscilloscope tennis!

We do our best.

So, pinball machines would be out except maybe hybrids like Granny and the Gators, Baby Pac-Man and Caveman.

The way I see it, yes, those three examples would be allowed but ordinary pinball tables shouldn't.

A lot of the games Pseudo Intellectual adds can be played just as well on a teleprinter, but I agree that a screen should be a minimal requirement (or a hologram projector in some special cases).

The only problem I can see is where to put Neo Geo MVS games. All other arcade systems with interchangable cartridges stayed in their cabinet, out of reach for the player.

A lot of the games Pseudo Intellectual adds can be played just as well on a teleprinter, but I agree that a screen should be a minimal requirement

Hey, up until this moment you were my strongest ally in the terminal game process!

So then what about handheld LCD games, like those made by Tiger Electronics, or Nintendo's Game & Watch games?

Also, congrats on getting the FM Town and FM Town Marty added. (I still need to add a Marty to my collection, LOL. Some day...)

Heck, what about the R-Zone?

Really, the Neo Geo is my biggest concern with a potential "Arcade" platform. MVS and AES carts are virtually identical apart from the label and the connector pinout. You can buy an adapter to play MVS carts on an AES home system.

This is exactly like the regional differences in some systems we already consider as one: The NES and Famicom have different pinouts, different cart shapes, and you can play games for one on the other with an adapter. TG16 and PCE games have different pinouts and there are adapters.

Either we add MVS releases to the nebulous "arcade" platform, meaning a huge number of duplicated games that are, literally, binary identical. Or we handle AES/MVS distinction through tech specs and release info, which is more sensible from a hardware perspective but risks confusing people as to what games actually saw arcade release.

I'm fine with either solution. The important thing is that it's documented! :)

Do we even have a tech spec to indicate what is AES and what is MVS only?

From what I understand, we currently don't allow MVS-only games. There's a few that have slipped through, though.

A website aiming to get playable browser-based simulations of such handheld games:

http://www.pica-pic.com

Might be a valuable source for screenshots, and it can also be used to already start some game entries for the browser versions.

Those were my take on rules for Arcade games.

For stuff like mainframes, mini computer, early screen-less micro computers, terminal games, audio games, etc. I have no problem with making exceptions. But for Arcade games I think it's nice rule to keep out all the hoop-shooting type games that have nothing to do with video games other than keeping score.

If there's an Arcade cabinet that uses a teleprinter to output the game state or connects to a remote terminal by phone, I have no problem with making exceptions for those :)

I thought we didn't do arcade games because KLOV (now changed to... whatever they are these days) covered them handily.

iTunes also does a good job listing all iOS games, and there's lots of specialized sites for each platform, but it's just nice to have everything in a single database.

Besides for a site that's called Killer LIST of video games it's rather ironic that the one thing you can't do on the site is LIST anything in any other way than alphabetically. For my yearly graph I keep having to refer to arcade-history.com.

Hey, vedder, talking about your graph, I was looking into it just the other day and I was wondering: do you simply use the game browser to make your accounts or you have some tool to extract the info from here?

Just use the browser. Although I probably should create some tool, as it takes a couple hours to do by hand.

Not really sure where I should start if I wanted to make a tool though.

Oh, I agree we *should* document arcade games, I just thought that was the reason given.