The Golden Age of Arcade
Chapter 5: The Technology Boom
← Previous: Chapter 4 | [Series: Chapter 5 of 7] | Next: Chapter 6 →]
The Art of Control
When Arcade Innovation Knew No Limits
THE ESSENTIAL TRUTH
In the golden age of arcades, the quarter didn't just buy gameplay - it bought entirely new ways to interact with digital worlds. From handlebars that simulated bicycle delivery routes to flight yokes that put players in X-wing cockpits, arcade controls evolved into physical poetry, each one custom-engineered to create experiences impossible anywhere else.
THE SUBURBAN BICYCLE REVOLUTION
- When Atari's Paperboy debuted, players weren't just controlling another joystick character - they were gripping authentic bicycle handlebars, leaning into turns, and feeling the physical connection between their movements and the paperboy's route through suburbia.
ENGINEERING THE IMPOSSIBLE
The handlebars, created by mechanical engineer Milt Loper, can be pushed forward to accelerate and pulled back to brake. This wasn't just a gimmick - it was precision engineering that translated real-world muscle memory into digital interaction. The game runs on the Atari System 2 hardware, designed by hardware engineer Doug Snyder and debugged by technician Linda Sinkovic. The CPU is a 10 MHz Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) T-11. The programming code was written in BLISS.
The development team consisted of a dream team of talent: Dave Ralston as Lead Game Designer & Artist, John Salwitz as Lead Programmer, Doug Snyder as System II Hardware Engineer, Rusty Dawe as Project Manager, Will Noble handling Animation & Character Art, Don Traeger covering Marketing & becoming 'The Voice of Paperboy', Earl Vickers managing Sound FX, Editing & Writing, Milt Loper as Mechanical Engineer, and Linda Sinkovic as Technician.
THE PHYSICS OF FEEL
The game uses a 60-degree isometric perspective, inspired by Sega's Zaxxon. According to Salwitz, the game's isometric design made scrolling and drawing difficult for the team, as they were doing the former technique at an odd angle in the play field, and this meant that the sides of the houses (which were not playable surfaces) would be shown onscreen just as much as the front. The 60-degree angle of the onscreen paperboy was slightly adjusted to make the handlebars parallel to the front of the houses and make aiming papers easier.
Here's the kind of tight 68000 assembly code that powered Paperboy's smooth isometric rendering at 60fps:
; Atari System 2 - Paperboy Isometric Transform
; 68000 Assembly - Optimized for 10MHz T-11 CPU
; Convert world coordinates to isometric screen position
ISO_TRANSFORM:
MOVE.W WORLD_X, D0 ; Load world X coordinate
MOVE.W WORLD_Y, D1 ; Load world Y coordinate
; Isometric projection (60-degree angle)
; screen_x = world_x - world_y
; screen_y = (world_x + world_y) / 2
MOVE.W D0, D2 ; Copy X to D2
SUB.W D1, D2 ; D2 = X - Y (screen X)
ADD.W D1, D0 ; D0 = X + Y
ASR.W #1, D0 ; D0 = (X + Y) / 2 (screen Y)
; Add screen offset
ADD.W #SCREEN_CENTER_X, D2
ADD.W #SCREEN_CENTER_Y, D0
; Store screen coordinates
MOVE.W D2, SCREEN_X
MOVE.W D0, SCREEN_Y
RTS
; Physics for handlebar input (revolutionary for 1984)
HANDLE_INPUT:
MOVE.W HANDLEBAR_POS, D0 ; Read physical handlebar angle
CMP.W #NEUTRAL_POS, D0
BEQ COAST ; Handlebars neutral = coast
BGT ACCELERATE ; Pushed forward = accelerate
BRA BRAKE ; Pulled back = brake
ACCELERATE:
ADD.W #ACCEL_RATE, VELOCITY
CMP.W #MAX_SPEED, VELOCITY
BLE UPDATE_POSITION
MOVE.W #MAX_SPEED, VELOCITY
BRA UPDATE_POSITION
; 60Hz update loop - smooth as butter
This code ran at 60fps on a 10MHz processor—John Salwitz and the team were assembly wizards.
COMMERCIAL SUCCESS AND COLLECTOR'S PAIN
In Japan, Game Machine listed Paperboy on their November 1, 1985 issue as being the fifth most-successful upright arcade unit of the month. In the United States, it was the top-grossing arcade software conversion kit in December 1985. But this success created a modern problem for collectors: original Paperboy handlebar assemblies now cost $500-950 on the secondary market, making restoration a luxury investment.
The controller was so precisely engineered that modern collectors struggle to find alternatives. One resourceful collector noted that S.T.U.N. Runner uses similar controller components, leading to creative substitutions: "After reading an article about the imminent demise of tons of custom chips in all our favorite games over the next 10 years, and the fact that many of us will be nearing 60 years of age during that same time period, I broke with tradition and did what I had to do to play my Paperboy."
THE FORCE AWAKENS
- When Atari's Star Wars arcade machine arrived, it didn't just simulate space combat - it transported players directly into Luke Skywalker's X-wing fighter through the power of vector graphics and an authentic flight yoke controller.
FROM MILITARY TO JEDI
The controller was originally designed for Army Battlezone, a Bradley Fighting Vehicle training simulator Atari created for the United States Army. Development on the game started in 1981 under the title Warp Speed and was initially headed up by Ed Rotberg. Rotberg left Atari in October 1981, after which Atari signed a licensing agreement with Lucasfilm and finished the game.
One of the key figures in the creation of Atari's Star Wars game was Jed Margolin. When he joined Atari in 1979, it was because he had a burning ambition to create what he later described as "a 3D space war game." Margolin served as the hardware engineer on Atari's wave of classic vector arcade machines, including Lunar Lander, Asteroids, Tempest, and Battlezone. Eventually, Margolin finally got the greenlight to make his 3D space war game, which he called Warp Speed.
LUCAS HIMSELF APPROVES
The game's authenticity was validated by the ultimate authority. Nerves were on edge as Atari invited George Lucas himself to test the completed vector game at Atari's factory in Sunnyvale California. The creator of Star Wars played the game and gave his approval, with the cabinet being presented to Lucas as a gift afterward. A plaque on the side read: "A special thanks for creating THE FORCE behind so much fun."
TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE
The yoke controller was tested against conventional joysticks. According to the development team, Atari tested a version of the game with a more conventional joystick in the hope of saving money, but players were confused over which way to move the stick. This meant that, fortunately, the team was able to justify the higher cost of the flight controller.
Star Wars was shipped with the new (at the time) Amplifone color vector monitor in a 19-inch version, and 25-inch version for the cockpit game cabinet. The key difference between the upright and sitdown cockpit cabinets aside from the seating position, was the larger monitor used in the cockpit version of the game. A 25″ Amplifone (vs a 19″ Wells Gardner in the upright) really does add to the impact of the visuals.
The vector graphics magic that made Star Wars look so impossibly smooth was pure mathematical elegance in 6502 assembly:
; Atari Star Wars - Vector Graphics Engine
; 6502 Assembly - Drawing TIE Fighters in 3D space
; 3D to 2D projection for vector display
PROJECT_3D:
LDA OBJECT_Z ; Load Z coordinate (depth)
BEQ SKIP_DRAW ; Don't draw if at camera position
; Perspective divide: screen_pos = world_pos / z
LDA OBJECT_X
STA DIVIDEND
LDA OBJECT_Z
STA DIVISOR
JSR FAST_DIVIDE ; Custom optimized division
STA SCREEN_X ; Store projected X
LDA OBJECT_Y
STA DIVIDEND
LDA OBJECT_Z
STA DIVISOR
JSR FAST_DIVIDE
STA SCREEN_Y ; Store projected Y
; Draw line to vector display
JSR VECTOR_DRAW
VECTOR_DRAW:
; Set beam intensity based on distance
LDA OBJECT_Z
LSR A ; Z / 2 = intensity
STA BEAM_INTENSITY
; Send X/Y coordinates to AVG (Atari Vector Generator)
LDA SCREEN_X
STA AVG_X_REG
LDA SCREEN_Y
STA AVG_Y_REG
; Trigger beam
LDA #$80 ; Beam on command
STA AVG_COMMAND
RTS
; This code drew smooth 3D at 40Hz - revolutionary for 1983
No framebuffer, no rasterization—just pure mathematical lines drawn by an electron beam. Jed Margolin's vector engine was arcade sorcery.
COMMERCIAL TRIUMPH
The game sold itself once out on the arcade floor – and in the challenging arcade market of 1983, this was pretty key. Atari sold just over 12,000 Star Wars cabinets in total, consisting of 10,245 uprights and 2,450 cockpits. With an assumed margin of around $1,000 per cabinet, this was a multi-million dollar earner for Atari's coin-op division.
THE GRID AWAKENS
- When Bally Midway secured the license to create a Tron video game, they faced an impossible deadline. Disney needed the game ready for the film's release, and time was running out. The solution would create one of arcade gaming's most unique control experiences.
DESIGN UNDER PRESSURE
Bally Midway had two different design teams submit pitches for the game. One team planned a first-person vector graphics game, while the second team suggested a collection of five minigames using existing Bally Midway technology; the second proposal was used because it had a better chance of being completed by the deadline. One of the five minigames was ultimately left out due to the time constraints.
The lead programmer was Bill Adams with Earl Vickers programming the music. George Gomez had a significant hand in the design and creation of Midway's Tron arcade game. The Adams/Gomez proposal called for a series of Mini Games all taking place within the Tron universe.
THE PERFECT INTERFACE
The game utilizes an 8-way joystick for moving, with one button for firing or speed control, and a rotary dial for controlling the direction of the fire (a setup also used in Kozmik Krooz'r, another Midway game). This control scheme was revolutionary - the spinner allowed for 360-degree aiming while the joystick controlled movement, creating tactical possibilities that had never existed before.
Tron consists of four subgames based on events and characters from the movie. In general, the player controls Tron, either in human form or piloting a vehicle, using an eight-way joystick for movement, a trigger button on the stick to fire (or slow down the player's light cycle), and a rotary dial for aiming. The spinner control was crucial for the Light Cycles game, where The joystick controls the direction of travel and the trigger controls the speed of the bike.
VISUAL REVOLUTION
Cabinet was designed as a game exclusive, featuring characters and objects from the movie on the side, while the control panel and a large part of the other surfaces of machine are painted with circuit lines similar to those seen in many of the stage designs from the film. Control panel also featured a pair of black lights, one located just above the controls behind a clear plastic shield, and one below panel together, causing translucent blue joystick and fluorescent paint used on the circuit lines will glow.
