The arcade games happen to be first an coin operated machine. The use of arcade games became very strong because it was based on a new type of technology, which soon became a commodity.
The coin operated games have custom made hardware inside, but it is also powered by many CPU’s so that you can get the special sounds and the great graphics.
The design simplicity of these games enabled the programmers to spend more time into enhancing the basics of game play. When it comes to the conception of a great game, you will find that it is based on mostly how the graphics are perceived.
Often, the first games where very clever, because they could hide their graphic limitations in many ways. A fine example is Atari’s Night Driver, the first racing game to deliver a ‘first’ person perspective, and also showing the road as seen from the cockpit.
Often the night theme was one of the best ways to hide some of the images that were not created or not created well. It gave the perception that the need for complicated images wasn’t necessary. The Night Driver’s concept of ‘scaling’ flat images called ‘sprites’ to stimulate a 3d movement was a cult design basis for most 3d games.
Once these games were ported to PC, they were designed with Flash, Java and DHTML. Then there are online arcade games that happen to be programmed on flash, but the graphics are in a file format.
The design was very simple, but that didn’t take away the need for playing time and did not hinder the success of the game. This was, perhaps, the most probable reason for the immense resilience in these games.
Keep in mind that the newer arcade games have now began to seek newer gadgets to improve the appearance of the game. You’ll find that light guns and even some dance mats have now been able to draw the crowd in and you’ll find that the old joystick has become outdated.