Last year I took a look at the top 10 posts that we ran as a way to recap the news of the year and it doesn’t hurt to do it again – its one of the few times I can get behind a “Top 10” type list since there is a way to actually quantify the data. There were several posts that made it into the top 10 list that are not posts from this year however, so they get “Honorable Mention” status. For some reason, stuff from 2008 was a big deal.
Honorable Mention #1: How about a Little Hypnosis With Your Arcade Game? Try Waking Dead. Despite this post being 4 years old, it went viral a few months back and actually got more views than our number 1 post this year by several hundred views.
Honorable Mention #2: Starting an Arcade of Your Own (Part 1): – Come to think of it, I don’t think I followed up with Part 2 yet…but looking at the all-time most popular posts (at least since the site switched over to a dedicated setup and we lost stats before that) this is actually the #1 most viewed post since September 2010.
Honorable Mention #3: Missing In Action: Space Games – This editorial piece on Space arcade Games still draws some attention.
Anyways, now for the top 10 of 2012, made in 2012:
Starting with #10 of the Top 10 Posts: First Pics Of A Nearly Complete Wizard of Oz Pinball Machine
After a long wait, the first media showing a more complete Wizard of Oz pinball machine started coming together this year and later in the year the game started turning up at various events and trade shows for players to experience. The game is already shipping but news about some of the first pictures of the game coming along nabbed the tenth spot in popularity for this year.
#9: New Arcade Opens In Holladay, UT – Atomic Arcade
In 2011 our top posts had to do with location openings and while we had quite a few stories about new locations opening this year, none gained as much traction from views as they did in 2011, for whatever reasons those might be. The news of Atomic Arcade opening up in my area of Salt Lake City did gain more traction than news of other locations. I believe that part of that was that here locally they got some great media coverage which you normally do not see for an arcade, as both a local TV station and one of the two major newspapers here ran stories about their opening. Shamefully I have to admit that I still have not been able to make a visit yet as I have been busy with my own place but I will make a resolution to get over there this next month.
#8: EXCLUSIVE: Sega Unveils New Arcade Racer K.O. Drive At DEAL 2012
There is an annual trade show event that takes place in Dubai called DEAL and while it doesn’t have the history some 
other trade events have, it has been gaining steam and as some evidence to that, Sega decided to use this year’s DEAL event as a time to unveil a brand new racing game called K.O. Drive. Similar software versions were seen at IAAPA 2012 where I got some hands-on time with the game but it is a vehicular combat game that uses some elements from kart racing games, but without the cute themes and it also employs an RPG-style leveling up system for the weapons. One major difference at IAAPA was that the cabinet design changed completely. This will be out sometime in 2013.
#7: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Unlimited Coming To US Arcades
Another game announcement, the actual release for this particular game proved elusive for a time and while apparently Namco decided to release this as an upgrade kit for arcades, not much fanfare has been given to it(not even being listed on their main website like other titles, at least currently). I’m not sure how many places have picked it up yet, or how many know that it is out there but it is an online game like the Japanese version.
#6: Chinatown Fair Arcade Re-Opening Soon
It was big news when the famous Chinatown Fair Arcade closed and equally big when it was found out that they were re-opening. I’m not sure how the redesign to more of a family-friendly game center has worked out for them so far but they are still open so it must have not been the death knell that some were making it out to be.
#5: 40 Years of Arcade Games Part 1 (1972-1989)
The video arcade industry turned 40 this year, thanks to Atari’s Pong (unless you want to get really technical and count Galaxy Game or Computer Space which came out in ’71) so I looked back at various arcade titles from over the years, not just from Atari but from anyone who created something cool. The post was massive enough that it had to be split in two and even then it does not do any favors to slower connections and of course there are many games I did not bring up as there really are too many to get into without making it a 20 part post.
#4: 40 Years of Arcade Games Part 2 (1990-2012)
Continuing with the theme of video arcade games celebrating 40 years since Pong came along, the second post took a look at various arcade titles between 1990-2012. This had 300 or so more views than part 1
#3: Atari Prototypes Over The Years Megapost
Keeping with the theme of 40 years of arcade games, we did an “Atari Month” back in July and as a part of that I took a look back at the various prototypes that Atari did back when they were creating arcade games. I certainly will be doing the same at some point for Sega, Midway and others, not just because a lot of people like reading about it but its a subject I really find enjoyable.
#2: Jersey Jack Pinball Officially Announces 2nd Machine: The Hobbit
Even though this was posted only a month ago it has quickly risen the ranks among the posts and it possibly could surpass our #1 post if it had come around earlier in the year. Technically, the #2 spot should go to our Arcade Releases for 2012 page, although that is not exactly a “post” in the traditional manner. It is certainly helped by the fact that the announcement came around the same time as the first movie so a lot of people are searching for Hobbit related stuff right now. The game won’t be released until the third film is released in 2014, however it seems that Jersey Jack was wise in getting the hype for it rolling this soon.
#1: Firefly: The Arcade Game Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Short Lived TV Show
By leaps and bounds this April Fools post (made worse by posting it the afternoon of March 31st) was the most visited post on the site among those created this year. We haven’t done many April Fools jokes ourselves but it was good fun to put together, although not meant to upset anyone(which it did in a couple of cases, sorry about that). It’s a kind of game I’d love to see myself really, even all these years after the show was taken off the air and that the type of genre it fits into (Cabal or GI Joe Arcade type run’n gun shooter) has been dead for even longer. I’m not exactly sure what it says that our most popular post was about a completely made up game, aside from maybe that I’m not the only one that would like to see something like it one of these days. The model below was created by a KLOV member who recently retired from doing these and collecting, Gozer5454, I worked up the screenshot using a game called Xonotic and some GIMP.
