It’s the end of the year so once again it is time to look back over the past twelve months to see what news was big on everyone’s minds. And since it is possible to look up the exact statistics of how many views each post received over the year, we can make a Top 10 posts list out of it, no arbitrary decisions to be made. While there are still a few days left in the year, chances are nothing will change in these ranking but if by some accident they did, I’ll update the post.
I am separating this into two categories which you can select via the tabs below: The top 10 posts that were published in 2015 and the top 10 overall. A lot of posts published in past years still do really well as far as views go through the year so I might as well recognize their contributions.
Regardless of the list, our Arcade Releases 2015 page was #1 most viewed page overall but I will not include it in the top 10 as it isn’t exactly a post, getting updates through the year as we learn about them.
Top 10 2015 Published Posts
Let’s start with number 10:
#10 – Arcade Commercials/Promos Of the Past – Sure this was more filler since it wasn’t hard news but this compilation of TV commercials and other promos from the ancient history of the arcade sector did well, beating out the news regarding Walt Disney World’s ban on prize redemption machines by just a few views.
#9 – Arcade Games Turning 40, 30 & 20 Years Old In 2015 – Another article as opposed to hard news was this look back in time at popular arcade titles that were celebrating a birthday in 2015. From GunFight to Space Harrier to Area 51 and more, these games are now ‘old’. Doesn’t that just feel great?
#8 – Konami’s Disney Tsum Tsum Gets a US Location Test as Tsum Tsum Arcade At Round1USA Puente Hills – The first news item to mention here was the location test of Konami’s Disney Tsum Tsum Arcade, a unique blend of a puzzle arcade game and a vending machine. At this point it isn’t looking like the game will get a general release but you never know, 2016 could hold a surprise!
#7 – Old School Pinball And Arcade Opening In Grimes, IA On Jan. 17th – We reported on a lot of new arcade locations that would open their doors this year and for whatever reason, this story took first place by a long shot. It is the only location opening story in the top 10 so we could say that people in Grimes really like their pinball! Hopefully business has been great for the location since.
#6 – No Fooling: Jurassic Park Arcade Unboxing – I did several unboxings this year although his particular post was doing it the old school way in a series of pictures, that a kind soul sent my way. I soon after did a video unboxing of the game which you can see right here.
#5 – Elaut USA Takes Jersey Jack Pinball To Court / ASCAP Renews Targeting of Arcade Venues – This was a double news post that garnered quite a bit of attention and so far neither issue has been resolved at the time of this writing. I did reach out to Arcade Odyssey about their ASCAP troubles but didn’t hear back at the time of this writing…it’s a busy time of year for arcades however.
#4 – Sega Launches Transformers Human Alliance Special At the Tokyo Joypolis – Fans of the Sega R360 hardware had long given up hope that Sega might give the technology a modern spin so when this story broke, it was quite the surprise. This combined the hardware concept of the R360 with Sega’s recent light-gun game, Transformers Human Alliance. It also allowed up to two players to sit inside of a gyroscopic pod. Pretty cool tech although chances of finding one outside of Tokyo are still quite slim.
#3 – Kung Fu Master 2 Arcade Prototype Discovered – Even more exciting than the resurrection of the R360 was the discovery of a long lost unreleased game, Kung Fu Master 2. Upon this discovery it was realized that the game was actually re-tuned into Vigliante, which has been all but forgotten by time.
#2 – Play Mechanix & ICE Team Up For Angry Birds Arcade – D&B Exclusive Through Labor Day – For years people had been waiting for Angry Birds to get the arcade treatment and at the end of this Summer the wait came to an end when popular arcade chain Dave & Busters launched the official Angry Birds Arcade game, created by Play Mechanix and ICE. At this point their timed exclusive period is over and you should be able to find the game out in other venues.
#1 –Q&A On Jurassic Park Arcade With Eugene Jarvis – Here it is, the #1 post from 2015, my interview with the great Eugene Jarvis of Raw Thrills Inc. We discussed their latest creation of Jurassic Park Arcade, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the game that we so often don’t get with this sector. My thanks again to Eugene for his time!
Scroll back up and jump over to the next tab for the overall top 10!
Overall Top 10 Viewed Posts In 2015
As mentioned, some posts garnered many views even though they were published in previous years so here are the top 10 in that regard.
#10 – Sega’s Wonderful Simulation Games Over The Years – Starting out our list is this article from 2013 where we looked at Sega’s simulator games they had created over their long history. What is your favorite Sega simulator?
#9 – Sega Launches Transformers Human Alliance Special At the Tokyo Joypolis – Speaking of simulators, the news that the R360 was coming back in the form of Transformers Human Alliance Special generated quite a bit of excitement among arcaders.
#8 – Dave & Busters Aiming To Open 7 New Stores in 2014 – Among the many stories we run about new locations opening their doors, few generate as much excitement right now as Dave & Busters. I know in my state that there are some people who really want one but with the unfortunate failure of Gameworks this year (they were closed in less than 12 months) and some other factors, D&B won’t be opening in Utah anytime soon.
#7 – CRT or LCD? A Discussion About Arcade Monitors – This is the oldest post in the top 10, a discussion from 2008 about CRT vs LCDs. I know more and more operators switching everything over to LCDs while a few locations out there hold the line on maintaining CRTs in full operational order. That is becoming more difficult to do as time moves along and no new CRTs are being made…for me the main issue is using light-guns. Games created with CRT guns cannot work on an LCD so that is something that needs to be considered or a solution created to work-around it.
#6 – Kung Fu Master 2 Arcade Prototype Discovered – This post from 2015 had a strong overall showing. Who wouldn’t like more Kung Fu Master?
#5 – Bandai Namco Amusements’ Time Crisis 5 Is Coming To Arcades In Spring 2015 – This post from 2014 stayed strong in the views and it was expected to have the latest Time Crisis release higher up in the ratings.
#4 – Play Mechanix & ICE Team Up For Angry Birds Arcade – D&B Exclusive Through Labor Day – What was number 2 on the other list is #4 on this one, news of Angry Birds coming to the arcade scene.
#3 – Q&A On Jurassic Park Arcade With Eugene Jarvis – And what was number 1 on the other list came up 3rd for the overall viewings, my interview with arcade legend Eugene Jarvis about his company’s latest creation, Jurassic Park Arcade.
#2 – 40 Years Of Arcade Games – Part 1 (1972-1989) – As a celebration of 40 years of video arcade games, this post was created to cover some of the great games released through the first two decades of the business. There was so much information to pour over that it had to be split into two parts. Do note that thanks to the large amount of media on this and part 2, this page can take some time to load.
#1 – 40 Years of Arcade Games – Part 2(1990-2012) – The most viewed individual post for the year was that second part of the look back, the interest falling on slightly stronger for newer games. This post beat out #2 by just a couple of hundred views.
Thank you for your readership and we look forward to publishing more in 2016!
