Nintendo manufactured their own arcade games until the year 1990, with the last game they developed on their own being Vs. Dr. Mario. (the last unique arcade only games were made in 1985).
27 years have passed since this point, and there are a number of gamers who don’t really have much of an interest in the arcade past Nintendo has – and many may not even be aware of outside of the popular games like Donkey Kong and Mario.
In this list one will find a complete guide on arcade games made by Nintendo and a timeline that matches it. The goal is to fill some Nintendo history gaps and to detail what changes took place as the company grew.
Nintendo’s gaming history
Nintendo made their first arcade game in the year 1973, with the Laser Clay Shooting System.
In this time Japan was full of deserted bowling alleys and their owners had to find a use for them. Nintendo decided to come forward with their new invention, created by Hiroshi Yamauchi and developed by Gunpei Yokoi.
Laser Clay Shooting System was essentially a large lightgun game, where a 16mm film projector showed images of clay pigeons and players were given the ability to shoot at them with fake guns.
This game turned out to be a large success, and Nintendo decided to redesign it a year later and come out with a smaller version titled the Mini Laser Clay.
Doing so allowed Nintendo to come out with a ton of separate games, each of which were essentially just different 16mm films that one could interact with on a basic level (like FMV shooting games that arcades adopted later on).
Games like Sky Hawk, Shooting Trainer, Wild Gunman, and New Shooting Trainer were successes, and Nintendo became aware that video games were growing in popularity thanks to games like breakout and Pong.
Soon their 16mm film based shooting games were ignored in favor of games that could actually be controlled but looked more primitive.
This is when Nintendo started making some of their own video games because they wanted a piece of the action.
In the first few years Nintendo specialized in making games that were essentially replicas of games that were already popular. However, as time went on, they started making original titles and Nintendo became a household name when it came to arcade game names.
VS. System in arcade games
In 1983, Nintendo came out with the Famicom, something that allowed them to make an impact on the growing home gaming market.
The Famicon was very successful in Japan, so Nintendo made most of their home games by porting a few of them to arcades. The Nintendo VS. System was a platform meant for arcades that could run NES quality games. The goal was for players to be able to compete with one another (with friends).
This system came in 3 different cabinet types:
- The VS Table: A sit down cabinet that had 2 screens that they nicknamed “red tent”
- VS Dualsystem: An angular cabinet that came with 2 screens that pointed away from one another
- VS UniSystem: A typical cabinet that had one screen a 2 controllers
A multitude of games were released for the VS system (even some that fell out of the Nintendo brand, like ones by Sunsoft, Namco, and Konami).
Complete list of Arcade games by Nintendo (and their partnerships)
Proprietary ports and Games
The Laser Clay Shooting System is a light gun shooting game simulator that they made in the year 1973.
Wild Gunman was a light gun shooter game that was developed by Nintendo in 1974 and was adapted to the Famicom game console (in 1984).
Evr Race was made in the year 1975 and featured horse races where players had to predict which horse would win (betting on horses).
Shooting trainer was the successor to Wild Gunman and is a light gun based game that used a plastic rifle. In the game players had to shoot digital white bottles that showed up on the screen and players could at most score 40 points on it.
Sky Hawk was a nintendo arcade games where players were required to shoot down enemy planes on a 16mm screen. It featured realistic sounds and graphics and if players scored an 8 or more the player would be allowed to play a free game.
Battle shark was a shooting light gun game that came with a machine gun-esque controller. The game’s objective was to shoot a torpedo boat down and make it explode.
- New Shooting Trainer Arcade 1978
- Test Driver Arcade 1978
Test Driver was made in the year 1978 and was a driving game that had a steering wheel as the controller. The goal of the game was simply to drive and try not to crash (it wasn’t a racing game).
- Block Fever Arcade 1978
Block fever was made in 1978 and had a main objective of controlling a paddle and breaking blocks that were placed above it. If all the blocks are destroyed the stage is won.
- Computer Othello Arcade June 1978
Computer Othello was released in 1978, exclusively in Japan. It was the first game that was developed and published by Nintendo. It was also the first game developed by Nintendo R&D1. The game was essentially a computerized version of Othello.
- Space Fever Arcade 1979
Space Fever was made in the same way that Space Invaders was and was developed in the year 1979. The main differences it had from Space invaders were the interludes whenever players lose lives, when the UFO appeared, the constant tune that played during the invaders “march”, and the additional “game over” piece.
- SF-HiSplitter Arcade August 1979
SF-HiSplitter was made in the year 1979 and was insanely similar to Space Invaders. Compared to Space Fever, however, the similarities are much lower. The invaders in this game were much smaller than they were in the previous game. When the invaders got shot, they grew 2x their original size occasionally (they split up).
- Space Launcher Arcade 1979
Space Launcher was one of Nintendo’s more original games and was made in 1979. The game has been said to be similar to Frogger and had a goal of maneuvering around space objects while also dodging the enemy fire that came from the aliens that were stationed above.
- Sheriff Arcade October 1979
Sheriff was made in the year 1979 and was a multi-directional arcade shooter made by Nintendo. It was western themed and players had to control a bounty sheriff whose job was to defend a town against bandits.
- Monkey Magic Arcade October 1979
Monkey Magic was released by Nintendo in 1979 and was a clone of Breakout. Players were tasked with the job of controlling a paddle that hit a ball that was aimed at blocks placed above it that was shaped like a monkey’s face.
- Head On N Arcade 1979
Head on N was made in 1979 and was a licensed clone of Sega’s game Head On. It was a maze game that was similar to Pac Man in that players had control of a car that went around avoiding other cars and collecting dots in a maze, so they didn’t’ crash.
- Bomb Bee N Arcade 1979
Bomb Bee N was made in 1979 and was a licensed version of Namco’s game Bomb Bee. In the game players had to use 2 paddles to bounce a ball that flies around and hits bricks that are placed above the 2 paddles.
- Smashmatic Arcade 1975
Smashmatic was released in 1975 by Nintendo and was considered a spin on table tennis. Each player in the game has control over a tennis paddle that’s connected to the main system. Players don’t actually touch the paddle, instead they control them via a button that instructs the paddle to go forward and a level that changes the position. The goal of the game is to get the ball in the game past the other player’s paddle.
- Dead Line Arcade 197?
The goal for the Nintendo game Dead Line was to get the falling marbles into appropriate holes – and players were rewarded with candy or tokens.
- Fancy Ball Arcade 197?
Fancy Ball was released in 1978 and was all about getting falling marbles into their corresponding hole.
- Space Fire Bird Arcade 1980
Space Fire Bird was released in 1980 and was all about playing the role of a ship, that accidentally wakes a group of enemy firebirds up. The goal was essentially to take control of the ship and destroy the fire birds.
- Radar Scope Arcade 1980
Radar Scope was made in the year 1980 and it was a huge success in Japan – not so much in North America.
- HeliFire Arcade September 1980
Helifire was made by Nintendo in the year 1980 and tasks a player with controlling a submarine that is under fire by helicopters and submarine wildlife. The submarine must dodge bombs the helicopters drop and the wrath of the sea creatures.
- Donkey Kong Arcade July 9, 1981
Donkey Kong was an action game that was released by Nintendo in 1981. The objective was to avoid a number of obstacles while making your way through a construction site to the top and rescuing Lady.
- Game & Watch June 3, 1982
Game and Watch was a number of games made by Nintendo in 1982. The game itself features a name that came from the clock on the LCD screen.
- Famicom/NES July 15, 1983
The Famicom was an 8-bit 3rd generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was released at first in Japan in 1983 as the FC (family console). The NES was released on 10/18/1985 as a test console in american test markets,
- Famicom Disk System April 8, 1988
The Famicom disk system was a peripheral for the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan on February 21. 1986. It made use of floppy disk titled “disk cards” to allow for cheaper data storage and it added a new hi-fi sound system to allow support for Disk System games.
- e-Reader November 12, 2002
The Nintendo e-reader was an add-on made by Nintendo for its GBA (game boy advance) game console. Izt was released in 2001 in Japan, and had a North America follow-up in September 2002.
- Game Boy Advance February 14, 2004
The Game Boy Advance was a 32-bit handheld gaming console developed and manufactured by Nintendo to succeed the Game Boy Color. It was released in 2001 in Japan, and on June 11, 2001 in North America.
- Sky Skipper Arcade August 1981
The game Sky SKipper was released in August 1981 and was a game where players had to essentially fight apes (possibly because of the success of the DOnkey Kong franchise). The player in this game has to save his kingdom from the apes by stunning them and then save the various inhabitants of the kingdom, including the queen and king.
- Space Demon Arcade 1981
Space Demon was exclusively released in Japan in 1981. It is the successor of Space Fire Bird and is a fixed shooter. In this game the “Space Demon”, the villain, took a ship that had people inside. The goal of the game is to shoot through waves of his henchman and to get the ship back.
- Donkey Kong Jr. Arcade August 1982
Donkey Kong Jr. was released in August 1982 and featured the character Donkey Kong Jr. as the hero of the title. In the game the main character has to save his father Donkey Kong from Mario.
- Game & Watch October 26, 1982
On October 26, 1982 Nintendo released their wide screen format of Game and Watch. This game sold between 250,000 and 1,000,000 units and featured a number of games.
- Game & Watch (Tabletop) April 28, 1983
On April 28, 1983 Nintendo released their Tabletop version of Game and Watch. This game sold less than 250,000 units and also had a number of games, including Mario’s Cement Factory, Donkey Kong Jr., and Snoopy.
- Famicom/NES July 15, 1983
The Famicom/NES was an 8-bit video game console made and distributed by Nintendo. This system is said to have helped revitalize the video game industry after the video game crash of 1983.
- Famicom Disk System July 19, 1988
- e-Reader September 16, 2002
- Popeye Arcade December 1982
Popeye was a video game made by Nintendo in the year 1982 and was based on a comic strip, also named Popeye.The game was licensed by Atari, for exclusive release in the UK and Ireland, in a cabinet also made by them. The objective in this game was for Popeye to collect certain items that were dropped by Olive Oyl – the items picked up vary with the level.
- Famicom/NES July 15, 1983
The Famicom was a Nintendo gaming system that was released in July 1983. The game allowed one to play games such as Donkey Kong on home TV sets and was received well.
- Mario Bros. Arcade July 14, 1983
Mario Bros. was an arcade game developed by Nintendo and released on the NES. This game is said to be the first release of the game that featured Mario’s brother Luigi. In the game, 2 brothers, Mario and Luigi play an endless map that takes place in the sewers of New York.
- Famicom/NES September 9, 1983
- e-Reader November 11, 2002
- Donkey Kong 3 Arcade October 1983
Donkey Kong 3 is the 3rd game in the Donkey Kong series but, unlike its predecessors it doesn’t feature Mario, instead it has Stanley. This game is said to be closer to a shoot-em-up, which further distinguishes it from previous Donkey Kong games. In the game, Donkey Kong breaks into Stanley’s greenhouse and hangs in the rafters, where he stirs up nests of bugs, which destroy Stanley’s flowers in revenge. Stanley, armed with a Sprayer, has to destroy the bees and chase Donkey Kong away before he eats all 5 of his flowers.
- Famicom/NES July 4, 1984
- Game & Watch August 20, 1984
- e-Reader April 21, 2003
- Punch-Out!! Arcade December 1983
Punch Out! Is a sports action game that was released in 1984 by Nintendo. The main character of the game competes in 3 minute rounds against world-class fighters. This game featured a new “Ducking” feature defensive move that made players feel as if they were in the game more.
- Super Punch-Out!! Arcade September 1984
Super Punch-Out was the successor to Punch Out! and was a boxing game developed and published by Nintendo for the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System).
- Arm Wrestling Arcade May 1985
This game was a spin off of the Punch Out! Series and had many of the same features that its predecessors had (dual monitor and quirky computer opponents). The objective in this game was to become the World Arm Wrestling Champion by defeating as many opponents in arm-wrestling as you can.
Games in the VS. Series
- Vs. Balloon Fight November 1984
Vs. Balloon Fight was an arcade game made by SRD Co. and was published by Nintendo for the Vs. Dualsystem arcade system. In the game players control either of the Balloon Fighters and clears phases by defeating all of the Balloon Birds.
- Vs. Baseball 1984
Vs. Baseball was an arcade game released by Nintendo in the year 1984. This game set the tone for other video game arcade games in the future.
- Vs. Clu Clu Land December 1984
Vs. Clu Clu Land was an arcade game released by Nintendo in the year 1984. In the game, you have control over the main character, Gloopy, and have to find hidden gold ingots that are hidden around the stage.
- Vs. Duck Hunt 1984
Vs. Duck Hunt was a 1984 light gun shooter video game that was developed and published by Nintendo for the Vs System.
- Vs. Excitebike 1984
Vs. Excitebike was a multiplayer version of the NES game Excitebike. It was published and developed by Nintendo and was released in arcades as well as on the Famicom Disk System.
- Vs. Hogan’s Alley 1984
The game Vs. Hogan’s alley was a multiplayer version of the original light shooter video game Hogan’s Alley. It was released in 1984 by Nintendo.
- Vs. Pinball July 1984
The VS. Pinball game was made by Nintendo (there were around 106 games made under this trade name by Nintendo July 1984 (one of them was. Games made by Nintendo under this name date back all the way to 1970).
- Vs. Tennis 1984
Vs. Tennis was made by Nitneod in July 1984 and allowed players to play singles or doubles against either human or computer players. The match is the best of 3 sets.
- Vs. Urban Champion 1984
Vs. Urban Champion was a beat em up fighting game that was released by Nintendo in 1984. In the game, men duke it out, for the title of Urban Champion.
- Vs. Wild Gunman 1984
Vs. Wild Gunman was made by Nintendo in 1984 and was a wild west shooter where the main player goes against either 1 or 2 outlaws.
- Vs. Wrecking Crew 1984
Vs. Wrecking Crew was an arcade game made by Nintendo in 1984 and was the first in the Wrecking Crew series. The game is less puzzle oriented and focused more so on competitive play.
- Vs. Golf 1984
Vs. Golf was made by Nintendo in 1984 and was a game where Mario essentially golfed through 18 holes.
- Vs. Mahjong 1984
Vs. Mahjong was a 2 player Mahjong game that was released by Nintendo in 1984. In the game players played against either the computer or friends.
- Vs. Ice Climber 1985
Vs. Ice Climber was made in 1985 by Nintendo and was a game where players were given the choice of playing as either Nana or Popo to break pieces of ice apart with a hammer and defeat enemies as they aim to get to the top of the mountain.
- Vs. Ladies Golf 1985
Vs. Ladies Golf was an arcade game developed and published by Nintendo in 1985.
- Vs. Mach Rider 1985
Vs. Mach Rider is an arcade game made in 1985 by Nintendo.
- Vs. Soccer 1985
Vs. Soccer was made by Nintendo in 1986.
- Vs. Slalom 1986
Vs. Slalom was a skiing sports game made by Rare and published by Nintendo in the year 1986. It was a single player game where players were tasked with racing downhill in a number of slalom skiing races. In total there are 24 downhill runs that are spread across 3 mountains.
- Vs. Super Mario Bros. 1986
Vs. Super Mario Bros was released by Nintendo in 1986 and featured Mario and Luigi going on a widespread adventure so they could rescue Peach from Bowser.
- Vs. Volleyball 1986
Vs. Volleyball was made by Nintendo and released in 1986.
- Vs. Gumshoe 1987
Vs. Gumshoe was a light gun shooter game both developed and published by Nintendo in 1986. In the game, Mr. Stevenson (and ex-FBI agent turned detective) received a ransom note from the mafia boss, King Dom, saying that he’s kidnapped Stevenson’s daughter, Jennifer. Stevenson has to collect 5 black panther diamonds in 24 hours to get his daughter back.
- Vs. Dr. Mario 1990
Vs. Dr. Mario was a puzzle game both developed and published by Nintendo. It was a falling block puzzle where the objective for the players was to destroy the viruses populating the on-screen playing field by using colored vitamin capsules that are tossed on to the field by Dr. Mario. The goal is to align the capsules with their corresponding colors – doing so destroys the viruses.
Games co-developed with Midway games
- Cruis’n USA
Cruis’n USA was an arcade game that was a collaboration with Midway games and was released in 1994. It was the first game in the Cruis’n series and had races that were set all across the USA (hence the name).
- Cruis’n World
Cruis’n World was the 1996 sequel to the 1994 arcade racer Cruis’n USA. In the game players were allowed to race on a number of tracks that took place all over the world.
- Cruis’n Exotica – 1999
Cruis’n Exotica was a 1999 racing video game that was developed in collaboration with Midway games. It was the third game Cruis’n series. The game takes place on exotic tracks all over the universe such as The Amazon Jungle with dinosaurs, Las Vegas , Atlantis, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Tibet, Sahara, Ireland, Holland, and the surface of Mars.
The last arcade game they made by themselves was Arm wrestling.