Arcade

Arcade gaming has it's roots in the coin-operated game cabinets that sprung up in the 80's. The games often were on the leading edge of technology and simple enough to be casually played, yet complex enough to give hours of work to master. Arcade scene also included pinball machines and slot machines.

Nowadays arcade term has evolved into few sub-scenes:
 * Arcade gaming genre.
 * Arcade emulation.
 * Arcade cabinet projects.

Arcade gaming
Arcade gaming is a kind of retro/casual gaming genre. Arcade gaming consists mainly of puzzle games, shoot'em-ups and retro-remakes. The common to arcade gaming theme is fast, often reflex-based, action, simplistic easily-learned game mechanics and an increasing level of difficulty that makes games hard to master. On that line, Unreal Tournament FPS-games are more "arcade-style" in comparison to, for example, more tactical FPSes like Rainbox Six. Examples of recent popular games of this genre are: Ikaruga (XBLA), Geometry Wars (X360/Wii), Raiden 3 (PS2).

Arcade emulation
Arcade emulation seeks to accurately emulate all the hardware of original arcade equipment.

Links:
 * Multi Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) is the leading project on this scene, supporting thousands of different arcade games.
 * Multi Emulator Super System (MESS) seeks to emulate many other systems; game consoles, home computers, calculators, etc.
 * Wah!Cade is a GNU/Linux frontend for MAME and other emulators.

Arcade cabinets
Arcade cabinet projects are hobby projects to recreate the classic cabinets in a variety of different styles and materials. The built cabinets usually have enhanced capabilities and lesser weight and size than the originals they seek to imitate. Implementation usually based on arcade emulation (MAME) and modern PC hardware.

Links:
 * Our own arcade cabinet project.
 * Real Games, a Finnish company dedicated in resale of arcade hardware.
 * Ultimarc, maker of arcade cabinet compatible hardware and arcade controls.
 * Akihabara Shop, a japanese reseller of arcade controls.
 * Suzo-Happ, manufacturer of arcade controls.
 * Sanwa Denshi, japanese manufacturer of arcade controls.