240px, DECO Cassette System loading screen The DECO Cassette System was introduced by Data East in October 1980. It was the first standardised

arcade system An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arca ...

that allowed arcade owners to change games. Developed in 1979, it was released in Japan in 1980 and then North America in 1981. The arcade owner would buy a base cabinet, while the games were stored on standard audio

cassette tapes The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

. The arcade owner would insert the cassette and a key module into the cabinet. When the machine was powered on, the program from the tape would be copied into the cabinet's RAM chips; this process took about two to three minutes. Afterwards, the game could be played freely until the machine was powered off.

Game list

In bold characters are the video games that were also released in dedicated arcade cabinets. * 01: '' Highway Chase'' (also known as ''Mad Alien'') * 02: ''

Sengoku Ninja Tai ''Sengoku Ninja Tai'' (Japanese: ''The Sengoku's Greatest Ninja'') is an arcade video game released by Data East in December 1980. Also known as ''Ninja'', ''Sengoku Ninja Tai'' was the second game released for the DECO Cassette System, follo ...

'' (also known as ''Ninja'') * 03: '' Manhattan'' * 04: '' Terranean'' * 05: ''

Missile Sprinter In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

'' * 06: ''

Nebula A nebula ('cloud' or 'fog' in Latin; pl. nebulae, nebulæ or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regio ...

'' * 07: ''

Astro Fantasia ''Astro Fantasia'' is a fixed shooter arcade video game released by Data East in 1981. Gameplay The player gets to pilot a single fighter spaceship against an armada of enemies. There are two different play screens that alternate: *Wave 1 use ...

'' * 08: '' The Tower'' * 09: '' Super Astro Fighter'' * 10: ''

Ocean to Ocean ''Ocean to Ocean'' (stylised in all lowercase) is the sixteenth studio album by American musician Tori Amos. It was released on October 29, 2021 through Decca Records. The album was written during lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic in Cornwall, ...

'' * 11: '' Lock 'n' Chase'' * 12: ''

The DECO Kid ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' (also known as ''Flash Boy'') * 13: '' Tournament Pro Golf'' (also known as ''Pro Golf'' or ''18 Hole Pro Golf'') * 14: '' DS Telejan'' * 15: ''

Lucky Poker Lucky may refer to: *An adjective of luck Lucky may also refer to: Film and television * '' Lucky: No Time for Love'', a 2005 Hindi-language romance starring Salman Khan, Sneha Ullal, and Mithun Chakraborty * ''Lucky'', a 2005 short film by Avi ...

'' * 16: '' Treasure Island'' * 17: '' Bobitto'' * 18: '' Explorer'' * 19: ''

Disco No. 1 ''Disco No. 1'' (also released as ''Sweet Heart'') is an arcade video game released in 1982 by Data East. The game was available on DECO Cassette System and conventional versions. Plot The player plays as a 90-pound weakling kid in a roller ...

'' (also known as ''Sweet Heart'') * 20: '' Tornado'' * 21: '' Mission-X'' * 22: '' Pro Tennis'' * 23: ''

18 Challenge Pro Golf Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * 18 (film), ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on t ...

'' * 24: ''

Tsumego Kaisyou is the Japanese term for a type of go problem based on life-and-death. The term likely comes from , as means checkmating in shogi but has different meanings in go. ''Tsumego'' problems are common in newspaper columns. ''Tsumego'' problems ...

'' * 25: ''

Angler Dangler Angler may refer to: * A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling * ''Angler'' (video game) * The angler, '' Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish * More generally, any anglerfish The anglerfish are fish of the teleost order Lophiifo ...

'' (also known as ''Fishing'') * 26: ''

BurgerTime originally released as in Japan, is a 1982 arcade game developed by Data East initially for its DECO Cassette System. The player is chef Peter Pepper, who must walk over hamburger ingredients located across a maze of platforms while avoiding c ...

'' (also known as ''Hamburger'') * 27: ''

Bump 'n' Jump ''Bump 'n' Jump'' is an overhead-view vehicular combat game developed by Data East and originally released in Japan as . The arcade version was available as both a dedicated board and as part of Data East's DECO Cassette System. It was distribu ...

'' (also known as ''

Burnin' Rubber ''Bump 'n' Jump'' is an overhead-view vehicular combat game developed by Data East and originally released in Japan as . The arcade version was available as both a dedicated board and as part of Data East's DECO Cassette System. It was distribu ...

'') * 28: ''

Cluster Buster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Asteroid cluster, a small asteroid family * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study th ...

'' (also known as ''Graplop'') * 29: '' Rootin' Tootin''' (also known as ''La-Pa-Pa'') * 30: ''

Skater Skater may refer to: Sports *Someone who practices skateboarding *Someone who practices roller skating *Someone who practices inline skating * Someone who practices ice skating *An ice hockey player who is not a goaltender *Skater (subculture), ...

'' * 31: ''

Pro Bowling Pro is an abbreviation meaning " professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof may also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African retired ...

'' * 32: '' Night Star'' * 33: '' Pro Soccer'' * 34: ''

Super Doubles Tennis ''Super Doubles Tennis'' is an arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as ...

'' * 35: '' Bumpoline'' (also known as ''Flying Ball'') * 36: ''

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

'' (also known as ''Boomer Rang'r'') * 37: ''

Zeroize In cryptography, zeroisation (also spelled zeroization) is the practice of erasing sensitive parameters (electronically stored data, cryptographic keys, and critical security parameters) from a cryptographic module to prevent their disclosure if t ...

'' * 38: ''

Scrum Try Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture ...

'' * 39: '' Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory'' * 40: ''

Fighting Ice Hockey Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, ...

'' * 41: '' Oozumou - The Grand Sumo'' * 42: ''

Hellow Gateball ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the '' Norwi ...

'' * 43: ''

Kamikaze Cabbie , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to ...

'' (also known as ''Yellow Cab'') * 44: '' Boulder Dash'' * UX-7: ''

Tokyo MIE Shinryoujo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

'' (Tokyo MIE Clinic) * UX-8: '' Tokyo MIE Shinryoujo 2'' (Tokyo MIE Clinic 2) * UX-9: ''

Geinoujin Shikaku Shiken Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in America were described as ...

'' * ??: '' Burmazon''

Reception

In Japan, the '' Game Machine'' list of highest-grossing arcade video games of 1981 listed ''Pro Golf'' at number three and ''Tele-Jan'' at number thirteen. On the list of highest-grossing arcade video games of 1982, ''

'' (''Bump 'n' Jump'') was number nine, ''

'' (''Hamburger'') was number eleven, and ''Pro Tennis'' was number fifteen. ''Game Machine'' later listed ''Pro Soccer'' as the top-grossing new table arcade cabinet in September 1983, and ''Scrum Try'' topped the table arcade game chart in April 1984.

Legacy

It was the first interchangeable

arcade system board An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arc ...

, developed in 1979 before it was released in 1980. It inspired

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

's Convert-a-Game system, which released in 1981. Later interchangeable arcade systems followed from other companies, such as the

Nintendo VS. System The is an arcade system developed and produced by Nintendo from 1984 to 1990. It is based on most of the same hardware as the Family Computer (Famicom), later released as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Most of its games are conversio ...

in 1984. The DECO Cassette System was revolutionary for its time; but Data East discontinued it in 1985 due to arcade owners' complaints about the potential unreliability of both the tapes (which could be demagnetized easily) and key modules (which EPROMs went bad after a time), as well as the poor quality of most of its games and the medium's long loading times. Despite its bad qualities, the DECO Cassette System was better received in Japan, where many more games were released for it. John Szczepaniak of ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' considers the DECO scrolling

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...

''Flash Boy'' (1981), based on the

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

and anime series '' Astro Boy'' (1952–1968), to be sophisticated for its time. It had an energy bar that gradually depletes over time, and some of which can be sacrificed for temporary invincibility. It had punch attacks rather than shooting, and a type of combo mechanic where, when an enemy explodes, debris can destroy other enemies. There is also a boss battle at the end of each

level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...

, as well as bi-directional side-scrolling similar to '' Defender''. Data East released two versions of the game, a side-scrolling version and a vertical scrolling version.

Notes

References

External links