From toplessrobot, Coin-ops were known for their sound effects--the boops, beeps, ba-da-DA-das, and wakka-wakka-wakkas. But a few years into the coin-op boom of the early 80s came something new to add to the arcade soundtrack: voices. This when digitized speech was something new and pretty amazing in gaming. It's no coincidence that a lot of the early digital voicework in these games was devoted to getting you to give up your quarter; these voices worked, and well. Games had already earned reputations for being quarter-eaters; with the advent of voice technology, the games could actually taunt you for it, too.
Here, a baker's dozen of the voices emanating from your coin-op arcade--the ones that haunted your dreams, called for your quarters...and eventually made arcade managers turn the damn things off.
#11 "Prepare to Qualify." - Pole Position
Okay, so it was only one line, but if you spent an afternoon in 1982 dropping quarters at a Gold Mine arcade, you became well acquainted with this female voice. Despite the tone of relative disinterest that can be heard in the reading of that line, many video-gamers claimed that the girl sounded cute. Which is either a sign of an active imagination at work, or evidence that early 80s coin-op players had gotten used to cute girls speaking with tones of relative disinterest.
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4 comments:
Hmmm... I wonder why JPX chose Pole Postition over all those others. Feeling guilty, perhaps?
Gorf? Wizard of Wor? Crossbow? Stratovox? Never heard of 'em. And I only know about Bosconian because it was on one of those joystick emulators that I borrowed from someone, along with Pac-Man and Dig Dug.
That Dragon's Lair clip has a great collection of Dirk deaths at the end of it.
I can't believe the Berzerk notable quote isn't "stop the humanoid."
I'd never heard of most of those either.
God, everything about Pole Position is just awful. The sounds, the graphics, the satisfaction level...
What about "Power up!" from Golden Axe? Wait, was that a 90s game?
Most memorable phrase from a pinball machine: "Get yourself a hot dog!"
JPX - what was that game anyway?
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