The world of slot games, especially online, continues to fill most gaming lobbies. Coming in all reel sizes and themes, today’s amazing and graphically superior slots offer dazzling bonuses and even mega jackpots. However, you might be surprised about just how many of your favorite slots are inspired by retro games.
The connection between video games and slots is growing. So stick around and read this guide about the role of some of the best retro games influencing today’s amazing slots.
The Online Slot Mechanics Introduced by Metro Games
The push to pivot from traditional home video consoles is evident with the latest generation of Xbox and PlayStation consoles. With so many traditional gamers shifting online, the lines between online gaming and iGaming continue to blur and merge. For example, to bridge the gap, iconic slot games like Gonzo’s Quest continue to shift to character-driven themes with well-detailed graphics in the environment.
The Classic Pac-Man Arcade Game Leading to Pac-Man Slots
An obvious connection between retro games and slots is no more evident with the immortal Pac-Man franchise. Well before the rise of the amazing Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat arcade games, Pac-Man took the crown. People couldn’t get enough of having the yellow round mouth circling the screen, chomping everything in its path.
Legendary slot game developer IGT took on the challenge of carrying the Pac-Man arcade theme to the slot game arena. Nostalgic players from the 1980s can play through the same maze but over five reels. Chomp away while racking up the free spins round and jackpot bonuses.
The Classic Space Invaders Arcade Game Leading to Space Invaders Slot Game
Towards the end of the 1970s, teenagers and young adults officially crowned the arcade game Space Invaders king of the arcade. Well ahead of its time of the shooter genre that became popular for Nintendo’s Duck Hunt game and the PC shooter games like Quake and Doom, Space Invaders called for arcade players to blast away evil aliens trying to conquer Earth.
In the 2010s, the slot game developer Novomatic successfully took on the challenge of developing the slot game version of Space Invaders. Generation X players and older can easily slip back in time with this faithful adaption.
Novomatic really stays true to the original Space Invaders concept. Shoot down the same evil aliens as they were presented in the late 1970s. The success of the Space Invaders slot game worked to pioneer today’s amazing fish-style slot games.
Metroid Giving Rise to NetEnt’s Starburst
While The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Super Mario Brothers games dominated 80’s video games, one of the most beloved video games of that era was Metroid. Although it seemed tame at the time, Metroid was one of the first original concept games that pushed the imagination.
The concept around Metroid, one of the first science-fiction video games, was around a galactic bounty hunter, Samus Aran, hopping around the different planets and shooting down everything in her path. Metroids’ design of alien worlds and excessive use of supernovas and exploding cosmos undoubtedly influenced NetEnt’s development of the Starburst game slot.
Starburst was one of the rare sci-fi slot games in the early 2010s. Revolutionizing the video slot genre, Starburst featured many designs similar to Metroid’s when it came to outer space and the different cosmos. Both Metroid and Starburst succeed in transporting players into a foreign alien world, with both games featuring impressive exploding Cosmo sequences.
Castlevania and The Devil May Cry Inspiring the Bloodsuckers Series
Even with so many amazing and enriching slot games, especially jackpot slots like Fruitblasters, Bloodsuckers Part One continues to be one of the most popular slots. Of course, having an RTP rate of 98% is going to get most players to flock to it and spin the reels. However, it’s also because of the amazing adaption of the classic Transylvania vampire theme.
As players continue to enjoy the coffin bonus round, where you pick different coffins to stick a stake in, it is very reminiscent of the Castlevania and The Devil May Cry series. The gothic game design, the gameplay, and the music come straight out of the Castlevania video game series. You can make a strong argument that the main character is a faithful replica of Simon from Castlevania.
The Devil May Cry is famous for its intense battle sequences, gothic castles, and other environments, widely available in the Bloodsuckers series. Besides vampires, the Bloodsuckers series also features demons and bats as playing symbols, which mimics in many ways that of The Devil May Cry series.
Street Fighter 2 Invades the Slot Arena
Street Fighter 2 is not only one of the best arcade games from the 90s but of all time. Its tremendous success also inspired the 1994 film starring Jean Claude Van Damme. Whenever a new generation console debuts, you can usually find an updated version of Street Fighter to commemorate it.
The slot version is a faithful adaption of the World Street Fighter edition. The main slot symbols are based on the characters like Ryu, Ken, and E Honda. You can enjoy many of the soundtracks that were popular in the 90s.
However, NetEnt really finds the mark with the action-packed bonus rounds. Players watch classic battles from the arcade games that rack up additional bonuses and winning multipliers. The cherry on the sundae is racking up bonus multipliers using fan-favorite moves like the Hadouken.
Arcade Concepts in Modern Online Slot Games
Hopefully, this article has shed much light on the thrilling connection between arcade games and slot games. These are some of the ways and gaming ideas that arcade games have influenced today’s slot games:
- Gaming Concepts: In the cases of Street Fighter and Space Invaders, the slot versions were 100% translations of the original arcade games. This means the same game designs, characters, and animations for a seamless conversion.
- Badge Awards: Classic video games were famous for leveling up, especially after completing a level or defeating a bonus. These mini-incentives continue to carry over to modern-day slot games.
- Winning Multipliers: The concept that we take for granted playing slot games has its roots in retro games. For shooter games, it was common to earn more points as you took them down. This concept lives on for the different slot game symbols and for blasting different symbols in fish-style arcade games.
Even though players can control the slot game characters, it is clear that their influence comes from retro games. The top game developers, like NetEnt and Playtech, continue to make an effort to boost their branded slot game lineup to keep nostalgia alive.
