Arcade Classic Font

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Arcade Classic is a modern typeface built around the most popular video game bitmap font. The original bitmap typeface was designed by Atari and first used in their 1976 arcade game Quiz Show. Atari refined the font for Sprint 2, released seven months later, and continued using it for over a dozen later games making it their signature font, but it wasn't long before companies entering the video game industry stole it. In 1978, newly-hired Namco employee Toru Iwatani copied the font, probably the version from Sprint 2, for the company's very first in-house arcade game, Gee Bee. Although there were slight modifications, he continued using the font for subsequent popular titles like Galaxian, Pac-Man, Rally-X, Galaga, and Pole Position. At Nintendo, newly-hired Shigeru Miyamoto used the same font for the first arcade game he worked on, Sheriff in 1979, and used it again on subsequent titles like Radar Scope and Donkey Kong, and it was later adopted for the bulk of Nintendo's early Famicom and NES games. Irem used it for PT Head On in 1979, Konami started using the font in 1980 with The End, Sega started using the font in 1981 with Turbo, Taito started using it in 1981 with Zarzon, Data East began using it in 1981 with Lock 'n' Chase, and plenty of other video game developers adopted it as well. By the end of 1981, nearly 100 games across over 20 developers were using it.

Though different video game studios would make minor modifications to certain letters, the font went remained relatively unchanged for decades and has been used in hundreds of video games making it, by far, the most famous typeface designed specifically for video games.

The typeface typically has a width of two pixels for vertical lines and one pixel for horizontal lines, and, in a few characters, three pixels for diagonal lines. Some of the more interesting characters are the S, R, and 8. The original typeface uses characters that are 8x8 pixels in size, but a larger 16x16 pixel version of the typeface was first used in Super Bug in 1977.

Important alternate characters: Atari E and L, Namco E and L, Original J, 0, 3, 4, and 7, Galaxian W and Y.

Media

Graphics

Videos

Vox - arcade fonts.

List of games which use this typeface

Note: This list is far from complete, and new games are still being made which use this font.

Title Released Platform Developer Notes
Quiz Show 1976-04-?? Arcade Atari Original version of the font. Characters are fixed to the bottom-left. Has all of the lower ASCII set except: back quote, curly braces, pipe, and tilde. Has an early version of the E, J, L, 0, 3, 4, and 7. I, Y, and 1 are centered. It also uses early versions of all the symbols.
Sprint 2 1976-11-?? Arcade Atari I, Y, and 1 are pushed to the left. J has the shorter swoop, L has shorter bottom line, 0 reversed, 3 has shorter top line, 4 reworked, 7 adds serif. Still using early E.
Dominos 1977-01-?? Arcade Atari Still using early E.
Triple Hunt 1977-04-?? Arcade Atari  ?
Super Bug 1977-09-?? Arcade Atari Uses a larger 16x16 version of the font. Letters H, K, O, Q, V, and W were removed to save space. The X appears to be missing a pixel in its lower-left leg.
Destroyer 1977-10-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E and L. 2 has an extra pixel, 4 is missing the right cross pixel, Z is missing the lower-right pixel, probably a mistake. Appears to have been planned for translation as it adds several new vowels with diacritics, a stroked 0, left and right guillemets, and a new larger period.
Canyon Bomber 1977-11-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E, J, L, Y, 1, 3, 4, but updated I and 7.
Sprint 4 1977-??-?? Arcade Atari uses the early E and L, but later J, I, Y, 0, 3, 4, and 7. The upside-down 7 is missing a pixel.
Ultra Tank 1978-02-?? Arcade Kee Games Uses early E.
Avalanche 1978-04-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E, J, and L.
Fire Truck 1978-06-?? Arcade Atari Uses 16x16 version from Super Bug. Adds a K, but removes a J. Other letters are still missing.
Gee Bee 1978-06-?? Arcade Namco Characters are fixed to top-right. Y has an extra pixel, probably a mistake. Uses updated form of every letter including the short form of the E and L.
Skydiver 1978-06-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E and L.
Super Breakout 1978-09-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E and L.
Atari Football 1978-10-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E and L.
Atari Mini Golf 1978-??-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E and L. Z is missing a pixel.
Boxer (Prototype) 1978-??-?? Arcade Atari Uses Sprint 2 characters, but with early L.
Orbit 1978-??-?? Arcade Atari Uses Sprint 2 characters. B has most of the crossbar missing.
PT IPM Invader 1979-01-?? Arcade IPM
Video Pinball 1979-02-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E and L.
Basketball 1979-05-?? Arcade Atari Uses updated E, L, Y, 7. J swoop isn't curved, Q and X are removed, S and 0 are different and symmetrical. Adds a new colon.
Subs 1979-05-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E and L. Q is replaced with an F with a period, X is replaced with an L with an apostrophe. Has a colon, but different than Basketball.
Atari Baseball 1979-06-?? Atari Arcade Uses early E and L. Excludes J, O, Q, W, X, and Z.
Bomb Bee 1979-08-?? Arcade Namco Fixes the Y from Gee Bee.
PT Head On 1979-09-?? Arcade Irem
Galaxian 1979-10-?? Arcade Namco Unique W and Y.
Sheriff 1979-10-?? Arcade Nintendo
SOS 1979-10-?? Arcade Namco
Cutie Q 1979-11-?? Arcade Namco Only uses numbers and A-F.
BASIC Programming 1979-??-?? Atari 2600 Atari Has modified E, I, Q, and 8.
Space Beam 1979-??-?? Arcade Irem Original E and L, updated 0, 3, 4, and 7. Unique 5 and Z.
Navarone 1980-02-?? Arcade Namco
Sky Chuter 1980-03-?? Arcade Irem
Monte Carlo 1980-04-?? Arcade Atari Original E, new L. Has an alternate R.
Pac-Man 1980-05-22 Arcade Namco
Missile Command 1980-06-?? Arcade Atari Lots of differences.
Moon Cresta 1980-06-?? Arcade Nichibutsu
Space Firebird 1980-06-?? Arcade Nintendo
HeliFire 1980-09-?? Arcade Nintendo
Super Moon Cresta 1980-09-?? Arcade Sega/Gremlin
Crazy Climber 1980-10-?? Arcade Nihon Bussan
King & Balloon 1980-10-?? Arcade Namco
Moon Quasar 1980-10-?? Arcade Nichibutsu
Panther 1980-10-?? Arcade Irem
Sasuke Vs Commander 1980-10-?? Arcade Tose
Tank Battalion 1980-10-?? Arcade Namco
UniWar S 1980-10-?? Arcade Irem
The End 1980-11-?? Arcade Konami
New York! New York! 1980-11-?? Arcade Sigma Enterprises
Rally-X 1980-11-?? Namco Arcade Uses Namco E and L, has unique versions of most ASCII symbols.
Radar Scope 1980-12-?? Arcade Nintendo
Shark Treasure 1980-??-?? Arcade Namco
Soccer 1980-04-?? Arcade Atari
Billiards 1981-01-?? Arcade Konami Uses W and Y from Galaxian.
Centipede 1981-01-?? Arcade Atari
Frogger 1981-01-?? Arcade Konami
Scramble 1981-01-?? Arcade Konami
New Rally-X 1981-02-?? Arcade Namco
Red UFO 1981-03-?? Arcade Artic
Zarzon 1981-03-?? Arcade Taito
Black Hole 1981-04-?? Arcade Tokyo Denshi Sekkei
Warlords 1981-04-?? Arcade Atari Uses early E and L.
Lock 'n' Chase 1981-05-?? Arcade Data East
Moon Shuttle 1981-06-?? Arcade Nichibutsu
Vanguard 1981-06-?? Arcade Tose
Red Alert 1981-07-?? Arcade Irem
Spiders 1981-07-?? Arcade Sigma Enterprises Lots of differences.
Super Cobra 1981-07-?? Arcade Konami
Warp Warp 1981-07-?? Arcade Namco
Donkey Kong 1981-08-?? Arcade Nintendo
Flash Boy 1981-08-?? Arcade Data East
Frogger 1981-08-?? Arcade Konami
Fantasy 1981-09-?? Arcade SNK
Galaga 1981-09-?? Arcade Namco
Turbo 1981-10-18 Arcade Sega Uses Galaxian W and Y.
Enigma II 1981-10-?? Arcade Zilec Electronics
Frisky Tom 1981-10-?? Arcade Jorudan
Round-Up 1981-10-?? Arcade Amenip
Bosconian 1981-11-?? Arcade Namco
Make Trax 1981-11-?? Arcade Alpha Denshi
Piranha 1981-11-?? Arcade GL
Jump Bug 1981-12-?? Arcade Hoei, Alpha Denshi Missing F, Q, V, W, and X. Alternate K.
Armored Car 1981-??-?? Arcade Stern Electronics
Battle of Atlantis 1981-??-?? Arcade Comsoft
Frog & Spiders 1981-??-?? Arcade Taito
Jungler 1981-??-?? Arcade Konami
Maze Invaders 1981-??-?? Arcade Atari
Naughty 1981-??-?? Arcade Amenip
River Patrol 1981-??-?? Arcade Orca
Sky Skipper 1981-??-?? Arcade Nintendo
Space Demon 1981-??-?? Arcade Nintendo
War of the Bugs 1981-??-?? Arcade Armenia
Woodpecker 1981-??-?? Arcade Amenip
Amidar 1982-01-?? Arcade Konami
Zaxxon 1982-01-?? Arcade Sega Uses Galaxian W and Y.
Ms. Pac-Man 1982-02-03 Arcade General Computer, Midway Uses Pac-Man font.
Dig Dug 1982-02-20 Arcade Namco
BurgerTime 1982-08-25 Arcade Data East
Donkey Kong Jr. 1982-08-?? Arcade Nintendo
Pole Position 1982-09-16 Arcade Namco Uses Namco E and L and a unique exclamation point.
Popeye 1982-09-18 Arcade Nintendo
Pengo 1982-09-?? Arcade Sega
Pooyan 1982-09-?? Arcade Konami
Alibaba and 40 Thieves 1982-??-?? Arcade Sega
Time Pilot 1982-??-?? Arcade Konami
Gyruss 1983-03-?? Arcade Konami
Mappy 1983-03-?? Arcade Namco 1 is centered.
Mario Bros. 1983-03-?? Arcade Nintendo
Pole Position II 1983-06-24 Arcade Namco
Othello Multivision BIOS 1983-07-15 Othello Multivision Tsukuda Original Symmetrical S and 8. Original 3. Modified Q and 4. Namco W. Different Y.
Libble Rabble 1983-10-?? Arcade Namco
Astron Belt 1983-??-?? Arcade Sega
Roc 'N Rope 1983-??-?? Arcade Konami
Sega-Galaga 1983-??-?? Sega SG-1000 Sega Uses the early Namco version, not the Galaxian version. The 3 is missing a pixel.
Track & Field 1983-??-?? Arcade Konami
Duck Hunt 1984-04-21 NES Nintendo, Intelligent Systems Missing letters J, Q, X, and Z. Symmetrical 8. Alternate Y.
Galaxian 1984-05-?? ColecoVision Namco E is full-width, a pixel is removed from the G, the U has a thicker crossbar, and the V has a thinner point.
Excitebike 1984-11-30 NES Nintendo
Appoooh 1984-??-?? Arcade Sega
Galaga 1984-??-?? MSX Namco Alternate 6.
Marble Madness 1984-??-?? Arcade Atari Symmetrical 8.
Super Mario Bros. 1985-09-13 NES Nintendo
Hang-On 1985-10-10 Arcade Sega
Gauntlet 1985-11-15 Arcade Atari Updated E, F, L. Original J. Unique K, R, S, 1, 4, 7. Symmetrical 0 and 8. Has lowercase set.
Bank Panic 1985-??-?? Sega SG-1000 Sanritsu Denki Unique Q.
Famicom Disk System BIOS 1986-02-21 Famicom Disk System Symmetrical 8.
The Goonies 1986-02-21 NES Konami
Arkanoid 1986-04-26 Arcade Taito
Fantasy Zone 1986-06-15 Arcade Sega
Bubble Bobble 1986-06-16 Arcade Taito
Adventure Island 1986-09-12 NES Hudson Soft
Castlevania 1986-09-26 Famicom Disk System Konami
Master System BIOS 1986-09-?? Master System Sega Has the sharp W points from Galaxian.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World 1986-11-?? Master System Sega
Kid Icarus: Angel Land Story 1986-12-19 NES Nintendo, Tose Numbers only. Uses symmetrical 8.
Arkanoid 1986-12-26 NES Taito
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 1987-01-14 NES Nintendo Letters only.
Mickey Mousecapade 1987-03-06 NES Hudson Soft
The Goonies II 1987-03-18 NES Konami
Ring King 1987-06-19 NES Data East Slightly different R.
Alex Kidd: High-Tech World 1987-07-19 Master System Sega
Shanghai 1987-10-30 PC Engine AlfaSystem
Shanghai 1987-12-04 NES Sunsoft
Blaster Master 1988-06-17 NES Sunsoft
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones 1988-08-30 TurboGrafx-16 Hudson Soft Used in the shops. Several character variations.
Baseball 1989-04-21 Game Boy Nintendo
The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 1989-05-09 Game Boy Kemco
Hollywood Squares 1989-09-?? NES Rare
Tetris 1989-11-?? NES Nintendo
Splatterhouse 1990-04-03 TurboGrafx-16 Namco
F-1 Race 1990-11-09 NES Nintendo
Bomberman 1990-12-07 TurboGrafx-16 Hudson Soft
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu 1990-12-?? NES Now Productions Uses the W and Y from the Galaxian font.
Kid Icarus: Of Myth and Monsters 1991-11-?? Game Boy Tose, Nintendo One of the numbers sets.
Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break 1992-02-01 Game Boy Konami
Marble Madness 1992-??-?? Master System Atari Updated E and L.

More: Adventure Island II - NES Adventures of Dino Riki - NES Bank Panic - Arcade Bank Panic - SG-1000 Bomb Jack - PC-8800 Champion Baseball - Arcade Champion Golf - SG-1000 Congo Bongo - Arcade Exerion - NES Galaxian - SG-1000 GP World - Arcade Lode Runner - Arcade Moon Cresta - ZX Spectrum Monster Bash - Arcade MotoRace USA - Arcade Ring King - Arcade Rolling Crash - Arcade Sindbad Mystery - Arcade Soccer - NES StarTropics - NES Super Mario Bros. - NES Super Zaxxon - Arcade Tennis - NES Track & Field - NES Urban Champion - NES Volleyball - NES Wild Gunman - NES Wrecking Crew - NES Xevious - The Avenger - NES Yamato - Arcade Zoda's Revenge - StarTropics II

See Also

Links


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