Periscope (arcade game)
Periscope is an electro-mechanical arcade shooting submarine simulator. Two companies developed similar games with the name. The first, initially called Torpedo Launcher, was designed by Nakamura Manufacturing Co. (becoming Namco in 1977) and released in Japan in 1965, as the first arcade game Masaya Nakamura built. Sega Enterprises, Ltd. also built and released Periscope in Japan in 1966, as one of its first produced arcade games.
| Periscope | |
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Arcade flyer for Sega's version of Periscope | |
| Developer(s) | Nakamura Manufacturing Co. Sega |
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| Genre(s) | Torpedo, shooter, submarine simulation |
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Sega's 1968 single-player redesign of Periscope popularized the quarter (US$0.25) cost per play of arcade games in the United States. Its surprise success prompted Sega to further manufacture eight to ten new arcade games per year for the next few years. Periscope performed well in locations that would not have normally hosted coin-operated machines at the time, such as malls and department stores. The game's success was formative to Sega and the future Namco, and has been referred to as a turning point in the industry.