Videogame and Other Coin-Op Genres
There are many interesting videogame genres and themes, and countless ways to classify them.
Here is our system:
| Adult (39) | A game of an adult theme, possibly containing partial nudity. Examples: Erotictac and Gals Pinball |
|---|---|
| Adventure (64) | A game where the characters must interact with the environment, make decisions on paths to take, and traverse distances and obstacles to reach a destination or goal. Examples: Thayer's Quest and Cadash. |
| Air Combat (31) | A game where a player flies an aircraft, is shooting at other aircraft, and other aircraft are shooting back, and there is an emphasis on flying. For non-combat aviation, see genre Aviation / Flying. For engaging in combat with simple ground targets, or simple ground and air targets, also see genre Scrolling Shooter. |
| Art / Drawing (1) | A game focused on art or drawing. An exceedingly rare genre. An example includes Chuck E. Cheese's Coloring Book. |
| Aviation / Flying (9) | A non-combat game, often a simulator, focused on the flying of aircraft. For combat, see genre Air Combat. |
| Ball and Paddle (Non Breakout) (124) | Deflect a ball back and forth around the screen using a single-axis control. Examples include Pong and Tennis |
| Ball and Paddle - Breakout (8) | Repeatedly hit a ball to break through a barrier. Examples include Breakout, Arkanoid, and Warlords. |
| Boating / Jet Skiing / Sailing (1) | A game in which a player is driving or riding on a watercraft. |
| Card (55) | Games that are based upon a standard deck of 52 cards. Examples: 21 Blackjack and Solitaire Challenge. |
| Children (for young) (4) | Games that are specifically geared towards young children, often in smaller size cabinets. The most famous of these games are by Moppet Video, and include titles such as Leprechaun and Noah's Ark. |
| Cycling (2) | A game in which a player is riding a bicycle. For motorcycles, instead select Driving, and then pick the correct vehicle type. |
| Dance / Rhythm (78) | Games focused around musical timing and coordination. Examples include Dance Dance Revolution, Drummania, and Guitar Freaks |
| Dungeon Crawl (0) | Fantasy games focused around a roll-playing (RPG) theme in labryrinth environment, battling monsters, solving puzzles, and looting treasure. Examples include Gauntlet. |
| Driving (46) | Games focused on driving a (non-nautical) vehicle. Selecting this allows you to select vehicle type and driving game themes. |
| Famous Character (2) | Games focused around famous non-video game characters such as the Simpsons, Superman and Spot (A video game featuring soda 7-Up's then mascot character). |
| Fighting (706) | Games dedicated to one-on-one fighting competitions. Examples include Karate Champ, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter. |
| Fortune (27) | Games or vending machines focused on dispensing or telling one's fortune. |
| Gambling (89) | Games that pay out money or credits for winning, or simulate doing so. |
| Interactive Movie (6) | Games in which most of the game is presented as full motion video, either animation or live action. Players often have limited time to choose a path leading to good (often a chance to make another decision) or bad outcomes. Laserdisc games such as Dragon's Lair are the most famous examples of this genre. |
| Labyrinth / Maze (210) | This category covers any number of titles where character movement is directed by barriers. The object is typically to collect items, and/or avoid enemy pursuers. Examples: Pac-Man, Make Trax and Wizard Of Wor. |
| Mahjong (173) | Asian gambling games that are played with an assortment of tiles, called bones. |
| Mini-Game Collection (12) | Machines that contain a variety of simple games. Many, but not all, may be puzzle related. Examples include Hyper Bishi Bishi Champ and the Megatouch series. |
| Musical Instruments (1) | Games focused on playing musical instruments such as drums. To move along with music, instead see Dance / Rhythm. |
| Other (58) | Any type of game not covered by any other genre. This is typically not used, other than to hint to a moderator to add a new genre type. |
| PC Conversion (2) | A game converted or inspired by a PC based game. |
| Platform (332) | A game where the primary actions of the players are running and jumping to and from various levels on the screen. The screen can either remain static or scroll in any direction. Examples: Bubble Bobble, Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros.. |
| Puzzle / Tile Match (231) | Action games where players must complete certain arrangements of objects while competing against the clock or other players. Examples include Ataxx, Tetris, Qix, Mahjong games, and KLAX. |
| Racing (441) | Pilot a vehicle in competition against other drivers and/or a time clock. Examples: Pole Position, Hydro Thunder, Out Run and Turbo. |
| Shooter (1032) | A wide variety of games whose primary action is for firing weaponry quickly but accurately by an individual. Examples include Centipede, Crossbow and Operation Wolf. For shooting from a car, tank, or plane, see Shooting Vehicle. |
| Shooting Vehicle (160) | Games whose primary objective is to pilot a craft over a constantly scrolling terrain or area while shooting on-coming enemies and dodging their return fire. Examples: 1942, Raiden, Twin Eagle and Xevious. |
| Simulator (107) | A game that immerses the player in the overall action. Typically these games have custom hardware that moves the player as he interacts with his environment. Examples: T-Mek, Galaxy Force, TX-1. |
| Skill (569) | Games that are more dependent upon planned actions or dexterity rather than brute force or instinct. Examples include Lasso, Rip Cord and Stunt Cycle. |
| Space (182) | Games that are set exclusively in space. Many challenge the player with compensating for the effects of, or lack of, gravity. Examples include Asteroids, Gravitar and Lunar Lander. |
| Sports (824) | Games that are patterned after various sports related activities. Entries in this category are currently being moved into more specific ones. Examples: Quarterback, NBA Jam and Tehkan World Cup. |
| System (32) | A hardware platform that allows for efficient conversion between several different game titles. These systems usually contain a main processor board that hosts one or more game-specific hardware modules. Examples are Capcom System II, Neo-Geo MVS and Nintendo PlayChoice. |
| Tower Defense (1) | Games focused around building defenses around forts, castles, or cities to thwart an invading force. They may involve attacking an opponent's fortifications. Examples include Rampart. |
| Trivia / Quiz (70) | Simple question and multiple answer games. Examples include Trivia Whiz, Tic-Tac-Trivia and Trivial Pursuit. |
| Video Pinball (22) | Using a pair of flippers, deflect a ball upwards on an inclined playfield containing any number of targets or paths. Examples include Baby Pac-Man, Time Scanner and Video Pinball. |
Game Properties:
Sports
- Baseball (69)
- Basketball (25)
- Billiards / Pool / Snooker (46)
- Boxing (11)
- Bowling (0)
- Cricket (0)
- Darts (1)
- Fishing (11)
- Football (US) (24)
- Golf (85)
- Hockey (2)
- Horse Racing (1)
- Olympics (multiple sports) (4)
- Skateboarding (6)
- Snow Sports (3)
- Soccer / Futbol (EU) (92)
- Surfing (12)
- Tennis / Racquetball / Squash (1)
- Volleyball (11)
- Wrestling (18)
- Other Sports (0)
Driving Style
Fighting Style
Shooting Mode
Shooting Weapon
Shooting Vehicle
Aviation Vehicle
Driving Vehicle
- Artillery / Tank (0)
- Automobile (0)
- Bike / Bicyling (0)
- Bus (0)
- Fire Engine (1)
- Hovercraft (1)
- Motocycle (7)
- Off-Road (2)
- Snowmobile (0)
- Space Flight (0)
- Train (0)
- Truck (0)
Perspective
Setting - Location
- Battlefield (1)
- Boxing / Wrestling Ring (0)
- Dungeon (1)
- Old West (10)
- Olympics (0)
- Space (5)
- Water (1)
Narrative Theme
Our custom genre system is copyrighted material.
Please do not republish without written consent.