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by groby_b 2798 days ago
1) Hardware magic was often how you could distinguish yourself.

2) General purpose CPUs were very weak.

3) An arcade machine could easily cost 5-figure amounts of money. Suddenly, custom hardware is possible.

4) The PC080SN was custom, but not just for one game. E.g. Rainbow Island used it as well. (I think Bubble Bobble did, too, but memory is weak)