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by csixty4 4038 days ago
That's a distinction without a difference. Sega built arcade hardware almost identical to their SG-1000 console and ported some of its games to it. Most Neo-Geo arcade "MVS" cartridges were the same as the home "AES" carts except for the physical connector and arcade-specific stuff (checking for coin switches).

There's no platonic ideal that makes an "arcade" game vs a home system. They come in all shapes & sizes of cabinets. Some take coins, some take cards, and some are kept on free play to keep kids from running around a restaurant screaming.

I'd say the only real difference between an arcade game and a home game is where they were meant to be played.

1 comments

Agreed. My point is that back then, most console versions of arcade games were "watered down" software ports after the fact. PlayChoice 10 was one of the first, more popular exceptions to this (the software remained practically unchanged).