The A-Z of Data East's 1980's Arcade Games | Kim Justice

Twitter: KimxxxJustice Patreon: www.patreon.com/KimbleJustice Twitch: www.twitch.tv/kim_justice Wrestling channel: www.youtube.com/@thewrestlingroad
Today, we're looking at all 96 of Data East's arcade games that they made in the 1980's -- at least, these are the ones that are playable. There's plenty of classics like Burger Time, Bad Dudes, RoboCop and Karnov, but a lot of quite strange titles too, not to mention the DECO Cassette System line. Enjoy!
0:00 Intro
1:50 18 Holes Pro Golf/18 Holes Challenge Golf
2:48 Acrobatic Dog Fight
3:35 Act-Fancer
4:32 Angler Dangler
5:30 Astro Fantasia
6:12 Astro Fighter
7:25 Atomic Runner
8:41 B-Wings
9:36 Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja
10:42 Bandit
11:45 Bega's Battle (LaserDisc)
12:46 Birdie Try
13:29 Bloody Wolf
14:26 Boomer Rang'r
15:20 Boulder Dash
16:27 Break Thru
17:20 Bump 'n' Jump
18:13 Burger Time
19:17 Captain Silver
20:13 Chan Bara
21:20 Clash Road
22:29 Cluster Buster
23:36 Cobra Command (LaserDisc)
24:39 Cobra Command
25:40 Commando
26:28 Competition Golf - Final Round
27:24 Darwin 4078
28:30 Disco No. 1
29:35 DS Telejan
30:06 Dual Assault
31:04 Explorer
32:12 Express Raider
33:00 Fighting Ice Hockey
33:40 Fire Trap
34:42 Flash Boy
35:37 Flying Ball
36:30 Garyo Retsuden
37:35 Gondomania
38:25 Heavy Barrel
39:21 Highway Chase
40:12 Hippodrome
41:20 Kamikaze Cabbie
42:25 Karate Champ
44:04 Karnov
45:20 Kid Niki: Radical Ninja
46:11 Kung-Fu Master
47:03 Last Mission
47:51 Lock 'n' Chase
49:03 Lucky Poker
49:30 Manhattan
50:18 Metal Clash
51:30 Midnight Resistance
52:40 Mission X
53:48 Mysterious Stones
54:50 Nebula
55:50 Night Star
56:39 Ocean to Ocean
57:27 Oozumou - The Grand Sumo
58:20 Performan
59:18 Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory
1:00:15 Pocket Gal
1:01:15 Pro Baseball Skill Tryout
1:02:10 Pro Bowling, Pro Tennis, Pro Soccer
1:03:25 Psycho-Nics Oscar
1:04:52 The Real Ghostbusters
1:06:05 Ring King
1:07:03 Road Blaster (LaserDisc)
1:08:29 RoboCop
1:09:38 Rootin' Tootin'
1:10:27 Scrum Try
1:11:38 Shackled
1:12:32 Shoot Out
1:13:25 Side Pocket
1:14:00 Skater
1:14:53 Sly Spy
1:16:02 SRD - Super Real Darwin
1:16:57 Stadium Hero
1:18:08 Super Astro Fighter
1:19:02 Super Doubles Tennis
1:19:57 Tag Team Wrestling
1:21:10 Terranean
1:22:00 Tomahawk 777
1:22:45 Tornado
1:23:32 The Tower
1:24:45 Treasure Island
1:25:51 Trio The Punch - Never Forget Me...
1:27:25 Vapor Trail - Hyper Offence Formation
1:28:25 Vigilante
1:29:30 Wonder Planet
1:30:37 Zaviga
1:31:36 Zeroize
1:32:42 Zippy Bug
1:33:39 Zoar
1:35:00 Conclusion + Outro
#kimjustice #retrogaming #dataeast #arcadegames

[@Kim_Justice]

What are your favourite Data East games from the arcade? There's certainly a lot here to jog your memory! Have a shout in the comments, and thanks for watching. :)

[@THENAMEISQUICKMAN]

100% has to be Windjammers for sure

[@xbcreations5783]

Robocop

[@EvanCWaters]

Has to be Burgertime, which I mostly played on my old IBM but it was a pretty straight conversion. I did discover Mysterious Stones via emulation and that's really fascinating too, had a lot to it for an arcade of its era.

[@mamehaze]

My favourite of the 80s lot is actually one you dismiss quite quickly here. While it's obviously personal opinion I really rate Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory and would put it above Burger Time. It will kill you off very quickly if you don't know what you're doing, but once you figure out how to throw up and throw down the balls of ice cream, and that jump is your friend for avoiding enemies (as long as you're careful where you jump) then it starts to make sense. To me it's the very definition of a hidden gem. Data East do have a bit of a reputation for copying ideas, not helped by Capcom's lawsuit against them over Fighter's History, and nonsense such as The Tower, but they were also often pioneers and to me stand right up there with the likes of Sega, Namco and Konami.

[@1981troyboy]

why do you talk like a 3 year old?

[@TerpeneProfile1]

As a 40 yo Retro gaming fanatic i want to say hello cheers and i love the content.

[@paulhammond8583]

Hey Kim. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the incredible amount of work you put into videos like this. Excellent work.

[@nwr99nwr99]

Seconded! Keep up the good work. It's appreciated

[@pbarratt73]

Third.... totally enjoyed this too 😊

[@BottIsNotABot]

You have to love a Kim Justice mega video. Top work Kim.

[@timokrahl5620]

Incredible work - so much love has been put into this! Now on to the games AFTER 1989 :)

[@Jayce_Alexander]

Fantastic stuff, Kim. Data East may well be my favorite arcade developer. They didn't necessarily always have the same polish as Capcom or Sega's titles, but their games were frequently quite unique, strange, innovative, and interesting. There's a quality to Data East's best moments that reminds me of the best of Wolf Team. My favorites are Robocop (my second favorite arcade game of all time behind only Taito's Chase HQ, and one I was really sad never made it to home systems aside from a pretty underwhelming Amiga port), Midnight Resistance, and Chelnov. Needless to say I was really happy when the latter two got truly excellent ports to the Mega Drive. I totally agree that Atomic Runner for the MD is the definitive way to play Chelnov. I would say the same goes for Midnight Resistance, even in spite of the lack of a two player mode. And man, that Midnight Resistance soundtrack is just EPIC on the Mega Drive. A pretty awesome speccy port too by the immortal Jim Bagley.

[@simontoseland4152]

Brilliant Kim, now can we have a ZX Spectrum Data East Conversion video 👍

[@matthewhibbard9807]

Chapter selections in alphabetical order. Awesome video. Karnov, Kung Fu and Robocop were what I played the most.

[@teddym2808]

This and part 2 was just mind blowing for me Kim.. I can't thank you enough and will be sending through a donation as soon as I press submit comment. I can only hope we get to see this exact format say for all Irem games for example? (and others). This was absolutely brilliant and especially for a 51yo who grew up as a teen in arcades.

[@glenaitken9403]

In from work, dinner in front of me, a new Kim vid. Man, I love Fridays........ 😁

[@patrikfernstrom7607]

Wow, what a treat. There are the type of videos that I adore. Nostalgia overload!

[@akwalek]

I'm really enjoying this video tonight Kim. Nice one mate :) Oh yeah, sorry i've not been around on your Twitch. Too busy with life crap.

[@Andrew-el8xi]

Fantastic work and research! Data East did some brilliant games !

[@esmerylan]

I was way more familiar with the NES port of Bad Dudes so it's always a little weird to see that opening screen talking about "Ronnie" instead of "the president". Also, Bega's Battle deeply freaked me out as a kid, mostly because of one of the cutscenes where a dude's face melts off. I think he's actually a robot in disguise in the anime, but I didn't know that then, and that scene gave me nightmares.

[@BleachCowboy2016]

man you said Hippodrome was terrible, but I remember as a kid I was blown away by the graphics!

[@lilwyvern4]

We had a Sly Spy machine at a car wash near us. (In a UN Squadron cabinet) To this day, my mom and I still sometimes bring up the old "Golden gun!" cry. It would play that sound dozens of times while we waited for our car to go through the tunnel.

[@ScaryGarrySG1]

LOL 7:35 "Get out of here with all that devilish enchanting solicitation." NOT TODAY, SATAN!!

[@djsladey77]

Best channel on KZbin hands down . Love your videos 😁

[@sebastianalvarezgomez6650]

An awesome chronicle, as a Data East maniac I was surprised to see that there are still a half a dozen games you listed I have not played! Never have I seen anyone put Trio the Punch so succinctly! Too bad Crude Buster just missed the cut, I hope you will make a sequel chronicling Data East's 90's, too!

[@ggnzla]

thank you! this is the 1st content ive seen of yours and i'm enjoying it very much. i was a kid in the 80s and have huge nostalgia for KID NIKI RADICAL NINJA. it was at the arcade of the "family fun center" (bumper cars/go-carts/batting cages/etc) we used to go to. i got the nes release eventually but it wasnt as good 😜

[@Grind24hours]

Keep on the good work, Kim Justice, soon you'll have 100k subscribers! 😊 Grind on, man!

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

"In Skater, you play as a clown with really long legs". Sold!

[@Giantwaspface]

I could listen to Kim talking about retro games all day. These vids are just so... comfy.

[@murrfeeling]

Give Chrontendo/Chronsega a try. Super chill and comfy discussion of old video games, especially the early episodes.

[@BURRITO44]

Awesome video. !! One of the best developers !! Some titles - never heard of. This is why these kind of videos are important !!

[@cartmann94]

This is an awesome list, as always. I hope one day you do a video on Namco arcade games. Seeing as how they were very influential in the videogame industry. Their epic rivalry with Sega pushed the technological envelope with their arcade boards.

[@deejaydiabolic]

I knew when i saw the Data East logo at the startup of a game, i was in for a good time.

[@tomproctor8406]

Fucking best video ever to while away a cold Friday evening. Loads of middling arcade games with at least 6 I'll play. Kim nobody makes em like you.

[@FintanMoloney]

The amount of work that goes into these videos is amazing. I always know when one of your videos pops up I am going to be in for a treat. What I also do is make some notes along the way of games I want to try out after watching the video. Thanks again Kim for all you do for gaming.

[@wargameboy72]

Great video!!! I just started watching your KZbin channel and I like your honest style. I hope you make more videos like this. I really enjoyed this one... Anyway, l look forward to seeing your next video. Keep up the great work!!! 👍👍👍😉

[@wimwiddershins]

This was compelling watching for a kid of the 80s, played more of these than I'd have thought. Data East was ace!

[@franciscor390]

Data East rarely get the praise they deserve, they were huge in the 80's.

[@RowdyRodimus]

Burgertime (along with Q*Bert) is my favorite game of all time. I'm one of the weirdos that feels the 2600 version is the best way to play it, including the arcade lol

[@th45h1zn1t]

Incredible work as ever. Thoroughly researched and brilliantly presented. Thank you so much for providing over an hour and a half of quality entertainment

[@ShapeyFiend]

Nice one. There isn't enough Data East love on KZbin. Their games used to be pretty widely distributed in Irish arcades and to my mind looked just as impressive as what Sega and Capcom were doing. Bad Dudes, Edward Randy, Robocop 1/2, Tumblepop and Midnight Resistance were the most popular games in their locations at different points before it became all about SF2/MK. I've a seriously soft spot for Captain Silver and can almost beat both loops.

[@CallofShame]

Thankyou Ive been binge watching your videos, absolutely incredible work Kim. So pleased to see a new video.! I’m Working on a spectrum ZX game myself, should he out later this year. It’s took me 4 years. Lol

[@nathangillmore5064]

What a monumental achievement this video is! Thanks so much, Kim, you knocked it out of the park with this one. Bad Dudes ate up so many of my quarters back in the day!

[@markenetube]

You must have the patience of a saint to make these videos Kim. Amazing

[@abdulhammouda4884]

One of the absolute legends of KZbin,Kim got me through some incredibly hard times,love this

[@pbarratt73]

Well said buddy.... so much nostalgia watching this video...

[@ninjawacker5442]

Another fabulous video Kim, so informative and really appreciate the hard work that goes into these videos. Well done. So many good games in this list with Bad Dudes & Sly Spy being absolute stand out games for me.

[@galacticwarlock2271]

I love Data East. All their games have that 80's vibe they really fit in.

[@Spinvaderace]

Bad Dudes was heard in every single arcade back in the day, even in the 90's. One of the few games that instantly transports my mind back as soon as I hear the sounds. Same with Robocop - "drop it!"

[@PorchBass]

And the gun noise from RoboCop

[@burtmount4308]

You must be a xillennial my self i am. born in 81`

[@Spinvaderace]

@@burtmount4308 Nearly, 1976!

[@joedent3323]

I'm glad to see this massive output from you over the last week-or-so, Kim. I love these best-of, or themed-list videos you do. They are inspiring and a whole lot of fun. Good work mate. :)

[@khajiit8221]

Midnight Resistance!!! Classic.

[@VGMFan20XX]

Can't wait for the Data East 1990's :D Excellent work!

[@Peter-MH]

Didn’t expect to see Midnight Resistance & Robocop in there! Classics!!

[@JazGalaxy]

Midnight Resistance is the kind of 80s title that you just don’t get anymore. So good.

[@faenethlorhalien]

Robocop, Dragon Ninja (as it was called here, no bad dudes) and Kung Fu Master were 3 classics for me in this list, with all their defects too.

[@teddym2808]

Thanks again Kim! This video was retro gaming arcade Heaven!

[@xxcffff8275]

Data east was huge during the arcade era. Great memories

[@jeremygregorio7472]

Flash boys really obviously Astro Boy, aka Tetsuwan Atom. So much so I'm surprised they didn't get sued

[@DanielThomasHutton]

I was looking to see if anyone commented this, it's just a pallet swap. It's like they where making an Astro boy game but couldn't get the license but didn't bother changing the sprite from the prototype.

[@megadruretrogames]

Absolutely incredible video! I love Data East and it's great to see so many of their early titles here and plenty of the big games too. Bad Dudes, Sly Spy and Robocop are among my favourites.

[@xbcreations5783]

Been looking forward to this since u mentioned on stream xx

[@jayesun3420]

"Unless you are some one who must play every middling baseball effort that flooded the arcades" man , do I ever feel sorry😢 for that poor blagger😮😅

[@joedent3323]

Good Work, as Always, Kim :) Really great video.

[@bjornh1527]

Data East is an excelent subject, enjoyed the video a lot! Making a video about Jaleco later on makes sense, wouldn´t mind a Data East 1990´s either! Data East sure had some eccentric games!

[@Retro_B8]

There’s tonight’s viewing sorted, looking forward to this!

[@fraserpeterkindrums9764]

Just brilliant thanks Kim, your channel is by far the best gaming channel.

[@tcehaus2600]

Great video. I love the way you say "Wobbing Trains". You're like a KZbin Johnathan Ross. Excellent stuff my friend.

[@SinGulaR2]

your video is the first ever where i have seen someone recognise act fancer. one of my favorite games that somehow no one seems to know about. great stuff 💪🙂👍

[@bananonymouslastname5693]

I do love Data East. My favorite of the '80s from them is probably Heavy Barrel or Gondomania. Their rotary games were awesome. In the '90s, I think I'd go either Windjammers or Deset Assault, with subtle nods to Nitro Ball and Spinmaster. Oh, Gate of Doom & Wizard Fire as well!!

[@DruggedBunny]

Great job, some of theirs were among my favourites... Burger Time was fantastic at the time!

[@jayesun3420]

Also, incredible episode, 🎉 only KJ can do a video this brilliant.thanks

[@martinholden9686]

Really good video this kim 👍 enjoyed it so much im now off to watch the 90s data east video 😁

[@angelriverasantana7755]

Good job on the coverage, Kim! Data East always fascinated me, so it's nice to see ya cover a good chunk of their catalogue. Oh and a correction, the protag of Captain Silver is called Jack Avery (Or Jim Aykroyd in Japan) and he's seeking the TREASURE of Captain Silver.

[@angelriverasantana7755]

Oh and have some history on Real Ghostbusters/Meikyu Hunter G: Apparently, it was always intended to be a Ghostbusters game, more based on the original movie rather than the cartoon, which explains why it uses a rather realistic artstyle. Data East were unable to acquire the Ghostbusters license in Japan, however, so it ended up releasing there as Meikyuu Hunter G, with no connections to the franchise (though the G in the title is a slight nod to the original property), before later releasing in the west with the license, using the recently aired cartoon as a basis, while also refining it to a rather sleight extent.

[@angelriverasantana7755]

And when it comes to Karnov, the NES and arcade versions have different plots. In the arcade version, Jinborov "Karnov" Karnovski is just a dickhead thief who seeks the map of the rich and gold-filled Wonderland. Said map was ripped into 9 pieces. 8 were given each boss and the final boss wizard dude has the 9th. And yeah, Karnov is just seeking riches and using violence as a means to get 'em. In the NES (Or at least the Famicom) version of his game, the story is that... The home village of Karnov is attacked by the horrible dragon sorcerer Alakatai and robbed of its treasures. The villagers are helpless against the dragon, but God has heard them and sends Karnov as an avenger to kill Alakatai and return the treasures to the village. In the best case scenario, he becomes a god himself. In the middle, he's merely a guardian of the heavens and in worst case scenario, he just begins life anew as a citizen because he died and the whole quest is a journey of atonement.

[@adamsturtevant1938]

Just love your detailed breakdowns, truly insane!!!

[@fluff2027]

Oh wow - that took me back to a little shop near my mates house playing robocop. After weeks during the summer holiday Justin got further than we had ever got but we ran out of coins and he sprinted to the counter to get change and just missed the continue.

[@pbarratt73]

This video must of took you ages watched it over 3 days - thank you for all your time doing it...

[@n64fan60]

Yeah boi, anotha Kim feature-length. I know what im watchin tonight! 😊

[@WoodyAndy]

I remember playing a cocktail table version of Astro Fighter in the early 80's. Mind blowing at the time 🤣👍

[@andyburton1160]

Great Channel and awesome presentation as always 😊

[@j0hnny6oy]

Love your videos. Another great. Thank you.

[@BaronMorte]

Another great list Kim; good job. 🤟

[@barrybubbles4639]

You're extremely good at making these videos.

[@anactualmotherbear]

Thank you for new videos as always.

[@cassettelord]

Brilliant and informative as always Kim! Some of my favs and some games I had no idea existed! Any chance of a Capcom A - Z?

[@RonnieBarzel]

An isometric take on the Crazy Climber formula? I didn’t anticipate my day beginning with the discovery of a game I must play. Is the sound effect of “Heavy Barrel” soldiers getting shot the same one heard in “Metal Slug”?

[@skijumpnose]

This will be great! The Data East game i played the most was Robocop!

[@ChibiFighter]

I am a fan of the 80s arcade game era of Data East but I'm especially a big fan of Data East on the Game Boy seriously some of the best video games ever created especially Burger Time Deluxe, another fantastic video Kim thank you.

[@nick-playercharacter8583]

1:30:46 Why do the mountains look like they're giving me a Live Zaviga Reaction?

[@JestersDeadUK]

Great vid dood, as always

[@loganford3921]

Some of there Arcade games like Two Crude Dudes, Joe and Mac, Bad Dudes and other ones have been released on the PSN store. Sadly no Midnight Resistance the last time I checked but here's hoping it will pop up in the future.

[@rileystube1]

Really enjoyed that thanks man!

[@leatapmicha9917]

Kim Justice. Best thing on KZbin

[@hollisbayesmiller]

Yes! Always among the best of youtube.

[@natl9953]

Underrated company! I didn't think there would be so many games before we got to Bad Dudes 😝

[@Alianger]

Definitely quantity over quality but there are some gems in there :)

[@robintst]

I remember Data East tended to have somewhat spotty or poor home conversions back then but that never stopped my brother from renting BurgerTime and Karnov on the NES constantly, our mom could have just bought us our own copies eventually if you added up all the combined rental fees. Though those were pretty good conversions, certainly better than NES Karate Champ.

[@darkobelisk4076]

You're the best Kim!

[@markgoldspink5109]

1:11:43 - Shackled/Breywood - anyone else thinks that sounds like X-Out on the Amiga?

[@DanJackson1977]

Used to play Karate Champ and Fire Trap a lot at this little mom n pop burger and ice cream shop called "Dairy King" (a ripoff of Dairy Queen) in Hollywood, FL. I got pretty damn good at Karate Champ (VS edition)... to this day I still know all the moves by heart. Had no idea Technos developed it. That means they invented the VS fighting game AND the beat em up. That's amazing.

[@Debagio]

Ooh, you're spoiling us with content of late, Kim! 👍🏻

[@kurtpowers3842]

Psycho-nics Oscar is my favourite Arcade. My local fish and Chip shop had it for years when I was a kid, and I played the hell out of it. Other people yearn for a Turtles Cabinet, my heart yearns for Oscar....

[@tomkrawec]

My anticipation is at boiling point, can't wait to watch.

[@rlacombe]

Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja was memorable for me for 2 reasons. 1) I could complete it on one coin by the end of my arcade days and 2) It was the first Atari ST port that I was able to hack and change the graphics.

[@KorenLesthe]

I am here today to thank Psycho Nics Oscar for inspiring Manfred Trenz for Turrican. Also I love Midnight Resistance, really love this game and its soundtrack. I just wish it was a bit longer ^^

[@freshPrinceOfBelfairs]

I loved Karate Champ - Clements Hall in Hawkwell had a machine in the 80s and I used to spend my lunch money on it when I went swimming.

[@Ha1rD1aper]

i remember playing a good fighting game on the Sega Saturn made by Data East. was only partially translated. was called Dark Legend

[@KasumiRINA]

8:07 That's... not how surnames work. Anyway, had they spelled it CheRnov in English, it would be an extremely common surname, the ru equivalent of Mr. Black. But yeah, in Japan, Chernobu and Chelnov are spelled the same in katakana. P.S. Chelnov is not a real name, but "chelnok" means "shuttle", so it at least fits for a spaceman.

[@keness4768]

Love me some data east. To this day I’m still trying to 1cc heavy barrel. Doing that without the original rotary controls ain’t easy…

[@JustB3NJI]

Looks like I somehow managed to completely miss all of Data Easts games from the 80's....Feel sure I've played some of their games though as I very much recognise the name definitely saw their ads back in the day, presumably in Mega Drive Magazines.

[@toneranimation]

Wonder if Kim randomly has a new vid, oh.... a movie length doc out of nowhere. Well then.

[@joolsstoo3085]

1:11:44 Data East does Gauntlet but with Kenshiro as your character? Look at him its just Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star with long hair