The DECO Cassette System is an arcade system that was introduced by Data EastinOctober 1980.[1] It was the first standardised arcade system that allowed arcade owners to change games. Developed in 1979, it was released in Japan in 1980 and then North America in 1981.
The arcade owner would buy a base cabinet, while the games were stored on standard audio cassette tapes. The arcade owner would insert the cassette and a key module[a] into the cabinet. When the machine was powered on, the program from the tape would be copied into the cabinet's RAM chips; this process took about two to three minutes. Afterwards, the game could be played freely until the machine was powered off.
It was the first interchangeable arcade system board, developed in 1979 before it was released in 1980. It inspired Sega's Convert-a-Game system, which released in 1981.[7] Later interchangeable arcade systems followed from other companies, such as the Nintendo VS. System in 1984.[8]
The DECO Cassette System was revolutionary for its time; but Data East discontinued it in 1985 due to arcade owners' complaints about the potential unreliability of both the tapes (which could be demagnetized easily) and key modules (which EPROMs went bad after a time), as well as the poor quality of most of its games[b] and the medium's long loading times. Despite its bad qualities, the DECO Cassette System was better received in Japan, where many more games were released for it.[9]
John Szczepaniak of Hardcore Gaming 101 considers the DECO scrollingaction gameFlash Boy (1981), based on the manga and anime series Astro Boy (1952–1968), to be sophisticated for its time. It had an energy bar that gradually depletes over time, and some of which can be sacrificed for temporary invincibility. It had punch attacks rather than shooting, and a type of combo mechanic where, when an enemy explodes, debris can destroy other enemies. There is also a boss battle at the end of each level, as well as bi-directional side-scrolling similar to Defender. Data East released two versions of the game, a side-scrolling version and a vertical scrolling version.[10]
^This was an early form of copy protection, to ensure that the tapes would not be illegally copied by unscrupulous arcade owners. Some titles had to be digitally signed by Data East; others were encrypted.
^And to make things worse, a few of its games which proved popular were also released in dedicated machines with conventional ROM-based boards; which in turn gave arcade owners even less of a reason to invest into the DECO Cassette System.
