Back in the 70s a campground near Mandeville, Louisiana had a Killer Shark machine in a small arcade next to their pool, I spent the entire vacation (and way too many quarters) in there much to my parents' dismay :)
I also remember playing it in the late 80s, in an amusement park in my home country of Sweden. Game was already quite old by then, but these things had a long life outside the US.
I specifically remember the gun and the gruesome way the shark dies.
Years ago some enterprising individual made a Flash version of the non-existent computer game in "Big" [1]. It's just a single room but the fact that somebody went to such lengths is amazing.
I love electromechanical arcade games. My father mentioned one from his youth that had you manning an anti-aircraft gun and shooting down incoming WWII fighters. This would have been made in the 1950s or maybe even the late 40s, given the time frame at which he played it.
I managed to find a game that was conceptually similar, but certainly not the game my father played. It was Sky Hawk by Nintendo, made in 1976:
The way it works is there are actually three clips of footage: plane attacking, plane exploding, and a light spot indicating the target area needed to register a hit. The latter two are shown on the bottom half of the film frame at different times. A mirror usually reflects the top half of the film, showing the "attacking" footage, toward the screen where the player can see it. However, the gun is mechanically linked to a light sensor pointed at the bottom half, and if it picks up the light spot in the "light spot" footage, a hit will be registered. When the "plane blowing up" footage starts, the mirror will pivot to reflect that to the screen instead, and you will be awarded a point.
It was an ingenious setup that required no computers to operate. It was pure mechanics and optics.
Another difference is, Sky Hawk used footage of R/C model planes to simulate the incoming fighters. From my father's description, the game he played used footage of actual fighters taken during actual WWII engagements. But the idea is the same, and it makes me wonder if a similar mirror setup were used in his game as well.
I grew up on Scarborough Beach, in Perth, Western Australia, during the 70's. This was basically peak Australian beach culture - everything you could want in a sunny day at the beach - bikini's, surf, sharks, hamburgers, jewellery lost in the sand, the ever shrinking swim suit .. the whole deal. Bike gangs and surf nerds, newly returned from Vietnam, beating each other to smithereens in the baking parking lots while the girls watched on. I can still smell the sun cream lotion, and remember the smell of my Dads hamburger grill, erected in the ruins of the famous 50's "Snake Pit" haunt, replete with ghosts and memories of dances gone by, of rock and roll been and gone, replaced with stoner rock and KISS or Abba, depending on your thing.. I have muscle memory buried deep for the regular cleaning of the onion slicing machine, the giant bottles of mayo I had to refill, every single day. The beetroot stains and the harvesting of the 'crispies' from the competing deep fryer shop, "Peters by the Sea", who sold us kids a pack of the junk for 10c a bag, and which is the only remaining survivor of the era, still slinging buns even today ..
The esplanade in those days was basically a sullen row of shops, one after the other offering beach-goers refreshments and entertainment, luring every customer in with the promise of fun and cheer .. and every single one of those 8 or so shops had a small Cold War going on against the other, for entertainment devices.
At one end, there was an air-hockey paradise with a side row of electromechanical games, one of which was indeed Killer Shark, along with another airplane bombing game that ran on a big map, rolling underneath the camera through which the player would view and send down their 'light bombs' as we kids referred to them, way back then. My first impression of "Germany", as it were, rolling endlessly in some kind of ethereal, hypnotic landscape. Pinballs and stuff too, almost an overwhelming selection of blinking chaos into which to pour coins. Each shop had its speciality - my Dads' place (MINDERBINDERS, in case there are any sand gropers about) specialised in pinball and stag films in a back room, for those who knew the secret handshake.
Killer Shark was great - it was so clearly a mechanical game that you could never beat, but on occasion the odd punter would score a free game or so. Even more of a treat, the proprietors would sometimes start off the games with 20 credits or so, just sitting there, to attract the teens. There was another electro-mechanical, ocean themed game, something like "SPEAR HUNT", which offered players a few snapper and some stingrays upon which to direct their sun-kissed ire, should they have a remaining 20c or two to waste.
I loved that era of my life (was just a boy starting school) .. 1976 .. the brand new "Breakout" appears suddenly, and it immediately soaked up all the coins from the neighborhood. I remember seeing the service guy open up Breakout and all the coins just came pouring out .. and then, slowly, the rest of the strip went video and computer, Space Invaders arrived, and the electromechanical games slowly phased out, becoming ever more unpopular and under-used as the year rolled over.
My first memory of Killer Shark was fun - my last, sadness, as its faded exterior got loaded onto the truck to be replaced by something brighter, flashier, more challenging. Soon enough there were only 'computer games' and pinballs, and all those delicate machines got replaced, one by one. Eventually, the esplanade itself got replaced with a modern monstrosity, and the era ended with the fervent twang of the 80's arriving, power synth chords and all.
But I still remember the squealing joy of a player, spearing themselves a shark, only to be pissing themselves with laughter/fearjoy once the shark 'recovered' and made them face a frontal attack. It was, somehow, cathartic.
Until a real shark showed up in the surf and bit a kids leg off, during prime surf hour.
Thanks for the compliment .. just so its clear, it wasn’t my leg, fortunately for me .. but it did definitely make me a bit of an indoor person at a young age. ;)
You’re welcome. Was a fun memory to wander into again. Makes you think what is the “Killer Shark” or “Breakout” of today, eh kids? I guess Minecraft and GTA might fill that spot, some day, in some future VR utopia ..
There's an implementation of it inside the JAWS pinball game, which can be activated and played on the LCD using the flippers as controls. The game even comes with 3D glasses, and you can play it in 3D if you so desire.
Fun fact: Stern Pinball was owned for a while by Japanese game company Data East in the 80s and 90s. Then it was sold to Sega for a few years in the late 90s, until it was spun out as an independent company.
I'm sure that I used to play this (or something very similar) a lot in the late 70s - I don't remember there being much "background" but the extremely bloody shark graphics were memorable!
I've played it!
Back in the 70s a campground near Mandeville, Louisiana had a Killer Shark machine in a small arcade next to their pool, I spent the entire vacation (and way too many quarters) in there much to my parents' dismay :)
I also remember playing it in the late 80s, in an amusement park in my home country of Sweden. Game was already quite old by then, but these things had a long life outside the US.
I specifically remember the gun and the gruesome way the shark dies.
Years ago some enterprising individual made a Flash version of the non-existent computer game in "Big" [1]. It's just a single room but the fact that somebody went to such lengths is amazing.
[1] https://www.kongregate.com/games/bomtoons/cavern-of-the-evil...
Old school NES Jaws is really fun! If you want a 1980s retro throwback you can play it online here, and a few other retro game websites:
https://www.retrogames.cz/play_381-NES.php
When you get the minisub (appears randomly after 20 conch shells or I think 30,000 points) it is sooooo fun.
Minisub goes in the water. You go in the water. Shark's in the water...
Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies...
I love electromechanical arcade games. My father mentioned one from his youth that had you manning an anti-aircraft gun and shooting down incoming WWII fighters. This would have been made in the 1950s or maybe even the late 40s, given the time frame at which he played it.
I managed to find a game that was conceptually similar, but certainly not the game my father played. It was Sky Hawk by Nintendo, made in 1976:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2GMAWtqJr3w
The way it works is there are actually three clips of footage: plane attacking, plane exploding, and a light spot indicating the target area needed to register a hit. The latter two are shown on the bottom half of the film frame at different times. A mirror usually reflects the top half of the film, showing the "attacking" footage, toward the screen where the player can see it. However, the gun is mechanically linked to a light sensor pointed at the bottom half, and if it picks up the light spot in the "light spot" footage, a hit will be registered. When the "plane blowing up" footage starts, the mirror will pivot to reflect that to the screen instead, and you will be awarded a point.
It was an ingenious setup that required no computers to operate. It was pure mechanics and optics.
Another difference is, Sky Hawk used footage of R/C model planes to simulate the incoming fighters. From my father's description, the game he played used footage of actual fighters taken during actual WWII engagements. But the idea is the same, and it makes me wonder if a similar mirror setup were used in his game as well.
Not directly linked to "Killer Shark" but for anyone that likes custom mechanical arcade machines I thoroughly recommend Tim Hunkin's two arcade:
https://www.underthepier.com/ in Southwold, Suffolk
https://www.novelty-automation.com/ in Holborn, London
There links pages also cover some other arcades in case there's something closer to you.
I grew up on Scarborough Beach, in Perth, Western Australia, during the 70's. This was basically peak Australian beach culture - everything you could want in a sunny day at the beach - bikini's, surf, sharks, hamburgers, jewellery lost in the sand, the ever shrinking swim suit .. the whole deal. Bike gangs and surf nerds, newly returned from Vietnam, beating each other to smithereens in the baking parking lots while the girls watched on. I can still smell the sun cream lotion, and remember the smell of my Dads hamburger grill, erected in the ruins of the famous 50's "Snake Pit" haunt, replete with ghosts and memories of dances gone by, of rock and roll been and gone, replaced with stoner rock and KISS or Abba, depending on your thing.. I have muscle memory buried deep for the regular cleaning of the onion slicing machine, the giant bottles of mayo I had to refill, every single day. The beetroot stains and the harvesting of the 'crispies' from the competing deep fryer shop, "Peters by the Sea", who sold us kids a pack of the junk for 10c a bag, and which is the only remaining survivor of the era, still slinging buns even today ..
The esplanade in those days was basically a sullen row of shops, one after the other offering beach-goers refreshments and entertainment, luring every customer in with the promise of fun and cheer .. and every single one of those 8 or so shops had a small Cold War going on against the other, for entertainment devices.
At one end, there was an air-hockey paradise with a side row of electromechanical games, one of which was indeed Killer Shark, along with another airplane bombing game that ran on a big map, rolling underneath the camera through which the player would view and send down their 'light bombs' as we kids referred to them, way back then. My first impression of "Germany", as it were, rolling endlessly in some kind of ethereal, hypnotic landscape. Pinballs and stuff too, almost an overwhelming selection of blinking chaos into which to pour coins. Each shop had its speciality - my Dads' place (MINDERBINDERS, in case there are any sand gropers about) specialised in pinball and stag films in a back room, for those who knew the secret handshake.
Killer Shark was great - it was so clearly a mechanical game that you could never beat, but on occasion the odd punter would score a free game or so. Even more of a treat, the proprietors would sometimes start off the games with 20 credits or so, just sitting there, to attract the teens. There was another electro-mechanical, ocean themed game, something like "SPEAR HUNT", which offered players a few snapper and some stingrays upon which to direct their sun-kissed ire, should they have a remaining 20c or two to waste.
I loved that era of my life (was just a boy starting school) .. 1976 .. the brand new "Breakout" appears suddenly, and it immediately soaked up all the coins from the neighborhood. I remember seeing the service guy open up Breakout and all the coins just came pouring out .. and then, slowly, the rest of the strip went video and computer, Space Invaders arrived, and the electromechanical games slowly phased out, becoming ever more unpopular and under-used as the year rolled over.
My first memory of Killer Shark was fun - my last, sadness, as its faded exterior got loaded onto the truck to be replaced by something brighter, flashier, more challenging. Soon enough there were only 'computer games' and pinballs, and all those delicate machines got replaced, one by one. Eventually, the esplanade itself got replaced with a modern monstrosity, and the era ended with the fervent twang of the 80's arriving, power synth chords and all.
But I still remember the squealing joy of a player, spearing themselves a shark, only to be pissing themselves with laughter/fearjoy once the shark 'recovered' and made them face a frontal attack. It was, somehow, cathartic.
Until a real shark showed up in the surf and bit a kids leg off, during prime surf hour.
That made me the computer kid I still am, today.
Also wanted to foot stomp on the good writing (mean it). Glad the missing leg never held you back.
Thanks for the compliment .. just so its clear, it wasn’t my leg, fortunately for me .. but it did definitely make me a bit of an indoor person at a young age. ;)
That was a really nice read, thank you.
You’re welcome. Was a fun memory to wander into again. Makes you think what is the “Killer Shark” or “Breakout” of today, eh kids? I guess Minecraft and GTA might fill that spot, some day, in some future VR utopia ..
There's an implementation of it inside the JAWS pinball game, which can be activated and played on the LCD using the flippers as controls. The game even comes with 3D glasses, and you can play it in 3D if you so desire.
https://shop.sternpinball.com/collections/games/products/jaw...
Fun fact: Stern Pinball was owned for a while by Japanese game company Data East in the 80s and 90s. Then it was sold to Sega for a few years in the late 90s, until it was spun out as an independent company.
https://web.archive.org/web/20240626184542/https://www.remin...
Broken video links as well. Here appears to be a few:
https://youtu.be/RSgvQr9tV9Y
https://youtu.be/ObUw9ezvp5o
https://youtu.be/ATcbU9w-PuY
For a hot second I thought this article was talking about Sewer Shark on the Sega CD.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewer_Shark
I'm sure that I used to play this (or something very similar) a lot in the late 70s - I don't remember there being much "background" but the extremely bloody shark graphics were memorable!
You can. Almost. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-H-tcpo5pE
This would be jawsome in VR!!
There was this "VR" version when I was a kid in the 80s:
https://i.etsystatic.com/32161931/r/il/f63592/6781095364/il_...
We need a MAME for electromechanical arcade games!
I believe the video mode in the new Jaws pinball machine is based on Killer Shark.
Needless and awkward rewriting of the title.