The DECO Cassette System was introduced in 1980 by Data East

Data East

also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, when it declared bankruptcy...

 and was the first standardised arcade system

Arcade system board

An arcade system board is a dedicated computer system created for the purpose of running video arcade games. Arcade system boards typically consist of a main system board with any number of supporting boards...

 that allowed arcade owners to change games.

The arcade owner would buy a cabinet, while the games were stored on standard audio cassettes. The arcade owner would insert the cassette and a security dongle

Dongle

A software protection dongle is a small piece of hardware that plugs into an electrical connector on a computer and serves as an electronic "key" for a piece of software; the program will only run when the dongle is plugged in...

 (This was an early form of copy protection

Copy protection

Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...

, to ensure the tapes would not be copied) into the cabinet. When the cabinet was powered up, the program from the tape would be copied into the cabinet's RAM

Ram

-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...

 chips. This process took about two minutes. After this, the game could be played. It was revolutionary for its time, but arcade owners complained about the poor reliability of the cassettes, which could be demagnetized easily, corrupting the game data, and the poor quality of the games offered, as well as long load times. Most of the DECO cassette games are playable in MAME

MAME

MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...

.

Game list

• BurgerTime
  Burgertime
  is a 1982 arcade game created by Data East for its DECO Cassette System. The game's original title, Hamburger, was changed to BurgerTime before its introduction to the US. The player is chef Peter Pepper, who must walk over hamburger ingredients located across a maze of platforms while avoiding...
  
  
• Bump 'n' Jump
  Bump 'n' Jump
  Bump 'n' Jump, known in Japan as , is a 1982 Japanese arcade game created by Data East Corporation for its DECO Cassette System. The game was also published by Bally Midway....
  
  
• Burnin' Rubber
• Super Astro Fighter
• Boulder Dash
  Boulder Dash
  Boulder Dash, originally released in 1984 for Atari 8-bit computers, is a series of computer games released for the Apple II, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and ColecoVision home computers, and later ported to the NES, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, PC, Amstrad CPC, Amiga and many other platforms...
  
  
• Kamikaze Cabbie
• Manhattan
• Missile Sprinter
• Nebula
  Nebula (video game)
  Nebula is a ZX Spectrum computer game written by Julian Gollop and was published by Red Shift in 1984.-Overview:Nebula is a turn based strategy game of galactic conflict. Players play the role of the leader of a race and try to expand and conquer the rest of the galaxy...
  
  
• The Tower
• Buramzon
• Astro Fantazia
• DS TeleJang
• Disco No. 1
  Disco No. 1
  Disco No. 1 is an arcade game released in 1982 by Data East. The game was available on DECO Cassette System and conventional versions.-Plot:...
  
  (also known as Sweet Heart)
• Treasure Island
• Lucky Poker
• Cluster Buster (also known as Graplop and Flying Ball)
• Terranean
• Angler Dangler
• Rootin Tootin (also known as La Pa Pa)
• Skater
• Night Star
• Super Doubles Tennis
  Super Doubles Tennis
  Super Doubles Tennis is an arcade game released by Data East in 1983.-Gameplay:The game puts four players on a tennis match - two humans and two computer-controlled players. If one player decides to play without company, the computer takes the role of the player's partner....
  
  
• Tornado
• Explorer
• Genesis
• Bambolin
• Zeroize
• Scrum Try
• Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory
• Lock 'n' Chase
  Lock 'n' Chase
  Lock 'n' Chase is a maze arcade game developed and published by Data East in Japan in 1981, and was later published in North America by Taito. The game was later licensed to Mattel who produced the Intellivision and Atari 2600 home console versions in 1982 and an Apple II version in January 1983...
  
  
• Pro Tennis
• Pro Bowling
• Pro Soccer
• Fighting Ice Hockey
• Oh Zumou
• Hello Gate Ball
• Highway Chase (also known as Mad Alien)
• Sengoku Ninja Tai
  Sengoku Ninja Tai
  Sengoku Ninja Tai is an arcade game released by Data East in 1981. The objective of the game is to shoot the ninjas before they reach the top of the castle.-Trivia:...
  
  (also known as Ninja)
• The DECO Kid (also known as Flash Boy)
• Tokyo Mie Sinryohjyo
• Tokyo Mie Sinryohjyo 2
• Geinohijin Sikaku Siken