History Creator / MidwayGames

Bally, later Bally/Midway, later Midway Games is an American company formerly known for being a major video game publisher and developer.

As Bally/Midway, the company continued to prosper in slot machines, mechanical arcade games, and pinballs. Through the Seventies, they formed a close alliance with Taito, and the two companies regularly licensing their games to each other. Bally/Midway also released the Bally Astrocade in 1977, an early home VideoGame system.

With the decline of arcade gaming in the mid-80s, the company was acquired by Creator/WilliamsElectronics in 1988. For a decade, the company continued to manufacture pinball machines under the Williams and Bally labels, reserving the Midway brand for video games. In 1998, Williams' success in lottery and slot machines eventually prompted them to spin off the arcade division as Midway Games.

Midway Games is an American company formerly known for being a major video game publisher and developer.

Founded in 1958, Midway Manufacturing Co. began as a manufacturer of [[ArcadeGame amusement equipment]], such as [[PhysicalPinballTables pinball machines]], shooting games, and puck games. It was acquired by {{pinball}} maker Bally in 1969, and as Bally/Midway, spent some time making mechanical arcade games and pinballs. Through the 70s, they formed a close alliance with Taito, and the two companies regularly licensing their games to each other. Bally/Midway also released the Bally Astrocade in 1977, a home VideoGame system.

Bally/Midway's big success came in 1978 with the popularity of ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''; they followed that up by successfully distributing many of {{Namco}}'s arcade games, such as ''{{Galaxian}}'', ''{{Galaga}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Pac-Man}}''. Their biggest coup was taking a ''Pac-Man'' clone named ''Crazy Otto'' and giving it a graphical conversion to create ''Ms. Pac-Man''. For nearly a decade, Bally/Midway was the leading producer of arcade video games in the United States. They were also the second-most prolific producer of pinball machines, surpassed only by Creator/WilliamsElectronics.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/midway_6351.jpg]]

Bally/Midway's big success came in 1978 with the popularity of ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''; they followed that up by successfully distributing many of {{Namco}}'s arcade games, such as ''{{Galaxian}}'', ''{{Galaga}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Pac-Man}}''. Their biggest coup was taking a ''Pac-Man'' clone named ''Crazy Otto'' and giving it a graphical conversion to create ''Ms. Pac-Man''. For nearly a decade, Bally/Midway was the leading producer of arcade video games in the United States, and the second-place producer of pinball machines behind Creator/WilliamsElectronics.

Bally/Midway's big success came in 1978 with the popularity of ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''; they followed that up by successfully distributing many of {{Namco}}'s arcade games, such as ''{{Galaxian}}'', ''{{Galaga}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Pac-Man}}''. Their biggest coup was taking a ''Pac-Man'' clone named ''Crazy Otto'' and giving it a graphical conversion to create ''Ms. Pac-Man''. For nearly a decade, Bally/Midway was the leading producer of arcade video games in the United States.

* ''Star Trek''

* ''Eight Ball Deluxe''

Founded in 1958, Midway Manufacturing Co. began as a manufacturer of amusement equipment, such as [[PhysicalPinballTables pinball machines]], shooting games, and puck games. It was acquired by {{pinball}} maker Bally in 1969, and as Bally/Midway, spent some time making mechanical arcade games and pinballs. Through the 70s, they formed a close alliance with Taito, and the two companies regularly licensing their games to each other. Bally/Midway also released the Bally Astrocade in 1977, a home VideoGame system.

* ''[[Pinball/CaptainFantastic Capt. Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy]]''

!!Some of the video games developed or distributed by Bally Midway (pre-1988)

Founded in 1958, Midway Manufacturing Co. began as a manufacturer of amusement equipment; it was acquired by {{pinball}} maker Bally in 1969. After some time making mechanical arcade games, Midway became an early American maker of arcade VideoGames, thanks to their partnership with Taito.

Midway's big success came in 1978 with the popularity of ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders''; they followed that up by successfully distributing many of {{Namco}}'s arcade games, such as ''{{Galaxian}}'', ''{{Galaga}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Pac-Man}}''. Midway's biggest coup was taking a ''Pac-Man'' clone named ''Crazy Otto'' and giving it a graphical conversion to create ''Ms. Pac-Man''. For nearly a decade, Midway was the leading producer of arcade video games in the United States.

* ''Capt. Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy''

* ''Baby Pac-Man''

The original Midway Manufacturing Co. was founded in 1958, and was acquired in 1969 by amusement industry giant Bally, an important maker of {{pinball}} machines since 1932. When {{Atari}}, Inc., less than a year old, offered to have Bally manufacture and market its coin-operated video game ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}'', Bally declined the offer. Bally Midway did get to share in on ''Pong''[='s=] success by having Midway produce ''Winner'', a licensed ''Pong'' clone and its first ArcadeGame. Midway would go from there to become a major Atari competitor and one of the best-known names in the video game industry.

Midway owed its success in arcades in large part to acquiring the U.S. distribution rights to ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' and many of {{Namco}}'s games between 1979 and 1983, such as ''{{Galaxian}}'', ''{{Galaga}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Pac-Man}}''. Perhaps Midway's biggest coup was taking a ''Pac-Man'' clone named ''Crazy Otto'' and giving it a graphical conversion to create ''Ms. Pac-Man''. Midway's ''Ms. Pac-Man & Galaga: Class of 1981'' arcade machine became one of the most commonly found machines in North America.

With the decline of arcade gaming in the mid-80s, Bally[=/=]Midway was acquired by Creator/WilliamsElectronics in 1988. For a decade, the company continued to manufacture pinball machines under the Williams and Bally labels, reserving the Midway brand for video games. In 1998, Williams' success in lottery and slot machines eventually prompted them to spin off the arcade division as Midway Games.

Midway is best remembered for two types of games: Fighting games which used arcades' more advanced hardware to make brutal fighters like MortalKombat, and in-your-face arcade-style sports games like VideoGame/NBAJam and NFLBlitz. Up until the mid-90's, they avoided the home market, instead letting Acclaim or WMS port and publish them. They eventually left the arcades for good in 2001. Midway can also be considered the final incarnation of the original Atari, as they owned what became of their old arcade games division from 1996 until it was shut down in 2003.

Unfortunately, the TurnOfTheMillennium also brought bad business policies, and in 2009 the company filed for bankruptcy. Their studios in [[TheWindyCity Chicago]], Seattle and San Diego were the only three not to get shut down. The former, along with most of the Midway back catalog (save for the licensed sports titles- for obvious reasons- and the ''Cruis'n'' trilogy of racing games, which is owned by Creator/{{Nintendo}}), was bought by WarnerBros and the Chicago studio is now called NetherrealmStudios, which just released ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', and the latter was sold to {{THQ}}, where they just released ''WWE All-Stars''. The Seattle studio, aka Surreal Software, also joined up with WarnerBros, but it got shut down about a year later. How Netherrealm Studios will continue the legacy of Midway remains to be seen, although ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' is getting positive reviews.

* ''Space Invaders''

* ''VideoGame/SmashTV''

!!Games licensed, developed or published by Midway (post-1988)

In 1988, Bally sold its video game and pinball operations, along with the Midway name, to WMS Industries, another pinball manufacturer who as Williams Electronics had entered the video game industry in 1980. WMS Industries spun off Midway again in 1998, one year before the end of Williams Pinball.

!!Games developed by Bally Midway (pre-1988)

!!Games published by Williams Electronics (pre-1988):
* ''VideoGame/{{Defender}}''
* ''VideoGame/{{Joust}}''
* ''VideoGame/{{NARC}}''
* ''VideoGame/{{Robotron 2084}}''
* ''VideoGame/{{Sinistar}}''

* ''VideoGame/PrimalRage''

** ''VideoGame/MortalKombat''

Unfortunately, the TurnOfTheMillennium also brought bad business policies, and in 2009 the company filed for bankruptcy. Their studios in [[TheWindyCity Chicago]], Seattle and San Diego were the only three not to get shut down. The former, along with most of the Midway back catalog (save for the licensed sports titles- for obvious reasons- and the ''Cruis'n'' trilogy of racing games, which is owned by {{Nintendo}}), was bought by WarnerBros and the Chicago studio is now called NetherrealmStudios, which just released ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'', and the latter was sold to {{THQ}}, where they just released ''WWE All-Stars''. The Seattle studio, aka Surreal Software, also joined up with WarnerBros, but it got shut down about a year later. How Netherrealm Studios will continue the legacy of Midway remains to be seen, although ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' is getting positive reviews.

* ''VideoGameTheSuffering''

* ''TheSuffering''