In this series, I’m looking at various times when video games appear in non-video game-related films and TV. Not only do I want to document these occurrences but also look at trends and cultural shifts throughout the ages.
For the first edition of Games on Film, I have decided to look at a film from one of my favourite series “Rocky’, Specifically Rocky III, and the arcade from it’s opening scene.
The scene plays out like this.
Paulie (Rocky’s brother-in-law) leaves a bar, bitter and envious of Rocky’s successes and full of self-pity about his missed opportunities. He drunkenly stumbles into an arcade. Bemused by his surroundings he finds his way to a Rocky pinball machine, and in a stuper throws his liquor bottle at it, smashing the back glass into pieces. End of the scene.
The location
The arcade is geographically implied to be near the bar Paulie leaves. The bar in question seems to be the Lucky Seven Tavern (also seen in the first Rocky movie), although we never see its exterior in Rocky III, likely because the exterior of the Lucky Seven Tavern was in Philadelphia, while the interiors were shot in Los Angeles at the now-closed Tootie’s bar, which is now a park.
It could be assumed they used Tootie’s for Rocky III as well. This notion is only strengthened seeing as the arcade is a 10-minute drive or a 30-minute walk away from the bar. Props to the locations manager on that one.
The arcade was called Sassony Arcade and going by the footage in the film it seems like a fairly typical arcade for that era. Amazingly it stuck around for quite some time but seems to have closed around late 2014 or early 2015. By most accounts, the place was kinda sketchy and often described as grimy even compared to a dive bar in some reviews. In a modern age, Sassony Arcade could have been seen as a true holdover from a bygone era, arcades were a hang-out for young adults and generally had a more mature atmosphere. The perception and representation of arcades would later change. Compare this arcade to the one seen in The Terminator 2: Judgement Day. (1991) where it’s in a mall and the patrons are mostly grade schoolers. (Watch this space, more on Terminator 2 later.)
Today (2025) Google Street View shows that the building is empty and boarded up, but is still recognisable as the building from the film. The architecture matches up, such as the group of 3 windows and parking garage.
The ROCKY pinball machine.
The Rocky pinball machine by Gottlieb came out in 1982 as a promotion for the film. Many other Gottlieb machines can be spotted in the scene.
The machine used in the film was actually a specially made prop with a shattering back glass. An interesting fact raised in Todd Tucky’s overview of the machine is that pinball back glass is typically made using tempered glass, so it wouldn’t shatter as it does in the film. (I recommend checking out the TNT video that breaks down the machine and offers more information. It was a very helpful resource in writing this.*)
The back glass art of Rocky is also slightly different between the film version and the Gottlieb one. Both feature Rocky in a similar victory pose, however, the Gottlieb machine has a more photo-realistic depiction of Rocky and added details such as a boxing ring. Whereas, the film version features a slightly more stylised sketchy depiction of Rocky.
Obviously the Rocky machine wasn’t out yet at the time of filming, so the one seen in the film uses another Gottlieb machine for its playfield, 1981’s Force II.
Some other differences.
- The score display is configured differently.
- The title “ROCKY” is repeated 5 times in different colours in the film version.
- The “ROCKY” font styling on the bottom is similar to that of the Rocky logo from the Rocky II poster.
The following is a list of the arcade and pinball machines that I was able to identify in the scene.
Video Arcade
Asteroids (Atari, 1979)
Crazy Climber (Nihon Bussan,1980)
Astro Fighter (Data East,1979)
Galaga (Namco, 1981)
Star Castle (Cinematronic, 1980)
Space Invaders (Taito, 1978)
Magical Spot Universal, 1980)
18 Wheeler (Midway,1979)
Football Aka Atari Football (Atari, 1978)
Pinball Tables
Charlies Angels (Gottlieb, 1978)
Space Invaders (Bally. 1980)
Paragon (Bally, 1979)
Playboy (Bally, 1978)
“Rocky”/Force II (Gottlieb, 1981)
Flash Gordon (Bally, 1980)
The arcade was reportedly quite large so there is more to it than seen in the short segment from the film, such as a pool hall.
Rocky III captures an interesting time capsule of arcades. Pacman had just come out the previous year and was already a phenomenon. (Although there’s no visible Pacman in the scene.) and Donkey Kong would be released in 1981, but after filming on Rocky III had been completed. It’s interesting to think that when the film came out in 1982 there may well have been a Donkey Kong arcade in the lobby of the movie theatres.
Sassony in Rocky III shows a pre-Donkey Kong/Nintendo world in which Atari was still the top dog in video games. Not so long after this came the video game crash of 1983 in America. Then the revitalisation of the industry with the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System, which help in part to begin the slow decline of arcades and the rise of home consoles.
Bonus Area.
There have been a few video games based on the Rocky series through the years.
Rocky Action Boxing,1983, ColecoVision. Players can play as either Rocky or Clubber Lang in a head-to-head fight. The game only focuses on Rocky III.
Rocky,1987, Master System. Covers the first 4 films. Minus Spider Rico and the rematches with Apollo and Clubber Lang.
The game has training mini-games between fights. One of the mini-games shows Rocky wearing the American flag trunks he receives from Apollo in the third film, but in the context of the game this is before their first fight, so he shouldn’t have them yet. (During the Apollo fight Rocky has the correct white and red striped trunks.) Strangely another of the training mini-games features Mickey training Rocky to fight Drago, in the continuity of the films Mickey dies in Rocky III, so wouldn’t be there to train Rocky. (A ghost perhaps?)
Rocky 2002, The first 3D game. It covers the first five films and for it’s time presents a detailed and faithful representation of the characters and locations. It came out on the Gamecube, PlayStation 2, The original Xbox.
Rocky Legends,2004, tries to do something a little more original acting as a prequel of sorts, showcasing the bouts that lead up to the ones seen in the film. PlayStation 2, The original Xbox.
Rocky Balboa, 2007 Playstation portable. This was a tie-in with the release of Rocky Balboa. It covers all 6 films but does not have training mini-games to power up between fights.
For the most part, Rocky has been treated quite well when it comes to video game adaptations compared to other film franchises, with review scores ranging from fairly good to mediocre. There are many more examples of video games and arcades in film and TV. So please look out for the next Games on Film.