Top 20 Arcade Games of All Time?

[Laner]

I'm surprised there isn't more love here for the early 90s stuff.

Isn't that when all the fighting games took over and arcades died?

Yeah, pretty much   That's when I lost interest in arcades.

I could wax nostalgic at length on each of these, but I'll just list my top 20 (no particular order)

Space Invaders
Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man
Frogger
Donkey Kong
Gauntlet
Paperboy
Star Wars: The Arcade Game
Galaga
Rastan
Pole Position
Gyruss
Missile Command
1942/1943/etc. (really, any of the Capcom/Taito vertical scrolling shooters)
Asteroids
Defender
Robotron 2084
Gorf
Rush'N Attack/Green Beret
Outrun
Night Driver

[wonderpug]

STUN Runner
Ms Pac-Man
Mortal Kombat
Super Off-Road (Ivan "Iron-Man" Stewart's )
The Simpsons arcade game
Moon Patrol
Smash TV
Hard Drivin'
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
X-Men

I heartily endorse this list.

[GuidoTKP]

Gauntlet (I don't think any machine got more of my loot than this one)
The Legend of Kage
Galaga
Street Fighter II
Soul Edge
Cliff Hanger
Tron
Pole Position
Spy Hunter
Rolling Thunder

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Golden Axe is the first game I thought of.

[Zarkon]

Gauntlet II (over the original, vastly improved)
Tempest
Sinistar
Joust
Galaga
Ms. Pac Man
Stargate
Ikari Warriors (8-way shooting and turning was pretty innovative at the time)
Crus'n USA

[Doopri]

ron i love that you had the d&d game on your list, and the first one too! that was my absolute first thought

so... d&d
the simpsons
rampart
xmen
golden axe
gauntlet
mortal combat
perhaps spyhunter - these are the games, in no particular order (aside from perhaps the d&d one) that i think are fantastic over the top great

and as an aside - dragon quest (warrior, the one with dirk i think?) SUCKED! why do people like it? and im an enormous star wars geek, but i never liked the arcade game (if its the one im thinking of) - the controllers ruined it for me (i think that was it - this WAS a long time ago!)

[Trappin]

Pac Man
Missle Command
Frogger
Centipede
Asteroids - Back in the early eighties I bought one of these at an auction for $225 and put it into a donut shop (Belmont, Ca.)  It usually made ~40 bucks a month and the split was 50/50 with the owner. Later I put it into a high traffic liquor store ( Chico, Ca.) near 10 frat and sorority houses and it made decent money there as well.

I never tracked how much coin it generated but it turned out to be a great investment. It finally broke/fried after about 13 years and I gave it to some kid.

[Knightshade Dragon]

ron i love that you had the d&d game on your list, and the first one too! that was my absolute first thought

so... d&d
the simpsons
rampart
xmen
golden axe
gauntlet
mortal combat
perhaps spyhunter - these are the games, in no particular order (aside from perhaps the d&d one) that i think are fantastic over the top great

and as an aside - dragon quest (warrior, the one with dirk i think?) SUCKED! why do people like it? and im an enormous star wars geek, but i never liked the arcade game (if its the one im thinking of) - the controllers ruined it for me (i think that was it - this WAS a long time ago!)

"Welcome to the D&D World!" with every quarter drop. 

As far as Dragon's Lair (Dirk the Daring) - it was one of (if not the) first laserdisc game, so voice and FMV was a possibility.  It certainly put stuff like Pac Man to shame graphically...

[Rich]

Ms. Pac Man (the story behind how this game came to be cracks me up and for that reason and the fact that I liked the different mazes puts it ahead of Pac Man)
Galaga
1941
Zaxxon
Donkey Kong
Asteroids Deluxe
Tron (not Discs of Tron)
Karate Champ
Kung Fu Master
Championship Baseball (I never did make it to the 9th)
Omega Race (The sit down enclosed version)
Battlezone
Joust
Robotron
Defender
Gauntlet
Wizard of Wor
Spy Hunter

Ones I can't believe I forgot after reading the thread

Pole Position
Frogger
Tempest
Track and Field

There was a game we played in college that was a side scrolling game and your guy had this weapon that shot out on a chain, it had a fantasy theme to it.

[Knightshade Dragon]

There was a game we played in college that was a side scrolling game and your guy had this weapon that shot out on a chain, it had a fantasy theme to it.

Rygar?

[Rich]

I knew it started with the letter "B" so I did a search for a list of MAME roms and found it.  Black Tiger was the name of it.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Oh Black Tiger is a CLASSIC!  Great choice and should certainly be on my list.

Mmm....Zenny.

[Graham]

IIRC, Black Tiger is on the first Capcom Classics Collection for the PS2 and Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded for the PSP.

[hitbyambulance]

in roughly chronological order, off the top of my head...

Asteroids (first game i ever got my initials in)
Berzerk
Rally X
Omega Race
Ladybug
Elevator Action
Joust
Dig Dug
Mario Bros.
Ikari Warriors
Xenophobe
Xybots
Hyperdyne Sidearms
Rampage
Gauntlet II
Forgotten Worlds
The Ninja Warriors
Ninja Gaiden
NARC
Mars Matrix


will forever hate Street Fighter II for destroying arcades

[SpaceLord]

There was a game we played in college that was a side scrolling game and your guy had this weapon that shot out on a chain, it had a fantasy theme to it.

Rygar?

Rygar was cool. The arcade and home versions were a bit different, but both awesome.

Some I would add to the list:

Alien Syndrome - two players, top-down 8 directional alien ass-kicking.
Samurai Shodown - Street Fighter, with weapons. Awesome game. The sequel was one of the last truly great arcade games, imho.

[Rubyeye]

I concur with most of the content on everyone's lists.  Unless I missed it, where's the love for Tron and Discs of Tron?  Both are awesome.

A personal fav of mine that got pretty tough after a few levels.  LOVED the music!


MAD PLANETS!

[Knightshade Dragon]

Hmm, never heard of Mad Planets.  I'll have to look into that one.

[Davidbld]

Hmmm...no ones mentioned one of my favorites...simple, but fun...Time Pilot. Crazy climber has been mentioned but I'll give it another shout out, I loved that game as a kid.

Dave

[Darkstar One]

How in the name of God did this thread get into a second page without mention of Cyberball?

It was so much fun embarrassing the guys at the arcade with that one "heh you got beat by a girl"

[Redfive]

Damn people, what about Commando?

Commando
Spy Hunter
Star Wars
Gauntlet (but I was always intimidated about how many quarters I could lose so quickly)

I never felt the love but Track and Field was huge.

[Knightshade Dragon]

How in the name of God did this thread get into a second page without mention of Cyberball?

It was so much fun embarrassing the guys at the arcade with that one "heh you got beat by a girl"

Cyberball is the one with the robots playing football right?  That was a blast to play.

[Swanee]

Moon Cresta
BlockOut
Gauntlet
Birdie King 3
Championship Baseball
Monaco GP
Space Wars!