I’m sure anyone who checked out the gallery of our favorite coin-op arcade games must’ve gone into a Kong-like rage at the titles we omitted. You wondered: Was there nobody to defend Defender? Didn’t anyone ever go gaga over Galaga? How could we be so devious as to exclude Xevious? We understand your pain and anger. But before you start calling us a bunch of lame-brained, um, Asteroids, we offer you this opportunity to share your favorite old-school arcade games (as well as any proud or embarrassing or otherwise illuminating memories). Bonus points to the first brave soul who’ll step up and speak out for Journey.
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Comments (1-30) of 89 Add your comment
Well, Galaga was already mentioned, which I thought was the most egregious omission.
Also…no mention of Frogger?
There can be only one: Burgertime.
Um, excuse me, but where was the greatest game of all time: Super Mario Bros. 3? I mean seriously, where was it? While I loved, LOVED, the shout out to Contra (second-best game ever created), no true video game fan began their love affair with the art of gaming with stomping on some goombas in Super Mario Bros. 3, the BEST of the Mario series. You know, I know it. Let’s be sure to let the rest of the world know it. Now, excuse my while I un-pause the game I started this morning. No new-fangled memory cards for me!
Great article, since there are so many choices, a few more: Tempest, Zaxxon, Battlezone, Asteroids, Dragon’s Lair, Rampage, Star Castle, and the grandaddy, Pong. Yes, I’ll admit I played this at the arcade with my dad (God I feel old).
I am far more confused/shocked at the omission of “The Alien” from the Alien Quadrilogy series on your staff-chosen list of “Top 18 Aliens”. I kept waiting for that queen b*tch to be number 1, but alas – she wasn’t even positioned on the list! (no – the ragtime dancing knockoff from “Spaceballs” doesn’t count!!!) How is this glaring omission even possible?!? It makes my stomach hurt (hopefully in a non-chestbursting way!)
I loved the list myself, there were many favourites… Paperboy was the best. I loved causing mahem as well. And that zombie that comes at you is classic, like, WTF is going on at that house?
Mostly played on the original Atari and various rental machines at home ’cause we lived too far in the sticks to get anywhere near an arcade. So off my old machine my favorites would be:
Super Breakout
Frogger
Kaboom!
Pitfall!
Adventure
Keystone Kapers
Q*bert
Defender
Galaxian
Miner 2049er
Skiing because it made the best sound when you ran into something.
Stampede
Smurfs on the Coleco because although we only rented it for a week, the song drove my father absolutely nuts which was fun.
As I was looking over game listings I found one for something called Tapeworm?!?
My favorite old skool arcade game has to be Tempest, but Q-Bert, Zaxxon, Dig-Dug, Tron, and Rally-X all took more than a few of my quarters.
I remember the Atari system we got for X-mas one year. Asteroids was a lot of fun on those winter nights when it was “too cold” to be outside.
Was the Journey game for real? I thought it might just be a product of my overactive imagination. My neighbor had the game on Colecovision. What I remember was basically just a rehash of Space Invaders with the first couple of bars of “Don’t Stop Believin’” looped over and over again. I think the beginning was so boring we didn’t get to any other levels.
If we’re talking strictly arcade machines, i’ve got to go with the sit-in-the-cockpit of an x-wing all-polygon Star Wars game from the early 80s (this game blew my five year old mind and turned me into a video game fanatic for its pure escapsim alone), the Turtles-styled six-player awesomeness of X-MEN (if you beat Magneto at the end, it’s really Mystique! you have to start over!), and Marvel Superheroes, which was STreet Fighter, but with Marvel’s finest. I will defeat anyone of you with Captain America. FINAL JUSTICE!
oh, ive also got Journey Escape for the Atari here, somewhere. I’ll start the bidding at ten bucks.
my mom once schooled me at ms. pac man. in front of all my friends too… but despite that, ms. pac man is still the best coin-op game ever! lol
Man…I wish I wasn’t born in the mid-80’s, when most of these arcade hits came about. The only ones I played besides the Nintendo and Namco made ones (through various compilation packs) was Double Dragon, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. I never played Donkey Kong, except the mini-game that contained it in Donkey Kong 64. Most of my favorite arcade games were in the late ’90s. Time Crisis 2 (which I’ve memorized to death), Crisis Zone, Point Blank, Marvel vs. Capcom 2; even Gauntlet Legends before I bought it on my N64. It’s too bad that arcades are next to dead in the social aspect (besides the Dance Dance Revolution obsessives), since LAN cafes/online gaming took that away. Sigh…the 80s and 90s were much simpler times.
The driving game where you pick up the gas balls-forget the name but my kids played it all the time!!!
Turned over Astoriods many times-my kids had colic.
Defender, space invaders, bump and jump, Galaxian.
The basketball game on nintendo that you could cause mayhem, break rules, and knock the other players out to score a basket.
Any game that you could cause mayhem-those old sound efects were the best!!!!
The driving game where you pick up the gas balls-forget the name but my kids played it all the time!!!
Turned over Astoriods many times-my kids had colic.
Defender, space invaders, bump and jump, Galaxian.
The basketball game on nintendo that you could cause mayhem, break rules, and knock the other players out to score a basket.
Any game that you could cause mayhem-those old sound efects were the best!!!!
Tail Gunner; Tempest; Battlezone; Star Trek Combat Simulator; Star Wars; Robotron
Oh, and Galaga… and Galaxian.
Galaga is my personal favorite, but the X-Men, Avengers & Simpsons games in the Ninja Turtle 4 and 6-player style ate more or my quarters than anything else in the arcades.
Was Contra ever a coin-op? That same requirement is what would keep Mario 3 from the list…
And how has nobody mentioned Journey, the video game? You collected musical instruments people! Don’t Stop Believin’ that without them, Journey would have had Open Arms and would have had to Faithfully go their Seperate Ways without any Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin. Who’s Crying Now? Be Good To Yourself, Journey-haters.
The Simpsons Arcade game was my personal weakness as a kid. When other girls would be roller skating and flirting with boys, I’d be preparing to fight the big bowling ball with arms. Ah, the memories.
And of course, who can forget the crapfest that was “Michael Jackson’s…. Moonwalker”. Not really a favorite per se, but I remember thinking it was a really poor game.
Loved the shout-out to Dig Dug – pookas and fygars forever!
Always enjoyed QBert, but my personal favorite was Paperboy! The machine even had handlebars on it as you rode, delivering the paper onto people roofs, through windows, hitting random bystanders to get points.
Does anyone remember an 80’s video game called Food Fight? That was my favorite.
Can’t forget Pitfall, Burgertime, Q-Bert, Frogger…
Anyone have Intelevision? I think that is what it was called (kinda like Atari). I remember playing a game called Kool Aid Man that was pretty fun.
I second the Zaxxon mention and I’ll add Rampage. Nothing like tearing a city apart!
i’ll second that rampage mention. ralph (the werewolf), george (the gorillia), and lizzie (the godzilla) were three of my closest friends as a kid. and there was nothing more fun for me than making them destroy helicopters, cars, tanks, and more at the pizza joint after school. oh, and bonus points for any game that involves eating people.
Bubble Bobble
More Q-bert love from here. That game was totally addicting.
Also, points to “Marble Madness”, a totally original eye-popping game, in which you guide a marble thru crazy space terrain.
But my absolute favorite video-game addiction has to be real-old-school “Major Havoc”–part “Tempest”, part Qix, part Astoroids, part “Breakout” (in the corner), and part “Raisers of the Lost Ark”–had Indiana Jones worked in space, with a laser gun and a rocket pack.
For those who played video games via Atari 2600–remember “Adventure”? Remember the odd little tricks to get to the hidden screen? Didn’t that just completely rock?!?
Well, being born in 1976 meant that I got to play most of those games as they were released…and that was a good thing!
I have to give my love to :
- Burgertime! Who knew that trying to build hamburgers could be so addictive?
- Paperboy. Oh, the hours I wasted trying to chuck newspapers at teeny tiny mailboxes
- Double Dragon. My brother and I used to play this together.
- Frogger. I can’t believe that this wasn’t on the list.
- Duck Hunt. It is kind of lame but it was the first (and until now only) game that let me shoot a “gun” at the TV.
I used to have dreams about Space Invaders, marching across the sky, slowly, slowly, slooooowly descending…
I was/am very bad at video games. Except Pole Position. Just last year there was an old game at a pizza joint and I actually scored high enough to enter my name. then the pizza place was razed for condo developments. I had a moment of glory, at least.
The Simpsons arcade game was one of the defining elements of my awkward youth. I felt like a young Comic Book Guy, caring more about kicking ass with Marge and my relentless vacuum cleaner, than hitting on girls at the food court. Best…Game…Ever.
Virtua Cop was my favorite shooter. I really had good aim in that one, opposed to others that I have tried. But I always managed to kill a civilian, think it was a baddie. X-Men: Children of the Atom is my favorite fighter. I kicked ass as Wolverine. And I will take on Captain America with Spider-Man on Marvel Super Heroes any day. Not a lot of side-scrollers anymore. It’s all Dance Dance and driving games. Of course, there’s always pinball. Star Trek: The Next Generation was my addiction.