Moon Patrol, Pole Position, Tron, Super Sprint, Shinobi, are just a few that deserve a spot on the top 10. They always had long lines of people waiting to play almost every time I went to Arcades around here in the 1980,s
Oh how I miss those incredible days in the "Golden Era of Arcade Games". I was 15 in 1981 at the height of the video arcade days and it was wonderful. There was nothing like going down to the video arcade at the local mall and spending an afternoon playing a myriad of video games. Everyone had their favorites. We held "tournaments" on Friday and Saturdays and all you played for was "bragging rights". But being known as the "master" of a particular video game was big stuff back then (LOL). It was a local hang out for many a teens in the 1980's. I still remember when Space Invaders came to our local Jiffy Food Store (similar to a 7-11). As word spread that the game had arrived, literally the entire neighborhood showed up in droves at the Jiffy Store to get his/her turn on this newfound video "wonder" that morphed into a true phenomenon over the next 4 or 5 years after that. Then, a year later Donkey Kong showed up at the same store. WOW, what a craze that caused. Then on to Pac Man, Joust, Ms. Pac Man, Dig Dug, Moon Patrol (A particular favorite of mine), Star Trek, where you sat in an enclosed game pod piloted the Enterprise and Mr. Spock stated "Welcome Aboard Captain" when you inserted the quarter. Another game I particularly liked was called Gyruss. A type of space game where you traveled from Planet to Planet upon finishing each level. It was a challenging but particularly fun game. Wow I spent a lot of quarters in that game over the years. There was even a video game centered around the rock group JOURNEY at the time, which was actually a pretty good game and you even got to hear there music while playing through the various levels. And the list continues on and on with literally hundreds, if not thousands of various video arcade games of all different types. It was truly a great time in history. When a quarter dollar could bring you so much joy for the few minutes (or MANY minutes for a lot of us) could bring you. Two dollars could mean two hours of play time for some of us that were expert players. It's hard to imagine all the different sounds, beeps, bleeps, bings and boings going on (loudly) in the video arcade, but somehow, your mind could separate and drowned out all the other sounds behind you when you were transfixed on playing your particular arcade game. It's funny, many of the games were just mastering "patterns" (Pac Man has a "pattern") that you could memorize and literally play for a LONG......time. I even give credit to girlfriends at the time who may have not been particularly interested in video games, but they "put up with it" because it gave their boyfriends at the time so much joy. Girls standing around watching their boyfriends play over an hour or two, meeting with other friends. Not saying that girls didn't like playing video games because many of them did, but, for a lot of them it was watching their boyfriends play, finding a new boyfriend at the video arcade, or ditching a current boyfriend for a new beau they met at the arcade was the order of business on many a weekend night. I even saw quite a few "squabbles" between girls over boys at the local arcade. And quite a few boys fighting over a girl at the arcade. Oh, the days of the video arcade...... They are gone forever, but WOW, what a great time it was. It is a time I will cherish in my life forever.
I know where you are coming from. I was born the year after you. I was in awe when I visited a games arcade. The nostalgia if I see and hear one of the arcade originals now. I made my way from the ZX Spectrum all the way to the Playstation 5 now. One day I will grow up, but no time soon. 😅
Pac-Man is still number 1 in my book. Back in 80-81 anywhere you went. The skating rink, the grorecy store, the pizza shop your arcade there was an arcade game. Pac-man was a money maker.
@@shanewheal9069 Space Invaders was released in 1978, not the '80s. It was still being played in the early '80s, but nowhere near as much as Pac Man when that came out.
Man, I remember playing Rampage, Gauntlet, Frogger, Donkey Kong, Pac-man and Double Dragon when I was a kid. We used to play Gauntlet on a machine that was like a table where the table surface was the screen and four friends could sit around it and play. It was amazing and seemed so futuristic at the time, boy am I old. :(
Some of my favorite arcade games from the 1980's were: Rastan (1987), Operation Wolf (1987), Double Dragon 2 (1988), Bad Dudes (1988), Renegade (1985), & WWF Superstars (1989).
bigbossman120277 Rastan was great. I was the first person in my town to beat it. My buddies were so mad. Dragons Lair, Donkey Kong an Zaxxon were great as well. My buddy got a Coleco Vision for Christmas and Donkey Kong Junior and Zaxxon were 2 of the games that we played for hours at his house. What a great time to be alive.
@@davidx4591 The American interpretation of what? Bros. is the American English abbreviation of Brothers. I mean, the title is in English. It's like calling Donkey Kong Junior, Donkey Kong Jrrrrrrrrr
No Shinobi, MoonPatrol,RoboCop,WWF,Gyrus,Golden Axe,Afterburner,WonderBoy,PaperBoy,BlackTiger,POW,Ghost n Goblins,New Zealand Story,Elevator Action,StreetFighter 1,TMNT??? Damn that sux!
We had the arcade sequel Super Burger Time in the halls here, and it was the first and only BT this one played. Rocked indeed. :D Hardly any game could make you more hungry while playing.
Rampage has such long lasting nostalgia, it spawned a board game (now known as Terror in Meeple City) in 2013 and a feature film with The Rock this year.
Loved me some 80's arcade games! Honorable mention should also go to Mr. Do, Carnival, Pitfall, Gorf, Kangaroo, Super Pac Man, Space Invaders, Popeye, 1942, Millipede & Zaxxon.
mike smith it wasn't that big of a game in the 80s. Trust me I'm 42 and grew up in arcades everyday pretty much. Tron isnt top 10. Without watching this video I would say the top 10 most popular arcade games ( played on the arcade )off the top of my head from the 80s would be Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Qbert, Dig Dug, Super Mario Bros, Frogger, Galaga, Joust, Defender and Centipede. Also Berzerk, Rampage, Spyhunter, 720, Crystal Castles, Guantlet, Marble Madness, Star Wars, 1942, Galaxian, Double Dragon, Kung Fu Master, etc.
So many top hits in that decade that it’s hard not to see why that was the golden age of arcade games. With such simple yet addictive designs it’s brilliant.
I remember the second week Gauntlet was added to my local mall arcade. The woman's eyes got big when I and my two friends asked for $50 in quarters each. Years later another friend taught me how to play forever on one coin. 15 hours non-stop was the longest session I had ever played.
$50 in Quarter's hehe CLEARLY YOU AND YOUR MATES WERE NOT FUCKING AROUND hehe Did you also Reserve the Machine for the whole day and told any kid who tried to push in that he'd get bashed and that his lunch money was at stake hehe Mate..... RESPECT when you lay down $50 bucks in quarters..... this is when SHIT JUST GOT REAL LMFAO and , i know you probably robbed a 7-11 to get that money , BUT .. HEY... YOU DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO hehe Good on ya mate, you're a fucking legend the most i laid down was $30 i think (here in Australia the games were 20c Per Game) i think you're in the US, so i think it's 25c right ? the think about "A QUARTER" that i was never clear on was... - is it a Quarter of $1 or - is it a Quarter of 1 Cent but either way, i think it makes more sense that it would be a quarter of a dollar so if you think about it we got more games out of it hehe OH, GET THIS.. QUICK LITTLE STORY I'm an I.T. Engineer one day a client of mine says to me "Martin , do you know anything about games" i'm thinking she's talking about World of Warcraft of counterstrike or something i say "yes, i can fix games, what's the problem" she takes me to a bedroom and (wait for it.................. hehe) There's a coffee table with a table cloth on it THE TABLE CLOTH COMES OFF IT'S A FUCKING SPACE INVADERS COCKTAIL TABLE MACHINE - 2 PLAYER i was like....... NO......... FUCKING........ WAY hehe and she's says "can you fix it " Long story short, it needed a bunch of capacitors replaced because the V-Hold and H-Hold were fucking up you could adjust them , but when you switched it off and on again, the screen would fuck up again anyway, i quoted her $400 to fix it (for the parts and the time, there were a lot of caps needed replacing and it needed some love and care) She basically say "Oh, No, we didn't want to spend that much on it , if you can't fix it for say.. $50 we'll just throw it out" MY JAW DROPS i'm like... how can you throw out a space invaders machine ? so the little kid inside me comes out and i'm like "can i keep it " hehe Actually, what i actually said was this (and consider she's my best friends neighbour) i said "Look, i can throw it away for you if you like, i know a scrap guy who will take it , but would you mind if....." (and she interrupts and says ) "Oh look, if you can fix it and you put in the time, go right ahead, you can keep it " and i'm like... YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS HEHE and Mate, IT'S A BLACK AND WHITE SCREEN hehe Fucking Legendary huh After all these years. it still works
@@robinmeade7573 the 1st version of the game if u played it alot and learned everything about it u can last hrs on it, more than a few times i took my health from 750 to well over 10000. The highest i ever got to in levels on 1 quarter was over 350 levels.The later versions of the game put a stop to this by having less food in the game but u got more health with the more players that were on at once.
tito vetre meh, it was pretty close.. I still think Asteroids coming out just a couple weeks before New Year and that no Arcades had it before january 1980 it should have made the cut, seeing as no one in the 70's except the developers played it in that decade
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Dragon's Lair, Tron, Bosconian, Crazy Climber, Tutankham, Rally-X, Gyrus, Phoenix, Battlezone, Scramble. Those were my favorite ten. Honorable mentions to Tail Gunner, Discs of Tron, Jungle Hunt, Time Pilot, Xybots.
ProgrammedForDamage Thank you. I think it was a significant game. It was a game that people wanted to see on their home machines. Most arcade games before it. Even if you couldn't get a good home port. You're likely to find a good alternative. Like Outrun vs various home racing games and so on.
+ProgrammedForDamage Bad Dudes, TMNT, Final Fight, and Double Dragon I think should all be on the list... growing up in the 80s those games were on everyone's home console port wish list
Burgertime, Ghost and Goblins, Elevator action, 1943, Ikari warriors (loved the twisty controller to spin the gun ). but as always pinball took most of my quarters
Arcade machines are still wonderfully amazing... Outrun in the sit down machine was fantastic and Atari Star Wars was equally playable and enjoyable.. Great days sorely missed ..
Mario actually got the name Mario after his heel turn for Donkey Kong Jr.(1982), only to turn face again and tag-team with Luigi (1983). Luigi makes a cameo in the opening sequence of Donkey Kong, Jr., dressed the same as Mario and helping him hoist up a caged Donkey Kong.
My Top 10 would be 10 - Slap Fight, 9 - Chase HQ, 8 - Atari Star Wars - 7 - R Type - 6 - Skramble - 5 - Operation Wolf - 4 - Super Hang On - 3- Outrun - 2 - Shinobi - 1 Defender.
Budweiser Tapper was my favorite arcade game of the era. In addition to Joust, Donkey Kong, Ms. Pacman, Dragon's Lair, and Galaga, I also liked Turbo, Mach 3, Kung Fu, Shinobi, Donkey Kong Jr., Choplifter, Space Ace, Super Pacman, Satan's Hollow, Carnival, Paperboy, and the sit down cabinet versions of Star Wars and Star Trek.
The big coin-op arcade game back in my neighborhood was the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back at the end of the 80's. Kind of wished to see it here, but I guess we can't have everything.
There's no way Ms. PacMan was bigger than PacMan. Dude I was there! The one standing in line for hours, with quarters on the console. Centipede would be the next miss. Others you missed: Pole Position, Track and Field, Tempest, Wizard of Wor, Gorf, Moon Patrol, Defender, Star Wars Cockpit, and Phoenix.
You know what's funny? In the US, I see no Pac-Man arcade cabinets, but I do see Ms. Pac-Man arcade cabinets everywhere. You know what's also funny? Even though Nintendo's Radar Scope received poor feedback from the USA, the game RS actually overshadowed everything that Namco made in Japan's reviews.
+Sterling Archer Sounded fine to me. I pronounce it "Mae-ree-oh" when saying Super Mario Brothers and "Mah-ree-oh" when just referring just to the character Mario. Doesn't bother me.
Gauntlet was like being transported to a different dimension when I was young! Why don't they bring out a pack on the PS4 that has all these games in there exact glory
Asteroids released in November 1979 from Atari in Japan.....Well i dont know about you but i bet it was over a month before it hit the west coast of North America and another month before it was all over north america.. So by the time anyone in my area played it...Jan 1980..As for me i started playing games when i was 11 in 82
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+CloneTrooper1019 Did you know that when Disney launched their project of a film about video game characters, they created their main game as a hybrid of Donkey Kong, Crazy Climber, and Rampage? All three involve scaling buildings and falling objects, but Rampage is the only one to give a name to the film. Rampage's giant werewolf's namesake was the movie's main character, WRECK-IT RALPH!
I used to own a Rampage arcade game but had to sell it in the spring of 2015 when I was hard up for cash. I wrapped the levels back to 1. It had 365 days instead of 255.
I have too many favourite arcade games to list here, but the ones that I always got drawn to are....Phoenix, TRON, Gorf, Space Firebirds, Mr Do's Castle, Lunar Rescue, Battlezone, Galaxian, T2 Terminator 2, Shinobi, Shadow Warriors, Donkey Kong, Moon Cresta, Missile Command, Lunar Lander, Street fighter, Haunted Castle, Rastan, Star Wars, Final Fight, Gravitar, Pacman, Frogger, Asteroids, Scramble, Astro Blaster, Amidar, TOKI, Astro Wars....and of course Space Invaders....yep spent a fair amount of coins in these games. Thankfully I now have some of them I can still play on my PC and PlayStation. 😀
There should be a separate list for Top 10 LATE 80s Arcade Games, because the early and late 80s were pretty much completely different eras for arcade games...
Arcades were declining, but they came back around the 89 period and peaked around 94. Thanks to Neo Geo, Street Fighter 2 and 3D Sega Games. What killed the 90's arcade scene was the fact consoles started catching up with arcade hardware.
KoolDawg99 If judging by the gameplay, then Street Fighter II should be number 1 because it is miles better than Ms. Pac Man. If judging by the iconicness, then Pac Man should be number 1. Ms Pac Man did not deserve a place in this list.
There were so many good games in the 1980s that it's really hard to pick just ten -- plus honorable mentions. Joust was great, yeah, but Robotron: 2084 was a much bigger influence, and still continues to spawn modern variations on its theme, that of the arena shooter (see Iron Fisticle/Iron Crypticle for a fairly recent one).
@@lavahit Not necessarily, the scoring system had a hidden incentive for non-violence. Shooting an enemy would only net the player 100-2500 points, depending on how dangerous they were. But, the Das Lof Gang's shooters, Spike Rush's men, Kinky Pinky's Pimps, and H.Q.Posse's gunners could all be "BUSTED", and every one that was, at the end of each level, would award the player 5000 POINTS in the "Evidence Bonus".
@@lavahit One or two rockets to the eyes would have blown off his shades, then blown away the outer skin to reveal a mechanical skull. After that, rockets would only push him back. Your machine gun was needed to destroy him, one digit of spinal column at a time.
+Adam Ronaldo1903 No it was an arcade game first. I remember playing it in my local bowling ally before the N.E.S. came out then being bat shit crazy when I found out it was on the home system.
So many memories of these games. I miss the challenge games of those days provide. In fact I missed the challenge so much that when I was recently made redundant I decided to become an Indie game dev and make hard core arcade games based on old school mechanics.
Tempest not being on the list is just flat out blasphemy! It's one of the main games in Ready Player 1 for jiminies sake! Also, I was a teen in these days and lived at arcades. I've never heard of whatever game that was at #9. Maybe that was just a regional favorite?
I was a teenage arcade gamer in the 80's but the only game in your list that I played often was Dig Dug. For me I liked shooters the best in the 80's. Defender/Stargate, Vanguard, Space Duel, Star Castle, Tempest, Zaxxon, Cheyenne, Tron, Battle Zone, Centipede, Robotron, and Berzerk
Glad you mentioned Galaga. I love that game (and modern day Galaga Wars is worthy!). Would have like to have seen Tempest covered. Tempest was great as well!
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So many classics from the 80's: Final Fight, Ghouls and Ghosts, Rolling Thunder, Golden Axe, Shinobi, Altered Beast, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bad Dudes, Missile Command, 1943, Centipede, Zaxxon, Outrun, Star Wars, Karate Champ, Yie Air Kung Fu, Robotron 2084, Pole Position, Super Contra, Tempest, Strider, Ikari Warriors - just to name a few.
Guys, pac man has to be #1 and for buzz an innovation Dragon's Lair also has to be one of the 10. Super Mario Brothers and Bubble Bobble, while great, are not Top 10.
The cool thing about Q*bert was the sound when you fell off the game board. There was a free credit _kicker_ actuator from a pinball game that made that loud slap sound.
Bubble bobble? Are you serious? I had to google that game because I couldn't even remember it. And I can name almost every arcade game from memory throughout the 80s. Trust me bubble bobble was not of them. Afterburner, outrun, pole position, defender, centipede, exvious, tron, duck hunt, punch out, millipede, paper boy. Now those were the games in every arcade. You guys should ask people who actually lived through the 80s next time.
Bubble Bobble was very popular especially when it made a transition to computers and consoles although players like me who were older at the time weren`t personally interested as it`s main appeal was with younger children
@@noiselabproject9659 in what country? Maybe it was a regional thing. I'm from the Central coast of California. I was born in 1970 so I expect to recognize one of the most popular arcade games from the 70s into the 90s. That isn't one.
I still remember being super exicted going to my local convenience store and playing either R-Type or Double dragon. Even tbough rampage came out in '86, I didn't start playing until the early 90s - one time at Waterton national park in southern Alberta. It was one ofy favorites.
Well here are my favs in no order.....TMNT, Double Dragon, Golden Axe, POW, Pacman, Space Invaders, Ghosts n Goblins, Street Smart, Moonwalker, Donkey Kong
