Top 10 Arcades Games Every Year From 1980-1989 (100 Games) 

I want to thank you guys for all your feedback. These videos were made a long time ago before I was an experienced RU-vidr. This rankings also reflected my opinions at the time but I have also expanded my knowledge and taste since then. Maybe some 2.0 versions of these are due in the future.

The feeling of going to the arcade in the 80s was an awesome experience

Wow...Born in 66, saving Quarters every chance I could...Going to the mall on a Friday evening with mom..She went shopping, I went to the Arcade....Back in the day when you could leave your kid alone in the Mall, reasonably confident that they were safe and you knew where they were....Did I mention what visual and audio attack on the senses it was being there? Ten's of machines, blinking lights, the sound of joy sticks being "mashed", the silly music, kids carrying LARGE sodas, ......Total sensory overload....Miss those days.

This video is a flashback to my childhood. Born in 71. I grew up as video games did. Still a gamer and almost 50. Thanks for the memory.

I started playing video games when the Atari 2600 came out in 1976, there or about. I was 27 back then. And at 72 years old (this year), I still play them and have since then.

As a teen in the 80s and as a person who worked for a coin-op arcade game company I can't say I remember these games as much as I feel them. Playing the games now is nothing like playing them at the time they came out, some things can't be experienced unless you were there.

Wow - 1981 gave us Gorf, Frogger, Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong?!? What a golden year!

I really think that not including JOUST is an oversight. Really unique game.

I didn’t see Bezerk. The immortal line “Chicken. Fight like a robot!”.

God, I was flashing back so hard watching this. Especially listening to the noise. I'm suddenly 12 again and watching my friends play these games and looking at the row of quarters lined up on the machine. I haven't thought of many of these games in decades. Where the HeII was Battlezone?

I was a kid of the 80s. Arcades was a special place. You can play the games now on emulators, but absolutely nothing beats an arcade joystick, the buttons, the cabinet, the atmosphere, the thrill of getting that high score, people watching you boss the game, even knowing you had to make that coin count made you try that bit harder. Impossible to re-create at home. Thanks for the memories! Subscribed

So many great memories as a kid in the 80s playing so many of these games. Star Castle, Pac Man, Robotron, Zaxxon, Defender / Stargate, Millipede, Xevious, Dragon Spirit etc. So lucky and blessed to grow up then. Video games, bike shops, and sports. Simply the Best!!

As a teen in the 1970's, just playing moon lander and asteroids was like entering the twilight zone for 25 cents.

I played a lot of these back in the day but Robotron was my favorite. I got so good, I could play for hours on 1 quarter and was banned from several arcades because of that.

I remember the people lined up to play Dragons Lair around 1984.

I was really surprised that battle zone ,star castle or berzerk didn’t show up in top ten for 1980

love the "Budweiser" tapper, lol

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were building multi billion dollar companies... I was mastering Donkey Kong.

Atari 2600, Intellivision and Colecovision was one thing, and I played all 3 back then (82/83), but there was nothing like playing the real arcade machines. It was a real experience.

I haven't given them a single thought in 25+ years, and yet recognized almost all of them immediately. Thanks for the memories. Subscribed.

Galaga, Moon Patrol, and Star Wars. I just loved these games. Always on top of the high score leaderboard. Spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars when those games were out.

Star Castle, BattleZone, Qix. Love those old vector graphics games.

Missile Command was awesome in '80 & '81. Very underrated.

Oh man, those were the days, I used to love playing Rampage in the arcade.

Arcades were the only reason why Chuck E Cheeses was so successful back in the 80s. Every kid had their birthday party there. I was hooked on centipede, pac-man, space invaders, frogger, berserk, and asteroids. Good times.

Where was Zaxxon? That game was huge..

A friend and I got really good at Asteroids and played a 2-player game that lasted over 6 hours with each of us scoring over 1.4 million points. We had to quit because we had to go to work that morning. I'll never forget that night.

I could go on and on and on about how much fun these things were as a kid in the '80s. It was a tidal wave, along with all the great pop music, among other things, that was hitting us like a tsunami at the same time. A very great time to be alive.

Interesting how the earlier games were more unique because of the limits of technology. Later in the 80's so many games were just variations on the same theme.

Stay '80s my friends

Galaga #5 of 1981? Man, that game deserves te be on the top 5 of ALL TIMES

I was born in 84. The 80s was really a time of being alive.

1st few minutes felt just like walking through Alladin’s Castle in 1983

Karate Champ 🏆• "Aren't you a bit old to be playing video games?" 😂 classic!!

I'm that old -> I know 90% of these and played 80% of them. Good old days ;)

What a Shame!,you miss Mr.Do!,one of the best Arcade Games of all time and the best in 1982!

We loved space games in the 80s. I also loved the Marlboro add in Hang-On. You’ll never see that anymore.

Defender was always so hard. I remember barely lasting a minute playing that In the arcade. 😂

Some great memories! Moon Patrol and Phoenix. Thank you for posting.

Given the number of games included here that I've never even heard of, much less seen, I'm astounded at the number of timeless classics left out completely. After Burner (1987), Thunder Blade (1987), Assault (1988), Super Sprint (1986), Buggy Boy (1986), Enduro Racer (1986), Terra Cresta (1985), Power Drift (1988), Cabal (1988), Toki (1989). I'm sure there are many others from the same period that I've simply forgotten, but those are all ones I remember vividly. Out of that list, the ones I spent the most money on back in the day were Terra Cresta, Assault and particularly Thunder Blade.

Just found this video. Really surprised Zaxxon, Joust or Road Blasters did not make the lists . . .

Man, Sinistar scared the crap out of me. Great memories of so many wasted hours and quarters!

Dragon's Lair was just so groundbreaking. I would watch others play for hours because I wasn't any good at it.

Brings back great memories of hanging out at the local pizza joint. I can still remember the black lights, Tron, and a pocket full of quarters and the smell of freshly cooked pizza in the air.

Pretty decent list of games here. Certainly brings back some great memories spent at the arcade. A little surprised Zaxxon and Mr. DO! didn't make the cut.

A blast from the past. The good old days of the arcades

Pole Position looked very impressive for its time.....

Brilliant list but R-TYPE has to be there for 1987!!

Thank you for this, some of these games I didn't even remember until now. Time Pilot was a real favourite, but my absolute favourite was Robotron. I actually played at a fully-operational console of Robotron a couple of years ago in a mall in Syracuse. What great memories of years bygone!

Galaga and Ms Pacman have withstood the test of time. Those cabinets always show up in any mini arcade at burger/pizza joints.

Hours hanging out and finding new arcades was so awesome back in the 80's.

Pole position was well ahead of its time even looking at it now.

Stargate (sequel to defender) was cool too!

It’s not sinister...it’s Sinistar. Scared the crap out of me as a kid.

Wow, memories of old. Bubble Bobble was my personal favourite. :)

Goodness... the memories... the feels... I must've stopped going to the arcade around 1985 because most after that, I've never heard of.

The first time I laid eyes on Pac-Man, I thought, that’s really weird!! Most arcade games, in 1980, were some kind of space game. And guess what? That’s what I wanted to play: a space game - specifically Scramble. But for some unknown reason, I inserted one of my few, precious, quarters in Pac-Man. Talk about a life altering moment!

I remember playing all these games in the arcade during the 80's. Great memories!!

I sure miss the days of going to the mall and hanging out in the Arcade and spending most of the day with just $5 in quarters. Poor kids nowadays will never know that gloriousness. Putting your quarter/token on the machine for the next game of Street Fighter 2, and then staying there for an hour on 25 cents taking on all challengers? That was the best.

Although graphics and sounds got so much better in the late 80's, the games from 80-85 were still so much better!

80 -83 were the best years for me, then I went off to college. Surprised Battlezone wasn't on the list, but still a great compilation. Thanks for the memories!

This brings back so many fond memories of my childhood. The 80's rocked. My friends and I used to beg our parents for some quarters or allowance so we could go to the arcade. It was the place to be seen. As only the cool kids were there. Some of these I've never seen or get a chance to play. Thank you.

One of my favorites was Tron Deadly Discs. I loved that it was a full size arcade machine you stood inside.

Where’s Joust ?!? That game was the best out of all of these

1980, what a year : Centipede, PAC-MAN, Tempest, Rally X, Defender. Always classics

18:15 RASTAN!! Not only a great game but that first level music was so awesome it still gives me the chills today.

In 89-90, TMNT the arcade game was life...

The invention of the life meter was a game-changer. No pun intended.

a title error. The game is called "Wizard of Wor". Otherwise, cool video. Brought back a lot of memories.

Did I miss it, or is Mr. Do! missing from this list? That would be unconscionable.

Time Pilot was good but Time Pilot 84 was exceptional as as a shoot em up. Also, for pure difficulty, how many of you can say they got to level 10 of Robotron? One of the hardest arcade games of all time. I still play it almost 40 years later. wow!

The sound of this games is nostalgic Magic to my ears.

Dragon’s Lair was not one coin.

Back in the early 80's, my brother and I used to ride our bikes to the bowling alley and play video games all day

I was 12 at the dawn of the 80’s so remember these games well. I was never good. Didn’t have the patience. Was more of a pinball guy. There was a store a block away during our high school years that had a few pinball machines and a few arcade games. Was the perfect place to hang out all the time at,especially in the winter months. Great memories

Just hearing those sounds takes me back to my days at the arcade, cruising on my PK Ripper, and all night skates !

1982 was the year buddy. All my favorites

Disappointed to not see Xevious and Hogan's Alley not on the list, two of my all-time favorites. 1982 and 1983 had the best line-ups, in my opinion.

I have been trying to remember the name of "Super Cobra" for YEARS!!!! So glad I watched this.

Defender. My personal arcade favourite of all time. All those buttons. The hyperspace 'panic' button was such a great addition.

Me and my mates spent most of our youth playing DEFENDER at our local swimming baths strange but true , and completed it loads of times . There was a glitch on the final part go up , if you got in line in a certain position you didn't have to move the joy stick or fire it was like you was ghost mode . And OLYMPICS was another favourite but the game had to be on buttons and not on joy stick

What a memory. I am 51 now and remember many of it.

Number of my favorites not showing up here were: Frontline, Ladybug, Pengo, Pooyan, Xevious, Zookeeper, NFL Football, and 4-player Tecmo Bowl. I only seen NFL Football in one arcade at a local mall in all of the places that ever had arcade games (arcades, liquor stores, Golf n' Stuff, etc.) Loved that game because it used actual footage from NFL games for whatever action you chose for your play. I also miss playing pinball machines too.

Loving how un-PC the old school games were...super interesting seeing the origins of all the genres still being used to this day

I remember playing about 95% of these coin op games back in the late 80s and early 90s in NYC Chinatown Arcade. Word up.

With occasional exceptions, I put a quarter into nearly every single machine in this presentation. With particularly strong memories of games from 80-85. My scholastic and sports training schedule was consuming more and more of my time starting about '85. Such good memories!

Thanks for putting the time into making this listing, really great vibes. Loved all those games back in the day.

Oh this brings back so many memories of being in a loud dark arcade where parents were afraid to enter.

Ah my childhood memories come rushing back. Glad I still play these 😎

I just went to retro arcade this year. I got into my "gamer stance" to play "Dig Dug," and it felt like the arcades never left!

There was this feeling of excitement and wonder when seeing a new arcade game. You would just watch the preview screens, try to figure out the story, and see if it was enticing enough to earn a quarter. I miss that feeling.

Absolutely molested by the nostalgia in this video. And I loved it.

Many of these games. Should. Be in the hall of.fame. for best memories.

Thanks for the wayback machine! You made an old guy smile and reminisce on his youth.

I am old as dirt. (maybe older) Born in '72 and first started out with Timex Sinclair and a tape drive to play Pong and Frogger. One of my favorite games from back in the day was Gyrus (on a Commodore 64) and it had a KILLER classical music soundtrack that almost 40 years later I don't remember just remember how much I loved it. Someday I will find that music and hear it again. 😁

I remembered this as if it was yesterday. Thanks for the video!

Great list. Two others that I thought were great: Battlezone (with the tank periscope), and Xevious.

Thumbs UP. What is made more clear by seeing these games back to back is there many games have a forerunner game that is the first for a specific type of game play, then other games are very similar. Some games appear to be nearly identical to a previous game only reskinned with different graphics.

I can't tell you how much money and time we spent in arcades like this one in the picture, in high school back in the 80's we would all go there on Friday & Saturday nights because we were too young to go to clubs and bars so we would pack into a place called Games Galaxy. My #1 favorite game was Wizzard of War but we played them all. If you got to grow up in the 50's through the 90's with all the golden classic music, movies and concerts, YOU were blessed!

Great post. I can smell the creosote on the boardwalk & breath the fresh salt air. Thank you for the memories! Nicely done. 👍👍👍