MY 10 FAVOURITE ARCADE GAMES

19/9/2017

Arcades, eh. Not what they were are they? Back in the day, before home video games became better looking than anything the arcades could offer, arcades were magical caves full of noisy wonders. They were to video games what cinema was to TV, what a mountain is to a molehill, what S-Club 7 Juniors were to S-Club 7.

Now the only arcades are full of machines that disgorge tickets, which can be redeemed in return for a Minion pencil topper, or crane grabbers full of Compare The Market meerkats.

It's why this list of my ten favourite arcade games - barring Star Wars, which I've written about enough for one lifetime, quite frankly - doesn't feature anything post-1992. Please, Father Fruity, enjoy my selections.

RAMPAGE

Like a couple of other games on this list, I remember the first time I laid eyes on Rampage. It was on a school trip to Thorpe Park. It was unique in that you got to be the bad guy, you got to be the one threatening humanity, and you got to batter buildings to rubble, thus venting your frustrations upon civilisation. Also, the graphics were just gorgeous; full of character and funny.

The fact that they're doing a movie of it - in which The Rock will no doubt play the brave, muscular, hero defending mankind from the monsters... THUS MISSING THE POINT OF THE GAME - causes me to emit low, mournful, howls thrice daily.

BATTLEZONE

There was something inherently mysterious about Battlezone. Unlike most arcade games, you couldn't watch over someone's shoulder. To experience it you had to peer through a pair of "special" goggles. Not quite VR, but - even with those stark, primitive, wireframe vector graphics - it felt like being transported elsewhere. Few other games of the era gave me that sense of being there.

Somehow, it would never have worked as well, never had that same eerie atmosphere as a tank turned its guns upon you, if it had modern, photorealistic, graphics.

DYNAMITE DUKE

I've always loved a light gun game, and prior to Dynamite Duke I'd always gravitate towards Operation Wolf. Duke was different from others in its genre in that your character could be seen on-screen.

Furthermore, creators Sega had made the peculiar choice to give him a transparent torso, so that you could see what was happening in front of him. Looking back, it's a horribly ugly game, but that see-through body always intrigued me at the time.

Also: why do all video game characters called Duke have the same haircut?

PAPERBOY

I learned to ride a bike very late. I think I was 13, or something, before I could do it - after I got a Raleigh BMX Burner for my birthday. Paperboy was controlled with a pair of real bike handlebars, which - frankly - made it a nightmare to play, but also made me feel like I was a real boy.

Question: why did many of the houses in Paperboy's neighbourhood had graves in their front gardens?

DRAGON'S LAIR

I first saw this at my local "show" - an outdoor jamboree of vegetable competitions, tombola stands, and displays of dog agility. It was late in the day when I wandered over to the side of the site which had the arcade. I was running low on money, but when I saw this I queued behind a line of much older boys to sink the last of my change into it. Obviously, I died almost straight away, but - man! - what a great 10 seconds they were.

ZAXXON

Look! It was sort of 3D! Or so I thought. The isometric perspective helped Zaxxon stand out among all the 2D shoot 'em ups, but it also made it impossible for my brain to handle. The shadow on the ground didn't help much when it came to avoiding obstacles, yet - being a gullible idiot, who is easily wooed by such pretty sights - I would ignore the incessant frustration, because, y'know, 3D graphics.

And - oh! - I've just realised that Zaxxon probably inspired the name of Zenoxxx Industries...

SPY HUNTER

Go play Spy Hunter if you can. I'm telling you now: it still handles beautifully. Also: what a soundtrack! Unlike the other games on this list, whose attraction was primarily visual, it was that Peter Gunn theme which would always lure me to Spy Hunter.

GALAXIAN

Of course, I played Space Invaders. We all did. But it never hit my eyes in the way that Galaxian did. The graphics just seemed so bright in comparison to everything else in the arcades, and it was more unpredictable, less repetitive. Furthermore, it's one of the few arcade games that I didn't seem thoroughly terrible at.

Its sequel, Galaga, was a different kettle of fronds. I sucked at that.

X-MEN

I was never any good at one-on-one beat 'em ups, and thus never enjoyed them, but a good scrolling fighting game - Double Dragon, Final Fight et al - always seemed more forgiving. X-Men - landing at the sweet spot when I was really into my Marvel comics - managed to combine the things I loved. Character of choice? Either Cyclops or Wolverine, duh. Never Storm. Storm was rubbish.

SMASH TV

This was a very mental game. Aside from not being quite like anything else in how it played (barring its predecessor Robotron) - it used two control sticks, one to move and one to aim your weapon.

Frankly, it was one of the most relentless games ever released. A game of Smash TV was just chaos, and the window dressing - references to Robocop and The Running Man - just made it feel all the madder, like scarcely-controlled anarchy. It was completely infectious, and it was one of the first import games I bought for my SNES. Which backfired terribly, when - the first time I attempted to use the NTSC-PAL convertor I bought - I bent the pins in my SNES cartridge slot.

44 Comments

@purplephlebas

19/9/2017 08:40:28 am

No Operation Wolf? Monkey tits to it, sir.

Mr Biffo

19/9/2017 09:15:50 am

I mentioned it!!

Monkey Head

19/9/2017 09:00:53 am

I recently visited a few arcades in Wales with the kids, they were a disappointment, maybe nostalgia gives me rose coloured glasses but I remember those days when going to the arcades seemed like an adventure to another world. Apart from a few retro pubs I don't think we'll see those days again and more the pity. My own personal favourites, in no particular order are Gauntlet 2, I spent hours on this at a caravan site and became great friends with a group of lads who teamed up with me on it. Commando, I was rubbish at it but it was great. Final Fight, luckily my friend got a lot of pocket money and was happy to let me join him on it. Afterburner, the one where you say in a planes cockpit, the closest I'll ever be to bring a fighter pilot.
Still miss those days, glad to have had them though.

John Veness

19/9/2017 09:29:20 am

My first memory of Paperboy (and 720°) was from First Class with Debbie Greenwood (sigh) before I got it for the Speccy. Lovely stuff.

Spyhunter was great, and what I'm particularly remembering is not just the music in general, but how "bassy" it was, like you could feel it in your stomach. In fact, that's an overriding memory of arcades from back in the day, the particular quality of the music and how it affected you.

Hard Drivin' was another favourite. I even remember the satisfying noise it made when you put in a coin. Thinking about it, I'm sure they deliberately engineered the coin-entry sounds in such a more-ish way, to encourage you to put in more!

LeoLion

19/9/2017 10:59:33 am

I fondly remember First Class. It was on at 5.30pm just after CBBC finished. They also played a couple of events from Konami's Track and Field, triple jump and vault I think. Wasn't the computer called Eugene or something similar? I remember it got shunted to Saturday tea time in it's final series as Neighbours occupied the 5.30pm weekday slot by then.

Lummox60N

19/9/2017 08:05:59 pm

"Paperboy" is still difficult to play, what with it bringing on bouts of Nostalgic Debbie Greenwood Arousal.

Paul

19/9/2017 09:40:32 am

Wasn’t Dragon’s Lair really expensive to play too? I seem to remember it taking £1 coins (which were new back then). I think I played it once, loved the animation, but realised it was a series of fixed choices that you had to remember to get to the end.

Barrie link

19/9/2017 10:25:35 am

For me, Spy Hunter steering is like balancing on a wobbly toilet seat and the gear lever should have been marked LOW/SUICIDE. Your Dragon's Lair experience summed it up perfectly for the majority of players at the time. Never could grasp how some people got so good at it though. Great post.

FancyPants

19/9/2017 10:31:08 am

I have completed Commando. Once the POWs are rescued, it starts again with slightly different level layouts (for example, the rocks and shit are in different places). The only way to play the game with any degree of success is to shoot your machine gun all the time (NEVER stop) and keep moving (NEVER stop that, either). You have to find a cab with a suitably loose joystick. I remember playing once on a brand new cab, the joystick was impossibly stiff (SHUT UP).

My top ten, not in top ten order:

Gradius
Phoenix
Vanguard
Yie Ar Kung Fu
Gorf
Snow Bros
Championship Sprint
Double Dragon
Commando
Robotron

(probably)

19/9/2017 07:36:22 pm

Re. Commando, impressive, never saw it done.
Some classics there, remember Gorf fondly, and Double Dragon 🐉 will always be a favourite. First two player beat em up I ever played, instantly made arcades more sociable.

Biscuits

19/9/2017 12:17:54 pm

Why IS Battlezone still good? I'm playing it now in a browser, it's fun still.

For my money a trip to the arcade isn't complete without a go on the gun games...Point Blank, House of the Dead, Time Crisis etc

dacanesta

19/9/2017 12:27:51 pm

Why a Kung fu master a never get no love! Still fun now....til level 2, at which point it tries to kill you with EVERYTHING EVER.

RichardM

19/9/2017 01:03:00 pm

Pedant that I am, I always wondered why the guys in Smash TV could shoot backwards as well as they could forwards. Hummmm.

I'm a bit young for the classic era of arcade games and grew up next to the seaside, so sadly most of my arcade experiences involved fruit machines (do I once recall Mr B opining that you had to go to prison to learn how to play them?) and penny nudgers. The only thing I really get a coin out of my pocket for nowadays is OutRun 2, and sometimes Time Crisis.

Daz Catastrophe

19/9/2017 02:46:16 pm

I remember completing the X-Men game with a group of strangers whilst on a family caravan park holiday (and being disappointed when when it looped around to the first level after the obligatory single-screen ending).

Arcades now are bollocks, though. Brighton pier is especially depressing. Does anyone ever actually claim those 50,000 ticket PS4/Xbone prizes??

Kelvin Green link

19/9/2017 06:39:26 pm

I do sort of admire the way that Brighton Pier is like some sort of crass, dayglo, spike driven into the city's hipster quinoa-scented heart.

But yeah, it's appalling.

MrDrinks

19/9/2017 02:52:55 pm

One of my local arcades had a Dragon's Lair machine, shame it had obviously broken down at some point and had the innards replaced with the god-awful Karnov. They had the screen turned away from the window presumably in an attempt to lure innocent holidaymaking gamers inside to their walls of gamblers being played by the puffa jackets.

20/9/2017 07:51:19 am

Google tells me you play as this man in Karnov, frankly I don't see how it can possibly be bad:

https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/snk/images/c/c4/KarnovFHD.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160229141109

Chris Dyson

20/9/2017 06:31:46 pm

My local pool hall had a Dragon's Lair but never played it as I worked out you could get all the benefit and none of the expense by watching someone else play it.

As no one is asking my favourite arcade games were

Street Fighter 2
Defender
Panic
And zaxxon and Galaxian like everyone else
And 1943 battle of mIdway

Mark

19/9/2017 06:36:20 pm

Smash TV was amazing also the home ports were actually good. Chase hq blew me away when I first saw it and power drift was amazing for the time. I know you mentioned you didn't really like one on one fighters but Street fighter 2 was a genuine phenomenon it used to cause a massive que of people waiting to play .

Larry Bundy Jr link

19/9/2017 06:41:47 pm

Dynamite Duke used to be affectionately known as "Polo Man" in my local newsagent :D

19/9/2017 06:56:02 pm

I remember going on holiday to somewhere in Italy in 1989 or so and the hotel having two coin-ops in the lobby; one was The Wiz, a Gandalf Murder Simulator with zero challenge, and the other was Double Dragon, and was the best thing I'd ever seen. While my parents sunned themselves on the beach, I'd stay at the hotel with a stack of 20-Lira coins and a glass of milk and try to complete DD. Best holiday ever.

I also remember sinking far too many 10p coins into Golden Axe at the arcade in Porthcawl in a vain attempt to get past those scythe wielding skeleton bastards, and spending the entirety of the school trip to Oakwood on the four-player Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles machine.

A Star Wars machine would appear from nowhere at my town's annual autumn festival, only to disappear again for another year, but Biffo said not to mention Star Wars so I won't mention Star Wars, except to say that it was in wonderful condition, so that's probably why the public only saw it once a year.

Richard

12/10/2017 10:44:59 am

I used to play Double Dragon whenever possible, but it was all spoiled for me a bit when I watched someone complete it basically by using the "elbow to the rear" (Punch + Jump? Not sure) all the way through. Incredibly boring, but effective because despite not doing a lot of damage it has good reach and is a one-hit knockdown. If you try punching and kicking head on the enemies are often not hit stunned for long enough to stop them getting you back, but after a few elbows they slow down to the point where you can safely give them a taste of your full moveset.

My personal greatest achievement was 1-crediting Cabal (bit like Dynamite Duke in some ways), it's all about the timing of the invincible roll! And shooting bullets out of the air...

19/9/2017 07:11:35 pm

Ah, Galaxians, that bitch took my arcade virginity. I think she was standing in a cafe near or in a train-station. I was seven. She didn't treat me well.

And, amusingly, Zaxxon was a fixture through my younger days. It and Choplifter were on the ferry to the UK mainland, and no 14 hour journey on the high-seas was complete without throwing 30% of your "holiday money" into those cabinets.
All your complaints about Zaxxon are accurate, and magnified by a factor of 17 if you're bobbing around in a Force 8 on the North Sea.

Starbuck

19/9/2017 07:36:59 pm

For me, the biggies were Vanguard, Marble Madness, Scramble and Defender, in that order. I would literally kill to play Vanguard again. But then I am a psychopath.

Leigh L.

20/9/2017 12:51:17 am

For some reason I used to have nightmares about Vanguard after playing it. Which is odd, as I used to play Tazz Mania at the same arcade and that was considerably weirder and more stressful.

Goonerreed

19/9/2017 08:22:02 pm

I would've chosen Operation Wolf over that Duke game, but then, that's me huh?
Pleased to see some shouts for my all-time fave Gorf in the comments. Also loved the sadistic screen-filling levels on Scramble. Mr Do! also another one that i used a few coins on.
Spy Hunter was a doozy, and had a couple of fruitless attempts at Dragons Lair. Preferred the space combat laservideo game (what was it called again?).
As for PaperBoy....I WANTED to like it, but I found the games didn't last very long - perhaps I was just useless at it. But a great topic all the same.

Adam

19/9/2017 08:30:12 pm

Can anyone recommend any good seaside venues that still have arcades with some old machines in? Southend had a passable one but that seems to have gone now. I know that there are 'arcade clubs' and the like, but you can't beat video games by the sea.

And for what it's worth, my faves were/are Gyruss, Space Harrier, Galaxian, Star Wars, (the sadly forgotten) Star Rider, Out Run, Scramble, Smash TV and (just to watch, not play) Space Ace.

Andy

19/9/2017 08:39:33 pm

The original Star Wars in its sit-in case thing? I still remember the first time I played it, probably in 1983ish. It was in Torquay. I was blown away!
Also used to love Popeye.

Plumstead

19/9/2017 08:41:49 pm

I did not have a clue what was going on during games of dragons lair, but I did get rather good at another of Don Bluth's arcade cartoon Em ups, super Don quixote. Never gets mentioned, that one.

Penyrolewen

19/9/2017 10:08:33 pm

Spy hunter was ace- and the spectrum version was ok too, as I recall. Anyone from Birmingham remember Dayvilles? That was where I got my kicks. I remember loving super sprint, the top-down racer with 4 steering wheels, afterburner (obvs), gauntlet, Star Wars (not mentioning it) amongst others. But my real initiation into the love of arcade games was a bit earlier. When there would be the odd machine in a (usually) odd place- chippy, record shop, barbers. Favourites were scramble, defender (to watch- too hard to play!), space invaders 2, asteroids, phoenix and one I can't remember the name of. Obviously PAC man based, you were a missile (I think) trying to avoid another missile in a very square maze. Anyone know it?
Happy days. My mates used to take the piss at the way one of my legs kicked out behind as I dodged things.

8/7/2019 09:29:28 am

I used to go to the arcade under Dayvilles in Brum in the late 80's as a young teenager. I don't remember which machines were there except for Outrun + Rampage. I also remember that around the time I stopped going that they had a brand new After Burner machine in the upstairs that I couldn't afford to play (lol)

Col. Asdasd

19/9/2017 11:08:07 pm

Incidentally, can anyone tell me if that leader image is a photograph or a screenshot? I'm almost sure it's a screenie. Bit disconcerting that it's difficult to tell.

Spiney O'Sullivan

19/9/2017 11:59:36 pm

I recently played The Simpsons arcade brawler with friends at London's excellent Four Quarters arcade/bar. Bit of a trek to Peckham, but worth it. So committed to their name are they that they even give you American quarters to play with.

Anyway, The Simpsons game is completely demented and beautifully animated. Also viciously hard. It just swallows quarters later on...

Tricky Dickhead

20/9/2017 07:50:03 am

That place is really fun, I head over every now and then

20/9/2017 12:52:57 am

Modern-day Thorpe Park update: my son went there with his mates last weekend. He said it was "a shithole".

Roy (Stuart N Hardy fan)

20/9/2017 10:32:11 am

Moon Cresta and Gauntlet were my faves.

Warrior is about to die.

20/9/2017 11:08:54 am

Don't shoot food!

Egg-in-bum man

20/9/2017 11:17:47 am

Wow - the headstones in Paperboy never before registered! But look closer: they say "RIP PB". PB = Paperboy, right? These sick bastards have killed hundreds of paperboys, have buried them in their front gardens and are advertising their deeds! Jesus! It makes the fact that I still have an egg stuck up my bum seem relatively trivial. Only relatively, mind.

MENTALIST

20/9/2017 01:32:12 pm

Observation of people playing the game would suggest that it's more likely that hundreds of paperboys have been killed by misadventure due to their own recklessness or ineptitude. They've got to be buried somewhere!

20/9/2017 03:15:59 pm

This is a fair point, although at least some residents are ownees of rabid dogs and/or feral children, so at least some of them must be homicides (murders, not apple drinks for gay people).

Jiggydax

21/9/2017 07:34:16 pm

Some classics already mentioned. Any love out there for Xevious ? I remember Dayvilles in Brum, New Street it was an ice cream bar with 2 levels of arcade games.

8/7/2019 09:31:24 am

I remember Dayvilles arcade from when I was a young teenager. I used to go with my friends circa 1988 / 89 every Saturday afternoon and loved the place.

Tom

21/9/2017 09:36:55 pm

Still have a lingering resentment and fascination with Dragons Lair after it took the entirety of the first folding money I ever possessed. Walked into the arcade, saw this playable fantasy and just about shit my pants.

JudderMan

28/9/2017 01:38:36 am

A number of these are just games that I played to death in the local chippy.

Boot Hill - Wowed me as a kid
Pleiades
Missile Command
Afterburner
Tekken
Super Sidekicks 2
Zaxxon
Double Dragon
Sinistar
Port Man

MY 10 FAVOURITE ARCADE GAMES

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