20 Underrated ARCADE Games from the 80s and 90s
JohnRiggs
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My home away from home. Anytime I was anywhere on vacation or even just stores around town, always wanted to know arcade games they had. Here’s a list of some of my favorites over the year.
Arcade Games Featured:
Willow
G.I. Joe
Blue Print
Cowboys of Moo Mesa
A.P.B.
Quartet
Crime Fighters
Congo Bongo
Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker
Roc’n Rope
Mr. Do’s Wild Ride
Devil World
Guzzler
The Real Ghostbusters
Jungle Hunt / Jungle King
Missing in Action (M.I.A.)
Kangaroo
WWF WrestleFest
Crystal Castles
Reactor
Games Featured in the Opening:
Dragon Breed
Bag Man
Haunted Castle
Hook
Kickle Cubical
Domino Man
Journey
Assault
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John Riggs, 4010 Summitview Ave, Yakima, WA 98908
#Arcade #CoinOp #RetroGaming
01.03.2022
APB takes me back, apparently I had totally blocked it from my mind.
I remember playing it late at night in a downtown Seattle arcade.
Thanks for the memory jostling!
Happy Holidays ☃️ Riggs family
Lamest picks ever! except moonwalker.
REACTOR.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Best thing about arcades in the 80s were playing with your friends /making friends while playing multiplayer games. Quartet and Gauntlet were perfect examples of jumping on a game that some other kid was playing only to become good friends with them afterwards. Man, it's a whole different climate now how everyone treats each other compared to the 80s.
BTW, no Vector Graphics love???
When SEGA Rally finally hit the arcades (and all following rally/drifting games) I used to destroy on it, after all of my training– playing so much Omega Race with its vectoring style angle thrust.
Playing through the thousands of arcade games in my MAME cabinet. Most of these games are garbage! Thanks for showing us the hidden gems!
Growing up I played Crime Fighters, Michael Jackson, Mr Dos (Dentist office had it), Wrestlefest, and I think Crystal Castles.
I feel like I played something similar to Crystal Castles, but I don't remember it having a bear. Then again, this was 30+ years ago. The maps and using a trackball are very familiar.
Good collection. My favorites were GORF, Missile Command, Front Line, and Space Invaders Deluxe. And GF’s were not impressed as they stood idly by while you got high score. Lol
Very good list. Good to see APB get some love! One of my favorite lesser known games is Lucky and Wild.
The money i spent playing APB.
Jungle Hunt/King was ported to Atari, I believe. I remember that game.
One game I played a lot at a local roller skating rink was a game called Zookeeper. The zookeeper runs around the outside perimeter of the wall replacing bricks in the wall, while the animals inside the walls are knocking chunks of the wall out and escape. In some ways the gameplay is similar to Tempest. If animals do escape, you have to jump over them or wait until a net appears and you can use the net to throw the animals back into the zoo. I spent many quarters on that game. They announced an Atari 2600 version of the game and possibly even a 5200 version of the game but that was basically when the video game crash happened. So the game never did get released.
I'm surprised I never heard of over half of these games. Never saw Willow at any arcade ever
I actually have a few games that I run with higher Halation to reproduce the look of playing an arcade that has smoke residue on the screen, making it very slightly blurry. Final Fight, Magic Sword, and TMNT are games that come to mind that I implement this effect. It triggers something in my brain that makes me feel like a kid again.
I brought the likes up to 4k. You’re welcome
Congo Bongo is a deeply frustrating game. Pulling up Donkey Kong to play right now.
Mr. Do is an extraordinarily underappreciated game.
Cadash is my favorite Arcade game, I still play it once a year!
Question does Willow throw a acorn in the videogame at all?
Lady bug was my all time favorite. It had the elements of pac man with much more. When the arcade I played it at closed, I bought it and it now sits proudly in my game room 🙂
I got really into Police Trainer when it showed up in the lobby of my local movie theater. It's a two-player competitive minigame collection, but with guns.
Gorf. Loved it.
My favorite 80's games were the old Vector Graphics games Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back but my very favorite one was called Tailgunner
Was Congo Bongo one of those isometric games with the isometric joystick that moved in diagonals
Pretty cool cool collection – can't disagree with any of them. I'm surprised you didn't mention WWF Superstars in the same breath as Wrestlefest. Many a quarter was gobbled from my hand by both of those games…
I’m not sure when it was in arcades, but I was a big fan of Tempest. Love the videos.
Great video. Brought back many great memories. Just subscribed. 😁
my favorite is front line. it was a great game for the time. we had a place called putt putt that i always went
Great video. The sound effects are like a time machine, that take you back in time, being a teenager having an awesome time.
The Michael Jackson game is the only game that you cannot play if you are over the age of ten, or female.
There was an Arcade game in my bar in the UK that was like Commando (top down semi 3d shooter) but you drove a car, I have searched and searched can not find it, any ideas?
early 80's Crazy Climber. You climbed up a building, where windows closed, plants were tossed at you, and a Kong tried to knock you off.
No love for 'Quantum'?
holy moly! I completely forgot about Quartet but then when I saw it I was immediately brought back to my childhood! THANK YOU!!!!!
Wrestlefest is very nostalgic to me and still looks great, however I don't find it fun at all.
Reactor… I always hit the button for the attract mode music.
These are some of the most obscure titles ever. Most are re-boots of the original classics.
I love a Japanese one called Valkerie No Densetsu,it's like a shooter action platformer,mixed with Zelda and has music that sticks in your head and will be whistling it,I don't think there is an English patch but really don't need it,and it wasn't a quarter eater,you got like 5 hits and 3 lives per credit,an awsome game,multiple paths,secret treasures, save people and they give you weapons there's a store for better armor,shield and swords,to much to list
The X-Men arcade game was legendary
If it wasm't Nintendo or Atari, I didn't bother.
Star Castle.
Willow and Nemo somehow always go together in my mind.
tempest!
9:53 Have you played Crystal Caves?
Crossbow!!!
Crime Fighters is exactly like Renegade for Nintendo. I loved that game!
You mentioned wonderboy. That game is way under-rated. Almost impossible to finish. Gunsmoke is also an under-rated title. Nive video 👍
Hi John, I'm desperately trying to find a coin operated arcade game in South Africa, I used to play in the early 90"s it was set in medieval times and was a platform player style game, your main player had blond hair and looked like a Viking where you had an axe at the end of a chain as your primary weapon with a shield, you could obviously upgrade by breaking open jars, crates etc. and defeating enemies…..can you please assist with the name of it please? Thank you.
MoonPatrol!
Tron!
Rastan!
Karate Champ!
Did you ever play or remember marble madness would love to have your opinion on it and maybe a review man!
The BEST games available on iiRcade – https://youtu.be/jZREcuh0wEE