Top 10 Arcade Games Of The 1980s
For this list, we’re looking at the best arcade games of the decade in terms of popularity, critical acclaim, longevity, and the impact they’ve made on the video gaming medium. We’re focusing on games that saw popularity primarily in the arcades so while there was indeed a port of Super Mario Bros for coin-op use, you won’t find it here.
Special Thanks to our users “OneTwoPunchGames” “buckmeister19” “David Ram” “Orangegator” “aldqbigsquare” “Mar Brody” for suggesting this topic on our Interactive Suggestion Tool at
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My top 5 (so hard to pick just 5) are Toki, Snow Bros, Sinobi, WonderBoy in Monster World, Cadillacs n Dinosaurs
7..?
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DigDug just dig don't get it
no probably name at least 10 games or more. double dragon 1 and 2. green beret, skate or die, shinobi, outrun, cabal, spaceharrier, kung fu master, rolling thunder,ghost n goblins and many more.
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Where is Final Fight?
Number is Super Mario bros not Mrs Pac man don't subscribe to this lier
Wizard needs food badly!
Warrior is about to die!
Black Tiger, Tempest, Bosconian, Defender/StarGate, Track & Field/Hyper Sports, Crazy Climber, Moon Patrol, Asteroids (Deluxe), Outrun, Spy Hunter, Tron, Robotron 2084, Mr. Do/Mr. Do's Castle/Mr. Do's Wild Ride, APB, Punch Out/Super Punch Out, Food Fight, 10 Yard Fight, 1942, Pole Position and last but not least, the arcade game versions of Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi
Did anyone play "Reactor", by Gottlieb? I loved that and think I did pretty well at it.
Still love playing the arcade games
It’s Mario, not Mary-O!!!!!! That is not the first time I’ve heard someone pronounce the name that way. I don’t know why it hit’s a nerve, it just does.
You might wanna learn how to pronounce "Mario" before you do a video on 80s video games
List is kinda lame IMO only a few on here deserve to be here , no defender?! .. no tempest, battlezone, star castle berzerk , really?! And Pac-Man is still played today in some shape or form and it’s barely mentioned
Gauntlet was a fav me and my friends would all run for that cab and then years later getting that 4 player adapter for the genesis version was great
"Mary-O" Wtf
No I don’t agree!!!! Your missing a lot of much better games. Two right off the bat is Mortal Combat and Street Fighter
Anyone else play Track and Field with a black hair comb for added speed?
Gaplus aka Galaga 3 was the overall best of all.
TRON, PONPOKO, and Vanguard were my three top favorite!
Top 4 is pretty on point
Star Force. Levels of the Greek alphabet, great graphics, rapid fire with double ships, green question marks that flip, multiple array of enemy ships going in multiple directions and the best music ever, especially when you got a double ship, then everything ramped up and I got huge scores of up to 2 million +. I always had hoards of people surrounding me when I played. There's examples of it being played on YouTube people. Look it up.
Asteroids, Joust, Q-bert and Arkanoid were my favorites
Can't forgive joust only got honorable mention 1 of my 2 favorite electronic games of all time.
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.
No Sinistar? Run, cowards!
No Street Fighter ???
Rampage was Awesome
Bom demais da conta
Where is Defender, dude?!?!
I am quite surprised Tron didn’t make the list or even an honorable mention.
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.
Defender was my favorite
Time Pilot should've been an honorable mention
Ooh, i remember playing #4, 2 & 1 in the past^^
Good times
C'mon, we all knew PacMan would be no. 1
Space Ace
Punch-Out!
Golden Axe
Burger Time
What about Spyhunter
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 ..
Md pac man is the best
Come on, no Tempest? Tempest is the single game that's gotten me into exploring the classics.
Tetris? Street Fighters?
No credibility. Don't know why still so many subscribers.
1979 : Atari Asteroids! Back in the old days, this arcade sensation was my forte! i remember my
biggest record : Doing 17 times the maximum score of 10000 points. All
in the same game with one quarter!
7:49
Dragon's Lair, created in 1983, the year I was born. I wish Don Bluth's animation was more successful, then we'd have more of his cool 2D animated movies and video games, and not have so much 3D and live action remakes today.
‘’Mareo’’? Really? How old is this kid?
learn to count
Freedom Fighter is seriously underrated.
not having teenage mutant ninja turtles in here is a crime. other games like space harrier, punch out, contra, the Legend of Valkyrie, Athena, and a lot of Capcom games like Strider, Willow, Ghouls'n Ghosts, Final Fight are pretty cool too
Robotron is #1 your list is wrong!!!
In the 80s you play more in the arcade cause that’s where the best stuff is