MISSLE COMMAND!!!!

But Tempest was cool.

Metal Slug.

Gorf, Crazy Climber, Tempest (at the bowling alley), TacScan, Spy Hunter

For the under 30 crowd, could you enlighten the over 35 crowd on some of you rgame choices? Metal slug, for instance, is an interesting sounding name. What type of game is it?

SpyHunter! Yes, I forgot SpyHunter!

I miss Tekken.

I was always partial to Gauntlet. Playing a game with 4 people at a time, working together, was awesome.

"Elf shot the food!"

Defender

Defender, now that's some old school fun.

The NBA Jam series was good too, especially the latter 3D versions.

I especially enjoyed playing as the Toronto Raptor's Raptor. That guy could really get a rebound.

Metal Slug was one of those Rambo type 2D soldier game, sort of like CONTRA, but with much better graphics.

You know, you are sent to kill a gazillion enemies through a linear path...

I'm only 20 so I don't know the precise definition of 'arcade' but I have played Metal Slug. You're some sort of Commando and you run along (usually with fire held down) slaughtered enemies Rambo-style.

I got to see the 3D "Gauntlet Legends" and it seemed rather cool, but was unable to get a crowd as to play it properly.

Arcade means that you go to an arcade to play them, you don't get them in a console on your house.

Of course many old school arcade games converted to consoles or are available through emulators now.

I play Bubble Bobble with my girlfriend (we live toghether) in my proyector today... and that game is probably older than me.

Spyhunter, Robotron and Joust

Marble Madness, Dig Dug....

My top ten:

Tempest
Missile Command
Asteroids
Centipede
Star Trek - Strategic Operations Simulator
Galaga/Galaxian (may as well have been the same game)
Battlezone (FPS in a tank!)
Firefox
Defender
Gauntlet

And I'll admit that I still play at places like GameWorks and Dave & Busters. I love the House of theDead FPS line as well as racers like Ferrari F355 Challenge. The modern systems with networked interfaces and motion simulations (i.e. sitting in a race car that moves around) are really cool. I really love the Battletech simulator from a decade back.

Gyruss, Gauntlet, Sinister, Dragon's Lair, TX-1.

Outrunners! I had forgotten about Outrunners!

Wow, Dragon's Lair. What a groundbreaking game that was.

Ahhhhh laserdisc. Forerunner to the modern DVD. That's what Firefox ran under as well. Dragon's Lair was to "time it just right" and didn't have enough flexibility for my taste. I liked Firefox from the perspective that the background was on the laserdisc and the cut scenes, but the game was between the computer generated Firefox jet fighters.

Both Dragon's Lair and Firefox had their limitations but at the time I and every other pimple-faced teenager in the arcades were in awe of them. Dragon's Lair was a little bit like watching the same cartoon over and over and Firefox was not difficult to finish and then you were just finished.

Galaga is probably my favorite, followed by Time Crisis 4. I assume that lightgun arcade games are acceptable? If not, that X-men arcade game where you could have like 6 players was pretty great too.

Gauntlet! I was trying to remember that name. 'Elf shot the food' Indeed!

And there's always something about the simplicity of Asteroids.

I was a sucker for Tron and Spy Hunter. Also the game Xenophobe drew me in and I sucked at it.

As I grew older, I enjoyed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade with my little brother. So much action compared to centipede.

T-E-T-R-I-S

I was also a sucker for Pinbot, Cyclone and Whirlwind if you want to really go old-school arcade.

I was 13 when I came across my first Space Invaders game in the hallway of the Student Center at UM. I was there at a conference. It may have been the beginning of the end of my good grades :-)

tetris? was that ever in the arcade?

Of course it was!

With the russian dancers everywhere!

well,... I used to play a bunch of arcade games at the bowling alley - I'm surprised no one so far has mentioned my two favorites,... Donkey Kong and Q-bert!

yeah i was going to say q-bert. and i love the one they have japanese arcades, typing of the dead or whatever it's called where you have to type to destroy the zombies. that is dope!!

Qbert was impossible for me, being colorblind. You had to get the red balls and avoid the green one, or the other way around. Impossible.

Well tekken was an arcade game, till they made the series.

Gauntlet, Galaga, and Qix. I also loved playing the original Playboy pinball machine.

OH...forgot...also loved playing "8 ball" pinball machine!!

Wow no one mentioned the X-Men arcade game! That game was beyond epic.

I owned a Space Duel machine for many years. I had two room mates when I was 18, and whomever had the high score at the end of the month didn't have to pay their third of the bills. If you were running short on cash, it was time to hit Space Duel and try to bail yourself out, LOL.

Diud no one mention street fighter? Or the Capcom versus Marvel games?