The golden age of retro arcade games is somewhat debatable but what can be agreed, is that it exploded into the mainstream from the lates 70s and early 80s with popular iconic games like Pong, Space Invaders and Asteroids. The rise in retro video games soon began to leak into popular culture with cartoons, songs and cult classic 80s movies like Tron and The Last Starfighter.

Video arcades doubled in business across North America in the early 80s, and the US video game industry amassed a huge $2.8 Billion in revenue just from the quarters in the arcade machines.

Many developers jumped on the bandwagon of earlier successful games like Pong from Atari often making cheap imitations, but there were plenty of video game developers like Namco who struck it out alone creating one of the best loved games in history, Pac-Man. Here are 17 of the best video arcade games that would leave a lot of retro gamers with a warm fuzzy glow!

1. Pac-Man 1980

Developed by Namco with the original Japanese name Puck Man which was changed for international release. The object of the game is for the titular character to eat all the dots before the ghosts Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (cyan), and Clyde (orange) catch him!

2. Donkey Kong 1982

Created by Nintendo showcasing the early example of a platform game. The object of the game is to manoeuvre Mario across the various platforms and up and down ladders, avoiding the obstacles (and the angry ape Donkey Kong) to save the damsel Pauline.

3. Space Invaders 1978

Developed by Tomohiro Nishikado this iconic game based on the classic Breakout and the space opera Star Wars. The game is a fixed shooter format where you control the laser canon sliding left to right trying to eliminate the descending aliens.  

4. Centipede 1981

Another fixed shooter game by Atari and co-developed by one of the very few female game developers in the industry, Dona Bailey. You essentially play a gnome (the bug blaster) who is apparently defending his mushrooms from giant centipedes, spiders and scorpions. This game was considered a commercial success and one of the best 8-bit arcade games.

5. Dig Dug 1982

Published by Namco, this very simple but addictive game is regarded as a classic in the golden age of video arcade games. The objective in this maze game is to get rid of your enemies by pumping them up with air until they pop or crushing them with rocks.

6. Asteroids 1979

The space themed shooter game is another Atari classic. The player has to shoot and destroy all the asteroids and flying saucers as the game gets faster and harder as you progress. Based on the addictive nature of Space Invaders, Asteroids is a vector game whereby the graphics are made up by lines drawn on a vector monitor.

7. Mario Bros 1983

The original arcade platform game was created by Shigeru Miyamoto at Nintendo. The iconic characters of plumber brothers Mario and Luigi take on the sewers of New York eliminating all the strange creatures and monsters. Unlike the later versions of Mario games, you are not able to jump on the ‘baddies’ to kill them.

8. Pole Position 1982

Created by Namco but licensed to Atari, Pole Position was the most popular coin operated arcade game in 1983. Designed by Tōru Iwatani who also designed Pac-Man, this classic video game came as an upright cabinet or a car racing cockpit both complete with a steering wheel and gear stick. The cockpit version also had a brake and accelerator pedal which made this car racing game even more popular.

9. Street Fighter 1987

The original fighting arcade game was developed by Capcom and introduced the gaming world to the 6-button control pad and command based special techniques that were later adopted by other fighting video games. The one-on-one competitive game consists of battle rounds where you fight as Ryu and have to knock out your opponent in less than 30 seconds. The inaugural Street Fighter was not as successful as the sequel Street Fighter II, but it was the beginning of a huge franchise to come.

10. Street Fighter II 1991

The sequel to the Capcom favourite built on the original arcade game by introducing more playable characters with their unique fighting skills and special moves. Street Fighter II is considered the best video game since the golden age of 80s classics played by millions and earning over $10 billion in revenue.

11. Double Dragon 1987

The 80s classic beat ‘em up arcade game was developed by Technōs Japan. It gave us a two-player co-operative game and the ability to disarm an opponent of their weapon, and then pick it up and to use said weapon against them. Winner! Starring martial arts twins Billy and Jimmy Lee who must fight their way out of trouble against various enemies. Double Dragon also spawned an animation and terrible film adaption!

12. Frogger 1981

Although this retro video game is recognisable as being an 8-bit Atari 2600 classic, it was actually originally developed by Konami and published by SEGA. Frogger is arcade game royalty from the golden age of gaming and is all about guiding frogs home from one side of a busy road to the other via roadkill, hazardous logs and alligators. There were many clones to Frogger which went by super ‘original’ names like Hopper, Ribbit and Froggy that could be played on computers like the ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro and Acorn.

13. Q*Bert 1982

Another video arcade classic that was developed by Gottlieb under the project name ‘Cubes’. The object of this highly addictive game is to change all the colours on the cubes by making the character jump on them whilst avoiding obstacles. Q*Bert is a 2D puzzle game that used isometric graphics to create a 3D visual effect on screen as you control the character with a joystick.

14. Punch-Out 1984

The boxing video arcade game created by Nintendo with the same composer Koji Kondo who contributed to Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. There have been many sequels and spinoffs like the NES version of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. You play the green haired boxer where the game play is viewed from behind his head, so you can see your opponent’s face as you dodge, duck and throw an uppercut!

15. Paperboy 1984

Created by Atari, the player is the paperboy whose mission is to deliver newspapers on his bike in his obstacle ridden, suburban neighbourhood. I remember playing the home video game version on the Amstrad computer, but the arcade version consisted of handlebars as the controller which is obviously way more awesome!

16. Pong 1972

You can’t talk about the best retro arcade games without mentioning Pong which is considered to be the earliest video game that reached huge commercial success. The table tennis-like two-dimensional graphics was created by Atari engineer Allan Alcorn as a training exercise. The object of the game is to slide your paddle up and down the screen and hit the ball past your opponent. Simple but frustrating as it gets faster and harder!

17. Mortal Kombat 1992

The all-time classic fighting game has since created a huge franchise of sequels, spinoffs and a questionable movie I like to pretend never really happened! The arcade game was originally published by Midway Games and then later by Acclaim for the home video game versions. The story of a martial arts tournament consisted of an 8 directional joystick and 5 button controls with the ultimate gory “Finish Him” ending Mortal Kombat became renowned for. It also introduced us to ‘juggling’ where you can still attack an opponent whilst they’re defenceless flying through the air! Mortal Kombat remains a firm favourite amongst fans of the fighting genre and as a top retro arcade game.

Re-create the classic retro arcade games at home with these consoles below!

Classic SNES Mini

Atari Flashback

SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis Mini