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(CityRegions.Com, May 30, 2020 ) An article by Jimmy Smith. Sales manager, IN THE NEW AGE (inthenewage.com).
So, it’s like this, we get so many customers sending us e-mails, and calling us asking if we sell various arcade games that they remember playing in the brick and mortar arcades of the late 70s. and through out the 1980’s. And of course, most of the video arcade games are easy to find on our website including but not limited to; Pacman, Ms. Pacman, Donkey Kong. However, sometimes there is a certain video arcade game in which they cannot remember the name of, however, they do remember a description of how the games played. Therefore, they may explain in so many worlds such as, “You know, that game that looked like Galaga, but you cannot move the shooter thing up and down, only left and right.” Well, of course, this description is the arcade game called “Galaxian.
Additionally, when I started to create this list of the most popular arcade games of the 1980’s, I was only going to include the top 20 games, furthermore, I planned to list them starting with the most popular to least popular. However, this was virtually impossible because there are just way too many fantastic arcade classics from the 1980’s, therefore here is the list.
1. Pac Man
Considered as one of the famous and iconic video games of all time, Pac Man was released in Japan with the title spelled as Puck Man in 1980. When it was widely released, its title was changed to Pac Man. This game is so popular that Pac Man derivatives was made, such as Pac and Pal, Ms. Pac Man, Pac- Land, Baby Pac Man and many more. Its merchandise showed success too. Pac Man also had an animated television series and a hit song by Buckner and Garcia entitled “Pac Man Fever.” This truly created a new genre for arcade games.
2. Galaga
This Japanese arcade game was published by Namco in 1981. This was the sequel to the 1979 game Galaxia. Galaga’s gameplay is to score as many points as you can while you’re in control of a spacecraft that is on the bottom of the screen. All you must do is fight off enemy aliens that comes in groups in a formation. This video game is one of the most commercially successful games in the 80s and has had several sequels. Today, you can download an app of this game named Galaga 30th Collection for iOS.
3. Ms. Pac Man
This arcade video game was released in 1982 as a sequel for the original Pac Man. It was almost identical to the Pac Man game but it has, of course, a female version of Pac Man with a little red bow. There were certain levels that shows Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man’s relationship. This became one of the most successful American produced game in 1982 with over 115,000 arcade cabinets sold.
7. Donkey Kong
This 1981 game follows the adventure of an ape-like lead named Donkey Kong. It has two different genres and a spin-off title. Donkey Kong was first seen as an antagonist but later he was turned into a protagonist on the game Donkey Kong Jr. This game has a total of 30 sequels until 2015. Characters in Donkey Kong even appeared in Super Smash Bros, and Mario Kart series.
17. Centipede
This game uses a roller ball to control the game as you fight off spiders, centipedes, fleas, and scorpions to complete a level. This game was considered as one of the most commercially successful games in the 80’s.
6. Burgertime
This 1982 arcade game features Chef Pepper who walks over hamburger ingredients and layers of sandwich to create hamburgers while avoiding enemies such as the hot dog, egg, and pickles. Peter Pepper is lost if he gets run over or trapped by an enemy.
7. Q*bert
Q*bert was published and created by Gottlieb, an American arcade game corporation, in 1982. Your goal is to hop from one cube to another and change the color of every pyramid without falling off or getting caught by the bad guys. One of its popular antics was whenever Q*bert was caught by the enemy, a dialogue bubble shows up with “@!?%@!” that represents swearing. This video game was one of Gottlieb’s successful games that’s why it has resulted into several sequels and different merchandise such as toys, lunch box appearances and even an animated TV show. This game was even featured in a Disney movie entitled “Wreck it Ralph” in 2012.
8. Super Mario Brothers
This game that was created and published by Nintendo was the follow up for their 1983 arcade game, Mario Bros. This was first released in Japan in 1985 at the Famicom. Then it was later introduced in Europe for Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. This game was always named as the greatest video games of all time and the bestselling games of all time because it has sold over 40 million physical copies worldwide.
9. Star Wars
This Star Wars game was released in 1983 and it is based on the original Star Wars movie. In this first-person space combat game, you will control Luke Skywalker’s X-wing fighter through different levels. Unlike other games, this does not require you to fight every enemy to get to the next level instead, you will have to survive a certain length of time. This game was hailed as one of the greatest video games of all time.
10. Pole Position
This arcade racing video game was released in 1982 by Namco. This was the most popular arcade game in 1983 because you can play it with a steering wheel complete with a gear shifter for high and low gears. This became the highest grossing arcade game in 1983 because it had sold over 21,000 arcade machines.
11. Zaxxon
This isometric arcade game was released in 1982 that features a space craft that flies through a fortress was released by Sega. It is the first video game that was advertised on television. To play this game, you will have to control a spaceship and hit as many targets as you can without running out of fuel or being shot down. At the end of the game, you will have to battle the boss Zaxxon robot.
12. Frogger
This 1981 arcade game was released and developed by Konami. All you must do to win this game is to lead the frogs on their way home by having them cross a busy road and rivers that is full of threats. Frogger was one of the popular games in the 1980s. This game reportedly sold 20 million copies worldwide. This game was also famous in other pop culture like television shoes and music. It also set the bars in the video game world.
13. Defender
This game was probably one of the most difficult games in the 80’s. The objective of this game is you must defeat waves of aliens in an unnamed planet while you’re protecting astronauts. What makes this more difficult is you need to play with a joystick and five other buttons and fast because you will lose. This game is one of the bestselling arcade games in the golden age. Selling almost 55,000 units.
14. Mario Bros
This arcade game is created and developed by Nintendo in 1983. This game follows the adventures of the Italian American plumber named Mario and his brother Luigi as they defeat different kinds of creatures that comes out from the sewers.
15. Donkey Kong Jr
This game was one of the many sequels to the Donkey Kong series that was released in 1982. In this game, you will have to control Donkey Kong Junior for him to save his dad from Mario who is guarding Donkey Kong’s cage.
16. Xevious
This vertical scrolling game that was released in 1982 lets you control an aircraft so you could shoot and drop bombs. You will be fought by different aerial enemy that fires slow moving bullets at you. This game was created and released by Atari, Inc.
17. Tron
Tron was based on a Disney Film of the same title that was released in 1892. It has four different subgames that includes tanks, spiders, cycles, and a “breakout” style wall that was inspired by the events of the said movie.
18. Tempest
Tempest was one of the very first arcade games in the 1980s. You will have to control a claw shaped spaceship that moves the edge of the playing field. This was one of the first video games that features a progressive level design that gives you different layout on each level.
19. Rampage
This 1986 game allows the players to take control of enormous monsters that is being pursued by the military forces while they climb and destroy the buildings and eats people, taxis, boats, and police cars. This game allows three players to play at the same time.
20. Dragons Lair
This video game was made by Cinematronics in 1983. It follows the adventures of Dirk the Knight who is trying to rescue a princess from an evil dragon. Dragon’s Lair was successful that it had several sequels, and home ports. It is one of the three video games that is stored at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.
21. Street Fighter
Street Fighter is a 1987 arcade game developed by Capcom. It is the first competitive fighting game produced by the company and the inaugural game in the Street Fighter series. While it did not achieve the same worldwide popularity as its sequel Street Fighter II when it was first released, the original Street Fighter introduced some of the conventions made standard in later games, such as the six button controls and the use of command based special techniques.
22. Battlezone
Battlezone is an arcade game from Atari released in November 1980. It displays a wireframe view on a horizontal black and white vector monitor. Due to its novel gameplay and look, this game was extremely popular for many years.
23. Joust
Joust is an arcade game developed by Williams Electronics and released in 1982. It is a platform game that features two-dimensional graphics. The player uses a button and joystick to control a knight riding a flying ostrich. The object is to progress through levels by defeating groups of enemy knights riding buzzards. John Newcomer led the development team, which included Bill Pfutzenreuter, Jan Hendricks, Python Anghelo, Tim Murphy, and John Kotlarik.
24. Double Dragon
Double Dragon is a 1987 beat 'em up video game developed by Technōs Japan and distributed in North America and Europe by Taito. The game is a spiritual and technological successor to Technos' earlier beat 'em up, Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, but introduced several additions such as two-player cooperative gameplay and the ability to arm oneself with an enemy's weapon after disarming them.
25. Missile Command
Missile Command is a 1980 arcade game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and licensed to Sega for European release. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game Tempest from the same year. The 1981 Atari 2600 port of Missile Command by Rob Flop sold over 2.5 million copies.
26. Asteroids
Asteroids is a popular vector arcade game with a rather simple concept. If you’ve ever played this game before, you will probably remember it by the glowing bullets that come out of the spaceship when you shoot. Asteroids was released before joysticks were common in arcade games, so this game features a total of five buttons to play (not including player 1 and player 2 buttons). One of these buttons being rotate right, the other being rotate left, thrust, fire, and hyperspace. In the game, you are a small spaceship in the center of the screen that must shoot all the asteroids without getting hit. Occasionally, an extra enemy ship will come onto the screen and start firing at you, but it’s extra points if you can shoot him too. The hyperspace button simply transports your ship to another part of the screen quickly just in case you are surrounded by asteroids with no way of getting out. Be careful when using it though, because you never know when it can transport you right in front of an incoming asteroid!
27. Galaxian
Galaxian is yet another game released by Namco in 1979 to Japan but was imported and distributed in the U.S. by Midway. Galaxian was one of the most colorful games of its time and featured some of the best graphics, too. The idea of Galaxian is to navigate the ship on the bottom of the screen back and forth to shoot out all the aliens without getting hit by one. Once all the aliens are cleared, you move on to the next level. This game is terribly like Space Invaders, but it features more modern and colorful graphics. Galaxian is one of the rarer games out there, so if you happen to come across a working one, I suggest you take the opportunity to play a few rounds!
29. Space Invaders
Space Invaders was an arcade game that was popular even before the arcade industry had fully kicked off. Released by Taito in Japan and Midway in the U.S., Space Invaders was an instant hit among the arcade worlds. It featured a color screen and cool sounds that set it out from the small crowd of arcade games of its time. Even though the game was released in 1978, it kept its popularity throughout the ‘80s, making it a well-known game. To win the game, you must navigate the ship at the bottom of the screen back and forth and shoot all the aliens firing down at you. The only difference between Space Invaders and the other similar games that came out around this time was that Space Invaders had four shields for you to hide the ship behind on the bottom, compared to Galaxian, which shares a similar concept but lacks the shields. The Space Invaders arcade cabinet was also very cool because it had a picture of a planet as a background to the game itself. If you take this game seriously, I guarantee you will have loads of fun.
30. Pong
Pong is a table tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics, manufactured by Atari, and originally released in 1972. It was one of the earliest arcade video games and created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell based the game's concept on an electronic ping-pong game included in the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console. In response, Magnavox later sued Atari for patent infringement. Bushnell and Atari co-founder Ted Dabney were surprised by the quality of Alcorn's work and decided to manufacture the game.
All arcade games on this list are available for purchase at IN THE NEW AGE.
Additionally, we sell some unique arcade machines that include all these amazing arcade classics within our “Classic Arcade System.” Arcade game machines that include 4,000+ arcade games all withing the standard standup arcade game cabinets, the sit-down (cocktail game) arcade game cabinets, pub style cabinets and countertop game cabinets.
To view all game room products, visit our website today!
Arcade Games – Pinball machines – Slot machines – Jukeboxes
IN THE NEW AGE (InTheNewAge.com)
IN THE NEW AGE, LLC
James Bolin
1.888.251.0887
Jamesbolin7@gmail.com
Source: EmailWire.Com 
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