What was your favorite 80's or so arcade game? (& pls help - going crazy trying to remember one...)

[Skip Intro]

Assuming you were around during the big video game boom, back when arcades popped up all over and before home games could really pose a challenge.

I liked the old pac man and donkey kong, sure, but there are some lesser-known games that I can't even remember the name of. This was one of my faves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-fQ_wtm3WI (Space Duel) and Joust was fun too.

Then there was one, I think it was a vector graphic game like the one in the video, where, at points between levels, some kind of computerized face would come on screen and say stuff to you. I think it taunted you, can't remember what it said or how the game went. Does this ring any bells for anyone?

At any rate, if you were around during the time and remember popping quarters into those vintage games, what were your faves?

[MrScorpio]

1. That would be Asteroids

I could play all day on one quarter

[blockhead]

2. Galaga

[Skip Intro]

3. Oh yeah, those crazy space bees. Loved that game too. nt

[blockhead]

6. I only played vids if there was no pinball machine available.

My favorite was Gorgar, one of the first talking machines.

[Broken_Hero]

15. Ditto, although Gauntlet was a close nt

[JCMach1]

22. I was the bomb at Galaga...

[MattBaggins]

38. +1

Galaga was awesome

[taterguy]

4. Paperboy

[av8rdave]

5. Xevious

One of the first to use textures in their graphics. Very cartoonish by today's standard, but at the time it was quite the leap forward.

[Orrex]

7. I loved Joust, and 25 years later James Cameron made it into a movie.

[A HERETIC I AM]

18. I kicked ASS in Joust!

I got to the point that I learned all the tricks. I had all the high scores on the one I used to play in a pub I frequented.

I loved Joust.

[Soylent Brice]

8. i just downloaded "Zombies Ate My Neighbors" on my Wii today.

shit myself when i saw. i had totally forgot about it.
another favorite i can't seem to find is "nightmare Creatures".

neither were arcade but are nostalgic for me.

[Bertha Venation]

9. Dig Dug, Centipede, and Frogger. n/t

[lazarus]

10. Star Wars

the original vector graphics game. I could play that forever.

QBert. A buddy and I went 16 hours on 1 quarter once.

The original Super Mario Brothers.

Gauntlet. Wizard shot the food. Didn't like G2 very much.

[Bluzmann57]

11. Pac Man

I think it was an eighties game. I seem to remember playing it at a bar I lived in, er, hung out at in that period of time.
On edit- Sorry. I see that you mentioned this game. I can't remember a lot about the 80's except my ex and I arguing all time and the guy who was president nearly taking this country down for good.

[fishwax]

12. Zaxxon!

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

13. Space Fury?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Fury

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDOujz-nAFQ

Bit of an Asteroids knock-off, but with some neat addons.

[Skip Intro]

14. Wow, thatnks. I did play that one, but I think I was remembering Sinistar...

"I AM SINISTAR...I LIVE"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-XEINagmaU&feature=PlayList&p=796A25F9D9A19CBC&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7

The second vid starts automatically and at about the 50 second mark, you begin to see Sinistar. He comes into the game and tries to kill you, taunting you and uttering this scary growl.

Trippy.

Thanks for the help.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

17. Yeah, Sinistar was one of Williams' games best.

They used a 36-position joystick for that game, where most other arcade games had only an 8 position joystick.
It allowed for much more precise control in the game. But it made it really difficult to replace if it broke.

[Orrex]

20. #3 on Cracked.com's The 10 Most Terrifying Video Game Enemies of All Time

http://www.cracked.com/article_16247_the-10-most-terrifying-video-game-enemies-all-time.html

What do you get when you mix Andrew Dice Clay, a Pog and pure undiluted evil? You get Sinistar, the only video game boss to ever lower our self-esteem.

Magnificent!

[Frank Cannon]

25. BEWARE!! I LIVE!!!

I can't tell how many times I almost shit my pants when I heard that voice booming from those 60-watt speakers in that "sit-in" game cabinet. Those were good times.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

53. Wow. Sit-in cabinets were amazing ways to experience the game.

I recall playing several games on sit-in cabinets:

Star Wars
Roadblasters
Star Trek
Afterburner (the one that moved)

There was nothing like the dark ambiance of an arcade in the 80s.

[Fire Walk With Me]

37. Yeah, I was going to post Sinistar if no one had said that...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Sinistar

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

54. ...a vector graphics remake of Sinistar would look awesome.

Must learn how to program...

[gratuitous]

16. Cut out from work more than once to play Burger Time

You were a cook running around to assemble burgers, being chased by a hot dog, a fried egg and a couple of other things that you could momentarily paralyze with a shot of salt. I never got very good, but I definitely enjoyed that game.

[gmoney]

19. 720 was a great skateboarding game

And the Popeye game was oddly addicting, maybe because it was one of only two or three videogames at the student union back in the day.

[Iggo]

21. Asteroids.

For me, nothing else came close.

[JCMach1]

23. Asteroids, Tron, Star Castle, Dig Dug, Frogger

All those wasted quarters!

[Lasher]

24. Spy Hunter

http://www.tripletsandus.com/80s/80s_games/arcade.htm

[guitar man]

50. +1

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[distantearlywarning]

26. A really weird, obscure game called Bubble Bobble.

I was a bit obsessed.

[HopeHoops]

27. Mine was Frenzy - I could play well into the all-reflection-wall levels.

[amyrose2712]

28. Pitfall. Actually the arcade game was Jungle Hunt.

Came back to add Jungle Hunt. I used to ride my bike to 711 with my paper delivery money. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

http://www.free80sarcade.com/junglehunt.php

[spiritual_gunfighter]

29. I got really good at Ring King

at the Natchez Mississippi mall in the early 80's, it definitely isn't the best game of that era, I just played it constantly.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

30. I loved Yie-Ar Kung Fu

[dysfunctional press]

31. Qix and Asteroids were my games.

and i always seemed to do MUCH better when i was all coked up...i'd ultimately lose interest, and hand the game off to someone else, with a big score, and a bunch of extra lives racked up.

but- i absolutely HATED games where you had to learn and follow a precise pattern in order to win(pacman and the like).

[tishaLA]

32. centipede

the only video game I ever liked.

[soleft]

47. Me too

I used to play outside the college cafeteria. I remember if you got through a few rounds all of a sudden it would speed up and spiders would come raining down.

[Dulcinea]

52. My favorite!

I loved Centipede, Tempest, Millipede & Q-Bert.

[Forkboy]

33. Wizard of Wor

I also liked Gorf a lot, a Space Invaders clone.

[arcadian]

40. I posted the same down thread.

I liked how you could get back to back with Player 2 and let 'em have it.

[Forkboy]

41. So many quarters down the tubes....

:)

[arcadian]

43. My quarters went to the mobster using the arcade to launder money

[Forkboy]

44. Shit, I just got free sub sammiches from my pizza place owners....

:)

[Broken_Hero]

46. One of my favorites for the Commodore 64

loved blasting at player 2. :)

[Doc_Technical]

34. Elevator Action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bptwIn-0-4c

[TK421]

35. Gauntlet

BLUE WIZARD NEEDS FOOD BADLY!!! :scared: the words your game partner never wanted to hear, since it always meant they needed to bail your ass out of trouble

[baldguy]

36. Joust

[arcadian]

39. Wizard of Wor

"My babies will pop you in the oven"

[Jennicut]

42. My husband liked Punchout.

I couldn't play a video game to save my life.

[TreasonousBastard]

45. They were all good, but I came from the pinball days, and then when...

I had a really tough day at work, pounding those damn smirking prairie dog heads into sand with that big mallet was just the thing to release the tension.

[guitar man]

48. Spy Hunter

I could beat the hell out of it :D

[NoGOPZone]

49. Berzerk

Fight like a robot!

Crazy Climber and Jack the Giant Killer, too

[MilesColtrane]

51. Galaga

Tempest

and Joust

[ceile]

55. Galage, Centipede, Pole Position

There was some Atari game I'd get sucked into....an F-16 and you had to navigate waterways and blow stuff up. Can't remember the name....

ETA: Frogger!

[Taverner]

56. Altered Beast