Top 140 1980s Arcade Games

The golden age of arcade video games was the era when arcade video games entered pop culture and became a dominant cultural force. The exact time period is disputed, but key moments include the release of Space Invaders in 1978 and the vector-based Asteroids in 1979-moments made possible by the increase in power and decrease in cost of computing technology. This led to the rise of both video game arcades and the mention of video games in other media, such as songs, cartoons, and movies like 1982's TRON. Other iconic games from this era include Pac-Man, Defender, Galaga, Donkey Kong, and Centipede etc... #1980sArcade #ArcadeClassic #OldSchoolGames #GoldenAgeOfArcade

[@VinciGlassArt]

Those sounds are so incredibly nostalgic. Really amazing how instantly I'm transported back to a dark arcade room, or the local pizza parlor that had several games. So specific and real.

[@LevelSmackcom]

Best 80s arcade list on youtube. You got hidden gems and popular favorites.

[@philjungmann7396]

Thank you for assembling this and the reminder of how 50k in quarters when missing.

[@jackgoff2072]

I didn't see Zaxxon.

[@dpety08]

Thanks guys I needed this. From a former Arcade lover.

[@ChaoYangMF]

Crazy how many of these are buried deep in your memories.

[@bryansteele832]

I put arcades in 3 categories: Early 80s, Late 80s and Early 90s. Then after that they really started to disappear or became niche. Mark my words. Some day we are going to have a VR system/game where you are in a arcade and you play classic arcade games within the VR arcade game.

[@omarchijani424]

We now have this

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Yea we do, we have an 80s living room even playing old atari 😅

[@laustcawz2089]

I remember a couple from the early 2000s--"Crazy Taxi" & "House Of The Dead".

[@QuizTimeUK]

Great compilation and I love how you got all the correct artwork for every game and machine! I have an 80s Arcade Quiz on my channel if you want to have a blast at some point.

[@nestorvelasquez9633]

When was Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja made? That should be on this list

[@nightswatch8659]

Great video! I forgot about so many of those games!

[@stevehensonuk]

Great work - that's my childhood and proud of it!

[@jacktheripoff1888]

What gets lost during that time from say 1979-84 is that pinball, once the former king of arcade games, had to get creative and quick to compete. That's when things like multi-levels, magnet ball-saves, and multi-ball play bonuses started to show up. The only "novel" thing prior to this in pinball was "Playboy" in 1977 because it was the first one to have a digital scoring display.

[@BlackBartGames]

Check it out our new arcade channel @BlackBartGames then kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHukhZKYhtGamLcsi=9bVQfEXe0kFlLYOb

[@darylmodjeski698]

Donkey Kong 2 is not an actual arcade machine. It was a homebrewed project made in the 2000's

[@maximerlin]

ExciteBike, Zaxxon, Xevious, Gradius, Punch Out!, 1941!,......You're missing quite a few!!!

[@Dave_B33]

This is amazing, it's like a rolodex of the 80's arcade to remind me of all (well most) the games I loved. Was disappointed not to see Karate Champ though...am I the only one who loved that game lol?

[@pedropedroki9070]

Shinobi, Heavy Barrel, and Kick would also be on my list.

[@nickragucci7335]

I respect the fact that you put together a list of games from the 80’s, but this list is missing so many key games, I mean so many, but hey, if this is your personal top 140, then that is your opinion and gotta respect it.

[@jpongothics]

Great list! Always nice to see games like Ladybug or even Mappy get some credit. I enjoyed playing these games back in the day, too.... Wizard of Wor Satan's Hollow Journey Halley's Comet

[@leewainwright3526]

loved pac-land and paper boy amazing classics on here only wish I could get them all again

[@luisreyes1963]

To think I spent many a quarter in most of those games. Thanks for the memories. 😁

[@rladen1]

Great list!! Xevious should have made the cut. Original Pole Position as well.

[@nightswatch8659]

I miss the sounds of my old arcade.

[@phrayzar]

I remember when marble madness appeared. It stood out as so different, super sharp graphics, surreal imagery, unusual music and addictive gameplay. Also one of the few games that you could actually finish.

[@laustcawz2089]

Yes. "Marble Madness" is my all-time favorite!

[@teecoles6732]

No Bomb Jack??. It's the most addictive platform game I still play today. My Sony TV is the best arcade machine on this planet.

[@laustcawz2089]

Great list, but I'm surprised to not see... Baby Pac-Man Super Pac-Man Jr. Pac-Man Blasteroids Dragon's Lair Food Fight Ghosts & Goblins Make Trax Road Runner Zaxxon

[@htomc42]

1941 1942 Assault Red Baron Xevious Great list, though, I always see ones I'd never seen before.

[@bradleymcavoy3432]

I absolutely Love Discs of Tron! 😎 One of my all time faves that I played to death when I was a Tween! Also Some people hated Donkey Kong 3 but I thought it was innovative and Hilarious! 🤣 However some of my favorites weren’t on this list which are Golden Axe, Dragon’s Lair, Space Ace, Time Soldiers, Police Trainer, Yie ar Kung Fu, Karate Champ, Black Tiger, Crossbow, RoboCop, Double Dragon and last but certainly not least Tournament CyberBall 2072! It’s Robot Football and the ball is a Bomb! That’s Awesome! 🤩

[@RohanAppaloosa]

I've played at least 90% of these, these are the sound of my childhood.

[@mrksts1]

I remember wishing that my Atari 2600 had the graphics of some of those games. 😂

[@161cyk]

Wonderful👍

[@literallyunderrated]

Its a great list. Of course everyone’s list is personal, I’d find room for games like Final Fight, Golden Axe, NARC, Lunar Lander to name a few. Also I seem to remember Rampart using track ball controls not joysticks

[@maestro-zq8gu]

Again with the best of thing.. I just want to see the master list. Nice job tho.

[@artdeco64]

I lost track of how many times I said, “Oh, remember that.”

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

I did a drinking game with this.... Im now in hospital

[@dirkdex]

This is the best looking front-end theme I've seen. Thanks for sharing! On mine, all my cabinets look the same. Can you share a tutorial link or tell me how do I get mine to display/download those cabinets so it looks like yours? Thanks if you can help!

[@stellarox1]

Does anyone remember a game? Were you try to pop balloons? I think the balloons are like red, pink and blue that’s all I remember.

[@jussivalter]

80s? No, but You can try for example Puzzle bobble

[@jonathanr72]

Pop Flamer?

[@samviolet398]

balloon fight?

[@hokutology1718]

Pang?

[@rbell3109]

Circus Atari

[@markmccleary7276]

Is that Neuschwanstein Castle at 4:10?

[@sergiogalindo3024]

My Top 10: 1. Dragon's Lair 2. Yie Ar Kung-Fu 3. 8-Ball Deluxe 4. Stunt Cycle 5. Atari Football (Track Ball) 6. Champion Baseball 7. Mat Mania 8. Frontline 9. Bombjack 10. Star Castle

[@mxarturo]

Your video is an artwork. Tu video es una obra de arte. Greeting from México. ,🇲🇽

[@teatromarinostravelnation654]

remember this game just like twin bee but the difference before the start of the game you can choose yun spaceship cage and during game play you can replace it by obtaining special floating power to change the cage of your spaceship i forget its name there are big boss also need to defend inorder ro go next round

[@mrnobodyinvr9762]

I just love all this, just the best. Can you please let me know what Image this is? I'm just about to do a 1up PC Mod on my Final Fight cab, and would love to load this in. Thanks for all the amazing clips!!!

[@VideoGamesReplay999]

coinops next 2 pc

[@mrnobodyinvr9762]

@@VideoGamesReplay999 Thank you so much, I'm looking at whats best to put in my 1Up cab, and that looks very nice. Thanks again!

[@andrew-hk5ph]

11:39 kangaroo, the background music similar to other game, but i cannot remember, anyone find out that?

[@andrew-hk5ph]

may be NES puss in boots? i cannot remember exactly

[@stephenwalsh4481]

Maybe Bubble Bobble sounds similar I think maybe!

[@nunyabusiness3666]

These are the games I want to sit in my house and play on my TV. How do I do that? There are too many options out there with a bunch of modern games I don't care about. Please help.

[@fanbutton]

I wish you could have put Gremlins in the list. There were actually two games called Gremlins. Coin detected in pocket.

[@lufasumafalu5069]

can you increase size of game titles and reduce the game screen by half ?

[@pacebrison1453]

How did this list not end with Zaxxon??

[@DerekDavis213]

In many cases, the control panel with buttons, joystick, spinner ,etc. is not shown correctly. The marquees and game screens look great though.

[@jonathanr72]

If the music to Mikie sounds familiar, that's because it's Hard Day's Night by The Beatles.

[@wmmunny1969]

Great list, but no Satan's Hollow or Zaxxon?

[@jasond7618]

What front-end are you using?

[@VideoGamesReplay999]

Coinops next 2 pc

[@petermacnab1871]

How do I get this build ?

[@svinta]

I see artwork from Animal Jam for the background of the "Kangaroo" game lol

[@dayrmesdelatorre1737]

Lembro do tempo em que vivia nas casas de fliperama. Lembro de uma máquina que tinha um jogo de nave muito legal, mas hoje em dia, mesmo pesquisando e garimpando na internet não encontrei mais esse jogo (detalhe: o jogo, após destruir todas as naves inimigas, aparecia no topo da tela um boneco mexendo os braços e que descia em várias direções tentando acertar o jogador e a gente tinha que atirar e destruir esse boneco alienígena). Infelizmente não lembro o nome desse jogo e até agora não encontrei nenhum vídeo dela na internet. Se alguém souber ou conhecer, compartilha aí, pois hoje temos os emuladores que nos ajudam a relembrar esses tempos bacanas.

[@manic_misfit9722]

Outrunners, Virtua Racing , Rampage World Tour & NBA Jam are from the 90's, not the 80's.

[@simoneroncato315]

Un video bellissimo. 👌

[@itiswhatitis141]

Man those were simpler times

[@brantnuttall]

No Nemesis? No Double Dragon? Lots of excellent games not here.

[@blueshattrick]

You could turn off the video portion of this, and I could still guess most of these games simply on sounds alone! Now that's "iconic"

[@97warlock]

anybody know the namke of the arcade game where theres 3 lines across the screen, a motorcycle & busses along the bottom & each jump it gives you another bus added to the bottom.

[@JetSetDiva]

Stunt Cycle from Atari, circa 1976. I played the heck out of it when I was a kid!

[@97warlock]

@@JetSetDiva thank you, sheeeesh never wouldve guessed it, cool. now i know

[@frethand101]

Hoping to see Xenophobe but it must be one of those forgotten games.. 😢

[@celinesenden4142]

40 anniversary of donkey kong

[@synxgaming3644]

anyone knows about a robot game adventure or it can be multiplayer battle that player can choose their own type of robots in battle, this game can be player 1 and 2 only, the human pilot can also get out in his machine and he can also fly with using jetpack to find a robot around. some of robot i remember you can choose a spider type robot, a gundam like robot and a airplane type robot. I forgot what year it is, i just born 1998 and play this game when i was 8 year old, while playing i remember some of game in the same year, like mortal combat and super mario there are also donkey kong. Im looking for this game, i just play it in arcade i have a memory in it i just forgot the name

[@ROMBomb001]

It sounds like you might be describing Metal Warriors for the SNES...

[@dancero643]

virtua racing 80's? i think 1992

[@FranklinonFood]

NBA Jam Tournament Edition - great game, but it shouldn't be on a list of top games of the 1980s.

[@chadsoltys4127]

You scrolled right past SINISTAR?!

[@charliegagliardi7414]

No punch out is a joke lol

[@stupidfathobbit4262]

I’m pretty sure NBA Jam and Smash TV were 90s games also how can you forget Commando and Ghosts n Goblins.

[@omarchijani424]

ya there are quite a few 90s in there (VR racing etc), also no 1943, rolling thunder, shinobi, R-Type, twin cobra, Raiden, ghost and goblins, Contra, Trojan, double dragon, Xena, ring king, jackel, assult,

[@ataris-worst-nightmare]

WAS CENTIPEDE WITH TRACKBALL? NO WAY

[@norwegianblue2017]

No Rastan or Double Dragon?

[@jsosgood]

What, no Qix?

[@rjl310]

* Donkey Kong ll is a fan made game from 2006.

[@bryansteele832]

N.A.R.C Also I do not think NBA Jam came out in the 89s.

[@stephenjones9604]

Where's Double Dragon 😮

[@adriancardenas7563]

Mother told me, yes she told me I'd meet girls like you She also told me stay away You'll never know what you'll catch Just the other day I heard Of a soldier's falling off Some Indonesian junk That's going 'round Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright They just seem a little weird Surrender, surrender But don't give yourself away Father says your mother's right She's really up on things Before we married Mommy served In the WACS in the Philippines Now I had heard the WACS recruited Old maids for the war But Mommy isn't one of those I've known her all these years Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright They just seem a little weird Surrender, surrender But don't give yourself away Whatever happened to all this season's Losers of the year? Every time I got to thinking Where'd they disappear? Then I woke up, Mom and Dad Are rolling on the couch Rolling numbers, rock and rolling Got my Kiss records out Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright They just seem a little weird Surrender, surrender But don't give yourself away Away Surrender, surrender (Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright) But don't give yourself away Surrender, surrender (Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright) But don't give yourself away Surrender, surrender (Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright) But don't give yourself away Surrender, surrender (Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright) But don't give yourself away Surrender, surrender (Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright) But don't give yourself away Surrender, surrender (Mommy's alright, Daddy's alright) But don't give yourself away

[@mikescorpio13]

am i the only one that played and loved Kick hahaha good to see some games no one mention.

[@huffie00]

No pitfall 2 ?

[@vicentecarbonell1480]

Quiero saber el nombre de un juego arcade q jugaba en los 80 o 90,era un chinito q tiraba cartas y se le pegaban como bolitas y meneabas el mando para quitartelas

[@paulsmith6075]

Ghosts 'n Goblins (sorry) 😊

[@MurasakiBunny]

Alright.... Virtua Racing was certainly NOT a game of the 80s, silly you.

[@mrpickles3479]

No king fu master 🤷‍♂️

[@romanwhite2874]

Neither did Yars Revenge.

[@mario_survivor]

Gladiator Operation Wolf Spy Hunter Kid Nikki Legend of Gage Victory Road Gauntlet Karate Champ Double Dragon Bad Dudes Renegade Ninja Gaiden Super Contra

[@paulsmith6075]

Ghosts & Goblins !!!!!!

[@LuteFrontier]

I love the 80s

[@weedmanwestvancouverbc9266]

A garbage listing doesn't give enough coverage

[@brantnuttall]

Got to Kangaroo and realised no HunchBack. Boo

[@romanwhite2874]

Rush N Attack didn't make it here.

[@neiderjaviermurciacardozo2044]

the millennial icons

[@fernandopenalva2680]

Nes version of Lode Runner looks better than this one...

[@inquilinoregio]

ok