What were your favorite arcade games, before the advent of the insipid Mortal-Kombat-esque games?
My list:
[ul]
[li]Defender[/li][li]Robotron 2084[/li][li]Galaxian[/li][li]Galaga[/li][li]Mappy[/li][li]Spy Hunter[/li][li]Crystal Castles[/li][li]Gauntlet I & II[/li][li]Marble Madness[/li][li]Paperboy[/li][li]Pac Man (the original)[/li][li]Donkey Kong[/li][li]Zaxxon[/li][li]Tron[/li][/ul]
Punch Out! was the game that always drew my attention. I eventually got to the point where I could win the title and defend myself against Glass Joe, but the re-match with Piston hurrican usually laid my sorry ass into the ground.
Never really tried Super Punch-Out, but watched a bunch of people play it. Actually saw an arm-wrestling game from the same company, featuring a cameo by Bald Bull. Weird.
Loved Q*bert as well, especially given the ‘kick’ the game would give you when Q plummeted to his doom. That was so cool.
I’ve since mostly gravitated to pinball games when I find the time to drop by the local Dave & Buster’s.
Defender.
Period.
None ever better.
Way too many buttons for the average Pac-manner.
BTW February 14, 1982, I set the world record with 21,228,700 pts on a machine set to max diffuculty. Took 20 hours. GF of two weeks wondered why I didn’t show for Valentine’s date. Took two dozen red ones to calm her down. Still married to her though.
Not to hijack the thread, but my Brother-in-Law is looking for a Gauntlet machine. He says that’s the best ever. I may have to beat him up…
[ul]
[li]Major Havoc (Someone else remembers this game!)[/li][li]Xevious[/li][li]Spy Hunter[/li][li]Roadblasters[/li][li]Choplifter[/li][li]Zaxxon[/li][li]Galaga[/li][li]Golden Axe (I and II)[/li][li]Gauntlet[/li][li]Double Dragon[/li][li]Final Fight[/li][li]Paperboy[/li][/ul]
Ah, Punch Out!..great game. I developed my skills such that I could reach the third Bald Bull (yeah, that’s right, I could beat Mr. Sandman twice. Who wants to touch me?)
Super Punch Out! was great as well, what with the advent of ducking. I could beat the Super Macho Man (the grey-haired champion), but can’t remember getting very far after that; the second Dragon Chan was a royal bitch to beat, but I can remember doing it a few times.
Other greats:
Vanguard
Hippodrome
Double Dragon, when it first came out.
Renegade
Dragon’s Lair
Space Ace
Sinistar
Golden Axe
Gauntlet
Tempest
Strider
Star Wars (remember flying down that vector-drawn trench?)
Battlezone
Spy Hunter
Moon Patrol
Chief – Was that Spaceport the one near the Gallery? I may have played there at same time as you many years ago. We played at the Spaceports in Oxford Valley and Quakerbridge malls.
Tempest, Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, and Centipede-- Shockwave has a free game player, and Centipede is one of the games you can download for it. Yay! Yeah, I know you can get it for other systems, but I like free stuff a whole lot.
Burger Time
Super Pac-Man (that one did a lot for the pent-up agression; one of the things you could do was turn Pac into a gigantic freakazoid mutation of himself that took up half the screen)
Dragon’s Lair
Dragon’s Lair II: Time Warp
Rampage
Rampage: World Tour (I live in Illinois, and I can’t tell you how much fun it was to read the datelines that told you what cities you were smashing up-Peoria, Kankakee, O’Hare, Chicago, Gary, Joliet…)
Hey, Maw-“Body blow! Body Blow! Uppercut! Body blow!”
Punch Out (“Great Fighting! Your up(and)coming boxer… Pizza Pasta!”)
Robotron
720
Gauntlet
Yie Ar Kung Fu
Mr. Do
Mappy
If any of you arcade fans live in (or around) the DC area, I’ve found a place that sells older arcade games for cheap. I bought a Neo Geo with Samurai Showdown (in OK condition) and a Punch Out game in good condition for $150 each, delivered. Most games are about that price, tabletops (cocktail style) like Ms. Pac Man run upwards of $800 though.
Rastan! Rastan! Rastan! Also Arkanoid, Olympic Decathlon, Xenophobe (long live Dr. Kwack!) and F-14 Tomcat pinball. (I did most of my arcade-game feeding in college.)