# What is the best Pre 1985 Video Arcade game? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730 "2005-04-23T04:39:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/41 "2005-04-23T20:27:35Z")
Another vote for [Tempest](http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10065). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/42 "2005-04-23T21:01:43Z")
> [@Redsland](#): > > Tempest > [@vl\_mungo](#): > > Another vote for [Tempest](http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10065). Word. I loved that game! And it wasn’t your typical shoot-em-up. I also liked Berserk. (Though my friends used to make fun of my injured knees by making the figure hobble across the screen.) I liked Space Invaders. There was another one (Galaga?) that was funny because the vox was so poor. My friends and I adopted ‘space nugget’ and ‘space napkin’ from its poor renditions of ‘Got you, space cadet’ and ‘congradulations, space captain’. For some reason, I got into Crystal Palace (?) featuring Bentley Bear. I think it was the ‘three dimensional’ circuit and the music from _The Nutcracker_. Javelin was fun, and I had a blast playing Spy Hunter. (I’m a James Bond fan, and my first cars were sports cars.) But I really liked Tempest. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/43 "2005-04-23T21:13:40Z")
Pac Man Space Invaders Spy Hunter Frogger Battlezone Centipede Was Missile Command a cabinet? ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/44 "2005-04-23T21:32:35Z")
Anybody remember **Bosconian**? It was sort of like **Rally-X** in that your player didn’t move, but the screen moved around you. But this one was a spaceship game. You had to destroy all the baseships on the level while fighting off alien fighters. It wasn’t a game you could find in most places, so I loved when I found one. Another great one was **Sinistar** for the sounds. It could only be played properly in a sit down version where the speakers are right by your ears. Other favorites… **Spy Hunter Gyrus Tapper Crossbow** ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/45 "2005-04-23T21:39:27Z")
Missile Command Tempest Donkey Kong Centipede ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/46 "2005-04-23T21:39:29Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > ZAXXON You beat me to it. [Linkety-Link](http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=Z&game_id=12757) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/47 "2005-04-23T21:42:46Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > **Crossbow** CROSSBOW!!! I completely forgot about that! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/48 "2005-04-23T21:54:27Z")
1982 (or '83): I was a freshman in high school. One day in the locker room, one of the older guys started messing around and it got out of hand. He picked me up, which I didn’t particularly like, so I hit him on the shoulder. Three times. In return, he punched me in the gut; he didn’t realize that I just wanted down. The gym teacher heard the commotion and sent me to the nurse. I had the wind knocked out of me and couldn’t catch my breath. The nurse decided to send me home for the rest of the day. One of my sisters picked me up, but we didn’t go straight home. She had an errand to run in town and dropped me off at the video arcade. I went to the Battlezone machine, where I beat the high score by 10,000! Must have been the adrenaline still coursing through my veins from the incident at school. When we finally made it home, I found out that the principal had called to find out what was going on. He was concerend that it took me so long to get home. Took some work but I managed to convince him that it was just a bit of horseplay gone bad. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/49 "2005-04-23T23:26:33Z")
My favorites were Donkey Kong and Joust. ---
**Author:** ![Flipstrip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f6c823/32.png) [@Flipstrip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipstrip)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/50 "2005-04-23T23:38:24Z")
Another vote for Tempest. God, how I loved that game! ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/51 "2005-04-24T00:29:57Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > CROSSBOW!!! I completely forgot about that! When i was young, we used to go visit my grandparents in Honolulu every couple of years. Video games tended to show up there about 6 months before Michigan. So when I went, I learned the new games and when they showed up at home, I was already good at them. Crossbow was one of those. By the way, anyone remember the other games in the same series. Cheyenne Combat and the really grisly Chiller? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/52 "2005-04-24T01:39:21Z")
If I’m not allowed to cast my vote for the Ambassador of Video Games, my pal Pac-Man, then I’m casting it for _Robotron: 2084_. Although _Spy Hunter_ is a ton of fun, it doesn’t have the frantic fast-paced action that only the robot-filled arena can provide. ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/53 "2005-04-24T04:30:33Z")
Does anyone remember a two joystick console called KARATE CHAMP? Best two player game ever. (I can say that, since I stopped playing video games about 1988.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/54 "2005-04-24T05:22:14Z")
Crazy Climber and Elevator Action took a lot of my quarters. Fair deal. Discs of Tron! Like Zaxxon, it blew me away with its (relatively) realistic graphics. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/55 "2005-04-24T06:55:11Z")
Spy’s Demise! o/` Doo-di-doo, doo-doo-diddle-doo. Doo-diddle-do, diddledididdledoo! o/` ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/56 "2005-04-24T19:17:59Z")
The only one I ever liked enough to buy one was Stargate, a souped-up Defender. I bought the arcade console and played it all the time, turned the difficulty up to max and me and my buds would play for hours then go out and play the games in all the stores and arcades and stomp the stuffing out of the high scorers on them. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/57 "2005-04-24T19:36:00Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > “Beware! I live!” still scares the crap out of me. Sinistar gets points for having the most bad-ass voice in the coin-op world. There’s a **hilarious** PvP where 15 year old Francis mocks the older games and they set him up with Sinistar. They add a subwoofer and he almost pees his pants when ‘I LIVE!!!’ pops up. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/58 "2005-04-24T21:13:59Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > There’s a **hilarious** PvP where 15 year old Francis mocks the older games and they set him up with Sinistar. They add a subwoofer and he almost pees his pants when ‘I LIVE!!!’ pops up. [Found it](http://www.pvponline.com/archive.php3?archive=19990624). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/59 "2005-04-24T22:23:14Z")
Sinistar was also the first arcade game to feature stereo sound, if I remember right. (And it had an omnidirectional joystick, instead the standard 8-directional dealie.) The appearance of Sinistar was the only thing that made my knees shake the same way that damned pterodactyl in _Joust_ did. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730/60 "2005-04-24T23:40:01Z")
> [@The Sonoran Lizard King](#): > > Does anyone remember a two joystick console called KARATE CHAMP? Yup. Rather subtle for an arcade game, IMO – none of this _Street Fighter_-style flailing about, you actually had to use timing and strategy to win. Though Epyx’s home-computer wannabe, _World Karate Championship,_ was even better IMO. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-pre-1985-video-arcade-game/300730.md?page=4)