# What was your favorite \*arcade\* game? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [December 20, 2023, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902 "2023-12-20T20:54:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/41 "2023-12-21T01:25:49Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > > [@Czarcasm](#): > > > > Which one had the weapons that would drop down on the roof of the moving car? > > Sounds like [Spy Hunter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy_Hunter). Nope. At least not the original Spy Hunter (maybe one of the sequels had this feature). In the original, you drove into semi trailers that had an icon on them indicating the weapon upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/42 "2023-12-21T01:36:53Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > You didn’t get a 3-D image, but you looked thorough a visor, yes. I just checked Wiki and it says it had true 3-D. [Battlezone (1980 video game) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_(1980_video_game)) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/43 "2023-12-21T01:39:31Z")
Found it! It was “RoadBlasters”. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/44 "2023-12-21T01:48:27Z")
A favorite from the 90s was Lucky & Wild. It was a combination driving/lightgun game in a big sit-down cabinet for two people. One person drove and shot, and the passenger just shot. Spent a lot of time at the arcade at the beach playing that thing. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/45 "2023-12-21T02:11:46Z")
I was, frankly terrible at most video games as a kid in the 80s. Didn’t mean I didn’t love them, but I spent a LOT more time watching good players than playing myself. Games I remember liking and not being so utterly terrible at that I gave up entirely: Dig-Dug Contra Tempest (lots of mentions so far) Centipede Joust And then the tie-ins: Tron Star Wars Tron was arguably a terrible game and I wasn’t great at it, but still kept coming back to. Probably because of the theme music. And Star Wars felt and was (IMHO a great game of time) but has been superseded by so many better PC versions it took a minute to come back to me. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/46 "2023-12-21T02:31:58Z")
Side-scrolling beat-em-ups were what I mostly played - Simpsons, TMNT, Final Fight, Alien vs. Predator, games like that. I also enjoyed the occasional go at Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat (though I was never good enough to beat other human players) and light gun games like Lethal Enforcers or House of the Dead. My all-time favorite was probably the Terminator 2 gun game. It was unique in that it had the SMG-type gun mounted to the cabinet instead of a light gun, with auto-fire and a button for a grenade launcher, and it was the very first arcade game I ever saw that took two quarters to play instead of just one so it was a special treat to play it as a kid. There was something so satisfying about just keeping your finger on the trigger and mowing down waves of endoskeletons, though it wasn’t until I was an adult and I could spend as much money on a game as I wanted to that I actually got to the later stages where you travel to “the present” and fight the T-1000. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/47 "2023-12-21T02:34:49Z")
I was never into video games very much. I was more into pinball. I’ve played so many pinball games in my life, and can’t remember all of them, but a few I have found to be memorable: Card Whiz (2 player) / Royal Flush (4 player) Out of Sight Atlantis Captain Fantastic Black Knight Eight Ball KISS Metallica Creature from the Black Lagoon ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/48 "2023-12-21T02:37:07Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I was never into video games very much. I was more into pinball. These days, when I make it to an arcade, I probably spend more time on pinball than on the video games. I’ve never been particularly great at pinball, but I enjoy it, and there are a handful of machines (including, funny enough, Terminator 2) that I can really rack up some high scores on. Have you ever gotten to play Hercules? I’ve only ever seen it in the wild twice and it’s a pretty unique game, though fairly difficult to play because of the oversized ball. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Tn5eF34Ql5g/hqdefault.jpg "1979 Atari HERCULES Pinball Machine In Action") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn5eF34Ql5g) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/49 "2023-12-21T02:43:27Z")
> [@mtnmatt](#): > > My favorite, though was Fire Truck, which was a driving game, with the wrinkle that there were steering wheels for both the front and rear, and you could play together, or alone, from either spot. I’m not old enough to have seen it as a kid, but it makes a regular appearance at the California Extreme arcade/pinball show: [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/eXZZJ2G.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/eXZZJ2G) Lots of fun. As for me, it would have to be The Simpsons arcade game. Mainly because it was the best game at a restaurant my family frequented as a kid. So I’d play a game or two basically weekly. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/50 "2023-12-21T02:50:10Z")
There were so many great ones back in the day. Most of mine are from the late 80s, and included Gauntlet (blue wizard needs more food 😜), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Robocop, and Ghostbusters. I’d enjoy those while all the other kids were crowded around Super Mario Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/51 "2023-12-21T02:52:28Z")
The Peter Gunn theme in the game was great (though I always thought of it as the Courageous Cat theme) ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/52 "2023-12-21T03:09:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > My all-time favorite was probably the Terminator 2 gun game. It was unique in that it had the SMG-type gun mounted to the cabinet instead of a light gun, with auto-fire and a button for a grenade launcher, and it was the very first arcade game I ever saw that took two quarters to play instead of just one so it was a special treat to play it as a kid. The first one I can remember was Operation Wolf from the late 80s which was a similar format. Do you remember the Aerosmith game with the same setup? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/53 "2023-12-21T03:23:31Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Do you remember the Aerosmith game with the same setup? Revolution X! IIRC it was a conversion kit for the Terminator 2 cabinet. I was never into that one, but my dad, who went to high school with some of the future members of Aerosmith in the '60s, absolutely loved it. [![](https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/DjQAAOSwhOBk267k/s-l640.jpg) ](https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/DjQAAOSwhOBk267k/s-l640.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/54 "2023-12-21T03:46:11Z")
My quarter suckers were: Karate Champ Vs. (this was one of those games I could get a crowd behind me watching how far I could get) Punch Out! Outrun Those three are about the only three arcade games I wasted my time on. Oh, I guess Gauntlet as well, but that was more a communal experience. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/55 "2023-12-21T03:50:00Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Have you ever gotten to play Hercules? I’ve only ever seen it in the wild twice and it’s a pretty unique game, though fairly difficult to play because of the oversized ball. I’ve seen it a few times, but that was years ago. I never played it because the whole machine was, well, oversized: the ball and the cabinet width especially. Plus, with a plastic ball and a playfield that didn’t slope very steeply, gameplay was slow. It didn’t interest me—it wasn’t even very exciting or fun to watch others play—so I didn’t play it. But I do remember it. Thinking of oversized pinballs, did you know that probably the biggest one ever made was, “The Time of your Life,” from 1948? This was a special limited edition by Bally (only 6 were made), designed to promote the 1948 movie, _The Time of Your Life_; and placed in the lobbies of theatres showing the film. A photo from the Internet Pinball Database shows just how big it was: [![](https://www.ipdb.org/images/2529/image-1.jpg) ](https://www.ipdb.org/images/2529/image-1.jpg) Now that’s one I’d like to try. Sadly, I’m pretty sure that none of the six manufactured survived. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/56 "2023-12-21T03:53:31Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Now that’s one I’d like to try. Hard to tell from that low-res photo, but it looks like one of the older pachinko-style boards; no flippers, you just launch the ball with the plunger and your score is determined by what targets the ball hits on its way to the drain. Probably for the best; you’d probably have to run back and forth between the two sides of the board to be able to hit the buttons. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/57 "2023-12-21T04:18:42Z")
That’s right. There were no flippers—they had only been invented the previous year, by Gottlieb (\*), and “The Time of Your Life” was a Bally machine. On a flipperless machine, you launched the ball, and let it drop. You could nudge the machine to try to score more, but not too much, which is why Tilt mechanisms were invented. But that was the extent of what you could control. (\*) The first game with flippers was Gottlieb’s “Humpty Dumpty” from 1947. I’ve never seen a real one, except in photos, but I have played a computer simulation. The flippers gave you some control, but not much. There were six of them, arranged in two columns of three each, on the left and right sides of the playfield, and they were quite short. Needless to say, once the ball passed the lowest pair, it was gone. Still, quite the innovation. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/58 "2023-12-21T04:59:27Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Side-scrolling beat-em-ups were what I mostly played - Simpsons, TMNT, Final Fight, Alien vs. Predator, games like that. I have fond memories of playing Golden Axe 2 and the X-Men arcade game. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ9KIVaK9nM) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/59 "2023-12-21T05:40:42Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I have fond memories of playing Golden Axe 2 and the X-Men arcade game. The X-Men cabinet with six different positions for each playable character was a thing to behold, though I don’t think I ever participated in or even saw six people all playing one at once. As a kid Cyclops was my favorite character, but I usually played Storm because I thought she had the best special attack. That game’s also memorable for one of the strangest translation/VO choices in any arcade game this side of House of the Dead; [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/IdAmkx8eAos/hqdefault.jpg "X-Men (Arcade Game) - Welcome to Die") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdAmkx8eAos) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902/60 "2023-12-21T06:05:42Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > Have you ever gotten to play Hercules? I’ve only ever seen it in the wild twice and it’s a pretty unique game, though fairly difficult to play because of the oversized ball. > > I’ve seen it a few times, but that was years ago. I never played it because the whole machine was, well, oversized: the ball and the cabinet width especially. Plus, with a plastic ball and a playfield that didn’t slope very steeply, gameplay was slow. It didn’t interest me—it wasn’t even very exciting or fun to watch others play—so I didn’t play it. But I do remember it. It sounds like the machine you saw was badly set up. The one I worked on at the now-defunct Museum of Pinball used a billiards ball. Underpowered flipper coils would kill that game; you’d need a flatter slope just to get the ball back to the top of the playfield. My biggest complaint about the game is that it was almost impossible to nudge. I’m not even sure they bothered installing a tilt bob on the thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-arcade-game/994902.md?page=4)