I haven't been writing on here as often as I'd like due to my work schedule, and it will be a bit before I'm ready to review any new games, so here goes with another top ten list to tide me and my faithful reader over until the next review!
Usually I'll give a quick caveat at the beginning, apologizing if your favorite game has been left off the list, and boy does that apply here. I was born after the hey day of the arcade, never went seriously to a physical arcade, and experienced arcade games largely through their console ports, with a few exceptions. As such, my arcade experience is highly colored due to the nature of my interests, but also the number of games that were ever ported to consoles. If it didn't get a console port, I've probably never played it, but I'm doing my best to address this shortfall as best I can by getting access to more arcade ports and by visiting a great little barcade in the city near my house. I've been once, and really enjoyed myself, so I think I'll be returning very soon.
Due to my woeful lack of education regarding arcades and the titanic number of titles from forty plus years of arcade gaming, I won't even bother to do a list of games I've never played or don't have enough experience with. This must be my most subjective list ever due to small sample size, so deal with it!
10. Donkey Kong
While I feel like Donkey Kong hasn't aged too well, I have to give it credit for creating one of my most beloved genres, and for 1981, this game is darn impressive across the board.
9. Arkanoid
My wife and I played this at the barcade a few weeks ago, and we honestly could have played it all night long. It takes the concept for breakout, cranks it up a level, and it's crazy fun, with a great spinner controller to tie it all together.
8/4. Marvel v. Capcom/Marvel v. Capcom 2
I'll take "reasons why my Dreamcast system rating isn't higher for 1000, Alex". All of my favorite Dreamcast games are arcade games, in my mind. Even though the Dreamcast ports for them are always technically flawless, the controller leaves a lot to be desired. I guess I'll just have to get a Dreamcast arcade stick *shudders at the cost*. Anyway, these two games are incredible, deep fighters, and totally hooked me in the arcades. Marvel v. Capcom was the very first game I purchased for my PS1, and though I've upgraded to the superior Dreamcast version in the years since, I'll always love both of these games. The second is just bigger and better in every way than the first, and is a real "whoa" moment in arcade history in terms of visuals and gameplay. That's why it gets the bump up to 4, and may deserve to be even higher.
7. Ikaruga
I don't want to scoop myself too much for a future What I'm Playing, but I've been messing around with Ikaruga a bit for the past month on the PS4, and find myself extremely impressed. It's got an awesome gameplay mechanic, wonderful visuals and sound, and has extremely sharp level design that integrates its mechanic to the maximum. It's also crushingly difficult, which means I'll be playing around with it for a while yet to come. Arcade shooters, and particularly vertical shooters, are the number one genre I want to experience more of in the years to come, and this game has been a delightful breath of creativity for me that makes me want more.
6. X-Men
This one gets a huge nostalgia bump for me, as it's the sole game on this list that I associate purely with the arcade. They used to have a four player cabinet of this at the local Chuck E. Cheese, back when Chuck actually had some arcade games, rather than just stupid carnival cons. I would burn every token into this game with a rotating cast of new friends, but I'd only play if I could be Nightcrawler, who is totally dope in this game. Over the years, I've felt like its quality had faded in comparison to the very similar Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons, which replaced X-Men a few years later. They had all three at the barcade, and after running the turtles and the X-Men for about 15 minutes a piece, I can safely say that X-Men is far superior. It's got much more fair boss battles, an excellent power up system that feels impactful, and is visually really great. Dontello and co. participate in a shameless quarter suck with unwinnable boss battles, and it's terrible. The SNES port of Turtles in Time is fantastic, but that one is junk. Next time I go to the barcade, I'll try out Simpsons and compare.
5. Tekken 3
My predominant experience with Tekken 3 is on the Playstation, but I've played it a few times in various arcades, and it's phenomenal everywhere. Everyone has their favorite 3D fighter, and while Dead or Alive and Soul Calibur have their merits, I'll take Tekken every time. This game represented a huge leap forward for the game in terms of roster diversity, and it's just awesome.
3. Pac-Man
It's probably the most important video game of all-time, and it's still extremely fun. Ms. Pac-Man is slightly better, but we'll give the edge to the OG here, and say that anything with these mechanics will be awesome forever.
2/1. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike/Street Fighter II
Street Fighter III: Third Strike is unquestionably the better game of the two, but Street Fighter II has the most nostalgia of any arcade game on this list. I played it in arcades, convenience stores, SNES, Genesis...wherever I could get my hands on it. I learned to hadouken and how to shoryuken, and became a Ryu main for life. You can't go wrong with either, so crack open a roll of quarters, and get down to the arcade!
-TRO
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