List of Popular Arcade Games
See also: Timeline of video arcade game historyThe games below are some of the most popular and/or influential games of the era.
| Vector display |
| Raster display |
| Name | Year | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Space Invaders | 1978 | Taito (Japan) / Midway (U.S.) | Considered the game that revolutionized the video game industry. The first blockbuster video game, it established the shoot 'em up genre, and has influenced most shooter games since. |
| Galaxian | 1979 | Namco (Japan) / Midway (U.S.) | Created to compete with Space Invaders. Featured a color screen and had aliens attack in swooping formation. |
| Lunar Lander | 1979 | Atari | First Atari game to use vector graphics |
| Asteroids | 1979 | Atari | Atari's most successful coin-operated game. |
| Battlezone | 1980 | Atari | Custom cabinet with novel dual-joystick controls, using two 2-way joysticks for movement, and periscope-like viewer. |
| Berzerk | 1980 | Stern Electronics | Early use of speech synthesis was also translated into other languages in Europe. |
| Centipede | 1980 | Atari | One of the first games to use trackball control, vertical monitor orientation. |
| Defender | 1980 | Williams Electronics | Was predicted to be outsold by Rally-X, but Defender trounced it, going on to sell 60,000 units |
| Missile Command | 1980 | Atari | One of the first games to use trackball control. Originally to have a localities-option that named the cities, but was determined too complicated. |
| Pac-Man | 1980 | Namco (Japan) / Midway (U.S.) | One of the most popular and influential games, it had the first gaming mascot, established maze chase genre, opened gaming to female audiences, and introduced power-ups and cutscenes. |
| Phoenix | 1980 | Amstar Electronics / Centuri (U.S.) / Taito (Japan) | Notable for its haunting melody accompaniment. One of the first games to feature a boss battle. |
| Rally-X | 1980 | Namco | First game to feature a "bonus" round, background music, and a radar. When released, was predicted to outsell two other new releases: Pac-Man and Defender. |
| Star Castle | 1980 | Cinematronics | The colors of the rings and screen are provided by a transparent plastic screen overlay |
| Tempest | 1980 | Atari | One of the first games to use a color vector display |
| Wizard of Wor | 1980 | Midway | Game featured maze-like dungeons infested with monsters and aliens. |
| Donkey Kong | 1981 | Nintendo | Laid foundations for platform game genre as well as visual storytelling in video games, and introduced Mario, the character who would become Nintendo's mascot. |
| Frogger | 1981 | Konami (Japan) / Sega-Gremlin (North America) | Novel gameplay free of fighting and shooting |
| Scramble | 1981 | Konami (Japan) / Stern (North America) | Horizontal scrolling shooter game |
| Galaga | 1981 | Namco (Japan) / Midway (North America) | Leapfrogged its predecessor, Galaxian, in popularity |
| Gorf | 1981 | Midway | Consisted of several levels, some of which were clones of other popular games. Featured synthesized speech. |
| Ms. Pac-Man | 1981 | Midway (North America) / Namco | Created from a bootlegged hack of Pac-Man. |
| Qix | 1981 | Taito | The objective is to fence off a supermajority of the play area |
| Vanguard | 1981 | SNK (Japan) / Centuri (US) | Early scrolling shooter that scrolls in multiple directions, and allows shooting in four directions, using four direction buttons, similar to dual-stick controls. |
| BurgerTime | 1982 | Data East (Japan) / Bally Midway (US) | Original title changed from Hamburger when brought to the U.S. from Japan |
| Dig Dug | 1982 | Namco (Japan) / Atari (North America) | Rated the sixth most popular coin-operated video game of all time |
| Donkey Kong Junior | 1982 | Nintendo | The last time Nintendo's mascot, Mario, was featured as an antagonist in a Nintendo game |
| Joust | 1982 | Williams Electronics | Contained a design flaw so popular it was intentionally touted by producers as a "hidden feature" |
| Jungle King | 1982 | Taito | An early side-scrolling (and diagonal-scrolling) platformer, featuring vine-swinging mechanics, run & jump sequences, climbing hills, and swimming. |
| Moon Patrol | 1982 | Irem (Japan) / Williams Electronics (U.S.) | The first arcade game to feature parallax scrolling. |
| Pengo | 1982 | Sega | A maze game set in an environment full of ice blocks, which can be used by the player's penguin, who can slide them to attack enemies. |
| Pole Position | 1982 | Namco (Japan) / Atari (U.S.) | A racing video game that popularized the third-person "rear-view racer format" player perspective |
| Q*bert | 1982 | Gottlieb | Became one of the most merchandised arcade games behind Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. |
| Robotron 2084 | 1982 | Williams Electronics | Featured novel dual joystick gameplay |
| Gravitar | 1982 | Atari | Not popular in the arcades due to its difficulty, but historically significant as the gameplay inspired many popular clones like Thrust and Oids. |
| Star Trek | 1982 | Sega | Space combat sim featuring five different controls, six different enemies, and 40 different simulation levels. One of the most elaborate vector games released. |
| Time Pilot | 1982 | Konami (Japan) / Centuri (U.S.) | Time travel themed aerial combat game with free-roaming gameplay in open air space that scrolls indefinitely in all directions, with player's plane always remaining centered. |
| Tron | 1982 | Bally Midway | Earned more than the film it was based on |
| Xevious | 1982 | Namco (Japan) / Atari (U.S.) | The first arcade video game to have a TV commercial. It was also responsible for popularizing vertical scrolling shooters. |
| Zaxxon | 1982 | Sega | First game to employ isometric axonometric projection, which the game was named after |
| Dragon's Lair | 1983 | Cinematronics (U.S.) / Taito (Japan) | An early laserdisc video game, which allowed film-quality animation in the game. |
| Elevator Action | 1983 | Taito | An action game where the protagonist must traverse the building's numerous levels via a series of elevators and escalators while acquiring documents |
| Gyruss | 1983 | Konami (Japan) / Centuri (U.S.) | Often remembered for its musical score that plays throughout the game, Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" |
| Mappy | 1983 | Namco (Japan) / Bally Midway (U.S.) | Featured early side-scrolling platforming action |
| Mario Bros. | 1983 | Nintendo | The first game featuring Nintendo's mascot, Mario, along with his brother, Luigi |
| Spy Hunter | 1983 | Bally Midway | Memorable for its music, "The Peter Gunn Theme", that plays throughout the game |
| Star Wars | 1983 | Atari | Features several digitized samples of actors' voices from the movie |
| Tapper | 1983 | Bally Midway | Originally aligned with American beer Budweiser, was revamped as Root Beer Tapper, so as not to be construed as attempting to peddle alcohol to minors |
| Track & Field | 1983 | Konami (Japan) / Centuri (North America) | The first Olympic-themed sports game. |
| 1942 | 1984 | Capcom | Capcom's first hit game |
| Paperboy | 1984 | Atari | Novel controls and high resolution display |
| Punch-Out!! | 1984 | Nintendo | A boxing fighting game featuring digitized voices, dual monitors, a third-person perspective, and 3D wire-frame graphics. |
Read more about this topic: Golden Age Of Arcade Video Games
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Went down the list of the dead.
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The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
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