What Are the Best Arcade Games of All Time?

[stlgamer75]

If I say any of the below I feel compelled to play:

Donkey Kong
Mario Bros.
Ms. Pac Man
Crystal Castles
Gauntlet
Double Dragon
Arkanoid
Galaga

[hackfly]

My guess are: Donkey Kong (1981), Golden Axe (1989) and Sunset Riders (1991)

[gbpxl]

Track and Field
Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man
Galaga
OutRun

[Detonator]

1. Gravitar (Atari) Simply the best arcade game ever with incredible depth. 100% skill and tactics,
2. Xevious (Namco) Mother of all vertically scrolling shooter games.
3. Star Wars (Atari) (I actually played over 30 million in the arcade version. This game screams playability and requires actual pilot skills. It's much, much harder without the yoke but I've managed to play 2.9 mil with the mouse.)
4. Stargate (Williams) I prefer this over the original Defender.
5. Space Duel (This what Asteroids Deluxe should have been. 4 cool modes... I prefer the linked ship)
6. Tempest (Atari) I doubt this requires any explanation.
7. Empire Strikes Back (Atari) Hugely underrated sequel. Very addictive. Includes a similar buy-in that Tempest has... it's not actually buy-in but you need skills to advance in later levels.)
8. Pole Position (Namco) This is the only game of the mentioned that really shows its age.... but it's still the first ever decent driving arcade game. I remember how amazing it was when it first came out... the whole arcade just stared in in awe. Those were the days...
9. Space Ace (Cinematronics) Maybe not a great game but it deserves mention because it was actually a decent interactive adventure... MUCH better than Dragon's Lair actually... without those annoying black screen clicks... and back then this laserdisc system was sci-fi. I think DL and Space Ace were revolutionary because they put 2000's graphics to a 80's technology. Not sure if this is fully emulated in MAME though... but I have the original DVDs.
10.Raiden Fighters (Seibu Kaihatsu) This is probably the best modern shooter series... I absolutely love it... fast, furious... like Xevious on steroids.

Honorable mentions:

Track & Field, Battlezone, Defender, Robotron, Asteroids, Marble Madness, Bomb Jack, Mr Do, Mr Do's Castle, Zookeeper, Phozon, Puzzle Bobble, Money Puzzle Enchanger, Bal Cube, Indiana Jones, Galaga, Major Havoc, Quantum, I Robot, Black Widow, Centipede, Missile Command.

[Gandhara]

Pretty much every arcade game of the 70's, 80's and 90's rocks so all of those lol

I like the 70's for the multi player games, a lot of really fun stuff like Ace (the Bi-Plane duel game), Space War, Boot Hill & Gun Fight, various Tank games, Seawolf, Atari Sprint games, etc.. very simple yet really addictive if you have friends that will play them with you.

The 80's and 90's speak for themselves of course..

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

Pac-Man, Pole Position, OutRun and Arkanoid come to mind.