I was inspired by Joe's talk of Robotron 2084 and Smash TV. I just have to talk about Eugene Jarvis.
Jarvis is in a league of his own. In his 25-year carreer, he always worked in the videogame field, except for a short hiatus. Even more so, instead of hopping left and right among gaming companies, he spent almost all his career (save for a short sting designing pinball machines for Atari) working directly or indirectly for Williams Electronics (now Midway).
He even released a new arcade game last summer, called TARGET: TERROR. In fact, in all his career, he strictly designed arcade games.
Here are some of the games he's worked on:
Defender
Stargate (aka Defender II)
Robotron 2084
Smash TV
NARC
Cruisin' USA/World/Exotica
Target: Terror
Jarvis' games are like good wine: they age gracefully and retain their playability even as time passes. Even the oft-overlooked Cruisin' series are fun arcade driving games that don't bother too much with the physics of real-life driving, concentrating instead on the fun of picking the steering wheel and driving away.
Here are some links to articles and interviews pertaining to Jarvis:
Gamespot, June 2004
IGN.com - Cruisin' World (April 1997)
IGN.com - Cruisin' World part II (April 1997)
Way of the Rodent, 2004
e-book Halcyon Days (1997)
Joystick Magazine, Sept. 1982
Salon.com, March 2004
1up.com, July 2004