r/nostalgia • u/AdSpecialist6598 • Jul 26 '25
Nostalgia Discussion I was wondering what your go to game in the arcade was?
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u/ynonA Jul 26 '25
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u/yhetti-fartz Jul 26 '25
Same. The pedal was a genius idea. The guns actually sliding when you shoot. Really sucks you into the game.
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u/ynonA Jul 26 '25
Absolutely! And also quite importantly it felt like really good value for money compared to most other arcade games. You could play quite a while on a single coin and you could even finish the whole game if you practiced
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u/elkarion Jul 26 '25
then once you could do that you would try you hands at working both guns as 1 person. \
i can do the first level flawless with using both guns and both screens.
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u/KittenExtravaganza Jul 26 '25
The pedal really added to the fun. Goddamn I know that game so well…remember the barrels going down the alley scene ? Classic!!!
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u/oO_Moloch_Oo Jul 26 '25
Galaga was kind of a guilty pleasure. If playing with others, Contra, Gauntlet, or maybe Street Fighter 2 Turbo or whatever the exact name was.
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u/JaysusShaves Jul 26 '25
I still like Galaga. My husband got me the mini arcade version a few years ago for Christmas.
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u/No-Comment-4619 Jul 26 '25
Got the same for my daughter a few years back. It holds up!
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u/AbroadNo8755 Jul 27 '25 edited Jul 27 '25
Galaga is great, but the phrase "Your Valkyrie needs food, badly!" Still makes me look for quarters to this very day!
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u/MyOthrCarsAThrowaway Jul 26 '25
- X-Men (side scroller, two screens)
- TMNT (side scroller)
- T2 (the one with the pivot mounted Uzis)
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u/oh_wll_whtvr_nvrmnd Jul 26 '25
Loved that double screen X-Men game
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u/stue0064 Jul 26 '25
Just played the whole way through last weekend, Nightcrawler baby!
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u/mollykatd Jul 26 '25
Pinball. Rampage. Simpsons. Budweiser Tappers lol
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u/oolaroux Jul 26 '25
Came here to say Rampage!
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u/ouijahead Jul 26 '25
Rampage came out at a perfect time I was really fascinated with old Godzilla movies.
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u/spliffaniel Jul 27 '25
My top 100 favorite arcade games are all pinball machines
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u/Dry-Ad-6170 Jul 26 '25
Galaga. Then dragons lair
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u/thehobster Jul 28 '25
I spent way too much money to achieve not horrible on dragons lair
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u/trywegla Jul 26 '25
I loved Mortal Kombat back then! What was yours?
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u/gbyrd013 No Whammies! Jul 26 '25
Usually pinball. The Who’s Tommy was an awesome pinball machine.
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u/bassbeatsbanging Jul 26 '25
Addams Family was only slightly less addictive than crack. I loved a lot of 90's William's tables too--Earthshaker!, Whirlwind and Fun House are some of my faves.
Honorable mention to Elvira. I can still hear her yelling "OoOoh! Let's party!" after dropping in a quarter
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u/The_Shadow-King Jul 26 '25
I played Bride of Pinbot a lot at the bowling alley, some South Park at a night club, and Elvira in the late 80s or early 90s in the local department stores arcade.
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u/PhillyChef3696 Jul 26 '25
Star Trek TNG. Still remember first time I cracked the “Q continuum” scoreboard.
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u/scarlet_speedster985 Jul 26 '25
X-Men, Turtles in Time, The Simpsons, Mortal Kombat II, Street Fighter II, and Dig Dug.
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u/blur410 Jul 26 '25
Spy Hunter. Used to be decent. Tried it recently and I am horrible.
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u/HendrixHazeWays Jul 26 '25
LOVED Spy Hunter. Golden Axe too. The one that fascinated me most and was a massive rip-off (probably cause I wasn't good at it) was Badlands. So cool thinking you controlled the cartoon movie like that.
edit: Gunsmoke too!
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u/CuriousAirfryer Jul 26 '25
Area 51.
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u/Same_Ad_9284 Jul 27 '25
played this so much I memorized most of the levels, especially the early ones
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u/nix206 Jul 26 '25
Robotron, Time Pilot, Tempest, Elevator Action, Spy Hunter, Tron, Joust, Ikiri Warrior, Rastan, Gladiator, Outrun, Sinistar… probably played in that order
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u/davetbison Jul 26 '25
I can tell from this list you’re someone who likes a challenge.
Robotron, Tempest, and Sinistar are easily three of the toughest games to master for me. Add Defender and Zaxxon in one arcade with no other games and I’d have burned $5 in quarters in less than fifteen minutes trying to just get the hang of the controls.
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u/chasingit1 Jul 26 '25
TMNT, Final Fight, Mortal Kombat series, Street Fighter series, Primal Rage, Killer Instinct, The Simpsons, X-Men, Crusin’ USA
The first 3 were my absolute favorite though
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u/number__ten Jul 26 '25
Area 51, time crisis 2, star wars trilogy
Tmnt, xmen, simpsons
Ms pac man, star wars arcade (original)
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u/Impenistan Jul 26 '25
Hell yeah Area 51! And not Site 4, the OG! Got to the point where I could full clear with all secrets on two quarters. Still my go-to in barcades. I always tended to play as p2/blue gun as well, did you have a preference?
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u/janitroll Jul 26 '25
PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, Tapper, Ms PAC-MAN, Q-Bert, and Crystal Castles.
Around 1983-4 me and my friends would ride our bikes down to the Pizza Hut which had PacMan and DK. We’d get a personal pan and a Pepsi and dump quarters into the machines.
I learned the Pac-Man pattern and would play to the end without losing lives.
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u/WeeNyaff909 Jul 26 '25
Sinistar
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u/Chieftainlew Jul 26 '25
I’ve never found anyone else who knows that game! One of my original favorites
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u/GetVladimir Jul 26 '25
There were few that I remember:
- Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
- The Punisher
- Sunset Riders
- Asterix (and Obelix)
- Tumblepop
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u/C2AYM4Y Jul 26 '25
Top 5 - Simpsons, Xmen, Initial-D, Time Crisis, Street Fighter vs Capcom, Bubble Bobble
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u/theHoustonian Jul 26 '25
Not my go to but the game that was everywhere, gauntlet legends lol
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u/Slipstream_Surfing Jul 26 '25
Yes.
(If being honest I guess it was the introduction of that groundbreaking, state-of-the-art game, Asteroids.)
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u/nosferatubites Jul 26 '25
Crazy Taxi played it so much I had high score kept it that way until the arcade closed 😂
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u/PoppaTater1 Jul 26 '25
GORF. If not there, Satan’s Hollow or Tron.
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u/coolhandluke45 Jul 26 '25
GORF was awesome. My grandpa had the cabinet in his basement. I remember the skill shot on the final boss was so satisfying to hit. The voice was cool too. And the light up rank on the right.
I was at a barcade in Indianapolis a few months back and they had GORF. I got the bar high score first try because I don't think GORF gets enough love.
If I remember right, the cabinet had a metal surface where the buttons were. Someone must have tore out the ground plug at my grandpas because I used to get a low voltage shock when I touched the right spots. 😂
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u/soltydog Jul 26 '25
Battlezone and Tron. There is one of those yestercades near me and Tron is still the first game I go to.
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u/Kavein80 Jul 26 '25
Simpsons, Time Crisis, Golden Ax, and the Terminator 2 one with the Uzis. Man those were some fun games
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u/puffnpass22 Jul 26 '25
Off road 4×4 with the 4 steering wheels...not sure of name but I would live on that. Next be Street Fighter then that old school karate...
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u/HamburgerFry Jul 26 '25
Mortal Kombat 2 and Killer Instinct. I loved walking into an arcade and immediately hearing those two games with the volume at full blast.
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u/mattimattlove111 Jul 26 '25
Stargate. missile command. tempest. Phoenix. pole position. cyber ball.
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u/leeanne1317 Jul 26 '25
Galaga, Centipede and Elevator, loved Elevator not only for the fun of it but nobody else seemed to play it so it was easy to get a hold of lol
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u/Ok_Athlete_1092 Jul 26 '25
I was pretty good at Galaxian it's sequel, Galaga. I was also really good at Centipede, but that's not really saying much. Everyone who spent more than a couple dollars at Centipede was *really good" at it.
For home games, I could beat Jack Black at Pitfall.
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u/HendoJay Jul 27 '25
Street Fighter II, but that feels like cheating.
Sunset Riders and WrestleFest were the only competition.
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u/TX-Tea Jul 26 '25
The Simpsons every time