The Top 10 Arcade Games Of All Time

Three boxed New Wave 1/6 scaled arcade cabinets, Missle Command, Qbert and Dragons Liar on a wooden table top surface.

Arcades are a massive part of gaming history and one of the reasons we set up Retro Delights so we could write about them to help contribute to a golden era not being forgotten.

In this list, we look at what we think are the top 10 greatest arcade games of all time, this was hard, so much so that we nearly changed it to a top 20!

10. Paperboy

A close up of an arcade playing the Paperboy arcade game.

Paperboy was a bit different, well, for starters, it had a bike handlebar with grips as a controller, in the game, you were a paperboy who had to deliver newspapers to customers while while avoiding the dangers on the streets.

Released by Atari Games in April 1985, you would have to throw the papers to a customer's door or mailbox, if you didn’t, you would lose customers or gain them if you delivered the correct amount.

9. Dragons Liar

A close up of an arcade playing the Dragons Liar arcade game.

June 19th 1983, was the exact date Dragons Liar became known to the world as the first full animation laser disc video game.

Controlling our hero, Dirk the Daring, to try and rescue Princess Daphne from an evil wizard, which involved pulling off the right move at the right time to complete each sequence in the game.

The game required 200 correct moves to complete, which was no mean feat, it could be frustrating, which ultimately added to the reward if you did manage to complete the game.

8. Tron

A close up of an arcade playing the Tron arcade game.

Tron was released as an arcade in the same year as the film in 1982 and was produced by Bally Midway in a deal with Disney and sold over 20,000 cabinets.

You could choose from four digital areas, which were based on the film: Battle Tanks, Light Cycles, I/O Tower and MCP Cone, if you completed all four, you would go again, and it would get more difficult each time.

The cabinet had an iconic look and feel, with its backlights and translucent blue joystick in a dark arcade, it stood out and added to its appeal.

7. Donkey Kong

A close up of an arcade playing the Donkey Kong arcade game.

The first game in the Donkey Kong series was released in 1981 by Nintendo; Donkey Kong was also one of the first games in the platform genre itself.

Donkey Kong is the villain in the game and has kidnapped the girlfriend of none other than a now well-known plumber appearing in his first game, Mario.

The game had four different stages, and Mario would make his way by climbing up ladders whilst avoiding or destroying obstacles with his hammer, getting to the top of the platform, and then moving on to the next stage.

6. Star Wars

A close up of an arcade playing the Star Wars arcade game.

The Star Wars arcade allows you to reenact Luke Skywalker and the Death Star trench run, as a kid, this was a big deal.

Star Wars: A New Hope was released in 1977, but the arcade didn’t follow until 1983, the same year as Return Of The Jedi, it had 3D vector graphics and speech samples from the film, which created a real feel of the film.

5. Gauntlet

A close up of an arcade playing the Guantlet arcade game.

Gauntlet was released in 1986 by Atari Games, inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons board game; you could have up to four players taking the role of Thor the warrior, Merlin the wizard, Thyra the Valkyrie or Questor the elf.

The game played like a shoot 'em up within a series of mazes; you had to find the exit to each level whilst avoiding/killing the enemies on each maze.

4. Bubble Bobble

A close up of an arcade playing the Bubble bobble arcade game.

Bubble Bobble was released by Taito in 1986 with two players being able to take control of the dragons Bub and Bob to help them find their kidnapped girlfriends in a charming platform game where you would fire bubbles at the enemies and then burst them on each level to progress.

Accompanied by one of the catchiest sound scores to grace a game, Bubble Bobble was a big hit and went on to have many sequels and many platforms.

3. Outrun

A close up of an arcade playing the Outrun arcade game.

Released in 1986 by Sega as a stand-up and sit-down cabinet, Outrun oozed cool and set the standard for driving games.

Driving a Ferrari convertible with your girlfriend by your side along the coast with some of the best musical scores to be heard on an arcade, Outrun was a joy to play and still is.

2. Pacman

A close up of an arcade playing the Pacman arcade game.

You can't mention arcade without PAC-MAN coming up, the game was released first in Japan in July 1980 and was licensed to the Midway Manufacturing company in the United and released a few months later in October 1980 in the United States and worldwide soon after.

PAC-MAN became more than a video game; it became an Icon, designed in the Japanese style Kawaii, which some would say is cute. Toru Iwatani who directed the game, wanted it to appeal to women as well as men.

Iconic graphics, iconic sounds and simple addictive gameplay control PAC-MAN in a maze with the objective of eating all the pills to progress to the next level. In the process, you must avoid the ghosts that accompany each maze, with the caveat that if PAC-MAN eats one of the four power pellets on each stage, the ghosts will temporarily flash, and PAC-MAN can eat them (if you can catch them, that is).

1. Space Invaders

A close up of an arcade playing the Space Invaders arcade game

This game needs no introduction, created by Tomohiro Nishikado and released in Japan in June 1978 by Taito and worldwide a few months later in October 1978.

The aim of the game, controlling a laser cannon, was to protect Earth from the waves of alien invaders that were coming down towards you from the top of the screen.

You had three lives, but the game would end if the aliens managed to reach you and the bottom of the screen, you had to avoid shots fired by the aliens either by moving out of the way or hiding behind bunkers.

Special mention to the iconic sounds of Space Invaders, from the firing of the laser to an invader being evaporated after being successfully hit to the prominent sound of the mystery ship, always accompanied by the continuous beat, which got faster and faster to add to the tension whilst playing the game.

Honorable mentions