Classic Arcade Games A–Z

Donkey Kong 1981 Born from a salvage job on surplus Radar Scope cabinets, Shigeru Miyamoto's 1981 Donkey Kong became a $280…

Donkey Kong Jr. 1982 In 1982, Nintendo flipped the script: you play Donkey Kong Jr. rescuing his caged father from a now-villainous…

Mario Bros. 1983 Mario Bros. (1983, Nintendo) introduced Luigi and recast Mario as a sewer-dwelling plumber, with the green brother's name…

Popeye 1982 Popeye, the 1982 Platform game arcade game by Nintendo. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it…

Punch-Out!! 1984 Built from surplus Donkey Kong monitors, Nintendo's 1984 Punch-Out!! stacked two screens—one for stats and portraits, the other…

Champion Baseball 1983 Champion Baseball's split-screen design—an unusual 1983 approach pairing outfield and batter views—propelled Sega's arcade game to the top…

Champion Baseball 1983 Sega's 1983 arcade hit Champion Baseball topped Japan's Game Machine charts for three consecutive months, with operators reporting…

Pengo 1982 Sega's 1982 maze arcade game Pengo starred an anthropomorphic penguin whose block-pushing, enemy-trapping mechanic would directly shape Hudson…

Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator 1983 Sega's 1983 Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator merged sector-based strategy with first-person vector combat, a hybrid that set…

Zaxxon 1981 Zaxxon, the 1981 scrolling shooter arcade game by Sega. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it…

Asteroids 1979 When Atari's 1979 Asteroids hit arcades, it dethroned Space Invaders as America's top game, selling over 70,000 cabinets…

Battlezone 1980 In 1980, Atari's Battlezone didn't just pioneer the first-person 3D arcade shooter—it caught the U.S. Army's eye, prompting…

Centipede 1981 Designed by Dona Bailey—one of the first women to design a commercial arcade game—Atari's 1981 Centipede swapped shooters'…

Crystal Castles 1983 Crystal Castles, the 1983 Maze arcade game by Atari. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it…

Dig Dug 1982 Dig Dug's 1982 hook weaponized the terrain itself: players inflate enemies with an air pump or lure them…

Gravitar 1982 Atari's 1982 color vector shooter posed a brutal fuel dilemma: pilots had to tractor-beam tanks from hostile planet…

Lunar Lander 1979 Atari's 1979 Lunar Lander was so quickly eclipsed by Asteroids that the first 300 Asteroids cabinets shipped sporting…

Missile Command 1980 Atari's 1980 Missile Command captured Cold War tensions by design — Dave Theurer stripped real city names and…

Paperboy 1985 Atari Games' 1985 Paperboy replaced the joystick with modified Star Wars yoke handlebars, letting players steer a bicycle…

Star Wars 1983 Star Wars, the 1983 arcade game by Atari. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it (or…

Elevator Action 1983 Taito set 1983's Elevator Action apart from the space and fantasy craze, casting Agent 17 to infiltrate a…

Front Line 1982 Taito's 1982 Front Line predated Capcom's Commando as one of the earliest overhead run-and-gun games. Its hijackable tanks…

Jungle Hunt 1982 Taito's 1982 Jungle Hunt was hastily reworked from its Tarzan-like predecessor Jungle King after the Burroughs estate sued,…

Qix 1981 Qix, the 1981 Puzzle arcade game by Taito. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it (or…

Space Invaders 1978 Tomohiro Nishikado's 1978 Taito shooter is often cited as the first Japanese-developed video game to use a microprocessor,…

Frogger 1981 Decades after Konami's 1981 Frogger won over distributors who dismissed a hopping frog as unfit for arcades, the…

Gyruss 1983 Gyruss, the 1983 Tube shooter arcade game by Konami. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it…

Scramble 1981 Scramble, the 1981 arcade game by Konami. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it (or find…

Time Pilot 1982 Time Pilot, the 1982 Multidirectional Shooter arcade game by Konami. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play…

Defender 1981 Williams Electronics' 1981 Defender pulled in over a billion dollars in coin revenue, finishing the year as the…

Joust 1982 Williams' 1982 Joust rejected space-shooter conventions in favor of knights dueling by height atop flying ostriches, flapping past…

Robotron: 2084 1982 A broken wrist from a car accident pushed Eugene Jarvis toward twin joysticks, making Williams' 1982 Robotron: 2084…

Sinistar 1983 Sinistar, the 1983 arcade game by Williams Electronics. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it (or…

Spy Hunter 1983 Spy Hunter, the 1983 vehicular combat driving game by Bally Midway. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to…

Tapper 1984 Tapper (1984, Bally Midway) was sponsored by Anheuser-Busch and used actual Budweiser tap handles as its joystick —…

Tron 1982 Tron, the 1982 Action arcade game by Bally Midway. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it…

Gorf 1981 Midway's 1981 Gorf paired a dedicated speech chip with five escalating missions, letting the Gorfian robot taunt players…

Ms. Pac-Man 1982 Born from an unlicensed MIT student hack of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man debuted February 1982 via Midway and Namco—and…

Pac-Man 1980 Toru Iwatani's 1980 maze game for Namco famously drew players who found arcade shooters too hostile, and its…

Galaga 1981 Namco's 1981 fixed shooter introduced a signature twist on Galaxian: Boss Galagas could tractor-beam your ship, and a…

Pole Position 1982 Namco's 1982 Pole Position made racing history as the first game built around a real circuit, modeling Fuji…

Rally-X 1980 Rally-X, the 1980 Maze chase arcade game by Namco. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it…

1942 1984 Capcom's 1984 vertical shooter 1942 was deliberately built around WWII and an American P-38 Lightning to appeal to…

Berzerk 1980 Stern Electronics' 1980 Berzerk was among the first arcade games to literally talk back — digitized speech taunted…

BurgerTime 1982 BurgerTime, the 1982 arcade game by Data East / Bally Midway. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to…

Dragon’s Lair 1983 One of just three video games in the Smithsonian alongside Pong and Pac-Man, Cinematronics' 1983 Dragon's Lair pairs…

Galaxian 1979 Namco's 1979 Galaxian broke from Space Invaders with tile-based hardware and true RGB sprites — a circuit board…

Kangaroo 1982 Kangaroo's 1982 Sunsoft arcade run stands out for mapping jumps to an upward joystick push rather than a…

Karate Champ 1984 Technōs Japan's 1984 Karate Champ established the one-on-one fighting game genre with its twin-joystick control scheme and became…

Kung-Fu Master 1984 Credited as the first true beat 'em up, this 1984 Irem arcade release shaped both Super Mario Bros.…

Mappy 1983 Bouncing on trampolines that wear out with every use, a police mouse reclaims stolen goods from a mansion…

Moon Patrol (1982) — Arcade Game History, Facts & Collector Guide | RetroArcade 1982 Irem's 1982 Moon Patrol is widely credited as one of the earliest arcade games to use true parallax…

Phoenix 1980 Phoenix, the 1980 arcade game by Taito/Centuri. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it (or find…

Q*bert 1982 Q*bert, the 1982 Action-Puzzle arcade game by Gottlieb. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it (or…

Star Castle 1980 Cinematronics' 1980 Star Castle set itself apart with a clever shield-breaching conceit, its black-and-white vector display tinted yellow,…

Tempest 1981 Tempest, the 1981 Tube shooter arcade game by Atari, Inc. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play…

Track & Field 1983 Track & Field, the 1983 Sports arcade game by Konami/Centuri. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play…

Vanguard 1981 Vanguard, the 1981 scrolling shooter by SNK/Centuri. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play it (or find…

Wizard of Wor Midway's 1981 Wizard of Wor stood out by letting two players either team up or turn on each…

Xevious 1982 Xevious, the 1982 Vertically Scrolling Shooter arcade game by Namco. History, gameplay, hardware, ports, and where to play…