10 Retro Arcade Games That Defined the ’80s

Could Double Dragon be any more 80s? This was a massive hit in arcades back in the day. Players control Billy and Jimmy Lee as you try to save Billy’s girlfriend from an evil street gang. While this is rather basic by today’s standards, this original Double Dragon truly was an inspirational title as it spawned a ton of awesome beat-em-ups.

Would we have gotten titles like Final Fight, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Streets of Rage without Double Dragon? There was nothing like standing shoulder to shoulder with a friend or even a stranger in the arcade as you two kicked all kinds of bad guy butt. This was a massive hit when it came home too with the NES version being a different take on the arcade original.

While Rampage may not make everyone’s top 10 arcade games of the 80s lists, I knew this had to make mine. This is a classic one-screen arcade game where you play as either George the gorilla, Ralph the wolf, or Lizzie the lizard/dinosaur/crocodile, or whatever the heck Lizzie is. The idea was that you play as the monster and you just smash all the buildings and eat all the humans. Gruesome!

This is fun stuff and while it was available as a two player machine, Rampage was a novel game in that you could play this in three player. This may be a shallow experience, but Rampage was a huge hit. Not only did Rampage get ported to pretty much anything that could play a video game, it also got various sequels throughout the years and even a big-budget Hollywood movie starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson!

Coming out right at the end of the 80s, Final Fight from Capcom took what Double Dragon and the other 80s beat-em-ups did and made it bigger and better. Huge impressive looking sprites, bone-crunching gameplay, and an epic and gritty story that was like something out of an 80s action movie. Each character, Cody, Guy, and Hagger, felt different and they had way more moves than what Double Dragon offered.

This was a real eye catcher back in the day and it would take a few years for it to get ported to the home systems. Super Nintendo would get a rather butchered port, but the Sega CD got a tremendous port. A fun little bit of trivia about Final Fight is that the game was originally called Street Fighter 89, which is fitting as multiple characters from Final Fight would show up in Street Fighter over the years.

Sega had so many amazing arcade classics that they could have a whole list dedicated to them. Out Run was a game changer. We had many great racing games before this, but Out Run was not a racing game, it was a “driving” game. The idea was that you and your hottie girlfriend were driving down the highway in your Ferrari listening to amazing music as you went.

This is just a fun game pure and simple, the way you could pick between two routes at certain points of the game made for some amazing replay. Also, you can’t talk about the Out Run arcade game without mentioning the amazing sit-down arcade cabinet that actually made you feel like you were in a car. Arcade 1Up made a really awesome ¾ version of this for the home market and if you are a huge fan of this arcade classic, it is well worth looking into, although it does not have the Ferrari license unfortunately.

You know Centipede was a big deal as it was one of the games used in the “hit” movie Pixels! Hey, I say that in jest, but I actually loved that movie. You could argue that the sequel Millipede was better, but there is no denying that Centipede is the more well-known and beloved game.

You play as a guy who needs to shoot a centipede and some other nasties as they make their way down the screen. The twist here is that the centipede will split off if you do not shoot it in the head, making clearing the stage far more challenging. This was a premier trackball game back in the day and while it did get ported to many, many home systems, even ones that offered trackball support, nothing quite matched the magic of getting a high score on this in the arcades!

We are going back to Sega now with a game that had to make this top 10 arcade games of the 80s list. In the 80s high fantasy movies were a big deal and this game offered us the chance to live out our Conan and to a lesser extent, Beast Master dreams. With three playable characters, Golden Axe was a fantastic beat-em-up. As well as each character having a weapon that they could slay the enemies with, you could also use magic.

There was some strategy here too, as you could use your magic as soon as you got it, or save it to do a more damaging attack later. You could even ride on beasts which was a ton of fun. With amazing graphics and an epic soundtrack, Golden Axe would be released early in the life of the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and it was a showcase title that showed the 16-bit generation could bring the arcade experience home. Ironically, it also signaled the end for the arcades as home hardware was becoming as powerful as what you could play in the arcade.

Galaga is such an iconic arcade game that it was even featured in the first Avengers movie! Space Invaders was huge no doubt, but games like Galaga would take what Space Invaders started to a new level. This game offered more strategy and it became a massive hit.

Galaga was a very popular game in arcades, but it would also be seen in bars, laundromats, convenience stores, and all other kinds of places.. Like some other games on this list, Galaga would be surpassed by other games. Galaxian for example would take the Galaga formula and better it. However, there are millions of people who all still have a soft spot for Galaga. With how many times Namco has re-released recently, Galaga is never going to go away!

Licensed video games were a huge deal in the 80s, 90s, and even all the way up to the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era. One of the first amazing licensed games was Star Wars from Atari. The stunning vector graphics, the use of dialogue from the movie, and the amazing rendition of the classic Star Wars theme all made you feel like you were Luke Skywalker as you shot down Tie-Fighters and blew up the Death Star.

While it only has a handful of levels that loop, this is such an addictive game to play and you really do feel like a Jedi when you see your name on the high score. Star Wars had an amazing sit-down version as well as a regular stand-up version, and it also used a yoke controller which again helped with the immersion. This would be ported to many systems and Arcade 1Up has even made a ¾ scale replica of it.

While Mario is without a doubt Nintendo’s flagship character, you could easily make the argument that Nintendo is the house that Donkey Kong built! This is the first “Mario” game where you control a not-yet-named Mario as you make your way to the top of the screen to save Pauline from Donkey Kong. This is an absolute arcade classic and many people are shocked at just how difficult Donkey Kong is!

For hardcore old school gamers, there is something truly special about being good at Donkey Kong and getting your initials on a high scoreboard. Donkey Kong would go on to become one of the biggest and most iconic characters in gaming and he is still getting video games to this day. It is worth mentioning that there is an amazing documentary called The King of Kong which is about people trying to get a high score on Donkey Kong.

Ok, I will admit that Ms. Pac-Man is a superior game, but when it comes to the top 10 arcade games of the 80s, you cannot leave the original Pac-Man off this list. Pac-Man is in many ways the perfect game, as it is something that anyone can play.

This is a game that is easy to pick up and play, but it is so hard to master. Pac-Man is a game that was and is loved by people of all ages. Pac-Man was also the first big video game star as he would get merch, a TV series, and even a song all made for him. It is a simple game, but the fun is in its simplicity: just clear the board of all the dots, grab the fruit, and watch out for the ghosts! It can be a really frantic and tense time, especially if you are playing in an actual arcade with people watching over your shoulder.

The original Pac-Man has been ported to pretty much everything, you can even play it on a smartwatch! Namco has also re-released it, re-made it, and even put Pac-Man in a ton of spin-offs over the years too. Pac-Man is truly one of gaming’s biggest icons and a character that most people will instantly recognize, no matter how much of a video game fan they are.