The Five Best Arcade Games Of All-Time

Since the birth of arcade games they’ve been a huge hit, with many games from the 1980s as iconic and relevant today as they were back then. They’ve inspired many modern-day games, as well as adapting to other forms of media, whether that be movies, casino, or television.

Today you’ll still find arcade games everywhere, from bowling alleys to an extensive range of arcade games on online bingo sites UK and casinos, offering the same great gameplay but the chance to earn money too. Some arcade games come and go, left to be forgotten about, while others remain for decades, enjoyed by generations of different players. But what are the best arcade games of all time?

Pac-Man

It’s impossible not to begin with Pac-Man, a game developed and released in 1980 by Namco. The maze arcade game is incredibly simple, but one that completely revolutionized gaming at the time, with its iconic title character and exhilarating gameplay. The aim of the game was to guide Pac-Man through a maze to eat all the dots within the maze, at the same time avoiding the ghosts and obstacles along the way. 

It’s still as enjoyable to this day and is a classic that is never likely to go away. There have been songs inspired by the game, as well as a number of TV series and a movie, although none have particularly been a huge hit.

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong arrived just a year later in 1981 and is one of Nintendo’s most popular games. There have been many Donkey Kong games that have followed suit since and the character is still active in the world of video gaming, the last release being Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, released in 2018.

Donkey Kong also saw Super Mario’s first appearance in a video game, so we really do have a lot to thank this arcade game for.

Skee Ball

Skee Ball is slightly different in that it is an arcade game that requires physical actions, but is nonetheless a true classic. It is known as a redemption game and the aim of it is to roll a ball up a lane and into a series of holes that are worth different points. The more points you score, the more likely you are to make it onto the leaderboard.

The game itself launched in 1908 incredibly and it wasn’t long before it became a huge hit in the United States and then worldwide, still played in arcades to this day.

Space Invaders

Space Invaders really does need no introduction and you’ll find the 1978 release is just as fun in both arcades and on the likes of smartphone devices today. The Atari game was developed by Tomohiro Nishikado and really did inspire an entire genre in the shoot ‘em up. 

It was a huge commercial success and even now it’s ideal for a quick game on a handheld device, whether that be a Game Boy, smartphone, or anything else.

Street Fighter

Can you get more classic than Street Fighter? The game was released in the late 1980s and is to this day the best fighting video game of all time. There have been many games that have followed in the series, with Street Fighter II largely regarded as the game that established the one-on-one fighting genre.