The 1980s were a simplier times for video games: there weren’t fancy graphics, intricate story-lines, or those mind-numbing videos that you weren’t allowed to skip. The local arcade was the ultimate destination for birthday parties, Bar Mitzvahs, Bat Mitzvahs, or lazy saturday afternoons. They were loud, exciting, smelly, and packed with the finest assortment of games (and cold pretzels) managed by the nerdiest of gentlemen. Each and every arcade game—whether it was Nintendo or Sega—was similar in its simplicity, but a total blast.
The 1990s were an awesome times for video and arcade games. The graphics improved dramatically – both in 2D and the emerging 3D. The maze and platform genres were supplanted by the fighting, racing, and FPS genres. The 90s was also the golden age for pinball games – but that is another discussion for another time.
By the end of the decade, the home video games surpassed their arcade counterparts, and arcades were going the way of video rental stores. Pinball machines and arcade cabinets made way for crane games, whack-a-moles, basketball cages, and skee ball alleys.
So in honor of the high water mark of arcade games, here is The Podcast Unlimited Top Ten 90’s Coin Op Arcade Games!
Keith
Metal Slug
Year Of Release: 1996
?Genre: Shooting
Metal Slug, is a run and gun video game developed and originally released by Nazca Corporation and later published by SNK. It was originally released in 1996 for the Neo Geo MVS arcade platform. The game is widely known for its sense of humor, fluid hand-drawn animation, and fast paced two-player action.
David
Dance Dance Revolution
Year Of Release: 1999
Genre: Dance
abbreviated DDR and also known as Dancing Stage in earlier games in Europe and Australasia, and some other games in Japan, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance genre in video games. Players stand on a “dance platform” or stage and hit colored arrows laid out in a cross with their feet to musical and visual cues. Players are judged by how well they time their dance to the patterns presented to them and are allowed to choose more music to play to if they receive a passing score.
Dance Dance Revolution has been given much critical acclaim for its originality and stamina in the video game market. There have been dozens of arcade-based releases across several countries and hundreds of home video game console releases, promoting a music library of original songs produced by Konami’s in-house artists and an eclectic set of licensed music from many different genres. The DDR series has inspired similar games such as Pump It Up by Andamiro and In the Groove by Roxor.
Keith
Gauntlet Legends
Year Of Release: 1998?
Genre: Action
Gauntlet Legends is an arcade game released in 1998 by Atari Games. It is a fantasy themed hack and slash styled dungeon crawl game, a sequel to 1985’s popular Gauntlet and 1986’s Gauntlet II
David
House of the Dead
Year Of Release: 1997
Genre: Shooting
The House of the Dead is a first-person light gun arcade game, first released by Sega in Japan in September 13, 1996, with the international released following in March 4, 1997.
Players assume the role of agents Thomas Rogan and “G” in their efforts to combat the products of the dangerous, inhumane experiments of Dr. Curien, a mad scientist.
Keith
Captain America and The Avengers
Year Of Release: 1991?
Genre: Action?
Captain America and the Avengers is an arcade game developed and released by Data East in 1991. It features the Marvel Comics characters The Avengers in a side-scrolling brawling and shooting adventure to defeat the evil Red Skull.
David
Time Crisis II
Year Of Release: 1998
Genre: Shooting
Time Crisis II is a light gun arcade game and the second installment in Namco’s Time Crisis series, introducing co-operative multiplayer to the franchise. It was first released in arcades in March 1997, with an enhanced port released on the PlayStation 2 in October 2001, bundled with the GunCon 2 controller (G-Con 2 in Europe). A port for the Sega Dreamcast was in development, but was cancelled and never released.
Keith
House Of The Dead 2
Year Of Release: 1998
Genre: Shooting
One of the most ludicrous light gun shooters. Sega just said ‘fuck it’ in regards to paying anyone to write any sort of script. Which is fine, the cabinet still managed to suck us bone dry. When we were feeling particularly wealthy, we’d pay out the player 1 and 2 slots and use both guns. No big deal.
David
Tekken 3
Year Of Release: 1997
Genre: Fighting
Our pick for the best Tekken of the 90s. This now classic fighter served as a welcome palette cleanser to the Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter dichotomy that dominated arcades in the 90s. Unfortunately, it also introduced the world to Eddy Gordo. Button mashing would never be the same again.
Keith
Area 51
Year Of Release: 1995?
Genre: Shooting
Yes, it was silly and ridiculous (we’re pretty sure high explosives wouldn’t just be sitting around a base to be shot at), but blasting aliens to hell with a light gun is a cornerstone of the gaming industry.
The graphics certainly don’t hold up to modern standards, but if we ever see one of these sad machines lonely occupying the corner of a dive bar, we can’t help but get down with a little Kron Hunter.
David
Star Wars Trilogy Arcade
Year Of Release: 1998
Genre: Action, shooting
Spanning the original trilogy, players were treated to reenacting their favorite battles on Hoth, Endor, Yavvin, and the Death Star. This arcade title was crushingly dope for a few reasons: blasters, lightasber, and Bobba Fett. We played this thing so often we should have taken it to prom.
Keith?
Mortal Kombat II
Year Of Release: 1993
Genre: Fighting
Mortal Kombat II took everything we loved about the original and magnified it by about a million. It had more fatalities, more balanced combat (Oh, we’re sorry, “kombat”) and secrets galore. We still love this game. Toasty!
David
Marvel vs Capcom
Year Of Release: 1998
Genre: fighting
Marvel vs Capcom is a series of crossover fighting games developed and published by Capcom featuring characters from Marvel Comics and Capcom’s own video game franchises. It was the first Vs. series involving Capcom, who would later produce other Vs. series with SNK Playmore (SNK vs. Capcom) and Tatsunoko Production (Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars).
The Marvel characters depicted in the earlier games were often based on their appearances in various 1990s animated series, particularly X-Men, and were often voiced by the same voice actors. Similarly, the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 cast bear similarities to and share voice actors with their late 2000s animated incarnations, such as those seen in Wolverine and the X-Men, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Keith
Marvel vs Capcom
Year Of Release: 1998
Genre: Fighting
Marvel vs Capcom is a series of crossover fighting games developed and published by Capcom featuring characters from Marvel Comics and Capcom’s own video game franchises. It was the first Vs. series involving Capcom, who would later produce other Vs. series with SNK Playmore (SNK vs. Capcom) and Tatsunoko Production (Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars).
The Marvel characters depicted in the earlier games were often based on their appearances in various 1990s animated series, particularly X-Men, and were often voiced by the same voice actors. Similarly, the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 cast bear similarities to and share voice actors with their late 2000s animated incarnations, such as those seen in Wolverine and the X-Men, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
David
NBA Jam
Year Of Release: 1993
Genre: Sports
NBA Jam is a basketball arcade game published and developed by Midway in 1993. It is the first entry in the NBA Jam series. The main designer and programmer for this game was Mark Turmell. Midway had previously released such sports games as Arch Rivals in 1989, High Impact in 1990, and Super High Impact in 1991. The gameplay of NBA Jam is based on Arch Rivals, another 2-on-2 basketball video game. However, it was the release of NBA Jam that brought mainstream success to the genre.
The game became exceptionally popular, and generated a significant amount of money for arcades after its release, creating revenue of $1 billion in quarters. In early 1994, the Amusement & Music Operators Association reported that NBA Jam had become the highest-earning arcade game of all time.
The release of NBA Jam gave rise to a new genre of sports games which were based around fast, action-packed gameplay and exaggerated realism, a formula which Midway would also later apply to the sports of football (NFL Blitz), and hockey (2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge).
Keith
Tekken 3
Year Of Release: 1997
Genre: Fighting
Our pick for the best Tekken of the 90s. This now classic fighter served as a welcome palette cleanser to the Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter dichotomy that dominated arcades in the 90s. Unfortunately, it also introduced the world to Eddy Gordo. Button mashing would never be the same again.
David
Street Fighter 2 – The World Warrior
Year Of Release: 1991
Genre: Fighting
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in 1991. It is the second entry in the Street Fighter series and the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in 1987. It is Capcom’s fourteenth title that runs on the CP System arcade hardware. Street Fighter II improves upon the many concepts introduced in the first game, including the use of command-based special moves and a six-button configuration, while offering players a selection of multiple playable characters, each with their own unique fighting style, and introducing a combo system and competitive multiplayer combat between two players.
The success of Street Fighter II is credited with starting the fighting-game boom during the 1990s which inspired other game developers to produce their own fighting-game franchises, popularizing the genre, and setting off a renaissance for the arcade game industry in the early 1990s. It was then ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System home console, for which it became a long-lasting system-seller. Its success led to a sub-series of updated versions (see below), each offering additional features and characters over previous versions, as well as several home versions.
By 1994, the game had been played by at least 25 million people in North American, at home and in arcades.By 1995, gross revenues of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II?: Champion Edition arcade machines had exceeded $2.312 billion equivalent to over $4.02 billion in 2016). The video game console ports sold more than 14 million copies;[the Super NES port of the original game sold 6.3 million units, making it Capcom’s best-selling single consumer game software until 2013 (when it was surpassed by Resident Evil 5) and remaining their best-selling game software on a single platform through to the present day.
Keith
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Year Of Release: 1991
Genre: Shooting
Blasting T-1000’s to hell has never been so satisfying. The kick-back mechanic of the machine gun was one of the many highlights of this quarter gobbler. With a Guns N’ Roses heavy soundtrack, this game helped define the early 90s arcade experience. John Connor would be proud.
David
Mortal Kombat
Year Of Release: 1992
Genre: fighting
Mortal Kombat is an arcade fighting game developed and published by Midway Games in 1992 as the first title in the Mortal Kombat series. It was subsequently released by Acclaim Entertainment for nearly every home video game platform of the time.
The game introduced many key aspects of the Mortal Kombat series, including the unique five-button control scheme and gory finishing moves. The game focuses on the journey of the monk Liu Kang to save Earth from the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung, ending with their confrontation in the tournament known as Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat became a best-selling game and remains one of the most popular fighting games in the genre’s history, spawning numerous sequels and spin-offs over the following years and decades, beginning with Mortal Kombat II in 1993, and together with the first sequel was the subject of a successful film adaptation in 1995. However, it also sparked much controversy for its depiction of extreme violence and gore using realistic digitized graphics, resulting in the introduction of age-specific content descriptor ratings for video games.
Keith
Star Wars Trilogy arcade
Year Of Release: 1998
Genre: Action, shooting
Spanning the original trilogy, players were treated to reenacting their favorite battles on Hoth, Endor, Yavvin, and the Death Star. This arcade title was crushingly dope for a few reasons: blasters, lightasber, and Bobba Fett. We played this thing so often we should have taken it to prom.
David
Gauntlet Legends
Year Of Release: 1998?
Genre: Action
Gauntlet Legends is an arcade game released in 1998 by Atari Games. It is a fantasy themed hack and slash styled dungeon crawl game, a sequel to 1985’s popular Gauntlet and 1986’s Gauntlet II
And like that, we have our 1990’s coin-operated top 10 list. What did you think? Did we come close to your list? Tell us what you think of our list and other lists like this. Want to hear more about this and other stuff we talk about? Go on over to podcastunlimited.com, and look for episode 91 in our archive section and listen to us talk about this list in detail!
Want even more 90’s games? To read our extended Top Twenty List, and Honorable Mentions, go over to our sister site.
Till the next time!
“May the force be with you”
-The engineer
“Cause in sleepy London town,
There’s just no place for a Street Fighting man.” The Rolling Stones – “Street Fighting Man”
-The Editor