February 16, 2023
If you are of a certain age (45-60yrs) you’ll have almost certainly noticed you’ve started to look back at your life more, remembering all the good happy times, from when you were a kid, a teen and even early twenties. Memories from this era this will almost certainly include video arcade games – you couldn’t escape them – they were everywhere! Arcade machines we’re in every place we went. I had a Space Invaders arcade machine in the Leisure Centre, a Mr.Do in the paper shop on the walk up to school, a Missile Command arcade machine in the chip shop and a Moon Cresta at the bus station.
One of the nicest things about selling arcade machines is our customers want to tell us their story. It’s amazing – a total stranger will tell you about the good times – like the time he spent all his pocket money on Pac-Man in the Canadian Charcoal pit every Saturday afternoon – and how his parents were non too pleased. Another customer, who is now very successful told his story of how he could never afford to play back in the day – and how his fortunes have changed and he want’s to make up for lost gaming time.
We’ve all got fond memories, which got us thinking here at Arcade WOW – what game was the best? What arcade machines would be in the all-time top 4? These are our best video arcade machines – let us know yours!
1. Defender Arcade Machine – reason addiction / difficulty / sound from the credit input to gameplay was different level / gameplay not restricted to horizontal movement only or via a maze – probably the coolest looking arcade cabinet of all time.
2. Pac-Man Arcade Machine – highly addictive game – hundreds of levels – characters (Paccy & Ghosts) had their own personalities – amazing sound - appealed to both male & female gamers.
3. Street Fighter II arcade machine – although released 11 years after Pac-Man – this has to be the greatest fighter of all time – whether against the computer or a friend – play as a boss options too 30 years on and still not seen a better fighter.
4. Space Invaders arcade machine – the daddy of all arcade machines. We went from playing Swing Ball & Rubik’s cube to Invaders – enough said – Ground breaker – great sound and gameplay even if it can be a little repetitive after weeks of play.
Don’t agree? Send us your top 4 and reasons why and we’ll publish your choices here.