Can you remember your 1st favorite arcade game?

[McCarseat]

It's probably a tie between a few. A local rollerskating place had an arcade inside of it. 

 

I put a lot of quarters into The Simpsons arcade game, The TMNT arcade game and the X-Men Arcade game (not sure what it was called exactly). They were all 4 player so it was a blast with 3 friends to pump quarters in until we were out. 

 

But the one I looked forward to the most was about once a month when I went with my mom grocery shopping at the local grocery store chain, they had a 4 slot Neo Geo cabinet up front by the claw game and whatnot, I played a TON of Samurai Shodown 2. It was the ultimate full on nostalgia trip when I bought a Neo Geo AES and that game a few years ago, damn that game is still fantastic. I can't say the same for the other 3 that were at the roller skating rink. 

 

I was a early 90's arcade kid in case you can't tell. 

 

My dad and I used to compete with Space Invaders high scores on a home PC we had in the late 80's though. We had a piece of paper on the wall with the scores written down. So that was my first exposure to an arcade game I guess? Plus Space Invaders is still a favorite of mine. 

[Skarrj]

Xevious

[RJ]

^^^ What Skarrj said.

[RJ]

14 hours ago, McCarseat said:

...the X-Men Arcade game (not sure what it was called exactly).

Children of the Atom. 

[Tickled_Pink]

Mine was Galaxian, but thinking back now there were a couple of other games I'd go back to because I could go a fair way through them. Monaco GP is one. That Exidy game that looked like Star Raiders was the other. 

[McCarseat]

On 2/6/2020 at 2:52 AM, RJ said:

Children of the Atom. 

That was a 2 player fighting game. The regular just "X-Men Arcade Game" was a 4 player beat em up and I think there was even a 6 player version.

[Syzygy1]

Mappy. That was on Namco Museum 50th Anniversary when I was 5. I still like the game, but I've got no idea how to play it (my mom always played it for me.)

 

Then it was Spider Stompin' (a redemption game by Jaleco and Island Design.) I still like the game, but because the spiders apparently tie you up when you lose. I imagine my crushes, like Cyborg and Birdman (but strangely not Black Vulcan - both versions), being tied up by the spiders.

 

Then I turned my attention to console games with Mario and especially Sonic. So I guess Sega Sonic the Hedgehog? "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

[Cebus Capucinis]

1942. Dumped so much money in that I could have bought one 10 times over, I'm sure. Then I got a Scramble conversion and almost broke the TG world record for it.....then sold it in a move to Detroit. Of all the games I've ever sold, I'm still kicking myself for that one - and it's not even a rare game! I've just never gotten around to getting a new board and making a new cabinet.

[4cade]

On 11/15/2018 at 6:10 PM, NE146 said:

Oh my first "favorite" arcade game was definitely Space Invaders. But prior to that.. I just recall playing the various B&W games like Sea Wolf, or Pong, or Electromechanical games. I was too young to play them consistently.. it was only with my parents and we did it all together or something. The one that sticks out in my mind though is Killer Shark.. which (thankfully) was shown in the movie Jaws so I can remember the name and reference it. I just remember my dad holding me up and trying to shoot the shark and the red blood when you shot it. I guess that memory would make it count as a 1st fav.

 

 

Yeah! When I was probably 7, I started going to the local arcade at the shopping center my mom worked at, probably 79 or 80, maybe earlier, but they had a few old EM games there and I freaking loved Killer Shark, it was actually kind of graphic/violent for me, but it's one of the first games I remember after cashing in a dollar of quarters, it being a primary one to check out and see if anyone is playing, and was one I played everytime I went. Like you, I also wasn't tall enough, the arcade had a few step stools, but sometimes they were all being used and one time I stupidly dropped a quarter without realizing there was no step stool; I told a stranger passing by what happened and he could have my free game and he offered to pick me up, holding me while I played. Yeah, that got awkward, but I look back and think "could have gone WORSE!" Ah, the 70s, it was a different time...

[JL]

Asteroids - sucked at it then and after 20 years of playing via MAME on cabinet and on highly customized arcade panel I still suck at it.  

 

[Razzie.P]

On 5/5/2020 at 10:52 AM, JL said:

Asteroids - sucked at it then and after 20 years of playing via MAME on cabinet and on highly customized arcade panel I still suck at it.  

 

 

I applaud your consistency!  ?

[Razzie.P]

It would have been Tron or Xevious, but I can't remember which I got to play first.  Prior to that, I'd just play whatever happened to be in the store at the time (most stores in our area had 2 or 3 machines)    But anytime I saw those machines, none of the others had a chance for my quarters.

 

I don't think I had another clear cut "favorite" until After Burner came along in the second half of the 80s

[Omega-TI]

For me my first favorite was....

 

[digdugnate]

gosh- probably my first favorite was either Centipede or Burger Time.

[CreeB]

Space Invaders. It was the only black and white arcade game that didn't scare me. Galaxian too, because it was in color.