Arcade Games

Before there were Xbox 360s or Playstation 3s, there were arcade games. Arcade games were the precursor to the currently popular video games and video game systems. While arcade games have been surpassed in popularity by video game systems, arcade games are still going strong.

Many people go to their local arcade to enjoy classic arcade games. Some do so for nostalgic reasons, while others just want to play some fun games. Arcade games, despite their rather simple graphics, are still in demand by gamers. With classic titles like Pac Man, Asteroids and NBA Jam, it's easy to see why. They're easy to play and fun.

In this article, we will go over some of the greatest arcade games ever. While the list is subjective, many arcade gamers are sure to agree with these 5 picks. It is important to note that these aren't in any specific order.

Space Invaders Arcade Game

Space Invaders is a basic, but fun arcade game. Released in 1978 by Midway, the whole premise of the game is to shoot spaceships (the invaders). While shooting them, the player must avoid getting hit themselves. As the game goes on, the difficulty in successfully shooting these ships increases-and so does the player's chances of being hit themselves. With the advent of first person shooters, it is a bit surprising that this game is still played as much as it is. But it's fun, easy and one of the better arcade games to have come along, which makes it easy to see why people love it.

Asteroids Arcade Game

Asteroids was yet another game where the player had to hit something without being hit themselves. In this case, the player is a ship trying to destroy asteroids before the asteroids come in contact with the ship. To make things harder, enemy ships fly in from time to time, trying to shoot the player's ship. Practically everyone who has played video games has also played this classic game. It is definitely one of the best, most popular arcade games.

NBA Jam Arcade Game

Not everyone gets a kick out of shooting asteroids or enemy ships, so when NBA Jam came around in the '90s, it was a breath of fresh air to arcade gamers looking for new arcade games to play. NBA Jam is, of course, a basketball game with NBA players. Unlike the current basketball games, this game had arcade style game play, in that it was very fast-paced, unrealistic and unlike a real basketball game.

Players who made a lot of shots would eventually get "on fire" and be able to make any shot or dunk. That whole point of NBA Jam was to score as many points as possible in a game. Simple, but fun.

Mortal Kombat Arcade Game

Mortal Kombat was one of the first arcade games of its kind. Rather than being about shooting aliens or dunking basketballs, this game was about one thing: fighting. Players waged wars with the computer-controlled characters-or with other characters-seeking to deplete the other person's energy by using various moves and combos. Mortal Kombat was eventually released on Super Nintendo and other game systems, but for many gamers, the arcade version of this game remains the best in the series and one of the best arcade games ever.

BattleZone Arcade Game

BattleZone is another one of the well-known arcade games. Like many other arcade games, the point of BattleZone was to use battle tanks (player controlled) to shoot objects without being shot themselves. The graphics were plain (a simple black and green scheme) but playing the game was and still is fun. Since its original release in 1980, BattleZone has been released on other game systems, as well as on the computer. It is still one of the gamer-loved arcade games.

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This article is for information only. You can find more about arcade games on free arcade games web site.