There comes a time where you get old. Then you have knowledge that younger people don't have. I'm making a list of all video games of the past that I've played that are any good and explain why they are good. This list will be incomplete due to my memory and not having played everything that came out past 1990. Also it is a common interview question.

Arcade Games


PacMan-This is the first video game. It is iconic as one of the first really hit games that everyone liked. People had Pac-Man fever. The first thing I did when I was 3 and my dad lifted me up to it was try and eat a ghost. There were no instructions on arcade games... So when I ate a powerpill I didn't eat a ghost. I still had fun, and knew at that moment I was going to play more video games. Pacman's controls are crisp, and the colors and sounds are good. I recommend playing it even for today's kids to know the beginnings of video games and arcades. You can find it in a rom and use Mame to play it.

Asteroids-This is a fun game too. It has some replay factor where you try and rack up a highscore. Dodging alien ships shooting you gets kinda hard and luck based. I know some people who can do it, so there may be skill involved, but I never figured it out. The normal strategy is to stay in the middle and shoot down one asteroid at a time. If you shoot anything that moves, you'll quickly be in a screen full of shrapnel.

Gauntlet 1/2-This game is a good quality game. It had multiple players and a fun combat theme. It was a quarter eater though. No matter how good you are, you couldn't beat it on one quarter. The way to rack a highscore is bad too. You just stand near some monster generators and kill the monsters that come out until you die. I made a game based off Gauntlet you can play here

This might get alphabetical. I'm starting with a list off wikipedia :P

1943-Shmups(shoot em up) This was the best of its time, and you could probably still have fun with it. warning: DO NOT PLAY 1942 for NES unless you're a fan of morse code as an excuse for music

720-This was a really good game for its time cuz skateboarding is cool and it had powerups and stuff. It doesn't hold up to today's time of better skateboarding games like Tony Hawk, but it can still be kinda fun. When you get to playing it on MAME, think of how many quarters you put into it before you get good at it. The controls in the arcade was a joystick that moved in a circle.

After Burner-This game was pretty fun for its time when there was no games at home like Red Baron and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

Alien vs Predator-This game was fun, and almost fair in a genre that is generally not fair.

Altered Beast-This is an iconic game. It is a must play for games looking back. It is fair and I believe you can beat the game on one life.

Arkanoid-This is the best game of breakout I've played so far. I recommend it if you're in the mood for quality breakout.

Bad Dudes-This game is good. It is pretty fair too with you being able to get pretty far. It came out on the heels of Double Dragon, and Double Dragon is a superior game, but Bad Dudes is good too.

Baby-pac man-This was an interesting beast. It was part video game part pinball, and that sounds fun at first. But the problem is that the game never rewards you! You only get penalized for not playing perfect pinball. So people would go,"Why should I play this when I can play Pacman which doesn't take away all my powerpills?" In a way it is inferior to Pacman even though it is cooler in theory. There could have been many video game/pinball crossovers, but since this one failed, no one tried them again generally.

Bump-n-Jump-This game is quality for its time. If you're good, you could play on for a while. The atari 2600 version is one of the best atari 2600 games there is. I've played it for dozens of hours on atari 2600.

Burgertime-Good for its time, not anymore.

Cabal-For being a game that was not a standard genre, this game is really playable fun. It is fair to a degree in the early levels too. I don't think I played it too far though.

Cadash-This was REALLY fun, but sort of a quarter eater. I made it further than most when I played as a Cleric, but you can only go so far before you need to pop in some more quarters. This could be a good Mame game. This is one of those "RPG meets action video games" which I felt was the future around 1987-1989 and why I got into game development.

Centipede-This is an iconic game of the early 80s. Play it if you get a chance. Mame doesn't do the trackball justice.

Choplifter-Good for its time, but probably doesn't hold up now. There were versions you sat in an enclosed booth in the arcade

Contra-Iconic, and super good. Play Contra. It is fair in such a way that you can beat the game without dying if you know what you're doing. Playing games like this will make you a better video game player. Its port to NES is one of the reasons NES blew people's minds in the mid 80s

Crazy Climber-This game is good, and because its controls are weird, it holds value to this day! If you see Crazy Climber in an arcade, go play it! Its worth a couple quarters. I can't explain this game, it shouldn't be good, but it is.

Crystal Castles-The isometric view was new, and the game is okay, but even for its time it was overhyped. The atari 2600 version is better than an average atar2600 game, but nothing to blow your socks off.

Defender-CAN YOU PUT ANY MORE BUTTONS ON THIS GAME? The mame is better than the arcade to a degree because all the buttons here is an example of a bad UI. In the arcade it is fun to fight with the UI to play because its just so many buttons and its funny. I liked the atari 2600 game to the arcade because the joystick is more intuitive than all those buttons! The arcade has slightly more complex gameplay with rescuing people being slightly different. This is an iconic game, but probably doesn't hold up much. Play it in the arcade just for the mass amount of buttons.

Dig Dug- Its hard to explain this game. Iconic. Holds up today. Play it if you can. The atari 2600 version was very very good too.

Discs of Tron-Had its own cabinent, and was a curiosity. I can't make any serious claims of gameplay other than the whole thing was an experience. For atari2600 it was entirely different, but not unfun.

Domino Man-This game was fun for some reason I don't understand. It is kinda weird though.

Donkey Kong-Iconic. This was the precursor to Donkey Kong Jr, which was the precursor to Mario Bros, which was precursor to Super Mario Bros. The jumping isn't high so its hard to jump over enemies, but the game is somewhat fair. Play this if you get a chance. Atari 2600 isn't as good as is common, but still not that entirely bad.

Donkey Kong Jr.-This feels like more of a quarter eater to Donkey Kong to me, but had some little fun when I played it.

Double Dragon-One of the best games in gaming history for its time. Believe it or not this game is fair. You can beat it on one quarter. I either did it or made it to the end boss once, I forget. It is more fun to play without the technique to win. The technique to win is to press jump+punch for elbow punch which is overpowered. Everyone should play a game of Double Dragon sometime. Just be sure to play the arcade version, NES ports never did the job. I hear they did an atari2600 port, but that is probably shameful to play if NES didn't do good.

Dragon's Lair-This game looked good for its time, but when you play it, you have no clue what you're doing. It isn't fun to play, don't play this game.

Dungeons and Dragons Shadow over Mysteria-I'm not talking about of a lot of side scrolling fighters, but this one is pretty good, and fair to a degree. I hear people saying they beat it on one quarter, but I only made it a few levels.

Elevator Action-For its time, some people were addicted to this game, but I never got into it. Maybe it was too complex for me when I was young.

The Empire Strikes Back-Sit down Starwars was really good for its time, and this was still pretty good for its time.

Final Fight-This was really good for its time in the arcade. Play as Guy. It probably doesn't hold up though for now.

Fire Truck-I remember playing this when I was like 3. My cousin would play one side and I'd play the other side. One person controlled the truck, the other person controlled the back of the truck. It was different in the arcade and this is why we played. It probably has no replay value for anyone other than a nostalgic person.

Food Fight- I have no idea what makes this game good, but it is good. Only the arcade version is worth playing. I found it in the arcade again around 1997, and it still held its fun factor. I recommend this. Maybe try it on Mame, but the controls may be dif than the cabinet.

Forgotten Worlds-Do not forget forgotten worlds. Play this in the arcade, Mame won't do it justice. Buy weapons with your money, and not temporary powerups. This game is pretty fair. I've gotten past a few stages before dying before.

Frogger-Iconic, quality, play it a few times.

Galaga-This was really good for its time. Iconic. It is a precursor to modern SHMUPS. Rescuing a ship for dual shot is fun, but not optimal play.

Galaxian-Not as good as Galaga, but came out first.

Ghosts and Goblins/Ghouls and Ghosts-Didn't play in the arcade, but the NES/Genesis versions were excellent.

Golden Axe-Good for its time, good for Genesis. The new 3d version sucked pretty bad though that came out around 2010.

Gradius series-Pretty fun, and quite good for its time.

---Okay pausing building this list for now.