Derek's
50 All Time Greatest Classic Arcade List

This is my ever evolving rank of the top 50 classic games from 1980-1983 as I see it.
Blue Games are in my collection
last modified 3/13/04   V4.3

1. Missile Command (Atari 1980) Must Defend Cities. All time greatest game!
2. Mario Bros (Nintendo1983) Something about this game I love. Great 2 player fun as well.
3. Robotron 2084 (Williams 1982) I must rescue mommy! 2nd Best single screen ever!
4. Tempest (Atari 1981) Best Side Art of all time and intense game play.
5. Space Dungeon (Taito 1981) Great two joystick, fun. 
6. Stargate (Williams 1981) Improves slightly on the classic Defender. A classic in it's own right.
7. Mappy (Midway 1983) Awesome Ragtime Music and artwork that is cute as hell.
8. Q-bert (Gottlieb 1982) Original name: Snots 'n Boogers. Gotta love that!
9. Rescue (Stern 1982) Makes Choplifter seem like Chopliver...
10. Donkey Kong (Nintendo 1981) Nintendo game that changed video games forever. 
11. Discs of Tron (Midway 1983) Environmental version is a true experience...
12. Zoo Keeper (Taito 1982) The crazy insane jumps are only part of what makes this game fun!
13. Crazy Climber (Taito 1980) Go for it!
14. Lady Bug (Universal 1982) Best Universal Game?
15. Star Wars (Atari 1983) Look at the size of that thing!
16. Major Havoc (Atari 1983) I wondered what happened to our Tempest. Years later I know!
17. Bosconian (Midway 1981) Another stuck in the middle of screen game with voice that's a lot of fun.
18. Galaga (Midway 1981) Galaxian sequel...
19. Juno First (Gottlieb 1983) Konami classic!
20. Time Pilot (Centuri 1982) Stuck in the middle of the screen? Still fun? You bet!
21. Stratovox (Taito 1980) First game with speech. More Taito fun!
22. Mad Planets (Gottlieb 1983)
23. Venture (Exidy 1981) Classic!
24. Turtles (Stern 1981) Forgotten Stern Classic!)
25. Lock 'n Chase (Taito 1981) Homage to Pac-man only better!
26. Solar Fox (Midway 1981) 
27. Black Widow (Atari 1982) Reminiscent of Robotron. Great grubsteak fun!
28. The End (Stern 1980) How far will you get before, The End?
29. Gyruss (Centuri 1983) Shooter meets Tempest and love that music!
30. Quantum (Atari 1982)
31. Reactor (Gottlieb 1982) Funky cab and really cool music.
32. Jr Pacman (Midway 1983) The best of the bunch of Pac-quels.
33. Berzerk (Stern 1980) Coin detected in Pocket!
34. Pole Position (Atari 1983) Best selling game of 1983. Nuff said!)
35. Spy Hunter (Midway 1983) Very fun driving classic and great Peter Gun music.
36. Astro Invader (Stern 1980) Classic!
37. Armored Car (Stern 1981) Another classic from Stern and Chris Oberth
38. Moon Patrol (Williams 1982) Classic IREM fun...
39. Satan's Hollow (Midway 1982) Devilish Fun!
40. Jump Bug (Rock-Ola 1981) Only Rock-Ola game to make it into the top 50!
41. Minefield (Stern 1983) Cousin to Rescue. Fun and quite challenging
42. Pengo (Sega 1982)  Cute Puzzle/Strategy game that requires reflexes...
43. Bagman (Stern 1982) Aie Yie Yie! 
44. Scramble (Stern 1981) Love that phallic artwork!
45. Millipede (Atari 1982) Improves on the classic Centipede.
46. Joust (Williams 1982) Great 2 player fun!
47. Dragons Lair (Cinematronics 1983) Great Don Bluth animation!
48. Burger Time (Midway 1982) Those pickles are smart!!!
49. Battlezone (Atari 1980) Classic vector tank simulation, never could make it to the volcano...
50. Phoenix (Centuri 1980) Wings of death!

Note: I listed the games by the company that published the game in the US and not necessarily the company that created the game. I also did not include sequels but if the sequel was better (i.e. Stargate), I only listed the sequel. Any sequal or prequal that was worth is mentioned in the honorable mention section...

Top 50 Totals (I listed Bally/Midway as just Midway):

 

1980	8
1981	13
1982	16
1983	13

Note: As you can see my arcade peeked in 1982. It is surprising to see that William's was tied for 5th for total classics released during this period with Gottlieb who released very few games.  

Honorable Mention (In alphabetical order. Only)

• Alpine Ski (Taito 1981)  
• Amidar (Stern 1982)
• Asteroids Deluxe (Atari 1980) More difficult than the original & more colorful. 
• Astro Blaster (Sega 1981)
• Bandido (Exidy 1980)
• Centipede (Atari 1980) Only down here because of Millipede!
• Defender (Williams 1980) Too many controls for most in the day!
• Dig Dug (Atari 1982) Fun, but does not hold up and gets boring fairly quick..
• Donkey Kong 3 (Nintendo 1983) Different enough to be included in top 50, but...
• Donkey Kong Jr (Nintendo 1982) More fun than the original? Maybe!
• Electric Yo Yo (Taito 1982)
• Elevator Action (Taito 1983)
• Eyes (Rock-Ola 1982)
• Food Fight (Atari 1983)
• Frenzy (Stern 1982)
• Frogger (Sega 1981) George pushing Frogger across the street is classic!
• Frontline (Taito 1982) 1st person war game?
• Gorf (Midway 1981)
• Grand Champion (Taito 1981)
• Gravitar (Atari 1982) The game you love to hate. Aggravating yet fun and quite challenging.
• Kickman (Midway 1981) Love those Trak ball games and this one has a very smooth one)
• Looping (Venture Line 1981)
• Make Trax (Williams 1981)
• Minefield (Stern 1983)
• Moon Cresta (Sega 1980)
• Motorace USA (Williams 1983)
• Mousetrap (Exidy 1981)
• Mr Do (Universal 1982) 
• Ms Pacman (Midway 1981) Should be in top 10, but Jr Pac is doing triple duty.
• Pac Man (Midway 1980) A classic and should be in the top 20. 
• Pepper II (Exidy 1982)
• Pooyan (Stern 1982)
• Pop Flamer (Stern 1982)
• Pulsar (Sega 1981)
• Qix (Taito 1983)
• Radarscope (Nintendo 1980)
• Rally X (Midway 1980)
• Round Up (Centuri 1981)
• Spiders (Sigma 1981)
• Star Castle (Cinematronics 1980)
• Super Cobra (Stern 1981)
• Tapper (Midway 1983)
• Triple Punch (KKI 1982)
• Turbo (Sega 1981)
• Tutankham (Stern 1982) 
• Vanguard (Centuri 1981)  
• Warlords (Atari 1980) Best pong game ever!
• Wild Western (Taito 1982)

1979 Classics I played in late '79 & '80 (and beyond). 

• Atari Football (Atari 1979) I can still feel the blisters I got from spinning the Trak-Ball like mad...
• Asteroids (Atari 1979) One of the best selling games of all time, nuff said!
• Cosmic Guerilla (Universal 1979) Fun Space Invaders type game...
• Galaxian (Midway 1979) Inspiration for Galaga, something about it I like better.
• Lunar Lander (Atari 1979) Classic Atari Vector
• Lunar Rescue (Taito 1979) Another Stern classic!

Note: There were approximately 600 games released from 1980-1983. I distinctly remember playing close to 175 different games at my local arcade, which was quite amazing considering I don't think they had any more than between 40-50 at any given time. So this list represents the best of the best of the classic arcade period.