'70s-'90s Most In-Demand Arcade Machine Games - The Golden Age For Kids

If you grew up in the 1970s, chances are that you spent many an hour at the local cabinet games. One of this decade's hallmarks was the popular games at the time. These ranged from driving games to fighting games to sports games and more.

In that era, arcades were child's playgrounds. Kids would drop in some quarters and play for hours on the latest games. It was a time when people didn't have to worry about defeating an opponent with a gun, as you did in Pong or shooting them out of a helicopter, as you did in Tank. The games were meant to be fun and entertaining, not a shoot-em-up.

Do you know what they were? Let’s explore…

Pac-Man

With its simple yet addictive gameplay, Pac-Man is one of the most popular in-demand arcade machine games today. Initially released in 1980, the game has since been ported to numerous platforms and spawned numerous sequels. In Pac-Man, players control the titular character as he navigates a maze, eating pellets and avoiding ghosts.

Eat every pellet in the maze to advance to the next level. A life will be lost by Pac-Man if a ghost touches him.

Space Invaders

Space Invaders was the first successful arcade game to enter popular culture, and it continues to do so. Its use of early shoot-'em-up tropes, famous alien designs (based on different sea creatures), and a minimal, ideal soundtrack is inseparable from the history of the video game business.

Frogger

Frogger is one of the most popular and in-demand cabinet games. It was first released in 1981 and became an instant classic. The game's objective is to guide a frog from its starting point to one of five safety lily pads while avoiding obstacles such as cars, trucks, and alligators.

Frogger remains popular today and can be found in arcades, bars, and restaurants across the country. Frogger is the perfect classic pinball game for you if you're looking for a challenging and nostalgic gaming experience!

Galaxian

Its sequel is more well-known, with good reason, but Galaxian is a good classic pinball game. The character had graphics that were noticeably better than Space Invaders and just enough difficulty to keep players glued to the control deck as their ships burst into a pixelated jumble.

Donkey Kong

The game that made Nintendo famous also gave us two of its most enduring characters, at least as a video game maker instead of a seller of instant noodles and love hotels. Mario (previously known as "Jumpman") chases Donkey Kong and attempts to save Pauline as he scales the infinite floors of a tower. It's straightforward to learn, yet it takes years to master.

Defender

Defender is one of the most popular and in-demand cabinet games. It was released by Williams Electronics in 1981 and quickly became a hit with gamers. The game's objective is to protect humanoids from being abducted by aliens using a ship equipped with various additional attachments.

Defender is considered one of the classic arcade machine games

and has been ported to numerous home platforms. It remains popular today, with fans enjoying its fast-paced action and simple yet challenging gameplay.

Breakout

Breakout, created by Atari founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney a year before the release of the far more popular Pong, was the first commercially accessible video cabinet games. It is noteworthy for its gorgeous retro-futuristic cabinet games and the game itself. It's a seminal space game in which the player engages two computer-controlled UFOs in a simple starfield. Still, we'll never forget it for its curved fiberglass cabinet, which gave the game an appearance in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green.

Wrapping Up

True gamers (and young kids of the 70s) will never forget the fantastic 70s arcade machine games that consumed our quarters growing up, even though arcades are a little more challenging to locate these days. We gladly fed those machines our change and tokens to advance to the next level or enter a new race. Whatever the case, some of the greatest arcade machine games ever produced came out of the 70s and are still some of our favorites today. They have even been transformed for a variety of gaming platforms. Simply put, nothing brings back fond memories of the 70s like a list of the top arcade machine games from that era.