This week, the editors and I bring you the return of one of our most beloved features, MEGATONik Presents. In this installment, a few of our most worthy writers pitched in with their opinion of some of the best arcade games ever made. These aren’t the types of games that you’d occasionally toss a quarter or so into every couple of weeks and try to beat the game on one life — oh, no. These are the arcade games that you poured quarters into; they’re the types of games that kept that radiator on your car unfixed, and perhaps cost you a girlfriend or two. Hit the jump below to check out our picks!

Rampage
In the days before crappy Nintendo Wii remakes, when pouring hundreds of quarters into a machine was all the rage, one arcade game ruled them all. This game was Rampage. Rampage followed three enlarged mutants, Lizzie (the lizard), Ralph (the rat) and George (the ape) around various cities of the world, in which the one object was to destroy everything in sight before you are killed by the army. While every recent port of the original game, most recently Rampage: Total Destruction on Wii, PS2 and PSP, has sucked horribly, the original arcade game was a cliche “breath of fresh air” for action fans. The game was, in every sense of the word, addictive as hell, and the obsession with playing it over and over again, shooting for the high score on the machine could not be shaken from my mind. In conclusion, Rampage was one of the best arcade games out there, one that I poured countless quarters and hours of my childhood into. -backflip

Simpsons Arcade Game
Ah, the 90’s. A time when things were simpler, when side-by-side multiplayer was the norm with none of these online co-op shenanigans. Arcades were not the extinct dinosaur that they are now, and even if there wasn’t an arcade near you, there were plenty of cabinets at your local pizza parlor. The beat-em-up was the prominent genre of the average arcade, and The Simpsons Arcade Game was the champion of the genre. The game capitalized on the rising popular of The Simpsons TV show, which was only in its second year when the arcade game was released. Though at eye level The Simpsons was just another Final Fight clone, it was far ahead of its time, featuring team-based attacks and voice acting from the original TV actors. Though it is well over 15 years old, The Simpsons Arcade Game is one of the few arcade games that gamers are still drawn to every time they see the cabinet. -Woody

Street Fighter II
In 1991, Capcom released a game that was to be one of the most successful game series of all time, Street Fighter II. The sequel to the original Street Fighter from 1987 (originally created by two of the brightest minds in 2D fighters, Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto who are infamous for their work with SNK) brought many improvements, such as eight selectable characters (opposed to playing as Ryu only), a more balanced fighting system, and easier to perform special moves.
What I’m talking about is going to the arcade at the tender young age of 11 and seeing this game for the first time ever. I can recall it vividly; I was going to the mall to play in the arcade as I usually did. I had big plans of beating Shinobi, Bad Dudes, and TMNT: Turtles In Time for the sixth time that month when I noticed there was a crowd of people all huddled around the new cabinet in the arcade. As I got closer I noticed the name: Street Fighter II. “How come I’ve never heard of the original Street Fighter?” I thought to myself and proceeded to join the throng of people watching intensely.
After waiting about 20 minutes for the crowd to thin out, it was finally my time to step up and try my luck at the game, Having never played a fighting game before this moment besides Yie Ar Kung Fu I did what any gamer would do in the same situation, button mashed. Luckily 3 of the 8 characters relied on button mashing for one of their moves so for a good part of my first few times playing I used mainly Blanka, Chun-Li, and E. Honda.
I did fairly well my first time at the game; I managed to get all the way to Balrog (M. Bison outside the US) before having my ass handed to me. I spent a good portion of my arcade money that day making all the way to M. Bison (Vega outside the US) and enjoying every single losing moment that day to a game that would engross me for the next 16 years.
To this day I still play this game on my SNES (the first SNES game I ever played by the way) and get extremely nostalgic for the “good old days” when arcade games were king. This game undoubtedly changed my life in a significant way, brought me many friends and rivalries that parallel that of Ryu and Ken, and has generally made me happy on many occasions. -Xopher Reed

Crazy Taxi
Crazy Taxi is easily one of the greatest arcade games of all time. This is because it’s one of the first games that I can remember playing that had Cursing in it where my mother didn’t flip out … which was awesome. (Trust me, she can flip out pretty good, which is something I found out after renting Grand Theft Auto II back in the day). Beyond just that, the gameplay is freakin’ great. For the uninitiated, Crazy Taxi’s basic objective is to get as many people to their destinations as quickly as possible. To reach this goal, all the player has to do is drive up to a customer, they’ll say where to go, and then it’s an epic gauntlet over ramps and through populated areas with people dodging out of the way at the last second to get the customer to the destination. Once the taxi comes to a complete stop at the destination, the patron will jump out, shouting praise (or curses) at your performance. The player then gets paid a certain amount depending on how fast they were, and that counts as their score. It’s a pretty innovative idea, and it was pulled off damn near flawlessly. Add to the mix a few tunes from Bad Religion and the Offspring (two of my favorite bands, mind you) and you’ve got a game chock full of energy with great replayability. Many props to SEGA for this gem. -Nathan Gamer

Hydro Thunder
Hydro Thunder is one of those games that just exudes pure awesome. Physically, the cabinet is an psychadelic bright blue, pretty much beckoning “Play me! Play me!” The premise is simple: you race powerboats, and then you race more powerboats. The game had a great competitive spirit due to the player’s ability to boost into the air or knock others into the sides of the course. Hydro Thunder is slightly reminiscent of a precursor to the Burnout series. It had a relentless sense of speed, huge air, and a fantastic competitive spirit. -Bfeld

Time Crisis
The Time Crisis series has always been a favorite of mine. There’s a big difference between the Time Crisis series and other light-gun shooter games on the arcade: a snap gun and a pedal. Your light gun actually snaps back as you shoot your enemies on the screen, giving you the feel that you’re shooting something. Stepping on your pedal causes your character to hide behind an object for cover, while reloading your bullets. This is probably the least frustrating light gun game I’ve ever played, seeing on how you can actually avoid getting shot or stabbed by your annoying foes. 4 tokens a go, but the game is worth every goddamn quarter you’ve got. - Kevin Cortez

There you have it, one of the most comprehensive lists of our favorite arcade games of all time. Did we miss your favorite arcade game? List your favorite arcade games in the comments.

Categories: Articles, MTk Presents, Retro