9 Classic Arcade Games For Gen Xers

Nothing beats the old-school cool of the arcade: Lining your coins up to save your spot on your favourite game, trying to get your name on the coveted leaderboard, and sharing the excitement of a new cabinet addition to your local hangout. We love it all so, to celebrate those temples of gaming, here are 9 Classic Arcade Games For Gen Xers…

Number 9: Prehistoric Isle

Exploring the aptly named ‘Hell Island’ you discover a land lost in time, filled with dinosaurs that want to make your life…well, hell. Capture floating dino eggs to upgrade your weapon, up your score and increase your speed as you race to solve the mystery around the Bermuda triangle.

Number 8: Sly Spy

The name’s Spy…Sly Spy. Heavily influenced by the James Bond series, Sly Spy has some brilliant humour mixed in with high energy action. The first level has you jumping from a plane, shooting on the way down, and it only gets more outrageous from there! One of our favourite elements of this arcade classic is that on your travels you must find the pieces of the golden gun…hmmm…wonder where they got that from?

Number 7: Ikari Warriors

Fight your way through jungles, rivers and ruins and collect different weapons as you try to reach the village of the Ikari. This game was not only inspired by Rambo but also took its name from Rambo: First blood, which in Japan was called Rambo: Ikari no Dasshutsu, or Rambo: The Furious Escape. The 2 characters, Ralf & Clark would later appear in multiple games, including The King of Fighters and Metal Slug 6 and 7…yes, there really are that many Metal Slug games!

Number 6: Metal Slug

With a large array of weaponry, fight an even larger army as you blast anything that moves. Collect powerups along the way as you prepare for a gigantic boss fight at the end of each level. Metal Slug appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die and we definitely agree with that sentiment. There are so many Metal Slug games to sink your teeth into, and it’s been reimagined on many different home consoles over the years, but we’re definitely firm fans of the original.

Number 5: Burger Time

Chef Peter Pepper must create giant hamburgers, which is an idea we 100% endorse! But he’s being chased by evil eggs, sausages and pickles — damn those pesky side dishes! Assemble all of the ingredients by stepping on them and pushing them to lower levels — not the most hygienic practice, but definitely a fun one! We’ve lost a few team members to this addictive game since launch. We’re pretty sure it’s because it brings back some great memories of them climbing the leaderboards back in the day!

Number 4: Bomb Jack

Jack must collect bombs to move to the next level but, like every hero, he has enemies trying to make his life harder. Collect the bombs and bonus coins to boost your score and progress. There’s also the chance to nab yourself an extra life on the way so keep an eye out for the E coin as it’s pretty rare! This one kept many a gamer busy in the golden age of arcade machines, and we have no doubt that it can still do the same thing today.

Number 3: Bubble Bobble

Humans become dinosaurs, but in a much more adorable way than you’d think. Bub and Bob, transformed into cute dinos, must wander through mysterious caves of monsters, jumping to collect fruit and firing bubbles to defeat foes! Colourful, cute and iconic in the gaming world, Bubble Bobble has seen multiple iterations and rebirths over the years, but you can’t beat the original. There are a couple of different endings to this one and we’d love to hear if you’ve found them!

Number 2: Asteroids

Trapped in a gigantic asteroid cloud, destroy incoming asteroids with a photon cannon. A pretty simple concept, but one that kept many a Gen Xer out of mischief as they tried to battle it on their local arcade machine. We’re sure this one packs a punch of huge nostalgia for most as it is one of the original gaming addictions for many and an absolute classic in arcade gaming history. We’re thrilled to announce that it will be landing on Antstream Arcade in early May and we can’t wait!

Number 1: Space Invaders

Defend the earth from aliens in an all-time classic! As aliens descend from above, marching back and forth, you must utilise your canon to effectively clear wave after wave as you progress through levels. The world record on Space invaders is a whopping 110,510 points. Can you top our leaderboards with a higher score? Without using save states, of course!

Well, that’s it for 9 Classic Arcade Games For Gen Xers! We hope we’ve riled up those feelings of nostalgia as much as playing these games again does for us! If we’ve missed off your favourite popular arcade games, or the ones you spent the most tokens on in your local arcade, let us know down in the comments!

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