I wrote THIS document mainly so that no arcade games are forgotten (every game should gets its shot at emulation!) SO HERE IT IS…

THE TOP 50 (used to be 48) arcade games tallied from reader polls from Electronic Games (copyright Reese Communucations) magazine. I have all of the issues printed (Winter, 1981 to April, 1985). It is a great resource for arcade game history. Anyway, the results are from the era when the games were being played, not what someone "remembers" (but isn't that all that counts?). The only skew is that games before or after printing may not have received enough points as was deserved (eg. Space Invaders only has 6 pts because it came out years before the first issue).

TOP 50 ARCADE GAMES FROM 1981-1985 (this document continues after the list):

• 1. Donkey Kong 142pts Nintendo
• 2. Dig Dug 90pts Atari
• ....Zaxxon 90pts Sega/Gremlin
• 4. Tempest 77pts Atari
• 5. Ms. Pac Man 73pts Midway
• 6. Pac Man 69pts Namco/Midway
• 7. Tron 66pts Midway
• 8. Star Wars 65pts Atari
• 9. Pole Position 60pts Atari
• 10. Dragon’s Lair (Laserdisc) 59pts Starcom
• 11. Joust 54pts Williams
• 12. Centipede 53pts Atari
• 13. Defender 45pts. Williams
• 14. Q-bert 42pts Gottlieb
• 15. Donkey Kong Jr. 41pts. Nintendo
• 16. M.A.C.H. 3 (Laserdisc) 39pts Mylstar
• ......Track & Field 39pts Konami
• 18. Spy Hunter 29pts Bally/Midway
• 19. Pole Position II 26pts Atari
• 20. Space Ace 24pts Starcom
• 21. Battlezone 21pts Atari
• 22. Burgertime 20pts Data East/Bally
• 23. Robotron 19pts Williams
• ......Xevious 19pts Atari
• 25. Asteroids 16pts Atari
• 26. Galaga 15pts Midway
• 27. Crossbow (Uses Gun) 14pts Exidy
• 28. Berzerk 12pts Stern
• 29. Punch Out 12pts Nintendo
• 30. Popeye 10pts Nintendo
• 31. Gorf 9pts Midway
• ......Jungle Hunt/King 9pts Taito
• ......Scramble 9pts Stern
• ......Sinistar 9pts Bally/Midway
• ......Stargate 9pts Williams
• 36. Firefox (Laserdisc) 7pts Atari
• 37. Crytal Castles 6pts Atari
• ......Galaxian 6pts Namco/Midway
• ......Kangaroo 6pts Atari
• ......Missile Command 6pts Atari
• ......Space Invaders 6pts Midway/Taito
• ......Time Pilot 6pts Centuri
• 43. Venture 6pts Exidy
• 44. Crazy Climber 4pts Nichibutsu
• ......Star Trek 4pts Sega
• ......Tutankham 4pts Stern
• 47. Space Duel 3pts Atari
• 48. Wizard of Wor 2pts Midway
• 49. Front Line 1pt Taito
• ......Tag Team Wrestling 1pt Data East

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I also recorded every arcade game that was mentioned in each issue. This is not even close to being as comprehensive as the "Killer List of Video Games" by Mike Hughey, although I did find seven games that were not on his list (marked with an asterisk (*) below; These games may indeed have fallen short of being released, but they were at least mentioned in the magazine. Please note that the games above are not listed below.

• Alpine Ski Taito ’82
• Amidar Stern/Konami
• Arabian Atari ‘83
• Armored Car Stern ’82
• Armour Attack Cinematronics
• Astro Blaster Sega/Gremlin
• Astron Belt Sega ’83 Laserdisc game
• Barracuda Coinex ’82
• Battlezone Atari
• Beezer Midway ’83
• Bosconian Namco/Midway
• Bump ‘N’ Jump Data East
• Championship Baseball Taito ’83
• Cobra Command Data East ’84
• Congo Bongo Bally/Midway
• Discs of Tron Bally/Midway
• Do’s Run Run Universal
• Domino Man Bally/Midway ‘83
• Donkey Kong 3 Nintendo ’84
• Eagle Centuri ’81
• Eliminator Sega/Gremlin ’82
• Eyes Rock-ola
• Fantasy Rock-ola ’82
• Foodfight Atari
• Frenzy Stern
• Frogger Sega/Gremlin ’82
• Grand Champion Tatio ’81
• Gravitar Atari
• Gyruss Centuri
• Holey Moley Tai
• Hypersports Konami ‘84
• I, Robot Atari
• Indiana Jones & Temple of Doom Atari
• Intersteller II Funai
• Journey Bally/Midway ’84
• Karate Champ Data East
• Kickman Midway ’81
• Lady Bug Universal ‘81
• Locomotion Centuri ’82
• Lode Runner Irem (*)
• Looping Venture Line ’82
• Mad Planets Gottlieb ‘83
• Major Havoc Atari
• Make Trax Williams ’82
• Mappy Namco
• Marble Madness Atari ‘84
• Mario. Bros. Nintendo ‘83
• Megattack Centuri (*)
• Millipede Atari ’83
• Moon Patrol Williams ‘82
• Moppet Video Intrepid Kid’s Uprights
• Desert Race (*)
• Tugboat (*)
• Pirate Treasure (*)
• Leprechaun (*)
• Mouse Trap Exidy ‘81
• Mr. Do Universal
• NFL Football Bally/Midway ’84 Laserdisc game
• Omega Race Midway ‘81
• Pac-land Balley/Midway
• Pac-man Plus Bally ’83
• Paperboy Atari
• Pengo Sega
• Pepper II Exidy ’82
• Phoenix Centuri ’81
• Pleiades Centuri ’81
• Poo-yan Konami ’83
• Pop Flamer Stern ‘83
• Professor Pac-man Midway (*)
• Qix Taito ‘81
• Red Alert GDI ’82
• Red Baron Atari ’82
• Return of the Jedi Atari
• Rip Off Cinematronics ‘79
• River Patrol Kersten ’82
• Route 16 Centuri ’81 (Route 17?)
• Rug Rats Nichibutsu ’83 (*)
• Satan’s Hollow Bally/Midway ’82
• Shrike Avenger Sente (*) Spelled correctly
• Slither GDI
• Snake Pit Bally/Midway ‘84 SAC System
• Solar Fox Bally/Midway ’82
• Space Dungeon Taito ‘82
• Space Firebird Sega/Gremlin ‘80
• Space Fury Sega
• Star Castle Cinematronics
• Sub Roc 3-D Sega/Gremlin
• Super Basketball Konami
• Super Pac-man Bally ’82
• Super Punch-out Nintendo ‘84
• Tapper Bally/Midway ‘84
• Thayer’s Quest RDI Video Systems Laserdisc game
• The Pit Centuri ’82
• Thief Pacific Novelty
• Three Stoges Mylstar
• Timber Bally/Midway
• Tin Star Taito ‘83 Starring Zeke from Zoo Keeper
• Treasure Cove Wico ’84 (*)
• Turbo Sega/Gremlin ’82
• Turkey Shoot Williams ’84 Uses Gun
• Two Tigers Bally ’84 Awesome game
• TX-1 Atari ‘83 Racing Game (two screens)
• Up ‘N Down Bally/Midway ‘84
• Vanguard Centuri ’82
• Vulgus SNK
• Warlords Atari ’81
• Whacko Bally/Midway ’84
• Wild Western Taito
• Zoo Keeper Taito ’82

------- See Ya. Charlie M. (camilty@jps.net)