Arcades were the gateway drug to what would evolve and expand to become an industry larger than Hollywood within 30 years. We flocked to malls, pizza joints, grocery stores and 7/11’s to get our fix of games like Pac-Man, Dig Dug and Street Fighter. Arcades had a strong run for about 15 years, before home console technology caught up to arcades and we wanted longer, more in-depth experiences that quarter-munchers couldn’t provide.

While arcades are essentially dead, they were fundamental in shaping the gaming industry. Let’s take a look at what I feel are the top 5 most important arcade games of all time.

Space Invaders

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One of the earliest popular arcade games, Space Invaders was simple and crude, but set the standard for space-based shooters. You piloted a ship at the bottom of the screen and blasted away at waves of aliens that advanced towards you from top to bottom. Everything from Galaga to Raiden owe their success to what was established in Space Invaders.

Donkey Kong

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While technically not the first, Donkey Kong was the most influential early platformer. You took control of Jumpman (they hadn't named him Mario yet) and had to climb various construction sites to save your girlfriend Pauline (they must have broken up when Mario started chasing after Princess Peach a few years later).

The sidescrolling gameplay that had you jumping over obstacles basically established the standards that would be used in future titles like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man.

Pole Position

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Until Pole Position came along, racing games were mostly restricted to clunky, overhead views of crudely rendered cars on simple tracks. What PP did was shift the view to behind the racer, giving us the first real 3D perspective in racing games. Popular titles like Outrun and Cruisin USA owe much to the groundwork laid by Pole Position.

Yie-ar Kung Fu

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While not the first one-on-one fighting game (Karate Champ beat it to market by one year), this relatively obscure title was monumental in establishing the standards that influenced the fighting game genre. From a wide range of attacks, to fast, fluid and frantic gameplay, Yie-ar was hugely influential on the Street Fighter series that made fighting games massively popular. It's also a personal favorite of mine. The sound effects and music alone take me back to being an 10-year-old kid.

Dance Dance Revolution

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The decade from the mid-80's to mid-90's was mostly well-established genres seeing refined and better-looking versions of shooters, beat-em-ups and racing games. The last big innovation from arcades was the idea of using complete different types of input, including your own body. While some of these ideas were tested at home, with gimmicky peripherals like the Power Pad, Rock N' Roller and Sega's Activator, nothing nailed this concept better than DDR. This series injected the last bit of adrenaline into the arcade scene and brought us back for one final encore. The concepts from DDR eventually evolved into the Nintendo Wii and Guitar Hero.

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I have a tremendous sense of nostalgia for arcade games the point that I've got a half-dozen of them in my game room (plus several project cabinets in my garage). I spent much of my childhood huddled around a Galaga or Super Sprint machine. These games really solidified and influenced many of the games I wasted countless quarters on as a kid and they really deserve to be remembered and honored.

What do you think? Are there more influential games I left off my list (Tetris perhaps)? Let's discuss!

Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!

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