It’s all in the good old arcade game’s name, a historical piece of technology, the grandpa to today’s entertainment, and the inspiration for many mobile phone games.
Though there probably aren’t many of us who got to play these classic video games in their original form, a coin-operated or token-operated cabinet, we can still appreciate their legacy.
That’s why we’re dedicating a comprehensive roster listing all of the best arcade games! For some, it will be quite a nostalgic scroll through some of the best games; for others, it will be a chance to learn about video game history and maybe try some of these old-school distractions yourself.
From Donkey Kong to OutRun, we’ve rounded up the most successful, influential, and iconic old arcade games. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll find an original cabinet designed to play these games, but no worries – they are available online.
You can even find some of the best Apple Arcade games on iOS. Just be careful, as the main ingredient to such a game’s success was making it addictive, so you might find yourself unwillingly submerged into the world of retro arcade games.
If you enjoy gaming nostalgia, you might also like our growing collection of NYT Games strategies and solutions, where we cover daily hints for Wordle, Connections, Strands, and more.
But, enough talk! Just scroll down below, check out the arcade games list, read the descriptions, and pick your amusement of the hour.
Remember, it’s entirely up to you to upvote your favorites so they rank higher. Don’t forget to share this article with your fun-loving friends.
#1 Donkey Kong
Released: 1981
Created by: Nintendo
Donkey Kong follows an ape named Donkey Kong and his clan of other apes and monkeys on various adventures. The original game of the series is set in an industrial construction site, and besides introducing us to the now-iconic ape, it’s also where the future megastar Mario appears for the first time. Donkey Kong enjoyed great success among fans and critics and is considered one of the best video game characters. It turned into a full-on video game series with plenty of spin-offs, a television show, and a film dedicated to the charming ape.
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#2 Pac-Man
Released: 1980
Created by: Namco
Pac-Man is definitely the most famous arcade game ever. However, if you genuinely cannot put your finger on what Pac-Man is, let us remind you! It’s a maze game where you operate a yellow puck-shaped entity that has to eat all the yellow dots present in the maze before it gets gobbled up by freely floating ghosts. Simple enough, addictive much!
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#3 Space Invaders
Released: 1978
Created by: Taito
Space Invaders is a fixed shooter arcade game where the player has to defeat descending aliens with a laser beam. It’s simplicity at its best – the game is so addictive and, quite frankly, hypnotic that it became an immediate success. To this day, Space Invaders is the highest-grossing video game of all time! This game also marked the golden age of the arcade and became a true pop culture icon. Even its tiny pixelated aliens are often used to represent video games as a whole to this day.
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#4 Galaga
Released: 1981
Created by: Namco
In Galaga, the player controls a lonesome starship with the objective of defeating the enemy vessels and random aliens falling down the screen. Being hit by either the aliens or their laser projectiles will cost the player a life, so you have to be quick with your reflexes to beat the levels. A seemingly simple yet entertaining and immersive shooter!
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#5 Ms. Pac-Man
Released: 1982
Created by: GCC
An unauthorized sequel to the original, Ms. Pac-Man follows the same premise – a yellow puck-shaped being (this time with a red bow), eating pellets in a maze while trying to evade ghosts. Ms. Pac-Man saw improvements compared to its 1980 predecessor and was praised for its gameplay and choosing a female protagonist.
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#6 Asteroids
Released: 1979
Created by: Atari
Asteroids is a shooter arcade game where you can move your spaceship left and right, and propel it, which definitely helps in shooting up asteroids and occasional saucers floating around you. Asteroids quickly became one of the favorites of arcade players, so much so that the operators of amusement halls had to affix larger boxes to hold the coins spent by players. It was, after all, one of the first games where you could move your shooter, and the novelty of that played a big part in its success.
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#7 Street Fighter II
Released: 1991
Created by: Capcom
A sequel to the original 1987 competitive fighting game Street Fighter, this 1991 installment saw many improvements. Now, you could end your opponents with combo moves, play with a six-button configuration, and choose from a wider array of playable characters, each with its own unique fighting style. Street Fighter II is regarded as one of the best arcade games of all time. Not only has it impacted competitive video gaming, but it has also become a staple in our popular culture.
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#8 Frogger
Released: 1981
Created by: Konami
In Frogger, you get to guide a tiny green frog on his way to safety. First, there’s a busy road with cars, trucks, and bulldozers speeding by. If you’ve reached the meridian strip, you can wipe your sweaty palms and navigate your froggy through a river next. Hopping from log to log, your frog must survive alligators and turtles to reach its final destination at the top of the screen. What’s even more thrilling, this game was inspired by real-life events! Once, Akira Hashimoto, the designer of this game, spotted a frog on a busy road, trying to evade its fate as roadkill, and immediately thought about turning that amphibian’s quest into an arcade game. Thank you, unnamed froggy, for inspiring one of the greatest video games ever!
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#9 Gauntlet
Released: 1985
Created by: Atari
Gauntlet is considered to be one of the first multiplayer dungeon crawl arcade games. The game is set within a series of mazes that the players navigate from top to bottom in a quest to find an entry to the next level. There’s also an assortment of special items that increase players’ health and unlock doors. Though initially it was meant to be played by four people, each taking one of the Gauntlet’s characters, it was later re-released as a two-player game. Also, it’s no surprise that the inspiration for Gauntlet and all its fantasy settings and creatures came from the legendary board game Dungeons & Dragons.
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#10 Defender
Released: 1981
Created by: Williams Electronics
Defender is a horizontally scrolling shooter where the player gets to pilot an elaborate spaceship. Besides navigating said mode of transportation, destroying aliens is also on the roster. Otherwise, all astronauts will be abducted, and the landscape will be destroyed. Though it seems like an easy task to beat, Defender was known to be notoriously tricky. It was common to last 10 seconds for your first play, which either deterred the players or fueled them with rage against the machine. Which, naturally, generated many plays and many coins.
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#11 Dig Dug
Released: 1982
Created by: Namco
In Dig Dug, you get to operate Dig Dug on his quest to destroy all enemies present on the screen. Those might be the Pookas or the Fygars, the latter of which are green fire-breathing dragons. Interestingly, you aren’t meant to shoot them but rather squash them with rocks or inflate them until they burst. Dig Dug was praised for its entertaining gameplay and layered strategy, making it a commercial and critical success.
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#12 Centipede
Released: 1981
Created by: Atari
In Centipede, you get to control a bug blaster with the primary objective of destroying a centipede descending toward you. Though it might take some time to get the hang of its movements and find the best way to get rid of it, it isn’t a particularly hard game; rather one to be enjoyed by any kind of player. Besides the centipede, there are spiders, fleas, scorpions, mushrooms, and all sorts of other forest-themed vermin and obstacles.
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#13 1942
Released: 1984
Created by: Capcom
The main goal of this game is to reach Tokyo and destroy an air fleet. The player gets to pilot the legendary Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft and shoot down enemy planes. 1942 was praised for its excellent graphics, balanced gameplay, and nifty power-ups that made the game all the more exciting.
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#14 Double Dragon
Released: 1987
Created by: Technos Japan
You can take up one of the characters, Jimmy or Billy Lee, and fight your way into a gang turf. The game moves in a belt scroll format; the ever-changing scenery definitely adds up to the excitement. Besides regular punches, you can make your character perform combo moves or pick up various melee weapons (some of which are pretty unusual) from enemies and make them taste their own medicine.
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#15 Mortal Kombat
Released: 1992
Created by: Midway
The game offers a plentiful roster of characters to choose from and take to a martial arts combat ground. The game employed such realistic graphics and gory finishing movies – Fatalities – that it soon sparked controversy, and a bill was passed requiring video games to be rated, the same as with movies. The initial Mortal Kombat game was so wildly successful that it spawned a behemoth media franchise that’s alive and well to this day.
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#16 Mario Bros
Released: 1983
Created by: Nintendo
Nowhere else does being a plumber sound as exciting and as gratifying as in the Mario Bros arcade game. The game became such a staple of our pop culture that even its original musical score became a meme, a fuel for balalaika renditions, and acapella songs meowed by cats. You can’t even go to the street wearing red overalls without being called Mario! And if that isn’t a sign of a legendary game, we don’t know what is.
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#17 Joust
Released: 1982
Created by: Williams Electronics
It popularized the concept of two-player cooperative games. Here, one player gets to be a knight riding a flying ostrich, the other – a stork. The objective is to joust the enemies off the buzzards they’re flying on; whoever’s lance is in a higher position upon collision is the winner. However, that still doesn’t mean you got rid of the enemy! Once jousted off, the foes turn into eggs that the players have to collect. If they fail to do so, the egg hatches and respawns as the attacker once more. Joust’s original concept, quirky designs, and playability made it into a wildly successful game at the time.
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#18 Contra
Released: 1986
Created by: Nintendo
Contra employs a variety of screen perspectives, like the standard side view, a pseudo-3D view, and a fixed screen format. Though you can play it alone, it also allows for two gamers to play simultaneously. One of you will be a blond-haired commando Bill; the other is a quintessentially shirtless Lance. There’s loads of shooting and destruction in Contra, and these thrills (together with neat graphics) made this shooter game legendary.
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#19 Rampage
Released: 1986
Created by: Midway
In Rampage, up to three simultaneous players get turned into monsters. The trio of monsters – a King-Kong-like gorilla, a Ymir-like reptile, and a gigantic biped wolf – then have to destroy all the buildings of a high-rise city they are in, eat the people, knock down helicopters, and squash any vehicles. The game’s thrilling fun even made it into a feature movie, starring Dwayne Johnson!
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#20 Spy Hunter
Released: 1983
Created by: Midway
In this old arcade game, you get to drive down the roads in a technologically superb car equipped with various weapons. Of course, driving isn’t the only thing that you do here; you also get to destroy enemy vehicles. What’s more fun is that the original arcade booths for Spy Hunter had an actual wheel, a futuristic yoke with special buttons, and even a two-position stick shift. Neither the road, the enemies, nor the game itself has an end – you can drive for as long as you want (or until your coins end).
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#21 Pole Position
Released: 1982
Created by: Namco
This was one of the best arcade games, where the player controlled a Formula One race car, driving it on a racetrack based on a real circuit. The laps are timed to make it more competitive, and you have to beat your opponents. Pole Position was a widely successful game at its time, inspiring plenty of sports-themed games afterward.
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#22 Street Fighter
Released: 1987
Created by: Capcom
Street Fighter is another retro arcade game that found great success. It spawned a whole series of Street Fighter games, eight direct sequels, to be exact. The original cabinet for Street Fighter had a nifty punching pad. However, the players didn’t find it quite interesting, and the pad was soon switched to six-button controls. At the time, Street Fighter was nominated as the most realistic martial arts combat game, so no wonder why it became so popular.
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#23 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game
Released: 1989
Created by: Konami
TNMT beat ‘em up was developed during the high popularity of the TNMT franchise. In the game, up to four players get to control the mutant turtles fighting against their main nemesis, Shredder, and all the other enemies that we love to hate – Krang and the Foot Clan, for instance. All the beating isn’t without reason, too; it’s to save the kidnapped April O’Neil and turtles’ sensei Splinter. Though some critics weren’t in favor of the game, it proved to be a worldwide blockbuster, further fueling the fame of the TNMT franchise.
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#24 OutRun
Released: 1986
Created by: Sega
OutRun offered pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack, and the hydraulic motion simulator arcade cabinet. In this retro arcade game, you get to control a Ferrari Testarossa Spider from a third-person rear perspective. The goal is to reach the final destination against a timer while avoiding traffic so as not to crash the Ferrari. It was probably the greatest driving simulator at the time, thrilling plenty of auto sports enthusiasts.
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#25 Punch-Out!!
Released: 1984
Created by: Nintendo
In this classic arcade game, the player takes the role of a green-haired boxer (known as Little Mac in the NES versions) who must defeat his opponent. The green-haired boxer is shown from behind with a wireframe illustrating his body parts that can’t be seen from this angle. Although the opponent’s upcoming offensive moves are hinted at by his eyes flashing yellow, the player ultimately has to predict what kind of move it will be and how to block it. The game proved to be a great success and later spawned a series of sequels and spin-offs.
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#26 Star Wars
Released: 1983
Created by: Atari
Here, you get to be the legendary Luke Skywalker piloting an X-Wing fighter. Although you don’t have to destroy all the enemy vessels and obliterate each gun turret, you have to survive for a set time to advance to the next level, which proved to be so much harder than it might seem! The Star Wars arcade game was praised for its smooth animations and very addictive gameplay.
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#27 Ghosts’n Goblins
Released: 1985
Created by: Capcom
In this classic arcade game, the player gets to control a knight, aptly named Sir Arthur, who must defeat all sorts of zombies, ogres, demons, cyclops, and dragons to rescue Princess Prin-Prin. After defeating the final boss, the player has to replay the entirety of Ghosts ‘n Goblins on a greater difficulty, only then reaching the game’s final conclusion. Though it hardly was a groundbreaking game, it nonetheless enjoyed great commercial and critical success.
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#28 Tron
Released: 1982
Created by: Midway
Tron was inspired by the events depicted in Walt Disney’s movie of the same name, released earlier in the summer of 1982. It consists of four sub-games in twelve levels. Only by beating all of the four sub-games in each of the levels could the player finish Tron. The game later inspired a sequence, Discs Of Tron, but it was a sad flop compared to the success of its predecessor.
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#29 Paperboy
Released: 1985
Created by: Atari
Here, you get to control a paperboy on a bicycle, trying to deliver newspapers in a suburban area. Besides dropping off papers, you have to make sure not to crash into obstacles and vandalize non-subscriber homes in a noteworthy manner. Though it’s a simple enough game, it managed to garner plenty of fans and even earned an Xbox re-release years later.
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#30 Q*bert
Released: 1982
Created by: Gottlieb
The game is played from an axonometric third-person perspective to give it a 3D look. Here, you get to control Q*bert, a red entity with two legs and a trunk, hopping down a pyramid of 28 cubes. Every cube must be hopped on and marked with a changed color. That, of course, isn’t all – Q*bert meets plenty of fun enemies making his way down the pyramid. The adversaries are Coily the snake, Ugg and Wrongway, and Slick and Sam – all of which are drawn in the same quirky style as Q*bert itself. This was one of the best arcade games, which propelled the developers to come up with more than ten sequels and reboots.
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#31 Bubble Bobble
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#32 Pong
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#33 Arkanoid
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#34 Golden Axe
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#35 Burgertime
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#36 Dragon’s Lair
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#37 Lode Runner
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#38 The Simpsons Arcade Game
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#39 Tempest
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#40 Missile Command
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#41 Popeye
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#42 Root Beer Tapper
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#43 Millipede
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#44 Sea Wolf
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#45 Cadillacs And Dinosaurs
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#46 Bomb Jack
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#47 Rally-X
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#48 Mappy
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#49 Galaxian
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#50 Donkey Kong Jr.
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#51 NBA Jam
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#52 Commando
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#53 X-Men
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#54 Zaxxon
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#55 Marble Madness
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#56 After Burner
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#57 Operation Wolf
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#58 Mr. Do!
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#59 Time Pilot
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#60 Kung-Fu Master
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#61 Phoenix
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#62 Breakout
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#63 Gyruss
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#64 Ikari Warriors
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#65 Super Pac-Man
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#66 Lunar Lander
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#67 Knights Of The Round
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#68 Donkey Kong 3
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#69 Rolling Thunder
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#70 Hang-On
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#71 Crash Bandicoot
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#72 Robotron: 2084
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#73 Battlezone
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#74 Track & Field
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#75 Final Fight
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#76 Berzerk
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#77 Moon Patrol
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#78 Xevious
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#79 Elevator Action
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#80 Altered Beast
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#81 Smash TV
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#82 Time Crisis
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#83 Daytona USA
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#84 Choplifter
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#85 Karate Champ
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#86 Tekken
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#87 Gorf
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#88 Doom
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#89 Stargate
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#90 Crystal Castles
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#91 Tekken 3
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#92 Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja
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#93 Hogan’s Alley
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#94 Space Harrier
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#95 Wizard Of Wor
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#96 Galaga ’88
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#97 Snow Bros.: Nick & Tom
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#98 720°
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#99 Captain Commando
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#100 Airwolf
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#101 Pengo
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#102 Toki
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#103 Kangaroo
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#104 Bump ‘N’ Jump
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#105 Cabal
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#106 Front Line
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#107 Kid Icarus
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#108 Klax
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#109 Xenophobe
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#110 Gun Fight
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