This was at a time when the first truly addictive video games started to appear in arcades all around the world. When the home computers and consoles of the time just didn't cut the mustard. They couldn't compete with the spectacular whizz, bangs and whistles that their arcade counterparts could provide for just 10p.
The year arcade video games first kicked in was 1978. Sure there were games before that but none of them fueled the fire of the video game craze like Space Invaders did that year. I was 9 years old and it was just the right time to see this gaming revolution happen right before my very eyes. One armed bandits and pinball machines were pushed into a corner to make way for rows and rows of video games. Their interactive, glowing screens lighting up otherwise dingy looking hangouts where adults would gamble their money. I wasn't interested in that.
The period from 1978 up until 1985 is, in my mind, the golden age of arcade video games. So many new ideas, creativity and inventiveness. I wonder if people back then had any clue how the position of video games in the cultural landscape would look over 35 years later. In 1985 I left school and it seemed like the world was going through so many changes including the slow down of arcade games as 16bit home computers and consoles began to catch up in complexity and quality. But don't worry, I'll be talking about the silver age of video games from beyond 1985 in the not too distant future.
So without further ado here are my Top 30 Arcade Golden Age Video Games. Please be aware that these are my own personal choices not based on sales, profits or other top arcade game lists, but solely on my memory of what I thought was good and what was fun to play.
