Forgoten treasures

Scotty

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Everyone knows of all the games with rock star status, like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong and Asteroids. My question to you is what games did you love back in the day that for some unknown reason never came close to achieving the same success? I am talking about games you only saw once or twice, not something that everyone had. Here is my list.

Astro Invader - Stern
Astro Blaster - Sega
Astro Fighter - Deco (Data East)
(The SOUND on this game is still my favorite sounds in any video game in history. BAR NONE.)
Carnival - Sega
Basball Stars (1,2,2020) - SNK Neo Geo
King of Monsters - SNK Neo Geo
Birdie King 2 - Taito
Championship Baseball - Sega (Three Out! Change Sides!)
Hat Trick - Bally/Sente
Super Basketball - Konami
Body Slam - Sega (Female Wrastlin'!!! YEAH BOY!!!)
Crazy Climber - Nichibutsu (Whoever DID have this game made a fortune. Always a line)
Jungle Hun/King - Taito (See Crazy Climber)
Phoenix - Centuri
Berzerk - Stern (semi popular, but not in the ranks of Pac-Man and Asteroids)
Crazy Kong - Falcon (Graphics were week, but liked the sound)
Donkey Kong 3 - Nintendo (This really is a GREAT GAME!!)
Eagle - Nicibutsu
Cosmic Alien - Universal
Cosmic Guerilla - Universal (Another Great game, Original idea)
Star Fire - Exidy (One of my ALL TIME FAVORITES! Years ahead of Atari Star Wars)
Gimme a Break - Bally/Sente (LOVE THIS GAME!!)
Mini Golf - Bally/Sente (LOVE THIS GAME!!!)
Head On (1 & 2) - Sega (Lot of fun)
Invinco - Sega (Cheap clone of Space Invaders. Never thought I would ever see again)
Mat Mania / Mania Challenge - Technos/Taito (One... Two... THREEEEEEEEEEEE!)
Asteroids Deluxe - Atari (Semi popular, but not as big as Asteroids)
Millipede - Atari (See Asteroids Deluxe)
Popeye - Nintendo (semi popular)
Power Drift - Sega (Live how they turn and smile at you)
Star Castle - Cinematronics
RipOff - Cinematronics
Armour Attack - Cinematronics
Space Enconter - Midway (LOVED THIS GAME!!!!!)
Space Fury - Sega (That one eyed alien ROCKS!!!)
Space Zap - Midway (Great idea!!!)
Star Hawk - Cinematronics
Stratovox - Sun (HELP ME!!! Very Good!)
Tac Scan - Sega (Loved the 2600 version, Arcade is major eye candy!!)
Tail Gunner - Cinematronics
Thief - Pacific Novelty (Only saw it once, THIS GAME ROCKED!!!!!!)
Time Pilot - Konami
Track and Field - Konami/Centuri (Semi popular)
Venture - Exidy (Fun but got burned out by it - Popular on consoles)
Wizard of Wor - Midway
Warlords - Atari

Any others????
 
Some additional ones not mentioned in the first post:

Bank Panic (best game when you only had one quarter/token left.. you could play for a long time)
Tokio
Kick-Man
Space Harrier
Two Tigers
Break Thru
Commando
Jackal
Kung Fu Master
 
One of my personal favorites: Swimmer - Centuri (Best cabinet art EVAR. There is not a single inch of the cab that is not covered in awesome nautical-themed art. The gameplay rocks, and the music is great despite its high-pitchness. All around great game, but a very rare one indeed)

I definitely agree with you on the following: (plus my own commentary!)

Phoenix - Centuri (It's a Centuri game. Not much else needs to be said :D)
Donkey Kong 3 - Nintendo (This one is unfairly compared to its predecessor, Donkey Kong. DK III is a completely different type of game, and it is a blast!)
Eagle - Nicibutsu (I love the docking sequences. Very unique indeed) Plus, it was licensed by Centuri.
Cosmic Alien - Universal (Universal made some of the neatest cabinets anywhere, and this is one of the best)
Cosmic Guerilla - Universal (Awesome, unique take on Space Invaders)
Star Fire - Exidy (One of my all-time favorites as well! I have an unhealthy love for the cockpit version especially)
Space Zap - Midway (Sweet controls & interesting gameplay idea)
Star Hawk - Cinematronics (Awesome cabinet, Tim Skelly game, and neat-as-heck Star Wars trench combat)
Tac Scan - Sega (One of the coolest game ideas out there. One ship is great, but not as good as 7!)
Tail Gunner - Cinematronics (Another Cinematronics game, very classic yet somehow unknown)
Time Pilot - Konami (Licensed by Centuri. Yeah!)
Venture - Exidy (Very fun dungeon-crawl style game. Cheesy graphics, but hey - this is Exidy we're talking about!)
Warlords - Atari (The best 4-player arcade game ever made. I'll never understand why Atari didn't make more of these)
 
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Early 80's
Baby Pac
Moon Patrol
Mr Do!
Kangaroo
Gaplus
Zaxxon
Stargate
Popeye

Mid to late 80's
Gladiator
Renegade
Bad dudes
Galaga '88
Black tiger

90s
Super pang

More but I am getting sleepy,...

Zzzzz



Sent from my android phone
 
I loved Mat Mania and Mania Challenge, but they were also some of the first conversions I remember seeing.

It was always eerie to play that loud, vibrant, and modern game and see Pac-Man or Scramble or some other burn-in on the screen. (And a little sad.)
 
Frisky Tom - Nichibutsu
Crazy Climber - Nichibutsu
Arabian - Atari/Sun Electronics
Wild Western - Taito
 
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