🕹️ The 12 best arcade games

This is our pick of the Arcade MAME essentials: the games that have aged best and are worth coming back to the console for. For each one we explain what makes it special, with a couple of tips, and every one of them plays right now in your browser — no downloads, with keyboard, gamepad or touch controls.

#1Pac-Man
1980 · Arcade · Maze
Pac-Man, made by Namco and designed by Toru Iwatani, has you steering a hungry yellow circle around a maze, eating dots while four ghosts give chase. Each ghost hunts differently: Blinky follows you directly, Pinky tries to get ahead of you, Inky is hard to read and Clyde wanders in and out. The four large pellets in the corners turn the tables for a few seconds, letting you eat your pursuers for extra points. Rounds are short, the rules click immediately, and learning the routes can take years, which is why it remains the maze game everyone measures against.
Tip: Save the big pellets until several ghosts are close; eating them in a chain gives far more points.
▶ Play Pac-Man
#2Street Fighter II: CE
1992 · Fighting · Arcade
Champion Edition was Capcom's first major revision of its 1991 fighting game, and it changed how people played. The four bosses, Sagat among them, became selectable, bringing the roster to twelve, and two players could finally pick the same fighter. Every match is best of three rounds: you read your opponent, block high or low, punish mistakes and land special moves built from joystick motions and button presses. Against the computer you work through the cast before facing the bosses. Its balance tweaks and the arcade rivalries it fuelled are why so many players remember it as the version they learned on.
Tip: Practise the forward quarter-circle plus punch; it is the basis for Ryu and Ken's fireballs.
▶ Play Street Fighter II: CE
#3Metal Slug
1996 · Run & Gun · Arcade
Metal Slug was the first game in the series, made by Nazca Corporation for SNK's Neo Geo hardware. You play as Marco or Tarma, Regular Army soldiers pushing alone or as a pair against General Morden's Rebel Army. You run, shoot in eight directions, toss grenades and free prisoners who hand over weapons like the heavy machine gun, rocket launcher or shotgun. In some stretches you can climb into the Metal Slug itself, a small tank that jumps and fires its cannon. It is tough and punishes every mistake, but people remember it most for its detailed hand-drawn animation, its sense of humor and its over-the-top explosions.
Tip: Free every bearded prisoner you find; they drop weapons, grenades and points that make boss fights far more manageable.
▶ Play Metal Slug
#4Galaga
1981 · Shooter · Arcade
Galaga is Namco's 1981 follow-up to Galaxian, and it keeps the idea simple: your ship slides left and right along the bottom of the screen, shooting at waves of insect-like aliens. Enemies swirl in to form ranks, then peel off and dive at you. The big twist is the Boss Galaga, which can grab your fighter with a tractor beam. Rescue it and you fly two ships side by side, with double the firepower and double the target to protect. Challenge stages, where nothing shoots back, reward sharp aim and a good memory for flight patterns.
Tip: Let a Boss Galaga capture a ship when you have a spare life, then shoot the boss to free it and get the dual fighter.
▶ Play Galaga
#5Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
1989 · Beat 'em Up · Cooperativo
Konami's 1989 arcade take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a beat 'em up for up to four players. You pick Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello or Raphael and fight across New York to rescue April O'Neil and Splinter from Shredder. The screen scrolls right while waves of Foot Soldiers pour out of doorways and manholes, and you cut through them with weapon strikes and jump kicks. The route runs through a burning apartment building, city streets, the sewers and the Technodrome, with bosses like Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang along the way. The voice clips, the cartoon theme and the chaos of four turtles on screen at once made it an arcade favourite, and it still shines with friends.
Tip: Avoid lining up directly level with enemies; approach at a diagonal so you can hit them before they hit you.
▶ Play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
#6The Simpsons
1991 · Beat 'em Up · Cooperativo
Konami turned Springfield's best-known family into a side-scrolling brawler where up to four players pick Homer, Marge, Bart or Lisa to rescue Maggie, snatched by Smithers after a diamond heist. Each character fights differently: Homer swings his fists, Marge wields a vacuum cleaner, Bart uses his skateboard and Lisa whips a jump rope. You punch your way through city streets, a cemetery, an amusement park and other places from the show, grabbing items and food on the road to Mr. Burns. It is remembered for humor that feels true to the cartoon and the team-up attacks that happen when two players stand together.
Tip: Stand close to a partner to trigger team attacks; they hit hard and clear crowds quickly.
▶ Play The Simpsons
#7X-Men
1992 · Beat 'em Up · Cooperativo
Konami's beat 'em up, based on the pilot of the animated series "Pryde of the X-Men", lets you pick Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler or Dazzler and fight through waves of Sentinels and Magneto's followers. You push forward through streets, bases and stranger places with punches and jump attacks, and when things get crowded you can unleash a mutant power that clears the screen at the cost of some health. It's best remembered as a group game: several players at once, enemies pouring in from every side, bosses like Juggernaut and Magneto himself, and a pace that rarely lets up.
Tip: Your mutant power drains health, so save it for when you're surrounded or a boss is open, not for stray enemies.
▶ Play X-Men
#8Metal Slug 2
1998 · Run & Gun · Arcade
Metal Slug 2 is a run-and-gun from SNK for the Neo Geo where you push from left to right through General Morden's rebel army, freeing prisoners for new weapons and climbing into armored vehicles. Marco and Tarma are joined by Eri and Fio, and the game adds the Camel Slug, the Slug Flyer, and transformations that turn your soldier into a mummy or an overweight trooper. People remember it for its hand-drawn animation packed with comic touches, its alien invasion finale, and a difficulty that punishes every mistake. They also remember the slowdown when the screen fills with explosions.
Tip: Free every bearded prisoner you find; they often hand over strong weapons, extra grenades or bonus points.
▶ Play Metal Slug 2
#9Ms. Pac-Man
1981 · Arcade · Maze
Ms. Pac-Man takes the dot-eating chase of the original and makes it less predictable. Developed by General Computer Corporation and released by Midway, it rotates through four different mazes as play goes on, and the ghosts move with enough randomness that memorized patterns stop working. Fruit no longer sits still but wanders the corridors, and short intermissions follow the romance between the heroine and Pac-Man. The loop is simple: clear every dot, hold the power pellets for when the ghosts close in, then turn the tables and eat them. Many players consider it the better game of the two.
Tip: Use the side tunnels: ghosts slow down inside them, making them the safest escape route when you get cornered.
▶ Play Ms. Pac-Man
#10Alien vs. Predator
1994 · Beat 'em Up · Action
Capcom brought this beat 'em up to arcades in 1994, putting the two science fiction franchises in the same fight. You pick one of four characters, two human soldiers and two Predators, and push through a city overrun by Aliens using punches, combos and weapons you grab off the floor. Up to three players can fight together, and each character handles differently, some quick and agile, others slow and heavy. It is remembered for its relentless pace, enemies that swarm from every side and huge boss fights, and for never getting a home console release.
Tip: Guns you pick up have limited ammo, so save them for bosses or big swarms of Aliens.
▶ Play Alien vs. Predator
#11Donkey Kong
1981 · Platformer · Arcade
Donkey Kong is the Nintendo arcade game where a carpenter called Jumpman, later known as Mario, climbs a construction site to rescue a woman carried off by a giant ape. Each stage fits on one screen: you dodge or leap over barrels rolling down sloped girders, ride elevators, cross conveyor belts and pull out rivets until the whole structure collapses. A hammer lets you smash hazards for a few seconds, while a shrinking bonus timer keeps you moving. Designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, it was one of the first games built around jumping. Runs are short, precise and unforgiving, and reading the barrels is the real challenge.
Tip: While holding the hammer you cannot jump or climb, so only grab it when the path ahead is clear.
▶ Play Donkey Kong
#12Final Fight
1989 · Beat 'em Up
The Mad Gear gang runs Metro City, and they have kidnapped Jessica, daughter of mayor Mike Haggar. You choose Haggar, a former wrestler, Cody, Jessica's boyfriend, or the ninja Guy, and work your way through slums, subway cars and factories, punching, grabbing and throwing anyone who gets in the way. Barrels and phone booths hide roast chicken and weapons like pipes and knives. Capcom's brawler stood out for its large, detailed characters and the weight behind every hit, and it shaped the genre for years. Two players can fight side by side, and Guy and Cody later turned up in the Street Fighter series.
Tip: The special attack costs a bit of health when it lands, so save it for moments when you are surrounded.
▶ Play Final Fight