The 80s was an interesting decade for arcade games as there are two distinct halves. The first half was a carryover from the 70s, with most games simply demanding you to aim for the highest score, with the chance to go on forever. Later in the decade, though, games could actually be beaten and contain a beginning, middle, and end.
Not only that, but many titles had a more fair feeling challenge regarding difficulty. The transition to tough but fair wouldn't fully come into play until the 90s, but steps were being taken. Not every best game will be one everybody fondly remembers, as many are included due to their influence in the industry.
10 Pac-Man
The original Pac-Man is one of the most iconic games ever created. A simple maze where you needed to gobble up all the dots; it was very easy to learn but hard to master. Since the game's over four decades old, many have mastered it, achieving the highest score possible of 3,333,360.
While there are many sequels and revisions throughout the past 40-plus years that top the classic instalment in many regards, they wouldn't exist without the original. Still, to this day, Pac-Man machines are one of the most common units you'll see in actual arcades, and they're still manufactured by companies like Arcade1Up.
9 Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong, the first-ever title in the Mario franchise, is up there with Pac-Man in terms of most iconic games. Unlike Pac-Man, which eases you into the experience, DK is pretty challenging right off the bat. You'll go through a continuous cycle of four levels, with the gameplay largely focusing on forward movement while evading every obstacle in your way.
It's a more fun experience due to its high challenge, and anyone who played Donkey Kong 64 can tell you. The first Donkey Kong is also massively important for the platformer genre as a whole, being perhaps the first game to include fall damage, a mechanic that most Mario games after would throw away.
8 Galaga
Sometimes a sequel comes along that's so much better than the original; it makes playing that first instalment a bit pointless. This is the case for Galaga, a game so much better than its predecessor that most youngsters in arcades today probably don't know it's a sequel to Galaxian. Galaga's space shooting action still holds up in its fun factor today.
For games like Pac-Man, you could argue it's a bit too simple today compared to modern titles in the series, but Galaga's still a lot of fun, even with modern 2D space shooters. Along with Pac-Man, it's among the top two most common Namco machines you'll see out in the wild, and it's for good reason.
7 Robotron 2084
While not a staple 80s game for many, Robotron 2084 is incredibly influential and essentially spawned its own unique subgenre. The controls were great, with two joysticks. One is for movement, and the other is for the direction of your shots. This control scheme worked phenomenally and would be emulated for many similar games after.
Robotron's hectic action is still fun and challenging to this day. It created the horde shooter action game subgenre and influenced titles from Smash TV to even Dead Ops Arcade in Call of Duty. Even Serious Sam is a 3D FPS version of what was the original gameplay in Robotron.
6 Joust
Joust is another classic arcade game that influenced many games afterward but to a more surprising degree than normal. You play a knight mounted on an Ostrich or Stork as you go around charging and striking into the other opponents. It's easy to pick up right away and incredibly fun, especially with friends.
It feels like a hit indie game that could've been released today due to its party game-like feel. Joust has been referenced numerous times in pop culture, including the Ready Player One novel, and influenced many titles like Nintendo's Balloon Fight. That never happens with the big N, as they're usually the innovators.
5 Marble Madness
Like Robotron, Marble Madness essentially created its own niche subgenre within platformers. The best way to play Marble Madness is still the arcade version due to the trackball controls. It controls so well and just works, unlike the NES port or if you're playing on an Xbox 360 with an analog stick. The latter is particularly way too sensitive and not a great way to play.
Marble Madness is tough but feels great to master, and one of the few games within this time that's both beatable and demands a high score through speedrunning. Marble platformers are still active today, with many on Steam, and it can even be argued that this game heavily influenced the creation of Super Monkey Ball.
4 Ghosts 'n Goblins
One of the most notoriously difficult arcade games of all time is Ghosts 'n Goblins. It's brutal with the number of enemies thrown at you, and you only get two hits until you're dead. However, the game doesn't cheat. There's no input reading by the AI or unfair behavior, as it's just brutal plain and simple.
The fact that the controls are super smooth and the gameplay is focused on near-constant movement makes it fun and fair, despite the difficulty. The graphics were also incredible for 1985, and it might have been the best-looking game out there. If you love a good challenge, this game's still enjoyable, even with modern difficult games like Elden Ring.
3 Contra
The very first instalment in the Contra series was released in arcades back in 1987. While the NES version is superior, the arcade game's still a fantastic action title. Going from left to right and bottom to top while blasting an array of incoming bad guys is still a common gameplay style of many 2D action games.
What makes Contra stand out is the weapons, and they're awesome. The Spread Gun is still the weapon to use in virtually every Contra game and many similar titles like Cuphead. It's a bit short, but its fun factor and impact on 2D action games are undeniable.
2 Double Dragon
When you think of beat-'em-ups, Double Dragon has to come to mind. A simple premise with two brothers rescuing a woman from a gang, it's an excellent co-op arcade experience with an ending no one will forget. The one downside is that on original arcade hardware, the game suffers from nasty slowdowns at points.
Thankfully, the Double Dragon Trilogy release on Steam fixes that, which is necessary if you want to play today. Back then, people tolerated the slowdown, but modern gamers won't likely do the same. With that smoother experience, it makes the beat-'em-up action shine so much better.
1 Final Fight
Capcom has some of the greatest beat-'em-ups ever made in its catalog. The best beat-'em-ups it made were in the 90s, but its peak in the previous decade was no doubt Final Fight. Developed by the same internal team that later made Street Fighter 2, you play as three awesome characters on a journey through Metro City to save Jessica from the Mad Gear Gang.
The gameplay was stellar in its beat-'em-up action, but what made Final Fight special was the characters and excellent music. The baddies in Final Fight are so distinct in their design and highly memorable. No wonder why many of them became playable in the Street Fighter games. Final Fight still holds up today and is the top beat-'em-up of the decade.