(Spike TV)
The days of the traditional arcade seem numbered today. Every modern console has a virtual “arcade” with downloadable content of all their classics. Why go to the corner and pump quarters into Street Fighter when you can fight the same fights on your couch? It’s because they’re not the same. Just as Netflix isn't the same as going to a movie in an turn-of-the-century opera house, there's nothing that beats an old school arcade game.
10. Mortal Kombat
9. NBA Jam
8. Space Invaders
7. Defender
6. Galaga
5. Missile Command
4. Centipede
3. Super Street Fighter 2
2. Pac-Man
1. Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong stands atop the gigantic, red, tower of girders that makes up this list and throws barrels with abandon at all the suckas below him. This game was the one of the first to have levels, is the source of the documentary King of Kong, and gave video-birth to Donkey himself and the Mario Bros. All of this is important, obviously, but what really put it over the top for me, is I view this as the seed which eventually grew into the tree of Super Smash Bros.
