Favorite Video Games, Part 3

I haven't seen any theatre in a couple weeks so I'll continue with round three of my system by system trek through the history of my favorite video games. Rounds 1 and 2 covered the beginnings of the Nintendo/Sega console war (as well as their handhelds, some early computer games and Atari).

Growing up, I remember regular trips to places like Outer Limits up at the Scottsdale Pavillions to enjoy a variety of arcade games (as well as the occasional laser tag, mini golf, or go karting). This was, of course, before it turned into a Fiddlesticks (which I still visited and had many a high school friends who worked there) and then later closed its doors all together (an early sign of the times and the collateral damage to the oncoming Playstation/X-Box console wars). With that in mind, I figured before diving into the Super Nintendo for the brunt of this piece, perhaps now is as good a time as any to slip some of my favorite Arcade Cabinets. Back in the days before something like Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 or this little thing called the internet changed multi-player gaming forever, the arcade was the best play to go hang out with some friends and enjoy gaming together. Or if we wanted to divide and conquer, we could go our separate ways and enjoy games like Top Skater (that skateboarding one with the footboard and handrails, classics like Pac-Man and Asteroids, or on-the-rails shooters like the Star Wars Trilogy, Area 51, and Time Crisis. But screw the Dance Dance Revolution games. If I wanted to dance, I'd dance instead of spend my time coming up with elaborate moves to coincide with the button pattern of jumping around on those pads.