1. Donkey Kong
   Super Mario Bros.
2. Joust
   Burger Time

Players today have gotten so good at Super Mario Bros. that the game can be completed in an unassisted speedrun in under five minutes. Crazy.

1. Breakout!
   Qix
2. Tetris
   Asteroids

Fun Fact: Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak was so good at Tetris that Nintendo Power Magazine banned him from submitting high scores for publication. Undeterred, Steve submitted Tetris scores with his name spelled backwards ("Evets Kainzow") - and it worked!

1. Pac-Man
   Ms. Pac-Man
2. Dig Dug
   Frogger

While you may have gotten a high score in Pac-Man, you probably haven't been able to get the game's true highest possible score of 3,333,360 points. This rare feat was first accomplished by Billy Mitchell in July 1999 - a full 19 years after the game's initial release.

1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
   Zork
2. Conquest
   M.U.L.E.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was a real system seller for the Nintendo 64. My roommate at the time purchased his N64 the day Ocarina came out just to play the game.

1. Street Fighter
   Final Fight
2. Fatal Fury
   Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat was released in 1992. Initially a second banana to Street Fighter, this game became insanely popular and spawned movies.

1. Asteroids
   Tempest
2. Star Wars
   Space Invaders

Were you a "shoot them as fast as I can" player, or did you wait for the bonus saucers to rack up extra points? Different strategies could be used to beat Space Invaders.

1. Paperboy
   Burger Time
2. Spy Hunter
   Joust

Paperboy was a fun game! Just pedal the bike, throw the papers and commit random acts of vandalism as you go along.

1. Outrun
   Super Mario Kart
2. Spy Hunter
   Super Mario Bros.

This game took racing to a whole new level, with players able to sabotage each other and split-screen racing. Super Mario Kart was first released in 1992.

1. Super Mario Bros.
   Paperboy
2. Frogger
   Sonic the Hedgehog

Sega needed a weapon to combat Mario in the 90's console wars, so Sonic the Hedgehog was born and was a real hit. Sega also coined the term "Blast Processing" which was slightly less real.

1. Tempest
   Asteroids
2. Battlezone
   Space Duel

1979's Asteroids is an oldie but a goodie. Were you one of the players who rocketed around the game field, or did you stay mostly in the center?

1. Asterix
   Berzerk
2. Pitfall!
   Crystal Castles

Pitfall! is a true classic, released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1982. Who didn't spend hours trying to get the little guy to grab the rope just right to swing over the pit?

1. Doom
   Gauntlet
2. Age of Empires
   Castlevania

For a great conversation starter try this: "Original Doom. Chainsaw or shotgun? Discuss." Doom was one of the seminal first-person shooter games and spawned a movie of its own. Doom the movie was released in 2005.

1. Mine Crazy
   Q-Bert
2. Dig Dug
   Ghouls 'N Ghosts

Many of us spent many quarters trying to beat this game. Time management is key. Namco first released Dig Dug in 1982.

1. Shootout
   Super Tennis
2. Breakout!
   Pong

Here it is, the original home video game! If you've got one of the old ones around and it still works, you're sitting on a gold mine. Pong was created by Atari engineer Allan Alcorn.

1. Super Mario World
   Super Mario Bros.
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
   Mario Kart

Nintendo released Super Mario World in 1990 as a launch title for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). This wide-ranging game brought in characters from the entire Nintendo universe and ate up players' weekends.

1. Tomb Raider
   Pitfall
2. Silent Hill
   Tombs of Athos

Many people may know the Angelina Jolie movie better than the game, which is a shame because Tomb Raider is a really fun ride. The Lara Croft character first entered the gaming world in 1996. The series was rebooted to great success in 2013 by Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix.

1. Fatal Fury
   Street Fighter
2. Mortal Kombat
   Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja

The deluxe arcade version of the original Street Fighter used two mechanical "punch buttons" which allowed the player to deliver light/medium/heavy kicks and punches depending on how hard they smashed the buttons.

1. Metroid
   Metal Gear
2. Mega Man 2
   Planetfall

Mega Man 2 is the best Mega Man game. While this may seem like an opinion, trust me, it is a fact. The only non-fantastic thing about Mega Man 2 us the box art for the USA version of the game. It was, however, an improvement over the so-horrible-it's-almost-funny-actually-no-it's-really-horrible USA box art for Mega Man 1.

1. Super Mario Bros.
   Burger Time
2. Dragon's Lair
   Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong was the first time we met Mario and Donkey Kong. It wouldn't be the last by a long shot.

1. Cobra
   Metal Gear Solid
2. Contra
   Halo: Combat Evolved

Great fighting action and a solid plotline made Metal Gear Solid a great entry in a series that began back in the early days of video games. Konami first released this one in 1998.

1. Elevator Action
   Burger Time
2. Contra
   Paperboy

The early '80s saw all sorts of these games, where you basically ran back and forth across the screen eluding a variety of enemies in dark suits. Elevator Action had the player collecting secret documents.

1. Grand Theft Auto
   Outrun
2. Spy Hunter
   Psycho Bus

Grand Theft Auto made major waves in 1997 for its language and the nature of the violence, but that only made sales go higher. Since then the series has been going strong, with many celebrities lending their voices to the game, including Samuel L. Jackson, Burt Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Debbie Harry, and Axl Rose.

1. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
   Virtua Cop
2. Silent Hill
   GoldenEye 007

This was a groundbreaking game, showing how well a first-person shooter could work as a console game. GoldenEye 007 was based on the 1995 James Bond movie, GoldenEye, in case you were wondering.

1. Donkey Kong
   Sonic the Hedgehog
2. Mario Bros.
   Super Mario Bros.

Originally named "Jumpman", Nintendo changed the character's name to "Mario" after Mario Segale - the Italian-American landlord who paid the team an angry visit when Nintendo was behind on rent.

1. Qix
   Vanguard
2. Q*bert
   Tetris

Who remembers the "plunk" noise when you put a quarter in the game? Q*bert was one of the most popular arcade games of the '80s.

1. Final Fight
   Double Dragon
2. Mortal Kombat
   Fighters Destiny

Double Dragon, starring brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee, made the transition from arcade to console games pretty smoothly. It was first released in 1987.

1. Contra
   Final Fight
2. Cobra
   Joust

While Konami's Contra is an excellent game, it will forever be associated with it's famous cheat code which when entered at the game's title screen would give players 30 lives. Contra was actually the second game to use the code - Gradius used it first in the NES version in 1986. You know the code right? Say it with me. UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A

1. Populous
   Sim City
2. Final Fantasy
   Resident Evil

In terms of games that could cost you entire weekends, they didn't come much better than Sim City. It was highly addictive!

1. Silent Hill
   Doom
2. Gears of War
   Resident Evil

The dialog was stilted. The camera was fixed. The controls were more fit for a tank. None of this mattered in the face of Resident Evil's expertly delivered jump-scares.

1. Duck Hunt
   Joust
2. Carnival Ace
   Tin Pan Alley

I wore out at least three of those plastic pistols sold with the NES playing this game. I used to try to shoot the dog when he laughed at me for missing.

1. Vanguard
   Galaga '88
2. Space Invaders
   Defender

A space shooter game with a 3-D aspect, Galaga '88 was a real quarter eater. Namco released this one to follow Galaxian, Galaga, and Gaplus.

1. Street Fighter
   Final Fantasy I-II
2. Fatal Fury
   Mists of Avalon

The Final Fantasy series has gained a cult-like following over the more than a decade since its introduction. It melds great characters with immersive storylines very well.

1. Pokemon Red and Blue
   Pokemon GO
2. Pokemon Yellow
   Little Monsters

You modern-day Pokemon catchers might not know that the game dates back years. Pokemon Red and Blue used the link cable to connect two Game Boys for battles. In Japan, it was released as Pokemon Red and Green.

1. Mega Man
   Metroid
2. Spy Hunter
   Contra

Metroid was one of the first games to feature multiple endings the most famous of which has the main character, Samus Aran, revealed as a woman by removing her Power Suit.

1. One on One: Dr. J. vs. Larry Bird
   NBA Basketball
2. NBA Jam
   Double Dribble

NBA Jam did for video basketball what the Madden series did for video football, although over time Madden has held up better. It was released by Midway in 1993.

1. Age of Wonders
   Castlevania
2. Turtle Party
   TMNT

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have endured through many comics, movies, and video games. The game featured multi-player cooperative play for 1 to 4 people and was really best enjoyed with the full retinue of 4.

1. Final Fantasy
   Tekken
2. Street Fighter
   Fatal Fury

With 8 playable characters and a ferocious set of bosses, Tekken was a fighting game for those with fast reflexes and lots of quarters. Another winner for Namco.

1. Donkey Kong
   Rampage
2. Super Mario Bros.
   Wrecking Crew

This was a somewhat forgettable installment in the Mario pantheon, with Mario and Luigi basically running around whacking stuff with hammers. Wrecking Crew dates from 1985.

1. Defender
   Space Invaders
2. Final Fight
   Galaga

This space fight game offered the fun of having a larger alien ship "capture" your fighter, which you could then rescue for double power. Galaga was released by Namco in 1981.

1. Vanguard
   Angry Birds
2. Defender
   Joust

Get above the other guy and spear him, then pick up the egg. Joust sounds easy, right? Not so much.

1. Risk
   Ancient Art of War
2. Populous
   Worms Armageddon

Best played with a group, this artillery-blasting turn-based game takes a while to play, but you won't notice the time passing. Worms Armageddon celebrates the team spirit of invertebrates.

1. Burger Time
   Root Beer Tapper
2. Food Fight
   Berzerk

If you've ever tried to eat an ice cream cone while your kids try to get a bite, you'd have loved Food Fight. The hero tries to hide his ice cream cone from four chefs while eating it.

1. Chrono Trigger
   Final Fantasy
2. Legend of Zelda
   Secret of Mana

Chrono Trigger is at the top of my "desert island games" list. To make this game Square assembled a "Dream Team" of famous designers, notably Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of Final Fantasy), Yuji Horii (creator of Dragon Quest), and Akira Toriyama (character designer for Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest).

1. Dragon's Lair
   The Legend of Zelda
2. Joust
   Gauntlet

Gauntlet was that game that always had a crowd around it in the arcade. Up to four people could play at once, and the killing of zillions of attacking monsters was great fun and the "Wizard needs food, badly!" meme is alive and well to this day.

1. Zaxxon
   Galaga '88
2. Galaxian
   Raiden

Zaxxon could be frustrating. The 3-D playfield added the hazard of trying to avoid hazards on the ground while fighting in the air.

1. Battlezone
   Vanguard
2. Tempest
   Berzerk

This was easily my biggest addiction back in the days of vector graphics games. I wanted to be tank commander for the Army until I learned 6'5" was too tall for that.

1. Stargate
   Asteroids
2. Star Attack
   Defender

Williams Electronics released Defender in 1981. This side-scrolling shooter was maddeningly difficult. It was hard to aim, and it was nearly impossible to save all the little astronauts from going splat on the ground.

1. Trojan
   Castlevania
2. Wizards & Warriors
   Rygar

If you played Rygar, you were in on the early days of the console games. It was a side-scrolling adventure game with a very intricate Japanese backstory. Tecmo gave the concept another try with Rygar: The Legendary Adventure which was released in the USA in 2002.

1. Spy Hunter
   Grand Prix Circuit
2. Pole Position
   Hang-On

It seemed maddeningly simple: Mash the accelerator pedal at the right time and win all the races. It wasn't. Pole Position was first released in 1982 by Namco.

1. Sinistar
   Galaga
2. Defender
   Gorf

The Galactic Orbiting Robot Force was several games in one, and back in '81 its use of synthesized speech was a real groundbreaker. Plus, Gorf is fun to say.