Ninja Turtles

Ninja Turtles

Best Arcade Games as a Kid

Some of my favorite classic, joystick yanking, button mashing arcade games that I threw many a quarter in during my teenage years. This is by no means an exhaustive list but a list of the top three I remember spending the most money on.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

One of the most enjoyable side-scrolling beat ‘em up arcade games of the era, Turtles in Time was known for being a popular arcade game to play with friends because it allowed for four different people to play at once. Each of the different Ninja Turtles had different attributes and weapons which allowed for variety in how one played the game. Gameplay was very simple which made the game easy to just throw a quarter in, jump in and play. Back in the day the arcade game was so popular it was ported to the SNES console where it became another huge hit.

Time Crisis

This game was pretty innovative back in the day for using what is now a common yet slightly modified version of the duck and cover, shoot mode. Time Crisis was a first person shooting game with a giant, blue sized pistol or shotgun that you aimed at the screen. The unique thing about Time Crisis was that it had a foot pedal that you pressed down on to hide behind objects and reload your gun, which added more strategy to the usually shooters. The graphics look dated now but at the time they were very well regarded. A very difficult game, few made it past the first few levels with one life. I spent lots of quarters on this one.

The Simpsons

Another great side scrolling beat ‘em up, The Simpsons arcade game was unique because of its sense of humor and faithfulness to the Simpsons franchise. The option to play as Bar, Marge, Lisa or Homer was a blast, each with their own hilarious special attack moves and funny dialogue. If you were looking for a fun beat ‘em up game and Turtles in Time was already taken than The Simpsons arcade game was the obvious next choice. You could do tons of fun stuff like ride on Bart's skateboard, throw bowling balls as Homer and break poker tables and throw cherry bombs. I don’t think I ever beat the game, either but I’m assuming the last boss was Mr. Burns doing something funny.

About the Author

Alan Lomax is a freelance writer from MPLS, MN.