Most memorable (WOW!) Arcade video games

[mimic]

Defender - wow for stuff exploading, sparking, sfx.
battlezone - wow for being totally different for the time and I think for being the very 1st FPS   
xevious - wow for best graphics at the time.
final fight - wow for biggest sprites or characters on screen and great beat'em up (I don't care if SFII might've been 1st or not, I never did)

[DaveMMR]

I think Dragon's Lair got the biggest wow for it's time compared to other games.  An actual "Cartoon", that looks like a Disney cartoon mind-you, that you "controlled". 

[wp34]

Hard Drivin' 

Seems silly now but I remember the first time I played it thinking I was driving a real car.

[RayB]

Hard Drivin'
Seems silly now but I remember the first time I played it thinking I was driving a real car.

Same here. Feeling the road via the steering wheel? SO COOL, and I assumed it felt like a real car. (Yeah I should have had a drivers license by then, but alas I relied on the subway and my own two feet.)

I'm assuming the theme here is games that personally got "WOW!s" out of us:

OutRun sitdown: "IT MOVES!!!!"

[rackoon]

SPACE INVADERS!
The fist arcade cab I ever saw. I was really in to pinball and one day I went to play a few games and next to the pinball games was a space invaders cab.
Still remember that moment I was at bear valley ski resort in the early 80's. I had a corn dog in one hand and a bunch of quarters in the other. I almost peed my pants.

[Donkbaca]

Killer Instinct - the graphics were awesome and so were the combos...

[DCsegaDH]

I'm younger than most of you guys, but I do remember 80's arcades games when I was little, but I hardly ever got to play them since I lived way out in the country. I mostly remember the 90's arcade games more when I got older and liked them a lot more too.

Mortal Kombat II - I was crazy for MK back in the day and I loved the fatalities too.
X-Men: Children of the Atom- I was into comics and video games (still am), so it was perfect and it looks great.
Virtual Fighter 2 - I thought this game was so good looking at the time and I still love playing it for the nostalgic feeling.  

[scofthe7seas]

Hard Drivin' 

Seems silly now but I remember the first time I played it thinking I was driving a real car.

I was pretty young when I played this, but I remember it's force feedback was ridiculous. Nearly ripped the wheel from my little hands!

As for Wow games... Virtua On. 2 player sit down anime robots controlled by dual tank style joysticks?!!?!? Your head esplode.

[Martijn]

street fighter 2

[jerryjanis]

Double Dragon.  I was a kid on a week long trip to Philadelphia when I first played it.  We all carried our food money for the week with us, and we spent it all playing that game and just went hungry for the rest of the week.  It was sooo worth it.

Nowadays, Double Dragon is a bit boring, but I have since discovered Renegade, which is a similar game, only it is really difficult, and it's anything but boring.

[Martijn]

Try gang wars 

[Harakiri]

Prop Cycle, you could actually fly on a bicycle!

Top Skater, even Justin Bieber would look rad playing it!

[nakeworks]

I remember how shocked I was at the blood and gore of Mortal Kombat 1. I remember thinking "Am I really seeing some dood's head get ripped off?"  And I kept checking to make sure my mom didn't see me watching it.  Awesome.
That was a big WOW! for me.

[wonderalex]

Virtua Fighter

At the time it was unlike anything else.  I got a call from a buddy saying that they installed a new game at our usual arcade haunt he described it and I was downtown in 30 minutes.   I was stunned when I saw it (today it's unbearably slow).

Within days we had become "those guys" who'd walk in and pretty much control the game - but we weren't *donkeys* about it. When others challenged us we'd hamstring ourselves - Only Kicks, Only Grabs - et cetera (unless they were good - then it was "on"), often we'd show our challengers how to do a move, many would eventually mop the floor with us.  Much fun was had by all.  

Unfortunately after VF2 came out - it became far too serious - people would get really mad when we'd beat them or be *donkeys* when we'd ask them how they managed a particular sequence we didn't know. So we'd play within a small group of like-minded players (fun & friendly competition) and on specific days.

Despite it all we've been hooked on the VF series ever since.  I still hope to nab a dedicated VF2 or VF4 cab (or build a VF/fighter cab around my ps2) - the emulators just don't hack it.

Be seeing you,

WonderAlex

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Hard Drivin' definitely gets an honorable mention from me.  As a kid, seeing that cab was a rare event, and my folks had to pull me from it whether I was playing or not. Too cool.  But for the biggest "WOW" sensation, it's got to be SF2CE for me...

I didn't get much opportunity to "roam the neighborhood" on my own when I was young, I lived in a mostly rural area.  I remember just reading about SF2 in EGM and thinking "this game is awesome!"  I hadn't *played* it, mind you, but I knew. I was 13... I knew everything about games.

I distinctly remember being in town with my best friend and going to the local bowling alley and seeing SF2 Champion Edition for the first time. It was summer, it was hideously hot, the bowling alley was mostly empty and air conditioned, and the cab was inexplicably unoccupied.  We spent every dollar we had. Between the two of us it was maybe 15-20 bucks (mostly his, not mine) but it felt like the most extravagant thing we'd ever done. 

Ah the halcyon days of youth...

[bkenobi]

Hard Drivin' was the most amazing game back in the day.  I never was given any money to play, but that one would still use force feedback in demo mode, so it was still cool to pretend I was playing.  I only ever saw the stand up style (with the box seat).  However, I just saw a cockpit style at the Seattle Pinball and Game Room show last month.  It got a "WOW!!!" from me today.  My wife and her sister thought I was such a dork when I was playing it.  Then they got in and realized it was pretty fun.

Virtua Fighter was awesome, but I saw it first on PC.  I saw a VF2 cab a couple years later and it was such a huge leap from the first one (which was ground breaking IMO).  Yeah, the VF series has a special place for me!

[Donkbaca]

I am the only one with Killer Instinct love?

4 slot MVS systems were always something that excited me.  If I ever restore a cab, it will be a 4 slot MVS. 

the 6 player x-men was pretty awe inspiring.

[nakeworks]

Oh yeah! The 6 player X-men.  Once had a group of 6 friends playing together.  The Xbox live version lags way too much.

[HaRuMaN]

Centipede

[pinballwizard79]

+1 to Hard Drivin

My wtf game had to be the holographic "Time Traveler" & the fighter mega combo "Killer Instinct".

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

I am the only one with Killer Instinct love?

4 slot MVS systems were always something that excited me.  If I ever restore a cab, it will be a 4 slot MVS. 

the 6 player x-men was pretty awe inspiring.

Hey don't get me wrong, I love KI. The graphics were amazing, but the experience as a whole, even then, didn't "wow" me. It just made me think about how cool an SF game would look with that kind of graphical flair.

I never saw the 6-player X-Men when it was in active circulation. That would've received some attention.  I did play the double-screen Darius a few times, but it didn't wow me either (I think that's because it's just not that great of a game.)

I saw an R-360 cab running G-Loc once. My parents wouldn't let me play it. 

[leapinlew]

Dragons Lair and then Space Ace

[scofthe7seas]

When I was little, I was pretty impressed by The Ninja Warriors. Great graphics, robot ninjas, killing hundreds of dudes. 3 screens!

Playing it now, I'm getting a little bit of a racist vibe from it.  I'm certain it wasn't intended that way at all, but by todays standards, pretty suspect

[Donkbaca]

4 player TMNT, one of the first 4 player cabs I saw, and every boy loved TMNT

[Mikezilla]

Im along the lines with the people that saw Mortal Kombat for the first time. I loved Street Fighter 2, but when I saw MK for the first time I was like "Holy crap dude is that BLOOD???!"   I was about 12 or 13, but man, it blew my mind.

As being a die hard marvel comic fan (kinda getting back into it) seeing Marvel Super Heroes for the first time melted my face off. I was so excited to play spiderman in a fighting game. Couldnt believe it.

I was also a huge fan of T-Mek. I LOVED that game, I was also really good at it, so that helped. The first time I sat down into it I thought to myself "man this is the coolest thing ever".

Some of you are probably going to laugh, but I thought Primal Rage was awesome when it first came out. I loved dinosaurs when I was a kid, the graphics were really good, and there was copious amounts of blood in that game too.

Man. I miss the good ol days.  

I am the only one with Killer Instinct love?

4 slot MVS systems were always something that excited me.  If I ever restore a cab, it will be a 4 slot MVS.  

the 6 player x-men was pretty awe inspiring.

Haha no I loved Killer Instict, but when ever I played it I got ---my bottom--- kicked all the time cause the older kids would hang out and play it more than me. I used to like the retarded names it would yell out for the combos.. "SUPER ULTRA MEGA CCCCCOOOMBBOOOO BREAKER!!!"

6 Player Xmen. Dear god. How could I forget? I loved that damn game SO HARD. have a dedicated 6 player Xmen would give me a boner every time I walked into the garage. The sad thing is, I probably dont even have 6 friends that would be able to come over and play it. Everyone is so busy now.  

[Rando]

First: Pac-Man - First game I really saw/played/watched.  Playing it early on and was fun but difficult.  Graphics were simple but smooth.  Watching somebody who knew what they were doing was awesome.  Father, Mother, etc., all stopped to see and try this game.

Next Wave: Dragon's Lair - In my lower teens I was frequenting arcades, and when this game came out it was stunning.  Frustrating to play and kept dumping in quarters to see what would happen next.  But visually amazing for the day.  Always a crowd watching someone play this game.

Adult - MoCap Boxing - Found this game at a Dave & Busters a few years back, maybe a couple years before I got to experience the Wii.  Broke a significant sweat at a work function playing (pretty successfully) this game.  How well it worked and how much it relied on your fitness level was awesome.  Really want one of these from a cardio perspective!

MAME - Robotron - I never really played this game when was younger, just looked too difficult I guess.  But my wife loves it and was one of the first games she fired up.  With the sound cranked and someone playing that knows what they're doing, the intensity of the game really holds up today.

[RayB]

Rare game that wowed me was Heavyweight Champ by Sega.
http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8098

It was obviously inspired by Punch-Out but the way you played was by actually punching. The entire top of the machine swivels left/right and up/down so you can execute angled punching swipes and uppercuts. I'd get all sweaty playing that one!

[spoot]

Darius - Triple screen version  <- still want that cab in my house
Punch-Out!! <- For the 3D wire frame modeling of the char...didn't care for the game though.....BODY BLOW!
I Robot   <-  Though had really cool molded case and crazy 3d gameplay.

Eh, I'd have to think hard to list more.   

[HaRuMaN]

I was a huge fan of Virtual On when it came out...  it was one of the reasons I screwed up my first year of college...   

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

I was a huge fan of Virtual On when it came out...  it was one of the reasons I screwed up my first year of college...   

You didn't happen to attend the University of Washington, did you?  We had a full 2-player Virtual On in the basement of the student union building and it was CONSTANTLY in use. I think it took more than a few undergrad lives... I was kind of afraid to play it!

That's also where I discovered Medieval Madness; the one pinball table I must eventually own some day. It never cost me a class or anything, but it did take a good chunk of my spending cash...

[HaRuMaN]

I was a huge fan of Virtual On when it came out...  it was one of the reasons I screwed up my first year of college...   

You didn't happen to attend the University of Washington, did you?  We had a full 2-player Virtual On in the basement of the student union building and it was CONSTANTLY in use. I think it took more than a few undergrad lives... I was kind of afraid to play it!

That's also where I discovered Medieval Madness; the one pinball table I must eventually own some day. It never cost me a class or anything, but it did take a good chunk of my spending cash...

Nope.  Virginia Tech.

We had a Medieval Madness.  That contributed to my downfall, as well... lol.

[MAME TIME]

We had a miss world (nude) at our local place, lets just say that got some attention, 4 player simpsons cab was cool too

[tommyinajar]

Out Run- Killer graphics - Killer Ferrari - Killer Force Feed Back - Killer Music - (and the babe wasn't bad either...)

[kalars123]

For me only 3 games REALY stick out in my memory Bad Dudes because no matter how much money I threw at it I couldn't beat it. UMK3 because i was just so good at it with smoke "I honestly think I single handily brought that game into the black for my local arcade", and the Simpson's 4-player, The Simpson's was the only game that my dad and I every played together and you have to understand that my dad didn't ever do anything with me he was always travling for work to support the family so the fact that one of the times he came back home he took me to the arcade and we blew like 30 bucks to beat it made it very special.

But the game that WOW!ed me was probably Star Wars my local arcade a cockpit, I was and still am just horrible at the game, but it is just SOOOO COOOL!

[cw]

The first one to really grab me as a kid was starship 1...
later it was dragons lair and then race drivin. 

[Xiaou2]

First WOW, was an old ElectroMechanical gun game called Ninja Gun.

Next probably was Sinistar.  The graphics were great, great gameplay, and the Sinistar yelling at you (scaring the crap out of you), was just awesome.

Dragons Lair, Astron Belt, and Cliff Hanger.  All stood out as amazing when compared to most all the other games of the day.  Not so in gameplay, but in looks and sounds, by miles.

Next was probably Outrun.  The best driving game Id ever seen, or played.  Great shading, beautiful colors. Excellent background music, great speed and challenge, and a hardcore shaker wheel with an inch of violent travel.  Perfection.

Somewhere around this time, I found  Continental Circus 3D.  The game doesnt seem 'all-that' in 2d, but see it in 3D, and it will blow your mind!   
The entire thing is deep into the screen, and very often cars smoke, and
wreck.. and parts and tires fly out of the screen at you.  Awesome!

Afterburner II - Motion cockpit. Awesome rockin guitar soundtrack. great graphics / shading. Fast & fun.

Hard Drivin  was also a huge WoW moment.  The graphics were pretty basic, but the controls and physics were so realistic, it completely made the experience so much more than anything else.  Even modern racers pale in comparison.

 Virtua Racer - First 3d racer that looked decent. Good play and sounds.
 Cool race cam monitor for spectators to watch.

Fighters were good fun (Killer Instinct is still my fav fighter to play), but they never gave me a wow feeling... Until, Tekken 3.  That was the first game which looked good, sounded amazing, but most importantly, had some of the most realistic martial arts moves (especially use of some little-seen styles/moves). 
 
 It was one of the few games that actually used motion capture from excellent martial artists... and it shows in the characters nearly perfectly replicated movements.   That sadly cant be said for the next Tekken, nor most all other 3d fighters... which have really awful and unrealistic animations.

Black Knight 2000 (Pinball).  Love at first play.  Hearing a Choir of singers on a pin was a jaw dropper.  Fast, insanely awesome soundtrack, great look & theme. great voice work. highly addictive.


 Honorable Mentions: 
(Oooohs and Ahhhs, but not quite WOWs?)


 Marble Madness.  Amazing pre-rendered graphics with excellent contrast.  Awesome stereo sound, with wildly unusual, luscious-synth score.  Great atmospheric game, a real playable work of art.
(If only it would have been longer, and faster ... )

MK1 - love the photographic digitization... but the res was too low, and a bit too limited of gameplay, as well as what seems like too much 'cheap-ness'.

 T2 - Love the kickback guns. great play. good sounds. fun.

 Ridge Racer - Awesome Drifting gameplay. Some Nice pumpin soundtracks.

 Daytona USA - One of the better looking 3d games, excellent play. More realistic and challenging, than all the other racers.  Similar to hard drivin in its realism.   Too bad the sequels didnt follow that path.

[mimic]

I'll add my honorable mention or 1/2wows and maybe even a 1/4wows

I was too old for full blown wows when I saw the following games but nevertheless they made me pause and take a look at them, as they were something new.
1/4 wow would have to be the pit-fighter I'm not sure if this game was actually made before or after MK, but I saw this game before MK and I've never seen a game with digitized characters before.
1/2 wow MK
1/2 wow VF
1/2 wow KI
I don't like fighting games, maybe that's why these games get only half wows from me? But they definitely stood out and were pushing the envelope when it came to graphics.

another 1/2 wows
above mentioned prop cycle and star wars trilogy arcade.

[Mario]

I remember playing Star Fire at our local carnival, and thinking "Wow! This is just like Star Wars!"

Marble Madness and Stun Runner truly impressed me when I first saw them.

Mario

[NOP]

Have to be Spy Hunter for me.
I remember playing the Steve Jackson game "car wars" as a kid and wishing I could play it for real...  Lo and Behold, there was Spy Hunter and it had all the stuff I wanted, plus the cool Peter Gun soundtrack.

I am sad that my MAME machine is unable to play that one.

[Cynicaster]

For me, two that come to mind right away are the sit-down versions of Star Wars and Afterburner 2.  That moving A2 cabinet thing was pretty wild.