Looking for Classic Arcade and Fighting games recommendations for re-build

[MPTech]

I originally built my Mame Arcade about 13 years ago. Lost interest a few years ago and it needed a refresh, so before Christmas I installed a new 27" monitor, a new Control Panel, a new Quad-core / Win7 PC and replaced the MAMEWAH front-end with Maximus Arcade.  Its been more work setting it up than I thought, but I'm really liking it better and I can also run driving sims and have a ForceFeedback wheel and pedals. (the old PC and TV monitor just didn't cut it for driving sims)

Wanted to ask for some recommendations for creating a Classic and a Fighting sub-category. I know this will be hotly debated and opinionated, but can I get a top 5 or 10 favorites / recommendations?  (I tried searching for "Classic Top Ten MAME" and got back about a ba-zillion hits, with VERY few that were applicable to what I'm looking for.)
I'll try the search again tonight. I know I've read posts on here in the past, but haven't seen any recently.

Thanks!

[harveybirdman]

Vs fighting? 

[paigeoliver]

If you mean Vs. Fighting games then there is little reason to install anything either than Street Fighter 2 Champion, Mortal Kombat (either just 2 or 1, 2 and 3) and Marvel Vs. Capcom. No one will know how to play anything else and if they actually do know how to play something else then no one else will have a chance against them.

I would need to see your control panel before suggesting classics.

[MPTech]

I guess Vs. Fighting games, yes, the Street Fighter / Mortal Kombat / Marvel Vs. Capcom style. You gave some excellent and specific examples, so that's very helpful, Thanks!

What do they call the scrolling style, where you fight / shoot opponents entering from the right, like Streets of Rage, TMNT, Metal Slug?

Using an X-Arcade 2-player Control Panel (may build custom later), but for now no spinner or trackball.
Classic Games like PacMan, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Frogger, Asteroids, Zaxxon, Space Invaders, Joust, etc.

Thanks for the help guys! Looking forward to getting back in working shape again.

[DarthMarino]

What do they call the scrolling style, where you fight / shoot opponents entering from the right, like Streets of Rage, TMNT, Metal Slug?

Streets of Rage/TMNT: Beat 'em up
Metal Slug: Run and gun

[paigeoliver]

Ok, the xarcade panel is 8-way and I assume you have a horizontal monitor so lets try to stick to things that use those controls. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and other vertical 4-way friends are not good choices with an 8-way horizontal setup. Unfortunately a huge percentage of classic era games are either vertical, 4-way or use analog controls. Not many of them actually used the common horizontal 8-way setup that most later games would.

Moon Patrol, Gradius, Joust, Robotron, Mario Bros, Bubbles and Berzerk are a good start.

[Ian]

If you mean Vs. Fighting games then there is little reason to install anything either than Street Fighter 2 Champion...

Best fighting game of all time...

[MPTech]

Ok, the xarcade panel is 8-way and I assume you have a horizontal monitor so lets try to stick to things that use those controls. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and other vertical 4-way friends are not good choices with an 8-way horizontal setup. Unfortunately a huge percentage of classic era games are either vertical, 4-way or use analog controls. Not many of them actually used the common horizontal 8-way setup that most later games would.

Moon Patrol, Gradius, Joust, Robotron, Mario Bros, Bubbles and Berzerk are a good start.

I understand about the horizontal screen and 8-way and appreciate your concern, but I'm not a stickler.  Vertical and 4-way games are welcome.

Again, Thanks!

[harveybirdman]

My Ten VS Fighters would be...


1 )  Mortal Kombat II
2 )  Hyper Street Fighter II
3 )  Marvel vs Capcom
4 )  Last Blade 2 (or your favorite Samurai Showdown)
5 )  Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
6 )  Cyberbots Full Metal Madness
7 )  Vampire Savior (or Darkstalkers, just pick your favorite)
8 )  Garou Mark of the Wolves (or pick your favorite King of Fighters or Art of Fighting)
9 )  Killer Instinct
10 )  Street Fighter Alpha II (or Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Alpha 3, etc.)

[harveybirdman]

Also Paige's point about controls and monitors is completely valid.... but if you just want a "hey I remember this!!!" effect these 10 from 80ish-83ish should do it...


Galaga
Ms Pac Man
Dig Dug
Donkey Kong
Centipede
Burgertime
Joust
Robotron
Frogger
Xevious

[Xiaou2]

Besides listed, Add:

* Fighting: 

  Killer Instinct 1
  Tekken 3   (if it works?  Have not checked in a while.  If not, use a PSX emulator)
  Samurai Showdown
  Karate Champ

* Side Scrolling / Beat-em-up's

 Brute Force    (Must Play!  Hilariously fun multiplayer beat-em-up game)

 - Cadash
 - Contra III  (Snes)


 Other popular side-scrolling beaters

 - Aliens
 - The Simpsons
 - Dungeons and Dragons
 - Golden Axe 1 & 2
 - TMNT
 - x-men
 - Alien vs. Predator

  I think there was a pretty cool Captain America beatemup too.

* Other multiplayer possibles

 - Gauntlet ?
 - Quartet ?

-----

 Arcade Classics  -  Popular / Favorites:


 Afterburner II
 Alien Syndrome
 Aliens
 Arabian
 Area 51
 arkanoid
 armor attack
 assault / assault plus
 bomber man
 brute force
 buggy boy
 bullfight?
 bump 'n' jump
 cabal? (trackball)
 cadash
 capcom bowling
 captain america and the avengers
 championship sprint
 chase h.q.
 cheyenne
 choplifter
 circus charlie
 city bomber
 cleopatra fortune
 commando
 congo bongo
 continental circus 3d
 contra 3: the alien wars (snes)
 crackshot
 crossbow
 cruis'n usa
 crystal castles
 dance dance revolution
 darius
 daytona usa
 dead connection?
 defender
 dig dug
 discs of tron
 do! run run
 domino man
 donkey kong (all)
 elevator action
 eliminator
 enduro racer
 exerion
 eyes
 fantasy zone
 flicky
 frogger
 galaga
 gauntlet
 ghouls n' ghosts
 ghox? (spinner)
 golden axe (all)
 gorf
 gradius
 gravitar
 gunsmoke?
 gyruss
 halleys comet
 hard drivin
 hot rod
 hyper sports
 I,Robot
 journey
 joust
 jungle king
 juno first
 kaos
 karate champ
 kick
 killer instinct
 klax
 lethal enforcers
 loco-motion
 lunar lander
 mad planets
 mag max?
 magician lord
 major havoc
 mappy
 marble madness
 mario bros.
 mercs
 metal slug
 metro-cross
 midnight resistance
 millipede
 missile command
 money puzzle exchanger
 monster slider
 moon patrol
 mortal kombat (all)
 mr. do vs. unicorns
 mr. do
 mr. do's castle
 mr. do's wild ride
 ms pacman (speedup hack)
 nibbler
 ninja (sega)
 ninja princess
 off the wall (sente)
 operation wolf
 outrun
 pang
 paperboy
 pengo
 phelios
 phoenix
 pit fighter
 point blank
 pole position
 pooyan?
 popeye
 power drift
 prop cycle
 pulstar
 punch-out
 puzzle de pon
 quartet
 r-type
 r.c. pro-am (playchoice 10)
 race drivin
 raiden
 rally bike
 rampage
 rampart (trackballs)
 renegade
 rescue (stern)
 return of the jedi
 revenge of shinobi  (megadrive)
 ridge racer
 rip cord
 robotron 2084
 roc'n rope
 s.t.u.n. runner
 salamander
 samurai showdown
 San Francisco rush (all)
 satans hollow
 SDI
 seicross?
 Shinobi
 Shuuz
 Sinistar
 speed coin
 smash t.v.
 solvalou
 sonic boom
 space duel
 spy hunter
 squash (gaelco)
 star castle
 star trek (sega)
 star wars
 streetfighter IICE
 strider
 super hang-on
 super pacman
 super punch-out
 super sprint
 super zaxxon
 tac/scan
 tapper
 teddyboy blues
 tempest
 terminator 2
 thunder blade
 thunderforce II (megadrive)
 tiger road
 timber
 time crisis
 time pilot
 time soldiers
 toki
 top secret
 track & field
 tube-it
 tron
 turbo (sega)
 two tigers (dedicated)
 tx-1
 up'n down
 virtua racing
 warloards
 willow
 wonderboy in monsterland
 xevious
 zaxxon
 zektor
 zookeeper

[mattsoft]

What? No love for Virtua Fighter? VF3 or VF4 (both via demul -- Dreamcast: VF3tb and NAOMI: VF4) are fantastic VS fighting games.

Also, can I get a +1 for VF Kids? hah hah!

[harveybirdman]

Not a huge fan of 3d fighters,  and most are pretty demanding in MAME.

[Xiaou2]

What? No love for Virtua Fighter? VF3 or VF4 (both via demul -- Dreamcast: VF3tb and NAOMI: VF4) are fantastic VS fighting games.

Also, can I get a +1 for VF Kids? hah hah!

 VF1  had some interesting music..  but thats about it.   It was more of an experiment, than an actual game.   Even Pitfighter plays better.  >_<
The 10 mile high, slow floating jumps made the game utterly useless.   The graphics couldnt even come close to competing with well drawn or pre-rendered 2d.   And to make matters worse.. Sega actually angled the joysticks on that cabinet.  My guess is that it was done to make people accidentally jump..  so that they might be tempted to put another quarter in, after their death.

 I dont think much changed with the latter versions.   Better graphics... but the gameplay was still way too simplistic, as far as I remember.

[rackoon]

I don't know what you guys are smoking; Its all about

SAMURAI SHOWDOWN 1-5 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Duhjoker]

Cant go wrong with any capcom fighting game!

[edekoning]

VF1  had some interesting music..  but thats about it.   It was more of an experiment, than an actual game.   Even Pitfighter plays better.  >_<
The 10 mile high, slow floating jumps made the game utterly useless.   The graphics couldnt even come close to competing with well drawn or pre-rendered 2d.   And to make matters worse.. Sega actually angled the joysticks on that cabinet.  My guess is that it was done to make people accidentally jump..  so that they might be tempted to put another quarter in, after their death.

 I dont think much changed with the latter versions.   Better graphics... but the gameplay was still way too simplistic, as far as I remember.

Besides the 10 mile high jump, you also had a short hop. Anyway, VF2 was an excellent game that was a huge improvement over the first installment. I would not call that game simplistic at all, as each character had a ton of moves you could utilize. Maybe you only played against people doing nothing but PPPK with Lau. I played it to death on my Saturn

My fav beat-em-up's are:
Alien vs Predator
Punisher
Streets of Rage 2

Highly recommended fighters:
Street Fighter Alpha3
Dark Stalkers
Samurai Showdown 3
X-Men vs Street Fighter or any other of the Capcom vs games

[harveybirdman]

I can't boil down my list of favorite Beat Em Ups to  10


TMNT
TMNT 2 Turtles in Time
Battle Circuit
Sengoku 3
Double Dragon
Xmen
Captain America and the Avengers
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
Growl
B Rap Boyz
D&D Shadow over Mystara
Golden Axe
Night Slashers
Simpsons
Knights of the Round
Knights of Valour 2
The Gladiator Road of the Sword