Favorite obscure arcade games?

[Cosmiken]

This looks SIIIIICK. I had no idea there was a Crocodile Dundee style arcade beat em up. It looks pretty decent.

 

[Zerohour2k12]

Thanks to this thread, I finally recalled this game!

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

Thanks to this thread, I finally recalled this game!
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Zero Team is so damn good! Such an underrated gem!


For me, it's probably not that obscure nowadays since it's been somewhat "discovered", but I've always had a soft spot for Breakers Revenge.

 

[DjQuick2008]

I always liked the G.I Joe Arcade as well as Bucky O'Hare (awesome beat'em up style game) and a TOTALLY obscure gem....Cowboys of Moo Mesa. (Think Sunset Riders with Bulls/Cows)

I have that cowboys of moo mesa on a handheld was a great find

 

[sandogma sandogma]

I loved playing Lucky & Wild with my cousin back in the day. It was a two seat cabinet. One seat for the driver with a steering wheel, pedals and a mounted gun. The other seat had a mounted gun as well. It was so much fun!

 

[Deleted member 132407]

Zero Team is so damn good! Such an underrated gem!


For me, it's probably not that obscure nowadays since it's been somewhat "discovered", but I've always had a soft spot for Breakers Revenge.
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One of my favorites including these series

 

[nattybohman]

It’s really not THAT obscure, but I’m always shocked how many people don’t know about Dig Dug II. It’s, in my opinion, better than the original game, while being very different and fun.

I loved Dig Dug and I remember seeing Dig Dug II, but being confused about it as a kid. I never understood what I was supposed to do in the game. If I remember correctly, your character was on an island.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

One of my favorites including these series

Nice pick! Kizuna Encounter is great and super underrated.

 

[Cosmiken]

I just remembered about that sweet Fist Of The North Star machine where you have to do punchies. I wish I could find it again someday. Last time I tried playing it I was too young and short to reach the top paddles.

 

[DjQuick2008]

very good streets of rage like game.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

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very good streets of rage like game.

ALL Atomiswave stuff seems to be sadly forgotten, since little of it was ported. It’s a shame, but games that lived and died in the arcade alone are often doomed to be forgotten.

Post automatically merged: Jun 12, 2025

I loved Dig Dug and I remember seeing Dig Dug II, but being confused about it as a kid. I never understood what I was supposed to do in the game. If I remember correctly, your character was on an island.

Yup!

The game is isometric in nature, and the drill that was once used only for basic traversal has become something more puzzle-like in nature. The core of the game is to use the drill on those black dots to cut apart the island and have the parts with monsters on them fall into the ocean, using your pump as a last resort for when a monster can’t be taken out any other way. It’s very different, and definitely off putting, but it’s an amazing action puzzler, and learning how to disassemble each area to get the best score is super satisfying, especially with you getting a higher multiplier for more enemies killed at once.

Right now, it’s easy to emulate, on all consoles thanks to Arcade Archives, and is even on the handheld “Namco Museum DS” collection if you want to take it with you. That’s where I first played it, actually, and it’s been a favorite for me ever since.

 

[Vardalis]

My most obscure would probably be the more "obscure" lightgun games. The kinds I only ever saw at one place and never again.

Those would probably be stuff like Vampire Night, Area 51 Site 4 or Virtua Cop 3.

 

[Mubashureta]

Segasonic the hedgehog(since it's only arcade game I've played that's obscure and the only arcade I've played on mame)

 

[Deleted member 560402]

Dynamite Deka 1 and 2 as well as Zombie Revenge!
Dynamite Deka = Die Hard Arcade
Dynamite Deka 2 = Dynamite Cop

 

[SoThankful]

Found out about these 2 games not long ago and they are awesome.

 

[Deleted member 560402]

This looks SIIIIICK. I had no idea there was a Crocodile Dundee style arcade beat em up. It looks pretty decent.

it's on Sega Genesis. :)

 

[hazys]

Is SpikeOut still obscure? It's playable in one of the Like a Dragon games. It's an amazing co-op 3D beat-'em-up by Sega. Insanely fun, insanely hard to play these days. There's also a fantasy spin-off called SlashOut, but it's way too difficult.

 

[Klonesixfour]

I was in Las Vegas for a concert years ago and I stopped in one of the arcades and found this fun lil gem. I was able to beat it with only like 4 contines which was really nice.

 

[TinRattler]

Only ever saw this game once in a video store in a pissant bush town never saw it in any arcades in the city

DJ Boy

Post automatically merged: Aug 26, 2025

Another one I only ever saw once in a bowling alley in Blacktown was Time Killers

 

[DjQuick2008]

Cisco heat the arcade cabinet was amazing

 

[Cody34]

Steel Talons (Atari)

 

[diet_orange]

Speed Freak (Vectorbeam, late 70s)

Have ALWAYS loved the look of Vector Graphics

Crystal Castles (Atari, 1983)

Played the fuck out of this on Atari Anniversary Collection Redux on PS1 and Atari Anthology on PS2. Loved the visuals

Wizard Of Wor (Midway, 1980)

Was completely obsessed with this game ever since I first played it on Midways Arcade Treasures 2

NARC (Williams, 1988)

Complete and total mayhem, the video game (and yes, you can arrest people, but where's the fun in that?). Was also famously a part of the Foot Clan hideout in TMNT 1990

 

[RandomHajile]

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I always find it hard to pass by this game without playing it.

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When I was in college, there was an arcade near my house that had one of these, and I can't tell you how much money I spent playing it, but the one I played had the turntable on the left side and the buttons on the right.

Deadstorm Pirates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I played that ONCE down at Jilly's Arcade in Ocean City, NJ many years ago. God was it AMAZING. One of the coolest gun games I ever played. I'd love to be able to play it again.

 

[SwaunyJones]

One of my favs as a kid growing up was the Ninja Gaiden Arcade Game, which was much different then the console version of the original games. My brothers and I would spend so much money trying to beat this game coop and eventually started working on doing it on 2 quarters LOL!! I still think about this game from time to time as a adult. I know it doesn't look like much, but back then this game was mindblowing for us until the Turbo Grafix 16 hit us with Bonk and the OG Street Fighter.

 

[TinRattler]

One of my favs as a kid growing up was the Ninja Gaiden Arcade Game, which was much different then the console version of the original games. My brothers and I would spend so much money trying to beat this game coop and eventually started working on doing it on 2 quarters LOL!! I still think about this game from time to time as a adult. I know it doesn't look like much, but back then this game was mindblowing for us until the Turbo Grafix 16 hit us with Bonk and the OG Street Fighter.

Great game it was called shadow warriors here