Classic Look Back - My favorite arcade games - Part 5 (Top three)

Welcome to the fifth and final installment in my list of my favorites from the "Golden Age of Arcade Games". (See the June, July, August and September 2026 posts for Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively). Enjoy!

#3 - Kangaroo

The 1982 arcade title Kangaroo is part of a class of games called platformers, in which the objective is to jump over gaps in a playfield(s), climb structures, or ride moving platforms to reach a certain destination and/or character in order to advance to the next stage. The game was developed and published by Sun Electronics in Japan and distributed in North America by Atari. In Kangaroo the player controls a mother kangaroo wearing boxing gloves who must traverse different screens in order to save her Baby Joey from fruit-throwing monkeys and (occasionally) a huge "boxing ape". Players must hop Momma along, have her leap over gaps in the playfield by pushing up / diagonal on the joystick, punch enemies using a button, and duck thrown fruit. Bonus fruits also appear which can be collected for points, as well as a bell which can be rung to make higher-value fruits appear. Kangaroo has four different levels or screens, three of which mostly center around hopping, jumping and climbing ladders, while one involves knocking a high troop of monkeys down to size to reach a cage holding Baby Joey. And as with most arcade games, the goal is to play as long as possible and achieve the highest score before running out of lives.

Kangaroo (arcade version)

Like the aforementioned Crystal Castles, Kangaroo falls into my "cutesy-game" category because you control a unique, animated character who moves through colorful playfields in a quest to rack up points. Here though, there are more opportunities to directly confront the enemies along the way. And I always found punching both the enemy monkeys, as well as the fruits they drop, to be very satisfying. In general, I really enjoyed controlling a boxing kangaroo who could hop, climb, jump and punch her way through every level. And the extra touches of being able to ring a bell to bring about more valuable bonus fruits, as well as the appearance of the "boxing ape" always appealed to me too. That ape in particular was an exciting aspect of the game, because drawing it out meant a test of my skills to see whether momma could weave and dodge and ultimately send the big guy flying off the screen with a well-placed punch. While the arcade sensation Donkey Kong (released a year earlier) was admittedly the granddaddy of the platform games, I instead gravitated time and time again towards Kangaroo. Because those pesky, mean little monkeys just had to be taken down a notch dammit!

#2 - Gorf

My February 2024 blog post covered the arcade version of Gorf, as well as the original CBS Video Games version and Gorf Arcade from Champ Games, both for the Atari 2600. So, for this entry in the list, I'll use part of what I wrote there:

Gorf (which stands for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force") is a space shooter released in 1981 by Midway Manufacturing. Like most space games of the era, the basic premise is that you control an armed spaceship battling evil alien forces, in this case the enemies being a race of (Gorfian) robots. The game has five different stages of battle against various Gorfian enemies, and was the first of its kind to feature these distinct game play levels. And two of these stages - Astro Battles and The Galaxians - are familiar because they feature similar gameplay to their standalone arcade counterparts. The game also features quasi-military ranks, with players starting as a lowly "Space Cadet", and (after completing all five stages) being promoted up the ranks, with the ultimate goal of becoming the coveted "Space Avenger". And as you might expect, difficulty increases as both scores and ranks do.

Gorf (arcade version - laser attack screen)

As previously mentioned, space shooters were always among my favorite arcade games. And Gorf was no exception. I think I gravitated so much towards this particular game for a combination of reasons. First, it had elements of the familiar titles Space Invaders and Galaxian, while at the same time adding new space battle scenarios. And this variety kept it fresh and exciting. And second, it was unique in the fact that the game talked (via a speech synthesizer chip) as you progressed through screens and up the ranks. That is, the robotic sounding "Gorfian Robot" voice would utter insults and threats such as "You cannot escape the Gorfian Empire", as wells as praise with "Nice shot" when you destroyed the flagship on the final screen. And I think this adversarial audio element made it all the more satisfying to complete the screens, move up the ranks and be addressed accordingly. And I'm happy to say that I consistently achieved the top rank of "Space Avenger" back in the day, and (remarkably) still do more often than not when playing today. 

#1 - Galaga

The space shooter Galaga was developed and published by Namco for arcades and released by Midway Manufacturing in North America. It was a sequel to the popular 1979 arcade title Galaxian which improved on several aspects of the game. In Galaga the player controls a starship battling alien insect-like forces ("Galaga") which fly into set formations from the top and sides of the screen. These bugs dive bomb the starship firing projectiles in order to destroy it. Collisions with either the aliens or their firepower results in a ship being lost. Also, certain Galagas have special abilities which present additional challenges. Large fly-like "Boss Galaga" at the top of the formation can emit a tractor beam which can capture a player's ship. And if it is the last ship remaining, it's game over. However, if additional ships (lives) remain, the player can shoot the boss when it descends, which rescues the captured ship and results in double-fire power. And the yellow and blue drones can occasionally morph into squads of new enemies with erratic attack patterns on descent, making things even more interesting. Additionally, the third stage and every fourth thereafter is what is known as a "challenge stage" where the enemies don't fire and can be destroyed for big bonus points. Galaga is widely recognized as one of the most successful titles to be released during the Golden Age of Arcade Games.

Enemies attack in Galaga (arcade version)

I'm sure that back in the days of the arcades many players had at least one "go-to" game they excelled in more than all others. And this was definitely mine. Besides being a space shooter, that class of game I almost always liked, Galaga was that rare release that actually improved upon an already good predecessor in almost every aspect. The way the insect-like aliens entered the playfield in intricate, swirling patterns, would always give me a chance to practice precision firing in order to clear them out before they could settle into cluttered top formations. The way that (after the first stage) one of the remaining bosses would launch the tractor beam would always present the challenge of strategizing when to allow your ship to be captured. And the challenging stages would always be a test of both one's memorization skills (where to precisely position your fighters) and shooting abilities in order to get that coveted perfect hit bonus of 10,000 points. These distinct elements combined with balanced gameplay that gave beginners a chance and skilled players a challenge, along with colorful space graphics and unique sounds, resulted in a winning combination.