Still got game: nostalgic arcade classics you’ll love all over again

Remember your first arcade game? Perhaps a mysterious cabinet in the corner of your local milk bar beckoned with its siren song… Or your dad introduced you to his favourite joystick classic with a proud “watch this!” Maybe you played at the very first Timezone? Most of us test our skills against various weird and wonderful arcade icons at some point, and some stay with us forever. While arcade games have become more sophisticated (hello, immersive AR experiences!), there’s something about the pixels and jingles of the OG icons that still make us want to smash their buttons. So, this is an ode to our favourite classic arcade games at Timezone!

1. Pac-Man

One slice short of a full pizza and giving Main Character Energy – it’s the ever-hungry yellow disc that challenged the popular ‘space shooters’ of the 80s, mixing things up with mazes and squads of ghosts (shout-out to Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde). 45 years young as of May 2025, Pac-Man is regarded as one of the most influential, nostalgic arcade games of all time, still chompin’ power pellets and turning the tables on pixelated pursuers after all these years. (Shout out to Ms Pac-Man, too – she turned 43 in February). 

Fun Fact: Pac-Man is a bona fide pop culture icon – making an appearance in the original Tron (1982), inspiring a hit single called ‘Pac-Man Fever’, and being name-dropped in loads of movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Then there’s the weirdly dark ‘PAC-MAN: Circle’ episode of Love, Death + Robots ’ ‘Secret Level’ anthology… Not bad for a guy who eats dots for a living. 

2. Street Fighter 2

Street Fighter has been settling sibling rivalries since the ’80s with its old-school smackdown energy. (Also great for resolving arguments like “who’s doing the dishes tonight?”) Choose your fighter, unleash a combo, and try not to cry when your kid sister (or significant other) pulls off a Hadouken, condemning you to your least-favourite chores. Street Fighter II is often seen as the most important and influential fighting game ever made, popularising the fighting genre and inspiring other producers to create their own fighting series. These classic arcade games combine button-mashing with real skill, and that’s what makes them timeless. Bonus points if you can still pull off a dragon punch with one hand and a slushie in the other.

Fun Fact: Ryu and Ken’s iconic moves were so influential that they’ve been parodied in everything from The Simpsons fan animation/art to Wreck-It Ralph. And in 1994, Street Fighter got its own live-action film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue. Yes, really. (It was terrible. Sorry not sorry.)

3. Space Invaders

Before Fortnite, before Minecraft… there was Space Invaders. A lesson in timing, strategy, and the universal truth that pixelated aliens must be defeated at all costs. (Welcome to earth!) It’s simple. It’s hypnotic. And it’s earned its title as one of the best classic arcade games of all time. Still guaranteed to raise your heart rate.

Fun Fact: Space Invaders was so wildly popular in Japan in the late ’70s, it reportedly caused a nationwide shortage of 100-yen coins. People were that hooked on shooting aliens.

4. Galaga

If you liked Space Invaders, you’ll love Galaga – its faster, weirder cousin. Enemies dive-bomb, capture your ship, and test your reflexes in ways that feel strangely… therapeutic? It’s one of the rare arcade games that rewards you for getting captured. If you let your ship be abducted and then rescue it, you get double firepower. 

Fun Fact: Galaga is one of the many classic arcade games played by the characters in TV series Stranger Things, alongside Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, Asteroids and a bunch of Pinball games. Galaga also had a cameo in The Avengers (2012), when Tony Stark calls out a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent secretly playing it mid-crisis.

5. Pinball Machines

Arcade purists, this one’s for you. There’s no rebooting the charm of a classic pinball machine – all clunks, flashes, and frantic flippering. Timezone features some beautiful, themed machines (from movies to monsters), perfect for everyone from casual flippers to high-score hunters. Possibly the most satisfying use of gravity in gaming history.

Fun Fact: Pinball was banned in major US cities like New York and LA from the 1940s to the ’70s, because authorities thought it was a gambling device. It wasn’t until 1976 that a player proved pinball was about skill, not luck… and the game was finally legalised. Rebels with flippers!

Ready to revel in arcade game nostalgia? Timezone’s got the goods. Come on over, hit start, and fall in love all over again!