• Video arcades were popular throughout the 1980s until the home video consoles became more popular.Video Game Gear image by Alhazm Salemi from Fotolia.com
  
  Video arcades first came onto the scene in the late 1970s, but it wasn't until the early 1980s when they became popular. Video arcades became popular with teenagers in particular, with arcades being a place for friends to hang out together after school. In the late 1990s, the technology of home video consoles rivaled that of video arcades, leading many arcades to close down. However, some 1980s video arcades have become classics, known for their simple yet addictive game play.
  
  

Space Invaders

• Space Invaders was one of the earliest shooting video arcade games, and it was created in 1978 in Japan by Tomohiro Nishikado. The aim of the game was to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to gain as many points as possible. The game had two-dimensional graphics and at the time was a forerunner for modern video gaming. On its release, it was so incredibly popular that the Guinness World Records ranked it the top video arcade game.
  
  

Donkey Kong

• Donkey Kong was released by Nintendo in 1981, and it was an early example of the classic platform genre. It was also where Mario was first created. The game was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi. Both designers broke new ground by using graphics to convey characterization, which included cut scenes and multiple stages to enhance game play.
  
  The player had to maneuver Jumpan (now more well-known as Mario) across a series of platforms while dodging and jumping over obstacles. The aim was to rescue Lady, the damsel in distress, from the giant ape called Donkey Kong.
  
  

Pac-Man

• Pac-Man became a cultural phenomenon back in the 1980s, after its initial release in 1980. The arcade game inspired a children's animated TV series and spawned merchandise. It was created by Toru Iwatani and developed by Namco. Pac-Man was a new genre of game play that appealed to both sexes. According to the Davie-Brown Index, Pac-Man has the highest brand awareness of any video game character among American consumers.
  
  The player controls Pac-Man through a maze as he eats pac-dots. When they have all been eaten, Pac-Man goes onto the next stage. Pac-Man goes against his four enemies that roam through the maze trying to catch him. For a player to achieve the maximum possible score on the first 255 levels, they must eat every possible dot, power pellet, fruit, and enemy without losing a single life.