Being a child of the 80's I remember some great arcade games from the time.
Growing up in the 80's I remember:
* Asteroids.
* Space Invaders(I use to have a version of Space Invaders on my old cellphone
). .
* Pac-man (again, this was another game I use to have on the same cellphone, complete with original game music!).
* Star Wars (you fly an X-Wing attacking the Death Star, I think).
* Space Harrier.
* Outrun (one of my favourites).
* And in the late 80's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which I think was a beat-em-up).
Whilst thinking up titles for this I suddenly remembered there use to be a game where you flew a fighter plane and shot enemy planes, but I couldn't remember what it was. :-/
Then I suddenly remembered it was called Afterburner!
Also, wasn't there an Indiana Jones game, where you ride a mine cart through tunnels (like in Temple of Doom)avoiding obstacles/attacks by enemies? Or was that just my imagination?
There was only one game I just couldn't get the hang of and that was Return of the Jedi. From what I can remember it takes place on Endor, and you control Luke/Leia riding a Speederbike through the woods.
I hated that game because it was just so DIFFICULT! It was 'viewed' at such an awkward third-person angle it was almost unplayable to me.
You race along the 'track' avoiding obstacles/enemies, but for me the angle of gameplay means you couldn't really see them in time, so if your like me you'd inevitably end up crashing into something usually within SECONDS of starting!