This will actually be a last of the arcade game lists. After 1995, most arcade games got pretty solid home console ports and outside of some light gun games or maybe a few driving games, there just wasn't anything entirely unique to the arcades anymore (RIP wonderful smokey drug dealing arcades).
10. WWF Wrestlefest
WWF Superstars was the first WWF wrestling game, but its' sequel Wrestlefest upped the ante and gave wrestling fans more of everything they wanted. More wrestlers, more moves, and more modes of play. Excellent simple gameplay, and was exactly what any wrestling fan wanted.
9. Cadash
Cadash was a platformer/RPG. You chose one of four characters, fought, leveled up, got new equipment.... very unarcade-like which I assume is why no one really knows about it. Console ports came out for it, but they never hit the mark. The arcade version was the way it was meant to be played.
8. Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder
One of the world's great crimes is that even to this day, a home console version of the true Golden Axe sequel has never been made. Forget that piece of crap Golden Axe II for the Genesis, Death Adder's Revenge was one of the greatest side scrolling brawlers ever made.
7. Shinobi
The game that ushered in the West's fascination with ninjas! It's a damn near perfect arcade platformer too. Tons of action, and you have to constantly know where you are jumping because odds are an enemy is right where you want to be.
6. Rampage
Mindless violence at its very best. What do you do? You break buildings. If you want to be an ass, maybe you beat up your partner too. And then maybe you eat him/her. This game appeals to everyone's base instincts, and it did a marvelous job at it.
5. Ikari Warriors
The original two person co-op run-and-gun game. You and a buddy against a brazillion enemies and bullets and flying everywhere. Who cares though. So long as you have your guns, your grenades, your best friend, and a couple hundred dollars in quarters the world was yours.
4. Area 51
The best light gun game ever made. That's right I said it. Right from the start of the game when a Mike Tyson looking dude tell you to "stay low" the action starts, and it doesn't stop. Nothing too fancy. Just a few weapon upgrades, but mostly it's knowing what comes up, where it comes up, and how quickly you can kill it. Never gets insanely hard either. Just stays fun the entire time.
3. Super Dodge Ball
The console version on the NES was fun, but the arcade version is legendary. This game was so much fun that my friends and I (many of whom were also in the Kid Nikki Force) tried to actually play the very same version of Dodge Ball amongst neighborhood friends. Sadly we never had enough people... but really the arcade game was all we needed.
2. The Simpsons
Some people say TMNT was the greatest brawler of them all. I say, 'nay nay.' That honor goes to the Simpsons. Not only was it argueably some of the greatest fan service of all time, but it was an amazing game. Each character plays a little different. You can team up to do super attacks with different combos. And the whole thing feels like you're watching the show.
1. Super Street Fighter II
My favorite fighting game series, and this was pretty much the installment that took that love to overdrive. 16 playable characters? New moves for old characters? Cammy's ass? Jesus Christ on a cracker sign me up!!! Still love this game today. The music, stage design, characters... this game had it all. Still does for that matter.
And of course, the honorable mentions.
Alien Syndrome
Mortal Kombat 2
Wizard Fire
Rastan
Nice list. Did Lethal Enforcers come out during this time period? Man I loved that game.
Ikari Warriors was the shit son!
Good list, sadly missing many Data East games. No Bad Dudes vs Dragoninja, Robocop, Midight Resistance, Tumblepop, Secret Spy ...
Which version of Golden Axe II is available in PSN stores and the like?
It did, but I thought Area 51 was a much better game. Still Lethal Enforcers had a pink gun you could shoot with, so it still deserves respect.
I liked Data East as well, but during their later years their games were really B-tier in my opinion. Any kind of game they made, someone else made a better game in the same genre. Still they did get one game, Wizard Fire, in the honorable mentions.
That would be the Genesis version. And we do not care for it.
It's certainly not as good as the original Golden Axe (not a tarnished version?) in that format.
Terrible list. What the hell is wrong with you?