Top 10 licenced games

It's nearly Christmas, the decorations have been adorning shops since Halloween, the cheesy songs are playing on the radio and everywhere you look there are adverts for toys, gadgets, chocolates, booze, food, DVDs, books, games, you name it. With this in mind, I thought I'd end my run of top 10s genres with licensed games.

Video games have been part of the merchandise for TV shows, movies and toys for a long, long time. These days the term "licensed game" is generally regarded with derision, but once upon a time that wasn't always the case and there were plenty of classic arcade games that were also nothing more than merchandise for something else. Sticking to my rule of one game per franchise (sorry, Marvel), here is my top 10:

Star Wars

Let's start the show with a show stopper! Released in 1980 (the same year as the best Star Wars movie of all), this vector graphics X-Wing simulator set the tone for decades of Star Wars games to come. Despite the psychedelically-coloured graphics, the cabinet, the yoke controls and a samples from the movie meant this was as evocative as any games based on the classic franchise could hope to be. It's probably one of the most highly regarded arcade games of all time, let alone licensed ones.

RoboCop 2

Movie trailers are such delicious teases. I remember when the trailers for RoboCop 2 came out and thinking the antagonist robot, Kane, looked awesome. I can remember recording Film '90 just so I could replay the snippets of RoboCop battling Kane. My 15 year-old self was dizzy with excitement to see the film and sadly I had to wait for several years.

Data East had made an arcade game for the first RoboCop film, but where as that film was superior to its sequel, the sequel to the game was much better. From the gorgeous, sharp graphics to the novel little set pieces (such as forcing the truck back against a wall to crush it, as pictured above), this game let the player re-enact loads of key elements of RoboCop. At times, as a video game character he felt a little stiff, but the ability to shoot in a different direction to the one you were moving in (there was a button to shoot left and one to shoot right) did compensate for his rigidity some what.

WWF Super Stars

"I am a real American, doo doo doo dar dum dee doo dar." Sorry, where was I, oh yeah, WWF Super Stars hit the arcades at the same time as I first discovered "American wrestling". Although this game had a limited roster it did at least feature venerable favourites of the era Hulk Hogan, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Ultimate Warrior and Big Boss Man (a favourite of mine at the time) among others. The game features lots of hallmark moves and the context-sensitive controls mean that with just two buttons and a joystick, each wrestler has a pretty good repertoire. The controls were a bit woolly to be honest, but this was as much a game of atmosphere as anything else and it captured the over-the-top action of 80s wrestling brilliantly. And given I only got to see wrestling when I went to a friend's house who had satellite TV, this game formed a major part of my childhood wrestling fanaticism.

Aliens

Man alive were there some great movies in the 80s and one of the best was James Cameron's Aliens. There were a number of arcade games made out of the franchise, but this (as far as I know) was the first. You take control of Ripley (with player 2 controlling who I can only assume was Hicks) as they try to rescue Newt from the alien infestation on LV426. There are one or two suspect aliens in this game, which I don't believe ever appeared in any of the movies, including weird bat creatures and mutants, but it's still a blast.

Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow Over Mystara

Capcom made a shed load of side scrolling beat 'em ups in the 90s, though few managed to better their classic Final Fight. However, this D&D brawler's use of simple RPG mechanics, including an inventory (something that was very rare in arcade games), makes it stand out from the pack. Of course it has all the staples of the genre: elves, dwarves, wizards, rangers, paladins, you name it. And all wrapped in a lovely bit of hack 'n' slash action. This game is now available of XBLA and PSN as part of a double-pack with its predecessor, Tower of Doom, both of which are great.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Talking of classic 80s movies, the original Indiana Jones trilogy might be my favourite 80s trilogy; there isn't a dud in the pack. Many people say Temple of Doom was a let down, but the film's cheesy morbidity delighted me as a kid ("Ahh, chilled monkey brains!") and the mine cart chase was superb. As with some other movies in this list, I played the game long before seeing the film. The Temple of Doom game was in the arcade at the Old Hall, so I played it a LOT. There's not a lot to the game and if you aren't bothered about high scores you can always play it in easy mode and get a feel for the whole thing in just a few minutes, but in that short time you do get to play through many of the movies most memorable sequences, including the mine cart chase and the fight over the lava pit.

The Simpsons

There is a pattern to this list of games. WWF, Simpsons, D&D, Indiana Jones and Tron (see below) are all franchises I knew about because of the games as much (or something rather than) the source material. I didn't get to watch Simpson's until the late 90s, when my parents finally got cable TV, but because of this game I knew precisely who Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie were. The game itself was a madcap brawler, with each member of the family sporting their own special (and canonically accurate) moves. Marge's use of a vacuum cleaner could be seen as sexist, but it was funny to see one used (quite literally) in anger.

X-Men: Children of Atom

Here we are again, Capcom churning out loads of versions of basically the same game. Over the years they've made loads of Marvel-themed fighting games, primarily ones incorporating either Street Fighter characters or other Capcom characters. However, I prefer the purity of this super hero-only instalment, even if the roster of fighters is much reduced from the other games.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What boy in the late-80s and early 90s didn't love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, as they were known here in the UK)? I never read the comic, but I watched the cartoon and loved it. However, it was decidedly lacking in actual ninja action, with the turtles usually dispatching Shredder's foot soldiers with a bowl of spaghetti or a rubbish bin. So when the game let you wield each turtle's signature weapon (katana, bo staff, sai and nunchuks), what fan wouldn't lap it up?

Tron

This is an important game for me, because although I had played video games before it was this game, above all others, that made me fall in love with arcade gaming. It was so futuristic, with its neon paint and glowing pistol-grip joystick. In an arcade with a black light (which in my opinion is an essential piece of equipment for any arcade) this cabinet was stunning to behold.

It's 30 years since I first played this game and sadly its bespoke controls do not map to modern controllers very well at all. Whether it's on MAME or on XBLA, there is no good version to play, other than the original. As much as I love Street Fighter, if I had to have just one arcade machine, it would be Tron cabinet.

And that's it, all of the top 10 games by genre. I probably won't publish anything else this side of Christmas, so until next time, Merry Christ and a Happy New Year.

MTW

Top 10 light gun games

Games and guns, it's like an unfortunate match made in heaven. These days there are anxious parents, politicians and religious groups worried that 11 year-olds who play Call of Duty will one day gun down their class mates, whilst simultaneously overlooking facts like 11 year-olds shouldn't be given access to Call of Duty, America's gun laws are way too lax or truly disturbed people need little reason to commit acts atrocity. Anyway, I'm getting a little off topic here. This month's top 10 is light gun games, one of the few types of game you're still likely to see in an arcade, which is ironic, as it's up there with pinball games as one of the very oldest forms of arcade entertainment, going back to the 1930s. This bunch are all a lot more modern than that though.

Operation Wolf/Operation Thunderbolt

Despite the fact light gun games have been arcades for decades before video games entered the amusement industry, for most arcade throwbacks the granddaddies of the genre are Operation Wolf and its sequel Operation Thunderbolt. At the time, Arnold Swartzeneggar was one of the biggest action heroes around and was synonymous with the Uzi 9mm, so getting to hold the replica on the cabinet was a thrill in itself.

Mad Dog McCree

Full Motion Video (FMV) in video games never fails to be cheesy, even when people have tried to use it seriously, but when it's used knowingly, as with American Laser Games' 1990 Western, Mad Dog McCree it's even more fun. The hammy acting, the distinct lack of any actual gun shot wounds and every Cowboy cliché under the sun, it's all here.  This game is now available on Wii, so you can still enjoy the cheese today.

Virtua Cop

The Sega Model 2 arcade system powered some great examples of the 90s polygon insurgence, which saw more and more video games move away from sprites in favour of 3D models. The Virtua series is worthy of an article all of its own, with Sega attaching the name to everything from sports games and driving simulators, to beat 'em ups and law enforcement. Virtua Cop pre-dates Namco's Time Crisis by a year and like many of the Virtua games tried to be more serious and realistic. Whatever, it was still great fun.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Back in the early 90s, Terminator 2 was a cultural phenomenon. Arnie being suitably robotic, Linda Hamilton butching up, but somehow still managing to be sexy, a Guns 'n' Roses sound track that rocked the cinema and the best CG we'd ever seen. Translate this to the arcade and of course we get a light gun game. This shooting gallery of mechanical mayhem may not have looked as good as Robert Patrick's liquid metal T-1000, but who wouldn't want to fill one of those cyborg monsters full of hot digital lead?

Ninja Assault

Ninja's are fast, agile, deadly assassins, employing shadows and camouflage to move through the night unnoticed, so when you think about it, the best way to deal with such a deadly foe is probably to blow them away with a machine gun. I never really understood the disparity between your weapons and the attackers, but it was a blast nonetheless.

Point Blank

So far this list has been full of soldiers, criminals and killer robots, so let's change gear and talk about one of the cuteness, craziest light gun games of all time, Namco's Point Blank. Instead of a cheesy story as with all the other games in this list, Point Blank was technically a mini-game collection, where the player could chose what stage they wanted to play next and no single stage took more than a 30 seconds to a minute to complete. The game used similar guns to Time Crisis, so you got that same great recoil action and in context with the game's visuals, the pink and cyan guns made a lot more sense than with Time Crisis.

Ghost Squad

Nothing Sega's Ghost Squad does is particularly original, in fact it employs every wrote trick and set piece in the book, but there's something about the way it brings all these familiar elements together that makes it a joy to play. It's like a really good cover band, who, despite playing another band's music, still manage to rock the house. This is a game I first discovered on the Wii and it demonstrates Nintendo's uber-popular console is a great platform for light gun action.

Police 911

Taking of motion gaming, before Microsoft's Kinect camera or even Sony's EyeToy camera, Konami's Police 911 used a similar system way back in 2000 to give players the opportunity to dodge digital bullets for real. It worked surprisingly well and made for one of the most energetic arcade experiences outside of Dance Dance Revolution or Final Furlong. As the image above shows though, as with all motion gaming, it required good amount of space for players to fling themselves around.

Silent Scope

Now we're taking serious action. Silent Scope wasn't about flicking the trigger as fast as possible, instead it was about patience and accuracy as you played the part of a sniper. In another brilliant innovation by Konami, the scope on the gun didn't actually magnify the the screen in front of you. Instead it contained a 2nd, mini screen, which rendered your target separately. This provided a crystal clear view of the action (not obscured by the sights rendered on the main screen), whilst still having the main screen for you to do your spotting. The gun was great to hold and required the player to really shunt themselves around to get the best angles. Brilliant stuff.

Time Crisis series

As a self-confessed arcade aficionado, it's easy to think I need to pluck some oft-forgotten treasure to top a list like this, but the truth is sometimes the most popular games are popular for a very good reason. Such as it is with Namco's Time Crisis. It's a former classic here on Arcade Throwback and who would argue with its status as one of the greatest, if not the great light gun game ever. Aside from the great gameplay, Time Crisis's double whammy of the recoil on the gun and the pedal to take cover and reload put it well ahead of the competition. Each new instalment added features that elevated the series even further, with co-op coming in the first sequel and different weapons in the second. It's a game any arcade nut would want in their private collection.

MTW

Top 10 run 'n' gun games

Run 'n' gun games may contain elements of shoot 'em ups and platformers, they can be modern day or futuristic, but whatever elements they're made of, they're all about blowing s**t up and taking names, just like the OTT action movies of the 80s and 90s. Speaking of which...

Ikari Warriors

One of the original top-down run 'n' gun games, Ikari Warriors is an all time classic. After crash landing your plane behind enemy lines, you have to fight your way up the scrolling jungle of enemy soldiers, taking weapons and also vehicles to aid your escape. The game is very clearly inspired by the Rambo films, with player 1's character looking almost exactly like Stallone (player 2 was the same, but blue). It's also one of those games that is difficult to translate to home platforms due to its rotating joystick controls (a problem we'll encounter again later on).

Metal Slug series

If you don't know what a typical run 'n' gun game looks like, you have obviously haven't played any of SNK's Metal Slug games. And if you haven't played any of these beautiful, violent and brilliantly ridiculous examples of arcade gaming, what the hell are you doing on a site like this? Metal Slug is one of the crowning jewels of SNK's legendary Neo Geo system and features some of the most detailed pixel art ever, but it's the high energy, high explosive, tongue-in-cheek gameplay that makes it a classic.

Gunforce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island

If I was giving out awards for Most Awesome Subtitle, Gunforce: Battle Fire Engulfed Terror Island would probably win. This Irem run 'n' gun game from 1991 is very clearly inspired by Contra, but has a contemporary setting and two player co-op. Gunforce gives players the ability to lock the direction of fire by simply tapping the joystick and staying still, something many other similar games didn't do (such as Contra which always put the gun in a neutral position when you let go of the joystick). And although plenty of run 'n' gun games give you control of vehicles, there was something more free form about Gunforce's selection. They tended to be the same as the enemy vehicles and included screen-filling examples, such as the helicopter in the screenshot above. 

Total Carnage

In the 90s, Midway were the kings of over-the-top, parent shocking video games, from the visceral digitised action of Mortal Kombat to the worship of the cathode ray tube and total disregard for human life that was Smash TV. Released in 1992, Total Carnage shares a lot in common with Smash TV. Many of the game play elements, weapons and even characters came from Smash TV. As the name suggests, this is probably the craziest, crassest game in this list - a delight for teenage boys who grew up watching Willis, Van Damme, Lundgren, Sly and Arnie in action. The game also features an interesting password system, that will let you warp to sections of the if you know the four letter code.

Cyber-Lip

Here's another one from the SNK Neo Geo. Released a few years before Metal Slug, Cyber-Lip takes the game play of Contra and the plot from Terminator. You and a friend take control of two human soldiers, sent to take out the robotic army that's terrorising Earth after a military super computer goes haywire. Some notable features of Cyber-Lip are the ability to shimmy along handrails and the fact when you die you come back on a flying jet ski thing, which, for a few seconds, not only gives you the ability to clear the screen, but also allows you to position yourself where ever you like.

And no, I don't know what a Cyber-Lip is.

Mercs

Capcom's 1985 Commando was one of the earliest examples of vertically scrolling run 'n' gun games, pre-dating Ikari Warriors by a year. However, sticking to my rule of only including one game from any series, I must confess to preferring the faster, more hectic sequel from 1990. This game not only plays great, it looks great too, with clean, yet detailed pixel art that for some reason reminds me of Bitmap Brothers games. Unlike some of the other top-down games in this list, Mercs doesn't require any specialised controls, which means it translated well to home platforms too.

Midnight Resistance

I have found memories of various Data East games, but none more so than Midnight Resistance from 1989.  Like many of the games in this list, the characters looked like Rambo, but then he was the biggest action hero around at the time. Fallen enemies would sometimes drop keys, of which players could collect up to six. At the end of each level you break into a weapons store and each weapon or ammunition pack would require a certain number of keys to unlock. This was effectively just a coin and shop system, but it was more in-keeping with the story than having a random shop in the middle of the war-torn environment. This is another game that requires a rotating stick and so it didn't translate well to home platforms.

Finest Hour

Despite taking its name from a Winston Churchill speech, Namco's Finest Hour from 1989 is actually set in the future and puts the player in control of an armoured robot, seeking out the enemy in a jungle-like terrain and blasting them to smithereens. Finest Hour has a few unusual features. Firstly, it has an auto-lock on for the main gun and second, although it's not a one-hit-death game, you don't have health either. Instead you have a heat gauge, which goes up when you are hit. If the meter reaches critical, you blow up. However, stay out of danger for long enough and you'll cool down again. So when people talk about the auto-recharging health and shields of modern games like Halo, Gears of War and Call of Duty, you have to wonder if it started here. Officially, the game was only available in Japan, but I do remember it making it over to a few UK arcades. 

Rolling Thunder series

A former Classic of the Month, Namco's Rolling Thunder oozes spy style. The original had super smooth and detailed animation to go along with its great gameplay and atmosphere; the sequels added more locations, improved graphics and two player. The sequels are also some of the few run and gun games that put player 1 in control of a female protagonist (although others, such as later Metal Slug games, had optional female characters).

Alien Syndrome

Firstly, I love, love, love Sega's 1987 classic Alien Syndrome! I mean, I have soft spots for all the games in this list, but I have particularly found memories of Alien Syndrome - not so much the arcade original as the Sega Master System conversion. It wasn't as fast, but I always thought the graphics were cleaner. Nonetheless, this game manages to evoke the sense of foreboding and dread that permeates the Sigourney Weaver movies and with the kind of squelchy, undulating monstrosities found in John Carpenter's The Thing. Unlike the other games in this list, the maze-like structure of the levels of this game force players to explore and the time bomb ticking down in the background only added to the sense of dread.

Contra (AKA Gryzor)

Characters that looked like Arnie and Sly? Loads of big, crazy guns? Soldiers, robots and aliens to blast? What was not to like about Contra - or Gryzor as I knew it in the 80s. I was truly terrible at this game, but it wasn't until I was much older that I discovered it is generally considered one of the hardest games of that period. I own the Xbox Live Arcade version and even when I lower the difficulty and use all my continues, I still can't get past level 3. This game also made it to my original Top 10 list of seminal arcade games from my youth and for good reason. As good as similar games are in this list, Contra is still my favourite. So you can imagine how excited I was a few years ago when the games company I worked for at the time were pitching for the contract to do a modern remake of this classic franchise. Sadly, the bid fell through and it wasn't to be.

Join me again next month when I'll be counting down my top 10 light gun games.

MTW

Top 10 hack 'n' slash games

More of a sub-genre of beat 'em ups than a genre in its own right, hack 'n' slash games differ from other beat 'em ups and fighting games in that they tends to have medieval and fantasy settings rather than being about dingy backstreet dust ups. So, it's time to put on your elf ears, dwarf beards and maybe dig out your shurikens too, as we look at MTW's top 10 hack 'n' slash games:

Golden Axe series

Of course Sega's seminal Golden Axe was going to be in the list, so let's get it out of the way to begin with. Although there had been co-operative games before, with Golden Axe it felt like the way the game was meant to be played. I've always put this down to how well the three characters' skills complemented each other. My favourite, the dwarf Gilius Thunderhead, has melee range, but weak magic; the barbarian, Ax Battler, has balanced melee and magic; the armoured bikini-wearing Tyris Flare had the best magic, but the weakest melee skills. By playing Golden Axe with a friend you didn't just double your fire power, you increased your tactics too.

Rastan Saga

Taito's Rastan Saga is was one the granddaddies of the hack 'n' slash genre. The titular hero is your typical, Conan-esque barbarian, who has to carve his way through hordes of lizardmen to rescue, what else, a princess. Rastan's gameplay has almost as much in common with platformers as it does hack 'n' slash beat 'em ups, with Rastan having to jump and plunge his way around the landscape in order to reach his destination at the end of each level.

Ninja Spirit

After Tolkien-esque fantasy, the next most common topic for the hack 'n' slash genre is ninjas. Few arcade games give players as strong a sense of being a stealthy night blade as Irem's Ninja Spirit. From the outset players are able to choose which of four weapons they want to use (a katana, shurikens, bombs or a kusarigama), but things get really interesting when our hero, Gekkou, collects the magic gems that summon ninja spirits, which follow him and repeat his actions (with about a half second delay). But don't let all this arsenal fool you, Ninja Spirit is rock hard! 

Rygar

Playing Rygar again for this article, I'd forgotten just how bloody fast it is. The game throws everything at the player and there's a surprising variety of creatures and minions to deal with too, like pteranodons, headless hulks, burrowing centipede monsters and rhino dog things. Thankfully, Rygar's flying, spiked shield has plenty of reach, so with a bit of good timing it's possible to stop all of these monstrosities from ever getting close.

Magic Sword: Heroic Fantasy

In the early 90s, Capcom released a load of great fantasy hack 'n' slash games, starting with this, Magic Sword. The game has character classes that will be instantly familiar to anyone who's ever played a tabletop role-playing game or indeed a MMORPG. There's a knight, a priest, a thief, a wizard, a ninja, an amazon, a lizardman and the bizarrely named bigman. Whatever. Each one has their pros and cons, such as the priest who is generally the weakest, but is particularly powerful against the undead. What's different here is that the players do not take control of these different classes. Instead you control a generic warrior and have to rescue the other classes, at which point they will fight alongside you, mimicking your moves (a bit like the spirits in Ninja Spirit). The game also got ported to Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network a few years, in the Final Fight: Double Impact compilation, so there's no excuse to miss out on this one.

Knights of the Round

Released in 1991, Capcom's Knights of the Round is obviously based on the legend of King Arthur. Players get to choose from Arthur, Lancelot or Perceval and in classic style, each one has their own skills and abilities. In a nod to role-playing games, each character can be levelled up during the course of the game (a theme that we'll see repeated a lot in this top 10). Ostensibly, KotR is pretty basic, but it's the game's blocking system that really makes it shine. Hit attack and back at the right time and you gain a few seconds of invincibility. It's a simple and effective system, that was rarely seen at the time.

Shadow Dancer

Despite the ninja hero, the Eastern magic and the white wolf, we switch to modern day (or at least modern at the time) for our next game. Sega's Shinobi series is legendary, but the series really upped its game with this instalment. The addition of Shinobi's canine companion seemed remarkable at the time, especially as you were given limited control of the beast in order to set him on certain, otherwise hard to reach, enemies (such as the sniper in the screenshot above).

Gauntlet Legends/Dark Legacy

Released 13 years after the original, Gauntlet Legends and the sequel from the following year, Dark Legacy, features 3D polygon graphics and an isometric view that's more akin to modern action RPGs such as Torchlight, Path of Exile and Diable III as anything else. I originally played Legends on my Dreamcast, but it was a pretty close conversion by all accounts. As with other fantasy-themed games in this list, Legend and Dark Legacy feature a rudimentary levelling sysem, but the health and gold works much as it did in the original games. Unlike the original, the game has much more focus on melee combat, as opposed to throwing an endless supply of axes at your foe (how did the barbarian ever carry so many?), which is why it gets to join this list.

Strider

When I first saw Strider, I was blown away by how agile Hiryu was and dazzled by the flashing arc of his katana as he cut a swathe through scores of Soviate soldiers and bizarre robots, such as the ape pictured above. The game's future Russian setting and multi-lingual voices also made this one stand out from the crowd. For me, this is the game that first made me pay attention to Capcom and as this list has shown, they were a company to watch in the late 80s and early 90s.

Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom/Shadow Over Mystara

With the official Dungeons & Dragons licence attached to it, Capcom's pair of hack 'n' slash games Tower of Doom and Shadow Over Mystara are perhaps the closer to a proper role-playing game than any other arcade game. Both games are great, which is why they are sharing a spot in this list, but for me Shadow Over Mystara probably has the edge. With all the typical classes and creatures, a rudimentary inventory system for both clothing and weapons, and dripping with fantasy lore, this game has pretty much everything you'd want from an arcade D&D game. Both games are available on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network as a double pack called Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, so as with Magic Sword, there's no need to miss out.

There we have it, all the swords, knights, ninjas, magic, princesses and dragons an arcade throwback could want. As with any of my top 10s, there are bound to be games other people would have included in their list (I have no doubt there are a few people screaming, "What about Ninja Gaiden?!" or "Err.. you forgot King of Dragons!" but these are the ones I'd be putting 20p into, given the choice.

MTW

Top 10 pinball tables

In celebration of The Pinball Arcade's first anniversary, here are our top 10 pin games, many of which I've only been able to play because of Far Sight's simulator.

Star Wars Episode 1

I'm going to start with one one of the few in this list I can remember playing and it's mainly because of the special tricks it pulls, such as the light sabre that lights up during the game and the holographic back screen, which allows you to blast droids with the ball. This technology was coined "Pinball 2000" by Williams and was an attempt to re-vitalise the floundering company. The objective of the game was to become a Jedi spirit (whatever that is), which means ascending the ranks of the Jedi and eventually battling Darth Maul. It says a lot about a film when the pinball table is a more memory experience.

Black Hole

Gottlieb's Black Hole is former classic of the month, so it's hardly surprising it also made it to my top 10. Like video games, atmosphere can carry pinball tables a long way and Black Hole's gaunt sound effects and simple layout are very atmospheric. It's tough to get the multi-ball mode to activate on this one, but when you do it's actually possible to have balls on both the main playfield and the inverted lower table; managing balls on both playfields, especially when the balls drop out of the top on the lower field, is only for the true pros.

White Water

If you like tables with lots of ramps, you'll love White Water. In fact, when I saw this table in a bowling alley back in the 90s, it was precisely because of its rapids-themed ramps that I started to play it. The object of the table was to make your way down the river rapids to Wet Willy's shack, encountering dangerous ravines, dark caves and even a yeti along the way.

Taxi

For me, personality also goes a long way when it comes to pinball tables and William's Taxi has personality in spades. The object of the table is to pick up and drop off its colourful cast of passengers, which includes Mikhail Gorbachev, Marilyn Monroe, Santa Claus, Dracula and Pin*Bot (although I have no idea how a planet-sized robot is supposed to get into a Crown Victoria). It still makes  me smile hearing Pin*Bot saying, "Taxi, taxi, taxi" in his robotic voice. The looping ramps, which cross over in the middle also help to give this table a real sense of pace.

The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot

Talking of Pin*Bot, William's trilogy are true legends of pinball, but when I decided to only include one of the series in this list I had to go with the first lady of pinball, The Machine. Not only did The Machine feature the pinball eyes of its predecessor, players also had to shoot their ball into her mouth to give her speech (which is a little counter intuitive). With each stage of The Machine's unique ball-locking mechanism her whole face rotates. Once she has balls in her mouth (ahem) and eyes, the multi-ball mode kicks in and you can rack up a serious score. I don't have any tattoos, but if I got one, I reckon it would be of this giant, sexy metallic lady.

Big Shot

Originally released in 1973 (when pinball was actually still illegal in New York City), Big Shot is the oldest table in our list. It's also the only electro-magnetic (EM) table in this list, but I love how deceptively challenging this table is. At first glance is looks pretty basic, but lighting all 14 of its drop targets with a single ball is surprisingly tough. There are few purer tests of pinball skill than to light them in order. I certainly can't do it.

Space Shuttle

A lot of the tables in this list are historically significant because of features they introduced to pin games, but Williams' Space Shuttle from 1984 is significant because it not only rescued the struggling Williams company, it also helped with the pinball resurgence that lead to so many great tables in the 1990s. As much as anything, for me it's the sounds this table makes that sends me into a nostalgic swoon. This is before digitised background music, so there's no rousing patriotic score or epic sci-fi theme, just a whole lot of awesome buzzes and beeps that wouldn't be out of place in Defender.

Theatre of Magic

Harking back to the days when magicians like David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy and Lance Burton were master entertainers, Theatre of Magic really captures the feel of those big, complicated and above all extravagant tricks. As your score goes up the sense of the stakes also escalating is palpable. Among this table's many tricks are the rotating magic trunk, which can make balls disappear, the spirit ring and deadly tiger saw. All of which would look perfectly at home in a Las Vegas stage show.

Attack from Mars

This is one of my absolute favourites. Pinball games are famous for their crazy highscores, but Attack from Mars takes it to the extreme. Within seconds of playing even a newbie can rack a score of a few hundred million. As an experiment, I once played a game where I did not press a single flipper, I just launched the ball and let it drop and I still scored 192,000,000! It's a really good beginners table, because of its relatively simple rule set and its open playfield, which helps players to keep track of the action. Just don't be too disappointed when you go back to a different table and find you can only score a tenth of the score you got on this.

Tales of Arabian Nights

Based on the classic saga 'One Thousand and One Nights', this is another table with bags of personality. The objective is to rescue the princess from the demonic genie. Along the way players will be collecting gems, visiting a bazaar, flying a magic carpet and spinning Aladdin's lamp in the middle. I also love tables with great lighting and this table certainly has that. After each ball out, the gems you've collected disappear in time to the music, then with a final flourish from the oud, the whole table briefly illuminates. It looks beautiful. Also, if you haven't tried The Pinball Arcade on your Android or iPhone, this table is free with the basic version.

Choosing the first nine tables for this list was fairly easy, but choosing my final table was tough. The Pinball Arcade really showcases the best the pin games have to offer from the last 50 years and narrowing it down to 10 has been as hard, if not harder, than any of my other top 10s. In the end it was down to Tales of Arabian Nights, Cirqus Voltaire, Black Knight, Centaur and Funhouse. In the end, I had to go with the tables I played the most, which is why three of Pinball Arcade's launch tables are in this list.

Join us again next month for another top 10.

MTW