Insert meme...

[word_geek]

Picking up a meme from Wil Wheaton: "You can have any four classic arcade games in the world. Maintenance and cost aren't a factor, and there's no ROM swapping. Which ones to you pick? It's really tough, but more fun if you don't spend a ton of time thinking about it, so it's right off the top of your head."

OK, then, off the top of my head:

Comments

[shiny_bauble]

Quartet was really different for a multi-person side-scroller. I enjoyed that.

I'm not sure exactly which I'd take, but from each genre:

I played a lot of TMNT, so I think I'd put that in as my MPSS.
Driving game has to be Outrun. Just last year, I found an original machine in a laundromat and dropped like 5-6 bucks over the course of 2-3 hours of washing.
Shooter has to be the original vector-graphic Star Wars, sit-in cabinet version.
Fighting games: Virtua Fighter 2/3
Sports Games: Cyberball, though Virtua Striker is pretty close.

After all that, I think the most fun I've had was 8 linked player Daytona USA.

[hells_satans]

CyberBall
Double Dragon
Tempest/[Defender]
Quartet

[hells_satans]

Gah, I meant Gauntlet, not Quartet.

[_kent]

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 - Everyone needs a beat-em-up, and this has always been my favorite; I don't precisely require this machine, there's about five machines in this series, this was the biggest and brightest, but I'd happily have any of them. For me there is a visceral pleasure to taking Streetfighter characters and tearing them apart with Wolverine, Magneto or Doctor Doom.

Super Space Invaders '91 - It's Space Invaders but with powerups, varied enemies and quirky graphics. Wouldn't work if it didn't play marvellously, but it does. I throw a few credits into this one every time I see it.

Snow Bros - Crazy little Bubble Bobble variant; throw snow at enemies, encasing them in snowballs, then set the snowballs rolling killing everything in their path. Whee! I threw a lot of money at this one at University :)

Puzzle Bobble - One of the Puzzle Bobble/Bust-a-move family. This isn't so much a personal favorite of mine as a personal favorite of a lot of my friends. And you've got to think that the Whole Big Thing Point of owning four

[captain_squid]

Addams Family was a really great table. Still, I think my first love will always be The Comet.

[word_geek]

Definitely gotta have the friends over. That's why two of my choices require multiple players, and I'm reasonably confident we'd take turns on STUN Runner (since we did back in 1990). I would have included Virtua Fighter on my list for similar reasons, but I was confident shiny_bauble would pick that one up.

[hells_satans]

Shouldn't you have bought, like, actually purchased one of these by now? How much can they be? At least buy the patent or copyright or something...

[jacquilynne]

Can I just have 5 pinball tables?

[fish_tie]

Space Lords

I think I remember playing this a ton at Playland. Multiplayer space sim? What's not to love?

Total Carnage

An old friend and I played the hell out of this game in Ocean City, MD one year. Over the top levels with a Robotron control scheme. A nice refinement of the genre.

Dragon's Lair

So hard and yet so rewarding when you manage to get into a rhythm. The artistry is still spectacular in my mind.

Time Crisis

A shooter where you can take cover. Awesome.

A.P.B.

A driving game where you are the fuzz pulling people over. There is a mini game in it where you beat confessions out of felons. Nothing like being The Man for a change.

I'm with Squid as far as the pinball machine though. The Comet is not as flashy as the newer tables, but it simplicity is what makes it more authentic to me.