HIGH SCORES AND NOSTALGIA

Still Remember Your Best High Score? Relive 10 Arcade Games From the Past

Image: Matt & Chris Pua

While today's virtual recreation options are many and varied, the arrival of arcade games in the early 1970s revolutionized the entertainment world and left a mark on entire generations. It's impossible not to feel a bit nostalgic when thinking of these incredible games. From the revolutionary Pac-Man to other iconic Donkey Kong, we all had our favorites. What was yours?

Today, we have compiled 10 of the best arcade games to bring back the joy and excitement they once gave us. Let's play!

Image: Kvalifik

Outer space and its possibilities were a recurring theme in the 1970s games. You probably already know which one we are talking about now. You guessed it right: it's the unforgettable Space Invaders.

Released by Taito Corporation in 1978, this game was so fun and addictive that it quickly became a hit. With a classic format, players had to shoot a laser at invading ships coming from the top of the screen. Space Invaders was one of the first games to track high scores, which unleashed a competitive fever among players.

Adrenaline, tension, and fun were combined in this great game that defined the idea of "shooting games" and marked the childhood and adolescence of many of us.

Image: Senad Palic

Continuing with the space theme, another classic arcade game appeared in 1979, the mythical Asteroids by Atari.

If fighting against various enemies and obstacles was your thing, you've played Asteroids. In this classic, players had a ship that traversed space among asteroids and enemy flying saucers. Avoiding collisions with asteroids and attacking rival ships was a big challenge.

However, the level of difficulty didn't make Asteroids players any less passionate. From the beginning, this game found success, gaining a loyal fan base and becoming one of the best-selling games of its time.

Image: Roger Ce

This list would never be complete without mentioning one of the most popular games of all time: the legendary Pac-Man.

Pac-Man, played around the world by people of all ages, genders, and nationalities, was a revolution in the world of video games.

Released by Namco in 1980, this arcade game was an instant hit, and it elevated its iconic and colorful characters to global fame: the one and only Pac-Man and his "adversaries" Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. Do you remember them all?

Image: Kelly Sikkema

In 1981, Nintendo launched a game that would become an absolute success: Donkey Kong.

In this classic arcade game, a particular character named Jumpman had to overcome stairs and other obstacles to save the damsel Paulina from the formidable Donkey Kong. But do you know who this Jumpman was? That's right! He later became the iconic video game figure known as Mario Bros. While he was not yet called Mario in this game, it marked his debut as the popular character we know today.

Donkey Kong was one of the first arcades to include a series of diverse and challenging levels, and it became one of the best-selling games at the time!

Image: Ben Neale

In 1981, Sega released a game developed by Konami that quickly conquered gamers. In Frogger, players used the famous joystick to control the little frogs through congested routes and tricky obstacles and get them back home. As the game progressed, the obstacles increased in speed and difficulty, making it not only fun and addictive but also very dynamic!

Due to its simplicity and lack of violence, this game was a hit regardless of the gender and age of the players.

But there is one thing that will instantly bring this game to mind: its iconic music! Do you remember it?

Image: Isaiah Schultz

Two years after the successful Pac-Man, the arcade witnessed the debut of the iconic Ms. Pac-Man!

That's right, Pac-Man's girlfriend also had her own game, and it had nothing to envy the original. Released by Midway in 1982, Ms. Pac-Man came out as a sequel game and was one of the first video games to have a female protagonist.

This game was very well received by gamers at the time, as it had everything they loved about Pac-Man, plus several improvements. A bit more challenging than the original, Ms. Pac-Man featured the beloved female protagonist and the four ghosts, this time called Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Sue.

Image: Justice Thompson

Of course, we can't forget to include a video game celebrity: the one and only Mario Bros.

As we already mentioned, Mario's first appearance in a game didn't even feature his name in the title, and he went by a different name. But his character in Donkey Kong was so well received that Nintendo decided to develop a video game for the beloved Mario.

Mario Bros., released for arcades in 1983, had not only Mario but also his co-star, his funny little brother Luigi, fighting and jumping in each level against obstacles and enemies.

Mario Bros. became a very popular arcade game in its time and was the starting point for the development of the legendary franchise that now bears that name.

Image: Joey kwok

When it comes to fighting games, Street Fighter II -released in arcades in 1991 by Capcom- gets a special mention among arcade classics.

Unlike Street Fighter I and other games that preceded it, Street Fighter II allowed the players to choose from a diverse group of characters, all fighting to become the best warrior in the world. At the same time, each character had unique abilities and characteristics. If you had the chance to play it, you probably remember some of them, such as Ryu, Ken, or Chun-Li.

In addition to its multiplicity of characters, Street Fighter II presented innovative features like the "combo system" (allowing players to apply several attacks in a row) and the "versus mode" (with which you could challenge a friend to play). Thus, this game marked the path that fighting games would take in the following decades.

Image: Carl Raw

But in 1992, we welcomed a game that, for many experts, not only surpassed Street Fighter but also became an emblem of fighting games.

We are talking about the unforgettable Mortal Kombat, with its legendary and fearsome characters that include Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Raiden, and Sonya, among others. In addition, each character had an interesting backstory that revealed a certain depth in the characters' crafting.

But what really set Mortal Kombat apart was its unusual level of graphical violence, which naturally attracted many gamers. Do you remember the "fatalities"? Did you have a favorite character?

Image: Karsten Winegeart

If sports games were your thing, you probably played NBA Jam. This classic was released in 1993 by Midway Games and was undoubtedly very well received by the public.

Among its best features was the possibility of choosing between real NBA players of that time, making fans get excited every time they could play.

On the other hand, the graphics style and the game speed were some of the most valued features among the players.

Remember the "Boomshakalaka!" and "He's on Fire!" by Tim Kitzrow? What a time!

Extraterrestrial forecasts

From diamond rain to iron storms: 10 craziest alien weather facts

Image: Viktor Mindt

Weather on Earth might be wild, but compared to other planets, it’s downright boring. Across our solar system—and beyond—insane storms, metallic rain, and atmosphere-shredding winds violently shape alien worlds. Here are 10 of the weirdest and most extreme weather events ever observed in space.

Image: Bas van den Eijkhof

Location: Neptune & Uranus

In the atmospheres of these ice giants, intense pressure crushes methane into solid carbon, forming diamonds that fall like hail.

Estimates suggest that billions of carats worth of diamonds may exist in the deep interiors of these planets, possibly forming layered structures similar to geological strata.

Image: NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Location: HD 189733b

This exoplanet is bombarded by winds blowing at over 5,400 mph—about seven times faster than the speed of sound.

Fortunately, all of this is happening far from Earth—HD 189733b is a 'hot Jupiter' located 63 light-years away. Its atmosphere endures extreme heat on one side and frigid cold on the other, fueling violent winds that circle the planet.

Image: Planet Volumes

Location: Venus

Venus has clouds of sulfuric acid that rain—but the droplets evaporate before they hit the surface.

Temperatures on Venus reach 870°F, hot enough to melt lead. Acid droplets form high in the atmosphere but vaporize at lower altitudes, creating a corrosive "rain cycle."

Image: NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Location: Jupiter

A storm larger than Earth has been raging on Jupiter for over 350 years.

First observed in the 1600s, the Great Red Spot is a massive anticyclone with wind speeds exceeding 400 mph. It’s so large that it could easily swallow our planet whole.

Image: Planet Volumes

Location: Saturn

A massive six-sided jet stream spins around Saturn’s north pole. NASA’s Cassini mission captured this bizarre atmospheric pattern, which spans nearly 20,000 miles.

Surprisingly, it's a persistent weather feature—not a surface structure.

Image: Daniele Colucci

Location: Mars

Mars is famous for its massive, planet-wide dust storms. These weather events can last for weeks and obscure the entire planet from view.

NASA’s Opportunity rover went silent during one of these dust storms in 2018 and never recovered. The catch? Mars doesn’t have enough atmosphere for the winds to be truly dangerous—sorry, The Martian.

Image: Andy Holmes

Location: Boomerang Nebula

The coldest known natural place in the universe is the outer cloud of a dying star. The Boomerang Nebula, located 5,000 light-years away, reaches temperatures near 1 Kelvin—colder than the cosmic background.

This happens because the star’s gas expands so rapidly that it chills below the temperature of empty space itself.

Image: Morteza Mohammadi

Location: WASP-76b

On this ultra-hot exoplanet, iron vaporizes on the dayside and rains down as molten metal on the nightside.

These extreme temperatures are reached because WASP-76b is tidally locked, with day-side temperatures over 4,000°F.

Image: Javid Naderi

Location: The Sun

The Sun hosts giant tornadoes made of superheated plasma. These solar events can be up to 10,000 miles tall and spin at thousands of miles per hour.

They’re driven by magnetic fields and can feed into solar flares and coronal mass ejections—fiery explosions that can even impact Earth.

Image: NASA

Location: The Moon

The Moon may experience electrostatic dust storms during lunar dawn and dusk. When the Sun hits the lunar surface, it creates an electric field that lifts tiny dust particles off the ground.

This phenomenon was first suspected during the Apollo missions and has been confirmed through recent satellite observations.