Must play arcade games (Via MAME)

[ZeroAX]

3 wonders

and of course power spikes (1 not 2)

[hashiriya1]

Pac Man

[jfe2]

Three Wonders is like a childhood favorite of mine. I think either Hobie or J T helped me figure out the name of it around the first time I started on Racketboy. I used to play that cab at the festival that happened once a year at the church across the street from my house.

I'll also second Elevator Action Returns. AWESOME game, the villain's laugh is great!

The arcade version of Battletoads is a GREAT beat 'em up, and is totally different than the NES game. It has great, colorful graphics, and is totally ultra-violent!

Boogie Wings was also a good shmup, with totally unique gameplay. Quirky stuff.

[CRTGAMER]

Another round of everyone's favorites. So many games, here's one way to self-find your favorite obscure titles. In the Mame front end you can list games by Controller, Genre, Vector or other keywords. For instance, choose Spinner or Trakball, find some hidden gems such as Reactor or Tacscan. Search under Vector and discover a twinstick game Black Widow. But those are ones I like, everyone has their favorite.

[lost_within]

No one said this one, and I NEVER heard of it until finding it on a random modded xbox

dinosaurs and cadillacs

Its kinda cheese smelling but its worth playing just to say you played it. BUT if you already know what it is...I am shocked, I still cant believe it.


edit:

Not rare AT ALL, but something alot of people dont know, splatterhouse! the arcade version was extreme and when released on home consoles extremly toned down. Granted still a blast of a beat um up the actuall arcade was made to be cruel to the player. The opening story at one point telling you that you failed and gives you gameover before the game actually starts just to "hurt your emotions" and other small things to that nature. Check it out if your a fan of the tg16 or sega ones.

[CRTGAMER]

Another round of everyone's favorites. So many games, here's one way to self-find your favorite obscure titles. In the Mame front end you can list games by Controller, Genre, Vector or other keywords. For instance, choose Spinner or Trakball, find some hidden gems such as Reactor or Tacscan. Search under Vector and discover a twinstick game Black Widow. But those are ones I like, everyone has their favorite.

A followup to my earlier idea.
Bookmark this, use the left hand column to limit your search.

http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/

[Weekend_Warrior]

Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings
Aero Fighters 2/Sonic Wings 2
Bad Dudes vs Dragonninja
Batsugun
Baseball Stars 2 (Neo Geo)
Blazing Star (Neo Geo)
Commando
Darkstalkers
DonPachi
DoDonPachi
Ghost Pilots (Neo Geo)
Giga Wing
Gun.Smoke
Gunlock/Rayforce
Hellfire
In The Hunt
Last Resort (Neo Geo)
Metal Slug (Neo Geo)
Ninja Gaiden
Operation Wolf
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Outrun
P.O.W.
R-Type I, II, Leo
Raiden
Shinobi
Shadow Dancer
Storm Blade
Strikers 1945 I, II, III, Plus
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Twin Cobra
WWF Wrestlefest
NBA Jam
X-Men

[the7k]

For the obscure fighters and beat 'em ups, I have for you:
Martial Masters
Ninja Baseball Bat Man
Jackie Chan: The Kung Fu Master (No joke, try this game out)
Hook
Undercover Cops
Asura Blade
Asura Buster
Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon

For the less-obscure stuff, I'd recommend:
Battle Circuit
Galaxy Fight
Waku Waku 7
Armored Warrior
Breakers Revenge
Power Instinct: Matrimelee
Rage of the Dragons
Red Earth

The worst of all those recommendations is Hook (it's decent, but not great), but it's still worth checking out just to see Peter Pan, Rufio and the rest of the Lost Boys in a Beat 'Em Up. The rest of those, however, are high-quality time-vampires that won't let you go. Try them all.

[ZeroAX]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY20-MG_51s

must play for beat em up fans

[Ivo]

It is not particularly obscure but Bubble Bobble. There are some arcade sequels with Bubble Bobble gameplay (as far as I know some of which haven't been ported).

Ivo.