Every time I try to get into Arcade/Mame I get lost in the massive ocean of games. So I'm trying to build a list including the best games, the most influential games and the top-sellers.
< This is what I have so far, what am I missing?
>78-88: This period should be pretty much complete.
>88-95: Really interested in this period as it's the time when I played in the arcades, feeling I miss a ton of stuff.
>95+: Not interested in 3D stuff.
>Not interested in fighting games except for the very absolute classics.
>Not interested in NeoGeo games as those are pretty much the same in the home versions and the NeoGeo romset is very manageable.
Stop. Listen to me on this. Stop making lists and find ONE game to play. You should already have a favorite arcade game even if you've never played a single one. What game comes directly to mind when you imagine an arcade cabinet? Have you already put hours of play into that game? Look for another game in that genre but more or less developed (older/newer) and put some time into that. Work on your commitment problem. Whoever you are it doesn't matter I guarantee that there are dozens of arcade games worth playing until you know them literally like the back of your hand. Find the first one, for you.
>>3854187
I said "list" but as I'm sure you can see on the picture it's simply a rom collection which obviously I've been playing for the past few weeks...
...unlike every time in the past that I tried what you propose on your post; what happened is that I stopped playing after the first couple of games.
What I want is a handy pool of readily available good games instead of either a full mame roomset impossible to handle or having to search a game every time I want to play.
>>3854209
Well take those games you played a couple at a time and branch outward. Be less concerned with playing "the classics" and focus on your personal flavors. Like the reason you're going to have a hard time getting 90s games on your list is because that entire decade was dominated by fighting games and 3D games BUT if you focus on your favorite genres you can add some games that may not have been hit games but did exist with innovative advances in game play thanks to technology.
Like, one thing on my to-do list is to get my PS-TV put into an arcade cab so I can play TxK in it because I love Tempest so much. TxK is guaranteed to be a trivial footnote since Atari shut it down before it went multiplatform but that's okay by me.