5 Best '90s Arcade Games Of All Time, Ranked

At least at the start of the '90s, the arcade scene was relatively alive and well. The format began to see a downturn as the decade wore on, unfortunately, with video games from the '90s killing arcades. That said, there are still plenty of stellar arcade titles released throughout the decade capturing the scene's appeal. From increasingly sophisticated sports games and side-scrolling beat'em-ups to the dawn of the modern fighting game, arcades were still viable.

With that in mind, we're highlighting the greatest arcade games to be released during the '90s. Many of these titles were ported to home platforms, but there's something special about putting quarters and tokens into a machine and letting it transport you into its digitized experience. Moreover, these games capture the last great wave of arcade titles before the format significantly diminished in popularity. These are the five best '90s arcade games of all time ranked, showing that the format was still in fine form.

Midway retained a huge arcade presence with franchises like "Mortal Kombat" and "Rampage" crowding the scene. It also published a number of highly successful sports franchises, with licensing from the professional leagues, including "NFL Blitz." The pinnacle of the series' arcade titles released in the '90s was "NFL Blitz 2000," which debuted in 1999. The game features the same hard-hitting action that the franchise is known for as players select their favorite NFL teams to go head-to-head with.

While only a marginal upgrade from the original game in the series, "NFL Blitz 2000" is an improvement nonetheless. The game also updates its team rosters accordingly, for anyone still stoked that the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl in 1999. All the fun factor that the franchise was known for is still very much in place, with its technical presentation refined slightly. One of the best football games of all time, "NFL Blitz 2000" still holds up today.

There were plenty of great first-person rail shooters released in arcades throughout the '90s, including "Jurassic Park," "Area 51," and "Time Crisis." One of Sega's big arcade shooter franchises during the decade was "The House of the Dead," which began in 1997. Just as Capcom's "Resident Evil" started in a mansion before expanding to a city, "The House of the Dead 2" features an urban setting after its more confined original game. The 1998 sequel has a team of international investigators stopping a zombie outbreak in Italy, uncovering a plot to destroy humanity along the way.

"The House of the Dead 2" goes bigger and better with its rail shooter action, taking advantage of its Italian setting. The environments are much more detailed while there is greater enemy variety this time around to keep players on their toes. The game also takes advantage of its two-person setup, with the second player taking a slightly different perspective on the action rather than always being side-by-side with the first player. Frenetically fun and with multiple paths and endings to keep players coming back for more, "The House of the Dead 2" is Sega's rail shooter magnum opus.

The real sports arcade game juggernaut for Midway was its "NBA Jam" series, which launched in 1993. The original game had a set two players representing every basketball team in the NBA, with Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan as its two glaring omissions. After the initial game's success, Midway followed it up with "NBA Jam: Tournament Edition" the following year. More than just updating the team rosters to reflect the contemporary personnel within the league, "Tournament Edition" was considerably more feature-rich than its predecessor.

In "Tournament Edition," most teams now featured three players, though only two could still be on the court at a given time. This was bolstered further by the addition of secret teams and a team consisting of the 1994 rookie class. The technical presentation was subtly improved over the original game and dunking baskets still felt as satisfying as ever. One of the best sports video games ever made, "NBA Jam: Tournament Edition" vaulted over the bar set by its predecessor.

Capcom's "Street Fighter" franchise underwent a stunning transformation going into the '90s with "Street Fighter II: The World Warrior." This led to a surge of popular fighting arcade games, including "Mortal Kombat" and "Killer Instinct" in the years that followed. Capcom refined and followed up the success of "Street Fighter II" with updates and spin-offs but it didn't put out a full sequel until 1997's "Street Fighter III: New Generation." Though "New Generation" didn't live up to the hype, Capcom updated it twice for arcades, with the last update being "Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike."

"3rd Strike" brings back all the playable characters from the previous iterations of "Street Fighter III" while adding five additional warriors, including Chun-Li. The gameplay feels tighter, with greater emphasis on its parry system being a core mechanic defensively. Many of the past stages return, with several new ones introduced and much a more vibrant musical score. "Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike" is not only the best of its trilogy but the greatest "Street Fighter" arcade title ever.

After shifting to a side-scrolling beat'em-up experience with the franchise's inaugural arcade game in 1989, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came back bigger and better for its sequel. 1991's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time" opens with the titular heroes in a half-shell defending New York City from Shredder and Krang's latest plot. This inadvertently sends the quartet displaced across the timeline, where they encounter other time-traveling enemies in the Wild West and age of piracy. Like its predecessor, the arcade version allows for up to four-person simultaneous co-op and is fully voiced by the popular animated series' cast.

"Turtles in Time" is an arcade game from 1991 that still holds up today and the pinnacle of side-scrolling beat'em-ups from the decade. The fighting mechanics handle much more smoothly and the level of in-game animation has improved significantly. With its time-traveling premise, the game provides a robust variety in level and character design while also including content from the live-action movies. Immensely enjoyable to just pick up and play and even more fun with friends, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time" is a bona fide masterpiece.