Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Nothing says Star Wars more than three purple bars in a bad Defender clone, except for three purple bars and a gray dog in a bad Defender Clone.  The imagination is a powerful thing and all of the brilliance that we incorrectly imagined rested in the mind of George Lucas we also imagined rested in this cartridge.  I'm hoping for better things from The Old Republic.  I'm an eternal optimist and/or I am experiencing battered nerd syndrome.

Defender

I loved CHiPs, and the cops on CHiPs loved defender. Therefore I loved Defender. I didnt hurt that the gameplay was incredibly fast and responsive and explosive.  Defender took many of the limitations of the era and made them into spectacular fun. Even the vastly inferior 2600 version was worth playing.  I really would love to find an arcade machine of Defender right this minute and unleash a smart bomb.

Gorf

Galactic Orbiting Robot Force had an amazing synthesized attract voice.  I remember this game from some random trip to the Pizza Hut in Champaign-Urbana for god knows what.  It would periodically retort "Space Cadet". It sounded like SPAYZE CADUT but that was still pretty cool.  This game added several variations to the space invaders shooting formula with 5 separate play modes.  Laser attack and Flagship were both cool and the galaxians mode is well galaxians.

Lunar Lander

A simple idea, but a brutally hard game for children with dire fiery astronaut ending consequences.  You get 900 fuel units for your quarter and the lives of the crew of the lunar lander in your hands.  I remember being fascinated by this game but never really finding it to be that fun.  More simulation than game, Lunar Lander is an early warning to game developers to pick fun over reality every time.