Donkey Kong Grabs a Place in List of Highest-Grossing Arcade Machines

Donkey Kong deserves it. Nintendo's original mascot...

Haha that Mortal Kombat promo art! Love it! I miss that stuff from the 80s and 90s.

I've had the pleasure of actually finding an old fashioned arcade. It's still one quarter to play a game.

I'm surprised that NBA Jam and the Mortal Kombat games are so high. And that Donkey Kong is so low.

It doesn't state whether it is money made by the operator (From usage) or money made from selling the cabinets.

I cannot see how the first would be recorded but then mentioning revenue being earned one quarter at a time seems pointless.

Or did it work in another way to operator buys machine for large fixed cost and takes all money.

(I do know the network ones like ALL.Net work different).

I knew Pac-Man was number 1...

I remember that Mortal Kombat artwork from the glory days. Totally forgot that Noel Fielding was Raiden though...

I don't think they could track all coins that people fed these machines, I would bet it is how many cabinets sold or overall profit on those cabinets. My guess was Space Invaders, then pacman. Surprised to see qbert or dig dug beat out by NBA Jam OR MK.

Judging by the first paragraph of the article, the list seems to be of how much profit was generated by operation of the cabinets, rather than the amount of cabinets sold. That, and it would be hard to believe Mortal Kombat made more profit for the manufacturer's by selling 24k cabinets vs Donkey Kong's 132k cabinets sold.

So, this list is slightly swayed by the amount of money that was charged for playing the game; Something like NBA Jam might have charged up to $2.00 for one game, and Pac-Man $.25.

Man, the amount of quarters I fed the street fighter ii machine at aladdin's castle was unreal!

Grew up in the arcade, even working for one in High School. I remember lines 20 deep for Street Fighter II, NBA Jam tournaments and using a paperclip to rig a Mortal Kombat machine for free play. Shame they're all but extinct now.

Man, arcades truly were the good ol' days. Before social media and the internet, all you had to do was go down to your local arcade and all your friends were there, playing games and having fun.

Arcades these dats are rubbish. Naught but ticket dispensers anymore.

Played Donkey Kong and Burger Time just last night at a local barcade.

I remember one of the arcades where I grew up would put two credits in every machine before they'd open on Saturdays. My father and I would try to get there early sometimes so we could play the free games. And I'll never forget the time he and I decided we were going to finish the Wild West Cowboys of Moo Mesa game cone hell or high water. Not sure how many times we had to run to get more coins, but in the end we triumphed. The state of arcades today kills me a little every time I think about it. It's something my father shared with my sister and I that I won't be able to share with my future children.

Operation Thunderbolt ate all my coins. Me and my dad managed to complete it tho which was great. Had blisters on my hand for a week. Good time!

i love the arcade.

Maybe arcades had a built-in counter for all credits given. At the end you just need to check those to get the numbers (not totally accurate, but couldn¿t be that far off either). It doesn't surprise me at all seeing Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter up there. Remember it was two player arcades where one could lost within one to three minutes. And there was always another guy waiting to battle the winner. Those are a lot more quarters than a lot of other arcades where you could play for about 15 to 30 minuntes.

I miss those times so much. A few days ago me and my friends were talking about that. I think there's still a place around here, Remember? All those smells you didn't even know what was? The sticky floors? The cigarette burns obove the Start button? Those where the days, the good old days. And my kids will only know about it by stories.

Pac-Man #1? Not surprised at all

I loved arcades when I was a kid. Of those ten, I spent a lot of quarters on Street Fighter II, both Mortal Kombats, and NBA Jam. The first time I saw Mortal Kombat at a nearby gas station I was mesmerized. I would spend the next several months there nearly everyday with my friends.

Ahhh! The 80's... to me is still the best decade of my gaming life. I still have hope that Nintendo will release one day the original arcade version of Donkey Kong on the eShop. Every time I play DK, I only play the easter egg found in DK64 because that's an emulation of the arcade original.

Hmm, I should have known Pac-Man would be #1...at least I was close with SF2...

Actually, one more comment: although I unfortunately wasn't born yet during the golden days (not that I live near anything that could even be considered an arcade, even back then) I have a true admiration for such games, and I do wish I could find someone to play against and develop strategies with now, but it looks like now, all I can do is read old character FAQs on the internet now. It's a shame, really...

Lol I said Pac-Man would've been number one before even looking at the list. I just knew it would.

Those promos are awesome
I miss those days being a gamer...

I miss arcades, surprised to see no on-rail shooter made the list as that was my favorite arcade genre

Oh, how I wish Nintendo would release the ARCADE VERSION of Donkey Kong!!!!
Popeye, too.

I loved going to the mall when i was a kid since it had a decent sized arcade. I remember when killer instinct came out and was all the rage. People would crowd around it so much to play and spectate the workers would threaten to turn it off lol. I also remember in high school my friend was dating this chick that worked there and her mom, who worked there as well would give us free play on gauntlet legends. Good times I'm saddened by the state of local arcades. I can go on and on including spending 30 bucks worth of pesos in Mexico visiting my grandparents playing samurai showdown!

Shortly after I moved out of the country forever, one of my best friends back home went and opened a bar / arcade with all kinds of classic games and a ton of pinball tables. Then later he opened ANOTHER one because it turns out people our age have all kinds of fuzzy memories of arcades. Last summer on a trip back to the motherland I finally got to visit both of his establishments, and they were AMAZING. Then I slapped him in the face for not opening them a year or so sooner when I could have donated all of my money to his 1943 machine.