The first arcade game I ever played was Commando at Mike's corner-store a block behind my house. I was pretty good at it, for being so young. I distinctly remember my dad giving in and handing me a quarter. He expected me to die quick, but the ADHD was a gift back then and I could move around the screen for awhile, as my dad sat there talking to the owner. I'd finally die and we'd head back home. Dodging bullets and grenades while mowing down the enemy was such a blast back then.
Then there was the pizza place (Pizza Town, I think) where I got to be the Conan-esque Rastan, or Shinobi the ninja. Both of these games bring back awesome memories. Rastan had a certain creepiness to it, from the music, to that one scene where you get chained to the wall and have to fight off bad guys. Shinobi was so fast paced for the time that it made the old King Fu movies look lame in comparison. You could order a hoagie and play games. No complaints.
Next we went to another corner store we called Barb's, after the owner. They never changed games much, but I do remember Choplifter, where you went into enemy territory to rescue I think POWs, armed only with a helicoptor, before having to return to base. Also, they had Karate Champ, which everyone should be familiar with, since it only had knobs and no buttons. I distinctly remember taking on Ray Jackson and Frank Dux and beating both of them before they invited me to the Kumite, where I was disqualified.
But the granddaddy of them all was the actual arcade at the Florence Mall called Tilt. So many games were played there, but the most memorable ones were Gauntlet, Magic Sword, Smash TV, and of course, Mercs. I distinctly remember beating the latter, because the mercs drove off into the sunset in a jeep, with one of them sitting in the back relaxing as they drove away. It was an amazing time.