With all the talk about the Patriot’s Tom Brady being the NFL’s greatest quarterback of all time, one begins to wonder if there was ever a gamer back in the Golden Age of arcade gaming who was undeniably the Greatest of All Time (aka G.O.A.T)?
As a sport reaches an advanced age, people commonly look to it’s history and examine the great milestones as well as ranking the important competitors who put the sport on the map. As Arcade and Console gaming begins to reach a similar level of maturity, this is something we should consider. There certainly were a lot of gamers back in the day who might have been considered the Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig of the fledgling sport.
Though I am personally still undecided as to whom the greatest gamer of the Golden Age was, I do believe that we have a list of strong candidates who may very well earn the title of “Greatest of all Time” (either by some future board of industry leaders or publications) who feel the title should finally be given.
My particular bias favors gamers who excelled in tournament competition. However, there were many top performers who never made it to tournaments but made their presence known through high scores submitted by their arcades. I have focused on gamers who I personally saw play during the years 1982-1985. If I have left any deserving soul out, it’s because of an innocent lapse of memory (and poten- tially my inability to be at all arcades at all times)!
So, since this is not an attempt to rank them, I will simply list them in alphabetical order:
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