With the recent release of The Simpsons Arcade Game (and what we hope is a positive commercial performance by said game), we hope that Konami and other former arcade game publishers will take a good, long look at their IPs and consider a Xbox Live Arcade re-release. With hundreds of classic arcade games relegated to dusty arcades and all-too-infrequent trade shows, a group of OXM editors made their case for a handful of their favorites.

COREY COHEN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR:

Now that the X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Simpsons coin-ops have all come to Live Arcade, I just need one more port to complete my Nostalgia Dream Team: Captain America and the Avengers. I played the holy honkin' bejeezus out of this game in the early '90s — and not just because it was a four-player beat-'em-up, although I loved that about it. The real reason is that it was absolute bliss for a Marvel Comics fan like me. For one thing, you could play as Vision or Hawkeye, who were way less popular than — but just as cool as — playable squadmates Iron Man and Captain America. Better yet, though, the game had you fight an absolute slew of classic villains, including Whirlwind, Living Laser, Ultron, Grim Reaper, Juggernaut, Mandarin, and the Red Skull. The battle went from outer space to the ocean floor and everywhere in between...I'm getting giddy just thinking about it! With a big-budget Avengers movie coming this summer, the timing's never been better for a re-release (in HD, even); someone, please, make it happen!

RYAN MCCAFFREY, SENIOR EDITOR:

Just as The Simpsons Arcade Game never saw a proper home console port until last week, so too have we never gotten a home version of Capcom’s pair of amazing coin-op action-RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom and its sequel, D&D: Shadow Over Mystara. The closest we ever got was a Sega Saturn release of both games on a single disc…but that was only in Japan. These more RPG-ish clones of Golden Axe were exceptional: great combat, leveling up, and even branching paths that gave the games plenty of replayability. Konami and Ubisoft worked out the legal complications when they released TMNT 1989 Arcade for XBLA, so here’s hoping Capcom can make a few phone calls to the D&D people and deliver these two stellar quarter-munchers to my Xbox.

KEVIN W. SMITH, FEATURES EDITOR:

I'm going to have to go with Revolution X, an old shooter starring (my hometown) Boston's own Aerosmith. The entire concept of the game didn't really seem to make any sense— there was a bunch of shooting and guitar solos, and I think you were supposed to rescue the band at some point. But even the the arcade box for Revolution X felt oddly disconnected: emblazoned with Aerosmith's logo, Steven Tyler's face, and boasting giant black uzi guns for gameplay. (Consider that just a few years before the game's 1994 release, Aerosmith had released the socially weighted song "Janie's Got a Gun," which portrayed a household gun as an effective combat against child sexual abuse.) Revolution X was also the first and only time I can remember hearing the band's song "Eat The Rich" played over and over in any scenario. But Revolution X does harken back to an era where major rock bands could attach their name to just about anything, even a nonsensical shooter with girls in bikinis and uzis, and find not only interest, but someone to give them a bunch of money to do it. They don't make them like this anymore, which might be for the best, but it'd be a fun piece of nostalgia to have on the 360.

DAVE RUDDEN, WEB EDITOR:

While I’d like to see games like Narc and WWF WrestleFest make their way to XBLA, there’s one classic arcade game that stands above the rest that I wish I could play with the Xbox 360’s standard upgrades. Konami’s Sunset Riders has long-been a favorite of mine, offering up a fun mixture between the company’s two fortes; Contra-style shooting and TMNT’s trademark methodical beat-em-up. Sure, the 16-bit iterations were okay, but the lack of four-player co-op and cut stages (in the case of the Genesis) means that the truly-authentic arcade experience has still yet to be provided for console owners. Here’s hoping Konami sees big numbers from The Simpsons Arcade Game and continues to explore their deep library.

JOSH ABRAMS, INTERN:

I’m a huge fan of the Time Crisis series. When I was in elementary school, a friend and I spent an hour and a half, and at least $10, in a mall arcade beating Time Crisis 3 cooperatively. I find the mechanics of pushing the pedal down for cover, shooting off screen to reload, and sending bullets flying as fast as you can pull the trigger to be extremely immersive. With the startup of Kinect arcade titles I’ve been itching to see the original Time Crisis ported to XBLA and I believe it’s totally possible if they utilize a cover/shooting system similar to Blackwater’s. Granted, I don’t think you can ever beat the empowerment of a plastic gun in your hand, but I think the Kinect can offer something close.

All images courtesy VGMuseum, except for Time Crisis courtesy Arcade History.