Partners In Crime: Our 10 Favorite Co-Op Arcade Games

Why did quarters become irrelevant? Aside from laundry machines and parking meters (which now take AMEX and Visa, for chrissakes), there isn't much call for them these days. Well, we have a theory, which is admittedly biased: the main catalyst for the coin's disappearance was the decline of the American arcade. Think about how that institution ate through our two bits (ayo!): We'd stack ’em on Street Fighter II cabinets to get next; we'd attach ’em to strings so we could yank ’em out because we were shady little bastards; we'd pump ’em into machines by the threes and fours once the ’90s rolled around and it was clear that Reaganomics had well and truly fucked us. Arcades might be all but gone, but there's still a way to relive it, thanks to downloadable titles like X-Men Arcade, which drops this week for the PS3 and 360. So let’s take a bittersweet look back some of the great co-op multiplayer arcade games. (And shouts to honorable mentions House of the Dead, Time Crisis, and Superman Arcade!)