I don't think I could make a list of arcade games in the 80's that I liked, because there are just so many of them! The early 80s was definitely the 'golden age' of arcade games. I'd say the 'silver age' was when Street Fighter 2 came out.
I can only make a list of my top five favorite games of all time, and they are Pac-Man, Final Fantasy 6, Animal Crossing on GameCube, Super Mario Kart, and the PSOne Namco Museums.
My favorite 2600 game is Pressure Cooker, but it was made by the same folks who did Stampede.
I was always fascinated by Xevious as a kid. One time as a kid I got a big roll of dot matrix printer paper and spread it out from the front door to the back. Then I drew some Xevious backgrounds on one side (and Zaxxon scenes on the other), and got out my toy spaceships and played pretend Xevious on the printer paper. I got in a little bit of trouble for using up so much paper, though! Did you ever think you were flying over a golf course in Xevious?
I freaking love Time Pilot. Sinistar scared me as a kid. And Marble Madess is one of my favorite Atari arcade games. I liked it so much I got the NES version.