Marquee
In video game terminology, a marquee is the section of an arcade cabinet above the monitor where the game's title is displayed. The word is derived from marquee signs seen above the entrance of businesses, and, like those marquees, arcade cabinet marquees are also often lit up to help advertise the game.
Personal
When I was young and loved to hang out in arcades, I was usually far too interested in watching the demos of games to even bother looking at the marquees. It was only after I got older and became more interested in graphic design that I began to take an interest in arcade cabinet art, especially the marquees. When a local amusement company went out of business and auctioned off their inventory, I even bought a few of them to hang up on my wall like posters.
Examples
Below are the arcade marquees important to me. For all of them, see the category.
1942 - Shooting down Zeroes in a dog-fight makes for interesting art. Fitting lettering too.
Altered Beast - A nice transition between human and werewolf.
Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja - Nothing special, but I thought highly of the game in my youth, and the action comic book style art is very fitting.
Contra - The knock-off Stallone and Schwarzenegger are as bad as their hair and the white rectangle around Konami logo looks awful too.
Galaga - I love the lettering on this game. It takes the Galaxian logo and really sharpens it.
Galaxian - A lovely blend of flowing letters with sharp points, and the swash with the stars inside really fits the theme.
OutRun - I like the coloring on the lettering and the scene, though a bit primitive, nicely captures the feel of the game.
Pac-Man - This marquee is important to me because it's so terrible. While the lettering is fantastic, what the hell is going on with Pac-Man? Why does he have feet? Why does he have such a weird shape? Why are his eyes blood-red?
Rampage - I love how the marquee shows the in-fighting that can occur in the game. The lettering is quite fitting as well.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Another masterpiece in horribleness. Why are the turtles cartoons when April and Shredder are real, and, why do they look like dollar store Halloween costimes?
