The video games I grew up with weren’t generally designed to be finished. I relate to them as being entertained for a while, rather than as things to try to “finish”. I liked many of them. Particular favorites include:
Venture
Bosconian
Assault
Joust
Defender
My dad and I also agreed the best strategy, was to get into games we could own (so we wouldn’t have to travel to arcades, nor spend quarters for each play!), so on a console or later, computers. I have played literally thousands of computer games. The ones I’ve spent the most time with include:
Atari 2600: Adventure
Intellivision: Space Spartans
Atari 8-bit computers: (all games I’d still happily play)
Necromancer
Star Raiders
Encounter
Joust
War In Russia
Atari ST:
Llamatron 2084
Dungeon Master (well, I did finish 1 & 2 – haven’t finished the 3rd one, which is for MSDOS/Mac/Amiga but sigh not for Atari)
Linux/MSDOS/Windows/Mac: (note only the first two have any way to “finish” them, but I mostly played them multi-player)
Myth: The Fallen Lords
Myth II: Soulblighter
Tigers on the Prowl
Panthers in the Shadows
Dominions 1–5 (by Illwinter)
Conquest of Elysium 3–4 (by Illwinter)
Space Empires IV Gold
Combat Mission 1–3