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Non-NEC Console Related Discussion => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: RegalSin on June 27, 2012, 12:53:24 PM
Title: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: RegalSin on June 27, 2012, 12:53:24 PM
So I am over that age, you know like most of us. I was breifly engaged in a chat about arcades. These people are like below 25, and probably are approaching the age of twenty. You know they type who gives the over extra long hand shakes.
The topic was, why did the arcades stop being popular and what was an arcade like.
I said, the arcades had all kinds of games, including whomp ems, and stomp ems. People brought their pet snakes, and smoked inside the arcades. Many people who played hookey from school, would go to the arcades, primarly street gangs ( at the time ), also their was some fighting inside arcades.
What I described, was things that occured to me at arcades. They ask me where is this. I told them about Fairyland and ConeyIsland arcade. Then they replied with "oh that is not a real Arcade".
...............
Then of course, they said their was fat people inside the arcades, along with wall to wall fighters, and they would hold tournoments inside them.
You see what they described, was basically a "White/blue/pink collared" arcade. You know the type that most of us in the room might go to, on our day off, kinda place.
.......................
Then I replied with, oh the arcades had people inside it, that looked like the fighters from Streetfighters ( which they did back in >1995 ). Then they replied with, "we wouldn't even set foot inside one of those places". Along with, oh "your talking about Chucky Cheezes". You see they think that I am 19 years old, but I am not :-$
anyways, I told them the arcades, had picture booths, and pinball machines ( which I am sure you folks reading this are familar with. ). Once again they would not listen. Basically I described an arcade from the 1950-1970's ( yes I skipped SuperFun time, Ms Pacman, Funcoland, and Sears ) 1990'-1995. They were describing arcades from 2000-2010.
.......................
From my conculsion, these people never really played in a real Arcade, asides an enthusiast place. They even wented on to talk about every single Marvel vs Capcom, like if it was gold. I mean seriously. Long story short, like movie teathers, arcades are novelty.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: SignOfZeta on June 27, 2012, 01:03:21 PM
It's true. If you can't get knifed there, it's not a real arcade.
When I was a kid I was watching this guy play Spy Hunter. He had dumped a lot of credits into the machine in anticipation of just sitting there in front of it and getting a huge score. Spy Hunter was a big deal in my area. So anyway, I accidentally kicked the plug out and he lost all his credits. I ran like the f*cking WIND.
I truely loved that arcade, which was also a bowling alley, shoe store, and comic/skate shop. I walked through it almost every day for 15 years...then they tore it down an built a Walgreens.
f*ck.
For what it's worth, I really loved the 90/00s fighting game scene as well. Redemption is the devil though. f*ck redemption
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: roflmao on June 27, 2012, 01:58:09 PM
I truely loved that arcade, which was also a bowling alley, shoe store, and comic/skate shop. I walked through it almost every day for 15 years...then they tore it down an built a Walgreens.
f*ck.
Yep. Some of our local bowling alleys had some of the best games. And no one played them.
I remember the arcades that you could smoke in (one had a huge area for pool tables) and fights breaking out were almost normal. It's a good thing my parents never went in. :)
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: ProfessorProfessorson on June 27, 2012, 02:05:05 PM
We used to have this one bowling alley called Pike Lanes. It got used for testing on a couple of games at one time. Anyway, it had gotten a lot of games in way before even Namcos Aladdin's Castle chain would have them. Notable attractions I seem to remember at the time were Mechanized Attack, Narc, Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition, and Mortal Kombat, which were all there before anyone else here had them arcade wise in LR and NLR, so people would flock there to play them when those games were originally released. Anyway, late 90's saw the death of Pike Lanes, and it became a flea market.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Black Tiger on June 27, 2012, 02:44:19 PM
I am not under twenty five. :P The big arcade in my hometown was called "Hot Spot". Kids under twelve weren't technically allowed in. It was always full of smoke, everything had cigarette burns, it was open very late and most of my memories of it are at night. It is responsible for what will always be the sound of an arcade to me: a mixture of Ghosts 'N Goblins, Trojan, Side Arms and 1943 all at once. I was around eleven one night while playing Trojan and one gang of kids came by to encourage me to challenge a bully I was rivals with to a street fight in the back alley. He tried to act tough when he agreed to go out back as soon as he was finished his game of 1943, saying that he didn't want to waste his quarter. He began playing terribly and it was quickly game over. We each had a gang of kids cheering us on during the fight, which I won. I'm not proud of it or anything, but it did convince me that fighting wasn't cool and I haven't been in a fight since.
Arcades or locations featuring multiple arcade cabinets became family friendly with the 90's. The classic North American arcade will always be an 80's thing, back before video games became more for kids. The local bowling alley was also a good place for arcades when I was younger (I used to bike out there just to play Wonderboy), but they were mostly gone by the time I began working there, while the TurboGrafx-16 was still going strong.
Towards the end of the Hot Spot, new owners tried to turn it into a family friendly place. They painted everything inside (which was almost all wood) white, opened up a canteen, roped off a small square of the interior as a smoking section and operated within more family friendly hours. It didn't take long to die. :P I remember how uncomfortable it felt being in their at that point and everyone I knew stuck to clusters of cabinets at various businesses across town.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Tatsujin on June 27, 2012, 04:30:55 PM
I visited all our local arcades (had about 5 within 1km radius) since 1987 (@12yo), even the rated age for entering such a place at that time was set to 18 yo by law (only because the few slot machines, they alsways added in a small niche), but most of the operators gave a shit about. sure we also had a lot of mini arcades in restaurants, malls and stuff which was accessible at any age, so my memories of arcade games going back to end of the 70s. and yeah there were also the holidays (french italy etc.), which always consisted of haunting down any arcade and cabs in scope.
regarding the ultimate fun, arcades were the best place to be at that time.
it all dropped out when more and more games vanished and were replaced by slot machines and boring multiple game touch screen stuff. at the end our last standing local arcade was nothing more than a warm asylum for our east european friends. only few games left, but a lot of a$$holes around. a place you normally would avoid at any price. that all happened within about 10 to 12 years.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Digi.k on June 27, 2012, 11:05:46 PM
last great arcade game for me when I was putting money in them was Sega's Spikeout and Virtua Fighter 4 and they were getting more expensive to play. a credit at that time was coming up to £1 which today is about $1.55
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: soop on June 27, 2012, 11:24:46 PM
Me and my dad always used to go on holiday camping in Minehead, and the highlight of any day (every day if I could help it) was heading to town, and recieving a handful of 10p coins to play in the arcades. And what arcades. I didn't have a whole bunch of money, so I had to be very picky about what to play; a lot of time was spent watching other people and learning how to play games I didn't know.
We had stuff like Afterburner II, TMNT, Hit the Ice, and Street Fighter II, with half-hour queues to play.
On a school trip to France, it took me 3 minutes straight off the coach to head away from everyone else and find a small arcade with Snow Bros.
Then later, where I live, we had a few arcade games in Laserquest where I used to hang out, things like Virtua Fighter, some Megalo 50 cabinet with SNK games (and Samurai Shodown II!), Mad Dog McRae, XeXeX, and my personal favorite, Winding Heat (not all at the same time mind, this is over the years). I still have my battered StreetFighter II arcade board I saved from there.
Then it moved on to the out of town Cinema/Bowling combos, where it would cost a full £ a go for the flashy cabs, like Silent Scope, or that great Tank game. Or Crazy Taxi.
Last time I went to London, I found a small arcade and played a friend at Outrun something or other, but it wasn't the same.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Gogan on June 28, 2012, 01:08:06 AM
When I was 11-12 urs old we went to a place called cj barrymores. Still there, tho really different. They had an arcade, go karts, mini golf, batting cages, and softball fields.
My dad umped a lot of games there, and knew the owner. So he'd take us with him, and the owner would give me and my brother a large stack of free passes for everything. Then we'd go into the arcade and they'd give us a big 64 oz. Plastic cup FILLED with tokens. Good times running around that place back then.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: soop on June 28, 2012, 01:25:24 AM
It's like that place from the Karate Kid. Wish I'd had a place like that as a kid.
I kind of did, but it was really just a few trampolines, Golden Axe and Wonderboy.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: _joshuaTurbo on June 28, 2012, 01:51:29 AM
Growing up in a small town we had 2 actual arcades and some arcade machines at a bowling alley. We even had arcade machines in the 'porch' area of Wal-Mart when it moved to town. It was about a 2 mile hike out there, but I remember going out there as it was the only place in town that had Golden Axe and Super Off Road.
I cannot remember the name of the first arcade in town, it shut down sometime around when I was 10 (1989). I do have fond memories of playing Double Dragon and Bad Dudes tho. :) Now that place is a bar.
The second Arcade to come to town was actually ran by a church and was called StarCade. The place was kind of like a teen center. They had a pretty excellent selection of games with a wall of fighters. They did the Neo cabs, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, they even had Sega's Holographic fighter. The also had pool tables and other token/ticket type games. As the years went by the get tickets win prizes games started to really take over. It finally closed down in 1999 a few months after the church decided to change the name to St. Arcade and for some odd reason the popularity bottomed out. It also became legend that the place attracted violence and lots of parents wouldn't allow kids to go there. Now that place is a hair stylist.
There were also some nice arcades in malls in cities surrounding us (20 mile trips), but I only was able to go to those places when my parents would drive me. Aladdin's Castle and a roller skating rink. good times....*breaks out Mame cab.*
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Tatsujin on June 28, 2012, 03:21:57 AM
It's like that place from the Karate Kid. Wish I'd had a place like that as a kid.
I kind of did, but it was really just a few trampolines, Golden Axe and Wonderboy.
lol here I still have those places with lots of free play arcades. going there with the lil a lot. you pay like 200 yens an hour and use everything you like.
trampolins, slides 'n' arcade cabs.
one even has some cave shooties.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: DragonmasterDan on June 28, 2012, 03:26:17 AM
I had a lot of fun in arcades as a young lad. The arcade I spent the most time in as a youth closed down recently (within the past 4 or so months) after having been dying for years. It's now an empty lot with a White Castle at the edge of the parking lot. It's really too bad.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Samurai Ghost on June 28, 2012, 03:29:11 AM
Japan still has some great arcades in any town or city. There are tons of crane game /photo booth places but you can easily find a place that has all the latest games and a few classics mixed in. Some arcades also focus on only older games, usually for a lower price point (50 yen a play vs 100 yen).
The players are insanely skilled though. Do not challenge someone in a fighting game unless you want to lose. Even if you think you're good. You're not. It's fun watching people who have completely and utterly mastered a game though.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Terminarcade on June 28, 2012, 05:38:58 AM
I used to skip school so that I could play arcade games. I remember when Double Dragon first came out, it was a really big deal back then... I sometimes had to go downtown (Montreal) on this shaddy street full of arcade/peepshow... damn those places where filthy and scary as hell with lots of weird characters, whores, pimps, drugdealers, perverts... name it ( I was like 12 when I hung around those places). Now when I think back... glad I survived those times. :lol:
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: 420GOAT on June 28, 2012, 12:11:04 PM
we still have some 'round here. redondo beach pier, gameworks in long beach, santa monica pier, i take the kids to chuck e chees's and there some cool games there at times, when i was a kid we had alladins castle out at the del amo fashion center, and time out in carson mall. my mother and grandma would shop and id be in there for hours...those were the days.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: thesteve on June 28, 2012, 05:31:07 PM
we had a place called (TILT) had a ton of cabs. played a ton of TMNT there. and the last thing i played there was a SEGA hologram game.......it sucked. pizza place 2 blocks from me here has 4 or 5 cabs running now, but at 50c a cred they dont get much play. last time i was there they had a NEO cab running 1941
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: HercTNT on June 28, 2012, 05:33:36 PM
I live about half an hour from funspot in New hampshire. they have a huge arcade and many guiness records come from there.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Tatsujin on June 28, 2012, 05:49:13 PM
My arcades name were:
Lunapark Skill I Skill II Joker Piazza
Luna was always the biggest and most used of 'em.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Gogan on June 29, 2012, 02:12:06 AM
Had a two story TILT in the mall by me in the 90s. That place was awesome!
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: futureman2000 on June 29, 2012, 02:48:03 AM
Yeah, Tilt was pretty good while it lasted. I recall it was made family-friendly shortly before their demise, at least at our location. I think the coolest arcade I ever visited was in Toronto around 1990, but I have no idea what the name was. I recall tons of Japanese cabs that I had never seen before, dim lighting, smoking, shady fellows, etc.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: TR0N on June 29, 2012, 08:43:57 PM
The arcade i went to as a kid when they were owned by sega great,but afther namco bought them out it went down hill :(
Time-Out was a chain mostly on the east coast.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Tatsujin on June 29, 2012, 09:33:37 PM
Quote
Nightmares - The Bishop of Battle
Damn, why didn't I see or even heard of that movie ever before :shock:
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Tatsujin on June 30, 2012, 06:24:28 AM
lol just watched the bishop of battle. was a funny 80s arcade homage :)
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Colossus1574 on July 08, 2012, 12:25:41 PM
The Vancouver scene is barely holding on. The only arcade in the area still doing well is only because it's in the mall and 1 floor beneath the movie theatres. It's called CHQ @ Metropolis, i give the owner props cause it's still pretty steady business and he keeps his games pretty up to date. He also understands he cant charge ridiculous prices to keep the crowds coming in. Downtown, the Movieland Arcade is still there...but they only have old ass games there, dirty, they used to have peep show stalls in the back long ago. There are still a few arcades in Richmond which is a city about 10 minutes drive from Vancouver, mainly an asian community so hence....arcades still attract. E-Spot is probably the most popular, huge with pool tables. Last i heard, they hold SF4 and MvC3 tourneys there once in awhile.
The favourite arcades through my lifelong journey of video games in the Vancouver, Canada area are:
Satch's (classic stinky, smoky, dark arcade on E.Hastings back in 1988) Pie in the Sky Johnny Z's Lazer Illusions Circuit Circus (both locations) Lester's (which only closed down year and half ago) and CHQ (only one still standing :cry:)
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: khog143 on July 10, 2012, 04:55:16 PM
We had a Tilt here is Dallas too. that place was pretty great to go to when your parents would be around the mall shopping, and you just sat there and played in the arcade. Good times.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: tggodfrey on July 12, 2012, 04:34:11 AM
The haunted trails in Justice area IL had a decent arcade if I remember. No doors, it had a pull up garage door that would open and you just walked in and hung out. Rows of game after game, industrial short cut red carpet that was stained as shit from knocking your pop off the game table. Coin machines chinging, pinball machines pinging, electronic blips......it was an awesome time.
If you were lucky to be there when the game truck showed up, you just might get to be the first to try out a new game being delivered!
There were plenty of the upscale indoor sort of arcades, PGN I am pretty sure is still in hickory hills and enchanted castle had an arcade.
For us most of the time if we couldnt get a ride it was off to the local bowling alley where they had a dozen machines. wasnt much but it was a great time bowling and playing. my favorite there was when I was real young (35 now) was Rastan
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: DragonmasterDan on July 12, 2012, 04:50:54 AM
We had a Tilt here is Dallas too. that place was pretty great to go to when your parents would be around the mall shopping, and you just sat there and played in the arcade. Good times.
Last I knew there was still a Tilt arcade operating in Mid Rivers Mall in Saint Peters MO. Around Christmas time it was still there.
There were plenty of the upscale indoor sort of arcades, PGN I am pretty sure is still in hickory hills and enchanted castle had an arcade.
Enchanted Castle had an awesome arcade back in the day. Around 7-8 years ago they had a nickle arcade with both arcade games and redemption games. That area got turned into a roller coaster and go-kart section. I was there a few months ago, there was a Terminator Light Gun game and may be one other actual video game still remaining. Despite that the place is as busy as ever.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: tggodfrey on July 12, 2012, 05:02:31 AM
Enchanted Castle had an awesome arcade back in the day. Around 7-8 years ago they had a nickle arcade with both arcade games and redemption games. That area got turned into a roller coaster and go-kart section. I was there a few months ago, there was a Terminator Light Gun game and may be one other actual video game still remaining. Despite that the place is as busy as ever.
Thats too bad. I was only there once or twice years ago.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: soop on July 12, 2012, 05:04:32 AM
I remember when my mum used to take me swimming they had a couple of arcade machines. There was an Ikari Warriors style game at one point, and later there was the Sega Spideman game, which was awesome. I didn't always get to play them, so sometimes I would go watch the attract screens, hoping someone else would play so I could watch.
Swimming was cool, but the snacks after and the games were awesome.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: futureman2000 on July 12, 2012, 06:26:33 AM
I wanted to mention Dave & Busters - how is it that they can have such a huge space, and only ~2 decent cabinets?
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: Samurai Ghost on July 12, 2012, 08:29:01 AM
I was in Vegas over the weekend and spent quite a bit of time at the Pinball Hall of Fame. Not sure how many pinball fans there are on here, but it must be one of the better places in the world to play. With over 150 tables from all eras, you can find pretty much anything you like. There are also around 50 classic arcade games to enjoy, although some of them are out of order at times. I played a lot of Gorf, Wacko, Tron and Defender, some of my favorite cabinets to play.
http://www.pinballmuseum.org/games.php
The people there are friendly and helpful, and all of the profits go to charity, so you can feel good about dropping a few dozen quarters into the machines. Most of the really old tables are 25 cents, most 90's-era games are 50, and the newer games are 75 cents, many with 5-ball games, so it's a good deal. And it seems like the games are set so that extra balls and extra credits are easy to achieve. For example I ended up getting three extra credits playing Roller Coaster Tycoon with one credit to start, which is a total of 20 balls for 75 cents, and I'm no where near a good pinball player. Definitely worth checking out if you are in Vegas even if it is a bit off the strip. And get some lunch/dinner at Sammy's, one of the best places to eat in Vegas just down the street! Here's a pic I took of some of the old tables:
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: soop on July 12, 2012, 10:07:21 PM
You'd feel bad about performing a death save.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: DrBread on July 17, 2012, 06:15:08 AM
I'm 18 and when i was little the only types of arcade games were at the movies and they weren't even too good. So yeah within my lifetime i have never experienced a real arcade.
About a year ago there was a real arcade around where i live called Richie Knucklez but it closed down because of lack of business. Never got to go cause i never had time.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: VenomMacbeth on July 17, 2012, 07:56:43 AM
I'm about to be 21 & sadly, I have never experienced the shady arcades you guys speak of so fondly. Hell, I doubt I've ever been to any kind of real arcade.
A few of the roller skating rinks I used to frequent when I was younger had somewhat decent arcades, but it's been a number of years since I've been to any of those places. The closest thing to a "real" arcade I've ever been to was a place in some mall in Louisiana that I can't remember the name of. It was obviously a more kid-friendly place, but they had quite a few cabinets. It was predominantly redemption games, though.
I also used to pop into the FYE arcade at the mall here but, again, mostly redemption games. They did have Tekken and Soul Calibur, though, which were mainly what I played in there. That entire FYE closed down recently though. There is a Dave & Busters there as well, but it's full of drunk idiots most of the time so I try to steer clear. They did have Donkey Kong & Galaga, though...that's about it for their actual cabinets, though. Everything else is either a light gun game, newer sit-down racing game, or redemption, redemption, redemption.
Title: Re: So I ask the people under Twenty Five, about arcades.
Post by: esteban on July 17, 2012, 10:40:24 AM
I was in Vegas over the weekend and spent quite a bit of time at the Pinball Hall of Fame. Not sure how many pinball fans there are on here, but it must be one of the better places in the world to play. With over 150 tables from all eras, you can find pretty much anything you like. There are also around 50 classic arcade games to enjoy, although some of them are out of order at times. I played a lot of Gorf, Wacko, Tron and Defender, some of my favorite cabinets to play.
http://www.pinballmuseum.org/games.php
The people there are friendly and helpful, and all of the profits go to charity, so you can feel good about dropping a few dozen quarters into the machines. Most of the really old tables are 25 cents, most 90's-era games are 50, and the newer games are 75 cents, many with 5-ball games, so it's a good deal. And it seems like the games are set so that extra balls and extra credits are easy to achieve. For example I ended up getting three extra credits playing Roller Coaster Tycoon with one credit to start, which is a total of 20 balls for 75 cents, and I'm no where near a good pinball player. Definitely worth checking out if you are in Vegas even if it is a bit off the strip. And get some lunch/dinner at Sammy's, one of the best places to eat in Vegas just down the street! Here's a pic I took of some of the old tables: