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Non-NEC Console Related Discussion => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: guyjin on June 26, 2007, 07:07:10 PM
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Whenever you go to an arcade, please post your impressions here.
Feel free to reminisce about arcade trips past - it's not like I can stop you anyway. :-"
My last trip was less than spectacular. I heard from the grapevine that the Family Fun Center had let go of their maintainance folks. It's showing.
First, we tried to play a round of DDR. The pads on one machine did not work at all., the pads on another were iffy, and the third worked ok. Whoever maintained the pads last had no idea what they were doing, as they had put the arrow panels back on wrong; some arrows pointing in rather than out, some were the wrong color (blue light, red arrow) etc. ](*,)
Then we decided to try out Guilty Gear XX accent core. The left joystick was broken, such that the fighter always jumped left or right. The right stick worked okay, but I wanted to play versus. :x
We wandered around a bit to look at the crappy state of the rest of the machines. About a dozen were simply off. Time Crisis 2 was on, but the light guns had been removed, apparently by staff (WTF was the point?) We played a little bit of the simpsons, but were frustrated by the fact that only 2 characters were playable (lisa and homer) and the fact that the graphics were glitching. #-o
We did manage to play a few working games: I played a bit of tsurugi, my brother played some guitar freaks, and I managed to get 3rd place on Qbert. (no accomplishment, as the FFC shuts down the power at night, so the high scores were probably defaults) :roll:
So that was my last trip to the arcade. It will probably be my last for a while to the FFC, unless they really get their maintainance act together. :evil:
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I haven't gone to a real arcade in nearly 10 years (I don't really consider places like Dave & Busters to be true arcades). But I used to go every weekend with my dad on Saturdays. It rocked seeing new games pop up out of nowhere and playing them for the first time. I played many games. That's about really all there is to report. I went to the arcade and played games. Nothing else happened.
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We hadn't had a real arcade in my area since the 80's, but of course we'll have maybe one machine inside or near grocery stores, bowling alleys, pizza hut's and etc. The last time I ever went to a real arcade was when I was no more than probably 4 years old so I have pretty much no memory of the games I played that night.
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Let's see...when MINDBOGGLE at my local mall was open, my best years had to be 1992-1997, then 2000 til it closed and got replaced by TILT.
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I miss a lot of the arcades I used to frequent. i still have tokens for 2 of them, I may scan them sometime.
Pinball City was a smallish arcade. It was in a strip mall, and consisted of a hallway, from the entrance, to the back of the place, where the owners sat behind a counter. This was so they could oversee all going on, and it was also a place for you to eat snacks, and drink without chancing a mess ahpenning on their machines.
They had special tokens in their token machine. If you received a red token, you could bring it to one of the folks and the counter (looked more like a bar) and they would give you 5 tokens.
I went there in the late 80's, to mid 90's. This was the place I first saw Magic Sword. They also had a Neo Geo machine. Cabal, Caveman Ninja, Pole Position, Street Fighter 2, TMNT Arcade, Golden Axe, Whirlwind Pinball machine, and otehrs that are slipping my mind. The place probably had 30-45 arcade machines and pinballs, difficult to say.
Golden Dome was another. Someone I know of, born earlier than I was, used to install cable around that area (Greenbelt, MD). He's told me of all the time he'd spend on his breaks at this arcade. Buying a 6 pack of beer with his coworker, drinking in the company van in the parking lot, then running into the arcade during lunch, between calls, hahah. This arcade wasn't within walking distance, so I only went when family went to the mall it was located. He is also proud that he was able to roll-over the score to all 0's again in Punch-Out, hahha.
It was, actually, a Golden Dome! It sat int he mall parking lot, away from the mall, so it could have it's own hours and such. The place had at least 65 games. As arcades waned, the place became a bit seedy during the mid 90's. Probably weren't making as much money as they used to, either. So, they relocated all their machines inside. They had 2 spots within the mall, with arcade machines. This worked out pretty well, as when I went there with friends for a movie, we could walk around the mall to the arcade locations and play the games, not having to go outside into the parking lot to the Dome.
The Dome, it was turned into a FuncoLand, and now I think it's a gamestop. Still kept with video game,s in one way or another.
Inside, late 90's or so, One of the two arcade spots in the mall closed (Each one had about 35 games, maybe more). Last I looked, there was still that single location in there. I think they call themselves Family Fun Center. They also had a few arcade machines set-up around the mall. This is one of the few places I know of that still has a Neo Geo cabinet.
There was an arcade at many malls. I'm not going to go into all of them, however there was one at a now defunct mall in Bowie, MD. I forget the name, it was located next door to a movie theatre. The arcade was about 50 games. This was the first place I saw Time Killers, I watched the demo for a few minutes, wathcing arms fly off and such. wow. Playing the game now, I really think the demo is better. I recall they also had a 4-slot Neo Geo cabinet, a big screen version (50 inch?) of Street Fighter 2, World Heroes 2, some classics, etc.
Another place that deserves a quick mention was a restaurant that had it's own separate gameroom. They had about 15-20 machines, however, they were all memorable games to me, as I didn't find any there that were dull. Pac-Man, Outrun, Arkanoid, Operation wolf, TMNT, Moonwalker, etc
Thinking back on arcades, something that often pissed me off, would happen more often on the beat 'em up games (Smash TV, Final Fight, X-men, Simpsons, etc). Games where not too many would be playing for a High Score. Folks who would be playing, get far, and I'd wait my turn. Then, during the countdown, they would block off the machine so they could tap the buttons to make it reach 0. That would bother me sometimes. I recall asking one person why they had to count it down like that. He told me it was all his money he put into it, and he wasn't going to let me start playing at the point he reached on HIS OWN money. What a bunch of shit.
Not all people were like that. Mid 80's, I used to enjoy some of the Nintendo machines (Hogan's Alley, Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros). I recall this one guy I would see at this place often who worked there, as he left work he would drop one quarter into Super Mario Bros and play 'til he lost all his lives, then he would leave and go home. He played very well, I'm guessing he did this every day. One time while watching him play he noticed the time, and mentioned he had to leave, however I could have his play if i wanted. I didn't argue, I was thankful, haha. Though, i had never been that far in the game before, and that free gametime didn't last too long.
Present day. There are VERY FEW arcades around, HOWEVER, I did recently hear about a place with 70+ arcade machines and pinballs. CrabTowne USA/
I've yet to visit, though from what I read they're not maintaining all the machines very well. Still, it's better than nothing, AND you can drink BEER in the arcade.
http://arcadelocations.classicgaming.gamespy.com/PlaceSearch.php3?code=mdglecra
I intend on visiting sometime in the next week or two. I'll post in this thread when I visit, see if they also allow some pics.
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Last sunday went to Chickie Cheese to play games. They redid the entire building. All old games were removed that were 2d of any type,including Ninja Turtles,which had been there for over 14 years.
They still had Sega Super GT,Rush the Rock,Arctic Thunder,all working perfect. new games included Afterburner,the new hydraulic 3d one,Wasteland,the hydraulic lift version,2 Need for Speed Undergrounds,some Sega drive and shoot game with a jungle setting and giant spiders,Aliens:Extinction,and a few others I don't remember the names to. Everything but Wasteland was 1 token each to play. Wasteland was 2. I was impressed,had alot of fun playing the new games. I am at a advantage I guess,I have lots of oldies at home already and I hate anything Dance Dance.
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I got a good arcade story.
One time I ditched school around three years ago to go to the Mexican arcade with Derek Lee Missed His School Bus and another person and when I got there, there was this big ghetto drawing of the Hulk outside the window with a message that said "Hulk says STAY IN SCHOOL!".
True story. :)
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I went to the arcade that day because I missed my school bus, you have no real excuse there, buster! [-X
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The reason that school exists is so that you can cut class.
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So Keranu, did Hulk scare you and get you to turn around and go back to school?
I hit Chuck E Cheese a while back and had a some fun playing Jambo Safari (does anyone know of a similar console game?). That game, some fishing game, and a pinball machine were the only things still working and entertaining (besides some hot milfs), but that was enough for me.
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So Keranu, did Hulk scare you and get you to turn around and go back to school?
Hell no, I continued into the arcade and played KoF with a bunch of Mexicans.
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Arcades don't exist anymore. At least not the way they should.
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arcade visits always was a great happening back in time. if in holidays or at local site. nowadays i can choose from thousands big arcades which surrounding me, but due to the negative changes in the last few years, i visit them rarely. with exception of the HEY Arcade in akiba with about 80 shmups cabs on one separate floor. titles from early 80s till today are represented there. the arcade heaven so called. but the enthusiasm from the eraly days is gone since a long time :(
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I haven't been to a arcade since the late 90's.
Heck the last one here was fun'n'games but they closed up... when the last year ended.
Pretty much afther the chuckie cheese move in they got ran out of business pretty fast.
That and i'm sure also thanks to most just playing, video games on there consoles didn't help either.
Realy arcade of old are dead if i want a arcade fix it's going to a truckstop for one.
Still even then i don't have the urge for it any ways.
Most fond memorise i can think of was the arcade chain timeout!
During the 80's and early 90's they were good on selection for games. Plus i like how they gave ya coupon books... for tokens and such during the holidays.
They were good too about the mantince for keeping there cabs running and such.
Still near the end they were bought out by, Namco and became there own arcade chain of corse 'they left town when that happen.
Btw this site has pictures of TimeOut!
http://flickr.com/photos/petromyzon/sets/553223/
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I haven't been to one in ages myself. The good old days of arcades where you could have decent amount of fun with $3 or so is long gone (with like $5, it felt like I was there too long).
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Btw this site has pictures of TimeOut!
http://flickr.com/photos/petromyzon/sets/553223/
So awesome. I wish we still had arcades like that.
With Bemani games, of course.
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Btw this site has pictures of TimeOut!
http://flickr.com/photos/petromyzon/sets/553223/
So awesome. I wish we still had arcades like that.
With Bemani games, of course.
Hmm i guess i never got into games like bemani or the likes of ddr.
Then again i'm old fasion when it comes to video games.
Still i do miss the 80's the most when it comes to the arcades.
It gave ya,enough selection plus you could go any where and there be a arcade.
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My most memorable arcade moments:
Spring 1997, getting 35 wins on X-Men vs. Street Fighter with Ken and Magneto in front of 15 people.
The following weekend, some other dude blew way past me at 85 wins! He used Charlie and Cyclops. He knew Cyclops' double jump infinity combo, and that saved his ass most of the time. I have to admit, it was funny watching some guys throw their arms up and walk away from the machine in the middle of the match seeing their last remaining character gradually succumbing to the combo.
That's one thing I miss about arcades, the fighting games when they would be flooded with challengers.
That feeling of intimidation of seeing " 20 WINS / BEAT BY 20" above the player's life bar, especially when the guy was already on a roll long before you walked into the place.
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I spent this last week in my home town. I couldn't find a real arcade or many cabinets around town, except for one of the internet cafe's I stopped at.
Most of it was newer stuff I don't care too much about, but I found the old After Burner and Off Road arcades from my childhood-
(http://www.superpcenginegrafx.com/img/prarcade1.jpg) (http://www.superpcenginegrafx.com/img/prarcade2.jpg)
(http://www.superpcenginegrafx.com/img/prarcade3.jpg)
I'm really glad that After Burner has held up so well after all these years. It looks like it's monitor was replaced with one that ran Tetris for a while. :P
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It's "new" monitor is probably very confused, running graphics that actually move and stuff.
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Today I was near Greenbelt, Maryland. I went to Beltway Plaza to pickup food for some folks, while I was there I decided to see how the arcade presence was int he mall, since I had not gone out of my way to take a look in quite a while.
There are still quite a few arcade machines there, at least 20 out in the mall, and at least 25 inside the "fun center" (The arcade).
I was surprised. This mall is pretty odd as it is. I hear one person describe it as almost like a flea market, as it has many unique shoppes, not chains. Though, there are some chains in there such as For Your Entertainment. Still, it manages decent traffic due to how close it is to College park.
Inside the Arcade there are about a half-dozen gun games, including Lethal Enforcers. They have The Simpsons Beat 'em up. Some driving games. The fighters are grouped together. Capcom vs SNK 1, part 2, Tekken 5, Tekken 3. A few other fighters, also. Inside the Arcade they had a Neo Geo 1-slot cab, it was running Metal Slug 5, however it was jammed, needed a reset.
Out in the mall, I'm pretty sure I spotted 2 Operation Wolf cabs. I saw a dedicated SVC Chaos, Street Fighter 2: CE, and many others.
I saw 2 Neo Geo 2-slot cabs. One had Metal Slug 3 and some other game. The other, had Samurai Shodown 4 and Metal Slug 3.
The cabs int he actual Arcade take tokens (Quarters may work, i didn't try), and the machines spread throughout the mall take quarters. I had 20-30 minutes to kill, and already spent some of it looking around. I saw SS4 was set for level-2.... That quarter went far, hahaha. I went to Amasuka on that single quarter, by that time I had to go, so I dashed my character into Amasuka 'til it was over. I was waiting to enter my initials, however I did not get that option! Either, there were many there before me and that list is full, or the option for saving High Scores is off. I didn't hang around to see if the high scores screen would flash on.
It would be really nice, if instead of spreading all these machines throughout the mall, they placed them in retail spot. Though, paying to setup a cab on the mall floor is very much cheaper than having another shoppe spot. Still, the arcade area inside the mall, it's not as crammed as it could be. They really could fit more cabs in there, I'd like it if they did as I''m not too keen on Tekken and such, and if SS4 was in there I could ask someone gawking at folks playing _____ if they want to play SS4, SF2:CE, etc. As it is, having the game out in the mall somewhere, means you have to walk all the way over there from the arcade...
It's a peculiar setup. If you're near that area, check it out. I didn't have a camera on me, though next time I will make a planned trip, and bring a camera to snap some pics inside the mall of the rows of cabs. Every few stores, on a spot of empty wall, they group together about 5 cabs. Same goes around pillars, the escalator, etc. It would be nice if they placed ALL of the cabs in a shoppe spot, I'd visit more often if it were more convenient to play certain games.
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Oh boy, arcades. Man, do I have stories!
-My very first encounter with an actual setup of arcade machines was around '86 or '87 I believe when I was 4 or 5 years old. This was in a downtown movie theater and my folks took me to see Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Before we went in the theater, I spotted a whole row of arcades in the lobby that had games like Arkanoid, Pac-Land, Pitfall II, and Super Mario Bros. Needless to say, I was more interested in hanging around the machines than seeing Roger Rabbit. :P So, I left the theater a quarter of the way into the movie to hang around the arcades. Arkanoid was the one game that really grabbed my attention as I loved to see that little ball make the bricks disappear. Unfortunately, I didn't have any money to play the games so all I could do was stand around gawking at the colorful game screens. Before I knew it, the movie was over and my folks were strong-arming me out of the lobby because we had to go home. I begged them to take me back but they refused. :x
-Other encounters with arcades happened semi-frequently when I used to go to Zellers at the downtown mall where I live. I remember the different types of machines they had there. A few of which I clearly remember was Ghosts 'N' Goblins (to which I never played because I thought it was too hard :P), Arkanoid, Pitfall II, and Pac-Man Jr.. I remember seeing a guy at the store who got very far in Pac-Man Jr.. So far, that when we had to go, he was still playing. Man, that guy rocked. 8) Future machines that got put up were Dead Angle, Shinobi, Dr. Mario, Blades of Steel, and Gunsmoke.
-In '90 or '91, in the same downtown mall, I remember one of the single greatest arcade centers was established. It was called Laser Illusions and boy, did it rock! Three whole floors of machines with a spaceship boiler room atmosphere complete with neon lights! It was incredible! The front entrance had a ticket arcade where you played ticket games and redeem them for crappy prizes (just like carnies at a carnival where you think you can win the big stuffed animal but only get a crappy dollar store toy instead). I had fond memories playing Captain Commando, X-Men (with dual screens!), Aliens, Smash TV, Dragon Spirit, Hologram, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. There were way more arcades there but I couldn't have time to play them all! :P Some pinballs they had there were Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Terminator 2, and The Addams Family. Good times, good times. Needless to say, I was crushed when they shut it down. I honestly wanted them to stay open forever. :cry:
-In '92 to '95, there was an arcade that opened at our local community mall called Magic Mikes. It was small but cool for what it was. Good variety of machines and ticket games. I remember playing games like Turtles in Time, Captain America and the Avengers, The Simpsons (I remember this game drawing a big crowd when it got put in), Columns, Volfied, Tetris (what arcade center doesn't have this game? :P), Mortal Kombat (also drew big lines), Killer Instinct (drew big lines), Bust A Move (just as frequent as Tetris), Pang!, and WWF Wrestlefest. Pinballs I played were Pinbot, Jokerz!, Indiana Jones Pinball Adventure (which rocked!), Super Mario Bros. Pinball (surprisingly fun!), and The Addams Family. The games rotated frequently and the only ticket game I ever played there was the bowling game which involved rolling a ball on a ramp in order to get it into the rings. The arcade's name was changed to Topo Gigio in its final year before it got shut down for good. I used to throw a tantrum and beg my parents to take me to this arcade when I was a kid. Sometimes they conceded, other times they gave me a good spanking for it. [-X When the arcade did get shut down, I was first in denial thinking they were going to remodel it but afterwards, reality sunk in that the center just had really really bad business. After that, I developed a level of skepticism to any future arcades that opened up thinking that they would go out of business after one or two years of operation.
Part 2 of my arcade adventures will come soon as I gotta go deliver papers now. :wink:
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I spent very little time in arcades when they were big because I am/was (although this has lessened with time) a huge cheapskate and the idea of throwing quarters away in arcade machines seemed like such a waste when I could just buy a game for my NES or TurboGrafx-16 and play it as much as I wanted.
That said, I did play a few here and there if I went somewhere that had them. One late-80's favorite was the local Godfather's pizza. I'd play while we waited for our food.
In more recent times, when I was in Vegas in January, they had a fairly large arcade at the Luxor we stayed at. I dropped a few quarters in an original Galaga machine that had some incredible burn-in on the screen. I also did a little Turtles in Time.
I've also been known to throw down for a game of Space Harrier if I ever actually see a cabinet.
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Hey Keranu, when you say the Hulk told you to stay in school, are you talking about Hulk Hogan or The Incredible Hulk? :-s
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Arcades don't exist anymore. At least not the way they should.
Sad, isn't it. And I live in Missouri too, so arcades are super rediculously scarce here, and has been since the damn 80's. :|
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Sad, isn't it. And I live in Missouri too, so arcades are super rediculously scarce here, and has been since the damn 80's. :|
The problem is, more and more arcades are being shut down due to the rising popularity of home consoles. Hell, home consoles are so powerful that they now succeed arcades in terms of graphics and playability. When people can have great multiplayer matches of Dance Dance Revolution or Gran Turismo in their own homes with their friends, why bother going to arcades at all?
In Winnipeg where I live, there are only two arcades left. One at the airport and another at a family fun center near the inner city highway.
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Hey Keranu, when you say the Hulk told you to stay in school, are you talking about Hulk Hogan or The Incredible Hulk? :-s
Sorry should've specified that but it was The Incredible Hulk. You bring up a good point though, I think it would've been even funnier if it was a large cut out of Hulk Hogan :D .
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Sorry should've specified that but it was The Incredible Hulk. You bring up a good point though, I think it would've been even funnier if it was a large cut out of Hulk Hogan. :D
I can see it now:
A giant poster showing Hulk wearing the WWF championship belt, flexing his muscles and grimacing with the words
Hulkster Says STAY IN SCHOOL! below. :P
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Once I got beat by little pre-teen kid at Bust-A-Move\Puzzle Bobble at an arcade. :?
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Once I got beat by little pre-teen kid at Bust-A-Move\Puzzle Bobble at an arcade. :?
Edit: little pre-teen kid with a mullet 8) .
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One of my early trips to the Arcade, I was 5 years old. There was this Arcade right next to the apartments where I was living at the time (we had just moved across country). The apartments were on a 4 way stoplight corner (minor intersection). I told my mother that I was going to play the with local kids (apartment runts), but instead we all huffed it across the street to the Circle K (convenience store) and asked people for spare change. This one jerk put a *bunch* of change in an open but nearly full beer can. He laughed and said we could have the change, if we could get it out of the can. We did, but we smelt like cheap beer afterwards.
We then huffed it over to the arcade across the street. I remember specifically playing Pac Man, but my memory gets hazy from there. I *do* remember we didn't get caught though.
Another time, when I was 13, I found a $100 dollar bill on the floor while going through the local mart check out line. This was a lot of money for me then. After going outside the store (and screaming/dancing), we quickly decided to spend the money on this new Arcade called Wonder Land. Every game took nickels instead of quarters - even the newest games. My friend and I needed a way to break this large bill, so we decided the best way to do this was to buy a cheap NES game. We bought Kings Knight for $25 from PlayWorld. After 10 miles, 3 buses, 2.5 hours, and a lot of jitters we had arrived at this magical arcade at the edge of town. We spent the *whole* day there. This was on a Sunday. After all the excitement and a long day, I realized we had no money to get home with and to top it off it was close to 8pm and none of our parents knew where we had gone. Needless to say, my father waaaaaas *pissed* when I called him (collect). I was grounded for a while, but I'll never regret that day.
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Holy crap, both of those stories are seriously rad to tha max, mal!