Do you miss the arcade? : Othor Games

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:40 am

I miss this one arcade game I used to play when I was younger(this was late 80's early 90's tho). It was kind of an RPGish hack-n-slash game where you could power up into like 3 or 4 different forms. A wizard with magic, a Knight with a Sword n Shield, a warrior with a mace or something like that(It's reallyhard to remember the different forms). It was so much fun though, I blew threw tons of quarters on it every week at the local bowling alley. I also played a LOT of Primal Rage. It was in my local bowling alley the equivalent of Street Fighter 2, and I was the reigning champion of it. I owned ALL the top 10 slots. If someone managed to get in there, I'd play until I booted it the hell off. The Initials JSK ruled Primal Rage t10 score screen. Talon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:33 am

I miss this one arcade game I used to play when I was younger(this was late 80's early 90's tho). It was kind of an RPGish hack-n-slash game where you could power up into like 3 or 4 different forms. A wizard with magic, a Knight with a Sword n Shield, a warrior with a mace or something like that(It's reallyhard to remember the different forms). It was so much fun though, I blew threw tons of quarters on it every week at the local bowling alley.

Hmm was it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauntlet_(arcade_game)? Though Gauntlet does not have a Knight. I did not play the original version but I had a blast with Gauntlet Legends.

Primal Rage.. I didn't play it but it reminds of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rampage_(arcade_game)#Controversy. That was another great game to spend money into... that is until they made the N64 version. I didn't see any reason to continue spending money on it.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:45 am

Heck no. Not after I spent $500 on mediocre arcade games during a summer.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:35 am

Ah, yes. We had two arcade sets in a local entertainment establishment. One had Mortal Kombat and earned me my first gaming nick...
Though I really don't miss those machines much. PC and consoles are just way better, and with the glorious internetz, I can has lots of people to play with anyway. Plus, it doesn't svck on my wallet that much. ^_^

€: Oh, I remembered what the other one was. Golden Axe. Wanted to grow up like Tyris Flare, and looking at what I have become, I am mighty pleased.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:41 am

some of my favorite arcade games were galaga, time crisis, house of the living dead, sniper, pacman, mrs pacman, and this other one i cant remember the name of but it was about 2 agents and you would go into a boat and kill a bunch of people cus this guy kidnapped the presidents daughter. one arcade game that i absolutely love but never played in the arcade till it came out on the genesis was sinistar. run howard! :vaultboy:

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:21 am

When I was a kid, there was this big arcade inside my neighborhood's super market. When my parents would go buy the groceries, they'd leave my two brothers and I there with 20$ to have some fun. Those places were loud.

In the early 2000, when Dance Dance Revolution was at its peak, I'd be there once a week. I had the game at home on Playstation and would go show my moves at the arcades.

I remember having a Pacman game in a small-scale arcade machine. It was a great way for my parents to silence us during car trips.

Though most arcade places from my youth have closed, there's a big one still opened. Like the one Gamgee mentioned. It has a laser tag arena, a rollerskating area and the arcade areas. One that has the newest games and the other that has all retro 80's and early 90's games. On a school trip, I spent most of my time in the retro area, since the games were around 25 cents each.

Some favourites:

Police 911 - The shooting game that tracked your movements. Duck and the character ducks, lean and the character leans.
A boxing game I forgot the name. Made by the same developper as Police 911 and it used the same mechanics.
House of the Dead
DDR
Cruisin' USA
Mace: The Dark Age
Guitar Freaks
Joust

:o I've never known anyone else who has even heard of Mace: The Dark Age. I played it in the arcade and on Nintendo 64. Absolutely loved it!
I also have fond memories of playing Mortal Kombat and Crusin' USA. I'd play other games here and there but those were my main three.

All in all, I don't really miss the arcade itself. I've always preferred a controller to arcade cabinets and mouse+keyboard. :shrug: Though, I would love to have arcade cabinet's of Mortal Kombat 1,2 and 3 and Mace: The Dark Age.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:19 am

Yup I remember a gaming center near me with TONS of arcade games. Getting highscores so you could show them off to your friends at that arcade. Other people seeing them and hearing the sound of quarters/tokens plunk into the machine. Sadly these are dark times for the arcade scene and that place I would go to has gone under. It's now some weird gas station *Stop and Go or Raceway or something has like 10 pumps + pumps for diesel* and there's no trace of the place remaining.

Starting to think that console gaming will die as well like the arcade games since PCs are just 100% more versatile. The only thing keeping consoles afloat atm are some that allow for modding.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:27 pm

My mom dragged me out of an arcade by my ear once when I skipped school and spent the day there. (Mid 80's)

I went back the next day after school (With permission.) and the guy started to make fun of me. "Does your mom know your here?" "Or is she going to come drag you off by the ear again?". :facepalm:

Thankfully he knew me from all my previous time spent there and believed me so he let me stay.

I loved arcades, but home gaming is just way easier. I get a bit nostalgic at times but seeing they do not exist here anymore, it's kinda hard to relive those moments. (Johnny Zee's was the last hold out but went under a few years back.)

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:04 am

I miss the variety of peripherals that home entertainment will never match. Flight simulators that rolled you upside down in a gimble, lightguns, punching bags, racing seats with clutch pedals and surround vision, all those fun immersive gimmicks that are too costly to set up at home. The Wii and Kinect are not even in the same league of providing similar entertainment - in fact, those empty air motion controls usually take me further away from the gameplay. Then again, I don't miss all the change I dumped into those machines... In the long run it might have actually been cheaper to set up a full-sim pod at home anyway.

This.

I really don't wanna think about how much money I pumped into the flight sims....... I could probably buy a brand new car.

Defender was my "quarter eater game" though.

There was, at one time, no less than six arcades in town. (population of around 25,000......) Now, the nearest arcade is 30 miles away, in ann arbor, or toledo. (MUCH larger cities)

That said, the military has the BEST video games. I got the opportunity to spend some time in the F106 flight simulator....... THAT was a BLAST!!!! And that thing was built in the 60's...... I would hate to think how much it cost new. Occasionally, I could even get lucky, and shoot down some of the "real" fighter pilots. Got me a few free drinks at the officers club.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:54 am

I miss it when the games were new. The arcade at marion which I went to around Septmeber with some mates has machines from the early 2000s and earlier. Mainly Sega games that were on the Dreamcast, Sega Rally for example. Its weird because when I was young I actually had those games on console and so I knew how to play them. Crazi Taxi I played extensively back in the old days and I totally got a good score at the arcade machine

Me and my friends pretty much had free reign over them because the kids were all playing the carnival style games they have there too (fools!). A highlight for me was all four of us paying a dollar to play a joined game of Deytona.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:52 pm

Starting to think that console gaming will die as well like the arcade games since PCs are just 100% more versatile. The only thing keeping consoles afloat atm are some that allow for modding.

You keep thinking that buddy. :lol:

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:17 am

The Cedar Point amusemant park (Sandusky, Ohio) in the mid to late 1970s had a penny arcade filled with pinball machines, the classic electromechanical ones; at least a hundred if I remember right. I went to the park a couple of times in high school and it was fun, but the penny arcade was amazing. I read recently that America is down to one pinball manufacturer now, and they're hanging on by their fingernails, but in the days before home computers the Cedar Point penny arcade was a blast.

My college had a Space Invaders game.

In the 90s, I was too old for arcades but I remember Mortal Kombat when it was still primarily an arcade game rather than a home game.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:30 pm

I played in arcades often when I was a kid back in the 80's. Back then there were arcades everywhere, not so much anymore. Today I'd rather be at home playing and not sinking my money into those bottomless pits.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:27 am

I do a little bit, the sounds of the arcade machines in the back ground, the pinball machines and the ticket games. Yeah those are where the days.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:47 pm

Nothing will compare to the experience of Street Fighter at the arcades.

I think I have a way of bringing the arcades back, or at least introducing arcades to the community. I have a good connection on how to get started, its actually pretty ridiculous and I kinda got lucky with the network I was introduced to. But, it costs money, and there are business/legal information that I lack and I lack the knowledge of where to find it.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:51 am

:o I've never known anyone else who has even heard of Mace: The Dark Age. I played it in the arcade and on Nintendo 64. Absolutely loved it!

I also really loved that game. It was the first fighting game where I managed to get pretty far in the tournaments without losing. This is why I still love the game. It was not too hard for the casual gamers, like most arcade games are. When it eventually got removed from the arcades, I rented it from time to time on the N64.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:34 am

not one bit. i went to an arcade once back in the early 2000s.......yes they actually had an arcade in the mall.

never went back again. much better to have a PC or even a console since in the end you will easily blow alot mroe money at the arcade and worst of all you have to share with other people. sharing with other people is just wrong and immoral.

you can still get that arcade feeling if you go to chucky cheese or shobiz if they even around anymore. they even have some of the games from the 80s and 90s as well cause they to cheap to buy new ones.

the only game that i actually thought was cool and kind of miss was a motorcycle racing game where you actually sat on a motorcycle and it even tilted left and right based on how you were steering. that was lots of fun. it was also $1 a ride. hell.......for $3 i can buy some harley chick at a bar a drink and get two rides.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:16 pm

There was one around when I grew up, still is as far as I know. I only went there a few times though, as from the beginning it was massively overpriced. $2 a game? I'm pretty sure they actually hated kids with prices like that.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 3:57 pm

There is still an arcade in my local mall. I saw it last night. I don't like them, but I thought they were still common. :shrug: Anyway, arcades are a waste of money, in my opinion.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:55 am

I miss the variety of peripherals that home entertainment will never match. Flight simulators that rolled you upside down in a gimble, lightguns, punching bags, racing seats with clutch pedals and surround vision, all those fun immersive gimmicks that are too costly to set up at home.

Indeed, SEGA was the king of those. I absolutely loved flying upsidedown in R360 - G-Loc Air Battle, so cool ^_^

There were only a few arcade machines in the town where I grew up, so it was a huge deal when I went to other towns that had them and spent quite a lot of $$$ on them. Remember spending lots on Final Fight, Midnight Resistance, Pang!, Cabal and others with friends. And they were usually quite hard too so a lot of coins where used.

I rather miss those co-op games where you play together with a friend on the same screen, most co-op multiplayer games today require you to play together on separate machines, so you can't sit on the same couch and use the same display. Very unfortunate.

The fighting games were a lot of fun too, like Street Fighter II, Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 3. Because I usually only needed one coin to play thru the whole thing

With Virtua Fighter 3, which was the last arcade in this town 10+ years ago, I had my name on the whole high score list! :lol:

Oh, and Blazing Star was very fun too ^_^

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:30 am

arcades are a waste of money, in my opinion.

That may be true now, but when I was growing up in the late 70's and into the 80's, they were the best option. We had the original ATARI at home, but quite frankly, it svcked. I always liked the arcade games better, even some of the games I played there were on consoles as well. The graphics were better, The gameplay was better, and the atmosphere was great. Youd've had to have grown up in that time in order to appreciate what the arcade really was, not what is is now; barely a shell of what is was, and yes, they are a ripoff now. Back then, you drop 1 quarter in the slot and your good to go. The better you are at the game, the longer you would be able to play that game on that same quarter.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:59 pm

Anyone else miss the arcade? Anyone play during the late 70's and 80's during the height of arcade culture?

The arcade was always a great time to socalize with others. Favorite game was "Gauntlet" - definately forced everyone to either cooperate or die. I mention that game because my co-worker and I were discussing that very culture just this afternoon at work.

» Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:21 am

Brings back lots of memories of skipping school

Street Fighter II was huge when I was still going early 90s. Mortal Kombat and Samurai Showdown would also draw huge crowds. Still remember how excited I was to get SFII for SNES and Mortal Kombat for the Genesis, which had the blood.

The late 80's was fun too with all the space shooter type games. Space Harrier I and II were awesome. Dragon Spirit got a lot of my quarters too.

Arcades are still around, but the culture is definitely different these days...there aren't those game releases anymore that draw huge crowds anymore. The last game I saw to do that was Marvel vs Capcom II. My local Dave&Busters actually brought out a retro arcade box that had the original Street Fighter II on it and it surprisingly still drew a crowd when I was last there.