I really miss arcade culture.

I grew up during the 8 bit / 16 bit era of home consoles, so the arcade was still pretty popular then.

I remember spending alot of time in the arcade during the Street Fighter II era of arcade gaming and I think after that point, consoles began powerful enough to deliver a better gaming experience than any arcade game, so they began falling out of popularity.

But wow, remember how insanely popular the street fighter II arcade game was? It was amazing, people lining up to challenge the neighborhood champion? It was quite the phenomenon. I'm just using that game as one example.

Now it is hard for me to even find a new game to play in arcade. Mostly I just play the classics. *Sigh*

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

I like to think about it this way; I'm saving a ton of quarters by not going to the arcade. Make no mistake, I have lots of fond memories going to the arcade back in the early eighties to the early 90's, and coming home dead broke because I just plain svcked at video games back then.

Now i've got a boatload of quarters that I need to go and roll up.

I'm just glad that I don't have to wait for some kid to get off of a machine for me to play the game I want

I grew up then, but was a little on the young side during its true heyday. I wasn't into video games much then either. I remember going to arcades and trying pac-man and space invaders and various other popular games, but I was 1-terrible at them 2-didn't like most of them and 3-even in the early 80's I preferred staying home and playing the Atari vs. going out to play games.

Also, I was always distracted by the air-hockey table. I love air-hockey.

No.... I do not miss games that make you pay to continue.

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.

I'd guess I'd say I missed them if they weren't in existence anymore, but seeing as I live very close to the Wildwood, NJ boardwalk, I can be in my choice of about ten arcades in as many minutes. Oddly enough though, I only go there about once a year, and when I do hit the arcades I normally hit up a pinball or two, throw a few games of Skeeball, and I'm out. I used to live in arcades, but now that home consoles have taken the front seat, I'd much rather be playing in the comfort of my own home.

Kind of meh here. On one hand, I LOVE them when I was little namely because I don't own a console at that time. Along the line, I obtain a NES as a gift and I completely forgotten the arcade's existence.

The What?

Arcades?No I don't miss them, infact I never even went to one.

I lived thirty miles from the nearest arcade and there was but a single Ms. Pac Man machine to be found in my hometown so going to the arcade was a huge deal for me. I'd save up my allowance money for the month and blow it all in just a few minutes, pleading with my mom for just one more dollar (and another and another and another) so I could play Centipede, Galaga or Donkey Kong. Once for my birthday, I received $20 in game tokens. I was in heaven. I dreamed of growing up to have my own game room filled with game cabinets.

The last time I was in an arcade was in 2008. It had a couple SkeeBall machines, a token push, two claw machines, four pinball machines, Dance Dance Revolution, a driving sim and one of those games where you shoot at the screen with a light gun. The place was absolutely deserted. I was in there for half an hour and not even the attendant showed his/her face. I don't think I can bear to go back into the mall to see if it's even still open

Arcades are alright, but I prefer consoles.

Arcades aren't updated anymore. To hell with them.

Arcades were great back in the ninties. I am over them though. I can play whatever i want now on xbox 360 or my pc. Hell, I even bought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Arcade game for 240 ms points. I died so much in that game, it would of cost 8 bucks for a single play through at a arcade.

I loved the arcades, but spent more time pumping quarters into the games at the bars in the small town I grew up in. Most money went into Pacman, but I loved Zaxxon. Everyone in the town knew my initails...WAD :rofl:

Then I discovered pool...

Yeah, and I always played the stranger/lesser known games like Cadash, Assault, T-Mek, Knights Of The Round etc.

There was a subculture surrounding Street Fighter too. There were kids who were known to be great at it, and crowds formed at the machines. You'd put your quarter on the screen behind the person in front of you's quarter, and it was a "winner stays, loser walks and next one plays" system.

Wow that's going back quite a long time.

I never had money to go to an arcade, but there was tons where I lived. I've played one arcade game and it was Street Fighter II on an arcade system in my friend's basemant.

I miss the old school games like Pac-man in arcades, yeah.

born in 94' so i missed the arcade scene. i do play alot of arcade games when they are available. ive spent so many quarters with my dad on the galaga machines.

I was born in '91 but we still had an arcade in our local mall until I was maybe 7-8, not really sure when it closed.

Also several local restaurants had arcade cabinets in their waiting areas. I remember playing Mrs. Pac-man on one.

The local bowling alley still has an arcade, but their games are all VERY difficult. You know, the quarter trap difficult. <_<

There's also a HUGE arcade cabinet superstore in my town. They sell everything from pinball to those awesome Galaga tables.

the only arcade that was open was in a bar so i couldnt get in :sadvaultboy:

I despise the arcade ... urgh...

I got dragged there for 2 hours with friends the other day and it was some of the most boring 2 hours ever. The dinging sounds annoy me to no end.

Born right on 90. I have one early experience with it. Walking into a tent at a circus filled with smoke and terribly bad smelling people and children. Played one game, lost and me and my dad took off. I think I was... six at the time. There is an actually pretty decent arcade place still active in town, but it also features laser tag and other sorts of games. Token based rather than money. So no I don't remember any scene at all. I was born sinking my teeth into a sega genesis and sonic 2. Then came the Nintendo 64 and shortly thereafter the computer. All hail the mighty computer. It was truly a fascinating device for a young child.

I enjoyed the arcades as much as the next guy when I was a kid, but as I got older, the games got progressively more and more expensive to play (some going up to $1.50 a pop) while not offering an experience all that different from console games, which were just getting better and better. I was finished with them long before they dried up.

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