Anyone visit Arcades anymore?

Pessimeister

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Hello Watchers

I've been having some powerful nostalgia recently for my formative arcade experiences from back in the 80's and early 90's. This has been reflected in getting heavily into MAME, visits to local bar-cades after work on fridays as a way of ending the week and even some arcade/gaming oriented documentaries over the weekends (King of Kong, Chasing Ghosts, Gamer Age, Ecstasy of Order, 100 Yen, Special When Lit + many more!)

There is just something undeniably exciting and intimate about seeing these cabinets together and the happy energy people have when using them. From the wonderful music and sound fx, marquee art and sheer immersing atmosphere that they create to lure you in. Even to this day, I still feel the same sense of buzzing exhilaration that I felt in such a place when I first walked into "ElectroFun" when I was 9. :)
Obviously as an adult, a pint or two lends a different quality to the experience and travelling home on the train has been more pleasant as a result.

A friend has recently quite kindly loaned me his Hori Pro 3SA to tinker with on MAME, which has added a whole new layer of authenticity to my home experiences.

https://www.amazon.com/Real-Arcade-Pro-3-SA-Playstation-3/dp/B002FL0T8U
(It sure is a beast for the space it takes up!)

Here are some games that I've been getting into lately:

Raiden DX (Love the entire main series!)
Galaga (Bought an edition on Steam as it saves high scores)
Pac-Man (Especially Pacmania lately )
1942 (Practicing to go for a dude's score from the pub!)
Double Dragon (Brawlers are a major love - I found some obscure ones last year. I'm still trying to beat it in one credit even after all these years!)
Moon Patrol (Made a silly remix for the main tune for it years ago…)

+ Many more. Thus is the gigantic seemingly infinite well that is MAME!

I was just curious if anyone still frequents any particular arcade of any kind these days? The modern business model tends to favour the "Bar-cade" given that the old model is largely no longer feasible to operate any more, with the exception of course of classic places like Funspot which is certainly more than an arcade. If anyone has been there or indeed to other places like the 1Up or 2Up, I'd love to hear a story or two!

I understand that California Extreme for 2017 is fast approaching as well:

http://www.caextreme.org/

If anyone has been to this or is intending to go, it'd be great to have some insight!

For those that live locally in Melbourne, we have Pixel Alley and Bartronica. There's also the Beta Bar in Hawthorn, but I haven't investigated that yet. I believe it has more of a general pop culture/cosplay focus and not just arcade gaming. We also used to have Forgotten Worlds in Collingwood, but it sadly closed shop late last year.

If there are enough interested local members, maybe we could have a get together at either Pixel Alley or Bartronica some time, who knows?

Well, I'll leave the thread open for posters to comment, whether that be on their early arcade experiences or perhaps on an arcade that you're visiting today.

:party:
 
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I've got loads of fond memories of arcades in Liverpool where I grew up and Devon where we went for our annual holiday. :) I have too many favourites to mention here, but….
Green Beret, Strider, Double Dragon, Outrun, Gauntlet, Street Fighter II and R-Type bring back immediate happy memories.
No idea if there are any arcades in Brussels. All my old UK haunts have closed or converted to slot machine dens sadly.
MAME is awesome though!
 
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Hey Pongo. :)

I'm guessing you played Green Beret on the C64 as well. The Martin Galway loading theme to that game is just brilliant - gives me chills every time! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fZzOQrcAGE

Man, I tried so hard to finish that game, but barely got to level 3 maybe once or twice! I didn't play it originally at the arcades first, so it was fun to finally check it out on MAME.
Love all of the games you mentioned as well. Street Fighter II is just so iconic and I can vividly remember walking several kilometres to a video shop just to play it with a mate; talking tactics the entire way.

Edit:
Another link for you sir! http://www.arcadebelgium.be/ab.php?l=en&r=lis&p=list
 
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Thanks for the link! :)
Yeah the Green Beret tune on the c64 was awesome. The game was solid, but slightly easier in the arcades I think.
Street Fighter II tactics were on on going conversation topic for me right the way up to 1998 and Alpha 2. :) There was a really nice community of SFII players in the arcades, I loved the little rituals around challenging someone. All very good natured but still very competitive.
I didn't really get into the later SFs.
 
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I would definitely still visit an arcade if there were any good ones near me. Unfortunately, they no longer seem to be very popular in my area.

Green Beret, Strider, Double Dragon, Outrun, Gauntlet, Street Fighter II and R-Type bring back immediate happy memories.

It seems we had very similar taste. Except for Green Beret, I used to play all of those games in the arcade. :)

I remember when a local store not far from my house had Gauntlet. My friends and I used to go up there at least 2-3 times a week to play. I still remember us laughing every time one of the characters farted after getting food. :)

R-Type was my all-time favorite shmup back when I used to enjoy those kinds of games. I remember how excited I was when it was released on the TurboGrafx-16 as a near-perfect port of the arcade version. That game was so hard, I never did finish it despite having it on a console.


*Edit* After watching the video Pessmeister linked to, I realized I used to play Green Beret as well. It was know as Rush n' Attack over here. I remember finishing the NES version. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush'n_Attack
 
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Hey JDR :)

I'm sure you'd find a decent barcade somewhere. They appear to be doing reasonably well in the US at least.

The horizontal scrolling shoot 'em ups are a vintage genre with many fine examples.
R-Type is definitely one of the best and most influential, right up there with the likes of Gradius (Nemesis) Delta and Katakis. Whilst the C64 conversion used a multi-loader on disk where you'd be constantly turning it over after every game, it was always worth it for the groovy Chris Huelsbeck soundtrack alone. I haven't been lucky enough, like you two chaps, to have played it at an arcade though. :)

Ahh yes, I remember the "Russian Attack" title difference with Green Beret. I never did try the NES version. I wonder if it had the blatantly unfair and often unpredictable fast shots from soldiers that the C64 version had? Maybe I'll have a blast at that later tonight….

I still reckon a 'Watch mini-arcade attached to the main site would be cool. Maybe I should politely bug Myrthos about that idea again someday. :)
 
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I haven't been to an Arcade in twenty years or more. Well, except in VR mode ;)

I have the warmest and fondest memories of Arcades as a kid, though. But I started out so early that I don't really remember the names of the games, with a few exceptions.

My brother was (is) a big geek and he used to take me when we were both kids. I was probably around 5 years old the first time.

One game that made a big impression on me, for some reason, was:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_of_Wor



Probably because of the sci-fi setting and the fact that it was cooperative. Loved that game.

Of course, I loved the Star Wars arcade game with vector graphics and the little Obi-Wan sample of "Use the force Luke!" :)



Also, I spent thousands of "Lira" (Italien currency) playing this Arcade submarine game with my cousin, once when on a two week vacation with the whole family. Never found that game again.

As a kid, I was also a HUGE fan of Ninja movies and games. Well, really any game or movie involving martial arts. I actually thought I would go to Japan one day and become a Ninja, haha.

This was another favorite:



Anyway, I played many, many Arcade games back in the 80s - but I've forgotten most of them.

Loved Operation Wolf because of the Uzi controller ;)
 
Haven't seen one in a while, at least around the UK. These are more popular in Japan, since people tend to live in a very crowded space there.
 
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You can still find them quite easily at the seaside. Only a few months ago me and my nephew were shooting sharks from the back of a speedboat. No idea what game it was.
 
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Hey DArt. :)

I was also a huge fan of Wizard of Wor - although like R-Type, I never got to experience it in an arcade, but rather the C64 conversion on cartridge at a next door neighbour's house. I always found it great fun that you could shoot your partner whether that be by accident or on purpose. I also still remember the feeling of making the "The Pit" level for the very first time, which was essentially a blank screen with many fast moving and disappearing aliens. (Level 15 or so I think…) A brilliant game.
Also, I spent thousands of "Lira" (Italien currency) playing this Arcade submarine game with my cousin, once when on a two week vacation with the whole family. Never found that game again.

Hmm. The only game I can think of that fits this description is Midway's classic from '76, Sea Wolf. But maybe your game is a little more modern than this. Still, might be worth a look to jog your memory.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9459
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AemtgPss6jY
 
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Another favorite of mine was Golden Axe. That game blew my mind when I was a kid. :)

I might have to reinstall MAME again. I used to have quite a collection for it. Sadly, I don't think I backed it up the last time I reformatted my system.
 
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@Pessimeister ha Katakis good shout! That was the one withdrawn from sale because of its *ahem* similarities to R- Type. I loved it. :) I think it eventually got rereleased under a different name, but the Amiga version of Turrican II featured a little robot with a "Free Katakis!" flag that always made me laugh.

@JDR13. Great Odin's beard, you're right! Golden Axe was brilliant. I used to love unleashing the special powers, a great co-op game. And hell, you could ride on dinosaurs! (or were they tiny dragons? I forget.)

Also - since I seem to be back on this thread - Robocop. Massively satisfying shooting the bad guys and facing off against ED-209.

Edit: oh yeah the vector graphic Star Wars game! Loved it, and the c64 conversion. :)
 
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arcardes were great in the 70's, 80's and early 90's (91,92). Tried one once since then and imho they suck. In fact I take that back I tried two; i forgot about the one in london during my trip there last year.
 
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They far outclassed home computers in those days so arcades were always exciting - which place had the latest game? Was it any good? Which Street Fighter II cabinet had a stupid four way joystick and needed to be avoided? Which arcade still had Pacland or Galaga if you needed some nostalgia? Where were the cool kids? They were exciting and a bit mysterious and felt like the future. Now they are the past, really. But some of the games were still great. :)
 
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An acquaintance has a room of arcade games. We occasionally use their conference center and there is something really funny about 10 people in professional dress playing pinball etc.
He has Ninja Turtles Arcade, a few street fighter versions, a Michael Jackson, pinball machines, simpson arcade and a ghost buster. I've thought of getting one just for fun if I cane across it but so far haven't seen one.

Edit : Forgot the PacMan tables. A definite hit :)
 
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I spent many hours in arcades in my youth. Starting with pinball, then slowly moving into video games as they became the thing.

If I were to show up in one now, I'm sure I would get a lot of strange looks. ;)
 
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Go to arcades a couple of times a year for kids birthday parties/other outings... Not that I get to play anything myself. I've messed around with emulators in the past, mainly to play Galaga.
 
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