Modern Arcades: What are they like?

[Aswald]

Today, in the mail, I received a form for driver's license renewal.

The last time I had to do this was back in 2001.

It suddenly occurred to me that that was the last time I had seen a modern arcade. It was at the Sangertown mall, when I was waiting to see a movie.

So- what has changed in those eight years? How are they different; or are they pretty much the same, except with somewhat flashier graphics? Any thoughts on them, from gamers old and younger?

Thanks.

[Tupin]

Don't really see arcades around here other than Dave and Busters, but a lot of places have the usual Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga cabinet.

[Aswald]

I should mention that that mall is the closest place that has an arcade to where I live, and they are at least 30 miles away. Since I haven't had any reason to go up that way for years, it's too far to "just go and see."

Again, thanks.

[grolt]

Arcades basically don't exist here any more. There are some venues where there are a clutter of newish games, but those are mainly multiplexes. Generally one of those lame sticker makers, some shooters, a fighter and several racers. Not what it used to be, that's for sure! Dedicated arcades that still do exist are generally sustained by having tickets to keep people playing to cash in for ridiculously overpriced items.

[123►Genei-Jin]

Most modern arcade games come from japan, you'll see the usual fighting games like SFIV, KOFXII, Blazblue & Tekken 6, and SHUMPS.

Arcades are dying everywhere but japan, thanks to consoles and online play and there's a also cultural reasons behind this (going to the arcade after work in japan is just as normal/socially accepted as hanging out at the local bar)

It's real sad, I miss the days of SF2 and Samurai Shodown 2, online just doesn't do it for me.

[jb143]

I've seen several "arcades" in malls in this area. But by arcade I mean a mostly deserted corner with a few fighting games, a light gun game or 2 and some crane machines. Pretty depressing.

[The 1 2 P]

There hasn't been a dedicated arcade in this state for atleast 3 years. Theres a few party stores that have arcades as part of their game assortments but most have closed down and the ones that are still open are completely empty everytime I walk by.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

There's a town about 35 minutes from where I live called Gastonia with a mall arcade. Last year in the fall I went there with my girlfriend and her sister. It was a rare time that I had any cash on me, so I hung out in the arcade while they shopped for dresses.

The only game that I could get my money's worth at was Marvel vs. Capcom, so I pretty much stuck with that the whole time. I wound up blowing about 4 bucks on it pretty quickly.

But from what I remember there were: a bunch of DDR type games, several light gun HOTD style games, some fighting games, and one or two shooters. Nothing terribly interesting though. A good majority of the place was filled with "games" that give you tickets like Ski-ball, and various other token eating machines.

Ad a kid it was rare for me to ever go to an arcade. Not only were there none within 2 hours of me, but I was never given quarters to play them because they were deemed a waste of money. I had a Nintendo and my mother thought that was good enough.

[SegaAges]

There is an arcade about 10 minutes from my house, but it sucks major balls.

The big things they are displaying are the "console lounges" where you can play a ps3,360, or wii.

You have to pay tokens, and then get to play for a limited amount of time. This is like fucking one third of the arcade.

Then they got a bunch of guitar hero arcades. Fucking dumb.

Their good shit you can tell they just don't care about. They have an initial d v3, and the steering wheel just needs to be tightened, nothing more, but they have not done it.

Sure, if it happened a long time ago, whatever, but I have gone in like 3 or 4 times since then, and the steering wheel is still all fucked up, plus it is way too fucking expensive to play it. It is 1 dollar per race. Seriously.

[Robocop2]

Theres one in the neighboring town's mall it's mostly full of shooting games and those whack-a-mole type things rather drab really

[Melf]

My local Time-Outs are all redemption machines with a few fighters and driving games.

[cyberfluxor]

...
Sure, if it happened a long time ago, whatever, but I have gone in like 3 or 4 times since then, and the steering wheel is still all fucked up, plus it is way too fucking expensive to play it. It is 1 dollar per race. Seriously.

That's not too bad. We have indoor cart racing tracks that cost $17/race and each race lasts under 5 minutes.

But I feel you. What arcades exist around here have busted ass machines that never get fixed or callobrated. You can check out more on the better beach-front Flipper McCoy's thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129270) posted about back in March.

[otaku]

here locally you see a few machines in various places (local mexican food joint has a very nice neo geo cab) local arcades though are mostly full of broken or in need of repair/restoration machines and also selling their machines. Its really sad. :( we only have about 3 arcades here

[skaar]

Depressing.

[NayusDante]

I'm going to detail the four "arcades" that I know of in my area that are currently operating:

Chuck E. Cheese - LAME. My family thought it would be fun to go to one for an afternoon. It was 90% ticket games, half of which had something broken. The remaining 10% or so was just random stuff for the kids, like the chicken that "lays" an egg with a prize inside, or things to ride on like you'd find in front of K-Mart. I distinctly remember the VIDEO game selection... They had ONE Atomiswave fighter, and I can't remember what it was. I played it the whole time, for lack of anything better to do. Maybe they had Star Wars Arcade, I can't remember, but that was seriously it. Good pizza and wings, though, can't complain about that.

Celebration Station - This place was the competition to the local Chuck E in the mid 90s, and it's still there. Inside is an arcade and laser tag, and outside they have kart racing, bumper boats, mini golf, and kiddy rides. Maybe 60% of the inside is ticket games, so they're decent. Lots of motorcycle racers and light gun stuff. They used to have Jurassic Park, now they have a simulator thing that just plays a movie and shoots air at you. Used to have Marvel Vs Capcom 2, but swapped it for Tekken 5. Still have Gauntlet Legacy. Now they have House of the Dead 2 and 3, Silent Scope, lots of good light gun stuff. Kinda annoying to see Guitar Hero Arcade first thing near the entrance, but it was in-use all afternoon. I spent most of the time playing F-Zero, which was just darn fun. They recently went from tokens to magnetic cards, and you can view your game history on the service kiosks, disable certain genres on your kid's cards, etc. They're still cool.

Beach Gameland - I believe this is a local chain. There was one near me that had Tekken 5, Soul Calibur 2, and all that right when those came out. I think that one closed, but I found another one a little further away. This one had a DDR and a Beat Mania next to each other, some basketball throwers, some pinball, and a few good fighters. Since this was only my second time seeing a Guilty Gear XX machine, I sat in front of that the whole time (they have lots of barstools!). Made it to I-No on two credits with Faust. They've always used a chip-key system, and I still had a few credits from when I went with my friends back in high school. They also have a few ticket games, but not a lot, surprisingly.

Treasure Island Fun Center - This place is a real arcade! They have the ticket games of course, and a lot of prizes (there's a Chrysler parked inside and you can trade tickets for a raffle number, or something like that...). This is the only place I know of with really current games, like House of the Dead 4, After Burner Climax, and I think the last Time Crisis. Everything new is Sega, which isn't surprising. The back half of the place, however, is the old games. There's a row of the usual pinballs, then the fighters, vertical shooters, brawlers (X-Men, Simpsons), and random classics. Most of the old stuff is one token each, which is awesome. If anywhere around here gets SFIV, it'll be this place.


That said, it's definitely a shrinking industry. Gone are the days of an arcade in a shopping center, or seeing a machine at a restaurant. The movie theaters have some games, but never very many, and almost exclusively a few light guns and Namco 20th Anniversary Ms Pac Man-Galaga

[Haoie]

I'll add almost all of them are so incredibly expensive.

And limited to these and these only genres.

1. Shooting, usually rail
2. Fighting
3. Music/dance
4. Maybe something old school, including pinball
5. Claw or ticket machines
6. Driving

[Matt-El]

Yeah, the malls near me have arcades. And the main things that always get attention are DDR, Initial D (which I fucking LOVE) and House of the Dead 4. And they'll have other stuff too. Like simpsons arcade, and even a brand new Batman Pinball Machine based off of Dark Knight. Oddly enough, Christian Bale doesn't comment in the game if he wants to trash my lights or not...

[Nirvana]

I live in Illinois, and there's this place called Nickel City in Northbrook. It's a pretty awesome arcade, and the games are paid for in nickels. It has a ton of fighting games, since Capcom used to sponsor the place. No SFIV, there, though. There's also what I like to call the "ticket section" of games, where people who normally don't play video games can play these games to earn tickets in exchange for prizes.

I love the place.

[Aswald]

Man, things sure have changed. Guess it was lucky to have been around in the 1970s and 1980s, and maybe the (early?)1990s, too.

Aside from the fact that there were more arcades back then- both small independent and those of a chain (Dream Machine), it does seem that there was more innovation and variety, too. Raster, Vector, and of course laserdisc and laserdisc/raster hybrids.

One reason we went to arcades was to hang out and get away from the house (i.e. parents). Surely this has not changed?

Thanks for the update, everyone. It's something to consider, having seen them (video) from the days of Pong.

[Soviet Conscript]

all the arcades around me were in malls, all the malls around here used to have dedicated arcades but one by one those closed or were relegated to small "game rooms"

oddly enough right down the road from me in the late 90's a guy opened a full blown dedicated arcade in what used to be a pizzia hut. after a few months the owner ended up paying a guy to burn the place down for the insurence money. apperently it wasn't doing so well...its a shame.

[CreativeOnlineSurname]

Arcades in FL OMFG WHERE

Just out of curiosity, where in Florida are you? I live in Fort Myers and the closest arcades I am aware of are in Miami to the south or Tampa to the north. Just wondering if there's anything closer that I don't know about.

Our mall used to have a Tilt. I tore up on Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament, lol.

[NayusDante]

Celebration Station (http://www.celebrationstation.com/index.php?location_id=2&section_id=7)

Treasure Island Fun Center (http://www.tifuncenter.com/findus.html)

Beach Gameland (http://www.beachgameland.com/We%27ve%20Moved.htm)

[Haoie]

Huh, so most of you were around during the golden age of arcades?

[ronclon]

It isn't even just dedicated arcades that are almost extinct. When I was a kid you could almost always find 2 or more arcade games in just about every gas station. Most grocery stores would have an area with 3 or 4 arcade games. Laundromats also usually had a wall of arcade games. Restaurants also routinely had a few games.

Now the only place that has any arcade games in the town I live in is a laundromat with two games, SFII with a busted monitor, and some racing game I can't remember the name of.

[aaron7]

We have one in Nashua, NH called Fun World... 3 stories of arcade machines, a little kids roller coaster, merry go round, 3 story slide with a ball pit, cheap greasy food... an all around good time.

They have everything from original Ms. Pac and Centipede to the newest stuff as well as a few DDR machines.

Place used to have go carts too about 12 years ago. Cars and track are still sitting outside :(

http://www.funworldnh.com/

[BetaWolf47]

There's a few places around me that have arcade machines, though it's usually just one machine pushed into a corner.

Greyhound station - Galaga
Miami Subs - Bubble Bobble (!!!)
Bowling Alley - Tekken 3
Movie theater A - The Simpsons, DDR, a few others
Movie theater B - Time Crisis 3, forgot what else

Flippers (movie theater and arcade) - Metal Slug, Ms. Pac-Man (original machine I think, it's worn badly), DDR, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram, Initial D: Arcade Stage, and two other racing games.

[sav127]

The only place I go where I know there is a genuine arcade that will have the latest, and also a great retro arcade area is the Pier at Seaside Heights in NJ.

Of course, I won't usually go to seaside heights more than 1 or 2 times in a summer, because the beach sucks, but the atmosphere reminds me of my childhood so I can't not go at least once a summer, and I always get some pizza at the Sawmill.

[Soviet Conscript]

It isn't even just dedicated arcades that are almost extinct. When I was a kid you could almost always find 2 or more arcade games in just about every gas station. Most grocery stores would have an area with 3 or 4 arcade games. Laundromats also usually had a wall of arcade games. Restaurants also routinely had a few games.

Now the only place that has any arcade games in the town I live in is a laundromat with two games, SFII with a busted monitor, and some racing game I can't remember the name of.

very true, i remember those days

acually now that i think about it we do have a few movie theaters around here that have a few arcade machines.

[Sonicwolf]

The closest arcade to my house just added a magnetic rechargable game card system which is superior to their old coin crap. Its definately a lot more modern now.

[Arcade_Ness]

I feel lucky to live in Austin, since we have one of the few arcades in the states that had a SF 4 machine. They have all the latest fighting games: BlazBlue, SF 4, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, King of Fighters XII, Arcana Heart 2, Tekken 6,some new Gundam fighting game, Ultimate MK 3, Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and SF Third Strike. In addition there's two old school cabinets with Burger Time, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc. Only problem is one of the joysticks is all wonky. There's also Death Smiles, though it's a dollar a game >.<

Also they have like two multi-game cabinets with Metal Slug, Twinkle Star Sprites, Vampire Savior, Mega Man Wily Wars, and some I can't remember. Then there is a Time Crisis cabinet near the entrance, next to Intial D, and a crane machine. Finally there is an In the Groove 2 machine with custom tracks, including anime, videogame, other music from DDR, and wtf additions like the theme to Duck Tales, Chipmunks, and Lazy Town tunes.

The Arcade uses real money as in quarters and dollar coins. There was a huge fighting game tournament earlier this month. Best arcade I've been to.

[Aswald]

Back in the 1980s (early), we had a small arcade about a mile from where I used to live. It was a small place, and it had the following games:

Zaxxon
Donkey Kong
Dig Dug
Astro Fighter
Turbo
Robotron: 2084
Joust
Warlords
Make Trax
Lunar Lander
SNAP JACK!
Defender: Stargate

And at a local grocery store, just as close by:

Star Wars
Mega Zone

Back then, there were quite a few such arcades, and of course many places had a few machines, too- at the Westchester Mall several miles away, you could find these (in or right around the place):

Kangaroo
Gorf
Vanguard
Space Firebird
Berzerk
Wizard of Wor
Space Invaders
Galaxian

Naturally, you'd have to walk around to play them all; who said these games prevented you from getting any exercise? Hell, we biked 15 miles to get to this one arcade in 1983.

(You might still find B&W vector games, but I would imagine that it would be much more difficult to find color vector games, since the monitors were prone to burn.)

[Baloo]

I feel lucky to live in Austin, since we have one of the few arcades in the states that had a SF 4 machine. They have all the latest fighting games: BlazBlue, SF 4, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, King of Fighters XII, Arcana Heart 2, Tekken 6,some new Gundam fighting game, Ultimate MK 3, Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, Marvel vs Capcom 2, and SF Third Strike. In addition there's two old school cabinets with Burger Time, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc. Only problem is one of the joysticks is all wonky. There's also Death Smiles, though it's a dollar a game >.<

Also they have like two multi-game cabinets with Metal Slug, Twinkle Star Sprites, Vampire Savior, Mega Man Wily Wars, and some I can't remember. Then there is a Time Crisis cabinet near the entrance, next to Intial D, and a crane machine. Finally there is an In the Groove 2 machine with custom tracks, including anime, videogame, other music from DDR, and wtf additions like the theme to Duck Tales, Chipmunks, and Lazy Town tunes.

The Arcade uses real money as in quarters and dollar coins. There was a huge fighting game tournament earlier this month. Best arcade I've been to.

Yeah, there's an arcade near me that has two SF IV machines, for two player action. Awesome stuff. Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, Arcana Heart, Capcom vs. SNK Millenium Fight, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, all kinds of fighting games. Too bad the arcade is in a bad neighborhood.

[Volcanon]

We used to have a great japanese style arcade that took quarters. Its gone now and all we have are some sad machines at movie theatres.


Japanese arcades are good with a lot of great games, except:
1 ) full of cigarette smoke
2 ) very very expensive. Mario Kart was $2 a play, for example. The VERY cheapest games in Japan are 50 cents, with most $1. I think the difficulty is cranked down a bit, as I almost beat Soul Caliber 3 the first time I played it in Akiba, but still, the way the machines are set up you can't not let somebody join in, and of course I pretty much insta-lose whenever somebody who actually knows the combos and cheese attacks joins in.

[NayusDante]

SO.... Me and a friend were on the way to see Terminator when we see a big yellow sign.

"ARCADE"

It wasn't there LAST week... We now have an obligation to check it out. This one's closer to us than any of the ones I know of around here. Imagine that, opening an arcade in a small town, in this economy. I can only hope for the best here, maybe I'll check it out next weekend.

[Aswald]

Judging by the posts here, overall, it does not appear as though arcades- at least not in the way I'm thinking- are doing all that well.

There were several things that made them so appealing to us back then:

1) NEW Games. Obviously, "previews" for new arcade games that would appear on your system could be found here. Of course, it did depend on what system you owned, although a number of such games could appear on more than one, such as Q*Bert.

2) New Games 2. Especially back from 1979 through 1983, the technology of such games had greatly increased. Just a few years before, a Pong game with FOUR players, and colored plastic overlays(!), was cool.

3) A chance to get away from home and hang out with one's friends without being bothered by parents.

4) Experience you could only get at an arcade. This included things like laserdisc games, games with several steering wheels, fancy light guns, etc.

5) No matter what the boast, for many years arcade game technology was ahead of home technology. Even with the top two systems of the early 1980s- the CV and 5200- you could not hope to get a "perfect" Zaxxon.


Today's arcades would likely be in serious trouble with 1-2. Arcades are much more limited in the genres of games they can have: a Wizardry-style game would not be practical, even today. Problem is, it becomes harder and harder every year to come up with something original for the arcade scene, because every time a new idea is used (e.g. Q*Bert), that's one less original idea for the future. In 2009, this is more of a problem than ever.
Another problem seems to be variety. In the earlier years, there was a much greater variety of games in arcades, so it was more likely you'd find something you'd like. This is something I cannot understand: for almost two decades now, there have been those one-on-one fighting games easily found in arcades. Why not other genres, like Pac-Man style games, or the other kinds you'd find back in the mid-1980s? Aside from graphics and maybe some complexity, what is REALLY the difference between a modern one-on-one fighting game and the original Street Fighter 2?

Maybe #3 is not as big a deal as it was 30 years ago? This I don't know.

As for 4- given cost consideration and space, wouldn't this still be a factor favoring the arcades?

Judging by what I've seen of the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3, it seems as though the difference in ability is becoming academic. (1.2 million or 2 million colors, what would be the difference, really?)

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

[NayusDante]

The place my family stayed on our recent vacation had a surprisingly good arcade, with everything set to freeplay for $20 all-day access. I initially found it odd that there were no fighters whatsoever (there's usually at least a Tekken, Soul Calibur, or a Street Fighter), but it made up in more unique and seldom seen things.

The first thing I noticed was a Crazy Taxi High Roller, which I've never actually seen in a cabinet (I still prefer a DC/Xbox pad for making craaazy money). Controls were nice, responsive, unlike the Crazy Taxi at Treasure Island Fun Center, which has seen some rough drivers.

After that, I played ALL THE WAY through Zombie Revenge. I've been looking for this one on DC, so I was glad to see it. In fact, the whole lefthand room was Sega stuff. There's a Sega flight simulator that's actually darn cool, mixing realistic M$ flight sim gameplay with arcade goals like rings and landings, with several switches for flaps, etc. I'd really like to see more games like that one.

Middle room was all racers. They had the usual Sled Storm and the like, but I sat down to the Ridge Racer V unit. I'm not normally into racers, but this felt arcadeish enough. I don't think I played anything else in that room.

On the right was the light-gun room. THIS is where I got my money's worth, especially since I was dual-wielding on things like LA Machineguns, Star Trek Voyager, Ninja Assault, and more that I can't remember. There was a recent Gauntlet machine (Dark Legacy?), a stray racing one, and a unique looking katana game with foam sword controller being the only non-shooters in the room. The sword one was too much of a gimmick, and not enough substance, feeling about as awkward as Red Steel, if not more. What REALLY made me happy was the machine tucked into the corner, almost hidden.

I've seen a ton of those yellow helmet things with Beachhead 2000, and sometimes Mechwarrior 4, but MW is never installed on the damn thing. This machine, however, was the same thing as a sit-down unit, with flightstick controls in place of the awkward Virtual Boy looking setup. It had Mechwarrior, so I knew I'd be sitting there for a few hours. What blew my mind was that the darn thing was a MOTION SEAT. I now know what it feels like to walk the rough terrain while blasting mechs. The game was a stripped down Mechwarrior with no customization or mech selection, but the core idea of mech fighting was there, and it felt freaking awesome.


The thing is, this wasn't a typical arcade, it was part of a larger property. Disney does similar arcades as side-attractions at their lodging. It's not a business itself, so it can afford to be a little different. There were NO TICKET GAMES, just two cranes with plush toys and candy, which took quarters. On that note, it was the closest thing to a pure video arcade that I've ever seen.


Also, while not specifically an arcade, I saw a restaurant with more than a few games, mostly pinball. What struck me as odd was the coin pusher. If you've been to a ticket-oriented arcade, I'm sure you've seen the machine that pushes coins toward the edge as you drop them, dispensing tickets in proportion to how many tokens fall. They had two of those, which were filled with quarters, not tokens (with a change machine next to it). Instead of dispensing tickets, YOU GET THE QUARTERS THAT FALL. Oh, and there were "prizes" mixed in with the quarters. A folded up $10, a folded up $5, cart-only DS games (kids stuff), and somehow a bottle cap made it in there. Of course, my first assumption is "oh no, they're introducing gambling to the kids." It's darn hard to argue otherwise, but then I noticed a paper taped to the machines. "This machine complies with FL electronic amusement regulation #XXXXX..." Below that line, "CANDY - $0.25!"

There was a bucket on top of each machine. Filled with candy. I've seen this tactic before, except it was the other way around: you coudn't buy a bottle of Bawls at the local anime convention, but the "raffle tickets" came with one, due to concession laws.

Now I know where the "creativity" in arcades went.

[Aswald]

To be fair, it is increasingly difficult for arcade programmers to come up with anything original.

What I don't understand is why, with today's machines containing so much memory and such sharp monitors, arcades don't have multi-game machines- I mean, REAL multi-game machines, with dozens and dozens at least. Whoever holds the licenses would make some extra cash, and since you'd have a much greater variety, and nostalgia, the arcades would likely draw more people. Hell, I'd make an effort to get to the mall (30 miles) a couple of times to play Tempest, Snap Jack, Astro Fighter, Fitter, and others.

[kainemaxwell]

The Rockaway and Willowbrook Malls near me lost their arcades over 1-2 years ago.

[ubersaurus]

We still have a couple arcades hanging around, though nothing spectacular...

There's an arcade up on Oakland Mall in Clawson, which has some DDR, Tekken 6, a couple other fighters, racers, etc. it's notable not for its selection, but because it actually maintains their machines. How sad is it that maintenance is a selling point now?

There's what is known as Butterfly, which has a large selection of games from all eras, which are rarely, if ever, maintained. They make their money off the bar section and the minigolf section of the building, so I suppose there is less desire to keep their machines up and running properly.

Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum is technically an arcade, though his video game selection is limited to DDR, Simpsons arcade, and a few racers. Couple pinball machines and mostly old, old mechanical stuff. Considering its his private collection, everything is maintained well, and I can't complain too much on the depth of gaming.

Pinball Pete's in Ann Arbor is huge, and has a game selection almost as good as Butterfly's. Their maintenance schedule is kind of haphazard though; it seems they repair their stuff in a clump every few months. Still, they have a lot of pinball, lots of classic games, fighters...even a few shooters, like Border Down and Raiden Fighters. If they updated their game library more often, they'd be pretty fantastic.

Almost forgot! The nearby flea market, Taylortown, has an arcade section. From what I have gathered, all the machines are for sale, but in the meantime they're out to be played. This doesn't necessarily mean that they all work, but since more and more of them seem to function each time I go over there, I gather the owner is trying to get them into working condition.

Past that, you have some Gameworks, Chuck E. Cheese, etc.

[Vkmies]

I give you 10 bucks if you find a arcade in Finland. There is a few light-gun games on movie theatres, but the only arcade i've ever seen in 10 years was on a theme park... I played bubble bobble there. alot.

[NayusDante]

I drove by that "arcade" that we saw downtown last week. Doesn't open until tomorrow, and it's "Vegas-style." I know I saw a few like that in another part of the state, so I guess they're just applying the "arcade" moniker to legal electronic slots and such.