YoshiM
09-15-2003, 09:52 AM
Just figured I'd share two experiences showing that retro gaming is definitely not some fad (though I know most everyone here would agree with me anyway).
About two weeks ago I stopped in at a Checker auto parts store to get glue to reattach my rearview mirror in my van. I was wearing my "Know Your Roots" NES shirt at the time. Walked up to the counter and the gal smiled when she saw my shirt.
"Oh! I just got a Nintendo off of eBay! I love those games!"
Cool.
Move onto last Saturday. Stopped in at EB to check out some stuff and was looking through the SNES games. Gal walked up next to me and asked if the games were for the regular Nintendo, pointing to the NES carts next to the SNES section. I said yes and she began to dig through, picking out games like Wheel of Fortune and Donkey Kong Classic. She said she was scouring the area for a NES and she finally found one in the paper (she doesn't have a computer) and the guy said many people sell their stuff online. So with that she happily took her stack of games to the counter and paid even though some of the titles were a little on the high side.
That's pretty cool-people actually going out of their way to find and get classic hardware from their youth. And not just to collect, but to PLAY.
Now another little tid bit- it looks as though American arcades are on the path to past glory. The Aladdin's Castle in town has been the worst arcade to get new machines since the early to mid 90's. Any "new" games were usually 2 or 3 years old already and usually other Aladdin's Castles got the newer stuff than this backwater place. Anyway I walked in yesterday and saw a couple brand new (as in 2003) games. One was a gun game whose name I can't recall and I think it centered around the Army. The other new game was a beat-em-up called Demolition Fist by Sammy. The best way to describe this is that it's a 3D version of Final Fight. Pick from 4 characters of different looks and abilities then have at it against various gang members. You walk about, smacking bad guys (whose difficulty is indicated by their clothing color-yep it's palette swapping all over again) and picking up power ups and weapons (crates, motorcycles, cars, knives) to attack or throw at your opponents. It's a 2 player simultanious game with three buttons to use : Guard, Attack and Jump. Press all three and you do knockback damage to everyone around you. When your combat meter (from beating up enemies) is full, you can unleash a flurry of powerful attacks by also hitting all three buttons.
It has about the same pace as Final Fight, but it's just as fun. There are some oddball characters like these big bloated Tele Tubby looking baby-people that wear teddy bear backbacks, do butt-bump attacks, and spew green vapor at you and a boss that uses a big motor on his back (that he pull starts) to unleash attacks. The machine itself is cute: short (need to sit on a stool to actually play), colored white and red with the coin slot on the control console.
While this is not a sign that arcades are on a comeback but when THIS Castle gets recent games one can relate it to Hell freezing over. Still, it's good to see a game that goes back to basics and not be another gun/driving/redemption machine.
About two weeks ago I stopped in at a Checker auto parts store to get glue to reattach my rearview mirror in my van. I was wearing my "Know Your Roots" NES shirt at the time. Walked up to the counter and the gal smiled when she saw my shirt.
"Oh! I just got a Nintendo off of eBay! I love those games!"
Cool.
Move onto last Saturday. Stopped in at EB to check out some stuff and was looking through the SNES games. Gal walked up next to me and asked if the games were for the regular Nintendo, pointing to the NES carts next to the SNES section. I said yes and she began to dig through, picking out games like Wheel of Fortune and Donkey Kong Classic. She said she was scouring the area for a NES and she finally found one in the paper (she doesn't have a computer) and the guy said many people sell their stuff online. So with that she happily took her stack of games to the counter and paid even though some of the titles were a little on the high side.
That's pretty cool-people actually going out of their way to find and get classic hardware from their youth. And not just to collect, but to PLAY.
Now another little tid bit- it looks as though American arcades are on the path to past glory. The Aladdin's Castle in town has been the worst arcade to get new machines since the early to mid 90's. Any "new" games were usually 2 or 3 years old already and usually other Aladdin's Castles got the newer stuff than this backwater place. Anyway I walked in yesterday and saw a couple brand new (as in 2003) games. One was a gun game whose name I can't recall and I think it centered around the Army. The other new game was a beat-em-up called Demolition Fist by Sammy. The best way to describe this is that it's a 3D version of Final Fight. Pick from 4 characters of different looks and abilities then have at it against various gang members. You walk about, smacking bad guys (whose difficulty is indicated by their clothing color-yep it's palette swapping all over again) and picking up power ups and weapons (crates, motorcycles, cars, knives) to attack or throw at your opponents. It's a 2 player simultanious game with three buttons to use : Guard, Attack and Jump. Press all three and you do knockback damage to everyone around you. When your combat meter (from beating up enemies) is full, you can unleash a flurry of powerful attacks by also hitting all three buttons.
It has about the same pace as Final Fight, but it's just as fun. There are some oddball characters like these big bloated Tele Tubby looking baby-people that wear teddy bear backbacks, do butt-bump attacks, and spew green vapor at you and a boss that uses a big motor on his back (that he pull starts) to unleash attacks. The machine itself is cute: short (need to sit on a stool to actually play), colored white and red with the coin slot on the control console.
While this is not a sign that arcades are on a comeback but when THIS Castle gets recent games one can relate it to Hell freezing over. Still, it's good to see a game that goes back to basics and not be another gun/driving/redemption machine.