Today's Arcades

[Rogmeister]

Do you attend the arcade much today? I have to admit I don't. I only know of one in my local area...it's at a shopping mall...and I popped in there the other day. I really saw very few games that interested me...there's no way I'm getting on a horse in a jockey game...and games cost 2 and 3 tokens to play now...and I don't even think you get 4 tokens per dollar anymore. I think overall I am much happier to just stay home and play my own games. I didn't play any games at that arcade...and that could very well ge the last time I step into one. I should also mention that I found the arcade games a bit spaced out...not as widely spaced as before, but they could probably fit another ten or twelve games into there easily. Now, if they got some classic arcade games, then I'd be going back...

[President Shinron]

true that i went to green acre mall and i went to the arcade and found out that all of the gun games went up to 3 tokens for like house of the dead 1

[NE146]

It really depends on where you're at of course. I'm sure the classic gamers in Portland think it's still great w/ Ground Kontrol (http://www.groundkontrol.com)there for example.

[FurinkanianFrood]

Arcades!!! Where?

Seriously though, if there are arcades in these parts they sure are well hidden......

Arcade machines, yeah, but arcades? Hmmmmmph.

This isn't exactly the middle of nowhere either.

So the answer for me is pretty much never. The closest genuine arcades I can think of are something like 90 minutes away...... right by the Scumbuc....Er very opaque Atlantic.

And the closest shop that had any decent retro and/or import selection that I know of (in recent years anyway) I have to go thru a damn toll (stench) tunnel. Not to mention all the wonderful industrial crap in Baltimore that adds to the mystique. Wheeee!!!!

I think all of the arcades and such ran far away when the prez came to live too close by......

Unless the place was loaded with classics it wouldn't matter anyway.

Actually there might be some sort "arcades" that I just wrote off because of the games and have long since forgotten.

[shopkins]

I recently checked out the arcade in the mall in Richmond, KY. In the couple of years since I've been there it seems to have shrunk some. I think they put in a false wall.

Most of the games were lightgun or racing games. They had House of the Dead 2, the first two Silent Scopes, two Time Crisis games and another shooting game, a really fun one that monitored your body position so when you leaned left or ducked the character did it too.

They also had DDR, several sit down racing games, a lightgun target game and a game where you kick a soccer ball. They had at least two fighting games with Soul Calibur 2 and Tekken 5. Most of the games cost three tokens, although some cost two, and you got four tokens for a dollar.

[jdc]

I've never been very good at arcade games. I always suffered from "performance anxiety". LOL But then again, that was before I ever started playing consoles. I'd like to see arcade machines with controllers instead of sticks and big buttons on a dashboard.

Then my intials would probably always be on the high score list. :evil:

[syd]

They used to have two arcades around here, now there's just one, and they're all mostly kiddie games. Like you press the button at the right time and you get tokens to trade in for "prizes".

I don't think there's one classic game in there anymore! Just some dancing stuff and horseback riding last time I checked. Now if there was some Wrestlefest or X-Men in there I'd be there all the time! :evil:

[Lady Jaye]

I sometimes go to the arcade at this bar I go to (yes, the arcade is part of the bar, even though the access is separated by a door within the bar). In fact, I've heard that the whole bar used to be an arcade, which means that the current arcade is a mere fraction of its former size.

The only games there that interest me are the Ultracade cabinet (yeah, I know, Ultracade isn't the greatest in the world, and it's emulation, but at least it's classic gaming in an arcade, right?) and Daytona USA by Sega, a real classic that I still love to play to this day -- for an 11-year-old game, it's surprising to see how common it still is to find it in arcade -- much more so than other, later racing games like Daytona 2, the Crusin' series and the San Francisco Rush series.

There used to be a DDR cab, 3 years ago. Unfortunately, they got rid of it after a while. :( Maybe it was attracting too many teens (the arcade being in a bar, its access is 18+)? Then again, that was back in the day when the arcade was accessible from within the bar too, not just through the bar.

Anyway, it's not a bad little arcade, even though I sure wish they'd get a DDR cab back and bring back at least one pinball machine. And they take tokens, not magnetic cards.

[Sotenga]

Well, the arcade nearest to me used to be rife of all those ticket games and not that much was interesting to play. HOWEVER, sometime last year, they saw fit to give it a complete make over and put the focus more on gaming and prizes. I could not have been more pleased with the result. :D

Let's see what machines I can recall...

Tempest, Donkey Kong, Paperyboy, Star Wars, Ms. Pac Man, Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, Super Don Quixote (!), Dragon's Lair 2, Punch-Out, Zombie Raid, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, House of the Dead, Mortal Kombat 4, SNK vs. Capcom (which I suck badly at on a joystick for some reason), Vindicators, about five pinball machines (I can only remember the Star Wars one), Police Trainer 2, Virtua Cop, your obligatory Dance Dance Revolution Extreme, and even a billiards table for good measure. Oh, and the never-officially released fighter Tenth Degree. All within a mere half-hour drive.

I'm sure that I missed a few things, but that's what I can recall. What really impresses me is all the laserdisk games, and Dragon's Lair is even hooked up to a nice big widescreen TV so bystanders can see how badly I suck at it! LOL

So, my arcade actually changed for the better, unbelievably enough. I agree that most of them are heading downhill nowadays, but that's not the case everywhere. If anything, I'm hoping for a renaissance of the arcade with more obscure games popping up everywhere.

Oh, and I didn't even mention the game room section of this flea market... the only games I can recall from there are Raiden 2, Samurai Shodown V, and the most beautiful sit-down Outrun cabinet I have ever seen. Well, really, the only one, but it's beautiful enough for me.

So, as I said, most arcades are starting to conform to the mainstream, but I can't see that happening with all of them. But just in case it does happen, there's always MAME. :)

[Big Papa Husker]

I have a pretty good arcade in my city. It is a 2 floor arcade, which is pretty nice. It has a Bemani area with about 5 DDR machines, Beatmania IIDX 11 RED, Guitar Freaks 11th Mix/Drummania 10th Mix, and Para Para Paradise 2nd (i think). When you leave that area, there is a large area with ticket based games, including Derby Owners Club World Edition. Then as you go down a little farther there are all the lightgun games as well as racing games. They also have a mini golf course and 'Lazer Tag,' which I suck badly at. :(

Upstairs they have all the arcades, 3 GG games, 6 Capcom and Capcom VS games, older sports arcades, Ultracade, MK1, MK2, UMK3, and air hockey tables. Up there they also have a room that is a Cybercafe with about 16-20 PCs that have the latest games. It is kinda expensive though, after you walk through there there is a line of retro arcades including Ms. Pacman, Pole Position, Centipede and some more I forgot. For some reason they have a Dr. Mario machine and Die Hard Arcade next to the retro arcades... Hmm.. whatever.

There used to be an arcade in every mall in the city. There were probably 4-5, but now there are only this one, and TILT in the mall. If you are ever in Omaha, you should definately check it out. Its a pretty cool arcade if you ask me.

Here is their website, it shows everything they have:

http://familyfuncenter.net/

[FooFighter]

I sometimes check the arcade at the mall in Billings, MT and all they ever have anymore are three types of games: Shooting, Driving, and Fighting. The only thing that changes is what you shoot, what and where you drive, and the moves on the fighters. It is all the same thing over and over. I did like the Crazy Taxi machine they had, but they got rid of that.

I miss the old arcades where there were dozens and dozens of games that were all different.

I just stick to my home arcade.

[Cmosfm]

The only places around here that have arcades are those "all in one" fun park things with golf, go-karts and such. I don't like going to those, the only people that are ever there are 10 year old kids and there parents sitting over in the corner.

But there was a pretty decent one that's about an hour away from me, I'd make the drive now and again just to go there (and a little game hunting), but last time I was there...it was gone. :(

Took a picture of it about a year ago as a matter of fact...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/Cmosfm2/100_1087.jpg

And yes, that's Star Wars Arcade you see in there. ;)

[FooFighter]

Nice, an Alladin's Castle. Thats the arcade I played in when I was growing up. It is still open in Mesa Mall Grand Junction, CO.

I know Namco owns those and they shut down a number of their arcades last year or the year before.

[yuppicide]

I love going to arcades, but not the places that cater to all those kiddie redemption games that give you tickets.

Bowcraft Amusement (http://www.bowcraft.com/) used to be really big. It had an upstairs where most of the newer games were, downstairs with pinballs and classics, and an outdoors section under a huge tent with classics and skiball. I remember going there as a kid in the early 80's and Pinballs were upstairs. As the late 80's went on they got moved to the basement. Outdoors in the tent they had Black Tiger from Capcom. My friend could play that game for a long time on one quarter. They've always had rides and mini-golf, but now the arcade section caters to kiddies too.

8 On The Break (http://www.thebreak.net) - This place has always been decent. This guy Ed used to own it originally then it's current owner Chris took it over. He's been changing with the times.. fighting games, dancing games, but still has pinballs that are usually well maintained, and classics. They have one pool table up front and 2 or 3 in the back. He's got about 8 pinballs that vary from time to time and there's a club that has weekly pinball tournaments. There's also tournaments for fighting games and dancing games. The Street Fighter East Coast Championships was started here and it attracts players from the whole east coast. They have a whole row of older games (about 7 or 8) with more mixed inbetween the newer stuff. They also rent out games and he repairs them.

Pinball Parlour (http://www.pinball-parlour.com/index.php) - Man, this place looks great. I've never gotten out there yet, as it's in PA about an hour away from me. They currently have 51 pinball machines, 28 video games, and 8 other machines. They are open 7pm-10pm mon-fri and saturday 7-11. $6 an hour or $15 for the whole night. All games on free play. They also host a pinball league.

There's another place in North Jersey off Route 17 I think. I forget exactly, but it's up where my friend works. I've never been in there.

Searching their website, I just found Video Video in Morristown, NJ closed in March of this year. :( They had a video store with pinball machines and a league going but due to "impossible zoning regulations" they had to remove their pinballs and close the store. :(

[kainemaxwell]

Arcade at my mall is kinda sucky. mostly the big machines, DDR, 2 versions of Guitar Freaks, sitdown games and maybe a couple stand-alone machines. they just got rid of Initial D though so I'm sad. :(

Arcade at the Willowbrook Mall's much better.

[Policenaut]

I work at Time Out as personnel supervisor, and I must say that the arcade experience is totally different than console gaming. In this day and age we get games with better graphics and other genres like rpg's at home that are not found at the arcades. Otherwise, the simulation experience is way lot better at the arcade than at home. Some good explanations of arcade games that are better than home (in terms or simulation) are Ferrari F355 Challenge, or Final Furlong, or Time Crisis III.

[GaijinPunch]

Where's that Aladin's Castle? They had them some looooong ass time ago in one of the more ghetto malls in Dallas. Man, the good old days, when the US had good arcades. Now they're just ass.

[XxMe2NiKxX]

There's a good (albeit small) one near my house... too many fighting games, though.

[RetroYoungen]

I've been pretty lucky in terms of arcades. There's a small one in the local mall here, but my school is very close to a Scandia miniature golf course, and their arcade is EXCELLENT. One small wing of the layout is dedicated to pinball machines (where I got six free games IN A ROW playing the South Park pin), a small area with single-token games, many of them classics (Robotron 2084, Joust, Wheel of Forture, a broken Paperboy, Missile Command, Mr. Driller 2 thrown in), a section with games like Skee-Ball and those basketball hoops games and a DDR machine...

And it's near my SCHOOL. 8-)

I am a lucky bastard. And two days a week I only have one class, so I head down there and drop a couple bucks.

Is this enough of my being a bastard? LOL


Nice, an Alladin's Castle. Thats the arcade I played in when I was growing up. It is still open in Mesa Mall Grand Junction, CO.

Dude that was a pretty nice one, I go to visit my grandma and we can hit that place.

[GaijinPunch]

I've been pretty lucky in terms of arcades.

It's utterly depressing now. When I first moved to Japan (I was actually on a game hiatus) I lived in a place called Meidaimae. It kinda sucked, but there were two used game shops, and 4 arcades all within a 5 minute walk.
http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~k-nishi/tgm/meidaimae.html

I then moved about a 10 minute bicycle ride (and 3 years later a 3 minute bike ride) from Shibuya, where there are a total of 17 game centers! Game Inn Mitoya (#4 on the map) was kind of my home base. I would pop in there before going to the gym. The manager even knows me, and would play my ass at VF4 from time to time. He even gave me some freebies.
http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~k-nishi/tgm/sibuya.html

Then, there is of course Akihabara, where there are amazingly enough, fewer arcades than Shibuya, but they've got Hey! which is shooter heaven.
http://dynamic5.gamespy.com/~japangaming/akimap.php

On the whole, I don't think I've ever been into a Japanese arcade that didn't have at least a small section devoted to retro games. Try Amusement Tower in Akihabara has 3 floors of old school games.

Man... revisiting that time can be painful.

[Sothy]

I miss walking into the local arcade and seeing soem new obscure titles every month or so.

Like oh cool a new game on the neo geo cab or wtf is this PACKRAT? gotta try that.

I remember the sign COMING SOON TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES! we came in every day after school IS IT HERE IS IT? took like a month or 2 which of course was eternity but damn did we play that game.

THAT WAS MY PIZZA YOU ASSHOLE YOU GOT THE LAST ONE!!!
*Fistfight ensues*

And Mortla Kombat II... musta put 400 bux in that summer. Nah even when you see an arcade game you never saw before nowadays it isnt the same because you know its going to be a stupid simulation fighting or dancing music game thing.

[GrandAmChandler]

I agree with sothy on all accounts. Seeing that crazy new random cab that was only a quarter is worth testing out! Now 4 or 5 quarters for 30 seconds of generic fun is not worth it. I will only play arcade games once in a great while and usually it's the ms. pacman / galaga anniversary type cab. On that or pinball. I am a sucker for pinball.

I miss the following the most:

Rampage (the original)
X-men
Simpsons
TMNT
Pole Position sit down cab.
More than 20 pinball machines all lined up next to each other.

And Sothy, that was MY pizza! I ate it while you were killing some d00dz! LOL jk

[racecar]

...it's depressing to see all the local arcade closing..in my area..but i brought alot of stuff from them

anyway ..i only drop by the arcade to played racing game's(farrari 355, sega gt, and that game(rally) with the suburu..i don't like initialD)
..and sometime a fighting game(only challenge other people..that way i get more playing when i beat them..and i'll give them the second round ..just so i can beat them on the 3rd) :evil: ..
the new gen system(sony, microsoft, gcube ) are killing the arcade scene..who need's to leave the house to played tekken5 when you can played it @ home :roll:

[Tron 2.0]

About the only arcade that's in my town is Fun'n Games.

There dead to me any ways DDR,Light Gun Games and fighters that have been ported home, all ready no thanks -_-

Heck the truck stops get better games then they do ;)

[Flack]

I missed this one earlier and it's gone on long enough that I won't lock it, but check out these other arcade related topics.

the sad state of today's arcades
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19474

No arcades!
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21813

Arcade Scene, U.S.A.; Just How Bad Is It?
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24921

Weird Night.
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27012

Arcade Reviews
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36305

Any 'older' Arcades still alive in your area?
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47514

The Modern Arcade
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56616