So I was in the only arcade...

[ShenmueFan]

...up here near where I live and to be honest I haven't stepped foot in an arcade in probably 6 or 7 years. It's probably been nearly a decade since I dumped a lot of money into them.

Point is, I went into this arcade which used to have tons of great games like Tekken 2, VF (original), Galaga 88, Neo Geo (tons of different titles), Daytona USA, Alpine Racer, etc.

Now, all they have is like 3 Dance Dance Revolution games, an old Sega Jurassic Park booth game and crappy little unkown titles everywhere. Half of the cabinets must be gone altogether.

Oh, and goth/emo kids :texaschain: :band: are everywhere and must use it as a hangout/spawning ground!!!

What has happened to the arcade scene? Anybody have a GOOD arcade near them anymore???

[The_4th_Survivor]

As much as I don't like to admit it, the video game arcade scene is pretty much *dead* in most parts of the USA that even have an inkling of people who are at least a bit knowledgeable about usage of the internet or how to buy stuff at electronic stores.

Additionally, with such powerful home video game consoles, a lot of people can simply opt to wait for the games to come out for whatever system they have.

Unfortunately, the time of the video game arcade seems to have gone to ride down the sunset.

The only way that arcades of yesteryear can come back would be if there was someone was willing to dedicate space, time and funding in order to run it.

[DigitalSpace]

Portland has an awesome place called Ground Kontrol (http://www.groundkontrol.com/). I last went there in mid-february. A great selection of games and pinball machines.

[Push Upstairs]

There is this awesome Aliens shooter game in the arcade near me.

Too bad I'm hesitant to drop a whole dollar to play it. :-/


I'm a huge "Aliens" fan, why must it be a buck per play???

[Lady Jaye]

No Daytona USA in that arcade? That's odd -- here in Montreal, it's actually the most commonly found arcade game...

[ShenmueFan]

No Daytona USA in that arcade? That's odd -- here in Montreal, it's actually the most commonly found arcade game...

Daytona - GONE! I know! WTF?

What's worse is that there wasn't ONE NeoGeo cabinet. Not ONE!!!

[smork]

I was just in a hella sweet arcade this last weekend, maybe 100 cabs, lots of good, recent stuff and some old stuff, too. Few shooters (Senko no Ronde was there, plus Blazing Star, and the ubiquitous Raiden Fighters Jet), tons of fighters of all stripes, lots of racing cabs (Sadly no Outrun 2). I'm overseas, tho.

Houston (where I am originally from) has a few decent arcades left, but they require some digging. Most of them have only older consoles, which is right up my alley anyway.

But yeah, I think in the US the big issue with arcades is the super powerful consoles present in most people's homes, at least most people who care about gaming. It's certainly no longer 1983, or even 1993.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[TurboGenesis]

...up here near where I live and to be honest I haven't stepped foot in an arcade in probably 6 or 7 years. It's probably been nearly a decade since I dumped a lot of money into them.

Point is, I went into this arcade which used to have tons of great games like Tekken 2, VF (original), Galaga 88, Neo Geo (tons of different titles), Daytona USA, Alpine Racer, etc.

Now, all they have is like 3 Dance Dance Revolution games, an old Sega Jurassic Park booth game and crappy little unkown titles everywhere. Half of the cabinets must be gone altogether.

Oh, and goth/emo kids :texaschain: :band: are everywhere and must use it as a hangout/spawning ground!!!

What has happened to the arcade scene? Anybody have a GOOD arcade near them anymore???

Where is this arcade you speak of?

What kind of games are you looking for? There is a Raiden Fighters at Livonia Mall. Pinball Pete's (Ann Arbor) has some cool stuff. My wife used to work for Alpha but she lost her job when they closed down the arcade at Westland mall :( they used to have Strikers 1945 2 there.

A game I personally like, Derby Owner's Club, can be found at TC Gators in Canton but then it IS a bar with loud music and drunk fools, not that there is anything wrong with that ;)

[sav127]

Seaside Heights, NJ boardwalk has a bunch of arcades, but the one on the South Pier I believe has a retro room, where they have every classic game from the 80s and early 90s. You feel like you were transported back to 1992.

Its a great time, and all the games are a quarter.

[cyberfluxor]

Portland has an awesome place called Ground Kontrol (http://www.groundkontrol.com/). I last went there in mid-february. A great selection of games and pinball machines.
Dead link. :(

Never forget one of the best features of GameSpy:
http://arcadelocations.classicgaming.gamespy.com/
Great for spotting those arcades in the wall!

It feels as though this topic is brought up every couple of months and things haven't changed around here. We still have little arcades in the food courts at every mall (and we have several) and of course the high schoolers (which annoy me) are always hanging out there; you can always find goths and DDR. My favorite local spot is still good 'ol Flipper McCoys:
http://emporium.turnpike.net/~ntravel/vabeach/flippers.htm
And of course their arcade listing:
http://arcadelocations.classicgaming.gamespy.com/PlaceSearch.php3?code=vavirfli
Which is still very accurate (Spider-Man has gone away) but still missing some like MK3, Shinobi, Aerofighters, Crusin' Exotica, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Blocks, Mario, Wave Racer (I might be wrong but it's the big arcade with the seadoo), some skater game with a skate board, bunch of skeeball, and over a dozen pinball machines. Of course the list goes on but my favorites are Aerofighters, Bust-A-Move 2 and Assault.

Oh, and they also have some Neo-Geo MVS systems in there, which they haven't rotated any games out in years but if they sell it I'll be sure to grab that cab. :)

[JustRob]

South Florida is horrible for this stuff. South Broward has this place called Flippers, which incidentally is the only place running RHPS...

Maybe about 50 cabs, mostly shit. Anytime I'm there I drop my .50 cents into Area 51 and take the whole 20 minutes to finish the game...god I love that game.

Then we've got the two Boomers places, formerly Grand Prix Race-o-Rama. The place has gone to shit lately. Lots of cabs, mostly DDR and ticket-redemption stuff. It has this one corner of classics in newer generic cabs, but still not so good.

Not sure about down in the Miami-area proper, been awhile since I've had the urge to slum.

[dlopez9069]

I can't belive ya'lls arcades are so lame! out here in San Antonio There are tons of arcades all of which have at least 2 different Tekken Machines Time Crisis 3 or 4 plus tons of games like galaga that go back to the 80's. I enjoy them whenever I have free time

[MegaDrive20XX]

There's too many bad games and less arcades...
Making too many DDR's...
And there's not much love to go round..
Can't you see?
This is an arcade of confusion!

[RCM]

Seaside Heights, NJ boardwalk has a bunch of arcades, but the one on the South Pier I believe has a retro room, where they have every classic game from the 80s and early 90s. You feel like you were transported back to 1992.

Its a great time, and all the games are a quarter.

I haven't been to Seaside in a long time. The arcades are still worth checking out? I went to high school in Point Pleasant so I'd def. shoot down to "Sleaze-side" in the mid to late 90's to play all the juicy model 2 and model 3 games. Good times. Whenever I visit my folks in Point I check out the arcades at Jenkinsons, they pretty much blow.

There are a few ok arcades in NYC, mostly in Chinatown.

[Arcade81]

We have the same problem in Orlando. used to be ALOT of arcades up until 5 years ago. and now Disneyquest is closing. But Im trying to help bring them back-
http://www.abrightideaamusements.com/actionarcade.gif
Its a more modist attempt to Ground Kontrol. It's caled the 80's Action Arcade. Im opening them in resturants in Orlando. We only do games from the 80's . this one has a Mario Bros, Pacland, Supercade(48 way) Trog (very early '90 but programmed in '89), Swimmer, plush crane, And a Xybots. And so far the reception has been very positive!

Check it out on my site
http://www.abrightideaamusements.com

[Guru of Time and Space]

ShenmueFan complaining about something?
No... couldn't be.

-GoTaS

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

:deadhorse:

There's still a Dave and Busters near me, had an amazing new year's party there and we rocked some serious HotD4. That game is just over the top, but impossible to play for longer than 5 minutes without suffering serious arm & wrist pain/injuries.

[kaedesdisciple]

NY, Manhattan, Mott St, Chinatown Fair.

Still has good games, still pretty cheap, still has healthy competition, still pretty dirty. If you're in NYC, you should go.

[ubersaurus]

Where is this arcade you speak of?

What kind of games are you looking for? There is a Raiden Fighters at Livonia Mall. Pinball Pete's (Ann Arbor) has some cool stuff. My wife used to work for Alpha but she lost her job when they closed down the arcade at Westland mall :( they used to have Strikers 1945 2 there.

A game I personally like, Derby Owner's Club, can be found at TC Gators in Canton but then it IS a bar with loud music and drunk fools, not that there is anything wrong with that ;)

There's also the Butterfly on Van Dyke, which has a large selection, although the machines aren't always in the best of shape.

Marvins in Farmington is pretty bitchin too.

[DigitalSpace]

For the newer stuff, there's:

-Wunderland (http://www.wunderlandgames.com/), a local chain. Two locations also have theaters that also show cheap second-run films.
-A Tilt at the Lloyd Center mall
-Two Century Theaters complexes, notable because they both have separate arcade rooms near the lobby you can enter without having to buy a movie ticket.

Arcade81, best of luck with the 80's Action Arcade - that sounds really cool!

[TurboGenesis]

There's also the Butterfly on Van Dyke, which has a large selection, although the machines aren't always in the best of shape.

Marvins in Farmington is pretty bitchin too.

Do they have any shoot them up's at these places? We'll have to check them out sometime!

[boatofcar]

DigitalSpace, I just read about Ground Kontrol in the latest issue of Gameroom Magazine--it looks hella cool! Do you remember what kind of pinball selection they had?

[DigitalSpace]

DigitalSpace, I just read about Ground Kontrol in the latest issue of Gameroom Magazine--it looks hella cool! Do you remember what kind of pinball selection they had?

Most of their top floor was devoted to pinball machines. Lots to choose from too - High Speed, Doctor Who, South Park, Addams Family, Haunted House, and King Pin come to mind. There's a full list on their site.

[ubersaurus]

Do they have any shoot them up's at these places? We'll have to check them out sometime!

It's been a while since i've been to either... As far as I remember, Butterfly had some older shooting games, like gaplus, asteroids, and raiden 2. Marvins had sunset riders and a metal slug, but I don't remember much else in way of that.

It's also of note that there's a rumor going around that Wizzards on 8 mile may be reopening, or a new game place will be opening in the same building, but I haven't heard any confirmation on this yet. Wizzards was a chiefly fighting game arcade(and puzzle fighter!) although they did have a Strikers machine and an ultracade. One could presume that any revived one would have a few shooter games in it's own right.

[Gapporin]

Hey, yer pretty good!

/me gives ShenmueFan a Mini Darts machine.

[ShenmueFan]

^^ I'd rather play Daytona USA! :)

[Haoie]

I go to the arcade 2-3 days a week.

But then again, I only go for DDR. Meep.

[ClassicGameTrader]

For the newer stuff, there's:

-Wunderland (http://www.wunderlandgames.com/), a local chain. Two locations also have theaters that also show cheap second-run films.
-A Tilt at the Lloyd Center mall
-Two Century Theaters complexes, notable because they both have separate arcade rooms near the lobby you can enter without having to buy a movie ticket.

Arcade81, best of luck with the 80's Action Arcade - that sounds really cool!


Anybody from Michigan/Detroit Area remember the Tilt at Lakeside mall? It was 2 levels of awesomeness. It closed a long time ago, I spent a ton of time there as a kid. There was also an EB AND Babbbages right next door along with 3 independant music stores in the mall. Now the EB just closed and the only place in the mall to get games OR music is FYE. WTF happened?

::Sighs::

Those were the days.....

[Overbite]

I live a couple minutes from Funspot, I have no idea what this "dead arcades" scare is all about :P

[Clownzilla]

Where I live in Springfield, Missouri, an arcade named 1984 opened up last year. I't in our progressive (and FAST growing) downtown district. They have a $5 cover charge to play all the games you want. They also sell a card for $20 worth 10 visits ($2 a visit). Obviously, they only carry games from the 80's (with a couple of games from 1990). The two owners (which are brothers) are obsessed with arcade machines and are doing something they truly love. Almost ALL of their games are restored to perfection (cabinet art and everything). Xevious has that crazy picture above the screen, Missile Command has that huge trackball, and Gautlent is in it's huge 4 player cabinet as always (with monthly Gautlent tournaments). They even have an original PONG arcade machine (fully restored). They have around 60 arcade games and four pinball machines (Black Knight 2000 and High Speed included) and they are working on their third expansion. 80's music blaring and a GIANT high score wall of fame showcasing you name in all the glory (for each game) puts icing on the cake. The cool thing is that the place is PACKED on the weekend which brings back some good arcade memories. During the week, business men tend to play games on their lunch break, and for an after-work wind down session. It's the only arcade in town (our population is about 250,000 when you include our suburbs). I hope more of these start showing up elsewhere.