Are arcades dead to you?

[AndrewTS 0]

I was discussing with Anya about the rather poor state of arcades, at least around me. There's one arcade that's kind of decent round where I live. However, they usually don't have much to speak off, their Tekken 5 / DR seemingly was there and gone pretty quickly.

 

I checked it today, and nearly everything is a gun game: Silent Scope EX, Ghost Squad, House of the Dead 1, Virtua Cop 1, Deer Hunter, and Time Crisis 2 were present. Not a single fighting game. It had Daytona 2, skeeball and air hockey, though.

 

However, despite being open like a half hour, half the machines weren't even turned on.

 

How are they around you? Do you ever make use of them? Are they sometimes-good then get rid of the good/new stuff all the time as well?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I can't recall even seeing an arcade in the last five years or so. I had no idea they were even still around.

[Dandy 0]

A new type of arcade/fun center opened here within the last year. I have not been in it at all, and it is geared toward the younger crowd. From what I gather, it has Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox, PS2, Wii, other gaming systems, arcade games, air hockey, and the "nets, slides, and balls" playthings like in a McDonald's. I thought that was an interesting new direction for arcades to go, renting out time to play consoles.

 

 

At least I think that is what they do. I have no interest going into the place.

[World's Worst Man 0]

The arcade that I used to go to as a child was originally of moderate size, located in a fairly large mall, but at some point they ended up expanding to an extra large area next door, so it ended up being a pretty good sized arcade. It was well decorated, dark and had tons of games. They had all of the staples of arcade gaming - SF2 variants, MK variants, Virtua Fighter 1 and 2, Virtual On, that game where one person drove and the other used the gun, X-Men arcade, etc. I last went there 18 months ago, and it had been moved to a small corner at one of the minor entrances to the mall, to a small room with plain gray carpet, white walls with nothing on them and a few fluorescent lightbulbs. They had maybe 10 machines, including DDR, Tekken 4, DOA2 (yes, DOA TWO), a couple of unrecognizable beat 'em ups/shooters,a Marvel vs. Street Fighter, and some other stuff that I don't even remember. I went a year later and the place was closed for good. It was quite a fall from grace, and total microcosm of the arcade business.

 

Now, there is/was a Sega City/Playdium near me, which is basically a gigantic arcade that you have to pay to get in. They had lots of cool stuff when I went there back in the 90's, but I'm unsure of how it is now. I'm pretty sure it's still up and running, I should probably go there sometime. It's hard to get the motivation though, because I basically suck at using arcade sticks for fighting games, and fighting games are the main thing I'd like to play there.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

For all intensive purposes, they are dead to me. I may go to our 1 arcade we have here if I'm killing some time before a movie, and even then, my visits are few and far between.

[Black Lushus 0]

Our Family Fun Center here has been around for 20+ years and is still going pretty strong. The management staff is loaded with big time video game nerds who go above and beyond to the latest and greatest into their building.

 

At one point in the early 2000s, they were one of the few non-California, non-Hawaii arcades to be able to boast about having all the Bemani games: The latest DDR Mixes (they usually have 6 machines, different mixes), Guitar Freaks, Drummania, Keyboard Mania (complete with sesssion mode hookup between the 3), Beatmania, Para Para Paradise (2 machines hooked together)...point being, they jump through the biggest of hoops to keep current with Japan.

 

I haven't been there in well over a year, but I know two of the managers and they always keep me up to speed on things.

 

They have great mix of fighting games (just got Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core), Music games, racing games, gun games, etc.

[Ripper 0]

The arcades left only have fighting games and gun games. Although this one has like every fucking fighting game I could remember for a good while. All the virtual fighters and Tekkens, all the Mortal Kombats, about 3 Street Fight 2's (and that movie game) a couple of Street fighter 3's, some fighting games I had never even heard of. It was a pretty big place with about 50 fighting games and gun games in all. I haven't been there in a while though, so it could be closed for all I know.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Fast Eddie's Arcade ruled the downtown area here until Chrysler built a big building downtown that no one uses.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

For me aye, ever since they closed Spanish City down in Whitley Bay I can't even recall seeing an arcade. It's like that moment in time destroyed all arcades ever.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

There's an arcade at the mall about a half hour from me....mostly driving games and shooting games, though they do have a few classics like Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, and maybe a Tekken game or something. Not really my cup of tea.

 

There's a newer "Family Fun Arcade" type place near here, but I haven't checked it out...sounds like it's more of a Chuck E. Cheese type place, so I doubt they have any real video arcade games.

[MrRant 0]

Arcades are dead around here for the most part. About the only place for a variety of games would be Gameworks.

[Ravenbomb 0]

My g/f wanted to go to an arcade type place after prom, and the only ones we could find were Dave & Busters which we couldn't go to because of the age limit, and one that was almost an hour drive, and it didn't have a ton of stuff. I don't think it had any fighting games, mostly shooting games, a DDR, some ski-ball type stuff, and the token games.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Sadly, the arcades many of us knew as kids are gone. There were a few good ones in my youth, too.

 

And no Pong jokes because I have already beaten you all to it.

[devo 0]

Our Family Fun Center here has been around for 20+ years and is still going pretty strong. The management staff is loaded with big time video game nerds who go above and beyond to the latest and greatest into their building.

 

At one point in the early 2000s, they were one of the few non-California, non-Hawaii arcades to be able to boast about having all the Bemani games: The latest DDR Mixes (they usually have 6 machines, different mixes), Guitar Freaks, Drummania, Keyboard Mania (complete with sesssion mode hookup between the 3), Beatmania, Para Para Paradise (2 machines hooked together)...point being, they jump through the biggest of hoops to keep current with Japan.

 

Lucky bastard. I'd kill to play Super Session.

[Black Lushus 0]

Our Family Fun Center here has been around for 20+ years and is still going pretty strong. The management staff is loaded with big time video game nerds who go above and beyond to the latest and greatest into their building.

 

At one point in the early 2000s, they were one of the few non-California, non-Hawaii arcades to be able to boast about having all the Bemani games: The latest DDR Mixes (they usually have 6 machines, different mixes), Guitar Freaks, Drummania, Keyboard Mania (complete with sesssion mode hookup between the 3), Beatmania, Para Para Paradise (2 machines hooked together)...point being, they jump through the biggest of hoops to keep current with Japan.

 

Lucky bastard. I'd kill to play Super Session.

 

people could never get it right...but the concept is cool.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I loved arcades as a kid. The time of Vigalante, TMNT, Double Dragon 1 and 2, Hard Driving, and more old shit. Today it's just not as fun. For starters they're pricing kids out of going to the arcades.

 

Although I love playing the ambulance driving game, don't recall the name offhand

[Black Lushus 0]

one of my favorite arcade moments, playing TMNT with 3 other people from start to finish back when it first came out...only did that once in my life.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

As long as there's still one arcade with Mo-Cap Boxing in it, I'll be happy.

[Black Lushus 0]

As long as there's still one arcade with Mo-Cap Boxing in it, I'll be happy.

 

as far as I know, the place I mentioned still has it.

[Anya 0]

Although I love playing the ambulance driving game, don't recall the name offhand

 

 

Emergency Call Ambulance.

[CanadianChris 0]

The last arcade here closed a couple of years ago. I was pissed, considering it was the only place I'd seen in years that had a working Terminator 2 pinball machine.

 

I remember when I was 10, the arcade was giving out free games for every A on your report card. I must have spent 2 solid hours playing High Speed. My favourite moment, though, had to be being the first NBA Jam grand champion on the machine in my university game room.

[Carnival 0]

I hate arcades

 

I don't care to elaborate.

[Aero 0]

No arcades anywhere around here. The closest thing would be the movie theater that still has about 5-8 machines, including the Simpsons Arcade game. Everything else is either shooting or racing.

[Golgo 13 0]

It's not bad here especially if you include places like Dave & Busters. Though there aren't any really good ones in my part of the city and it's not worth it to go out of my way.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

The only arcade locally was demolished here almost 2 years ago to make room for a Dicks Sporting Goods at the mall after they relocated the movie theatre to a new location at the mall. Im assuming I could hit the arcade at the boardwalk in OC but Im not going to OC anytime soon, so yeah.

[Ced 0]

The closest one to me is the Golfland/Sunsplash in Roseville. The condition of the arcade is continuously shoddy due to regular maintenance staff turnover and the huge influx of kids/teens with little respect of property that's not their own.

 

The rec room at Sac State is my choice arcade for the time being. The small selection of fighters, DrumMania, Initial D and occasional game of 9-Ball is enough to keep me satisfied. I'd make more trips to the Milipitas Golfland if it wasn't too far out from where I live.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I love playing racing games at arcades, even if I was never the best at them. I haven't explored that much in the way of arcades in Portland, but there was one my friends ALWAYS went to called Family Fun over in Granada Hills. They're open late as hell too, and had all the Bemani games before they got popular. They have a good balance of gun, racing, and weird foreign games. I dig those.

 

I know there's a big video game scene here, and probably the best example of an arcade I can think of here would be Ground Kontrol. For the over 21 set, it's the best thing you can hope for. Check out their website: http://www.groundkontrol.com/

 

The only arcade I know of with an entire second floor dedicated to pinball machines, and the first floor serving a bar and with all retro arcade games. Nothing quite like grabbing a pint of PBR and rocking the South Park pinball machine for a while when you're bored. They have a lot of live DJs and shit play there, so on the weekends it can almost resemble a nightclub kind of atmosphere.

[Black Lushus 0]

I hate arcades

 

I don't care to elaborate.

 

LOLZ

[Renegade 0]

As much as it pains me to say it, yes arcades are dead to me now. I came to this realisation about 2 to 3 years ago. It became futile to try and support something that the owners and game companies had abandoned long ago. Broken down unplayable joysticks, lack of new machines (besides the odd “new random lightgun game!”) and the same four DDR/Pump machines on every floor left very little reason to come back.

 

How I long for the golden age in the early to mid 90s when Sega and Capcom had all the bases covered.

[AndrewTS 0]

When I was really little the rollerskating rink was *the* arcade: The Simpson, Moonwalker, Street Fighter 2, TMNT--good times.

 

Eventually it closed and was demolished, and currently is a car lot. About the time it disappeared the mall got a Pocket Change, which stayed around throughout most of the 90s. I remember first playing Darkstalkers there and being blown away. I pumped lost of quarters into X-Men vs. Street Fighter, too.

 

When it closed, there was *nothing* around for a while, but out of town I found a mini-golf course that had lots of good machines--Super Turbo, X-Men vs. SF, and some beat 'em up (X-Men) I think. Based on what a friend who lived closer in the area told me, apparently it was burned down as part of an insurance scheme, and the land sold off for storage garages. I have no idea where the arcade machines went--probably privately sold under the table before torching, as I remember at least the Street Fighter machine was for sale.

 

My current arcade opened a few years ago, and its stuff has rotated to a ridiculous degree. It once had Tekken 5 and Soul Calibur, now it's new and old random lightgun games.

 

Hell, even the DDR is gone, which seems insane.

 

Malls around me have mini-arcades that are pretty much tiny single-rooms with one showpiece game (DDR, for instance) and a bunch of random old games like pinball, iron claw machines, and Crisis Zone.

 

House of the Dead machines are seemingly everywhere too, like a horrible plague. Movie theaters seem to all have that one, along with other junk like Police Trainer and Deer Hunter.