If you owned an arcade...

[Anya 0]

Everyone seems to hate their local arcade...so could you do any better? Let's say you start out with 10 games, what would you have? Remember you want to stay in business so you probably shouldn't let your bias get in the way!

 

1. Marvel vs. Capcom 2

2. Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection

3. Violence Fight 2

4. Time Crisis 4

5. House of the Dead 4

6. Ghost Squad

7. DDR Super Nova

8. Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2

9.Mario Kart Arcade GP

10. Galaga/Ms. Pacman

 

 

Fighting, shooting and racing are the top 3 genres of arcade games. I think I picked the best of the newer games. I'd go to this place at least. I would have put another bemani game but I'm not familiar with them enough to know what's good.

[AndrewTS 0]

I will meditate and then write my own list that will destroy yours.

[Anya 0]

You must defeat Lick Joe to stand a chance.

[Jingus 0]

Heh ha, what was that game called? Yeah, I'd include a couple of shitty games just to balance the good ones out. Oh yeah, Violence Fight, that was it.

 

I think the important thing would be having a good mix of different kinds of games from different eras.

 

1. Street Fighter 2: this one's a gimme. Pick yer favorite version, but most people think that Turbo was the best.

 

2. Crisis Zone: FINALLY, a modern shooter gives us aa fuckin' machine gun to start out with. A great diversion from all the semi-auto sshooters out there.

 

3. Mrs. Pac-Man: you gotta have some old school.

 

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: probably the best side-scrolling fighting game.

 

5. Star Wars Arcade: an awesome flying/shooting game, during the X Wing levels at least.

 

6. Mortal Kombat 2: 1 was cool, 3 and everything past it was too complicated, but 2 was just perfect.

 

7. Zaxxon: ridiculously difficult old skool flying game. If you could make it thru the force field level without loosing a life, you're my god.

 

8. DDR: I give up. Gotta make some money somehow.

 

9.. Any one of those machines that let you pick 10 different old Nintendo games. (But I'd change mine so it doesn't have that damn timer, you only get kicked off when you actually lose all your lives.)

 

10. Ski-ball. Not a video game, I know, but still a vital part of any arcade.

[Anya 0]

Do you honestly think people are going to come to an arcade to play Street Fighter II? Everything you listed is like a decade old.

[Pegasus Kid 0]

Time Crisis 4

House Of The Dead 4

Initial D v4

Mark Kart Arcade GP

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

Marvel vs Capcom 2

Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection

Into The Groove 2

Dance Dance Revolution Super Nova

Drum Mania (I can't recall the latest version, it's in my local arcade)

 

Anya; our picks are very much alike. I was surprised that you didn't have Initial D as it's easily the most played racing game on the planet by a mile.

[EricMM 0]

I would probably have the same Arcade as PK.

 

If anything, I would CHARGE LESS FOR GAMES.

 

And sell sodas and stuff, with trashcans on each side of the machines. Maybe even little counter areas so people wouldn't put their sodas on the machines.

[Jingus 0]

Do you honestly think people are going to come to an arcade to play Street Fighter II? Everything you listed is like a decade old.

I would. And what games have come out in the past few years that are so superior to the old ones that they justify the across-the-board raise in price? You can't find a new game anywhere that takes just a quarter to play, hell it's tough finding one that runs on a mere fitty cents.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

If I ran an arcade it would definitley be retro themed in design so it should certainly have older games in it. I'll have to think this one over after work, though.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

If I owned an arcade, I would shut it off to the public. I wouldn't care what others wanted to play. Just so I don't get accused of derailing this topic, here are the 10 games that popped into my head when I thought of what I spent my money on the most during my arcade years:

 

Golden Axe

Shinobi

Double Dragon

Gauntlet: Dark Legacy

Super High Impact Football

NBA Jam

X-Men (the six player/widescreen version)

Star Wars Pinball Game

Lethal Weapon 3 Pinball Game

Outrunners (the one where you get to pick a bunch of different tracks)

 

And just for the heck of it: That Daytona game where you sat in the seat and chose from three tracks.

 

EDIT: Eric, you would have loved the one arcade I worked at. Along with vending machines, many of the games were a quarter to play, and the ones that were 50 cents were games that were charged even higher rates at other arcades (the Daytona game mentioned above as example: It was 50 cents at my place, yet many other locations had it for $1 per game).

 

Then again, this place was a smoking establishment...

[AndrewTS 0]

Coming up with a good list was hard--but here's what I got:

 

*Old School*

 

NBA Jam T.E. -- No explanation needed--one of the most flat-out incredibly fun sports or arcade games in existence.

 

Sunset Riders ; 4 player version -- Up to 4 gun-wielding vigilantes bust caps into various old West baddies and racial stereotypes.

 

Killer Instinct -- The originator of the insane, double-digit combo strings. Features empty promises of the amazing Ultra 64 in its attract screens.

 

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker -- The King of Pop fights to save children, occasionally turns into a robot that destroys all in his path.

 

TMNT Turtles in Time -- The final and best arcade fighter featuring the Turtles, has lots of terrific settings, tough bosses, and cool voice samples. Almost as good as the SNES home version.

 

 

*New School*

Tekken 6 -- It's going to be testing like, this month. So it's as good as released, practically.

 

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core -- The latest, greatest version of Guilty Gear until I presume it goes to XXX, and we get the expected crossover with Melty Blood.

 

Time Crisis 4 -- Top-notch gun shooter

 

Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 -- good racer, *great* soundtrack courtesy of Yuzo Koshiro.

 

Mo-Cap Boxing -- What Wii Sports Boxing could be like if it didn't suck.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

1. Super Street Fighter II Turbo - My favorite of the SF 2 series.

2. Virtua Fighter 2

3. Metal Slug 5 or whichever is the latest one

4. King of Fighters XI

5. NBA Hangtime

6. Pac Man

7. Dig Dug

8. The Simpsons

9. Mortal Kombat II

10. Gauntlet Dark Legacy

[World's Worst Man 0]

1. DDR

2. DDR

3. DDR

4. DDR

5. DDR

6. DDR

7. DDR

8. DDR

9. Beatmania

10. Virtua Fighter 5, to throw a bone to those who have good taste.

[Anya 0]

\

I would. And what games have come out in the past few years that are so superior to the old ones that they justify the across-the-board raise in price?

 

 

Tekken 5 DR, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike. Pretty much all the newer games everyone plays now. The genre has evolved since 1992.

 

I think it's good to have a small retro section but not at the expense of the new stuff. If you can get in a group of hardcore regulars they'll make way more money then those just playing for nostalgia.

 

 

I would have said Initial D if I had more then 10.

[Anya 0]

\

I would. And what games have come out in the past few years that are so superior to the old ones that they justify the across-the-board raise in price?

 

 

Tekken 5 DR, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike. Pretty much all the newer games everyone plays now. The genre has evolved since 1992.

 

I think it's good to have a small retro section but not at the expense of the new stuff. Why would you ignore the hardcore? If you get a group of regulars they'll make a lot of money.

 

 

I would have said Initial D if I had more then 10.

[Jingus 0]

Well, I never got into any of the Tekken games, and Street Fighter is Street Fighter usually no matter which version it is.

[Pegasus Kid 0]

Well, I never got into any of the Tekken games, and Street Fighter is Street Fighter usually no matter which version it is.

That my friend is a RIDICULOUS statement. There are MASSIVE engine variations between the SF2 series and anything that came after it. In fact there are big differences between the Hyper Fighting (generally the game played at the peak of the early 90's boom) and the Super Turbo engine. The Alpha games play NOTHING like SF2 and then after that the next closest iteration would be something like the Capcom vs SNK games and that's a huge stretch.

[CanadianChris 0]

Coming up with a good list was hard--but here's what I got:

 

*Old School*

 

NBA Jam T.E. -- No explanation needed--one of the most flat-out incredibly fun sports or arcade games in existence.

 

Sunset Riders ; 4 player version -- Up to 4 gun-wielding vigilantes bust caps into various old West baddies and racial stereotypes.

 

Killer Instinct -- The originator of the insane, double-digit combo strings. Features empty promises of the amazing Ultra 64 in its attract screens.

 

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker -- The King of Pop fights to save children, occasionally turns into a robot that destroys all in his path.

 

TMNT Turtles in Time -- The final and best arcade fighter featuring the Turtles, has lots of terrific settings, tough bosses, and cool voice samples. Almost as good as the SNES home version.

I know I'm getting old when I see someone consider this an "old school" list.

[Rendclaw 0]

Fucking kids.

 

Old school is at the very least an Asteroids machine, if not Space Invaders or if you want to go balls out, Tank or Boot fucking Hill.

 

I have always desired to own an arcade, even though I know it wouldn't make any money at all.... I would have a central area with the latest machines and a nice little snack bar (an idea taken from an arcade I used to go to in Orlando before I moved) and have four "wings" with different machines in each wing: pinball machines, ranging from some of the machines I grew up with (and it would HAVE to have a Space Invaders pinball machine) all the way to the latest ones, fighting games, the old school section, and maybe some decent pool tables in the fourth wing or something like that.

 

It would also have signs all over saying things like "Don't blame the machine if you suck!" and things of that nature because more often than not as you know, that one guy who is trying to beat up the machine is the guy who is bad at the game and swears the machine has some kind of vendetta against him or something like that...

 

Yeah I know, I have given this idea way too much thought. But I can dream.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

My dream arcade, if my dream was to quickly go out of business:

 

1. Hard Drivin

2. Street Fighter: The Movie

3. An old Lethal Enforcers cabinet where one of the guns don't work right.

4. The Sega made Royal Rumble game.

5. Cruisin Exotica

6. Altered Beast

7. Some tile puzzle game, but not the adult ones that revealed naked pictures for clearing a board.

8. A fortune telling machine that thinks I'm a Taurus instead of a Gemini.

9. Area 51

10. Mario Brothers (who doesn't own 2 or more versions of this already?)

[World's Worst Man 0]

You should include the Punch Out arcade game that cut you off after two fights and asked you put more money in. I remember playing one of those as a kid, on a trip to Atlanta, and being pissed off that after beating the Kaiser, it told me I had to put in more money to continue. I could have easily gotten to the last boss on $0.25 or $0.50, whatever the cost of a single play was, but no. No!

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

My wireframe character got killed when I played that as a youngster in Sauble Beach so I didn't know that.

[Black Lushus 0]

Misawa, you're talking the one where Mac is a green grid man? I don't recall having to insert more coins...hmmm...

[World's Worst Man 0]

I don't remember exactly, but I seem to remember it being fairly identical to the NES version. Perhaps it was on cash grab setting, knowing that the game was many years old by that point, and easily beatable by those who knew how to play.

[Jer 0]

I actually loved my old arcade, but alas it went out of business.

 

1. Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection - Hacked so that if you select King, you get Julia instead.

2. Street Fighter 3: Third Strike - It seems more popular than Marvel nowadays. Better too.

3. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core - It's all flashy so it's got some casual appeal.

4. Time Crisis 4 - The newest, best gun game.

5. Initial D (Newest Version) - Seems like by far the most popular racing game, always people playing it here.

6. DDR Super Nova - Best, newest DDR.

7. In The Groove 2 - I think IDG is kind of crap, but it lets you play Ayumi simfiles so it's all good.

8. Beatmania (Newest Version) - Most popular non-DDR Bemani.

9. Striker 3 - Because it's what I always played when I was waiting to play fighters.

10. Class of '81 (Galaga/Ms. Pacman) - Gives people their nostalgia trip.

 

Yeah, looks a lot like Anya's and PK's. Can't really deviate too much from that or else no one would play your games.

 

One thing though, all the fighters would cost 25 cents. That's one thing my old arcade really did right. Because the fighters all cost 25 cents, people were always playing them. So many arcades nowadays seem to think the way to make more money is to charge more for games, but all that does is make people not play them. You make a ton more money if you've got a line of people always waiting to play a 25 cent game than you do if you have a bunch of 75 cent games with no one playing them.

 

Edit: KKK - That sounds so much like Playland in State College that I have to ask if that was your arcade, especially since you're in PA. Best arcade ever. RIP.

[Black Lushus 0]

you may be thinking about the NES version...was it a Playchoice 10 machine? I don't recall Don Kaiser being in the original Punch Out arcade game.

 

[World's Worst Man 0]

Yea, that definitely wasn't it. I was playing the NES version.

 

Little Mac is channeling Super Macho Man in that version.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

My dream arcade if my dream was to appeal to people's sense of nostalgia AND still be up to date (which is a more accurate dream than the first list I made):

 

First off, this place needs neon light bulbs that are pink and blue (neon pink and blue lights scream "retro 80s" to me) with some art featuring Pac-Man, Street Fighters, and the like. I want the floors to be black and white checker patterns. There will be music playing in the arcade, probably being streamded off of ormgas.

 

When you walk in the door, the centerpiece game will be...

 

1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 

I'd love for it to be Turtles in Time (and maybe it even would be), especially since people get get a perfect port of this off of XBLA now, but that doesn't matter. THIS was the ceneterpiece game of my youth when my cousin and I went to Fast Eddie's arcade in downtown Windsor. This is the game everyone walking into the arcade saw, and since persumably I'd be opening it in this same city, that's my nostalgic hit.

 

In close proximity, clearly visible upon entry but not the first thing you'd see since TMNT is in the middle and these two are each off to the side of it (a different side for each one) would be the latest in fighting, which would probably mean:

 

2. Tekken 6

3. Virtua Fighter 5

 

Scattered throughout, people would also find:

 

4. That cabinet I mentioned in the other thread that I found at a Maryland D&B that is full of old arcade games (Street Fighter, various SFIIs, Wrestle War, and more). I knew I found this game somewhere else too with a slightly different selection, and memory is telling me it was in the arcade at Excaliber Hotel and Casino in Vegas. It totally exists and is totally not cheating to put it in my dream arcade.

 

5 and 6. WWF WrestleFest and WWF Royal Rumble (pinball machine). Because I love them.

 

7. Jurassic Park pinball - I need more pinball.

 

8. Air Hockey Table - because Fast Eddie's had one upstairs.

 

9. A multiplayer Daytona racing unit - this combined with the above air hockey table is making it turn into the Techtown at Silver City (which also has MvC, or did at one point) but this is my place damnit.

 

10. DDR, because folks love it.

 

If I had more options, the "Tommy" pinball machine as well as some other pinball machines would be there for sure. I think I need a Pac-Man unit (the above mentioned 'Class of 81' machine I've seen around is a good bet).

[AndrewTS 0]

Fucking kids.

 

Old school is at the very least an Asteroids machine, if not Space Invaders or if you want to go balls out, Tank or Boot fucking Hill.

 

12 years + old is pretty old school to me. You're talking, like, ancient. It's a little hard to get behind choices that have been on a bunch of compilations discs over and over again. But like you said, you don't care really about making money.

[Rendclaw 0]

Fucking kids.

 

Old school is at the very least an Asteroids machine, if not Space Invaders or if you want to go balls out, Tank or Boot fucking Hill.

 

12 years + old is pretty old school to me. You're talking, like, ancient. It's a little hard to get behind choices that have been on a bunch of compilations discs over and over again. But like you said, you don't care really about making money.

 

As Matt Young once said, I'm as old as fuck.

 

And honestly unless you are dishing out 5 grand per machine to stay on top of the latest and most popular machines, you are trying to break even at the most... Running an arcade is not a good way to make money. You do it because you love games, unless you have a prime location like my Pinball Pete's, which is right smack dab in the midst of downtown A2 and the UM campus. Then you might make some money.

 

I would love to open one up, but it wouldn;t be in business for very long. Two years, maybe.