Topic: I miss the arcade feeling. Does anyone else feel the same way?

[Las]

total bummer their dude. Yeah there is an arcade down the street from me(the only one withing a 50 mile radius probably. It has that and minigolf ,go karts,and such. Nice place. I took my neice their once or twice.Yeah i hate to say it but the emergence(and imo anti-social non well being) of online games like CoD,halo,wow and any of that is kinda helping kill the arcades. People should get out more and do stuff. Going to arcades was more fun imo than sitting around playing mulitplayer online games. Sorry but in that regards gaming never got so lame. I don't get it???  arcades are great. Ya know their beatable in about a half hour if your good, and there's plenty of day to do stuff. But these kids today with their online 24/7 Wow and crap like that, i can't see the point at all. These people should stop glueing themselves to that sort of thing. I too am like alot of people an wonder what the hell happened to most of the arcade places. They were far more fun imo.

And the castlevania arcade with Trevor Belmont and you use the whip. Yeah it's kick ass. My neice friggin' loves it. They had it at New England six flags last year. I haven't been their this year though.

[Neobelmont]

@NeoBelmont hell yeah rock that bro!, you may wanna check out this site.
http://www.mameroom.com/home.asp
 I found it a while back. I think these guys are out of Ohio...but not sure. Anyways, yeah i got one from here,custom built. Very sweet if you ask me! YOu really can go balls to the walls customizing it. I mean their are two player sit down, 1 player, 4 player cabs, all sorts of goodies. I have a 4 player one and though a bit pricy totally kick ass and worth it imo. I also considered making another one at some point to host shooter or racing games. There's a gallery on the bottom right of the page....wayyyy at that bottom. YOu should check out some of those to get ideas on what you'd want. Plus you can customize controls any which way. I thought at the time their side art was limited so i bought my banner(the picture at teh top of the arcade)elswhere.
Here's one i wouldn't mind building if i had the $$$:

I think he did a nice job. Well i do have a 4 player one but so far neglected to get bezel(the picture that goes around the screen), or side art(art on both lef and right side of the cab). I actually made my own side art cuz i didn't like what i'd seen online at the time in terms of choices. I probably should get it made at some point. Hurting in the wallet though.

When i get to it i can show a pic of my cade. Also i can tell you a thing or two about front ends,wiimote's as lightguns, and various other goodies to enhance your cade if you build one. Just pm me if you interested?

Anyways here's the side art i never got around bing made into side art.  But at least the options are always their.
I did these collagues 5 yrs ago or so from various pics from the web, back when me and my sisters boyfriend built the 'cade!




I should probably post 2 pinballs  machines screenshots my dad's owned since i was a kid. 9ball(has a wizard on it) and Raven(some female rambo girl!!). Sadly they have some issues from sitting out in our garage too long. But i think there's totally fixable. all the parts are still in tact though.
Sorry bout the big picture sizes. Also you can shift right to left to view the full picture, otherwise some of them get cut off.

Heck yeah

Except it would be very expensive, not only that I do not have the room for one, yet again one day...one day when I have a house it can't be that hard right?

[Kaori]

Sadly I didn't get to experience a whole lot of older arcade games being born in 1991, but most of the arcade games I ended up loving were from the 90's. The ones that stick out the most to me weren't even in an arcade, but were in pizza places. One pizza place has a Pac-Man machine to this day that I play every time I go in there. The other pizza place was actually a Pizza Hut. They had a Neo Geo machine there with Bust-A-Move and Blue's Journey. Thanks to that pizza hut, I love Neo Geo arcade games. Especially Bust-A-Move. Bust-A-Move is my favorite puzzle game, and it's honestly best played on an arcade machine. I was extremely sad when the Pizza Hut didn't have it anymore.

However, there was an arcade that used to be in our small crappy mall. They had a DDR MAX machine and Marvel Super Heros vs Street Fighter. The best place to play arcade games in my city was at this miniature golfing place that was part golf, part arcade. Back in it's good days, it had Neo Geo machines, Virtual-On (I love freaking Virtual-On), Tekken Tag Tornament, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, Ms. Pacman, Galaga, and a DDR machine. They always had a new DDR machine up until Extreme 2 (They started with MAX2), then they got some crappy off-brand DDR machine that isn't really DDR. Then they got rid of the Virtual-On machines, Neo Geo machines, and the Tekken machine. I was done with that place after they took away EVERYTHING I liked except for the Galaga and Ms. Pacman machine, which is still there the last time I checked.

Ever since then, I've been to a Dave and Buster's around a year ago. They actually had a MAME-like machine there that had tons of classic games on it. They also had a classic Centipede game. Other than that, most of the games at Dave and Buster's were things I just wasn't interested in. I need to find a good arcade with classic stuff. 

[Ratty]

There's nothing like a good trackball to play Centipede or Millipide, though I prefer a control-pad for Missile Command. A short, completely politically incorrect little arcade game from the early 80s you should play if you get the chance is "Jungle Hunt". Check out the cgr review of the Atari2600 version, which I really need to get at some point Classic Game Room HD - JUNGLE HUNT for Atari 2600 review the 2600 is still such a fun machine if you like mindless old school arcadey type games.

[Bloodreign]

Jungle Hunt can be easily obtained for the PS2 courtesy of Taito Legends, it and Zoo Keeper, another classic arcade game.

[Ratty]

Jungle Hunt can be easily obtained for the PS2 courtesy of Taito Legends, it and Zoo Keeper, another classic arcade game.

Sweet, I might pick that up. I beat the game in one of those multiple arcade machines a while back. Got the top score (I guess it wasn't very popular with the other players) and followed the traditional arcade rules by putting "ASS" for the initials iirc.

[Phoenix7786]

One of my most shameful memories was putting like $12 into an Area 51 arcade and putting "FUK" as the high-score many moons ago when I was still in grade-school. The owner was so pissed he actually reset and then wiped out the machine's memory.

[Nail_Bombed]

One of my most shameful memories was putting like $12 into an Area 51 arcade and putting "FUK" as the high-score many moons ago when I was still in grade-school. The owner was so pissed he actually reset and then wiped out the machine's memory.

Ah yes, the days when you could only enter 3 letters for your highscore was the bane of many an arcade owner, I'm sure. I remember Bubble Bobble even had a cheat if you put in SEX as your highscore then started a new game, you got a powerup item straight off on the first level of your new game - SEX got displayed as ??! though.

[Bloodreign]

Some Taito games will change the word SEX to H_!, something to do with pervert in Japanese.

[TheouAegis]

Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho has an arcade. Old school stuff.

Mario Bros. (not Super)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Frogger
Galaxian (I think)
Rolling Thunder
Contra

Bunch of stuff I can't remember, as well as those ticket vending games, like Skeeball. There's one Bop-A-Mole arcade game by Taito (or was it Namco?) there too. And a bunch of modern pinball machines, like Addams Family, Indiana Jones, Roller Coaster Tycoon (if you didn't smile at that one, you're braindead), Arabian Nights, and some others.

My buddy was a nice guy, played that skeeball racing game. A kid was waiting to play it late at night, he wanted to win a medium-sized toy but that required 5 players. I didn't want to play cuz I'm a selfish ass, but I convinced one of my other buddies to join. Another kid joined and the one kid's grandpa joined in, so they got 5 total. The race started, the first buddy kicked everyone's ass. He stood up, turned to the first kid, said "pick which one you want", told the attendant to let the kid have the prize, then walked away. I'd have been like, "You want which prize? Ok, give me that one. ... HAHA SUCKER I WON! THANKS FOR THE PRIZE! MWEHEEHEEHEE! .... .... Don't cry! Here, I was just joking! ... ... Fucking kid stole my prize."

[DragonSlayr81]

There's also Konami's Evil Night (1998, released in some territories as Hell Night, supposedly), which IMO is a much better shooter than any of the HOTD games. Shame there's no console port.

And yeah, I miss the arcades—more specifically I miss Circus Pizza (some locations called Circus Circus), which was a Minnesota chain that bought old Rock-afire Explosion bands originally used in ShowBiz Pizza Place and ran during the '90s. Awesome pizza and arcade games and loads of memories with extended family. Suddenly the locations all disappeared when I was around 11 or 12 save for this one really dumpy location which lacked the animatronic band (though it had bumper cars), but eventually that faded, too.

Apparently some of the places were converted into Chuck E. Cheese's. Fucking hate that place, always have. Shitty arcade games and an environment that caters more to toddlers than anything else. They're still the same way or at least were ten years ago when I visited one. The only adult-oriented arcades like Dave & Buster's and Gameworks don't offer much beyond ticket-winning games and Big Butt Fuck Hunter. Both places have (had?) HOTD4, though, which was awesome, and I spent lots of money at both places on that game alone. Not a single classic joystick-and-button arcade game, though; no beat 'em ups, no nothin'. Occasionally a fighting game in some dumpy mall arcade (those are probably all gone by now), but not much.

Damn I miss all the arcades around my house. While I don't mind Chuck E. Cheese's(they actually had a better game selection back in the 80s than they do, well, now, which like nothing with the exception of DDR and maybe a few riding type games). Showbiz Pizza was where it was at, though. Damn, I remember the one I used to go to had a pretty damn nice selection of games(mind you, it was the mid-80s), though I recall they even had a mini-theater that play old school Popeye cartoons and Three Stooges shorts. As a kid that loved all that, it was fucking A! Not to mention Rock-afire Explosion tend to cover some cool songs(I think they even did A Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin). There was also another one in Whittier(went a few times for birthday parties, and it was close to my grandparent's house) called Captain Andy's River Towne. I recall it having some good games.

A few malls I used to love going to as a kid had their own arcades, which have now since vanished completely(they closed in the early 00s, and oddly enough, both their names were "Tilt"). I think Redondo Beach still has their Fun Factory, and if anybody has ever went there, is a big warehouse filled with arcade game and such. I hear it still open(my sister went recently and said it nearly looks the same since the last time we all went, which was sometime in the late 90s). My parents used to take me there ever since I was a kid, and it pretty much looked the same. During the 90s, in particular, I recall everytime my family would go there, I'd always run to the X-Men arcade game(y'know, the beat-em-up one based on the Pryde of the X-Men cartoon where you could play as Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus or Dazzler). I also believe I first played Super Street Fighter II over there. Crazy memories!

I'm not sure about this one, but I last time I went to Ontario Mills Mall, there was a pretty keen arcade there(lots of old school arcade games). 

But screw the arcade. I miss the times when 7-11 had cabinets. Used to hang out at the 7-11 after school in 9th grade playing World Heroes 2 or Cabal. Man those were the good old days.

Damn, 7-11 back in the day, must've been 87, I remember getting a slurpee and VIVIDLY remember the three arcade games they had, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Chinese Heroes and Alien Syndrome.

Not so much the 7-11 but the laundrymats capcom vs street fighter and tekken tag. Wonder if the place is still even there

Also the mini store things I remember after school some of my friends and I would just put in quarters playing marvel vs capcom 2. Now adays the machines just rot there wonder if I could buy them for cheap  .  the other machine was either a Capcom vs snk or a neo-geo thing maybe they switched them I cannot remember. It is right next to the gamestop I go to but, years do pass by I think I was in middle school when we played there I think I was only 14 or 15.

Damn, you're making me recall some of my memories. There were two laundromats my mom used to take me to when we lived in Bakersfield. One was in a shopping area a few stores down from a Pic' N Save and K-Mart(back in the day when they used to have their own little restaurants inside them) and also remember in the parking lot there was a Bob's Big Boy. That laundromat had two cabinets, one was Ms Pac-Man with Galaga(you switch between the two via a button), and the other was Centipede. There was another laundromat we'd SOMETIMES go to that had the game Phoenix. I also remember fondly the swapmeet we'd go to had a trailer filled with arcade games. Recall some that I never really saw or heard of since then. There were some pretty famous games like Phoenix(yeah, too), and Tempest, but other ones like Kangaroo and Ladybug.

Talking about swapmeets, some used to have interesting selections. During the 90s, I remember one of the swap meets I went to had this game I, for some reason was fixated on. It was called DJ Boy. Lookin up pictures of it on the internet now, it's kinda a goofy beat-em-up title.

[Lelygax]

Sadly I didn't get to experience a whole lot of older arcade games being born in 1991.

Even worst, my dad ever said "Why pay to play in a arcade if you have a video-game? So no, I dont will give you that money" sounding like Julius from Everybody Hates Chris, so I played very few times in a real arcade, but I like them and their nostalgia, yeah, I really miss them, plenty of good games and all 

[DragonSlayr81]

Even worst, my dad ever said "Why pay to play in a arcade if you have a video-game? So no, I dont will give you that money" sounding like Julius from Everybody Hates Chris, so I played very few times in a real arcade, but I like them and their nostalgia, yeah, I really miss them, plenty of good games and all 

I agree somewhat, though going to an arcade, especially back in it's golden age, was magical. Something about all the bleeping arcade musical sounds all in unison, and the sounds of bucks being exchanged for quarters, buttons being pressed with fury and joysticks being jerked around(LOL, you know what I mean), it's magic. Especially when the arcade is full with young people. It's a world of it's own.

I think one of the allures with home consoles back in the 80s was that, "Wow, we can now play arcade games.... AT HOME!". And gaming at home IS fun(I'm not complaining, because it IS EXTREMELY enjoyable), but being among other gamers, out in the open, in a city of cabinets, maybe with the scent of pizza in the air or the ocean's salty breeze blowing in from the boardwalk, it was soooo cool. I'm glad I, at least, got to experience that whole scene. 

[Lelygax]

 With these new futuristic videogames with cameras that sends your motions to the game and all, they could create a game that you control your avatar with movements and can play games with the gamepad, like a "game inside another game", I think that in 5 years or less that can become reality and the videogames can come with that pre-installed, like that PSN room thing.

Thinking about that now, its sounds similar to Matrix xD

[Dalles]

Speaking of that, I remember the Amiga title Gloom Deluxe. The level Wheel of Death (you won't remember it if you played only the Gloom97 SE because that particular level was cut) contained a secret room in which you could win an extra life if you approached an arcade machine and won a game of Defender.