Current Events > Anyone remember arcades from the 90s?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The golden age of arcades where rhythm games were almost non existent.

There were lines at fighters (Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Killer Instinct, Tekken, etc...)

You could put a customized quarter on the machine to hold your place in line and no one would steal it.

For a quarter you could play fighters for hours if you were good (because there was always a line for the next person trying to beat you).

Cell phone games were not arcade cabinets...

God damn I miss those days...
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I remember really liking Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
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I remember that game or Gauntlet Legend cabinets.
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Yep. One of the few happy bonding moments I have with my dad is when he gave me and my brother each 20 bucks in quarters, and just had us let loose in an arcade. Those quarters lasted all evening.
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Arcades were such a great social experience and tons of fun. I'm glad I was old enough to enjoy them.

Now I just see a few machines in movie theaters from time to time, but even those are slowly disappearing.
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Arcades were incredibly social in the 90's I met a LOT of friends through arcades...
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I remember when xmen vs street fighter came out and I spent most of my $ on it. I would also write down moves lists from tips and tricks magazines and gamepro and eventually I was able to beat that game without dying

Marvel super heroes vs street fighter still gives me strong nostalgia
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Ultima Dragon posted...

Arcades were such a great social experience and tons of fun. I'm glad I was old enough to enjoy them.

Now I just see a few machines in movie theaters from time to time, but even those are slowly disappearing.

we still have the arcade, but the prices really jumped. not getting much value anymore. however dave and buster's might be the better deal for games on the half price day.
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Only times I'd see arcades was at Las Vegas casinos or Theme Parks. That hasn't changed.
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kingdrake2 posted...

we still have the arcade, but the prices really jumped. not getting much value anymore. however dave and buster's might be the better deal for games on the half price day.

We have them, but it's a completely different experience these days.

You could literally leave a customized quarter on an arcade cabinet, go to the bathroom or something come back and both the quarter would still be there and you would still have your place in line.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNVdREXnOLM
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Every pizza store around here used to have arcades and be filled with kids. It was a hangout spot.
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We had Time-Out at the mall and then Planet Play in strip malls. Lot of fun and a lot of time spent at those. Good ol days.

Where I fell in love with Cruisn USA. Win the race and you got one for free... id spend all day there with like $2.
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I spent so much of my mom's money in arcades. Then I got my own job and realized a single game of NFL Blitz cost $2.00. Then I was like, "nah."
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coming across a machine with extra credits from a previous player was like finding gold for a kid.

almost as good was people leaving after already having inserted half the required amount and you swooping in with the rest for a play at half price.... aww yea
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Me and my best friend at the time used to spend our Saturdays hanging out at the local deli/convenience store that also featured 2 or 3 machines, while the other places that featured them were the local theaters.

Some of my most fond memories are playing the X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and Street Fighter games, and Final Fight, Streets of Rage, and Double Dragon games, plus some few others that I'm forgetting but those were our favorites.

I always enjoyed and looked forward to play, except however, for one important detail that eventually made my experience bitter and sour and that became a problem to the point of having to desert the arcade shops altogether.

That being, that thugs have always been around NYC, but during those days in particular there were a lot of thugs that would cause trouble, the types that would be thieves, drug users and drug dealers, and menace the shop owner, and do damage by kicking or breaking their merchandise, and these were tall, strong, alpha teen males.

They weren't always around, but at the same time they were frequently around enough that they were hard to avoid, and when me and my friend would be on the machines first, those thugs usually tried to stir trouble and threaten us, and other times when we would be waiting in line for our turn, they would just literally hog the machine and would be there like it was their property and prevent anyone else from using the machines.

So that's why we eventually had to stop altogether, because the same guys we saw previously, would show up at the same shop and since we already had negative encounters with them prior, it would be pointless to try to have an enjoyable experience there again.

Other than that, though, I just found arcade games to be sometimes such a much more enjoyable experience than console games, especially the remakes of the same arcade games.
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They still have them in movie theaters and bowling allies.

I always loved playing Time Crisis 3 at the bowling alley. Like, it was kind of an understanding in those days theat when you went bowling, you played a few lives' worth of TC3 either before or after.
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TMNT was always my favorite arcade game, especially when you had 4 people playing
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I want to open a browser based arcade with real licenses to the actual arcade games where people could play online together. Access to mod and customized characters and even levels within the games. Games are mostly free. It's too bad I'm not a good programmer and don't have the clear amount of money to make this happen.
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DevsBro posted...

They still have them in movie theaters and bowling allies.

Yeah, I'm always tempted to try them out too, but since I'm an adult now and since usually the machines are being used by kids - I stick out like a sore thumb and feel embarrassed to be playing while a 6-8 year is right there beside me hahaha.
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Veggeta_MAX posted...

I want to open a browser based arcade with real licenses to the actual arcade games where people could play online together. Access to mod and customized characters and even levels within the games. Games are mostly free. It's too bad I'm not a good programmer and don't have the clear amount of money to make this happen.

I still to this day want to play the arcade version of WWF Wrestlefest, but it seems a dead hope of any console featuring that same game.

Also, in general, there is such a mystique around the arcade machines, the sound used in them makes them come off crisper and more impacting, while the glow and hue of the screen just make it stand out more, as if it creates a perception of depth.

When I tried to play some console versions of the games, they just didn't feel the same, they lacked an energy and that dynamic presence that the machines bring.
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I miss arcades too much. I hated to see it die. It was a place where people can be gamers and have a social life at the same time. Those were the best times.
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CableZL posted...

TMNT was always my favorite arcade game, especially when you had 4 people playing

wish they given the chance to relist lost games through PSN, only way to get turtles in time is via hong kong account. wont get anything else though.
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oh yeah.

im an 80s kid so arcades were the jam.

putting quarters up on the console to mark your place in line so you can wax that fool and KoF or NeoGeo or Tekken or SFII or NBAJam.

After Burner....
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I remember no matter which arcade you'd go to there would always be an Asian guy with a long coat, spiked hair, and sunglasses who would fuck everyone up at Tekken.
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There was an arcade close to where I lived in Texas called "Nickel Nickel" where every arcade machine was a nickle, just so long as we paid $5's per person to get in. It was freaking awesome and I remember me and my gang would hang out there for at least an hour after school. It was a cool hang out place, we mostly played games like Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles type of games since 4 people can play at once.
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E32005 posted...

oh yeah.

im an 80s kid so arcades were the jam.

Same here.

It's too bad they didn't or couldn't adapt to the times. For arcades to succeed in today's world, they would have to creating a gaming experience that would be hard to reproduce at home, basically VR games with full motion immersion.

Terryville posted...

It's too bad they didn't or couldn't adapt to the times. For arcades to succeed in today's world, they would have to creating a gaming experience that would be hard to reproduce at home, basically VR games with full motion immersion.

The only successful ones I've seen are freeplay/cover charge arcades attached to bars.
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DifferentialEquation posted...

I remember really liking Cadillacs and Dinosaurs

I played that once on a ferry ship. Then years later I got on that ferry again, and there was nothing. I guess kids just play on their phones now, so they got rid of the arcade games

I was thinking about Aliens vs. Predator the other day. Great game.
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once i pissed my pants in an arcade because i wouldn't leave the golden axe cabinet
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There are still a couple where I live.
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