What Arcade Era Do You Identify With The Most?

[DashRendar]

What era of arcade games do you tend to play, because you have great memories of them? 

Which era were you busy popping quarters (or dollars) into arcade machines to get your fix?

[Ginsu Victim]

Metroid is not an arcade game.

Golden Age for me.

[milkit]

simpsons, battle toads, mortal kombat, and nfl blitz is all i need

[Thenasty]

Pacman, Ms.Pac, Asteroids, Berzerk, Scramble, Donkey Kong, Vanguard, Missile Command, Centipede, Space Invaders, Astro Blaster, Gorf, Scramble, Galaxian, Galaga, KISS PINBALL, BLACKHOLE PINBALL etc... get the picture ? Can you now quess how old I am ? 

Now the question is, why did it have to end dammit  






I still have a Quarter with a hole with a string attach. Sometime I use in my cab  
I use to get 99 credits on pac on a single quarter  

[quarterstringer]

I still have a Quarter with a hole with a string attach. Sometime I use in my cab 

I used tape and thread   Worked great on Asteroids.

I grew up playing almost all of the most popular games in the Golden Age. My parents bought a bowling alley in 1980. The previous owner didn't know anything about video games, he had games like Circus that was already 3 years old. So my Dad let me decide which games to request from the vendor. I remember he was shocked when Pole Position was bringing in $400 a week.

[nickynooch]

No game defines "arcade" to me more than mortal kombat.

I wasted thousands of quarters in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.  Still the greatest game of all time in my book.

[Ginsu Victim]

No game defines "arcade" to me more than mortal kombat.

I wasted thousands of quarters in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.  Still the greatest game of all time in my book.

Really? I liked MK II more and I don't really like MK games. I thought UMK3 was terrible.

And no game defines "arcade" more than Defender.  

[nickynooch]

Really? I liked MK II more and I don't really like MK games. I thought UMK3 was terrible.

And no game defines "arcade" more than Defender.  

Blasphemy!  To each his own though.  MK2 was great, but UMK3 was perfect, IMO.

[Thenasty]

And no game defines "arcade" more than Defender.  

Add Defender to my LIST above 

[DashRendar]

Metroid is not an arcade game.

Golden Age for me.

Ah, that's a bad example.

It was available as a Playchoice game (so, grey area between console and arcade cab).

http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=metroid&page=detail&id=1810

Good catch though.

Edit: Swapped out Metroid for Gauntlet in the poll examples. 

[Benevolance]

[quote[I still have a Quarter with a hole with a string attach.[/quote]

That seriously worked? I always figured it was an urban myth.

[Malenko]

the quarter trick worked (and works)

umm I remember playing pacman and bad dudes during saturday morning bowling. But I wasnt really an arcade nut until Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. I owned a SF2 machine, a converted track and feild. I gave it to my buddy josh, and his mom put it out in the rain when she kicked him out of his house.

I still own an MKII cab with both MKII and UMK3 in it.

[manman]

Lol- blasphemy for thinking mkII is better than umk3?!  Sorry, but I think it's the other way around... I agree that it's all opinion and to each his own, but I think with most fans of the arcade resurgence/2nd golden age (yes I know there was only 1 real golden age...haha), MKII is the star of the series.

I personally think there's a weird division there in the middle though... the Street Fighter era was not the mid to late 80s... sure sfI came out in 87, but the "street fighter era" pretty clearly started wth SFII.  MK, and most other fighting games that were popular in the next era you listed are all pretty much part of the "street fighter era"...they were there because of SF

[Ginsu Victim]

Yeah, instead of Street Fighter, stuff like Shinobi, Rastan, Strider, Outrun, or Rygar would've been good to say.

[Thenasty]

That seriously worked? I always figured it was an urban myth.

It worked until they installed the Anti-Stringing Device (a blade to cut the string) 

Always loved the PENNY trick to get Credits 

[Ginsu Victim]

There used to be a Rolling Thunder machine at a grocery store near my house that I could lightly hit with my knee for credit.

[RayB]

I can't answer the poll as my hardcore addiction ran from '81 through to early 90's.

[SammyWI]

Golden Age here.  Although I do spill over a bit before and after.   

[DeLuSioNal29]

I grew up in the golden age, but was too small to afford them, so I never really played them much.  But in college they had an MKII, X-men and Terminator 2 in the cafeteria where I played them non-stop since I had a job (at last) to support my arcade habit.

Which is probably why I play the classics much more.  I trying to make up for lost time.   

DeLuSioNaL29

[TheShanMan]

For me it's roughly '79-'86 when I was pretty hardcore about arcade games. Consequently most of the games in my game room fall in that range. Only exceptions I think are cyberball and sf rush.

[manman]

I guess I am one of the youngin's around here... kind of nice actually since I'm a first generation fighting games guy so on a lot of other forums I frequent I'm in the upper age bracket     So if that doesn't give it away- yeah, i'm a SF era 90's guy as far as my best/strongest arcade memories.  All about the various incarnations of SFII, MK 1-3, KI etc...real life started to take over a little while after MvC2 so I didn't get into those as much back then.  I was also a big fan of the side scroller beat-em-ups like TMNT, Simpsons etc, and NBA jam of course.  Too young to be able to claim golden era status...

[Epyx]

I can't answer the poll as my hardcore addiction ran from '81 through to early 90's.

+1

Although back a year for me to 80 and Battlezone..the game that had me curious what the amazing noises were coming from inside the Three Bears Drive In and then mesmerized when I peered in the viewscope and saw a 3d world.  Then the early 80s with DK/MS Pac Man/Defender etc...the mid to late 80s with Elevator action/Black Tiger etc.  

The addiction has never really ended but was at its most fervent through to at least the early 90s as well.

[helpmebuild]

For me it is definitely the early to mid 90's. I think that fighters like SFII and MKII really helped push the market back up out of it's slump. I still personally feel that fighters are the best "feeling" game on a joystick.

Here's another question to tie in though - what age(s) were you during this heyday and identification of an era?

For me I was about 12 when I fell in love with arcades and their sounds and appearance. What about you guys?

[drventure]

I started gaming in junior high, early 80's or so, but I didn't really get into games until right after high school. I was working in a comic shop in the mall, and there just happened to be an arcade there as well 

Not sure whether they were "current" games at that point or already old, but I remember spending way too much on Defender, Targ, Spectar, Red Baron, and Star wars.

[Mauzy]

Sadly, I had no chance. On a technicality I have to say mid to late 90s and early 00s (Damn that DDR....), but I tend to play games from the 80s through very early 90s.

I maintain that I was born about 20 years too late....

[manman]

I played arcade games randomly through out the years (star wars, mario bros etc), but I was about 10/11 when SFII came out, and that's when I fell in love and actually became an arcade rat.. probably spent the better part of age 11-18 in the arcades, and when I wasn't there it was snes at home

[TPA5]

I accidentally his early to mid 70's. I mean 70's - 80's. I only had a few arcade games at my local pizza shop to play, but I had an Atari 800 computer in my room (Yeah, I felt like a total badass. My dad gave it to me when I was 5.) and a lot of the popular arcade games of that era were available for my Atari 800. Except Zaxxon, I believe. That one was at my local pizza shop, and me and my dad played the hell out of that thing. When I build my cab, I'm definitely having a joystick for some Zaxxon action in it.

Sadly, I'm not old enough to truly enjoy the golden age of arcade games. Born in '91 you see. But like I said, I got a classic gaming fix through my Atari 800, which is sadly no longer with me.

[Gorotsuki]

Having been around 5 by 1980 I was fortunate to experience most of what arcades had
to offer at all points in this time line.
Mom would take me to the mall on Saturdays and buy a $5 bag of
tokens and I would wear myself out on Ring King.
Would play Shinobi, Xenophobe, Mario Bros. and Mat Mania at the bowling alley.
Donkey Kong Jr. at the Pizza Hut.
I would play any game at any place I could.
Then when the fighting games hit I was a teen.
I loved that scene, it was so much fun.
Would ride miles on my bike to whatever had
an arcade machine in town. All the other kids were
doing the high school thing...suckers.

[ahofle]

I can't answer the poll as my hardcore addiction ran from '81 through to early 90's.

+1

+2
I wanted to select 3 of the categories, but settled with golden age.  
I would say I pretty much played the entire time that most games were 25 cents. 

[Vulgar Soul]

Since I was unfortunately born in 89, I missed out on the golden age of arcade gaming; and by the time I was really coming of age, arcades were all but dead. But the few arcades still around in the 90s were great. Street Fighter II, MK, NBA JAM, Raiden series, Aero Fighters, Virtua Fighter, KoF, and all the Capcom/Marvel mashups. Damn good era in gaming. The arcade may be gone, but they went out with a bang.

[StephenH]

I like early 80s to today.  I was raised up in the Showbiz Pizza Place, Peter Piper Pizza era.  Even today I commonly play arcade games at Dave & Busters, Nickel City, and Tilt arcades.

BTW, to user Ginsu Victim, Metroid WAS an arcade game!   There was a version of it available for the Nintendo Playchoice-10 system.   If you go to this URL, and search for "Metroid", you will see a screenshot of it.  http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/

[manman]

come on, playchoice was just a glorified NES, that doesn't count

[Edwards80]

I was born 20 years too late too. I voted for the 90's as I was growing up then. The Simpsons etc. do hold their special appeal to me but I much prefer the gameplay of the golden era games. Smash TV was probably my favourite game until I discovered Robotron 2084

Seems that my mates are the same. First thing they say when they hear I have an arcade cab build in progress is "Will it play Teenage Mutant Hero(Ninja) Turtles 4 player"  . . . the second is to ask about NBA Jam

I was at the right age for pinball though. Love the early 90s machines.

[Blanka]

Me too. I really like the golden games, but I have much better memories about the 90's. Guess a mixture would be nice. 90's music with 80-ies games. 80's music sucks beyond sucking (except a few MJ songs, as they sport a Quincy Jones 70's baseline).

[TOK]

Like some others, I actually identify with games over a long span of time. My current favorite game is my Golden Tee Fore, and that is only a few years old.

The games that got me into MAME, and therefore the ones I really identify with are all Golden Age though. Donkey Kong, Defender, Robotron, Moon Patrol, Time Pilot and Xevious.

[HanoiBoi]

I can't answer the poll as my hardcore addiction ran from '81 through to early 90's.

+1

+2
I wanted to select 3 of the categories, but settled with golden age.  
I would say I pretty much played the entire time that most games were 25 cents.  

+3 or +4, I lost count...

Dash, perhaps you could add a new category "Early to Mid 80's".  I'll come back and click that one!

My latest kick has been Gravitar.  I keep saying to myself..." I remember being good at this!?!"

(I love my 5 button 'Asteroids' setup!)

[HanoiBoi]

Pacman, Ms.Pac, Asteroids, Berzerk, Scramble, Donkey Kong, Vanguard, Missile Command, Centipede, Space Invaders, Astro Blaster, Gorf, Scramble, Galaxian, Galaga, KISS PINBALL, BLACKHOLE PINBALL etc... get the picture ? Can you now quess how old I am ? 

Sad how I never see Zaxxon getting much love in this community.  We all played it...

[Blanka]

I never manage to survive 10 seconds of Zaxxon. It has the most Ridicule controls and weird 3D imaging of all arcadegames. Unplayable IMO.

[Ginsu Victim]

BTW, to user Ginsu Victim, Metroid WAS an arcade game!   There was a version of it available for the Nintendo Playchoice-10 system.   If you go to this URL, and search for "Metroid", you will see a screenshot of it.  http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/

I know about Playchoice. It doesn't count.

[Thenasty]

Pacman, Ms.Pac, Asteroids, Berzerk, Scramble, Donkey Kong, Vanguard, Missile Command, Centipede, Space Invaders, Astro Blaster, Gorf, Scramble, Galaxian, Galaga, KISS PINBALL, BLACKHOLE PINBALL etc... get the picture ? Can you now quess how old I am ?  

Sad how I never see Zaxxon getting much love in this community.  We all played it...

thats what happened when you get older. You forget things. 
Oh yea! add Zaxxon to my list and Robotron, Q-Bert, Omega Race, Mr.Do and the Infamous Commodroe 64