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What killed the Arcade for you?

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Mikezilla:

--- Quote from: Donkbaca on April 25, 2011, 11:52:32 am ---It's funny, for me, fighters are what defined the arcade experience. People putting their quarter up for next, crowds gathered around the machine, people selling secrets printed from the internet. I think Cheffos assessment is wrong, MK2 and SFA 2/3 were staples at my local arcade for a couple of years.  

What killed it, in my opinion, was Daytona 2. The greatest grossing game of all time brought in expensive, dedicated cabs that ops couldnt just swap boards out for. All of a sudden arcades were full of driving cabs, waverunner simulations and snowboard games. Games went from 25 cents per play to 50 cents to start, 25 to continue in the fighter era, to a dollar per play in the fancy cab era. That's what killed arcades. Expnesive, gimmicky games on expensive dedicated cabs

--- End quote ---

See, Im with Donk on this. When I was a kid, the fighters were king of the arcades. I remember being in 5th grade when SF2 came out, and people used to talk about it, how to do combos, and things like that. Then Mortal Kombat hit. Everyone was trying to do Fatalities, and how peoples parents wouldnt let them play it cause of the blood, and people were reading magazines *gasp* to figure out how to do all the moves. I used to love putting my quarter up on the marquee to hold my spot, and then beat the crap out of all the other challengers that dared to try to beat me. Same with Marvel super heroes, Marvel vs Capcom/2 etc. I also loved the multi-player games as well, Xmen, Simpsons, TMNT etc.  I agree with Donk though, the big expensive, dedicated cabs that he mentioned are what killed it. If I was a parent, I wouldnt want to give my kid 20 bucks to go to the arcade to maybe play for about 10 mins just because the games were so expensive. The only reason people go to Dave and Busters, is because adults have more money that they can spend on stuff like that. Im with all of you about the stupid redemption crap though.  :banghead: Home consoles for sure, and of course, girls.

DNA Dan:
Lol.. Got a pretty good chuckle out of this thread so far  :applaud:  

There are several factors, but mostly not really having the time to go to an arcade in general. I mean growing up there's a lot of things that take time from adolescence. Learning to drive, hanging with friends (Extracurricular activities  >:D) doing good in school, planning for college, GOING to college. There's also several reasons for the decline of arcades in general. Although that isn't the OP's question, I'll throw it out there as simply, "The declining value of a quarter." I mean who whips out their wallet, then puts a dollar in a bill validator to play an arcade game? Just isn't for me.

yotsuya:

--- Quote from: Mikezilla on April 25, 2011, 12:38:56 pm --- I used to love putting my quarter up on the marquee to hold my spot, and then beat the crap out of all the other challengers that dared to try to beat me.
--- End quote ---

My wife laughs at me when I do this with my cab. I tell her it's tradition.

scofthe7seas:
I think there are a lot of factors involved in why arcades died out. The consoles are a big part of it, but they don’t beat the experience, and not everybody could afford the consoles/games when you just needed a few quarters to play a game in the way that everybody truly knew it should be played. Even though the street fighter games did make a huge resurgence in arcade popularity, you have to admit, it brought a different crowd. There was a sense of comradery back in the old days (mostly) whereas the fighter game generation… brought in a ton of ---meecrob--- bags. Arcades started dying with people not attending them, exponentially. The less people a person saw in there, the less they would want to stand out by being one. Then, there is the price of some of the games. Bleh. 2 dollars for one full game of Blitz, per person?? Bull-donkey.
Although I DO like fighters (I have to disagree about final fight being included in this, Aliens vs predator sparked a whole new interest in arcade games, for me) it was the sheer volume of them, that killed it for me. I was into fighters big time, practicing, like everyone else. Learning all the moves. Half way into Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, which has like a bazillion characters, I said. “NO. ENOUGH.” I just couldn’t learn all the moves for that many characters. Maybe I shouldn’t have tried it with so many, but it was a habit I formed when playing a lot of the smaller character based fighters. (who doesn’t know all the moves for original street fighter 2?)

bobotech:
I was a huge arcade fan in the '80s.  I loved having my mom take me to the arcade to play all the classic early '80s games.   I used to spend all my allowance back then on those games.  I still played them after I graduated in 85 but not as much.  I did play at the arcade at the Post Mall in Orange, CT.  Saw my first Dragon's Lair in that mall.  Around 87-88 I got married and my time in the arcade really started to dwindle.

Then came the fighter genre.  I just quit playing at that point.  I did not like the fighting game much at all back then.  I did love the racing genre and enjoyed how the racing games got more and more 3d oriented and fun.  

They did just get too damned expensive though.  And then by the mid-later '90s, the home video game experience almost totally faithfully replicated the arcade experience.  Why bother going to the arcade when you could play the game at home with nearly no difference in game play.  

I think arcades are dead for the same reasons why movie theaters are starting to die off, the home experience is replicating the theater experience much better that it used to for a reasonable price.  I have a 65 inch DLP tv that cost me 250 dollars, a nice 7.1 receiver 200 dollars, nice speakers (trade), and so on.  I don't need to go to the theaters to enjoy a movie anymore.  Same with arcade games, the difference between the home and arcade versions is blurred to nearly nothing.

Compare the 2600 version of donkey kong to the arcade version.  

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