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How Many Different Places Did You Play Arcade Games?
psychopanda:
We moved alot, but here's my recollections:
First game I remember playing was Tank with my Father in a mall. The same mall later had Boot Hill and Battlezone. I tried Battlezone but I was too small to really see what was going on.
After that, it was the random games in convenience stores and the Atari 2600.
Many years later we discovered a family operated Arcade. We spent many hours there and had alot of fun. Even after their business moved across town and became an Arcade/Laundromat we still went out there to visit. You just can't beat the experience of a big room filled with arcade machines combined with knowing the owners.
Edit: Ah, I forgot to mention that their first store was right next to a really good Pizza place! Yum!
Timoe:
One of my earliest arcade memories was a pizza shop somewhere in the greater los angeles area. They had like 3 games. I only remember one.
It was called Master Blaster.
I really liked the controls and variety in the game, plus it was fairly easy so my couple of quarters I remember lasting unusually long (therefore I liked the game)
It was the coolest game I could remember playing. I grew up in a really small town in southern california. The only reason I ever saw this particular pizza place was because my friend had divorced parents and his mom lived somewhere out in Los Angeles. I was too young to know anything more than that she lived far away from me.
I never saw the machine again and have been looking for it ever since. I only saw the machine once and never forgot what it was called. A game came out for the NES some years later called Blaster Master and I got excited only to find out that it was an entirely different game. I searched everywhere when I discovered the internet and started to think I had remembered the name wrong because I never found any info.
In 2005 I found a game called Blaster in MAME and read the history file on it.
I found my game.
leapinlew:
In order of quanitity:
Bowling Alleys (My parents were avid bowlers)
Showbiz Pizza
Galaxy Arcade
Various (arcades/video games were all over the place)
In order of quality:
Galaxy Arcade (I love this place - my next cab is going to be called Galaxy)
Bowling Alleys - tri-mor Bowl and Bowland
Showbiz
I remember being a kid and just waiting to grow up so I could play battlezone. You had to be tall enough to look through the visor to play that game... how cruel. Galaxy arcade has been closed down for over 15 years, but the sign is still hanging in town.
markrvp:
There were two arcade eras for me. The first was 1980-83 when I played the classics. The next era was circa 1987-88 when Sega had some kickass games like Outrun and Afterburner.
leapinlew:
--- Quote from: markrvp on February 23, 2006, 12:04:38 pm ---There were two arcade eras for me. The first was 1980-83 when I played the classics. The next era was circa 1987-88 when Sega had some kickass games like Outrun and Afterburner.
--- End quote ---
I never stopped gaming - but I did take a break from the arcades. I guess everyone did because they started closing down. But during the early to mid 80's it was the classics and then during the late 80's early 90's it was the fighters.
The thing is... being a kid Arcades were just there - like the sky was blue. I never knew they could go away.