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Went to an arcade to see what's new, interesting thoughts...
SithMaster:
ever play dragonballz budokai in an arcade? it was the worst attempt at taking a console and shoving it into an arcade. they used a ps2 and placed it inside a metal box that had a coin door which is odd since there are no credit options in the game. the ps2 controllers hang out by the cords and its all on a wide flat panel.
but when i do go to an arcade i look for something i dont have at home. not to say i wont play it but the first thing i look for is a lightgun game. ddr is a no no since i have stepmania and not very good. i can look stupid for free thank you. but for the whole its on xbox or so and so then why should i pay is that you cant find dot or star wars arcade (except gamecubists) on the console.
even the local amusment park i used to go to has considerably reduced their games. the basement once filled is now more then half empty. the upstairs has racing and redemption games. so maybe around 40 games are in there, 3 pins, and chexx hockey.
and maybe its not so much the kids not wanting to pay but the parents. they go to stores near arcades or to places of fun to do errands and go on rides and dont want another thing to have to pay for. they figure ill get you a 50 dollar game and i dont want to hear from you till next year.
Aceldamor:
--- Quote from: Tahnok on August 17, 2006, 04:22:56 pm ---Most arcades I am rather unimpressed by, since they normally are overpriced and have nothing unique. On a recent road trip though I got to swing by a couple arcades. The first was Nickel City in San Jose, and, believe it or not, the Winchester Mystery House, also in San Jose.
Nickel City has a two-dollar admission, and then games are normally a few nickels, based on how new the game is. The newest racing and shooting games were 30 cents (which was pretty darn good, since they had full-size machines, along with some very cool Japanese imports), while the vintage games in the back were a mere 5 cents. Don't be fooled by the photos though, most of the vintage games are either very badly converted, or not working at all. Anyway, anyone looking for a nice collection of the best new games should really check this place out. You can go there with five bucks and play for a few hours.
But, what if you really can't stand the new stuff? The Winchester house has you covered. Walk into the gift shop and you will immediately find a handful of old coin-op games scattered around the overly large room (love tester, slot machine, fortune teller, etc). Exit the gift shop towards where the tours start though and you will find the actual arcade. Step inside for a rather nice collection of Asteroids, Centipede, Simpsons 4-player, Nintendo Vs Super Mario Bros, Street Fighter 2, Ms Pac-Man (with speed up hack), and a few others that I've forgotten. All of them in their original cabs, with their original controls (including leaf switch buttons). Truly a treat to play while I was waiting for my tour number.
If you happen to be in the San Jose area, check both of these places out.
--- End quote ---
I used to work at a place here in AZ over a decade ago called Nickle Palace....1.25 admission fee with games ranging from 5 to 20 cents each...I wonder if the owner of the nickle place you go to got the idea from where I used to work. It was bought out by someone and they went crazy with merchandizing vs. games and he lost his ass, as well as the 8 arcades he had..
releasedtruth:
When I was a kid I never had the money to play any of the games I loved. I watched other kids play and thought that someday I could own them. I wanted a Chase HQ cab for a while, then decided on something more universal. Being at the arcade last night was great, they still have probably 80 full cabs, a whole row of shooters, classics, fighters, etc, but there weren't many people there and I didn't really want to blow a dollar for a 3 minute romp through zombie town. The gimmicks rule the roost, but they don't draw crowds here. The experience energized me to recreate the experience I missed years ago in a way that fills my creative need. Will I go back? Probably, will it ever be the same? Not a chance
severdhed:
i just checked out our local arcade, if you can call it that. I havent been there in a long time, i walked in and there were alot of games, but mostly like play-for-tickets kind of games. as for actuall arcade video games, there were 10 lightgun games, 1 set of side by side racing cabinets, 1 set of side by side motorcycle cabinets, and 1 bizarre tank game where this vr style helmet comes down from above you and you aim around the screen and shoot stuff. not a single joystick or trackball game in the entire place..it made me sad.
Level42:
To be true, in the 80's I never spent a lot time at arcades really. There just were not many real arcades here. You found them in tourist places only, and that's still true here. The memories I have are from playing Donkey Kong Jr. at a small old movie theater, playing Crazy Kong in a snackbar (went specialy into town for this with a friend). The most time I spent at a place near my school. It was so tiny, it fit 2 cabs (one was Ms.Pac Man first, later Q*bert, don't remember the other), one soccer table and a tiny bar where you could get softdrinks. Can't believe that guy made a living out of it ! But I played Ms.Pac Man A LOT there during school breaks.
Also you'd play arcade games at holiday parks like Center Parks http://www.centerparcs.com/ if you were there. I remember playing Frogger for an hour and a half. Not that I was that good, but there were some boys who had fire igniting devices (don't know the right word) that had the pin bent out. When the held it to the coindoor and used it, some (not all) games would rush up the credits. The place was without supervision then :D
Well, for what it's worth: I will leave for a holiday in the US in about a week. I will visit FunSpot http://www.funspotnh.com and from the looks of their insane classics collection, it looks like heaven on earth. The most exciting thing will be the fact that I will actualy play games on their original cabs for the very first time, instead of MAME !!!
I'm planning on being there on the 9th, check out this if your in the neigborhood ;):
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=52474.80