Video Tour of the 'Luna City Arcade'

[BadBrad]

kotaku.com/357388/video-tour-of-the-luna-city-arcade

[MazzMn]

cool, thx for posting!

[Zobeid]

I had to really laugh at this bit:

"That's an easy one because I hate Galaga.  It was just funny because I loved Galaxian when it came out, and then everyone somehow took a liking to Galaga instead.  And, um. . .   Everyone always asks me about Galaga.  And I really don't like the game all that much.  It's. . .  It's OK, but, um, I pretty much got it specifically because everyone kept harassing me about not having it."

I feel the same way.  Galaga isn't a bad game, I don't hate it as such, but I do sort of resent how it's somehow been elevated above the many other vertical shooters of its era.  I mean. . .    Phoenix.  Astro Blaster.  Gorf.  Moon Cresta.  Pleiads.  Satan's Hollow.  Radarscope.  (And many others, I'm sure.)  I don't understand what happened here, I don't know why everyone is looking for Galaga instead of Phoenix or Astro Blaster.

[Turnarcades]

Although not a child of the 70's (I was born in 1980), I can appreciate the points made about the wonder of finding the newest games ready to play.

I live in the very heart of England, which meant my arcade time was almost exclusively limited to seaside trips or the occasional crack in a recreation centre. Over in the UK arcade owners just didn't have the cash to spend on original machines, so most games I played were in generic JAMMA cabinets and arrived much later than our US counterparts, but I still remember the awe experienced when I discovered certain games, such as an original Space Invaders (memorable for the coloured strips over the screen), Pac-Land, Wardner and Wonderboy (addictive platformers with colourful graphics, Splatterhouse (surprising level of gore for the time), 720 (trackball design with cool 'boom box' cabinet), Street Fighter 2 (later on, but a landmark fighting game) etc. etc..

Probably my most memorable were the awesome 4-player experiences of games like TMNT, Simpsons, Wrestlefest, Gauntlet, and NBA Jam, more so because multi-player gaming was finding it's way home effectively, and arcade ports were becoming closer to the original arcade games.

[Zobeid]

I live in the very heart of England, which meant my arcade time was almost exclusively limited to seaside trips or the occasional crack in a recreation centre.

As long as we're waxing nostalgic. . .  I live in the very heart of Texas, in a small town, rural area.  Even in the heyday of videogames, I was limited in what was available to me.  One convenience store had a game, another store had two games, a small grocery store had one.  They swapped games out for new ones occasionally.  There was an arcade 60 miles away, which I got to visit every several weeks (and see what new marvel they'd brought in since last time), but it wasn't a place where I could spend a lot of time hanging out.

So. . .  I never got enough of them.  And there were a lot of classic games that I saw only once or twice briefly, or in many cases I just never encountered them at all.  Maybe that's why I'm still fascinated by them today.  I can check out everything I missed the first time around.

The other funny thing is that in almost every case I can remember exactly where I played the games.  I can remember which convenience store had Asteroids, which one had Quasar, which place had the sit-down Star Wars machine, the sit-down Tailgunner machine, even which side of the room the Vanguard machine was on, where the Tempest machine was positioned, etc.

I think it must be instinctive.  Your stone age hunter-gatherers' lives depended on remembering where the wild onions grow, where the nut trees are, where the wild grape vines are, etc.  I sought out videogames the same way, and I never forgot where I found them -- even though they're all long gone and forgotten by everyone else now.

[quarterback]

kotaku.com/357388/video-tour-of-the-luna-city-arcade

Thanks for the post!

It looks like Steve could use a shower, though.   It looks like the interview team woke him up and started rolling. 

[quarterback]

Anybody notice that the Space Invaders behind Steve isn't actually playing Space invaders?

EDIT:  Never mind.  I think it's an optical illusion.

[wp34]

I liked his analogy that Mame is a little like listening to a recording of a live concert.  I was able to play Asteroids recently on a dedicated cab for the first time in 15 years.  It really is a different experience to play on the actual cabinet compared to Mame.  That being said since I do not have his resources Mame will do just fine.

[Zobeid]

I liked his analogy that Mame is a little like listening to a recording of a live concert.  I was able to play Asteroids recently on a dedicated cab for the first time in 15 years.  It really is a different experience to play on the actual cabinet compared to Mame.  That being said since I do not have his resources Mame will do just fine.

When I think of the resources he's put into that arcade. . .  I mean not only financial costs, but also the time spent restoring and also maintaining the machines. . .  He said he could spend his full time in there just repairing them, and I believe it.

So in a sense I envy him, and in another sense I don't.  I think I'll be happy to settle for my own MAME cabinet that I can keep running without making a full-time job of it or devoting a barn to housing it.

[fixedpigs]

It looks like Steve could use a shower, though.   It looks like the interview team woke him up and started rolling. 

you mean peter...?

[Ummon]

It's cool to finally see some quality video of the place.

[retrometro]

man, wished i lived closer to that place

[mrserv0n]

I have a friend with over 40 pinballs , just like this guy he will have partys once a month or so and there all on and its amazing.