Main > Main Forum
Which arcade games have you actually seen/played in person
arzoo:
I spent many hours as a teen in our only local arcade (I graduated high school in '81). They would uncrate the new games out on the floor and we would wait to be the first to play. I can remember seeing a brand new Defender, Berzerk, and Gorgar (pin). I also worked in the arcades at Great Adventure (NJ), so I played a lot of games those years. Geez I'm old ::).
Silas (son of Silas):
--- Quote from: Turnarcades on May 05, 2009, 06:53:28 am ---As I've mentioned elsewhere before, we never really got dedicated cabinets frequently in the UK ..
--- End quote ---
Yup... I grew up in Reading about 30 miles West of London. I think the only time I ever got to play on a real arcade machine in the UK was at Gatwick or Heathrow airports when my parents used to take me on holiday as a kid. I distinctly remember the first time I completed Double Dragon was at Gatwick airport.
From the age of about 11 by dad used to fly us to the US (Chicago) on business trips 2 or 3 times a year, the we would would fly down to Florida for a break of a week or 2. That's where most of my arcade memories are rooted. I used to want to spend more time at The Florida Mall arcade than I did at any of the theme parks. The games I remember from there are:
Double Dragon
Ikari Warriors
P.O.W
Ring King
Afterburner
Final Fight.
Later in life when I was 21 (1996) I traveled to the US with a mate and we spent 3 months touring in an RV from San Francisco to Orlando. That was one long arcade game from start to finish. Back in '96 there were literally hundreds of second rate, cheap RV parks in the middle of absolutely nowhere that still had a clutch of old cabinets hanging around the crummy stores. That's where I first encountered real classic gaming. From that trip I remember playing:
Pac-Man.
Ms. Pacman
Moon Cresta
Donkey Kong
Frogger
At the end of that trip my mate and I holed up in Orlando for a couple of weeks, during which time we played Mortal Kombat (I don't recall which versions) daily.
I suppose if I hadn't spent so much time in arcades in the US, this whole hobby would have passed me by.
RayB:
As a general rule, I played EVERY game I could get my hands on from the time I was a kid on up through mid to late 20's.
If an arcade machine was present anywhere, be it a convenience store, restaurant, whatever and I was "there", at least one quarter had to go in!
I've even played rare turds no one may have heard of, such as:
Space Odyssey (Sega - cabinet was similar to Zaxxon)
arzoo:
--- Quote from: RayB on May 05, 2009, 11:46:40 am ---As a general rule, I played EVERY game I could get my hands on from the time I was a kid on up through mid to late 20's.
--- End quote ---
Wow - you've got to be more than 100 years old (or a Highlander) ;)
Minwah:
--- Quote from: Turnarcades on May 05, 2009, 06:53:28 am ---As I've mentioned elsewhere before, we never really got dedicated cabinets frequently in the UK
--- End quote ---
Except, Sega dedicated cabinets used to do pretty well. I used to play on OutRun, Super Hang On, Enduro Racer, Thunder Blade, Power Drift, After Burner & Space Harrier all in the same arcade - all sitdown/moving versions where applicable too.
I also recall a dedicated RoadBlasters (thus the shape of my cabinet!) and most of the 4 player games were dedicated (Gauntlet, Simpsons, TMNT). Also I saw plenty of real SF2 machines. Most other games were in boring old generic cabinets though, with really bad 'euro style' joysticks :P