Went to an arcade after 4 years...

[RayB]

Ehhh What happened to the smileys? They are now blurry!  (looks like crap, but I digress...)

OK, I was entertaining a visiting friend this weekend and we stopped into "Dave 'n Busters". Wasn't all that much to see there. It's amazing that 4 years after the last time I was there, they mostly have the same old games sitting in the same spots they were last time. Only things new to me were House of the Dead III, Time Crisis III, Silent Scope EX, EA Madden Football, EA Need For Speed, and....

... Ms Pac/Galaga reunion, Centipede/Missile Command/etc combo, and the Qix/Space Invaders combo.

I played Space Invaders (and sorry, but it's as BORING as I remember. Blah!).

Played Centipede and you know what, I liked it way better using this 3" trackball they have. Much better than the original 2 1/4". Take note of this people!

Lastly, played Ms Pac and Galaga. I noticed something weird in Galaga... In higher levels, there would be these 3 yellow things that dive bomb into me in the bottom right corner. I did excellent until this point, and lost all my lives to these suckers. Now, i don't remember this happening in my own personal Galaga machine. (!?)

Lastly, here's a great cabinet design for anyone who wants to build something with a small foot-print but very unique:



http://www.namcoarcade.com/gamedata/cablg_flamfing_1.jpg

It's "Flaming finger" by Namco, and it's hard to tell in the photo, but the sides are 3 layers of wood (probably held together with wood screws), and each has chrome t-molding. Looks cool.

~Ray B.

[Kremmit]

Ehhh What happened to the smileys? They are now blurry!

[Jabba]

Ray, that arcade looks real cool!
Looks like it would take an artist/wood carver as the three layers of wood look like they are rounded.
Did you play the game? If so, was it fun?

Last time I was in an arcade was on a business trip in Salt Lake city in a mall down on South Temple street. Quite a few games in there. A lot of Capcom games and of course the prerequisite Ms. PacMan. More so than the arcades (or lack of) in Ottawa.
 

[shafor]

Flaming Finger - Wow I love that game.

If you get the opportunity to play it is a must.  The object is to trace your finger through a maze and to beat the count down timer.  The best part is, the closer you get to the end of the maze the quicker the timer runs. 

Thankfully, my aunt runs a small time arcade / pizza parlor and I have found that if you wet your finger (reduces friction) it will allow you to complete the maze without rubbing the skin off of your finger.

[Jabba]

....I have found that if you wet your finger (reduces friction) it will allow you to complete the maze without rubbing the skin off of your finger.

Ewwwww. I'll make sure not to put my finger in my mouth after I play that game next time (if I ever happen to come across it).

[Magnet_Eye]

that flaming finger looks more like a cool jukebox to me...


btw, what is a "Flaming Finger" anyway? Sounds kind of perverted in a gay way. 

[RayB]

TO the person who wondered how the game plays/if I played it: I did. And I didn't understand where the timer was... The game uses LED lights to light up the screen, not a monitor.

[paigeoliver]

Ray, which D&B did you go to?

The one I go to has all the same games.

[RayB]

Ray, which D&B did you go to?

It's up here in the suburbs north of Toronto (city called "Vaughn" to be specific).

[calicyco]

RE: Galaga.... those yellow guys move really fast and dive bomb you in the corner - the corners are not safe at higher levels! Its been a long while since I was the man at galaga, but I've been through every level (I think, it just repeats only faster) and though I cannot remember exactly where, those guys appear probably around level 15-20... Thats pretty early in the game though. I remember when I was 10 or so, playing galaga for upwards of 3 hours on a single quarter, me and my friends would trade off and take breaks to eat pizza, bathroom, etc.  We'd end up quitting because we had to leave.

I haven't tried it yet on mame, but there was a bug in one of the arcade versions of galaga that you could exploit to cause the attackers to stop firing for the rest of the game. You had to leave the two left most bees alive in the first stage, and then avoid them for about 30 minutes until they stop shooting. Once they stop shooting, kill them and no other enemy in the game will shoot at you again. I have no idea which rom this would be in though. I'll have to try it out and see.
 

[Mameotron]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,23619.0.html


This thread discusses the Galaga cheat.

[calicyco]

Cool! Whats funny, is I heard about this from a friend when we were in grade school, 20 or so years ago, and I always wondered who figured this out. If it was put in there on purpose (I figured it was a bug) its amazing how it eventually trickled down to the kids. I do remember it taking a long time to do and was really boring, so I hardly ever played "bugged" galaga.

Interesting!

[paigeoliver]

Ray, which D&B did you go to?

It's up here in the suburbs north of Toronto (city called "Vaughn" to be specific).

Ok, my D&B is the St. Louis location. Kind of got bored of the place though. I have gone through "Pump It Up", "Derby Owner's Club", and Star Wars Trilogy, and they just don't seem to have anything else that is really grabbing my interest right now. I hit my physical limitations at pump (got as good as I can get in the shape I am in), quit Derby Owners Club because it is too expensive. I can sail through Trilogy on one credit, but the condition of the joysticks on their trilogy machine has been getting worse and worse. They have repaired them a few times, but they are long overdue for a rebuild. Nothing makes me madder than messing up in a game because the operator won't keep his equipment in working order. Played a Demolition Man pin on location the other day that had a non functional 3rd flipper, which meant all the ball went right down the middle, and you never even got to play (game launches ball to third flipper, if you don't flip it then it will drain).