I miss 20 years ago when every mall had an arcade place

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Ladic

[H]ard|Gawd
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Mar 30, 2006
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that use to be the days, when u walked into just about any mall, and there was the arcade place with over 30 arcades to play with.

What happaened to those days??? now all arcades are either shooters or racing and you can barely find a place that has an arcade or two,
 
yup.. not only malls, but an actual "Arcade' with every game that was $0.25. Tabletops, kung-fu, cenepede, virtuacop
 
Sadly, arcades are becoming a thing of the past due to the popularity of consoles.
 
Media has become far too cheap for anyone to be willing to pay the outrageous charges at an arcade, anymore. Look at it this way; I played Metal Slug 1-5 +X on MAME a copule weeks ago. In total, I think we used like 350 or more continues. Metal Slug Anthology for the wii(if you can find it) will cost you about $50, or 100 50cent continues. Why would I pay nearly 3x as much just to play through each one once when I could own them all instead?

The Arcade doesn't have the graphics edge it used to, it doesn't have the multiplayer appeal it used to. The Arcade is obsolete.
 
I could really shed many tears for our lost slivers of heaven know as Arcade. It's true the feelings we had there will never be had again. Maybe that is why I'm so hell bent on having a game room in my house...sigh. But, it'll never be the same as having my friends and non-friends enjoying the sights and sounds together. There are no rose colored glasses here. The Arcade WAS a place to genuinely bond and publicly display that you were not embarrassed to be a gamer. As others have posted, technology has seized the day. It’s much cheaper for home development, online connectivity is taking off, and people are by in-large don’t want to leave the house. And why should they I suppose?!
The Arcade was a place where you could play the latest and greatest on hardware that the normal citizen could never afford or fathom. Maybe that’s why gaming industry, while a lively industry, isn’t so “live” to veteran gamers because of stale IPs – the arcades was truly a competitive movement for fan and developer alike. I've posted many times about this. And I'm glad to know others miss it as I do.

A weekend lock-in with Street Fighter IV would've been the most exciting time in a while, I'm sure.
 
A possible future for arcades could be the inclusion of the competitive element, a la playing other people on console games face-to-face instead of anonymously using headsets. Not sure how they'd work out the fees and whatnot to the console and game makers, but a smaller venue with fewer games focused on co-op or interactive play (think 4 players broadcast via video to a distant location, and vice versa).

Kinda like Photon or Lazer Tag but with modern and future games?
 
Spewn said:
Media has become far too cheap for anyone to be willing to pay the outrageous charges at an arcade, anymore. Look at it this way; I played Metal Slug 1-5 +X on MAME a copule weeks ago. In total, I think we used like 350 or more continues. Metal Slug Anthology for the wii(if you can find it) will cost you about $50, or 100 50cent continues. Why would I pay nearly 3x as much just to play through each one once when I could own them all instead?

The Arcade doesn't have the graphics edge it used to, it doesn't have the multiplayer appeal it used to. The Arcade is obsolete.
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but how come they are still huge in japan?
 
Maybe the cost for having your own at-home entertainment system is higher on that side of the world? Having your own *home* certainly is, so I don't see why not.

Go into some of the not-so-wealthy Southern asian countries and Arcades are huge. Maybe it has something to do with the general wealth of a given area?

I won't pretend to understand all the reasons, but the fact is that you're not going to be able to convince the average person to head out to the arcade to play games that are the exact same as what they can get at home, especially not when they have to pay a dollar for three lives.
 
Malls around me do have arcades, but they typically suck. When I was little my favorite thing about arcades was getting tickets :mad:.

What I really miss is the OLD Babbages in the mall. 1998 Babbages had so many PC games. Entire right wall was nothing but PC games all the way to the back of the store. Once you got to the back, you were surrounded by a semicircle of PC games. In the middle of the semicircle was a couple shelves with video cards/accelerators on it.

PC section was about 3/4 of the store. I think when PS2/Xbox/Cube came out is when the PC section mysteriously vanished. It's currently reduced to one 4ft wide mobile cart.
 
I'll never forget the day I was at my local arcade and the delivery guys rolled in a new game called Mortal Kombat... I was playing sf2 and watched the techs set the game up and it just sat there unplayed for an hour till me and a friend went to check it out..... I was never the same after lol MK changed my life forever haha
 
Hell yeah man. I lived a mile from the mall, and my buddy about 200 feet. Even after MK2 came out for consoles, I rode my bike over to his place and we went a lot. Tournaments ruled. When we got licenses we could finally go to the arcade that was bigger and open later than the mall more often. They had pool tables and laser tag and what not. Good times!!
 
arcades were fun cause you didnt have anything better...console + big screen beats an arcade cabinet (except the driving games maybe)....besides when arcades started to go down I remember a seedy element starting to infest all of them, burnouts and pedophiles I imagine :D
 
There is absolutely no better way to play a fighter than on an arcade machine... no joystick or home pad can come close to standing up with the screan right in front of you and whooping some ass.. not to mention the level of competition was similiar to online. People from all over the city would be playing against each other and if you get beat you go to the end of the line.. no 2nd chances. I miss those days myself. Now if graphx quality is the only concern than yeah consoles now adays and my 42 plasma are light years better...
 
Arcades made sense when they were more powerful than home machines and didn't cost very much. Now arcade games are no better than what you can get at home and yet they cost like $1 per play whereas consoles games have gotten cheaper.
 
Ah, this thread brings back so many memories.

When I was a kid, I use to save up my pocket money everyday and almost every Saturday night, I would pay a visit to the mall just for the arcade game. There's a particular shooting game I with a toy gun controller that I must play everytime I'm there. I love those driving ones too

I think the best thing about these arcade games was the controller. The mock gun, the steering wheels and pedals. Well, there is steering wheels for PC today but its hardly practical to spend so much just for 1 or 2 games that I don't play often

These days, I have to drive 30 mins to the one and only mall in town left with arcade games
 
Do any of you have a dave and busters near you? You can go to "the arcade," get a beer and watch the game there. They don't have pinball, but most of the ones i've seen have an ok mix of stuff...
 
maademperor said:
arcades were fun cause you didnt have anything better...console + big screen beats an arcade cabinet (except the driving games maybe)....besides when arcades started to go down I remember a seedy element starting to infest all of them, burnouts and pedophiles I imagine :D
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RiZnO is correct. Nothing can compare to the arcade setup. While consoles + a big screens is fun for certain setups, like platformers; it's become so hum-drum to the current state of gaming. There has always been big screens and fun consoles, nothing has change. Just because we have thin wall unit TVs doesn't mean gaming suddenly got "better". The importance of these units has grown at a retarded rate though.

And what arcade were you haning at that pederasses we hanging out watching you play? I would've told him to shove it and get the hell out of my arcade.
 
I use to work in the gameroom at the movie theater. I loved watching people play and getting to play on my off times. The best was doing the fatalities on Mortal Kombat and people asking how i did it.
 
jds62f said:
Do any of you have a dave and busters near you? You can go to "the arcade," get a beer and watch the game there. They don't have pinball, but most of the ones i've seen have an ok mix of stuff...
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The D & B near me is a run down hell hole filled with smoke. It's not really my idea of an arcade, that could be because its next to a Nascar race track. Beside, the newest game is Time Crisis 3 or something similar. The entire JAMMA industry would need a resurge for me to consider arcade resurgence the real deal.

*side note:*
Everything in life comes in waves, we had great arcade in the 70s, then we had Atari/C64. Again in the 90s we had a resurgence, and possibly in the future...it's all a cycle. If the economy doesn't pick up again, arcades can very well start up again due to the fact nobody can afford a $400 system at the point in time. Manufactures R&D on new consoles would be hit hard as well. It would be adventagous to create a place where people can drop a few dollars for some fun.
 
PiratePowWow said:
Malls around me do have arcades, but they typically suck. When I was little my favorite thing about arcades was getting tickets :mad:.

What I really miss is the OLD Babbages in the mall. 1998 Babbages had so many PC games. Entire right wall was nothing but PC games all the way to the back of the store. Once you got to the back, you were surrounded by a semicircle of PC games. In the middle of the semicircle was a couple shelves with video cards/accelerators on it.

PC section was about 3/4 of the store. I think when PS2/Xbox/Cube came out is when the PC section mysteriously vanished. It's currently reduced to one 4ft wide mobile cart.
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I miss Babbages too, fucking gamestop.
 
Master Blaster said:
The D & B near me is a run down hell hole filled with smoke. It's not really my idea of an arcade, that could be because its next to a Nascar race track.
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Is that the KC,KS one?

I guess I'm fortunate enough to live in an area where they don't let people smoke in buildings anymore...
 
Spewn said:
Maybe the cost for having your own at-home entertainment system is higher on that side of the world? Having your own *home* certainly is, so I don't see why not.

Go into some of the not-so-wealthy Southern asian countries and Arcades are huge. Maybe it has something to do with the general wealth of a given area?

I won't pretend to understand all the reasons, but the fact is that you're not going to be able to convince the average person to head out to the arcade to play games that are the exact same as what they can get at home, especially not when they have to pay a dollar for three lives.
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the games probably don't cost $2 friggin dollars to play. 25cents is great, 50 is ok, anything more than 50 cents to play an arcade which usually equates to about 2 minutes of your time is wrong.

or yes babbages!! (or software Etc) totally loved that store. I bought so many games at that store for soo many years. Plus they always carried tons of older games that ended up being a few dollars. Now PC games are non existant in ebgames. I usually have to ask the people there were the one little shelf is hidden away.... :(
 
Bigbacon; Maybe, maybe not. In China you pay for World of Warcraft by the minute, not by the month, so it's really hard to say what the economy is like over there when it comes to gaming and arcades without actually having been to some of these specific places. It's also hard to know what the reasoning is, maybe it's societal? Maybe it's rude to sit at home and play PS3 all the time instead of going out?
 
skytripa said:
I use to work in the gameroom at the movie theater. I loved watching people play and getting to play on my off times. The best was doing the fatalities on Mortal Kombat and people asking how i did it.
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I remember the "string" of fatalities I use to do in MK2 in the acid room. I forgot what it was exactly... I believe I was able to change characters from SubZero and Scorpion (I think this was allowed in the later version of MK2). I would upper cut them into the acid but before the victim would go in, I would use Scorpion's spear-rope (Get over here!) to drag him near me. I would then switch to SubZero and freeze the victim a few times (to buy time and well, makes the fatality look cooler ;) ). I would then switch back to Scorpion and then do the fire breath fatality. After the corpse is burnt, it would then suddenly drop into the acid and float away. It never failed to impress bystanders. Hell, it never failed to impress me because each time I did it, it felt like an accomplishment. :p
 
apcviewer said:
I remember the "string" of fatalities I use to do in MK2 in the acid room. I forgot what it was exactly... I believe I was able to change characters from SubZero and Scorpion (I think this was allowed in the later version of MK2). I would upper cut them into the acid but before the victim would go in, I would use Scorpion's spear-rope (Get over here!) to drag him near me. I would then switch to SubZero and freeze the victim a few times (to buy time and well, makes the fatality look cooler ;) ). I would then switch back to Scorpion and then do the fire breath fatality. After the corpse is burnt, it would then suddenly drop into the acid and float away. It never failed to impress bystanders. Hell, it never failed to impress me because each time I did it, it felt like an accomplishment. :p
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Talk about a clitch! Sounds like the mythical Goro walking around in the Forest stage.
 
apcviewer said:
I remember the "string" of fatalities I use to do in MK2 in the acid room. I forgot what it was exactly... I believe I was able to change characters from SubZero and Scorpion (I think this was allowed in the later version of MK2). I would upper cut them into the acid but before the victim would go in, I would use Scorpion's spear-rope (Get over here!) to drag him near me. I would then switch to SubZero and freeze the victim a few times (to buy time and well, makes the fatality look cooler ;) ). I would then switch back to Scorpion and then do the fire breath fatality. After the corpse is burnt, it would then suddenly drop into the acid and float away. It never failed to impress bystanders. Hell, it never failed to impress me because each time I did it, it felt like an accomplishment. :p
Click to expand...

Talk about a glitch! Sounds like the mythical Goro walking around in the Forest stage.
 
I miss arcades as well. That reminds me, I miss the sporting goods stores that sold guns (or straight up gun stores) in the malls as well. I actually bought my first gun in a shopping mall. I also miss the knife stores. Those seem to be scarce in malls now too. I used to be able to find games, guns and knives in the mall. Man, some of my three favorite things. It was one stop shopping back in the day. Now I never go to shopping malls.
 
Master Blaster said:
Talk about a glitch! Sounds like the mythical Goro walking around in the Forest stage.
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I really wish I had a video. All I can rely on is my memory when I really want to see it again. Also, according to the arcade owner, there were multiple versions of MK2. The first was a beta where each person only has one fatality and there were no stage fatalities (upper cut at the bridge level will not lead to the victim falling in the pit) and there were no friendships or babalities.

The MK2 version I was playing was probably an intentionally rigged edition, similar to one of the Street Fighter editions where it is super super fast and Ken and Ryu's fireballs never go horizontally straight (the slowest moves in a wave, up and down and up and down... the fastest shoots steadily going up or down). I bought MK2 for the PC and couldn't replicate the string of fatalities. I don't even remember if I could even switch characters in the PC version (I no longer have the game so can't test it out).

Now that I am thinking about the non fatal finishing moves, I believe you could replace the fire breath fatality with a friendship instead. It doesn't look as cool though.
 
When I was young (years ago!) I used to spend hours at my local arcade.This arcade had 2 levels and had baseball cages and trampolines with another small arcade nearby. It was certainly fun to go to and I wish arcades could make a comeback with retro arcade coin-ops, including pinball.
 
I just watched Terminator 2 and when John Connor and his friend went to the "galleria" that brought back memories. Sucks there are no places like that nowadays
 
Yep, I miss arcades also. Still remember cutting out of school to go play the latest games with a couple freinds. Even when the arcade sort of came home with importing a Sega Saturn for fighting and shooter games we still went to the arcade or local pizza shops in NY. Spent so much money/time on Street Fighter II and pizza back in the day. I want it back.:(
 
I USED to hang out in them, how old are you guys? What are you guys doing in the mall anyways? When I was 8 to probably 15 I went, I don't think I'd wanna go into one nowadays.

I go to Dave and Buster's once in a blue moon for an event or a party etc. I never go there just to play some video games it just comes along with the territory. Besides D&B is more expensive than a nudie bar and I'd rather see womens.

Speaking of I do remember Babbages and I also remember when Gamestop used to buy used PC games.
 
arcades were great because they had awesome games you couldn't get on your console at the time. so it was fun to go out and play them. i remember as a kid telling my parents it was my dream to live in an arcade. sleep there, eat pizza and play games all day, it was my ultimate goal in life.

I wish we could get that same concept back again, where you have some awesome gaming experience you can only go out to get. Like some advanced VR or something. Because that wonder is really gone from gaming since you can get everything for your home PC/console.
 
20 years ago... ppfffhhtttt... try 25, let's go for 30, and yes I'm 42 so, I remember quite well those days when Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and truly old school games were first appearing, when "Pac-Man Fever" was actually a #1 hit on the radio, etc... ;)

It's safe to say that from 1980 to 1990 I put well into the high 5-digits (meaning money) into arcade games, without a doubt. In the early 80s it was Pac-Man - I bought a book on it actually because it got frustrating on some of the higher levels, 9 keys, etc... but eventually got to the point where a quarter would last me through the game till it locked up after level 255... 8 bit, gotta love it.

Then Donkey Kong for months till I could play it in my sleep with the patterns so habitual I could eat lunch while playing and not miss a beat...

Then the rest of the old school gaming, into the mid-80s with Dragon's Lair, which took about $100 at $.50 a game to finally master it to the point of not even needing to think about what to do the instant a level screen appeared. Was tough at first but once you got the timing and the memorization down it was nothing...

One of my faves was a very underrated game but I could play it for hours: Mad Planets... with that hardcore "thump thump thump" sound playing. Talk about hyperactive gameplay on some of the later levels, absolute insanity. Then there's Sinistar, with that sinister "I LIVE... I HUNGER..." voice that just sent shivers up your spine when you heard it...

Then into "traditional" games like Rygar (friend of mine still has the world record on that one afaik, he was the first person on the planet to discover the 1 million point bonus totally by accident) and also held the world record on Zookeeper for a long time - made a 16 million point jump once (if you know the game, the jump was over so many animals the machine literally slowed to a crawl because there were so many sprites onscreen it basically choked it).

One of my fave fun games was Ring King, a boxing game. Just had the silliest sounds and graphics, and when you hit just the right combos it would do a freeze-frame at the moment of the punch, then slow motion. Hilarious stuff...

Lots of good games until... Street Fighter, of course. When that one came out it was the primary focus for a lot of us for a long long time. The timing was totally screwed on it, but we got the hang of it (a big group of us back home in southeastern Virginia). It faded over time as there wasn't anything new we could do with it, so other games moved in and replaced it...

Until Street Fighter II, of course. :)

That one started the change in gaming in arcades towards the fighting games. That one still stands as the paradigm shifting one above and beyond all the rest. All fighting games since Street Fighter II owe that game the credit for starting it all, and everybody knows it.

I could go on for hours about my experiences with that one, in its original unmodified form, the hacked versions, the "cheap" stuff I think we on the East Coast started (hey, if you're gonna turtle in the corner, I'm gonna throw you... fight or lose, it's your choice... if it's in the game it's in the game, it ain't cheap), then into SFII:CE, then SFII:THF, SSFII, etc etc... every single game was played front to back, top to bottom, etc.

I stuck with arcades as did most all of my friends from school days until SF3 came out. At that point, the price doubled to a buck a game, and to be honest, SF3 sucked and it always will. They made too many changes in the gameplay, the timing, all the silly in-fight action sequences, etc for us "diehards" to stick with it, so we all just gradually moved on from that point. I still love the Alpha series, One and Two primarily, Three made some changes to timing, combos, etc that made me learn it all over again and I get sick of redoing all that stuff.

The beauty of SF is that a lot of the stuff gets retained from version to version, but the one thing I see with SF4 are just too many damned in-fight animation "mini-movies" when you do a super move or combo. I've never played it in 'arcades' as I don't know of any worth going to - and I'm in Vegas with a GameWorks near the MGM Grand... shitty place, truly, a sad testament to making money instead of having fun.

But from watching the videos I wish you could disable all that crap and just stick with the fight itself... :)

Haven't been to an 'arcade' in years now, save for the Pinball Museum here in Vegas last year. The guy that runs it does so non-profit, all the money and donations go into paying the power bill and upkeep on the machines, and he does love 'em and take care of 'em very well. Nice place to visit and have a few laughs over some Silverball Mania or Road Kings.

I always was a pinball lover at heart... and a damned good "Master of the Flippers" if I do say so myself. :D
 
rkatapt said:
I USED to hang out in them, how old are you guys? What are you guys doing in the mall anyways? When I was 8 to probably 15 I went, I don't think I'd wanna go into one nowadays.

I go to Dave and Buster's once in a blue moon for an event or a party etc. I never go there just to play some video games it just comes along with the territory. Besides D&B is more expensive than a nudie bar and I'd rather see womens.

Speaking of I do remember Babbages and I also remember when Gamestop used to buy used PC games.
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lol i thought the same thing. I hate going to the mall! I do go to d&b for the video games every now and again though. What do things cost at the strip club you go to? Anytime I've ever been in one its been at least $20 cover, and when its cheaper they require you to buy at least one drink (with a bottle of beer costing $7-9). Definitely NOT cheaper than any dave and busters I've been too... but then again I'd rather have my boobies at home anyway....
 
Joe Average said:
*snip*
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I was wanting for you Joe, I figured you'd post something grand in the Arcade thread :p

Give SFIV a chance though. I believe the new animations will give the game new attachment and charisma. I'm completely stoked that people are being quite receptive to the new SF and I'm ready to play the hell out of it!
 
Yeah, I often give thanks that I was able to work in an arcade from 1990-1992 when Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter were the kings and arcades were at the height of their popularity.
 
I totally miss arcades... the Gold Mine in South Square Mall (Duraham NC) was like one of my favorite arcades.. runner up was below the student union at Duke University NC... the dark env with black lights and things flashing on screens all over, the sound of greenbacks being converted into quarters or tokens all mixed together in a torrent of video game audio mish-mash.. it was sublime!

I was all about Ms Pac Man, Galaga, Defender, Stargate, Robitron, and Tron. When I get a large enough place I am going to start collecting old coin-op games and make my own arcade.. but for now I can turn off the lights use some xmas lights for mood and mame it. heh..
 
Back in the day Arcades were truly awesome.

When I was 13 or so, my dad would take me to a place in the mall called Sky Games. I remember one time we went just to go to that place. :p

Anyway, myself grown used to The Simpsons, Altered Beast, Golden Axe, X-Men and Street Fighter or was it the second?.

Fond memories of kicking people's asses in Street Fighter and spending the time to just be at that place. Unfortunately, it got replaced by some Chinese community center.

:mad:

Heh I'm not mad, just wanted to use that icon.

Like rkatapt, I tend to make trips at times also at Dave & Busters in modern times.
 
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