Who here plays games at an arcade?

Are arcades really nonexistant outside Japan? Since I haven't been in the US in a while, I visit other game forums for feedback on the subject, and the people there act like they're all gone (although I can't tell if these folks ever visited an arcade at any degree of frequency, back when arcades were still healthy). On other forums you don't hear much about "I played/wanna play X game at the arcade," you hear "I'm waiting for the PS2/Xbox release of X game," as though there's no other way to play it.. is the situation that bad? Makes me not want to go back to the States.

Anyway, I'd like to hear about the state of arcades in your area, if they exist at all where you live, how frequent you go there, how busy they are, and what new games they have. Thx all.

There are arcades littered about America, some with worthwhile games, most without (with the exception of mainstream games like Soul Calibur 2 and *shudder* Tekken).

If I want to go play a good Bemani game aside from DDR (Beatmania IIDX 8th for instance) I had to go to Detroit.

Not a single arcade near me. At all. I'd kill to play in an arcade; I love them. Even in friggin Iowa I could go play DDR on a regular basis. Not here.

I miss the days of living in Chicago when MvC2 was first released in the arcades about as much as any other memorable parts of my life. It was that much fun. *sigh*

The only thing I really play at my local arcade is DDR.

The last time I went to the arcades was a few months ago searching for Out Run 2 which I never found.

The last time I played an arcade game was when Virtua Cop 3 came out. It cost 2 dollars a credit. At that price, I didn't bother continuing. Arcade gaming is an absolute rip-off today to the point where it's comical. I would rather spend 10 bucks and buy a cheap PS2 game.

The best thing to ever happen to the gaming industry was the death of the arcades.

Bah, arcades have an atmosphere and culture that consoles will never recreate. Playing at home with your friends on arcade sticks, and especially playing online, are nowhere near what playing a fighter in an arcade is like.

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

The best thing to ever happen to the gaming industry was the death of the arcades.

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I don't understand, wouldn't a healty arcade scene help push graphics and we all love those quirky games and shooter + fighters.

Yes, there are arcade experiences that can't be fully replicated at home, like the fighting game competition atmosphere and huge sit-in cabinets with unique controllers. But I think the loss of those is a small price to pay to have most of the best games and even technology at home. Arcade gaming used to be on a league above home gaming in technology and gameplay. It always pissed me off that home gaming wasn't as cool. That isn't a problem anymore.

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

The best thing to ever happen to the gaming industry was the death of the arcades.

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You're breaking my heart man. May as well have said 2D gaming was holding the industry back, and the hardware race is better off without Sega in it (which are both true statements).

Austin has several arcades. By campus alone there are 3 (Einstein's & Le Fun on the Drag, and Power Play in Dobie Mall). Down here in South Austin there's Gatti Town, which is a pizza place with a huge arcade and a vr/interactive gaming room. In North Austin there's Dave & Busters. Then further north of that there's Lakeline Mall which has a Sega GameWorks Studio and a United Artists Starport (more of a vr/interactive arcade).

Then there's Austin Park & Pizza which is one of those go kart/mini golf/lazer tag places, but they've got a lot of games as well. Oh, and at North Cross Mall there'sLans Edge which is not a traditional arcade but a lan arcade where everybody sits around playing lan games on the pcs and Xboxes they have set up.

http://www.lansedge.com/NEWSITE/admi.../le0303-01.jpg

Then there's Blazer Tag which I've never been to, but the have new games like Time Crisis and Daytona USA! :lol: We've also still got a Chuck E. Cheese or two with lots of games, and Peter Piper Pizza with the worst arcade of all of these probably.

I usually stick to Le Fun by campus and bounce between the three arcades down there. Incidentally, there's a second Le Fun in North Austin too. I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting... I *knew* I should have put together a website with pictures of all the places around town.

**edit** Just for reference, the list of games at Austin Park & Pizza (with boldened rhythm games for all you wacky kidz):

Aftershock
Air Hockey Hot Flash
Alpine Racer
Arabian Nights Pinball
Area 51 / Max Force Duo Showcase
Atlus Photo Sticker
Basket fever
Basketball Shoot and Hoops
Bee bee boppin
Bermuda triangle
Big Haul
Big Shot
Blade of Honor
Blast it
Bounce a bout
Candy Crane
Carousel
Claim Jumper
Club Cart
Coin Circus
Crisis Zone
Cruisin’ World
Cyclone
Daytona USA
DDR 4th Mix
Deep Freeze
Dinosaur Valley
Dozer
Drill-o-Matic
Drum Mania - Percussion Freaks
Elvis
Fireball
Flipz
Goin’ Rollin’
Gold Coast
Gold Zone
Hammer Head
Hip Hop Mania - Beatmania
Horsin’ Around
House of the Dead 1, 2 and 3
Hydro Thunder
Initial D
Jackpot Crossing
Jurassic Park 3
LAX Rotary
Light House
Lost World
Manx TT
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 Showcase
Mocap boxing
Mortal Kombat 4 Showcase
Moto Cross
Ms. Pacman / Galaga
Music Arena
NFL Blitz
Plush Crane
Police Trainer 2
Pool Tables
Raptor Captor
Ribbit Racin’
Roll 4 Gold
Safari Roll
Silent Scope 2
Skee Daddle
Sketch Express
Smoken Token
Solar Spin
Sonic beat
Sonic Tail Spinner
Soul Caliber 2 Showcase
Spider Stompin
Star Trek Voyager
Star Wars pod racer
Star Wars Trilogy
Stop the Clock
Strike Fighter
Super GT DLX
Tekken 4 Showcase
Time Crisis 2
Time Crisis 3
Top Skater
Trophy Hunter Showcase
Virtua Tennis Showcase
Wacky Ducks
Wacky Gator
Wheel ‘Em In
Wheel Deal
Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Wonder
Wonder Wheel
X-press Coaster Ride

While the saturn and ps comes to mind in that aspect I still think the arcades decline is a sad thing, I mean we never know what we are missing out on, think of the possibilities.

What kind of arcade games does Dave and Buster's Stock? I've always figured it was just racing games or something I wouldn't care about.

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Originally Posted by Thief~Silver

What kind of arcade games does Dave and Buster's Stock? I've always figured it was just racing games or something I wouldn't care about.

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They do have a lot of racing games, but they've also got things like House of the Dead 2 or Time Crisis 3 on the HUGE wall size screens. Silent Scopes, Virtua Fighters, Star Wars Trilogy, a river rafting game where two people have to row and row and row... A six pack Hydro Thunder... I can't remember what else. Not bad, but not great either. I'm forgetting plenty. Haven't been in a while. I'm sure they have a DDR machine or four... I generally stick to the grungy, smelly, dark arcades by campus, but haven't been down there for a while either.

**edit** Oh, here we go:

18 Wheeler
Airline Pilot
Arctic Thunder
Dance Dance Revolution
Ferrari F355 Challenge
Global VR Vortex
Harley's
Hydro-Thunder
Rapid River
Star Trek Voyager
Star Wars Pod Racer
Star Wars Trilogy
Strike Fighter
Tsumo
Wave Runner
Mocap Boxing
Time Crisis 3
PGA Tour Golf
Golden Tee Fore
Trophy Hunter
House of the Dead 3
Virtua Cop 3
Galaga
Ms. Pac-Man
Centipede
Millipede
Missile Command
Ultracade with Defender, Joust, Robotron, Asteroids
Daytona USA
Derby Owners Club


then lots of interactive things like a fast pitch simulator skeeball, billiards, shuffleboard and lots of other things...

What a depressing pic. There's like what, 10-15 guys there? Each in their own little computer, headphones on, complete with barriers between them. Where'd the community in gaming go?

Well, that's it, then. I'm moving to Texas.

If the D&B in Chicago is indicative of the whole chain, be prepared to refinance your house just to play a few games there.

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Originally Posted by lithium

What a depressing pic. There's like what, 10-15 guys there? Each in their own little computer, headphones on, complete with barriers between them. Where'd the community in gaming go?

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I dunno, I think it's just that undefinable, intangible difference between the pc crowd and your normal arcade/console crowd. It is pretty subdued and not all that social. The place has 40 pc's set up like that, plus some Xboxes. It looks quieter than it is though.

All we have locally is a DDR Extreme and a few cabinets not really worth the while. Time Crisis, maybe, and some old Sega racer. There's a Soul Calibur machine, or at least there used to be. Haven't been up in months.

Most local arcades have closed down or severly reduced their selection. Even our Dave and Buster's took a hit, I know they got rid of three machines a few months back.

Like Thief said, there's an arcade in Detroit that had some good bemani (IIDX 8th, Guitar Freaks and Drummania in addition to the DDR machines).

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Originally Posted by Ex Ranza

Well, that's it, then. I'm moving to Texas.

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Yeah, I talk Austin up all the time. We're one of the most wired cities in America. We have a university of 50,000 people, about half of which are Vietnamese and Taiwanese girls around the age of 18. We've got the coolest anime/sushi/boba (bubble tea) place anywhere (Momoko), we've got a ton of great sushi bars all over town. We've got two really nice lakes in town and lots and lots of hills on the West Side for all your mountain biking needs. And we've got a music and club culture that is always hopping. Come by and see us. ;)

Sounds like you've got it made, Scourge. :)

As far as the survivability of an arcade community, there is a shred of hope--the Initial D driving game seems to have a tremendous following at my local arcade. On those rare Friday nights when I dare go near the mall (that's where all the young 'uns go, where they no doubt get into shenanigans), there's always a crowd of 15-20 people encircling the Initial D twin setup. They call the next game by sliding their data card underneath the marqee bezel. I really haven't seen anything like that in my area in years, so it was pretty heartening..

One Old School Arcade on State Street. Black Knight 2000 owns so badly, he will be defeated!

University Pinball in Philly is amazing...

Awesome level of competition, and an excellent selection of fighting games.

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

The best thing to ever happen to the gaming industry was the death of the arcades.

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You've got to be s!!ting me. :|

There are some decent arcades in my area, TriCounty Flea Market being the best of all of them (DDR, PIU, StepMania with Pop'n buttons, GGX2, Metal Slug 5, KoF '03, and MAME cabinets). Most of the rest of them are random Nathan's restaurants, one of them has Guitar Freaks and PIU (and is across the street from TriCounty. Lots of gaming in Levittown, New York, I tells ya), the other having a veritable cornucopia of fighters and shmups. Other than that, there are a lot of overpriced, "big cabinet" arcades like Fun Zone and Jillian's that have nothing but racing and other crazy cabinet games, with the occasional craptastic Tekken and maybe some SCII or DDR.

I'm at TriCounty every weekend, though, myself.

Out here at Seaside (Sleazeside) NJ, the arcades get more and more dull with one exception: there is an arcade there that has only classic games:

Space Invaders
Tapper (Budweiser, oh yeah)
Mr Do
Sinistar
Paperboy
Punch Out
720
Cabal
Gyruss
Robotron
Spy Hunter (sit down cab)
The Simpsons
Donkey Kong
Super Mario Bros
Ms Pac Man
Star Wars
Defender
Defender: Stargate
Tempest
Operation Thunderbolt
Kung Fu Master

Plus, they have a sit-down Ultracade cab chock full of Capcom games...and they have SNOW BROTHERS!!!!!!OMG!!!! :) :) :) :)

its the best arcade ever, and is always chock full of people (lots of 30-somethings)

Fun'NGames and 8 on the Break are OK too...

Zero that sounds really cool, I'd love to be able to play Snow Brothers in the arcade again. :)

Apart from the Trocadero in London there is literally no-where to play any new arcade games. All we have left are the dodgy old seaside arcades which still have the likes of Daytona, Ridge Racer Tekken etc.

I pray that I can find an Out Run 2 machine when I go to Spain in a few weeks.

All I want is an Ultracade cabinet near me. Surely that's not asking for too much!

I used to go to arcades, y'know, back when they used to be fun.

I still go to arcades every now and then, but this is about a once-a-month frequency. Unfortunately, the only people left in California arcades are pricks. The type of guys who let their emotions consume them when they're playing Third Strike. I'd rather go to an arcade just to have fun, not to deal with the people who take this crap too seriously.

I still like finding arcades full of older games. I like "discovering" a working machine of a game I haven't played in years, or only seen on MAME. I still like playing the occasional fighting game. But obviously it's not going to be the same day of fun as it was when I was thirteen.

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Originally Posted by Ex Ranza

All I want is an Ultracade cabinet near me. Surely that's not asking for too much!

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I found a dive bar that had an Ultracade machine. I could get into playing Strider and Liquid Kids while drinking. Fuck socializing.

A year and a half ago, we had one, only one, arcade left. It got bought, and even though it was turning a profit, the new owner didn't see it as a big enough profit... So he gutted the fighter section and put in redemption machines. Then he guttedmost of the racing to have a clear floor, brought in a DJ on the weekends and actually expected THAT to turn into a hotspot. Instead of even trying to change it back, he gave up. No one bought it. It's empty.

No more arcades :(

We have an Aladdin's Castle and a bowling alley. I frequent the Aladdin's Castle nearly every day for my MvC2 fix. We also have DDR Extreme there that gets played a lot too. As long as MvC2 is at the arcade, I will go there.

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Originally Posted by Tojo

As long as MvC2 is at the arcade, I will go there.

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...and now the TNL "MVC2 SuXx0rz" crew will proceed to call you gay for liking MVC2-
[Space Harrier]Get Ready![/Space Harrier]

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Originally Posted by Zerodash

[Space Harrier]Get Ready![/Space Harrier]

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Nononononono....

[Garou]Get Ready. SURVIVE!![/Garou]

Fun N Games isnt too bad

it had F-Zero for a bit now its got Outrun 2 and 5 billion cabs of initial d

its not great but its not horrible either

We've got three Tilts in our area and they perodically swap cabs around to whichever has lagging business and then when it picks up they move it to one of the others. The main attractions between the three of them are:

Crisis Zone
Time Crisis 2
W.A.R.
Lucky & Wild
Mark of the Wolves
Last Blade 2
A Neo-Geo Cab with like 5 games, I think SamSho 3 & 4 and NAM 1975 among them.
SVC: Chaos
MvC
MvC2
Soul Calibur 2
House of the Dead 2
DDR Max
Wing War

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Originally Posted by Scourge

Yeah, I talk Austin up all the time. We're one of the most wired cities in America. We have a university of 50,000 people, about half of which are Vietnamese and Taiwanese girls around the age of 18. We've got the coolest anime/sushi/boba (bubble tea) place anywhere (Momoko), we've got a ton of great sushi bars all over town. We've got two really nice lakes in town and lots and lots of hills on the West Side for all your mountain biking needs. And we've got a music and club culture that is always hopping. Come by and see us. ;)

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I agree x100

I like Tapioca House on MLK better. It's the cheapeast boba around. Scourge what part of town do you live in?

scourge is killing me here, we now have one, count em, one fucking arcade left within a 2 hour drive of johnstown. and its a cyberstation, which means, shooting games, raceing games, and some neglected fighting games(and a ddr machine, which is practically the only thing that gets played). i dont think some of you younger gamers really understand what arcades used to be, by the time you were playing games, the decline had already begun. but in the early to mid 80's arcades were a world all their own, the atmosphere of that can never be replaced by console games and online games, no matter how good they are. hell, i would trade in morrowind right now to walk into an arcade and find some new, weird side scrolling action game or even a 4-6 person beat em up. you really had to be there to understand why.

The last of the arcades in my old town cleared out with the takeover of a food store I used to visit regularly, so there's nothing to hardly see anymore. All I know of that's hosting any are my pc and the namco arcade which I have to run a few miles for. They took down time-crisis and gunblade so it's not worth the effort.

As long as there is civilization, there will be a Chinatown Fair. Home of the last realy good and affordable arcades this side of teh 80s. I also go to Lazer Park for Initial D and Fight Mania. 'Cause Hokuto Shinken has no equal and stuff.

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Originally Posted by Takumi

I agree x100

I like Tapioca House on MLK better. It's the cheapeast boba around. Scourge what part of town do you live in?

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Well, as disappointed as I am to report it, I don't actually live in Austin. I used to live here, but I do work here and all my friends are here and until recently my girlfriend lived here, and, well, I say here because 99% of the time I'm posting, like right now, I'm in Austin. I stay with friends some weekends who until recently lived in the 2222/Shoal Creek area, back behind Burnet Rd., kind of near where S&B Amusements is on Burnet. They just bought a house out off Oak Knoll somewhere so they'll be up North off 183 in the next coupla weeks (and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to move my Neo-Geo 2 slot outta their place). I live South of Austin at another lake: Canyon Lake out in the hills and country. But I'm all over Austin all the time.

Tapioca, eh? Nobody else I've been to in town has had a decent selection of bubble teas. They're all fruity. I like the flowery ones and stuff, the pan one is really, really good. CoCo's never impresses. There is another on Guadalupe by campus that is good, I forget the name, near Hao-Hao next to where Animagix use to be. But the one near Panda Express isn't too hot. Momoko has a huge selection. And they show anime in there sometimes. And their grilled eel is to die for!! tho a bit expensive They're rice balls are really great too!

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Originally Posted by Zerodash

...and now the TNL "MVC2 SuXx0rz" crew will proceed to call you gay for liking MVC2-
[Space Harrier]Get Ready![/Space Harrier]

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Well.....he deserves it....
I have no Idea why people still like it.
I wouldnt call you gay, but you need Jesus. :lol:

I used to go to the SVGL, one of the finest arcades in the US until the following happened.

CVS2 ended up being the last good arcade fighter of all time.
Beatmania IIDX jumped the shark and is now the laughing stock of Bemani.
DDR died.
DrumMania and Guitar Freaks moved so fast that I stopped caring (They're at like, 10/11 now or something)
Aside from Bemani, yeah, the industry is dead. The only great non-bemani game we got in years was Virtua Cop 3 and SF: Rush 2049 Champion Edition.
Initial D was fun until the fobs took the fun out of it with their retarded Azness.

The only time I EVER go to an arcade is to drop in, play some CVS2 or 3rd Strike and thats for 10 minutes at most. If I'm in Southern California, I'll stop by AI, play a game of Pop'N Music and then beg whoever I'm with to get out of there.

Consoles >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Arcade

Thats all there is to it.

theres one Tilt in my "city". it's newest game is Tekken 4. hooray.

Now, I dont know about Initial D......the regulars are basicaly a mixed bag depending on where you go. As for me, its all about the race, and perfection of tecnique. Which is amazingly hard to do on that game. I swear, Initial D does not drive like it should.

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Originally Posted by g0zen

We've got three Tilts in our area and they perodically swap cabs around to whichever has lagging business and then when it picks up they move it to one of the others. The main attractions between the three of them are:

Crisis Zone
Time Crisis 2
W.A.R.
Lucky & Wild
Mark of the Wolves
Last Blade 2
A Neo-Geo Cab with like 5 games, I think SamSho 3 & 4 and NAM 1975 among them.
SVC: Chaos
MvC
MvC2
Soul Calibur 2
House of the Dead 2
DDR Max
Wing War

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I would be so happy to have that.

Interesting fact I just found about the Le Fun I go to:

1987
February 21, 1987 - Richard Jackson becomes the world record holder on Out Run after he scored 52,897,650 points at the Le Fun Arcade in Austin, TX


And here's a pic of Einstein's:

http://www.rogoyski.com/adam/blog/pi...ns-320x240.jpg

There's a hand written cardboard sign in there announcing Out Run 2. See how it's all dark and grimy looking? That's how they're supposed to look.

bigger version:
http://www.rogoyski.com/adam/blog/pi..._einsteins.jpg

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Originally Posted by Gymkata

Now, I dont know about Initial D......the regulars are basicaly a mixed bag depending on where you go. As for me, its all about the race, and perfection of tecnique. Which is amazingly hard to do on that game. I swear, Initial D does not drive like it should.

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Yeah, Initial D is still a great, perfectionist game but it has an AWFUL community. It's all the kids who are too young to drive anyways who just stand around the machine like they're some shitty mafia and just look like idiots all day. It's just not something fun to be associated with.

PS: Yeah, they are up to Version 3. They're EVERYWHERE in SoCal but I never got around to trying it last time.

VERSION WHAT???

*Jumps across continent.*

Here's the Initial D machine at Austin Park & Pizza:

http://www.streetrays.com/images/new...initial_d1.jpg

http://www.streetrays.com/images/new...initial_d2.jpg

http://www.streetrays.com/images/new...initial_d7.jpg

Thats Version 1.

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

Thats Version 1.

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How can you tell?

Because it's obviously a version 1. Thats how.

Stop trying to impress people with 3 year old arcade games please.

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

Because it's obviously a version 1. Thats how.

Stop trying to impress people with 3 year old arcade games please.

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Ummm... What are you talking about? Stop trying to impress people with your amazing knowledge of 3 year old arcade games please. It's an arcade thread. I'm posting stuff about the arcades around here. Deal with it. I asked you a serious question because I was curious, but I forgot your gimmick is to be a dipshit.

When I'm near an arcade (vacation or something), I play arcade games. I prefer the style of arcade games over the style of home games.

But I'm never near an arcade. Wilmington De's got nothin.

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Originally Posted by Scourge

Ummm... What are you talking about? Stop trying to impress people with your amazing knowledge of 3 year old arcade games please. It's an arcade thread. I'm posting stuff about the arcades around here. Deal with it. I asked you a serious question because I was curious, but I forgot your gimmick is to be a dipshit.

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You listed a bunch of games and bolded the fact that you have a Percussion Freaks as if it actually meant something important. Yeah, thats great. You have an awful asian bootleg of DrumMania featuring midi's in place of licensed songs. Way to swing for the fences slugger.

We talked Initial D, you but in HERES OURS ISN'T IT GREAT WOW WE HAVE IT when no one really cares considering it's old. You asked how I knew it was old. I told you that it's pretty fucking obvious. You got butt hurt.

Is your gimmick to be a know-nothing cry baby? If so, mission accomplished. Now shut up and wipe those tears. No tears!

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

You listed a bunch of games and bolded the fact that you have a Percussion Freaks as if it actually meant something important. Yeah, thats great. You have an awful asian bootleg of DrumMania featuring midi's in place of licensed songs. Way to swing for the fences slugger.

We talked Initial D, you but in HERES OURS ISN'T IT GREAT WOW WE HAVE IT when no one really cares considering it's old. You asked how I knew it was old. I told you that it's pretty fucking obvious. You got butt hurt.

Is your gimmick to be a know-nothing cry baby? If so, mission accomplished. Now shut up and wipe those tears. No tears!

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First off, I don't play rhythm games, so I don't know anything about them and was hightlighting them as a joke because people like you get a hardon for them. So if I highlighted some piece of shit game, it's all the same to me. Secondly, I haven't played Initial D, so I actually was curious what version they had there. Thanks for your help, you're a real class act.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

You listed a bunch of games and bolded the fact that you have a Percussion Freaks as if it actually meant something important. Yeah, thats great. You have an awful asian bootleg of DrumMania featuring midi's in place of licensed songs. Way to swing for the fences slugger.

We talked Initial D, you but in HERES OURS ISN'T IT GREAT WOW WE HAVE IT when no one really cares considering it's old. You asked how I knew it was old. I told you that it's pretty fucking obvious. You got butt hurt.

Is your gimmick to be a know-nothing cry baby? If so, mission accomplished. Now shut up and wipe those tears. No tears!

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Geez.

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Originally Posted by Ex Ranza

Geez.

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Forget about it, he's just a stupid nigger.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

The best thing to ever happen to the gaming industry was the death of the arcades.

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You can't be serious about that.

Arcades near me are fairly dead and I'm not too pleased with it. Namco's Time Out has jack other than fighting games, gun games, handful of racers, and REDEMPTION pieces. Redemption pieces are not what I call real games. Magic Mountain has a slightly better selection than Time Out and they've got a couple classics (Ms. Pac-Man, Frogger, Galaga). Neither place has shooters like DonPachi/DDP though. Time Out just chucked Crisis Zone, so it's not really worth the drive for me anymore. Genuinely new games don't come too often and frequently are gone too soon. Warzaid, Star Trek Voyager, and Wangan Midnight all disappeared within a week. I had one kickass winning streak on WM 2 player during its short run there.

The Easton GameWorks sucks. The latest there is Time Crisis 3 which is STILL labeled "NEW GAME!" even though it hit the PS2 long ago. Hel-looooooo? Their Newport, KY location has Percussion Freaks 3rd Mix- "Bambina" sucks hard on this with the vocals taken out. GW is totally overpriced ($2.00 for Time Crisis 3? You have to be kidding.). I call GW "AlkeyWorks" because they seem to care more about their bar than the games.

It's a damn shame Ketsui and ESPGaluda haven't showed up anyplace. Arcades here don't generally have the cojones to import. Time Out does have a Japanese Mocap Boxing- whooooopee. :rolleyes:

Light in the tunnel? Well, Dave & Buster's actually isn't bad. The prices per play actually beat GW, and they are better at updating. You'll find Virtua Cop 3 and Derby Owners' Club there. VC3 kicks, especially when you go into E.S.Mode and start shooting down bullets. Unfortunately they don't have an Out Run 2 (it's time to get rid of that damn Crazy Taxi and put this in its place). Even better is the D&B in Springfield which has an Ultracade featuring a lot of Capcom games (1941, to name one. :D ) and Robotron.

If you buy a $25 card at D&B, you're actually doing better than you would at GW. Virtua Cop 3 costs only about 90-some cents a play as opposed to what it'd likely be at GW- there, try $1.43 on a $25 card.

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Originally Posted by Sqoon

Forget about it, he's just a stupid nigger.

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:lol: wait......ill give you another for that :lol:

*sigh*...arcades. Alas, the good ol' days are long dead. Sure, you have mainstream 'entertainment' chains like Jillian's in NY, stocked mostly with driving games, horse-racing sims and DDR, and the occasional mall arcade, but otherwise the scene is a shadow of how cool it used to be. Man, I remember the days when Marvel Super Heroes, Mortal Kombat 2 or Street Fighter Alpha 2 were released and there would be a rabid crowd surrounding the machine, all with their quarters lined up, everyone feverishly awaiting their turn, talking, cheering, whatever. God, the magic I felt the first time I went to an arcade and tried Street Fighter 2 for the first time, discovering it along with countless others. There's none of that now. Now that we have super-powerful home consoles the arcades can't offer the same experience that they used to, and the masses aren't digging it.

What true arcades that are left tend to be stinky holes in the wall populated by pretty unsavory characters. A nice exception is the arcade in Tri-County Flea Market...after listening to Chaoofnee go on and on about how great it is, I finally got my ass there this past weekend...I remembered it being a shithole, but they've fixed it up quite nicely and they had a pretty good selection of games. Thumbs-up.

But man, do I miss the old days. :(

Does Jillian's count? No? Then no arcades exist in my city. None that I know of, anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

I told you that it's pretty fucking obvious.

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Well, that certainly clears everything up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by frostwolf ex

i dont think some of you younger gamers really understand what arcades used to be

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Dude, I so totally relate. When I was a kid, arcades were fucking magical. When I was in my teens and early 20's, they rocked. Now that I'm in my late 20's, they've all but dried up and gone to hell.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MechDeus

Does Jillian's count? No?

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Sorta. But it's not a REAL arcade. Fuck, the one in Farmingdale didn't have ONE fighting game for the first few years that they wer eopen, until they finally got in Mortal Kombat 4. The one in Garden City is a little better.

I need to get my ass to Chinatown some day soon. Probably the last good arcades in NY are there.

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Fortunately they don't have an Out Run 2

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I corrected your post XD!!

PS: Every arcade should have VC3 so that people will stop wasting their money on Time Crisis 3.

It's like what someone mentioned earlier... a HUGE part (for me) of what made the arcades so special was that, technology-wise, the games were leagues beyond what was available in the home. It was almost like a sneak preview of what might, if I was lucky, might eventually be coming to the Genesis. And it was a big deal when, like with Strider, the home rev actually came close to duplicating that awesome experience you'd had in the arcade.

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

Dude, I so totally relate. When I was a kid, arcades were fucking magical. When I was in my teens and early 20's, they rocked.

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A culture that only certain generations can appreciate.

AFC in Westland has a great arcade, thats a bit of a drive from my house though.

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

Sorta. But it's not a REAL arcade. Fuck, the one in Farmingdale didn't have ONE fighting game for the first few years that they wer eopen, until they finally got in Mortal Kombat 4. The one in Garden City is a little better.

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I don't think my local one has any fighting games. In fact, I think they only have like five machines and the newest one is Crisis Zone. Granted, I haven't been in there in over a year so maybe things have changed, but I doubt it.

Maybe one of these years I'll see a VC3 machine. And maybe, just maybe, I'll eventually get to play one.

Aaaw fuck, now I'm depressed. Bring back my Gamefan and arcades you 3D cock smoking mother fuckers!

With that out of the way. I guess it will never be the same. Like Lithium said, not many can still appreciate the time. All the arcades I knew closed down, 17th and Chestnut, Oxford Valley Mall (twice), Champion's on Cottman ave. Fuck the next gen whateva. Those people have no feel for games, and you see that because they got no soul.

The only hope we got is that someday the IDSA will lose it's hardon for ROMZ and let us build MAME type cabinets all over the place, with Capcom, Sega, and SNK games. Actually as far as I know copyrights expire in 20 years unless they get extended.

I suggest we create a petition to bring some old Arcade games to the public domain and legalize them. Capcom stuff during the 80's, they won't make money off them anyway. Place restrictions on the games like, they could only be used in Arcade type cabinets and not on handheld and portable computers, like those antisocial computer troll prefer.

seen

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Originally Posted by gameoverDude

Light in the tunnel? Well, Dave & Buster's actually isn't bad. The prices per play actually beat GW, and they are better at updating. You'll find Virtua Cop 3 and Derby Owners' Club there. VC3 kicks, especially when you go into E.S.Mode and start shooting down bullets. Unfortunately they don't have an Out Run 2 (it's time to get rid of that damn Crazy Taxi and put this in its place). Even better is the D&B in Springfield which has an Ultracade featuring a lot of Capcom games (1941, to name one. :D ) and Robotron.

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Are you talking about the D&B on the west side of Columbus? I haven't been there in a little while and the last time I was there they didn't have VC3 or Derby. Methinks I'll be checking it out this weekend.

And the last time I was at the Magic Mountain over on the east side they had an ultracade cab. Back when I was working there they didn’t have shit besides a few decent Sega games.

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Originally Posted by Seven Force

You've got to be s!!ting me.

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Originally Posted by gameoverDude

You can't be serious about that.

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Okay, "death" probably wasn't the best word as I don't want to see it disappear but I see the shift to a console-dominated video game industry as a very good thing. Would you really want gaming to return to its 1980s state where the most advanced and often best playing games weren't available at home(at least not available in as good of form)? Having home gaming at par with arcade technology is great. It's what I wanted in the '80s yet never thought would happen.

I'm not saying I want arcade-style design to die out either. We can still have those type of games at home(Wario Ware, F-Zero GX) without the arcades.

I have enormous nostalgia for the arcades but the days where you would struggle for the top spot to put your initials in are over and the glory days of the arcades are long gone. I'm much happier having the best developers focusing on console and PC games instead.

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

*sigh*...arcades. Alas, the good ol' days are long dead. Sure, you have mainstream 'entertainment' chains like Jillian's in NY, stocked mostly with driving games, horse-racing sims and DDR, and the occasional mall arcade, but otherwise the scene is a shadow of how cool it used to be. Man, I remember the days when Marvel Super Heroes, Mortal Kombat 2 or Street Fighter Alpha 2 were released and there would be a rabid crowd surrounding the machine, all with their quarters lined up, everyone feverishly awaiting their turn, talking, cheering, whatever. God, the magic I felt the first time I went to an arcade and tried Street Fighter 2 for the first time, discovering it along with countless others. There's none of that now. Now that we have super-powerful home consoles the arcades can't offer the same experience that they used to, and the masses aren't digging it.

What true arcades that are left tend to be stinky holes in the wall populated by pretty unsavory characters. A nice exception is the arcade in Tri-County Flea Market...after listening to Chaoofnee go on and on about how great it is, I finally got my ass there this past weekend...I remembered it being a shithole, but they've fixed it up quite nicely and they had a pretty good selection of games. Thumbs-up.

But man, do I miss the old days. :(

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The arcades you talk about as the great old times, to me was the beginning of the end for arcades. What pissed me off about these arcades, was the fact that the lights would glare off the game screens, making the experience sort of dull. Then they even went so far as to turn the sound almost completely off, of most machines. It's like walking into a library.

Back in the 80's, the only lights in the arcade, came from the neon signs and the cabinets themselves. Nothing was cooler, than walking into an arcade and seeing a machine like TRON, all lit up like it was a pot of gold, waiting to be discovered. What was also cool about arcades in the 80's, was the fact that just about every other week, you'd see a new machine to play. Now and even in the early 90's, it's the same damn games you saw the last month you were there.


Another thing that killed arcades for me, was the lack of innovative pinball machines. Even arcades that carried them in the 90's, had no clue as to how they were supposed to be set up. Anyone heard of a level?

The last time I played anything at an arcade was Strikers 1945 Plus at this mini-golf place about an hour's drive from here. That was two years ago. Since then, the local movie theater got a MVS 4-slot with Magician Lord and SamSho 1 (the other two aren't worth mentioning), but it costs 50 cents and the monitor's contrast needs to be adjusted badly. I haven't touched it, and probably won't.

I'm moving this month to an actual city, so I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open for that stray DDP cab I'm destined to find someday.

Here's an odd arcade story...

On my way back home from E3 I stopped to get a motel room in this little town about 30 min outside of Aspen Col. and decided to check out their "mall". Outside the movie theater (which had a grand total of 2 screens, both playing Shrek 2 only) they had 3 arcade games and a few grab machines, yippee, however one of the machines was a Neo 4 slot so I check it out (the other 2 were a Deer Hunter game & Crusin USA). The thing was stacked and set at a quarter per credit! Metal Slug 3, SvC Chaos, Pulstar & Samurai Sprits 2. It was cool to find since I had nothing to do for a little while but it just seemed so out of place. The funny thing was that the other 2 machines had kids all around 'em but nobody walked up to the Neo cab the entire hour I was playing it.

I'm a loser, cuz my life is in arcades. I've been going to arcades for about 4 years now, and about 3 times a week... that is, until I started working at one. It was first all about Bemani, but when that series went sour, it was time to go to the Capcom fighting corner. Boy, will I never turn back.

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Originally Posted by Zerodash

Fun'NGames and 8 on the Break are OK too...

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8otB is the shit. Fighting games everywhere, and the atmosphere is really fun.

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

I used to go to the SVGL, one of the finest arcades in the US until the following happened.

CVS2 ended up being the last good arcade fighter of all time.
Beatmania IIDX jumped the shark and is now the laughing stock of Bemani.
DDR died.
DrumMania and Guitar Freaks moved so fast that I stopped caring (They're at like, 10/11 now or something)
Aside from Bemani, yeah, the industry is dead. The only great non-bemani game we got in years was Virtua Cop 3 and SF: Rush 2049 Champion Edition.
Initial D was fun until the fobs took the fun out of it with their retarded Azness.

The only time I EVER go to an arcade is to drop in, play some CVS2 or 3rd Strike and thats for 10 minutes at most. If I'm in Southern California, I'll stop by AI, play a game of Pop'N Music and then beg whoever I'm with to get out of there.

Consoles >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Arcade

Thats all there is to it.

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All that you say is very true. All I do at SVGL now and days is CvS2 and the occasional Super Turbo or 3rd Strike. The Bemani community there is... well... dead, to say the least. IIDX went in the shitter about a year ago, and all of Bemani (outside of Pop'n) is basically dead. I cannot express how much I hate DM/GF these days, and DDR died about 10 minutes after 5th mix came out.

Thank God for the fighting community.

Since everyone else is talking about their local arcade, I'll tell you about mine. It's called Round One, and it has games as well as pool tables and bowling alleys and picture booths. It's basically a hang out spot to take your girl to and/or show off your pimp ride (like a SUV or Skyline GTR) to your friends, and it stays open until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays. Anyway, it's packed with virtually every prominent Sega non-fighting arcade game of the past 5 years. There's plenty of non-fighting games from other companies as well. AsI hinted at already, there aren't any fighters at Round One, so I have to venture a few blocks to another hole in the wall with all the SC2s, KoFs, CvS2s and #Rs. But back to R1, list of its games off the top of my head. FYI, most new games cost 200 yen/less than $2 a credit, older games are Y50-100:

-Outrun 2
-Initial D 3rd Stage
-F-Zero AX and Monster Ride (if you didn't know, Monster Ride is AX in first person view only and full suspension like a flight simulator. Every single turn and bump you make in the game, the machine makes. Insane but not really what I call fun)
-Battle Gear 3
-A lot of Bemani games I never heard of and aren't interested in playing
-Time Crisis 3 (boring)
-Ollie King (A LOT OF FUN for a Top Skater-type game. Think of SSX with skateboards and no secret paths, and more mature JSR-type artwork. There are 8 characters to choose from with varying degrees of strengths and weaknesses, and the 3 tracks are in San Francisco, London and Kyoto. Each city has you facing against rival skaters you have to beat on the particular track. The tracks are pretty linear as far as I know. You slam the back of your skateboard off a ramp to jump and do tricks for points/ranking. There are also grind rails, one of them being the rails of London Bridge. You get a letter grade for overall performance and for types of tricks. Graphics aren't as good as any JSR game but I think OK is more stylish overall, with blur effects and graffitti arrows trailing you when you pick up speed or do a trick)
-A gun game from Konami starring soldiers that look like the US Army in desert gear. They fight against different types of mechs and do a bunch of phony-sounding-but-stereotypical military chants and mannerisms. I always forget the name of the title. Anyone know what I'm talking about, and what the name of the game is?
- Older stuff like Planet Harriers, Star Wars Racer, Confidential Mission, Ferrari F355, VOOT, VO4, MoCap Boxing, Tsurugi (mocap sword game), Vampire Night, and a lot more



I won't live in Japan forever, but one of the things I'll miss most of all when I leave will have to be the live and active arcade scene. Hearing about the negative accounts of arcades in the US was a huge letdown. Holding on to my faulty belief that arcades are superior to consoles, my interest in gaming won't last that long after I leave my local arcade scene for good.

I'm not talking about my local arcade, but then again I wouldn't talk about the pile of dog crap on the sidewalk either. Just because it exists doesn't mean it's worth the analysis.

I miss the 80s arcades, I really do. I'm not going to say something stupid like "It made gaming more special" or anything like that, but it really was an experience you just can't get any more, anywhere. A lot of it was the element of surprise, you never knew what you were going to get when you went in to a new arcade, and the rest was the sheer variety of things to play. Yeah, there were a ton of Pac Man clones, Asteroids clones, and Galaxian clones, but there was wonderfully insanse stuff too like the now-classic Robotron/Temepest and more obscure stuff like Mad Planets or Moon Patrol. Don't even get me started on Rastan, Karnov, Rolling Thunder, Rush'n Attack, and who knows what else I'll remember when I get started.

James

Man, I really miss the arcade. Like many others have said, it was a magical experience when you walked into an arcade. The multi-colored neon lights, the familiar game sounds overlapping each other, like the ship getting captured on galaga, or ms pac-man eating a ghost. It was a very surreal and memorable experience. I couldn't go to the arcades during the 80's as much as I would've liked, but when I did go, my parents literally had to pry me from the machines. The main arcade I went to in the mid 80's was the "Starlite Skate Palace". It looked like your typical early 80's arcade, and I loved every minute of it. That's where I found Zookeeper, and played the hell out of it, and it's still to this day one of my top 10 classic games. I couldn't wait for the day when I was old enough to go there on my own, unfortunately, sometime in the late 80's, there was some big gang fight there, and it got closed down. Now there is a Wal-Mart there :(



While I missed out on the first arcade boom in the early 80's, I was all there for the 2'nd boom in the late 80's/early 90's. There were SEVEN arcades within walking distance of my home: Diamond Jims in Eastwood Mall, 48 Lanes Bowling Alley on the same lot as Eastwood, Pizza Perfect Pizzaria arcade, also on the same lot, Alladin's Castle in Centura Plaza across the street from Eastwood, Q-Zar on the same lot as Century Plaza, Festival 18 Movie Theater, and Lion and Unicorn. My brother, some friends, and I would go to one of them every weekend, and just played until our hearts content. We especially made a point to go to one of the mall arcades on the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve, as those were the 2 busiest shopping days of the year, and the arcades were filled to the brim with tons of competition

Some of my favorite memories from the arcade:

Seeing Final Fight for the first time. I was a side-scrolling fighter fanatic, and I owned a lot of them on the NES. When I came upon Final Fight with it's incredible graphics, numerous large sprites, and frantic action, I wanted to unplug the cabinet and hoist it on my back and lift it out of the arcade.

Seeing the popularity of Street Fighter 2 explode right in front of my eyes. Diamond Jims managed to get a cabinet right when it was first released. At first, it got very little play since side-scrolling fighters were still popular, but slowly the play began to pick up to the point of the cabinet being so swarmed that there was no way around the machine. I remember one guy bringing an EGM(??) that had the moves listed, and everyone passing it around trying to perform the commands.

My friends and I going around to different machines trying to identify the burn-in on the monitors. A large majority of them were the first maze of Ms Pac-Man, but I've also seen Galaga, Defender, and others.

Watching a marathon game of Star Trek: The Next Generation Pinball, where the guy played for like forever and racked up a score of somewhere around 50 BILLION.

Once the 32-Bit consoles, I started going to the arcade less and less (also, having a job and other obligations may had a part in it also), and by the end of the 90's, I MAYBE only went once a month, and that was only to kill some time while I was waiting for something.

I can count on my hands the number of times I've gone to an arcade in the 2000's, but it doesn't really matter now as ALL of them are gone now. In mid 2002, the entire Eastwood area deteriorated, which took Diamond Jims, 48 Lanes, and Pizza Perfect with it. The Eastwood Mall is now deserted save for a handful of stores. It's mostly a haven for senior folks to power-walk around the perimeter (if you go to www.deadmalls.com , and look up Eastwood Mall, there's a huge write up about it). Alladin's Castle closed down sometime last summer...don't exactly know when. I just went to Century Plaza one day, and everything was gone. Q-Zar closed down a few months ago, and is now deserted. I'm not sure if Lion and Unicorn is still there...I need to check sometime, and I haven't been to the cinema in a VERY long time, so I'm not sure if they still have their arcade. I think there's a TimeOut in the Riverchase Galleria (the self proclaimed "biggest mall in the southeast"...it is quite huge, though), but it's a bit of a drive to get there, and I haven't been out that far in a while.

Yes, I do miss the arcade, but like drive-in movies, its time has come and gone because something has come along that is a lot more convenient to the consumer and gave them a reason to not have to leave their homes.

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Originally Posted by DirtySouth

I think there's a TimeOut in the Riverchase Galleria (the self proclaimed "biggest mall in the southeast"...it is quite huge, though), but it's a bit of a drive to get there, and I haven't been out that far in a while.

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Yeah, it's there, and it's quite respectable. I live in Huntsville, about 3 hours away, but I used to go every day-after-Thanksgiving with my family... while they shopped for Christmas presents, I played games. :)

The last time I was there (summer 2003), they had Daytona 2 still, plenty of fighters, DDR, that sort of thing. The variety is pretty nice. A couple of years ago, they actually had Jambo Safari..

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Originally Posted by Ex Ranza

Yeah, it's there, and it's quite respectable. I live in Huntsville, about 3 hours away, but I used to go every day-after-Thanksgiving with my family... while they shopped for Christmas presents, I played games. :)

The last time I was there (summer 2003), they had Daytona 2 still, plenty of fighters, DDR, that sort of thing. The variety is pretty nice. A couple of years ago, they actually had Jambo Safari..

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Ah, great, I'll go check it out then. It's really not THAT far, a 30 minute drive, but sometimes the traffic can gat bad out there which can turn 30 minutes to a couple of hours.

The arcades around here specialise in DDR, Cruising USA, and crane machines....

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Originally Posted by Gymkata

Well.....he deserves it....
I have no Idea why people still like it.
I wouldnt call you gay, but you need Jesus. :lol:

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I wouldn't like it as much if CvS and CvS2 didn't suck so bad. Capcom really went downhill after MvC2. I will try but don't have high hopes for their new Dinosaur vs Beast Man fest aka Fighting Jam.

I always came for the games, not the atmosphere. Now I can play those games at home, which is what I always wanted. Last time I went to the arcade here in Copenhagen, the girl in charge told me to stop honking the car horn on '18 Wheeler'. What fun that was...

The arcades in the 1980's and 90's in Copenhagen, Denmark, doubled as hangouts for male prostitutes, or so the rumour went.

When I visited Beijing, China, I had the oppertunity to play in both Sega World, Taito Station amongst others. The girl at Sega World told me that it was illegal to take photographs of arcades machines in China, but I took one of Samba De Amigo anyway. The two other photographs are from Taito Station, where I spend most of my gaming time.

Since I am not afraid to look like a fool, here is a small video of me playing 'Police 911' at Taito Station:

http://eukodal.homepage.dk/dakidski_...g_in_china.avi (~2mb)

Don't comment on how stupid I look, or how ghey I'm holding the gun plz. Hehe.

I play at 8 on the Break in Dunellen, NJ. I know I've said this a million times though. They have many games but high lights include:

IIDX 8th Style
Guilty Gear Isuka
3rd Strike
Guitar Freaks 3rd Mix
DDR Extreme
Soul Calibur II
Puzzle Fighter

As others mentioned before, it's the fact that I can go into arcades now and everything that's decent has been ported to a home system, is going to be ported, or is just crap.

Nothing like walking into that arcade and seeing a mess of games I already own :(

I miss the days when arcade's were light years ahead of consoles.

I still play at arcades when I'm near them. Mostly Pak-Mann to play Raiden Fighters 2. They used to have Jet but became too cool for it and then later replaced Dodonpachi with a busted Tekken 3 machine(Though they kept Dodonpachi 2....). =/

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Originally Posted by Scourge

Well, as disappointed as I am to report it, I don't actually live in Austin. I used to live here, but I do work here and all my friends are here and until recently my girlfriend lived here, and, well, I say here because 99% of the time I'm posting, like right now, I'm in Austin. I stay with friends some weekends who until recently lived in the 2222/Shoal Creek area, back behind Burnet Rd., kind of near where S&B Amusements is on Burnet. They just bought a house out off Oak Knoll somewhere so they'll be up North off 183 in the next coupla weeks (and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to move my Neo-Geo 2 slot outta their place). I live South of Austin at another lake: Canyon Lake out in the hills and country. But I'm all over Austin all the time.

Tapioca, eh? Nobody else I've been to in town has had a decent selection of bubble teas. They're all fruity. I like the flowery ones and stuff, the pan one is really, really good. CoCo's never impresses. There is another on Guadalupe by campus that is good, I forget the name, near Hao-Hao next to where Animagix use to be. But the one near Panda Express isn't too hot. Momoko has a huge selection. And they show anime in there sometimes. And their grilled eel is to die for!! tho a bit expensive They're rice balls are really great too!

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Oak Knoll? I am there ALL the time, hee hee. Well, right near it. I think the street is called Broad Oaks.

Momoko, eh? I'll have to check it out. I do like Coco's though, just because the strawberry smoothies are SO good.

Arcades depress me. When I was in Boston I used to play Third Strike and (get my ass kicked at) GGXX at the MIT arcade, but they took Third Strike away before the last semester ended, making me furious in the process. I don't know of any others in Boston, really, besides Good Times which sounds like a huge hassle to get to... never been there.

Anyway, I'm home for the summer, and while I was at school, they took away the Guitar Freaks 7th Mix we had here. Fuck. So now I really have no reason to go to any of the arcades nearby. The last good one closed before I was in high school, and the last mediocre one has been getting by on DDR alone. I really liked that Fist of the North Star punching game, but that's gone, and so is Guitar Freaks now. Hell, they never even got SC2. I think the last fighting game they got was CvS2. They used to take chances with new stuff, but now... it's DDR and crap hunting games or nothing else, it seems. Depressing.

I'm going to visit 8 on the Break sometime this summer, I'm disappointed that they don't have a later version of GF, in fact, I was just talking to someone on IRC about that. But I would like to blow some cash in an arcade that has a good selection of games to play, something I haven't done in quite a while.

I play CvS2 at the arcade here. That's about it.

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

I corrected your post XD!!

PS: Every arcade should have VC3 so that people will stop wasting their money on Time Crisis 3.

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Every arcade should have them both. I play and enjoy both of them, although VC3 did sorta steal me away almost completely for a while at first.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xeno G

Are you talking about the D&B on the west side of Columbus? I haven't been there in a little while and the last time I was there they didn't have VC3 or Derby. Methinks I'll be checking it out this weekend.

And the last time I was at the Magic Mountain over on the east side they had an ultracade cab. Back when I was working there they didn’t have shit besides a few decent Sega games.

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Yep. It's the one right at Mill Run. I named my horse "Rolling Thunder"- one cool thing is some of the CPU horses are named after Sega games. I saw one of the rival horses called "Power Drift". I wish the D&B here had that Ultracade.

How long ago did you see this at Magic Mountain, by the way? I've yet to find it there. If they have Truxton II (one of the default games) and 1941 running on it, it'll sure be hard getting me off this thing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aurora

Oak Knoll? I am there ALL the time, hee hee. Well, right near it. I think the street is called Broad Oaks.

Momoko, eh? I'll have to check it out. I do like Coco's though, just because the strawberry smoothies are SO good.

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Yep, try out Momoko. It used to be one single gift shop/tea room, but they split it down the middle and now one side is the restaurant, which is a chic little sushi bar with other stuff (definitely try the grilled eel or the vegetarian rice ball; fantastic). And depending on the type of bubble tea you like, I'd recommend the pan for a milk tea with pearls or the New York Manhattan which is a black tea with lavendar and some other stuff, and add pearls but no milk. What makes their tea menu so great is how they mix the flavors to create some really subtle but tasty things. I think there's one called Sunshine or something like that that's really good too. It's on 24th street about 2 1/2 blocks off of campus. Their gift shop specializes in Japanese import toys, anime stuff, sanrio and pucca stuff, tea sets, etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gameoverDude

Yep. It's the one right at Mill Run. I named my horse "Rolling Thunder"- one cool thing is some of the CPU horses are named after Sega games. I saw one of the rival horses called "Power Drift". I wish the D&B here had that Ultracade.

How long ago did you see this at Magic Mountain, by the way? I've yet to find it there. If they have Truxton II (one of the default games) and 1941 running on it, it'll sure be hard getting me off this thing.

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It's been a while since I was at that MM. But I'm going to be over on that side of town early next week (looking for a job, bleh) so I'll check it out and let you know if it's still there. Now I've gotta check if my buddy is free tonight, he's been itching to play VC3 ever since I told him about it after getting back from my trip.

Let's take a short tour inside one of my fave spots in Yokosuka. It's called Game Paradise 01. One of the coolest 50-yen joints around.

...

....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seven Force

Let's take a short tour inside one of my fave spots in Yokosuka.

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Oh f you man, f you :)


I just found out the local college student union has a Marvel vs Street Fighter cab, so yeah...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seven Force

Let's take a short tour inside one of my fave spots in Yokosuka. It's called Game Paradise 01. One of the coolest 50-yen joints around.

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argh

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xeno G

a Neo 4 slot so I check it out (the other 2 were a Deer Hunter game & Crusin USA). The thing was stacked and set at a quarter per credit! Metal Slug 3, SvC Chaos, Pulstar & Samurai Sprits 2.

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Sweet. I would have stolen that machine.



http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...chmentid=10539
"Hey, why you take picture? Soul brother too boo-coo."

Chicks dig a guy who can pop YAKNOWHUTIMSAYIN? XD!!!

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

"Hey, why you take picture? Soul brother too boo-coo."

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Next time I'll offer 1000 yen and a box of Pocky. :evil:

I've said it once, and I'll say it again.

"Seven is one lucky @#%#$ 3#$^364."

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Originally Posted by Dolemite

*sigh*...arcades. Alas, the good ol' days are long dead. Sure, you have mainstream 'entertainment' chains like Jillian's in NY, stocked mostly with driving games, horse-racing sims and DDR, and the occasional mall arcade, but otherwise the scene is a shadow of how cool it used to be. Man, I remember the days when Marvel Super Heroes, Mortal Kombat 2 or Street Fighter Alpha 2 were released and there would be a rabid crowd surrounding the machine, all with their quarters lined up, everyone feverishly awaiting their turn, talking, cheering, whatever. God, the magic I felt the first time I went to an arcade and tried Street Fighter 2 for the first time, discovering it along with countless others. There's none of that now. Now that we have super-powerful home consoles the arcades can't offer the same experience that they used to, and the masses aren't digging it.

What true arcades that are left tend to be stinky holes in the wall populated by pretty unsavory characters. A nice exception is the arcade in Tri-County Flea Market...after listening to Chaoofnee go on and on about how great it is, I finally got my ass there this past weekend...I remembered it being a shithole, but they've fixed it up quite nicely and they had a pretty good selection of games. Thumbs-up.

But man, do I miss the old days. :(

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This man speaks truth. Nothing like going to the arcades and whupping up and taking names as everyone waits for their turn, or either watching the older players play and learning from them.

I remember waiting for the arcade managers to finish assembling KI, MK2, and SFA2. Then there'd be a crowd to play them.

Damn. I miss those days. :(

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Originally Posted by Sl1p

Chicks dig a guy who can pop YAKNOWHUTIMSAYIN? XD!!!

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I'Msayintholike...yeah.

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Originally Posted by Fighter-X

Damn. I miss those days. :(

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*sigh*...yes, the glory days of the 2D fighter...that was where the arcade scene peaked for me.

Hold me, X... :cry: