Arcades: More like fighting game parlors

I would be hyped up more if I actually played fighting games.

I think at this point, every arcade should just have nothing but fighters. It's time for this STG-playing troper to slowly phase out of those places, and leave them to those who come to arcades for the right reasons.

edited 12th Aug '11 12:17:37 AM by TsundeRay

I wasn't aware they still had arcades.

I mean home systems are equivalent or better and don't cost a dollar to play.

I personally go to Arcades for a few reasons

• Racing Games
• Dance Dance Revolution (Or Equivalent Thereupon)
• Light Gun Games
• Skee-ball and the occasional Gambling prize game

Everything else can be done at home.

^ Same

Humorously, out of the 9(?) arcade machines at the local mall, only one is a fighting game.
Street Fighter II Turbo...

edited 28th Sep '11 11:36:59 PM by Zeromaeus

We need games like these again.

Then go visit Indonesia. Less fighting games, more games like that. You'll love it.

Surprisingly, most of the arcades I used to pass by when I was younger still exist. They're full of mostly fighters, shooters, and racers, expectedly.

Also, to the mention of Hydro Thunder last page... HYDRO THUNDER!!! XD

The shmups sadly get left by the wayside because they're intimidating, but every once in a while you get someone who goes up and beasts the shit out of it, and draws a bit of a crowd.

Over where I am every arcade usually has one of the older classics (At least one Raiden game and at least one Strikers game usually). Cave no-showed after Deathsmiles 1 though.

To be fair, fighting games can be equally intimidating; just go up against a random regular at a game you don't play and just try not to feel like he's the fighter equivalent of Spiritual Larsa.

It's just that fighting games draw more attention due to the multiplayer aspect. With shmups, you get what, co-op play? Which a lot of score attack types (myself included) really hate?

edited 18th Aug '11 5:41:39 AM by TsundeRay

As much as I love fighting games, I become utter shit in the presence of an arcade stick. Go figure.

The one thing I miss more than arcades is the mentality of arcades. You know? What I mean is that back in ye olden days when arcades were "all the rage", the one common strategy the game developers had at the time (other than bigger sprites) was to take something, anything, and in ninjas, robots and, or course EXPLOSIONS!!!

What I'm trying to say is that is order to get your game played back then, you needed to basically out-crazy your competition. (And what was your competition? Everything!) With that kind of ride-or-die mentality gone, a lot of good things went with it (like making sure that your game was actually playable).

I don't know. I guess I'm just disappointed that I'll never see another arcade sports title.

...

I haven't made a lick of sense here, have I?

I know that feel, bro.

They made a new NBA Jam like last year, dunno how it turned out...

The NBA Jam revival was awesome.

The post wasn't completely about arcade sports titles. I was just using it as an example of a genre of games that, at this moment, is on life-support at best. And sadly, the only game store I'm familiar with in my area does not carry the new NBA JAM. Shocking, I know!

Maybe it's just The Nostalgia Filter, but I miss all of the crazy shit that we used to have in our games back in The '90s. I miss the incredibly vast amounts of different music one could make with synths, beeps and warbles. I miss sprites. I miss the flashing, seizure-inducing colors (real colors, mind you) of a game practically begging to be played. I miss the sometimes ear-grating quality of the Engrish dubs most games had back then. I miss hopping on a cabinet that someone else just got off of and the Continue counter is still running. I miss the hefty feel of a corded controller in my hands and the hard clackings of buttons being pressed. I miss my old consoles.

I just miss when games were about having fun...

Wow. That was kind of heartfelt, wasn't it?

edited 28th Sep '11 10:31:13 PM by IWasJustPassingBy

I can't really say anything in this subject, because the Dutch government once made the retarded decision to subject arcade machines under the same laws as gambling machines.

Yeah, good luck starting an arcade hall over here when everyone under 18 is banned from the place.

In the US the Arcade died a decade ago. Be glad there is still one to go to.

I was lucky enough to grow up when they had their last revival. They were indeed places for young people to gather in wholesome activity.

edited 29th Sep '11 12:20:17 AM by anathame

The most awesome thing I see in local arcades nowadays is those card-controlled RTS and sports games machines, especially Sangokushi Taisen. I haven't actually played any of them but things get pretty spectacular when there's a pro at work. There are soccer variants and an RPG has recently shown up in some places as well.

I hear that in Japan networked simulator pods are pretty popular on in places that can afford them. I've seen a set or two over here in Singapore but people aren't exactly lining up for them like they usually do for BBCT.

Oh yeah, there's this weird Chinese/Korean fishing game that's really popular with older folk. No idea what's up with that.

edited 29th Sep '11 2:51:41 AM by Recon5

I didn't realize arcades still existed in the US.

Japanese Arcades are much more awesome. There is a networked Gundam game played in a giant pod thing and you get a card to store your guy on so you can unlock better suits.

But its not a cheap man's game, the cost is 500 yen per shot, and 100 yen was around a dollar when I was there.

There was also this silly Roguelike gambling game I tried. You put money in and you started playing a Rougelike. Leveling up as you kill a couple things. But the catch is to use most of the items you find, you have to spend your money to. But you earn money by killing stuff. Then you could later turn those tokens back into prizes or yen, I wasn't really sure and didn't know how to ask about it.

We got similar laws over here, but it hasn't stopped 14 year old kids walking in and starting fights.

Arcades in Hong Kong almost always have racing games like Wangan Midnight and Initial D, and Bemani stuff with the occasional DJ Max. These games are always occupied. One of the local arcades I go to even brought in this new Hatsune Miku rhythm game, also very popular. Taiko is on the decline.

Second popular are Sangokushi card-based RTS', there's always at least 5 machines there, and at least one person playing. Also rather popular are light gun games, usually for young couples to enjoy something less otaku-y.

Fighting games are surprisingly empty, unless it's the brand new stuff like Super Street Fighter 4 or Tekken 6.

Bigger arcades have slot machines and gambling games for older folks. Games for all ages above 18.

Reading the thread title I remember that the arcade I used to go (closed in March) only had one fighting game: Virtua Fighter 4. It also had one Virtua Tennis, a football game, a basketball game, and then it was all racers (YAY!) and shooters.

Hong Kong has Bemanis and DJMAX? Oh, how I'd love to visit it.

Anyway, most of the arcades here, in Brazil, are comprised of old fighting games and the ever loved Pump It Up machines that always manage to attract huge crowds and groups of people carrying bottles of water and bags full of tokens that will literally last a few hours.

(Useful notes: This was all in like late 80's and early 90's, so some of you weren't even born yet.)

We had a nickle arcade in Eugene Oregon (bit of a drive for us). Plonk down a nominal entry fee of a few dollars, grab pockets stuffed with nickels, and have fun. Mostly older games, but it was lots of fun. They had skeetball and other ticket-awarding games, too, so you could redeem tickets for prizes and stuff. Lots of fun to be had as a tweenager there with a few friends, just had to beg some parent or other to drive us all there.

Ten bucks could last you several hours, and if you had a twenty, you could spend the entire day playing five-cent or ten-cent games (the newer machines were all ten-cents).

Good times, not much griefing, and if you sucked at a game? Shrug, slam in another nickel and eventually you'd get the hang of it. it allowed you to try stuff you wouldn't normally bother with, what with the cost of the games being chump change. When fifty cents was a lot to lose trying a game you have no clue about, ten cents was nothing.

EDIT: Just did a search, and they still got one in Salem, Oregon, and one in Portland.

edited 29th Sep '11 4:12:00 PM by pvtnum11

Just don't visit at night. By day, arcades here are just a gathering spot for sweaty round guys with thick glasses (like me) and stressed-out white collar workers. By night though, they're wretched hives of scum and villainy. Pickpockets and gangsters looking for a fight hang out then.

Back when I was about 7 or 8, still chillin' in the States in the mid-90's, there used to be an arcade over at the Richardson Square Mall, Texas. You could choose whether to use quarters or use this keychain that saves your credits, looks kinda like a USB. Zero fighting games there, almost everything is light gun games, racing games and DDR.

It was the only place I knew of that had the Ocean Hunter and the Star Wars Trilogy Arcade in the same fuckin' room.

edited 29th Sep '11 5:06:27 PM by GiantRobots