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Video Arcades

IContainMultitudes

IContainMultitudes

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
Anyone else here have a lot of nostalgia for video arcades? I have a bunch of old arcade game ROMs that I can play on my computer for free whenever I want (and you pretty much need unlimited free quarters to make much progress in some of the more fiendishly difficult ones), but somehow...it's just not the same. If you feel the same way, you might enjoy this photo set:

Flickr: The Growing Up In Arcades: 1979-1989 Pool

IIRC, the main shopping mall I went to while growing up had an Aladdin's Castle arcade at one point.

 
I would have to say I have some nostalgia for video arcades. I'd date myself if I rattled off some of the names, but I do miss some of those games.
 
I miss games that had simple controls: a joystick (and none of this d-pad garbage) and two buttons at most.

Skewing the topic slightly: go visit the Musée Mécanique in San Francisco if you can. It's a wonderful place.
 
When I think of arcades I always think of Seawalls in San Francisco. It was a classic "penny arcade" filled with arcade "technology" from the turn of the 19th century. So much fun...of course the place disappeared many decades ago.
 
I like the simple old games too. Old Atari, Colecovision, or Gen1 NES.

We had a short lived arcade in my town but it was just a bully hangout so almost never went. But in the city at the mall they had an Aladdin's Castle. Also when I was a kid and we used to camp at Jellystone down there, they had an entire house trailer as an arcade and I spent a lot of time there. At the same time when they had a nearby fun park, I was in a go-cart and the gas pedal kept sticking. When I was done I looked down in and there was a waterproof Aladdin's Castle case, about 6" long and full of quarters. That kept me entertained for the rest of the trip. Those were the good old days. The mall, fun park, and campground are all gone now.
 
They are fun to play, but I wouldn't want to maintain them or spend a kabillion quarters on them either.
 
They had a (very) short-lived arcade near where I lived...to this day I never figured out how it made economic sense.

The more I think about it, there are a few games I'd play if I could figure out this emulator business.
 
One of my friends was getting into the ROMs and emulators for the old NES games. Back then I thought about doing it, but only if I could use an old NES controller. Well I tore apart an old Tandy keyboard and located all the connections that I'd have to link to make the buttons function if I just wired it to the keyboard. Would be easy to do. But then got onto other things and never followed through. Maybe I could try again sometime.
 
I remember going to TNT Amusements for many a birthday party. After playing tons of games, I got to sit and eat pizza and cake and ice cream while watching classic cartoons (usually Looney Tunes). :D

The rollerskating rink in my area was a big party magnet too, and it also had arcade games. Since I have trouble keeping my balance in general, I've never been much of a skater. After I tired of falling on my butt, I always headed straight for the arcade.
 
I remember queueing at the arcades for a go in the Star Wars game. I used to (still do) love pinball machines, though I'm no good at them :)

I got the original Atari 2600 when it came out and remember the excitement of going into Woolworths and seeing all the games. They had a console set up to try out games too, which was great!

Still enjoy arcades, but they are now a little too noisy and expensive :( The one I remember the most was when I was in a seaside town and it was always quiet an empty (it had a giant Dalek you could sit in and make the arms wobble around(!!!!)
 
We didn't have any actual arcades in town (nor anywhere in neighboring towns as far as I know), however we do have a fair that's in town twice a year and I do remember a giant trailer that had all these arcade machines... and since I usually got some pocket money as a kid, all my money went there. Though I guess I was a bit late with the entire Arcade thing, since I remember playing Street fighter 2 and that's way past the 80's (1993 or so if I'm correct). And then there was the time when my parents rented a cabin at a resort that was also an amusement park. That one had an arcade as well... I found that way more interesting, despite all the money that went in to it, rather than all the free rides I could get in the amusement park for 2 weeks straight.
 
King_Oni said:
We didn't have any actual arcades in town (nor anywhere in neighboring towns as far as I know), however we do have a fair that's in town twice a year and I do remember a giant trailer that had all these arcade machines... and since I usually got some pocket money as a kid, all my money went there.
Click to expand...

Weird. I lived in a town of 2000 people as a teen and we had two arcades to go to. Even several years later, I would have thought your town would have had an arcade at some point.

The best part of the trailer was getting the annual chance to play games you'd never heard of. (Yay, Pac-Land!)
 
My experience with arcade games was at various places like Chucky Cheese or 7-Eleven.

My favorites were:

Street Fighter
Area 51
Cruis'n
Super Off Road
Ms. Pac Man (tabletop)

I now have ports of most gold and silver age arcade games.
 
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Flinty said:
Weird. I lived in a town of 2000 people as a teen and we had two arcades to go to. Even several years later, I would have thought your town would have had an arcade at some point.

The best part of the trailer was getting the annual chance to play games you'd never heard of. (Yay, Pac-Land!)
Click to expand...

Roughly 50.000 people here

Just think the arcade fad never caught on in these areas
 
A couple of documentaries that arcade fans might enjoy:


'

Wouldn't it be cool to be able to do stuff like this with the creepy singing animals from Showbiz Pizza?

 
I really liked the tabletop games too. They had them in some of the finer pizza diners here (like the classic Pizza Hut, not the bistro or wingstreet or whatever). Not only could I sit down and relax, but it was a nice dark quiet place to play.
 
When I in my first job... about 1980... Arcades were Huge. There were a over dozen of them around the inner city of Melbourne, and I knew all of them and what games were in them. I would roam amongst them after work, wasting my 20c, 50c, $1 coins on Galaga, Robotron 2024, Spyhunter, Xevious etc etc etc.
 
yeah I prefer the real arcade myself. It was more social during those times. A reason to get out the house, blow lots of money and get some food afterwards. When I was 13 I would be out until the Arcade close at 1AM. I miss those days. People are lucky if they live in a city that still haves a decent arcade.
 
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