Cabinets Were you an arcade junkie?

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Like, to the point of bleeding money on the machines?

For a while there, my friend and I were Street Fighter II and House Of The Dead FIENDS — our entire allowances went on either tokens or those little cards some place gave you, much to our parents' annoyance (Hey! At least we weren't doing drugs!).

Well... Were you?

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

Yes, but Limited to my child young teen resources( money and time ), blow most of those on pinball and cooperative and one player games.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Yes, but Limited to my child young teen resources( money and time ), blow most of those on pinball and cooperative and one player games.

Yeah, that's an important detail.

A store near me just acquired a Street Fighter II machine and every time I walk by it, I can't help but thinking about how thoroughly I could dominate it... If only time was still on my side.

 

[jon2]

Yep, only for specific games though

First was Ergheiz: FF Tactics was just introduced, and if you didn't know Cloud you ain't a gamer. Once my money ran out I joined the others gawking at the "bounciness" of the stand-alone machine featuring the first DoA

Next was Feddies VS Zeon DX: I relished playing it as it was in jp (I partially understood it) and I was good at it (even without using Gundam) so everyone else was gawking, waiting for me to finish

Another was Hokuto no Ken Punchmania: although I wasn't good at it, it was a great stress reliever; was very saddened that it was removed after my graduation...

I'm not sure if this is considered "arcade" but it's in the arcade center so: a bolt-action pellet "rifle" shooting gallery that gives stuffed toy rewards based on your score. The gun was tethered to the machine and had sensors that prevent shooting outside the gallery zone (I've seen it disabled by staff using a key back when they were servicing it). First week I went there everyday, next I only went 3 times (every other day), the third week and beyond I only went once a week, and for good reason

I always buy at least 2 tickets (tries), usually 3. 1st try is to "zero in" the gun (basically learning the deviation between the sights and the POI), and the subsequent tries were to win stuff. I learned shooting postures from army manuals I've nicked from reservist relatives (this was back when the internet wasn't so widespread; even dial-up was a year or so later) so I was consistent in winning stuff (which I gave to my female classmates). I toned back my attendance as I don't wanna be banned back then (especially when the staff had "you again" expressions on their faces)

 

[-------]

Occasionally, but I always tried to control myself. I was mostly addicted to Street Fighter.

 

[random0nonsense]

No, the option was not available to me. The only arcades in town were many miles away and not accessible by bicycle.

 

[Jeff]

All the time for me/ I spend so much on Turtles in Time, Simpsons and X-Men. But never have time to complete them, whether be family, money or time.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

No, the option was not available to me. The only arcades in town were many miles away and not accessible by bicycle.

Sorry to hear.

Mine used to be pretty out of the way, too, but my dad drove us.

 

[Dick Whip]

No, the option was not available to me. The only arcades in town were many miles away and not accessible by bicycle.

Same here.

 

[kbcinharoxa kbcinharoxa]

At the movie theater where my aunt used to work here in my city, she would let us in for free—but we had to wait until everyone else had entered first. Outside, there was a motorcycle arcade game and . My cousin and I were always asking her for tokens so we could play there.

She only gave them to us once in a while :,v but it was wonderful. We were terrible at the games—and honestly, we still are today. It happens.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

At the movie theater where my aunt used to work here in my city, she would let us in for free—but we had to wait until everyone else had entered first. Outside, there was a motorcycle arcade game and . My cousin and I were always asking her for tokens so we could play there.

She only gave them to us once in a while :,v but it was wonderful. We were terrible at the games—and honestly, we still are today. It happens.

That sounds like a dream ^^!

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

I was once kicked out of a party because I wouldn't leave the TMNT Cabinet (which was free cause of the party).

My dad and I always played Metal Slug 3 and the Jurassic Park one.

When I see a Time Crisis, House of the Dead, or Virtua Cop machine on the wild, I will always make sure to play them, they whisper to me like the green goblin mask.

 

[Sheepy765]

If I loved any closer to an arcade I love in my state I would be an arcade junkie pouring so much money every day into the maimai cabinets.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I was once kicked out of a party because I wouldn't leave the TMNT Cabinet (which was free cause of the party).

For reals? What a bunch of assholes!

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

I was not born

 

[DjQuick2008]

yes seaside holidays and neo geo cabinets were always in hotels in spain i was nuts for it.

 

[The Real Thing]

Bus to the mall. Walk to Aladdin's Castle. Buy $5 worth of tokens, play for a good while. Maybe get another $5 worth. Take the bus home. *nods*

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Bus to the mall. Walk to Aladdin's Castle. Buy $5 worth of tokens, play for a good while. Maybe get another $5 worth. Take the bus home. *nods*

Now, that's the life

 

[Bakuma1997]

Sadly no Arcade prize locals nearby, but in my local Mercado they had an arcade machine, not only it had MAME, but also it was one of those where you could play FRIGGING XBOX, it was common to see people play GTA San Andreas (And yes, most player were effing kids, in Mexico the ESRB was a cool letter in the box) i rememberi blew my allowance of ten bucks per week playing so many arcades there

Man that was life

 

[contrail_]

Never dropped more than 3 quarters per visit to an arcade.
I'd drop a single one on Metal Slug, one on Streets of Rage and one on Dance Dance Revolution. Sometimes I'd do a pinball machine, maybe House of the Dead, maybe some KoF, but always DDR, and never more than one cred.
After you drop that second quarter, you always die more quickly.
That being said, arcades almost completely disappeared where I live more than a decade ago and/or turned into casinos (same license requirements, I guess).
I miss arcades, man...

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I miss them, too....

There were machines even in the food court when I was a kid. Now I have to haul ass to the skate rink to even attempt to play some of my favorites... And I'm not going to take a five kilometer detour just for it, sorry.

 

[Kovlak]

When I was 11 or 12 year old, I was sneaking into arcades. Even when I was pushed out, I'd sneak back in. At the time I mostly watched.

Later I started splurging on arcades, but stopped when I got into consoles, into the NES.

Still, in local festivities, I still pass by the improvised arcades to see what's in there. Last Bronx, Manx TT, Ridge Racer, The Punisher...

But, having delved more into arcade games in the last few years, having just finished Batsugun, the arcade games have been losing their magic on me.

Arcade games sure are pleasing, especially graphically, but they rarely are satisfying to play. They're designed to drain the wallet and, especially by the end, in egregious ways. Undercover Cops in the last level has a whole section in a plane where you fight near open shutes, and there is a specific enemy that is a sponge and its only move is to pick the main character and throw it down the open shute so you lose a whole life each time. I finished that area with a few less credits than I started with.

 

[extermist]

Kinda, I wasn't activiely in arcades, but when ever I was I'd dunk tokens till I dropped, but I was never good at any of the games as a kid, the skill only developed later on. Which is why I abstained from too much arcade goings, because I knew I'd blow the playthrough somehow..

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

Me

I would go to a large venue about once a month or on special occasions (birthdays) My favorite area was toward the back where new games would be, personally always looked forward to what Capcom was releasing. other section was SNK machines, their detailed sprite graphics always intrigued me.

Some of my most played in no particular order were- Die Hard Arcade, Rival Schools, Power Stone, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, The Simpsons, Bomberman World, The King of Fighters 98, Dungeons and Dragons, Last Bronx, Dead or Alive, Tech Romancer, Zombie Revenge, Dig Dug, Spawn in the Demon's Hand, SNK vs. Capcom.

Also enjoyed the full-cabinet experiences, from playing Daytona USA, Cyber Troopers Virtual-On, Top Skater, Prop Cycle, Ski Super G, Wild Riders, Harley-Davidson & L.A. Riders, Galaxy Force II was a doozy.

Casually played the Dance Dance Resolution, was intimating at first but eventually became a fan- ended up buying DDR Extreme for PS2 complete with the dance mat.

 

[OPT1MUS]

Like, to the point of bleeding money on the machines?

Yep... exactly like that, in the good old 80s