Poll of the Day > Were arcades a big part of your life?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like, I remember going to them as a child. But I don't think they were a huge part of my life. It may have been because there were more ways to play games at home when I was younger. I do remember playing a lot of Time Crisis, though...

What about you PotD?
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Nope, played at home. Only reason I went to one when I was little was because of the gokart track. I would play games when I was waiting for my races.

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All the effing time.
I basically cried when the good ones started shutting down

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I wouldn't say big, but I would chill at one when my dad and his old lady would shop when I was child, back when leaving a child by themselves at some games wasn't a big deal. There used to be one with a few games like Tekken and shit in this one store, then an actual arcade with like 15 games in the mall bowling alley.

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We had a lot of birthdays at them when I was younger, but as I got older and my games at home started getting better, everyone kinda drifted away. But its always fun to go back.

my friends and Is favorites were Time Crisis, Simpsons and TMNT

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FrozenBananas posted...

Simpsons

I think I spent like 15 bucks beating that one time at a laundrymat

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No.
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Not so much. I used to go to them as a kid. Even more so at the seasides I visited. These days I only go in them if I take my niece and nephew.

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Yes, and I build MAME cabinets now as a result.

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Yes and no. I wasn't able to go on my own during their prime days. However if we passed one I would not walk by without going in. Actually there was a nice one near my grandparents house that we'd go to for lunch. I remember one time finding a whole jackpot of quarters jammed in a machine, got them loose, hell yeah.

By the time I was, I dunno, mall-aged, the best thing I had access to was the small ones stuffed into a food court. Better than nothing I suppose but that's when I began collecting games at home instead of hoping for better arcades. I'd often find arcades when on vacation because they were the only locations that had pinball or dance games.

Unfortunately I missed the Chuck Cheese. I'm not desperate enough to have kids to be able to go. Then as I've said in other topics both Round 1 and D&B are over an hour drive from here.

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Yep

Every Friday in the late 80's my big brother and I would blow our allowance at "Leisures" and "Rockys"

Bubble Bobble, Double Dragon, Ninja Gaiden, Superman.. Turtles and Simpsons when we were older and then occasionally Street Fighter 2

Every surrounding suburb had it's own arcade or cafe with games in it.. then around 2000 they disappeared :(

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I've played games in arcades when I was little, but they weren't a big part of my life.

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Time Crisis was My favorite. And hard to say no to. I also remember playing the Simpsons in a hotel in Australia. I was playing with friends. I would put in a $2 coin for us to all play, IIRC.
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Not really. I had some favorite machines at a couple pizza places but I only ever visited them 2-3 times a year.

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Yes. I'm 42, though, which helps with that a lot

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Not big. Most frequented one was at the local mall's food court.

I still go here and there though. Played at a nice one in a bowling alley a couple month's ago. I'm visiting Europe rn, and there is another pretty good one also in a bowling alley.

Matter of fact, bowling alleys seem to be a good place to find a solid arcade lol my alley growing up also had some shooters and pinball.

This lake resort place my family vacationed at like 10 summers in a row had Ms. Pac-Man and NBA Jam cabinets in their laundry area. Played the hell out of those.

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Most definitely...be turning 40 soon, and the Arcades was pretty much the thing (along with Malls, Star Wars, etc) in the 80s

I lived in arcades as a kid. My dad was big into pinball so I was introduced young. I remember dragging the little stool around so that I could reach the controls.

They were. I miss them, feels like I'm from a lost civilisation. I miss being the local hometown hero and characters.

I wish I had one of those bar arcade close to me. Even the PC gamer and console lounges closed down due to lack of interest. We had a crappy VR bar for a while but that also closed. meh
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I remember playing Mad Dog McCree, Smash TV, Cruis'n World, Virtua Cop 2, Crazy Taxi, Virtua Fighter, Killer Instinct, NFL Blitz, Tekken 3, Time Crisis 2, and NBA Jam. Had a blast playing these games.

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I liked the arcade at the mall in the town I grew up in, but being poor I didn't get to actually play games very often. But it closed about a decade ago, and now the mall itself is a ghost town.

I remember that I collected 968 tickets after several years, and the box they were in just disappeared without a trace.

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Absolutely, but then again Im 53.

Played a lot of Galaxian, Tempest, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Defender, Donkey Kong etc etc. In those days though gaming at home to a reasonable standard was pretty much impossible. Used to get paid every Saturday for delivering newspapers then go straight to the arcade and blow it all in one morning :)

No, I grew up when they were on the decline, played a few at a mini golf place though.

Zangulus posted...

The other was at a casino. My parents liked to go at like 2am so it wasnt crowded. Id go with even though I wasnt old enough. Id just hang out in the casino and my parents would give me money to keep play. Or hit the buffet.

That how it was for me...born/lived in a Casino city (take a guess), and my Mom was a really big Slot player...so often she would drag me (sometimes my other cousins) to the Casinos, give us a Bucket of Quarters, and left us in the Arcade room (they had them back in the day, not so much now) with all the other degenerate Gambler Kids....

I wouldn't say they were a big part, as I didn't get to spend a ton of time in them, but I loved them when I did get a chance.

I think my earliest arcade memory is going to the mall with my mom, and her taking me to Alladin's Castle and giving me 50cents to pick a game to play. I picked a futuristic sci-fi racer you could set down at, and you would get an upgrade after each race or lap. After this she would give me 50 cents every time we went to play. I always picked the same game.

When I was a bit older she would drop me off with my friends or sisters at the skating rink. I would set aside a few bucks to get a Ninja Turtle themed icee, and use all the rest in there meager arcade. Most of there cabinets where pretty old, asteroids, centiped, and one of the space invaders knock offs. There new cabinets where Superman, and Ninja Turtles. Turtles ate most of my quarters. I was fascinated with Superman, but only played once because it cost as much as Turtles, and Turtles > Superman. Once I was out of Turtles money I'd try one of the older 25cent games, eventually settled on asteroids as my favorite of the vintage stuff. There was also a cool little metal cowboy shooting gallery game, kind of like a tiny pinball table, but you shot litte metal balls at cowboys that would pop up in Windows and doors. This only cost 10cents, so that is where I would drain the last of my money. They had one pinball machine. I don't know what it was originally, but once they replaced it with Jurassic Park, I would usually play that, it's probably where I first played pinball.

Stay tuned for the exciting part 2 where I talk about xmen arcade!
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They weren't common here, I've only ever been to one and played a single game, Metal Slug 2.

Granddad run an arcade when mum was young though, she played quite a few games when he had them around their house.
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Back in the mid-90s there was a convience store across the street from where I was living. They had 3 Arcade cabinents. I'd say they were a major influence in me getting into video games as a child, with the other major influences being Pokemon and The Legend of Dragoon.

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Zangulus posted...

Big? Nah. But a couple friends and I used to go down to the local bowling alley and play a bunch there.

One time at Wefest my dad and I pumped who knows how many quarters into the Terminator 2 light gun arcade to try to get past the Helicopter chase and we couldnt. But it was fun as shit.

Then they removed all the lightgun games because of Columbine.
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Only on birthdays.

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My wife and I consider arcades to be like video game museums. They make fun date nights. Her dad had a few pinball machines in their house when she was a kid.

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I played them here and there but not a big part of my life. I mostly played the NES/SNES at home during those times. When I did play arcade games it was mostly the beat em up games like turtles, x-men and the Simpson's. Stuff like that.

Zangulus posted...

One time at Wefest my dad and I pumped who knows how many quarters into the Terminator 2 light gun arcade to try to get past the Helicopter chase and we couldnt. But it was fun as shit.

In this gaming bar I've been in they actually have a arcade machine of this. It's neat to see arcade machines now and then for me.


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Not really. I liked arcades, but I couldn't afford them as a kid.

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Born in 1980, so definitely since I basically grew up in the golden age of arcades. Was definitely sad when they started going away. It's kinda cool now that "barcades" are popping up more to bring a little of that back.

i don't know that i've ever been to one

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When I was a young kid sure

by the time I was ten or so though arcades started going away as the games you could play at home started getting better

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Arcade was life.
I was at a prime age during the arcade era being 12 in 1990 I got to experience everything to the fullest.


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Zangulus posted...

Wut? I've seen them in the last 5 years. Maybe temporarily I guess.

It was by choice I think. Just people being dumb and thinking video games had anything to do with it.

I wish I could afford the TMNT arcade cabinet that Walmart has. No space for one either.
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Not at all.

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LOLIAmAnAlt posted...

All the effing time.
I basically cried when the good ones started shutting down

There are still arcades around in the US & doesn't JP still have a gang of arcades? Some have done pretty well with erasing the videogame stigma too.

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Even if there had been an arcade where I lived, all our change was saved up because we were pretty poor when I was a kid, tbh. Ha, we still have nothing in savings but it's not as bad as it used to be I think.

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no

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No. I played in one that opened in the mid-90s as a kind of throwback to the older arcade days, but I only went a couple times. I think that was 1995, prior to N64. They had a lot of games that would later be ported to the console like San Francisco Rush.

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Absolutely. Between the Aladdin's Castle that was right next door to the General Cinema at our one longtime mall here when I was a kid to the arcade and pool hall I hung out at on weekends with a buddy or two during high school and even visiting them when I was out of town for vacations or day trips (Aladdin's Castle right on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, the big arcade on Ocean One on the boardwalk in Atlantic City).

Heck. I even spent time in the game room at the one hotel during a family vacation to Williamsburg, VA in the late 80's to play Karate Champ.

But once arcades started popping up where it was like a $1 a play I began to lose interest. The one place around here just opened up as an arcade with bar food at ridiculous prices, but at least the games are .25 a play. It's in the same block from where I went as a teenager to the arcade/pool hall, just on the opposite side of the street. I've been meaning to check it out.

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Not a big part of my everyday life but they certainly were on vacations. We had two favorite spots to vacation when I was a kid and each one had their own arcade that I pretty much lived in.

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Arcades died around the time I was in my youth, so most of my time were spent in internet cafes.

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