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[runnin_blue]

Definitely for me it was when Streetfighter 2 hit the arcades in Australia. Can never forget 30 people crowded around a big screen machine challenging eachother. We were in awe. Good times.

Also NBA Jam gets a mention for similar reasons.

 

[FloppyDelux]

My fav game to play with two guns....

Beat this game last summer at the funcenter in seattle....:

Para para represent:

Adams Family Shoker dosnt really shock it just vibrats...)

Police man 911

Not a arcade game but this was a fun ride at Sega city in mississauga, on

 

[Marleyman]

Started with Ice Climbers and Q-bert and ended with Big Hurt Frank Thomas pinball. I will never forget that feeling though of the hustle and bustle of the arcade at my local mall.

 

[FleaTheMagician]

Tokyo Game Action. (RIP)

 

[KoreanBarbecue]

My friend and I used to ride our BMX bikes to the local 7-11, which had a Play Choice 10 AND Super Mario Bros. 3. This was pretty awesome considering the game wasn't even out for the NES yet and the machine had a slow timer (one quarter usually gave you like 5 minutes, this one gave you 20 minutes). We would have around that place all day, then ride home trying to balance Super Big Gulps, which usually ended up on the side of the road before we could make it home.

 

[DjangoReinhardt]

The golden age of Street Fighter II from 1991 - 1993 (WW, CE, and HF) is easily my favorite arcade era. There were cabinets at every mall, pizza place, bowling alley, tons of 7-11s/Circle Ks, grocery stores, and it seemed like they were never empty - it's almost unbelievable now.

 

[Noogy]

I have two favorite memories. One was playing through the entirety of TMNT (Konami) with 3 random guys at a VERY loud arcade. I didn't experience that sort of coop rush again until Left4Dead.

The second was when my brother and I discovered SSF2X and Samurai Shodown at the Circus Circus, and had $60 to blow (we weren't exactly gambling). Good times.

 

[Clydefrog]

Definitely TMNT and The Simpsons.

But also this guy:

I can hear the gators... "ow. ow. ow. ow. I'm really mad now! ow ow ow ow ow"

 

[Bleepey]

DDDAAAYYYTTTOOONNNNAAAAA.

That's still in my local arcade. 10p a go.

Good times.

Which arcade is this?

 

[IrishNinja]

i was about 4 when my older brother put me on a barstool at a local steakhouse to play pac-man, been gaming since.

big arcade down here, Flippers (R.I.P.) was the spot for many years. i knew dudes that made bank selling fake fatalities/nudalities lists when MK2 dropped, shit was crazy.

 

[Strummerjones]

In the early '90s the local Debenhams department store had a mini SegaWorld on the top floor. Once in a while they'd do freeplay evenings where for £5 you could go in and play all the machines you wanted for two hours. The place was kitted out with all the Model 1 and 2 machines, and when I wasn't waiting for ages for a go on eight player Daytona or twin deluxe Sega Rally machines (which myself and a friend were once threatened by another kid with a knife to get out of and let him play) I'd play pretty much everything in there, especially Wing War, which no one else deemed cool enough to play, so was always available.

The highlight was probably getting challenged by some twenty something guy and his friend certain of easy wins at at Wing War, and my twelve year old self absolutely destroying both of them in seconds with the reward of looks of shock and confusion from people twice my age.

 

[TheFightingFish]

Anyone else grow up in Detroit suburbs and go to Marvelous Marvins?

I just looked it up and apparently the place is still around. http://www.marvin3m.com/

Had a solid selection of arcade games packed in with all sorts of random coin operated oddities. Had a blast at a few birthday parties and what not there playing TMNT: Arcade, Simpson's Arcade and Virtual Fighter. Place was bizzare but really fun as a kid. Being so unique (all the retro co-op machines and weird stuff) it has managed to stay around while other straight up arcades have closed.

Hey, there is the same Simpson's arcade machine in a picture still:

MMMM on the history channel

 

[Bleepey]

I was shit at Alpha 2 could barely do the specials consistenly but man oh man was that game the shit back in 1998. We had an A2 machine, St and Waku Waku 7 in the cornershop near my school and every morning we would spend half an hour playing at 20/25p a credit or a £1 for 5 goes. Man that place was hype in the morning. So there was this one guy called Carl who was really good and he was on the machine. I challenged him. We started playing i kept hitting him, everything was working and i built up meter custom and perfected him. The look on everyone's face when the Perfect screen came up was sooo good. I almost double perfected him but the next round he got a hit. Proudest moment i ever had in the arcade. I met him 10 years later and he still remembers it! I also remember some dickhead grassing on me for playing A2 instead of going to do a maths test. I told the teacher, that i missed my train and he for no reason told her i was playing Alpha2. What dickhead does that?! I was too shocked to say anything. Other instances include playing Tekken, a VS game or two and seeing the SF rip offs. Good times. Unfortunately there were not many arcades near me, my mum was really strict and i was a bit tooy oung too truly appreiciate arcades at their peak ( i am 23) so i missed out on a lot but not too much.

I remember when SF4 came out on arcade in London, man the trocadero was packed to the brim and some guy had a 50 game win streak. Good times.

 

[Rahxephon91]

Are you talking about the Galloping Ghosts arcade? Filled with the old classics, but like you said $15 a day. I heard about that place and it sounds awesome. It’s only about 30 minutes from my house.

Yes. It's a really nice arcade in my opinion. A lot of fighting games if that's what your into. A lot of them available on your console, but it is nice to play them at an arcade. There's also a nice amount of other coin-op games.

At $15 for the entire day, it's a pretty good deal if you ask me.

 

[Seraphinianus]

this thread fucking rules. 90s arcades were magical. I got stories to post later.

 

[eso76]

Playing Outrun in an arcade by the sea, in the summer.
Sandals, hair still wet and sand in my swimming suit.

I swear that's how Outrun was meant to be played.


or when, at the age of 5 mom brought me to a bar across the street to let me play Amidar and i pissed in my pants because i couldn't stop playing. Or when mom got into a fight with a couple 20y/o guys who jumped the queue to play Terra Cresta.

..i have too many, in fact it seems all my memories are somewhat related to arcades and videogames.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I grew up during the Pac-Man fever era, where there were arcade machines everywhere, including supermarkets.

- Being at my local mall arcade when MK2 debuted. There was a huge crowd around the machine, and the moment one of the players pulled off Baraka's move where he kneels down while slashing, everyone sorta went "ooooooooooooooh" all at the same time. It was cool in that we were all experiencing this for the first time.

- Going to the Atlantic City Casino with my mom and aunt, meant me getting a roll of quarters and being left at the arcade room at Trump Plaza. It was there that I met this new game called Kung Fu Master, and it was love at first sight.

- During High School I worked with my best friend whose family owned a cleaning business. On the way home his parents would stop at a 7-Eleven for coffee. It's where I discovered Ghosts n Goblins and Mat Mania. I couldn't get past Coco Savage, but my friend could win the title, and then just keep defending it until his mom made us leave.

- Dave and Busters during the first week of 9/99, it was cool playing Hydro Thunder and House of the Dead, and knowing that I'd have these badboys in my home in a few days thanks to the Dreamcast.

- Dave and Busters on a seperate visit, some chick was playing Mo Cap Boxing. She was leaning forward flailing, while her ass was sorta just sticking out. She was pretty hot, and the memory is ingrained in my head.

- Going to Chuck E Cheese with my cousin who was much older than me. I'm guessing he had recently started driving, so he took me there as some of his friends were working that night. They just kept giving me handfulls of tokens, and I played the shit out of the arcade machines they had.

- Walking the boardwalk at night with my parents at Ocean City NJ. Back then the boardwalk was littered with arcades, but only one had this new game called Dragon's Lair. Fucking thing cost fifty cents to play, and the line to play it stretched out of the arcade and halfway out onto the boardwalk.

 

[CadetMahoney]

---

Era 1: In order of fun/hours put in:

Aliens vs Predator
Violent Storm
Simpsons beat em up
Turtles 1989 beat em up
Final Fight

---

Era 2: In order of fun/hours put in:

King of Fighters 94 onwards
Several other SNK games like Samurai showdown 2

---

Era 3: In order of fun/hours put in:

House of the Dead 1
Zombie Revenge

---

Era 4: In order of fun/hours put in:

KOF 2k2/2k2UM

The most fun was from Team Fortress Classic. Have you ever got "high" from playing a game? That was TFC, but that's not an arcade game - but I was playing out of Home (in university lol).

 

[ScOULaris]

These arcade stories are great. Keep 'em coming.

It's cool to know that so many of us share similar arcade experiences from our youth from all over the country/world.

R.I.P. Neon womb.

 

[Zebra]

Police man 911

Ah, this game! I was just trying to remember the name of it. It was so ahead of it's time--like a kinect before kinect.

There was also a boxing game that had the same mechanic. I spent so much money on those games because they felt so immersive and futuristic. They allowed me to use my whole body and it felt genuine.

 

[Seven Force]

This. I remember my friends and I spending nearly an entire afternoon trying to beat Smithers. We did, but we quit as soon as Mr. Burns came in with a giant fucking robot. Good times.

I remember a department store near where I used to live having a Daytona cabinet too. I kinda sucked at it, though.

 

[RadioHeadAche]

My fondest arcade memory is playing the original House of the Dead with a really good friend of mine. Several years ago, I used to go to a local mall to play a yugioh tournament and my best friend at the time did as well. Back then, there used to be store that had an arcade in it, and HotD was one of the highlights there. We would go there after those tournaments and play together. It was a lot of fun, and I remember that I never could beat the game without him there. Eventually after many trips, I managed to get through the game myself. It was a pretty satisfying moment, and I probably would not have done that without him.

 

[sf2fanatic]

Playing sf2 almost everyday when I was in my younger years. When championship edition came out I was waiting in line for hours.. Had numerous Cyberball/Blitz/NBA Jam battles with buddies where losers bought dinner.

 

[theRizzle]

My grandma used to take me to one of the local arcades at least twice a week when I was very young. She would stand in those grimy, smoky rooms for HOURS doing nothing but watching me do something she had to have zero interest in.

We frequented one of them so much that one day while I was playing Captain America & The Avengers (it was the level where you fly around and shoot the Sentinels, I will never forget), the arcade operator came up to us and said that they had just received a bomb threat and wanted to let us know before he told everyone else so that I wouldn't get trampled, since the machine was so close to the door. We left immediately and went to the coffee shop across and a little bit down the street. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later people just came POURING out of the arcade. It never blew up obviously, but it was nice of them to let us know.

I also won a local Street Fighter 2 tournament when I was half the age of some of the guys there. The guy at the store had to bring me a milk crate to stand on, I was so young. Everyone laughed when they found out I was playing but my cousin stood up for me and I think ended up making some money betting on me, haha.

 

[Seda]

Being a really big fan of the TMNT show and playing through this to the end with three other people was my favorite arcade memory for sure.

This.

 

[coldvein]

Lucky & Wild with a buddy in the mall. fuck that was fun.
Ridge Racer.
Simpsons... MKII.. ahhh, memories. one of my rich friends parents used to rent out the mall arcade on his birthday and we all got a shit ton of tokens. good times.
i'm thinking about going to Gameworks (?) in seattle, not sure what to expect there tho..

 

[jbueno]

Mostly:

And:

But also:

And this as well:

 

[tapedeck]

Killer Instinct
Loved hearing the words: ULTRAAAAA COMBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

1st reply wins. I remember seeing KI for the first time and my jaw was on the floor till the damn arcade closed for the night.

 

[Rctdaemon]

Beating Energizer on hard without using the bar is probably my greatest memory, followed soon after by Queen of Light on expert. (In The Groove 2) I remember the machine was converted from a low quality DDR machine and the attendants cursed it because they hated maintaining it, but it was probably their most profitable game.

 

[Darth Kupi]

My personal faves:

SEGA 4 LYFE!!!!

Also me and my brother loved side scrolling beat-em ups.

TMNTs, Simpsons, Captain Commando, Final fight. I even remember a Peter Pan themed one.

We would beat them whenever we came across one, time & money be damned.

Its why we still love and crave good co-op experiences to this day.

 

[IlliterateBookworm]

Ah, the arcade.

Fondest memory would be playing SFII in Hawaii for the first time around its release. The room divided between the English speakers and the Japanese kids, and everyone talking trash to each other back and forth and nobody understanding anyone else, with big shit- eating grins on all the faces present as we learned how to play the game.

Playing JoJo's Bizarre Adventure when it first came out in Japan while I was studying there and racking up a 19 win streak until I was forcibly removed from the game center (was supposed to have dinner with my brother).

In college I took it upon myself to try and 1- coin Metal Slug 2. Each day I would play it once. By the end of the year I got frustrated and ended up beating the game on a dollar when some cute girl said she wanted to see the end. I ended up marrying her. Metal Slug 2 is one of the few games she'll actually play of her own volition (that and SOTN).

All of the local arcades had Gondomania for some reason- I played the SHIT out of that game. The music still haunts me to this day and I haven't heard it in years. I used to draw stories and pictures about it at school, and had this huge backstory as to what the game was all about. We used to build levels to it out of Legos.

Playing all the card battling games with my kids is cool too. Especially the Ultraman ones.

 

[quinntendopower]

I own a "Race Drivin" machine, after becoming obsessed with it at the arcades. I worked at Kay-Bee toys when i was 14, and i used to score battle my friend every day when i'd go on break.

i'll never forget the first time i saw daytona. the graphics were simply amazing. once i got the hang of it i was totally in love with it.

 

[heavyness]

I was the first one to beat the brand new Mortal Kombat 3 machine. The guy at Aladdin's Castle gave us the heads up it would be there that Saturday so we showed up and waited as they got it ready. Loved the feeling of completely new game, new characters, and not knowing anything. Just trying random moves. We all freaked out when someone did a combo and it started counting it... then we figured out they introduced the string combos into the game.

Then sometime around noon (and probably $40 bucks later) we decided to try to beat the game. All of us taking turns. Finally, I was the first to take take down Shao Kahn.

Also, winning a Tekken 3 tournament in Pittsburgh was another good memory.

 

[Darth Kupi]

No coffee like Virtua™ Coffee!

 

[ScOULaris]

Another good memory was when I first visited Innoventions at Epcot as a kid. At the time, it was sponsored by Sega, so it was just a huge convention center filled with new and not-yet-released Genesis and Sega arcade games.

That was the first time I ever played Comix Zone and Fighting Vipers (pictured below).

It was actually an surprisingly fun fighting game, and one that not a lot of people knew about at the time. I liked how there were ring-outs, but you had to work for them by smashing your opponent through the cage.

Innoventions now is just sad. No games at all. Just touch-screen educational stuff.

 

[moozoom]

Mine would be seeing Dragon's Lair for the first time during a trip to the USA when I was a kid. I had heard about the game in a french video game magazine ( Tilt ) and I remember dreaming about playing it many times while looking at the 2 pictures in the mag.

I tried to play but died almost instantly, so I just watched the intro numerous times. some years later, an arcade in my hometown bought Space Ace and I spent many many hours trying to beat it.

 

[eso76]

Seeing Bionic Commando (it was called Top Secret, though) in the arcade near the sea. Those huge trees, the sea in the distance...

...when the local arcade bought Rastan and R-type and put them next to each other and i was overwhelmed by the amazing.

At 12, bar in front of school, playing Super Contra and P.O.W. (Snk) every morning with a friend before going to school, sometimes being terribly late for class.

Combat School at the bar on the beach, there were cute girls always playing and always asking me if i could beat the instructor for them.

At 15, sneaking out of school with a friend to play Fatal Fury 2 and Samurai shodown.

At 17, completing Bubble Bobble with a friend (never losing a life ! well, one on stage 99..fuck !) surrounded by 5 (rather slutty ) girls we'd never seen before hitting on us and...uh...caressing our backs and..uh...butts while we were playing.

The magic of the arcades, it's impossible to describe those feelings to someone else.
Sad to see they're gone, when i think of it i am so glad i was born in 1976 and saw the birth, rise and fall of that era.

 

[Orayn]

Maze of the Kings!

Awesome rail shooter with customizable weapons and gear, shifting level layouts, and a lot of polish over all.

 

[sarcoa]

A local movie theater was designed in such a way that there were a ton of hallways leading to the various theater rooms. It was almost like a maze, but in small alcoves there were always one or two arcade games. Meaning, if I wanted to play Virtual On, I had to pay for a movie ticket in order to access that part of the theater. That was an expensive summer.

Also I remember seeing an Mortal Kombat 3 machine for the first time and freaking the fuck out when I saw cyber smoke's portrat rotating in and out of the character select screen.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

Every week for about 1 year when I was 13 or something.

When this was installed in my local arcade, like within the 1st hour of it being set up it put the first cigarette burn on the dashboard. I was so hooked I just plain forgot about it, normally I do take care.
I remember the arcade engineer going apeshit at me. Made that arcade so much money that within weeks they upgraded from a 4 player version to an 8 player. I remember one of the 1st 8 player games we played as soon as it was game over all of us reached in our pockets and inserted more coins without even looking at each other or checking if we were all going to play again.

Stunning game.

 

[Triz]

If I had to choose a game it was definitely Mortal Kombat 2. Damn I owned at that game. But I was always more of a pinball player and since I played them at arcades...they are getting some love in this thread.

Best pinball machine of all time, Ill stand by that.

And my close runner up, Bally's last machine.

 

[RoryDropkick]

Driving across town on a supposed "job hunt" to go play SF3 for the first time was particularly fun.

 

[Flynn]

Here's another one. Was vacationing in Miami beach in 1981. Me, my sister and my cousin (ranging in age from 5-15) took off for the entire day -- went to see Raiders of the Lost Ark then stayed in the arcade from across the hotel until the sun went down.

I played tons of Black Knight (pinball) and Star Castle.

Turns out my parents didn't expect us to be gone all day and were righteously pissed when we got back. But that's how arcades were back then. It was easy to just burn time there.

 

[CaseyTappy]

Had so much fun with this in the Arcade's :

Classic Arcade's are all gone where I live but since a year I have my own two cabs at home to revive the good time's .

 

[Chemo]

Whoops, read the title wrong... busy day. :/

My first play of Rampage was mind blowing... and then I got the NES version, and was SO disappointed.

 

[Exclamation-One]

This fucking thing was at the pizza place near my house. Soooo good.

We had one of these at my old office.

Press Up, up, up, down, down, down, left, right, left, right, left to unlock the original Pac-Man.

 

[Marleyman]

- Going to the Atlantic City Casino with my mom and aunt, meant me getting a roll of quarters and being left at the arcade room at Trump Plaza. It was there that I met this new game called Kung Fu Master, and it was love at first sight.

My family is in Brigantine(right across the bridge from AC) and we used to always stay at Trump Plaza. They would go to the casino and I would be left at the arcade; awesome times. I remember Kung Fu master; didn't Data East make that game??

 

[jonabbey]

Gah, I feel old. I remember Asteroids coming out.

Favorite games were probably Tempest, Star Wars, SF2, Elevator Action, Defender, Buster Bros.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Captain Commando

ah yes I forgot about captain commando. good times.

 

[Kandinsky]

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, my god i loved that game so much, me and my friends spent ALOT of money on that thing lol.

Also first time i saw KI running, it was jaw droppin, especially the cutscenes.