VGEsoterica
Member
When I was a kid on random occasions (and some special ones) my dad would bring me to our local arcade; "The Dream Machine"....weird name but holy crap did I love going to that place. It wasn't huge (I grew up in Vermont so...nothing was ever big lol) but it was filled to the brim with cabinet after cabinet.
Usually I'd get $5-10 to play with until I ran out. Seemed like a small amount back then but later in life I realized $10 in the early 90's was a decent chunk of money to play arcade games with. My dad might throw a quarter in here and there (and weirdly could beat Dragon's Lair on one credit because he memorized it back in the day) but otherwise he would just let me play whatever I felt like.
Except one day we randomly went and started up a two player session of Magic Sword. I still remember where that cab was...on the back left wall tucked away in the corner. Clearly not a popular cab at that point in time but it was still there so why not try it?
And for some reason...that day...my dad just decided "fuck it" and we loaded that machine full of money and beat the whole damn thing. He even let me decide whether to choose the "good or bad" ending when it was all over. I still don't know WHY that day was different and he decided to blow a ton of money on beating it but he did and that memory is burned into my brain. It's like I can transport myself back to that arcade and that day and remember the whole thing....yet I don't remember ANYTHING about why we went, or what we did after or most of that year of my life to be entirely honest.
For my dad it was probably just a random day and he felt like seeing the ending but for me it's become my most cherished video game memory (hell probably one of my most cherished childhood memories about ANYTHING) of all time and one I don't think I'll ever forget. It's basically the reason I still love, collect and preserve arcade games.
But I'd love to hear others memories. I am sure we all have them (even if not everyone was alive in the 90's back when this occurred lol)
Usually I'd get $5-10 to play with until I ran out. Seemed like a small amount back then but later in life I realized $10 in the early 90's was a decent chunk of money to play arcade games with. My dad might throw a quarter in here and there (and weirdly could beat Dragon's Lair on one credit because he memorized it back in the day) but otherwise he would just let me play whatever I felt like.
Except one day we randomly went and started up a two player session of Magic Sword. I still remember where that cab was...on the back left wall tucked away in the corner. Clearly not a popular cab at that point in time but it was still there so why not try it?
And for some reason...that day...my dad just decided "fuck it" and we loaded that machine full of money and beat the whole damn thing. He even let me decide whether to choose the "good or bad" ending when it was all over. I still don't know WHY that day was different and he decided to blow a ton of money on beating it but he did and that memory is burned into my brain. It's like I can transport myself back to that arcade and that day and remember the whole thing....yet I don't remember ANYTHING about why we went, or what we did after or most of that year of my life to be entirely honest.
For my dad it was probably just a random day and he felt like seeing the ending but for me it's become my most cherished video game memory (hell probably one of my most cherished childhood memories about ANYTHING) of all time and one I don't think I'll ever forget. It's basically the reason I still love, collect and preserve arcade games.
But I'd love to hear others memories. I am sure we all have them (even if not everyone was alive in the 90's back when this occurred lol)