Support NeoGAF

[orion434]

Mine is a pinball game, but still in the arcade, I'd play it for hours.

 

[ScOULaris]

The game that I spent the most quarters on? Hm... It's gotta be one of these two for sure:

Yes, I realize that these are miniature replicas of the actual arcade cabinets.

 

[Wickwire]

My dad used to take me and my brothers to this arcade when we were young. He'd sit and play light gun games with my older brother while I would sit in the dark corner of the arcade (the corner were theyd shove all the old forgotten games) and play Tetris non stop. I spent so much cash in that damn machine.

 

[Always-honest]

i only did this when i was stoned out of my mind. Usually Golden Axe or a racing game.

 

[Fatalah]

My dad used to take me and my brothers to this arcade when we were young. He'd sit and play light gun games with my older brother while I would sit in the dark corner of the arcade (the corner were theyd shove all the old forgotten games) and play Tetris non stop. I spent so much cash in that damn machine.

And you turned out to be just fine! ...

 

[flyinpiranha]

Gauntlet
Street Fighter 1&2
Mortal Kombat 1&2
Golden Axe
Most light gun games

 

[Dambrosi]

Probably a tie between Tempest:

And Space Ace:

I win being old! Yeah!

No, I think you'll find that I do.

Quoting to reduce image sizes:

Space Invaders (local chip shop, around 5 years old):

Then Pac-Man, Galaxian and Dig-Dug (a local bar/music venue, 7 years old):

Then Battlezone and Star Wars Arcade (the vector graphics ones, Picton Ice Rink, 8/9 years old):

And too many more to count when I started to visit arcades in Liverpool's Lime Street arcades, back before games consoles, gangsters and the Tory Government conspired to close them all down around the early to mid '90s. Sad days, those were.

As for the one that I spent the most money on? This one, without a shadow of a doubt:

Sunk so much coin into this bad boy, my nan got mad at me for wasting all the grocery money! I sure felt my butt hurt that night!

 

[Hunter-Zero]

Without any doubdt, this badboy

Countless hours in kof games, followed by this two

and this one too

 

[Moofers]

Can't believe nobody posted this yet!

It came out when the movie was huuuuuuge. What I remember most was the sound. Oh my god the sound for this thing. So sharp, so explosive. And the force feedback on the guns! Hadn't seen anything like that before. I remember a trip to the arcade where my dad and his best friend spent like $140 each getting the 3 of us to the end.

Also, Final Fight, TMNT 1 (not Turtles in Time), Xmen, Knights of the Round, and later Alien vs Predator Arcade would be the biggest beat-em-ups ever. I'd save up lunch money all week at school and then ride my bike to the mall with friends just to play those. In the case of Xmen, it was a local pizza parlor we'd go to just to play, not eat.

Mortal Kombat series would be a big deal for me too. Lots of time spent trying to pull off fatalities to impress my dad with how awesome those games would be.

Primal Rage was the next big impressive thing. I remember being blown away by the graphics and sound. Plus my arcade had the huge cabinet so the bass would just boom through the whole place. A dinosaur would jump and land and you could hear it in the place next door. Totally awesome.

Marvel vs Capcom 2 was the first game I would be obsessively competitive about. We're talking going to the arcade like 4 times a week and practicing at home on Dreamcast with my MAS stick on the off days. To this day, if I'm at a movie theater or someplace and they have one of these, its a personal rule that I have to play at least one game. Its the closest thing I have to some kind of worship/religion.

Soul Calibur II for the conquest mode. I had a character that I managed to get in the top 5 with the maximum rank/title possible. Was really competitive about this and would visit the arcade every single day to see how my CPU version had fared in its battles while I was away.

Time Crisis was also big for me. The gun's recoil really blew me away at the time. Loved the style of the game too. The graphics were great and the enemy design was slick.

Probably forgetting a couple, but those were the biggest ones. I really loved the arcade. I wish it would somehow make a comeback.

Time for a bit of a schilling:

The Midwest Gaming Classic is coming up in March. Its the midwest's largest all-encompassing video game trade show. Huge emphasis on arcade games and pinball games. If you're interested in something like that, hit up the website: The Midwest Gaming Classic

 

[IdreamofHIME]

My Aunt and Uncle owned a caravan and camp site years ago and in the early 90's I spent my summers there.
They had a small arcade within the park and before it opened and after it closed, my Uncle would let me play the machines for free.
TMNT, Simpsons, Altered Beast, Golden Axe me and my bro would play them all but the one I spent hundred of hours on over about 3 summers was Street Fighter II. From only being able to win as E.Hona and his hand slaps when I was younger to actually learning all the fighters little secrets and being able to beat the other kids in the Arcade no probs.

My Uncle died about 10 years ago and my Aunt is in a home with Alzhiemers, but those summers with them were the best a little nerd kid could have. I always smile when I think of my Uncle Ben and Aunt Dot.

 

[jdforge]

Snow Bros

Pac-Land

SF II

Bombjack

Toki

 

[km3k]

X-Men
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
TMNT: Turtles in Time
The Simpsons
House of the Dead
Windjammers
Mortal Kombat 3
X-Men: Children of the Atom
Daytona USA
King of the Monsters
Die Hard Arcade
Revolution X

 

[pslayer666]

I used to divide my arcade allowance between these two:

and

 

[babuchy]

Knights of the Round
Art of Fighting
Street Figther 2
Vendetta
Star Wars Arcade
World Heroes
House of the Dead
Sega Rally
Cadillac & Dinosaurs (in this one I spent more money than all other)

 

[krae_man]

These. When super off-road came to the NES it was amazing. I totally wanted the nes 4 player adapter!

Game is total ass on home consoles. You can't play it right without a wheel you can spin like crazy.

I found this out the hard way when I bought Midway Arcade Treasures II on the PS2. I was super excited to try out the new tracks and I couldn't control my truck to save my life.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Street Fighter 2 (all versions) and Virtua Fighter 2 & 3 are the kings for me, but for most non-1 on 1 fighters, it's pretty much between Karate Champ, Kung-Fu Master, Final Fight, Quartet, Gauntlet I & II, Rolling Thunder, Super Mario Bros VS, Renegade, Elevator Action, Donkey Kong, and Ghosts 'n Goblins. Donkey Kong might win for overall money spent, though a lot of time was spent playing the Crazy Kong clone/variant.

 

[forgeforsaken]

Used to rock some Strider and UN Squadron back in the day as well. =)

At some point I was able to 1 credit UN Squadron. It was one of my go to game if I was low on money and it looked like my friends were going to want to hang around the arcade for a while.

 

[DaddyO]

Off Road

Came to post this.

 

[nephilimdj]

mid 90s - wonder boy
late 90s - killer instinct
early 00 - DDR & King of fighters

 

[drspeedy]

Glad to see all the love in this thread for The Simpsons. Loved that game... Didn't play it the most, that honor goes to TMNT or MKII, but it's still my favorite arcade game to this day, and holds a special place in my heart.

So many good ones already mentioned, but a few personal fav's

Shadow over Mystara:

Time Killers: (such a bad game, cashed in on the 'yay, gore!' craze MK started)

Tapper: Used to play the root beer version as a kid, then I was stoked to find a cocktail cabinet (played sitting down) version at a pizza joint in college, we'd would play the whole time we waited for the pie to come up.

Thunder Blade Is the second best arcade design ever, right after Paperboy

Paperboy!. God I loved and hated this thing. So hard... but so fun.

And Sea Wolf was the game that everyone wanted to play their first time in the arcade... primitive by today's standards, but it was the most immersive game out there in the early 80's

 

[ghibli99]

Thunder Blade Is the second best arcade design ever, right after Paperboy

Funny, I couldn't stand the sit-down version of this game, since its movement was all manual and not power-assisted, so you were fighting your own weight moving the controller left/right. Neat design, though... and a crap home port to Genesis.

 

[Lerozz]

Cruisn USA

 

[Bleepey]

There was some fierce competition back then. There were always 12/15 people around the machine waiting to kick your ass. Good times.

Bro fist bro. £1 for 5 credits. I still remember when i was an ultra scrub who could not reliably dp beating one of the better guys at the game and almost double perfecting.

 

[sphinx]

I used to divide my arcade allowance between these two:

Wonderboy

and

Ghosts and Goblins

you are perverse, just add Bubble Bobble and you have covered like, the hardest games EVER to complete, any era, any platform

 

[Omegasquash]

This thread is making me cry tears of reminiscent longings....

That said, if anyone wanted to bring their game to Street Fighter Alpha 2, Mortal Kombat 2, House of the Dead, Virtua Cop, Samurai Showdown, Killer Instinct, Raiden II, Marvel vs. Capcom (or any of the vs. series predecessors), they'd be more than welcome.

God DAMN those were the good old days.

 

[Wired All Wrong]

There used to be an arcade in a Shopko across the street from my house when I was little and I played the shit out of these games. It was a sad day when the store was remodeled and the arcade was taken out.

Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edwCSSVGI5A

Sly Spy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnKkd85PTFQ

Boot Camp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVx07wZ1YNY

Black Tiger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BPtn6_vhNQ

Championship Sprint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVzYGug3Cdk

Aliens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3uxIIQPg6E

 

[SHarris78]

Wrestlefest was 'better' but i still played the hell out of this!

 

[CitizenCope]

Probably Pacman. Though when I was a teen Dragons Lair 2 ate up a lot of my quarters.

 

[Bleepey]

It's hard to find a good arcade in London now that the Trocadero is gone. Namco Station is good for a few beers and a round of Tekken, but a lot of their machines are in a bit of a sorry state. At least Trocadero had some good, working older cabs.

CAsino?

One of the guys in the blurry pictures might just be me sitting down. Hmm..... how random

http://ibmv5.wordpress.com/tag/arcades/

 

[Moofers]

Forgot this baby:

I was in Atlanta, GA for a few months one year and they had this set up for 25 cent games. Needless to say, it drew a big crowd and had regulars coming to battle every day. It was awesome.

 

[turnbuckle]

Nba hangtime. 8 tokens a game, played hundreds of games. Won several free games too. Putting a create a character mode in there and charging to access it was genius.

 

[krae_man]

In college it was this:

and

 

[Ninja Dom]

CAsino?

One of the guys in the blurry pictures might just be me sitting down. Hmm..... how random

Bleepey, did you use to play 98 back in the day? KOF?

Are you playing SF4 Arcade Edition now?

 

[djtiesto]

Easily:

Runner up:

 

[Bleepey]

Bleepey, did you use to play 98 back in the day? KOF?

Are you playing SF4 Arcade Edition now?

I can count on one hand maybe 2 hands the number of minutes i have ever played any KOF game. When i am in Casino i usually try to play A2 or possibly ST. I am not a fan of AE. I might try out KOF13 or try to improve my mk9 game. ST and A2 are my main games.

 

[JohnnyPhatsaqs]

Played a ton of arcade games back in the day. My best guess is the most quarters went in Final Fight

 

[boredofcanada]

Arkanoid wins by a mile
Wrestlefest
The Simpsons arcade game
Street Fighter 2

 

[galvatron]

Street Fighter 2
Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike

The only reason Magical Drop 2 and some other Neo Geo games don't make this list is because I own them and put them on free play. Now when I go to an arcade it is mainly to play pinball.

 

[SOME-MIST]

X-men Arcade
Simpsons Arcade
Crusin USA
Crazy Taxi

The top two were machines at a baseball facility I would practice at.
The bottom two were at an ice rink I played/practiced at.

 

[shantyman]

 

[Satchel]

God Wrestlefest was amazing back then.

But it would be too hard to know which one game I spent the most money on.

Daytona? Virtua Cop? Virtua Tennis? Virtua Fighter 2? Street Fighter 2? Cadillacs and Dinosaurs?

Seriously, now that I think about it, I can't believe how much money I must have pumped into arcade machines over the last 25 years or so.

Ugh.

 

[ZID]

 

[Infinity]

Galaga, Golden Axe, Street Fighter 2 and X-Men.

 

[5amshift]

DDR
The Grind
Mortal Kombat II
Turtles in Time

 

[Slair]

Ghosts & Goblins at the bar my dad owned, hands down. As a 5 year old, that's where my weekly allowance went.

Every.

Single.

Week.

Does that mean your dad was giving you money and then using the game to get it back again?

 

[Marco1]

Great thread!
Mine were bubble bobble, pacland, double dragon and data-east robocop.
If I won the lottery I would buy a bigger house with a room dedicated to these old arcades. I would have a machine that pumps tobacco smoke around the room, make sure a couple of the ceiling lights are blown and maybe pay for some intimidating blokes to hang around.

 

[Zarovitch]

Black Tiger

 

[J-Rock]

For me it was:

Street Fighter 2

REALLY miss the feeling of walking into the local arcade. Nothing quite like it.

 

[Zimbardo]

its gotta be Mortal Kombat 2 for me.

dropped a ton of coin in that game.

 

[Optical_Matrix]

Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Lord have mercy, dem memories