Let us take a trip back to the '90s. Video games were still not a complete mainstream thing, but they were indeed more than just a fad, as we all had figured out. It was the latter years of a right of passage that would soon be dead: Arcade gaming. You would walk into the building, use the change machine if all your money was paper, or exchange it for tokens if that's how your local arcade was. You would walk around, looking for the first open machine of your favorite game, stick one credit in the machine (I am of corse going to use the term "credit" from here on out as it was the general term used for arcade games), and get ready to play. Soon, before you even get the game started, another kid walks up to the machine and sticks their credit in. From here on out, weather the even meet eyes, and depending on the type of game, you have formed a bond that will last as long as you are both willing to put out credits, or a rivalry that will last as long as you both are in the same arcade.
While there were plenty of co-op arcade games in existance, as time went on, they were less and less popular. It was the competitive style games that really drew the crowds, games like Mortal Kombat.
What games did you use to like in arcades? What in co-op excited you? What in competitive excited you? Had you ever formed an arcade friendship or rivalry?

I myself enjoyed arcade gaming, yet never got to do it as often as i liked. My favorite game to play was Area 51. I enjoyed it so much, that if I had the cabinet, or a copy of it and 2 light guns for PS1, I would still be playing it to this day (I would much rather have the cabinet though, because it always seems more fun to play such a game in an arcade).
I also enjoyed the linked racing games. I found it quite fun to hop into your own cockpit, with your own screen, racing against 1-3 other people.

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I used to play in the arcades quite a lot as a kid. The two games I remember playing the most are Final Fight and Knights of the Round, which are both ironically side-scrolling Beat 'em Ups.

I also remember playing Chase HQ a bit too.

Edit: I just remembered that I also played the arcade loads as a teen whenever I went bowling. I mainly played on gun games with House of the Dead being a favourite. Jurassic Park was also cool. Did anyone else ever play with two guns on their own, or was that just me?

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Twitter: @DarrylGU

I have also played with two guns, though not very often; and ironically, when I go bowling seems the only time that I ever do or did arcades too. House of the Dead was my favourite, particularly III, which I have a computer version of. I am put off arcades by the price however. £1 is way too much for a single play. It always makes me jealous seeing American films where they talk about using quarters for video games. That'd be like us Brits paying 15 pence for a game. Just to put it into context for the US members, imagine having to pay like $1.75 or so for every arcade game. We have to!

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On the subject of two guns at once, I had the idea to try that a long time ago, but usually, either I didn't have enough credits by the time I got to the gun games, or there was always someone else there. And as for price of each game, last time I went to an arcade (years ago) It was 50 cents (or 2 credits) to play the newer games. Not too sure what it would be now though.

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I think it tends to double in price for the newest games, so its £2 for the best arcade games nowadays.

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I suppose they had to compensate for the lack of interest that's generally shown with arcades now. Less players means people have to pay more each play for the same income.

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Twitter: @DarrylGU

ronin90 Wrote:I suppose they had to compensate for the lack of interest that's generally shown with arcades now. Less players means people have to pay more each play for the same income.

True. It seems pointless to me nowadays. Who goes to arcades just to specifically play an arcade game anymore? The world has moved on to console gaming, and such is the way it will be from now on.

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If I had money, I might go down to Peir 39 in San Fransisco to spend some time in the Namco arcade if it's still there. But it just gets so expensive, especially when I would have to take BART (the local train system) just to get to SF, then ride the Muni (the bus system in SF) to get to the peir. Other than that, in order to play at an arcade nowadays, I have to go to the movie theater or bowling alley. Either that, or go into the next town over to a place that has go karts and a mini-golf corse. And a few years back, I use to be able to go to the skating rink down the street and they had a nice small arcade, but now the rink is closed T_T

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