After a quick browse around our wonderful site it amazed me that no one has yet touched on the fabled temples we used to haunt. The areas of sanctuary where like-minded individuals gathered to preach at the altar of weeny joysticks and large round buttons. The smoke filled dens where only the wise entered, but more importantly the educated left. Arcades. To some people this could mean a small gathering of shops but to others it was gaming bloody nirvana. Sadly in today’s towns and cities, the gaming arcade is a thing of the past, yes they are still there but most are populated with jackpot machines and the like, no hint of the gaming heritage they once housed.
Before great swathes of you start shouting that you still have working arcades (lucky gits) I base my knowledge on the Glasgow area where the arcades have all but vanished. Many years ago we had loads of them here and most had the most up to date games they could get, ranging from Outrun to Point Blank, Ghosts and Goblins to R-Type and so on – we really were spoilt for choice. My local town, Hamilton, had two arcades; one was attached to a cafe and was a bit naff, the other aptly called “Electronic Experience”, was a mecca for us. After passing the puggy machines (fruit machines) you changed your pound for coins and entered into arcade machine heaven. The first game I played here was Ghosts and Goblins and it was awesome, hard as nails but just so good. I also dabbled in Space Harrier in a stand up form, but fab none the less. Back in those days one pound could last you for over an hour depending on your skills, plus for that one pound you could play ten different games! Try doing that today.
The great thing about the arcades was that they were infinitely better than any of the home systems we had. It was a place where we went to play games as they were meant to be: fantastic graphics, awesome sound, huge monitors, perfect controllers and we often came out totally in awe of what we had just played.
It’s a real shame that the same cannot be done today really, our consoles are the pinnacle of gaming, we can play on huge TVs with surround sound and there really is nothing better. Sure arcade machines are still getting made but they are not far enough removed from the consoles to justify the one pound a go price. We all live in the knowledge that if a modern arcade game is good then it will be ported to the consoles making it a more cost effective prospect. We never used to think that way, it was good to see home conversions but they were mostly naff compared to their arcade machine parents; that is what made the arcade such a great place to go. Now think about this: being able to go to a room where like minded gamers were all playing games, outside of the home, socialising, interacting and competing – a great concept indeed.
To put all of this into some kind of context, a game for the home consoles today averages at £40.00. In old money that translates to 400 arcade credits, that is 400 shots of a game, and if you were good that would equal a long time gaming. I can complete the Star Wars Trilogy arcade game on one credit, which was 30p, but that was for twenty minutes of gaming joy. Just think you wouldn’t have to worry about trade ins or losing the instructions, you just turn up and play kind of like being a human enabled Universal Plug and Play device.
We have to respect the fact that the arcades were where our consoles were born. The technology on show was the precursor to modern machines, many, many ideas were tried and tested in the arcades years before we got to take them home. Without the arcades we would have nothing just now, if you have one near you and you’ve never been, go, and treat it like a museum of our hobby. You can even leave donations in the machines for their upkeep, plus you get to have a game or two. Just don’t resent the fact that I used to play for 10p a go, just feel really jealous that you now have to fork out a pound.
So now I am going to list some of my all time favourite arcade games, please all join in and tell me what yours were.
Robocop | R-Type | Space Harrier |
Virtua Tennis | Sega Rally | Operation Wolf |
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