Arcade Talk

[Droo]

I don't know about your cab, but rotating a monitor is a fucking nightmare on mine. I had the 60-in-1 vert PCB, it was barely played but took 6 months to change just based on the effort it takes to rotate.

Anyway, mines back to horizontal and will. never. change. back.

Unless I get Ikaruga, but I don't see that happening.

[Dandy_Sephy]

It's much easier if I remove the control panel. I've done it enough times to be able to do it fairly easily (still weighs a ton though), but not with the control panel bolted on as that sticks out quite a lot!

Nothing beats an Egret 2.

I've killed the Naomi motherboard though

[Droo]

Killed it how?

5V?

[Dandy_Sephy]

I got the power from the psu right but I think the damage was already done from a spike. It boots, but the graphics are corrupted and run at about 5% of the correct speed. I've probably blown some buffer chips.

[gone fishin]

For anyone who's interested- if you're ever in Edinburgh nip down to Portobello- the arcade there has still got some decent arcade games. Mostly late 90s SEGA titles, but they are the big/sit Dow versions- like 18 wheeler , ferrari 355 and Star Wars Pod Racer. They are a little tired (the usual monitor burn in) but still worth the trip.

[Vimster]

Tried to play 18 Wheeler at Weston last year. Either I was doing it wrong or it was bloody hard work.

[robotattack]

I came across a place called Astro City when visiting Southend yesterday. It's in the town on the second floor of a building rather than being near the sea front. There's a fairly good selection of games in there although I spent most of my time in there throwing money into the fruitys because I'm stupid. Unfortunately most of the older games aren't in their original cabinets. I don't suppose this is really a problem but it does take away some of the nostalgia factor. I'm assuming they are running on boards, just in different cabinets. Older games were 50p; I'm guessing the newer ones are at least £1.

What I found most interesting was that they do a lock in on Fridays and Saturdays where you pay £10 to play everything (including Pool) for free from 9pm to 9am (a bit like Arcade Club.

Yesterday a few of the machines were either off or stuck on a boot screen (Tetris was one of the latter). The only true downside of the place was that it was really fricking hot in there. I asked the bloke working in there about it (who is presumably the owner) and he said it was mainly down to the amount of machines in there generating the heat. I guessed that much myself, but it was more the lack of ventilation I was wondering about. He said they used to open the windows but kids kept throwing things out of them. I guess they'll open them during the lock ins. He said they are going to get air conditioning soon but I don't know how much of a priority it is to him.

[gone fishin]

If you're going to Orlando, then Disney Quest is absolutely essential!

You either pay for entry (might be about $40 entry) or get it as part of your Disney park entrance pass and you've got 5 floors of free play arcade goodness! Loads of retro games, plus lots of new ones like Afterburner Climax, Tank Tank Tank and the like.

I'll post some photos up, but I was really impressed by it - plus it's the first time I've seen Fix It Felix Jr!

[Oracle]

I came across a place called Astro City when visiting Southend yesterday. It's in the town on the second floor of a building rather than being near the sea front. There's a fairly good selection of games in there although I spent most of my time in there throwing money into the fruitys because I'm stupid. Unfortunately most of the older games aren't in their original cabinets. I don't suppose this is really a problem but it does take away some of the nostalgia factor. I'm assuming they are running on boards, just in different cabinets. Older games were 50p; I'm guessing the newer ones are at least £1.

What I found most interesting was that they do a lock in on Fridays and Saturdays where you pay £10 to play everything (including Pool) for free from 9pm to 9am (a bit like Arcade Club.

Yesterday a few of the machines were either off or stuck on a boot screen (Tetris was one of the latter). The only true downside of the place was that it was really fricking hot in there. I asked the bloke working in there about it (who is presumably the owner) and he said it was mainly down to the amount of machines in there generating the heat. I guessed that much myself, but it was more the lack of ventilation I was wondering about. He said they used to open the windows but kids kept throwing things out of them. I guess they'll open them during the lock ins. He said they are going to get air conditioning soon but I don't know how much of a priority it is to him.

Astro city is nice, a lot of the machines are in decent condition

[robotattack]

Astro city is nice, a lot of the machines are in decent condition

Yeah, it seemed like a fairly decent place. They really need to sort the heating problem in there though. I had to go outside to cool down a bit (and get some more fuel for the fruit machines from the cash point nearby).

I don't suppose you've been to a late night lock in have you? I like the idea but I have no friends. I'm just wondering what kind of people turn up.

The presumed owner told me that they want to improve the storefront so it's more obvious that they're there. I only noticed it because I saw the banner on the windows (something I've previously missed on my recent trips there). He seems alright if a little odd. Most of the time I was there he was monitoring his many CCTV screens and telling kids off for making too much noise.

[Oracle]

I've lived in the town all my life and only discovered it this year (been open 5 years).

I too am interested...

[Vimster]

Interesting. So can you take your own booze in for the lock-in? Would be a laugh if we could have a rllmuk trip.

[robotattack]

Interesting. So can you take your own booze in for the lock-in? Would be a laugh if we could have a rllmuk trip.

Unfortunately not. There's a "strictly no alcohol" policy I saw mentioned on a poster and it's in their All Nighter rules. "Lock in" was possibly a bad choice of phrase on my part but I'm sure I saw them refer to it as that somewhere. I don't know the reason for it; perhaps they want to avoid it becoming too "rowdy"? It's not like a bunch of pissed-up geeks are likely to get in a punch up and start throwing chairs through CRTs or something.

I find it an odd choice as that's the kind of situation where you'd want to drink. You are allowed to bring your own food and drink so I guess there isn't really anything stopping you from sneaking in a hip flask or a water bottle of vodka, but it shouldn't really come to that.

[Lorfarius]

Don't be daft, there's a huge risk they could be fined and the place closed if they got caught with alcohol on the premises. They need a license for that and the council will step down heavily.

[robotattack]

You don't need a license for the consumption of alcohol on a premises, only to sell it.

[Vimster]

You don't need a license for the consumption of alcohol on a premises, only to sell it.

Right. I've been to restaurants that don't have a license but encourage you to bring your own.

[MarkN]

I've just read through this whole thread. The mentions of Paignton on the last page struck a chord. I grew up there at exactly the right time to be in the arcades at their peak - early 80s. The pier was the last place I'd go for videogames, Leisure 2000 was by far the best place, and the place opposite (whose name I forget) would be next (it had Time Pilot and a couple of others that were missing from L2000).

Leisure 2000 shaped me though. I spent an awful lot of time in there. It had banks of Defender machines - the sound was immense. It had rows of pinball machines (not my thing back then, but I'd still pop the odd 10p in - love it now mind). Most of the arcade section was wonderfully dark, and filled with almost all the classic cabs. It also got rarities - I grew up thinking everyone would have played I, Robot and then found out that maybe fewer than 1000 machines were ever sold.

We moved away to the midlands when I was 13, so my arcade gaming was limited to whatever the local Shipley's got in (not too shabby as it turns out R-Type, Midnight Resistance, and a favourite of mine - Assault). Only a few machines at a time, but better than nothing. They got the Streetfighter machine with pressure-sensitive buttons - I destroyed my friend at it because he didn't know you had to hit the buttons as hard as you could. The machine lasted weeks mind.

I went back to Paignton maybe ten years ago, and whilst I was expecting it, it still saddened me hugely. It was mostly because Lesiure 2000 had become such a pale shadow of itself - bingo, cascade machines and fruities and almost nothing else, and all brightly lit. The place opposite was now yet another gift shop IIRC. The pier was the one exception - much better than it had been back in my day with big old signature cabs like Jambo Safari and Silent Scope and many others. Back in my day it had the only Star Force machine in town, and very little else (and that was dodgy - you'd score 1 point per kill, so end up with like 43 points at the end of a game).

[Vespa Alex]

I've never been lucky enough to live by an arcade. Dayvilles in Birmingham wasn't too bad but wasn't exactly local so all I had was the odd one or two machines in chip shops and a weeks holiday once a year.

[ScouserInExile]

We used to go to Swanage in Dorset at least once a year. They had a big arcade on the front, by the beach. From what I can remember, going in there was my first gaming experiences - I used to like racing games (still do, in fact) so I'd sit on my dad's knee, he'd operate the pedals and I'd steer. Every year we went, there would be something amazing and new, with a big crowd around it - Operation Wolf, Dragon's Lair, Rampage, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, Tekken... Last time I was down there was about '96 and it was steadily becoming more focused on nudgers and fruities than games, but still had some retro gems like Super Sprint and Fighters History.

I still find it strange that arcades aren't the forefront of gaming anymore. I can remember them being a vision of the future of home gaming, when you would wait ages for the "arcade perfect" home version.

Whenever we're somewhere touristy, my eldest daughter loves going into arcades, but only to play 2p nudgers. Not that there is ever much else to play...

[Vimster]

Bumping this as I just got back from a weekend in Torquay and it's bad. Didn't visit the arcades in Torquay but did pay a visit to nearby Paignton pier which I believe roberthazelby did a few years back, and it was grim then. It's even worse now. BTW only really managed to get to the pier this time.

 

If you were looking for something other than 2p pushers, grabbers or fruit machines you got:

Flappy Bird/Crossy Road - single-button big-screen versions of the phone games.

Pac-Man Chomp Mania - essentially Pac-Man but for your 50p you get one life and it spews tickets.

Mariokart Arcade - best game there but every time I walked past there was some 4 year-old sat there playing with the steering wheel whilst dad looked on.

Some Batman racing game - attract mode was crap so I didn't get a good see what it was like.

Some motocross racer - 4-player thing, zzzzzzzzzzzz

A Transformers on-rails shooter - actually had a go on this. Sit-down cab with joystick/gun thingy. Basically designed to make you pump a fiver in to see more of the game.

 

er that's it! The nearest I got to arcade thrills was a Dancing Stage machine. Put a quid in and got 3 songs, I tried on Hard as long as it wasn't some 180bpm nightmare and was suitably shattered when I got off, but it felt good.

 

Just looking and the endless grabbers going down each side of the pier got me down; it would have been 70% arcade games 20/30 years ago. Probably could have spent all day in there back then. Attendants would go up and down, openning the grabbers and standing the cheap toys upright. Most of the toys had £5 notes pinned to them.

 

I started this thread about 5 years ago and frankly it's got worse. But hey we knew that was the case anyway.

 

[Swainy]

The last modern arcade game I played was that Batman racer game from a couple of years back. It was ok but felt dated.

 

 

[Sfan]

Haibo

[Vimster]

Very interesting look at current Japanese arcades and where they're heading. A real eye-opener. VR, loyalty cards, microtransactions, online multiplayer. And the more elaborate cabinets look amazing. It also talks about why arcades still matter in Japan and why they don't really work here any more.

 

 

[Nick R]

Here's a big Twitter thread with lots of pictures of the Trocadero over the years:

 

 

 

 

Through Alien War and SegaWorld...

 

 

 

... through to its Funland ownership and decline:

 

 

... and then finally:

 

 

 

 

Separately, this video was published a few days ago. Haven't watched it yet:

 

 

[gone fishin]

On 29/06/2015 at 19:56, gone fishin' said:

If you're going to Orlando, then Disney Quest is absolutely essential!

You either pay for entry (might be about $40 entry) or get it as part of your Disney park entrance pass and you've got 5 floors of free play arcade goodness! Loads of retro games, plus lots of new ones like Afterburner Climax, Tank Tank Tank and the like.

I'll post some photos up, but I was really impressed by it - plus it's the first time I've seen Fix It Felix Jr!

 

I read recently that Disney Quest is now closed and torn down. 

 

On 26/08/2012 at 18:28, gone fishin' said:

For anyone who's interested- if you're ever in Edinburgh nip down to Portobello- the arcade there has still got some decent arcade games. Mostly late 90s SEGA titles, but they are the big/sit Dow versions- like 18 wheeler , ferrari 355 and Star Wars Pod Racer. They are a little tired (the usual monitor burn in) but still worth the trip.

 

And this is now a block of flats.

 

There is an arcade cafe opened up in Edinburgh and there's also another arcade still in Portobello, although it only has newer games. 

 

(I wonder what happened to the old games in the other arcade? I remember about 15 years ago there was a stand up Cisco Heat left out the back of it just to rot, was going to take it but didn't have the room).

[gone fishin]

I remember Alien Wars in Glasgow's Arches, although I'm sure I read it was bought up and transported to Japan!

 

I also remember going to the Trocadero as part of a P7 school trip to London, which was great fun but then being shocked at the cafe charging £1 for a can of coke (this was 1987), the equivalent of £2.47 now!!!

[Oracle]

Shame it doesn't mentioned VR Worlds: Battletech and red planet - those were the days!

[Nick R]

1 hour ago, Oracle said:

Shame it doesn't mentioned VR Worlds: Battletech and red planet - those were the days!

 

The first of those is mentioned in one of the tweets I didn't embed!

[Oracle]

18 minutes ago, Nick R said:

 

The first of those is mentioned in one of the tweets I didn't embed!

How did I miss that??

[RastanSaga]

My new Supergun has literary just been delivered.

Vega 9000 dx.