arcades shutting down here in howard county maryland, USA, we had about 3 local arcades about 15 years ago and then around 10 years ago, they were all phased out. From my understanding this happened all over USA. Does anyone have an arcade around you that is doing well? What type of games do they have there? I miss those arcades: Rats, Time-out, Champions/Tilt
Just recently I went back to an old haunt in Hunstanton, England - The Golden Sands arcade. It used to be the home of amazing and cheap arcade machines with all the latest big names (Gunblade NY, Time Crisis, Ridge Racer, Tekken, Virtua Fighter 3, Street Fighter Alpha 2 etc etc) along side a load of Neogeo machines and other 2D gems. Now it is crammed with slot machines and coin sliders. Another arcade just down the street (Vegas) had ancient machines running the likes of WWF Wrestle Fest (the Royal Rumble one), the Simpsons, Ghosts N Goblins, Splatterhouse, Spyhunter, Pacman, even Space Invaders. Now it is a bowling alley with some pool tables and a few uber expensive dedicated cabinets. It was all very depressing and it broke my heart to see it. The golden days of arcade gaming has long gone it seems.
There's a few in my area. Can't say they're doing well, but the silly DDR machines do seem to keep the customers and dollars flowing. They do get some of the newer games in most of these places, but it's nothing like the scene in Japan.
due to law restrictions, videogame arcades have always been rather scarce here in germany. we got exactly one arcade in cologne thats doing well and that one's called giga center. its a multi-story bar/arcade/snooker/internet café thing. always got some of the latest sega games plus a few classics. nice, but nowhere close to spectacular.
Yeah, when I was a lad growing up in Brussels I had an arcade a brief tram ride away that was an neogeo paradise. All standing cabs with a couple of pool tables thrown in, bunch of football games and of course King of Fighters. That was just brilliant, it had a really cool atmosphere and people were really "exploring" the games together and swapping advice etc. I went back about 6 months ago, it was all gone. Not even a bloody DDR machine to hint at the glory that had once been. The only place outside of Japan where I have seen a vaguelly thriving arcade scene was in Hong Kong. However there was nothing but KOF machines, not a bad thing, but you have to have a shooter or two! In Oxford I go to an amusement complex - cinema, shopping, bowling etc, where they have the latest lightgun games and driving games. Always worth a trip, house of the dead 4 is not bad at all and I can always be tempted to drop a quid or two on Outrun 2 against a mate. Needless to say, I miss Japan every single day.
I was playing on a House of the Dead machine with shotguns. Interesting idea, but the guns were pretty filthy from all the sweaty mitts that had been playing with them. Whatever happened to pinball machines? I haven't seen one in years!
Went to soutsea amusements (southsea is on the south coast, a part of portmouth and is a semi-touristy location) about a month ago. Almost everything was slot machines or coin sliders, with a few DDR games, 1 sit down gun cab (can't remember which, possibly a sega one), Virtua Tennis, Ridge Racer and Daytona USA. Virtua tennis ate my money which annoyed me, but I had a good few goes on RR and daytona - particularly as RR was set to 20p/play, compared to 50p on most others. The centre next door was similarly bleak, with a manx TT system as the best part, but set to £1/play so I gave it a miss. Hopefully I'll find somewhere decent next year when I move to either Manchester or London (uni)
The complex next to the Oxford United stadium? I went there quite often with my friends last summer to go bowling and play pool. I managed to sneak off quite often to feed my Initial D arcade addiction But yeah, most traditional arcades are gone. Most of the ones left have Outrun, DDR and a Time Crisis machine and that's it. If you're lucky, you can find a Tekken machine. The Trocadero in London is still the best arcade I found in the UK, but even that's suffering. All the cool Sega simulator machines are gone The death of the arcade scene is nothing new. It was always going to be downhill as soon as people realised consoles were easier, safer and cheaper in the long run. The only thing that do well these days are driving and dancing machines since they require custom gear for home use.
You wish. As far as i know theres 2. Namco and the one at the old sega world. Pretty lame and expensive. I guess we get some new games there but all £1 play. There are the odd arcades in places that have all the money gambling games though.
Chinatown Fair in NYC does pretty well for a side street hole in the wall. Mostly 2D Fighters but of course DDR and DDR rip offs.
How come the arcade scene in the west is so poor? Also how the hell can slot machines and coin sliders be more fun that videogames? There used to be two arcades in Liverpool where I grew up called Las Vagas and Aladdins. Las Vagas was half slot, half games but that soon changed to all slots Aladdins however had loads of great stuff and at one time a massive sitdown Virtua Fighter 3 that some prick smashed the screen on within two weeks of the arcade getting it. Far too many idiots whould try to steel the PCBs from the cabinets so I guess that's why it closed down. man, I hate the pricks in Liverpool. far too many of them. Needles to say there are no arcades now or at least not when I went back home for a month 2 years ago. Yakumo
In the city i used to live back in mexico there were about 6 big arcades and approx 1 small arcade "about 2/3 machines" every 10blocks or so.
There is one main arcade in its own building next to hooters, and then there is one in the main mall near downtown where I live. However, they all have DDR, no freaking Raiden DX.
The arcade at the mall had a few games, Soul Calibur 2 being there for a month or two til they pulled it. All they have now is a nice DDR machine, then a bunch of old and worn down cabinets that have been there since I was little. Even the Tekken 4 machine was all worn out. The arcade at Six Flags New England provided some fun, 25cent Soul Calibur and Powerstone ftw heh
Here in Malaysia where I live, Sega (or perhaps some contracted company) was to open three arcades - Sega Satellite in Sungai Wang, Sega City in Sunway Pyramid and Sega World which was supposed to be in Midvalley. And naturally, literally all the cabs(astrocity)/hardware are Sega. Sega Satellite was big and popular back in the days. I can still remember my favorite game where they have this VR booth and this headset and a glove with a trigger attached (and a button or two on it I think) which you have wear to control the gun in the game. Can't remember the title of the game though but it's basically some kind of FPS. Another favorite would be this one *huge* widescreen racing game using a convertible car look-alike. I can't remember the name of the game but it could be Outrun because I could use select the music using the car stereo. I miss the good old days Sega City was huge and popular as well, and they have lots of non-gaming attractions but I can't recall what they are since I haven't been to any of them before. VF2 (and 3), Virtual Striker and Virtual Cop 2 was a hit here that they have this football (soccer) section full of Virtual Striker cabs (around 9 I think). However the politicans and parents started to link video games and arcades to vice in youths contributing to the downfall of the arcades scenes here. Sadly, Sega World was canned, Sega Satelitte got shutdown and Sega City was sold to another company and is now a shitty arcade.
There used to be a local arcade of decent size about a half mile from my house, but it closed down 6 months ago and now it's a petsmart or something. Now the only thing close to an arcade is in the mall and it's had the same games for quite some time now. I don't complain much though because I stop in now and then and beat HOTD.
One thing i forgot in my last post is, I really dont mind them all shutting down. Cheaper cabinets for my house lol. Still looking for that "right" fourth one to sit next to the bastard of a playchoice 10 cabinet
I've heard many reasons and theories, but I'm inclined to think that it's mainly due to the high cost of purchasing and maintaining the machines. Also, genre preferences could have something to do with it (ie: the Japanese like the deluxe cab stuff, but shooters and fighting games are still popular which are usually available in kit form thus eliminating the need to purchase new machines often) The arcade scene was truly only "strong" in the west during the late 70's - early 80's. Interest spiked again in the early 1990's with the advent of SF2.
