Arcades Worth Owning

[Para]

I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on which arcades would actually be worth owning in a unique and "practical sense". 90% of arcades can be emulated perfectly in one way or another but I have a bit of spare cash and want to finally start my arcade collection sooner than later. Granted I plan on owning some machines that don't fit the criteria. I plan to have a few classic Nintendo arcades because they represent everything I love about gaming but just for curiosity sake I was trying to come up with a list of arcades that have unique features, or that little extra thing that would make it a great addition to an arcade collection.

For instance:

-Nintendo Vs Arcades have dual monitors and slightly different versions of NES Games (Sweet looking arcade)

-Play Choice 10 has dual monitors and 10 different games at a time (Sweet looking arcade)

- The Q*Bert arcade has a knocker inside that bangs the machine when he falls off the stage. Q*Bert was ported to almost every console but the unique pinball knocker is just one more sweet addition that people often overlook, and it certainly isnt emulated.

- The Tapper arcade has a brass foot rail and brass cup/beer holders on the side.

- The X-Men arcade is huuuuuuuuuuuge and can play 6-players at the same time.

Most of the arcades I can think of that are simply better as an arcade are mostly racing cabinets or shooting games but I don't really have the extra room for a massive driving game, or certain shooting games.

For collection/showing off purposes or not, I would still like people to share any knowledge they have about unique arcade features.

I also have a few pinball machines in mind but they are a lot easier to learn about special features and to learn the differences between machines. Black Hole, Street Fighter 2 Pinball and Joust pinball all have fairly unique features and I definitely want to get my hands on them. (Joust is head-to-head pinball, Street Fighter is awesome and has a car breaking mini game, and Black Hole has a double level playing field)

Also nice cabinet/marquee art is a huge bonus. It would be a shame to own a kick ass game that looks terrible.

[CRTGAMER]

Interesting about the QBert Knocker, I remember that clank!

Some of the Arcades you listed are from Racketboy's Thread, for instance there is a pic of the Tapper Arcade. The XMen cab is mentioned in the OP. Maybe this should be merged there to avoid the same posts all over again?

What's Your Favorite Arcade Cabinet?
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 3146#p3146

[Para]

Or maybe we could merge that thread into this one...
Never heard of this "Racketboy" character you are referring to

[Bradtemple87]

Neo Geo of course

[chupon]

The walk in Tron Arcade. Although goodluck finding one in good condition now that doesn't cost a mint.

[dedalusdedalus]

Neo Geo of course

He's looking for a certain "unemulatability" in his arcade machines, like that Q-bert knocking effect or the hugeness of the X-Men arcade machine. Not really sure what Neo Geo brings to the table in that department...

That said, go for the Silent Hill arcade that Racketboy mentioned a while back. I don't believe that has a home port, and it just oozes character.

[CFFJR]

Ferrari F355 Challenge.

3 screens.

[t0yrobo]

Hmmm how about vector games? You just can't get the same look without a proper vector monitor. All I can think of off the top of my head is Asteroids, Star Wars arcade, and Tempest.

[DinnerX]

Hmmm how about vector games? You just can't get the same look without a proper vector monitor. All I can think of off the top of my head is Asteroids, Star Wars arcade, and Tempest.

Red Baron is another one.

[Balasubbie]

That said, go for the Silent Hill arcade that Racketboy mentioned a while back. I don't believe that has a home port, and it just oozes character.

It's House of the Dead, really, that's it, there's a slight Silent Hill slant on it, but it's House of the Dead by another name. My local arcade has this as one of its few remaining machines, the scanner is crippled on it, so the machine only picks up about 80 percent of your shots fired.

Anyways, I'd be overjoyed to get my hands on one of Namco's Tank, Tank, Tank! setups.
Even Tokyo Wars actually. Fun, immersive setups even if the games are some emulatable, the experience isn't .