Greatest Arcade Memory?

[Breetai]

Going on a family trip to South Dakota in 1990. We took our large Suburban and camper trailer and went through Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Made a detour to see Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Most of the time was spent in South Dakota. I got to see the badlands, Mouth Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the Black Hills, Deadwood, Sturgis (DURING the rally! Yay, titties! My 9 year old self was a happy camper), etc. It was awesome.

I remember saying at some campground somewhere near Deadwood. I think it was called "Fish and Fry Campground" or something. It might have been KOA, but I'm not sure. Anyway, they had an arcade in the grounds, which was sweet. I specifically remember dumping quite a few quarters into the first TMNT arcade game and loving every second of it. I wasn't even much of a Ninja Turtles fan, but I didn't care. That game was amazing. I made quite a few friends with other kids who were camping with their dads and their Harleys. Quite a few conversations about which NES games were had and which games were coming out soon were had. I specifically remember being told about the "Justin Bailey" code in Metroid for the first time then. Fun times for me!

Other arcade highlights:

-Beating Golden Axe at my friend's 9th birthday party in a Mexican restaurant with an arcade in their basement. That took a LOT of quarters. Also playing a lot of Ghouls and Ghosts in the same arcade. It was also the first place I'd ever tried and NES or SMS (they had both hooked to TVs). That must have been 1986 or 1987. Beat the hell out of the Atari 2600!!!

-Playing a lot of the old sit-down Star Wars arcade game (with the vector based graphics) at the Holiday Inn in Eveleth, MN while skiiing at Biwabik, MN. I think it was Eveleth. It might have been Virginia, MN.

-Seeing Street Fighter II for the first time at a Pizza Hut on a school trip in 1991. I think it was in Winnipeg. I remember thinking it was pretty cool, but wishing I was playing TMNT.

-Seeing Mortal Kombat and being amazed at the digitized graphics, but still thinking it played like shit compared to SFII. I still bought the Genesis version when it came out.

-Seeing Virtua Racing and being blown away at the polygon graphics.

-Skipping grade 9 English class about once a week to go to the arcade to play Tekken 2.


Lots of good memories!


[quote=Hashiriya]I was in 6th grade when Street Fighter II hit arcades.[/quote]
I'm thinking we're the same age.

[Luke]

This is easy, but I do have two.

1) Being stuck in Harlem and Irving Mall in Chicago as a kid. I walked around the arcade to waste time, only to find SPY HUNTER with ten free credits. I almost ran over to the cinnabon to tell my Pops, but didn't want someone else to grab the free credits.

2) Similar situation, but in a hotel in Disney Land, and the game was Altered Beast.

[CFFJR]

I fondly remember rocking the beatemups, particularly Turtles. You play a game with three other guys you've never met and will probably never see again, but they're your best pals for that night.

I remember the first time I played Mortal Kombat was the arcade at a bowling alley. My parents were heavy into bowling at the time, and while I liked it too, I looked forward to going to the alley every week mostly so I could play more Mortal Kombat.

I remember hitting Sega GameWorks in Las Vegas with my Dad, and both of us just being blown away by the sheer size of the place. It was nuts, but we spent several hours (and lots of money ) there playing any and every machine we could.

Finally, my childhood arcade of choice: Red Baron at the Westminster Mall. When I was a kid the place was hopping, always super busy, and packed to the max with people and as many machines as they could possibly fit into the space, which was quite big really. Hell, they even elevated one side of the area so they could cram another few machines in there. It was at the Red Baron where I first played games like Rampage, Street Fighter 2, Turtles Arcade and Turtles in Time, X-men and The Simpsons, a whole mess of shmups and many more. Even better, it was right next door to a great ny style pizza joint and the mall's movie theater. You can imagine how much time I spent there.

It broke my heart as I got older and saw the Red Baron fall from grace. Now the whole mall is on its last legs, and the Red Baron shut down permanently (after cutting back many times to the point of having nearly nothing left) a few years back. The space is still empty (and will certainly stay that way), covered by a big black curtain. Every time I walk by it, I feel happy and sad at the same time.

[Xeogred]

Always and forever The Simpsons beat em' up and TMNT Arcade.

I think I have to go with this all the way also, but throw the X-Men beat em up in there too. I was always fond of the Capcom and SNK fighters too of course.

Good call on this one, that was a rare gem for me since I only found it a few times. I remember for years awhile back trying to remember the name of the game so I could emulate it or something, haha. I still haven't played it in forever actually, maybe I'll get the XBLA port someday.

I also have to say I've always had fun with the Rush arcades, even if I played by myself. I was utterly obsessed with those games on the N64 and to this day a Rush arcade, whether it's San Fransisco / Alcatraz Edition, 2, or 2049... I'd love to own my own Rush arcade.

I fondly remember rocking the beatemups, particularly Turtles. You play a game with three other guys you've never met and will probably never see again, but they're your best pals for that night.

Yeah it must have been you that said that elsewhere earlier since I pretty much quoted you myself, haha. It was definitely the same experience with me, you'd always hit it off with some other kids playing and it was awesome.

[CFFJR]

Good call on this one, that was a rare gem for me since I only found it a few times. I remember for years awhile back trying to remember the name of the game so I could emulate it or something, haha. I still haven't played it in forever actually, maybe I'll get the XBLA port someday.

Get it, its awesome!

I'll play it with you too, since most of the rest of these guys are only on psn, the jerks.

I fondly remember rocking the beatemups, particularly Turtles. You play a game with three other guys you've never met and will probably never see again, but they're your best pals for that night.

Yeah it must have been you that said that elsewhere earlier since I pretty much quoted you myself, haha. It was definitely the same experience with me, you'd always hit it off with some other kids playing and it was awesome.

I remember that conversation, but not the topic it was in. You definitely know what I mean though. Good memories.

[Xeogred]

Well the real catch is I probably won't have Live again for awhile.

[CFFJR]

Well the real catch is I probably won't have Live again for awhile.

Ah, well one day then.

[benderx]

Its kinda inappropriate/rude to stack your quarters onto arcade cabinet in the past or present. Its best just to wait behind the person, ask right before session gameplay starts. I recall a girl playing guitar freaks at an arcade and she was really good it, some idiot comes up with a bunch quarters just to show off. He was wearing leather pants with short spike hair. After she finished playing she left the arcade.

Recent arcade memory, I looked badass carrying two m16 guns at the same time like Rambo/Keith- metal slug. If I ever do it again I'll try get a picture. Rambo ARCADE cabinet

[AdamGomez1987]

Its kinda inappropriate/rude to stack your quarters onto arcade cabinet in the past or present. Its best just to wait behind the person, ask right before session gameplay starts. I recall a girl playing guitar freaks at an arcade and she was really good it, some idiot comes up with a bunch quarters just to show off. He was wearing leather pants with short spike hair. After she finished playing she left the arcade.

Recent arcade memory, I looked badass carrying two m16 guns at the same time like Rambo/Keith- metal slug. If I ever do it again I'll try get a picture.

Poor fella gamer gurls just wanna play games! I remember I tried to join other people playing games like shooting games and that and it's always with girls that if you ever try to join yourself in a 2 player game they just don't want you around lol

[Gamerforlife]

- First time I saw Street Fighter II, I was like, "What the hell is this? I have to play it"

- Some time later, my local bowling alley starting having all these bootleg versions of Street Fighter Championship edition. Those games were badass. The game speed was faster and you could do mid-air fireballs long before X-Men vs Streetfighter came around. At the time I thought those were official games too

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the Arcade game - Found this in a tiny arcade hardly anyone went to in a rundown old movie theatre. I was there all the time. I was the only person who really went there LOL, but it was worth it for that game. The sequel never held the same magic for me, though I would later end up loving the SNES port of that sequel. It was so much better

- The same day I discovered Street Fighter II I saw Magic Sword and Final Fight. Had to play them. Those games felt like magic to my young mind

- Playing Mortal Kombat at some store somewhere, I was amazed by it. How many stores do you see arcade games in today? When Mortal Kombat 2 came out, I didn't get to play it much but there were so many secrets and rumors revolving around that game that I can't remember any other arcade game having as much mystique and mystery as that one did. Seemed like people were always discovering something new in that game

- The Simpsons at a local bowling alley - I LOVED that game, even more than TMNT.

- More good times than I can remember playing Marvel Super Heroes and all of the different versus Capcom fighters that used that same engine. Seeing X-Men vs Streetfighter for the first was an amazing experience. I'll always remember winning a close match of Marvel vs Capcom using Strider's ground slide to win and the group of people around me were like, "OOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!!!"

Good times