Greatest Arcade Memory?

[benderx]

I remember seeing street fighter 2 for the first time when it was released and Guile looked huge on the screen like those big GI joe toys.

[Luke]

I had no idea there were arcade etiquettes.

I'm with ya on this. If someone placed a stack of quarters on a game I always thought "well, he's waited long enough, his turn takes as long as he can afford". And the kids with the stacks were the ones who allowed kids like me with just a few coins to jump in and beat a game at the last level.

[wip3outguy7]

Oh wow... lots of memories. I was an arcade rat back during the revitalized, post SFII era. I frequented many arcades, so I will just share some of the memories that really stuck with me.

Seeing a TMNT 4 player cab for the first time. Actually, I heard it before I saw it. I was a huge Turtles fan and I think I dumped around $10 into the game that day.

I was always intimidated by Street Fighter 2, but a friend finally convinced me to give it a try. I was hooked and the rest is history.

Mastering wake up Shoryukens. This one got me into a couple of fist fights.

Experiencing Virtua Racing for the first time. Somehow our small town arcade managed to nab one of these at release. I remember sitting down and playing, watching the 3D polygons fly around the track. The steering wheel had awesome force feedback and would try to twist out of my hands. I realized at that point that video games would never been the same.

Exhilarama at Memorial City Mall in Houston, TX. This place was pretty epic. They had an 8 pod Battle Tech simulator (the guys who acquired the units were interviewed on one of the Racketboy podcasts) and a huge arcade. My parents would load us into a car and make the trip across town for an afternoon of birthday fun now and again. I played many greats here for the first time (many forgotten greats). Samurai Shodown, Virtua Fighter 2, Daytona USA, World Heroes 2 Jet and the list goes on.

Playing Virtual On for the first time. We were at Epcot center at Disney World in Orlando. For a couple of seasons SEGA sponsored a huge arcade in the tech center behind Spaceship Earth. Most of the expo center was wall to wall SEGA Genesis, Saturn and Arcade games. Virtual On was mind blowing, I was piloting one of those anime mechs. Like really piloting. There was always a line of at least 20 people. I think I dumped $20 into the cab at $1 per play.

If wake up Shoryukens got me into fist fights, realizing Paul Phoenix was "the best from now" in Tekkens 2 and 3 got me into straight up brawls. His wildly destructive line ups and reversals made blood boil. I brought friends as backup with me to the arcades in those days. My Paul was responsible for my brother's hate for all things Tekken.

King of Fighters '94. Talk about fanservice. I was a big fan of the Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury games. This was a dream come true. Of all places, I played this first at a local grocery store. I wasn't the only one to recognize its brilliance. The cab was always in need of repair from heated matches.

Stalemate start slapping in Street Fighters Alpha and Alpha 2. Hitting start in Alpha and Alpha 2 arcade cabs would start your character's taunt. When each player was down on health and a chip would do either in, we would quickly slap our opponent's start button to start the taunt and jab for a kill. It was dirty and it got a knife pulled on one of my friends.

Watching my favorite arcade close. It was a little place in a shopping center in Humble, Texas. I knew the owners. They originally ran an arcade in Dallas and had moved everything down to Houston in the early 90s to search for a more lucrative market. They recognized the fighting game community and always had the latest SNK and Capcom fighters. The staff kept all of the cabs in great working order. You never worried about an intermittent fierce or a dead joystick direction. They struggled in the later half of the 90s and finally decided to move back to Dallas. I remember watching them slowly load the cabs into a truck. The end of nearly a decade of the latest and greatest arcade games and tense local tournaments.

More recent memories.

My first trip to Arcade UFO. A Japanese style arcade, awesome. Street Fighter 4, Gundam, Initial D, King of Fighters XII... Hell, I played the MVS version of Mark of the Wolves for the first time. Epic place. Ryan deserves an award for taking the chance and giving us this gem.

Pinballz Arcade here in Austin. This is how I remember it. These guys opened last year. They have wall to wall pinball machines and several arcade cabs. I was able to sit down in a Virtual On cab for the first time in over a decade. I played TMNT 4 player for the first time in almost two decades. Now that they have settled in, we make lunch break runs to for arcade fun at least twice a month.

[arion]

Metal Slug 3 was awesome in the arcades !!!

[AmishSamurai]

My first six-player X-Men Arcade game. I'd played before with one or two people, but never with all six characters being used. It was chaotic and wonderful.

[Inazuma]

Ah, arcades. I would go to arcades so often when I was younger. I could go there alone, and I would know everyone there, customers and workers. I liked them so much I worked at one for 3 years.

Dance Dance Revolution
Too many memories to mention, but just in general, I would play DDR at the arcades very often for about 4 solid years. So much fun.

Power Stone
The first college I went to had a very small arcade, and one of the games was Power Stone. I had previously played it on the Dreamcast and loved it to death. Unfortunately, the first few times I played it at the arcade, I got my ass handed to me by the pros there. I couldn't believe how good they were. Long story short, I practiced and eventually became the best Power Stone player in the school. Oh, and I dropped out of college there because I spent most of my time in the arcade. Power Stone is my favorite fighter, even now.

Crazy Taxi
I once played for about an hour and a half, got $50,000 (points) and the top score on the machine.

[AdamGomez1987]

Ah, arcades. I would go to arcades so often when I was younger. I could go there alone, and I would know everyone there, customers and workers. I liked them so much I worked at one for 3 years.

Dance Dance Revolution
Too many memories to mention, but just in general, I would play DDR at the arcades very often for about 4 solid years. So much fun.

Power Stone
The first college I went to had a very small arcade, and one of the games was Power Stone. I had previously played it on the Dreamcast and loved it to death. Unfortunately, the first few times I played it at the arcade, I got my ass handed to me by the pros there. I couldn't believe how good they were. Long story short, I practiced and eventually became the best Power Stone player in the school. Oh, and I dropped out of college there because I spent most of my time in the arcade. Power Stone is my favorite fighter, even now.

Crazy Taxi
I once played for about an hour and a half, got $50,000 (points) and the top score on the machine.

Powerstone was for the arcade? I remember playing that and its sequel for the Dreamcast and didn't both games come out for the PSP? I may have to go look for it.

[Gamerforlife]

I had a lot of fun playing Time Crisis 2 with an old friend whenever we were at the movie theatre while waiting for the movie to start. That was a couple of years ago, that theatre was one of the last places to still find quality arcades games. TC 2 was a revelation to me as I never liked light guns much due to how fast you had to aim and kill things, but TC 2 made things so much less frustrating with its duck feature

I eventually bought the PS 2 version with the light gun. I can't describe how awesome it was to bring that arcade experience home

[AznKhmerBoi]

how about hearing this everytime u step in the arcade

doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doooooo....
Daytonaaaaaaaa...
Daytonnnaaa let's go away (let's go away)
Daytonaaaaa---aahhhhhh
Daytonaaaa let's go away (let's go away)
Daytonaaaaa---aahhhhhh
Dayee
way-ee way-eah ee
way-ee way-ee
Daytonaaaaaaaa... ahhhhhhhh....

This was one of my favorite arcade racing game.

[AdamGomez1987]

how about hearing this everytime u step in the arcade
---> DAYTONA.....DAYTONA.....
This was one of my favorite arcade racing game.

at the huge mall a store called GameWorks, when that place was still at its vintage point, there was an Indy 500 race track over there and it was AWESOME!! like 8 carts up for people to slide in and play.