What do you think of the current arcade scene?

Personally I am quite nostalgic for the days when SFII and Neos were everywhere and people gathered around the big hits. Now arades seem watered down with a bunch of crappy modern games with no replay value. Also annoying is arcade owners in my area putting DanceDance as a priority when its not friendly to newbs. For the amount of time some kids spend getting skilled at this game they could be doing real exercise and train something more useful than just stomping. It's quite sad how the novelty cabs are everywhere, the few good ones are usually the SEGA racers.

DDR sucks and so do the arcades. The whole scene is going down the drains fast.

Arcade scene???

What arcade scene???

there is no good games in the arcade any more

the only game that i play in the arcade is inital d cos its pretty cool and other racers

Nationwide: crappy
Locally: Probably as good as one could hope for. One mall has an arcade with at least 4 MVS cabs, a couple of street fighters and a good variety of other stuff. The other 2 arcades on that block do more capcom and atomiswave stuff, so pretty much anything that's pretty good and released in the states is available to play around here. All the arcades have copious amounts of DDR, light gun games, golden tee, Virtua Fighter, etc.

Really, the only gripe I've got is that the really good players either hang out in their own little group and play over each other's houses or just keep odd hours. Whenever I show up, I see people even worse than my rusty behind, but I know there are plenty of tourney level people in Austin...well that and some of them are jerks from what little I've talked to them on forums.

Arcade scene? Last time I checked the closet thing to an arcade in the U.S. is a couple of broken Pong and Space Invaders machines in an abandoned strip mall

Stay as they are... not because they're cool but .because with the advancement of console technology and the vast amount of other things to keep people preoccupied nobody really goes anyway.
the Arcade is a business and if they're not making enough money to stay in business,how can they stay open??
The last MVS machines i've seen were at a bowling alley and a laundromat.
Arcade gaming in the US has transformed into a hobby for the most part plus Arcades in some areas were always breeding grounds for trouble.
-BB

as long as CTF is still around to keep the dream alive, I still have my glimmer of hope...

I have to say the arcades suck where I am, what few are actually left in New York. Too bad I didn't have a time-machine, and more quarters.

galfordo said:

Arcade scene???

What arcade scene???

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Yeah, what Galfordo said indeed.



*Voted for Old School obviously. The Arcade is extinct, the DDR/Bemani and "Golden Tee" places just don't count IMO.

MERCENARY X99

I'm fortunate enough to have a very nice arcade in the area. They have a good slection of games from classics to a few novely games. This place has a lot of the stuff I grew up playing. Lots of arcades today are crap with too much DDR novelty stuff. Give me a good upright video any day

Anything and everything an arcade can get in terms of games that people will enjoy is cool, even if they have to sort of "separate" the sections.

I can totally see an arcade that has the DDR / Bemani machines in a section near the fighting games, but "hidden" a bit so that the music doesn't blast over.

Let's see what Sammy has planned to "revive" the arcade scene with. I see potential in arcades, but I think that the formula for arcades is starting to become retarded. Inexpensive competitive gaming (dollar for 5 tokens, most games 1 token rather than two) seems like the best hook for this, but people don't seem to understand this.

We'll see.

nothingxs said:

Anything and everything an arcade can get in terms of games that people will enjoy is cool, even if they have to sort of "separate" the sections.

I can totally see an arcade that has the DDR / Bemani machines in a section near the fighting games, but "hidden" a bit so that the music doesn't blast over.

Let's see what Sammy has planned to "revive" the arcade scene with. I see potential in arcades, but I think that the formula for arcades is starting to become retarded. Inexpensive competitive gaming (dollar for 5 tokens, most games 1 token rather than two) seems like the best hook for this, but people don't seem to understand this.

We'll see.

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Great post.

I'm sure DashK would agree that arcades are lacking in the princess stick department.

I really don't know what to think of arcades at the moment.

The arcade scene in my area is more or less monopolized by Namco affilliates.

For those not in the know, that puts the arcade looking something like this:

-1-2 Capcom fighters, depending on the arcade
-2-3 Tekken Machines, including Tag, Four, and Three
-Several racing games, including aroudn two Sega racers (Star Wars or Crazi Taxi, but rarely both), a Ridge Racer, and a Midway racer.
-A Soul Calibur 1 or 2 machine, or sometimes both.
-A Galaga/Galaxian/Pac-Man or Class of 1981 machine, depending on the age of the Namco arcade. Cabinet varies from original Namco to Midway liscensed.
-At least one Dance Machine
-One or two prize redemption machines.
-The "Cyclone" (Ticket game)
-Slight chance of a Gauntlet game.
-2-3 Token changers.

So far, I've never seen any SNK game in an Namco arcade...I'm not sure why, other than they may have been playing favorites for Capcom or consider the hardware so out of date that they don't feel they want to deal with it.

If it's not a Namco affilliate, it's usually a rink-a-dink arcade in a Truck Stop or pizza place. It'll have an old Midway sports cabinet (Usually any '99 sport title), one racer, a class of '81 machine, and as many shooters as they can cram in the joint.

Folks in my area just seem to shy away from fighters....with the exception of most rednecks who rush out for the latest "wrastlin'" title. Other than that, I've lost faith in em', and have to side with Big Bear that for those people who enjoyed the old-school games, you're better off with your home console--as it's easier to find. If only the X-arcade stick weren't so expensive.....it'd be much easier to try and get that in-arcade experience at home. (Pending you don't have arcade cabinets in your home. If you do...than you have your own arcade, why should you care what's found in town?)

...just short of filling your game room with cigarette smoke, hot wings, little debbies, and loud music of your choice.

--KagerouSama

KagerouSama said:

(Pending you don't have arcade cabinets in your home. If you do...than you have your own arcade, why should you care what's found in town?)

...just short of filling your game room with cigarette smoke, hot wings, little debbies, and loud music of your choice.

--KagerouSama

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Competition, playing games that you're on the fence about buying/ never heard of, places to by new cabs for the home arcade, or having the company of other people who don't think you're a lunatic for playing these ancient games...at least that all that came to mind right now...I'm sure there's more.

Most arcades now are about DDR machines, light gun games, and
driving games, boring.

I remember freelancer said something really funny about the
DDR scene....How about do it again?

xtoo_short20x said:

Most arcades now are about DDR machines, light gun games, and
driving games, boring.

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That happens when the arcade hardware cannot surpass home system hardware in terms of power. The arcade's only goal now is to offer game experiences that cannot be found at home.

the best arcades that you you can fine in this part of the world are in people's house

fatal fury fan #2 said:

the best arcades that you you can fine in this part of the world are in people's house

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You have that right my game room blows away any arcade in america. And all I have in it is my Neo games. But thats the same with any member here with Neo games.

galfordo said:

Arcade scene???

What arcade scene???

Click to expand...

my thoughts exactly

All you get in Ireland is Daytona, Sega Rally 1 and Time Crisis 1. They just killed off every other game about 10 years ago and operators never replaced them.

The problem with arcade gaming is cost. Nobody will pay €1 for a game. Or at least, they won't play the game repeatedly.

If the cabinets cost €3,000 (and games could be swapped in and out for €1,000) then we'd have a healthy market for both consumers and operators. But as long as Sega keep bringing out (admitedly fantastic) games like Outrun 2 that cost €30,000 then we'll never see a healthy market.

Lack of standards is what killed the arcade market in the early 80's and did the same in the mid 90's. Sammy have the right idea (they just lack the talented developers) with the Atomiswave. Games need to be really cheap and JAMMA compatable. Then you have a price point thats suitable for pizza parlours, take aways, malls and cinema's. Operators can make their money back on a machine in 6 months.

The bad state of the arcade industry has nothing to do with consoles or graphics. It's the economics that are out of whack.

What is the arcade scene in Japan and other asian countries? For example what games are popular? What games draw the crowds? Who is usually in the game centers (younger, older, boys, girls).

Also, What can be done to revive the arcades? I personally don't think it's only the home systems that are at fault for the decline of the arcade. What are your views on this?

Keep in mind I live in Western Pennsylvania for the time being and arcades have been dead here for years now. All the little brats want their soul calibur and ddr. Arcades are getting f'd in the A. Totally lame.

Himuragames said:

What can be done to revive the arcades?

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Nothing. They're gone for good. Oh well, at least I have some good memories ..... hold me.