Arcade Game Etiquette

norton9478

norton9478

So Many Posts
No Time
For Games.
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Posts
34,074
Do not reach over, press the other player's start button and do a massive attack while they are taunting.

Also, if you are way over matched against someone, pick a new fighter. This is especially true for meet ups.
 
Last edited:
norton9478

norton9478

So Many Posts
No Time
For Games.
20 Year Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Posts
34,074
And also, don't watch while someone pours quarters into Xmen/Simpsons/TMNT and then start playing when he/she gets the the final boss just to say that you "beat it".
 
100proof

100proof

Insert Something Clever Here
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2014
Posts
3,625
Mr Bakaboy said:
I never saw anything worse then a fist fight, but my wife told me once in the St. Louis Arcades she saw some small dude taunting a big dude and the small guy had his head go through the monitor.
Click to expand...

Saw guys get sucker-punched multiple times, saw a guy pull a knife on another guy. More than one instance of guys getting held up when they left the arcade (usually if they flashed a little too much cash and were beating people down). If you played in some of the arcades, you just had to keep your head on a swivel and be smart to enough to know which guys not to style on.
 
M

Mr Bakaboy

Beast Buster
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Posts
2,121
Wow, I've played in some scary neighborhoods, but I've never seen people held up afterwards. Then again, I didn't know anybody stupid enough to flash a wad of cash there either. Personally I never really felt threatened, but usually the scariest doods and I got along well, and I kinda look scary myself.
 
HellioN

HellioN

, What The Fuck Is This Shit?
20 Year Member
Joined
May 10, 2004
Posts
5,167
Mr Bakaboy said:
My record for losing was 7 seconds (Killer Instinct). At the time I had no idea what combo breakers were and didn't touch that game again until it came out for the SNES.



You know I never experienced that offline, and I never saw it until HD Remix. Since HD Remix was so shitty online for anything split second I just took it as online cheapness. I would rather try to parry Denjin on OG Xbox then deal with that back in the day. Come to think of it I never heard of the no throw rule until HD Remix either. One particular group of people I used to play demanded it. To me I thought it was silly, but didn't really care. I played WW up to Super and played Anniversary online. Surprising that wasn't more prevalent. Maybe because I didn't get to the big city arcades (Chicago) until '96 and by then they were playing other games.



You know I never heard that as a rule, but damn if I didn't have to deal with that shit constantly. If it wasn't it should have been.

BTW I totally forgot about glitching. Only thing everyone at the arcade could do is the Guile handcuff.



I never saw anything worse then a fist fight, but my wife told me once in the St. Louis Arcades she saw some small dude taunting a big dude and the small guy had his head go through the monitor.
Click to expand...

I remember something like this happening in the tilt at north west plaza.
That was pretty close to the end of the scene here.
Fortunately I am a rather intimidating fellow myself so I never really got screwed with to much.
When I saw the so called rough necks moving in on the scene I was kinda at the end of my playing days.
Stuck to the less popular games or only played with folks I knew.
Far as "rules" the only one I really had was to walk away after 10 wins in a row (don't know why, just something I did) or
if I felt the crowd was getting a bit too rowdy & giving off a bad vibe.
 
Last edited:
Arcademan

Arcademan

Now...It's OFFICIAL!!!
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2003
Posts
19,682
Reading some of the posts from arcade's pasts make me miss the arcade scene, both as a competitive player that won more than his fair share of tournaments and prizes and as an arcade operator, dispensing arcade justice on cabinet abusers and giving out free games to my friends and the small kids when the boss wasn't looking.
 
9

90s

This is the hand that launched a thousand batches.
Joined
Apr 19, 2012
Posts
1,149
Reading this thread makes me wonder if there were any arcades that were not sleezy or sketchy. The ones at big shopping malls seemed the cleanest and safest to be, but the arcades at plazas, smaller malls, standalone arcades, and hell, even convenience stores, thats where you had to be on your toes a bit more. I had enough common sense to avoid any confrontations. The worse I ever saw was somebody punch the screen after I beat them in KOF. But there was also other stuff that went on at arcades you had to consider; people got their stuff stolen if they didn't keep an eye on it (school bags were vulnerable), and a guy even asked me if I had drugs once.

As for the actual games themselves, I only remember a couple of things really:
- don't play cheap (overuse of throws, sweeps, etc.)
- give mercy to those that ask for it. People literally asked for mercy if you won the first round. I hated this because just because you won the first round did not mean you were better than your opponent, yet I rarely saw someone deny a mercy request.

I used to go to an arcade that had table soccer and pool tables as well, so some rules for those:
- don't shake the table soccer table
- don't fucking spin, if spinning is allowed, that is a controlled spin
- for pool, loser pays :)
 
M

Mr Bakaboy

Beast Buster
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Posts
2,121
HellioN said:
I remember something like this happening in the tilt at north west plaza.
That was pretty close to the end of the scene here.
Fortunately I am a rather intimidating fellow myself so I never really got screwed with to much.
When I saw the so called rough necks moving in on the scene I was kinda at the end of my playing days.
Stuck to the less popular games or only played with folks I knew.
Far as "rules" the only one I really had was to walk away after 10 wins in a row (don't know why, just something I did) or
if I felt the crowd was getting a bit too rowdy & giving off a bad vibe.
Click to expand...

Actually that's where she was when it happened. I hung around Northwest Plaza around '05-'06 and the crew there came seem a bit intimidating at 1st especially during tournament nights, but I found them much easier to hang around compared to the South Suburbs of Chicago (Friar Tucks) or the West Side of Chicago (Black Hole Pizzeria).

The worst I saw at NW Plaza was Rexx Soprano trashing his stick after losing in Tekken 5DR. To me that's pretty normal.

Reading this thread makes me wonder if there were any arcades that were not sleezy or sketchy. The ones at big shopping malls seemed the cleanest and safest to be, but the arcades at plazas, smaller malls, standalone arcades, and hell, even convenience stores, thats where you had to be on your toes a bit more. I had enough common sense to avoid any confrontations. The worse I ever saw was somebody punch the screen after I beat them in KOF. But there was also other stuff that went on at arcades you had to consider; people got their stuff stolen if they didn't keep an eye on it (school bags were vulnerable), and a guy even asked me if I had drugs once.
Click to expand...

For me it was the opposite. There were 2 malls within a couple of miles of each other that had arcades in them. The big mall was where the shady shit happened. I tended to be more on my guard if I had shit with me, or watching who was running with a crew (though considering my friends and I were usually running 7 or so strong when we were there that wasn't a big of a deal) you know if bad shit were to happen, it would happen there.

The other mall that was smaller less shit happened, though we kinda policed a lot of the shit cause the people I hung around with there basically ran the arcade.

Both were a lot of fun and depending on which arcade got what game kinda depended on which one had fiercer competition. The nice thing about the arcades being so close to one another was the players can move between arcades pretty freely.
 
S

SNKorSWM

So Many Posts
No Time
For Games.
10 Year Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2010
Posts
15,152
I still remember I "1cc'd" TMNT by go to the pizza first and let the other three fight the bosses. It's hard to keep track who did what with all 4 players running around.
 
Reclaimer

Reclaimer

Haomaru's Blade Shiner
Joined
May 17, 2014
Posts
695
At last California Extreme I waited at a cab for around 15 minutes before letting the teens playing know I was there. That was about 2-3 games. Then I asked to play a round. Another 15 min of straight up ignoring me and I moved on, there was just so much to see.

Back in the day, the quarter on the CP would have helped, or I guess I could stop being such a pussy.
 
M

Mr Bakaboy

Beast Buster
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Posts
2,121
Reminds me of my wife a few months ago. We went to an all you can play arcade and they had skeeball which is her favorite thing to play. Well a few kids were bogarding it for 45 minutes or so. Once one got tired another kid would claim it until she finally got her chance. She played till it hurt. When the kids tried to get near to possibly play on the 2nd skeeball machine she shot them the death glare and sent them running. It was most amusing to watch.
 
Jeneki

Jeneki

Enemy Chaser
Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Posts
1,166
Back in the Street Fighter II days, when the local arcade group saw a newbie playing alone they would put their token in the game, but they wouldn't hit start until that player was about to lose. Seemed like a nice save to the player, until the real match started and the newbie got completely crushed. Haha.

There were a couple (non fighting) games where joining 2-player was a fistfight offense though. Raiden II was one of them, as the game rank goes through the roof when someone joins in.
 
Last edited:
ebinsugewa

ebinsugewa

Rosa's Tag-Team Partner
10 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Posts
2,495
Jeneki said:
There were a couple (non fighting) games where joining 2-player was a fistfight offense though. Raiden II was one of them, as the game rank goes through the roof when someone joins in.
Click to expand...

That actually annoys me. The list of 2p shmups that are enjoyable is quite short. Let me play in peace.
 
Arcademan

Arcademan

Now...It's OFFICIAL!!!
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2003
Posts
19,682
SNKorSWM said:
I still remember I "1cc'd" TMNT by go to the pizza first and let the other three fight the bosses. It's hard to keep track who did what with all 4 players running around.
Click to expand...
Big 4 player game during my time in the arcades was Gauntlet. Before they did the upgrade to cut down the amount of food on the screen, a single and/or double player could stay on forever on a single coin. A friend of mine and myself were experts on the game and stay on for hours at a time. A few times someone would come along and join in. We laid down the ground rules:
1. Share the wealth. Every one get equal food and treasures.
2. If you run low on food, we'll protect and feed you up until you can substain yourself.
3. Power-up go only to those who benefit from them the most. Only wizards and hype-up elves get potions.
4. Be a dick to us, we'll return the favor in spades (in other words, when a STUN level appears, you will be a human shield to all monsters AND a ghost vacuum. HURT level...you will be shot to oblivion).

ebinsugewa said:
That actually annoys me. The list of 2p shmups that are enjoyable is quite short. Let me play in peace.
Click to expand...

I loved 1943 as a double game. Working as a team was great and when one player's energy got lower, all you had to do is fly over one another and balance out your energy bar.
 
Syn

Syn

There can be only one.
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Posts
9,091
The only rules in the arcades around me were

no slamming, punching or kicking the cabs

no lifting the foosball table by the handles

if you keep tilting the pinballs, you'll get thrown out

this last one was because of the Crawford brothers, no exposing yourself

That's about it.
 
ebinsugewa

ebinsugewa

Rosa's Tag-Team Partner
10 Year Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Posts
2,495
Arcademan said:
I loved 1943 as a double game. Working as a team was great and when one player's energy got lower, all you had to do is fly over one another and balance out your energy bar.
Click to expand...

100% agree. One of the main reasons I own that game. 1P is kind of a struggle.
 
StealthLurker

StealthLurker

Naomi Yamazaki's Wingman
Joined
Oct 27, 2003
Posts
2,422
Mr Bakaboy said:
1) Do not throw
2) Do not Tap Throw - its cheap!
3) Superior players give the 2nd round to a weak player.
4) Do not talk unless you're asking how to do something.
5) Ask before challenging.
6) Do not trash talk unless your prepared to deal with physical arms.
Click to expand...

You know what, these are exactly all the unspoken rules I remember when playing SF2 thru SF2 Hyperfighting here in SoCal.

Tap-throw, or what we called at the time "Hit-throw" is a huge no-no except if you're Zangief. He gets a pass on this for obvious reasons. Everyone else, you're up for an argument or a fight.

Throwing in general is ok here and there, but guys who do it too much can attract heat. Came off as a sign of disrespect.

Sometimes, given the situation... openly giving 2nd round, especially if you did it in a cocky way would be a show of disrespect too.

All of the above coupled with #6 (trash talking), can put you in bad spot with strangers. You have to also realize that in the very early 90s when SF2 thru Hyper Fighting was hot, the gang culture left over from the 80s was still very much alive in SoCal. Lots of bangers, friends of the gang and wannabes with their cliques packed the most popular arcades around the cluster of SF machines.... and of course, everyone always wanted to show how hard they were. No one wanted to look like a punk in front of their friends to a stranger haha.

It really wasn't until college that I ran into a few token whiteboys that were alright at fighting games besides Mortal Kombat (University arcade). I also noticed that whiteboys tended to not observe any of the rules above, haha... unless they where the token caucasian in a minority pack.
 
Last edited:
GohanX

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,513
norton9478 said:
And also, don't watch while someone pours quarters into Xmen/Simpsons/TMNT and then start playing when he/she gets the the final boss just to say that you "beat it".
Click to expand...

This reminds me of time when TMNT 1 was popular and I was actually fighting the Shredder. I had already beaten all of his clones, to the point where it was one on one with Chromedome, which is a pretty easy fight. Some little fat shit walks up, sticks a quarter in, and another Shredder clone comes out. The little shit was annihilated almost immediately, and I couldn't fight off both Shredders without dying. Fuuuuuuuck.
 
M

Mr Bakaboy

Beast Buster
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Posts
2,121
It's been ages since I got to play TMNT with people on an arcade cabinet, but realizing how many times I have beaten it on xbox live and how pissed I get when the shithead wants to play and can't catch a hint that there's a pattern to killing the bosses. Either let the expert kill them or continue to get yourself killed. It's a pain to work around people who have no clue what they are doing and do nothing but get in the way. Makes me realize how shitty I must have been to deal with idiots like that and not notice until getting lessons on xbl.
 
Jonmkl

Jonmkl

Rasputin's Rose Gardener
Joined
Aug 29, 2012
Posts
715
Back before the arcades closed down here, the quarter on the machine was beyond contestation. You did not break the quarter on the machine rule. As far as fighting games, if you were mid-fight with the CPU, cool players would wait until you beat them (or almost died) before they joined in, but there was definately no stopping challengers. Most of my fighting game time was spent on MvC2 and always went the same way, I would join in and beat like 2-3 other players, feel fantastic, and then someone who actually KNEW what they were doing would hop on and beat me so bad I wouldn't even know what happened.

They were always Asian or Hispanic. That felt like it was a rule too.
 
BeefJerky

BeefJerky

Computerstaat Funster
20 Year Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2001
Posts
10,544
Jonmkl said:
Back before the arcades closed down here, the quarter on the machine was beyond contestation. You did not break the quarter on the machine rule. As far as fighting games, if you were mid-fight with the CPU, cool players would wait until you beat them (or almost died) before they joined in, but there was definately no stopping challengers. Most of my fighting game time was spent on MvC2 and always went the same way, I would join in and beat like 2-3 other players, feel fantastic, and then someone who actually KNEW what they were doing would hop on and beat me so bad I wouldn't even know what happened.

They were always Asian or Hispanic. That felt like it was a rule too.
Click to expand...

Did they ever have adult arcades in Florida?
 
Syn

Syn

There can be only one.
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Posts
9,091
Probably wasn't old enough.
 
M

Mr Bakaboy

Beast Buster
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Posts
2,121
I do remember some of the ugliest fights had to do with someone who is despirate to play steals someone else's token, the next person just takes someone else's until someone is smart enough to do the math. Always fun to see someone pummeled for $.25.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top