Arcade machines munching on your coins

[glazball | 168]

I'm still sore about the time I brought $20 (at least, maybe 40) to the mall arcade, changed it all so that I had a giant pocketful of quarters, and planned to play Magician Lord to the end.  After an eternity (ok maybe an hour or two) of feeding that MVS, the attendant came over to me and told me I would need to step away because other people wanted to play on it.  What????  I'm a paying customer!!  I was here first!  I thought they WANTED us to keep putting quarters in.  I thought the point was the BEAT the game!!  So yea, I'm still butthurt lol.

Other major quarter munchers: Smash TV and Gauntlet.  Gauntlet is probably the worst offender of all time!

Edited October 7, 2020 by glazball

[JamesRobot | 5,798]

19 minutes ago, glazball said:

I'm still sore about the time I brought $20 (at least, maybe 40) to the mall arcade, changed it all so that I had a giant pocketful of quarters, and planned to play Magician Lord to the end.  After an eternity (ok maybe an hour or two) of feeding that MVS, the attendant came over to me and told me I would need to step away because other people wanted to play on it.  What????  I'm a paying customer!!  I was here first!  I thought they WANTED us to keep putting quarters in.  I thought the point was the BEAT the game!!  So yea, I'm still butthurt lol.

Other major quarter munchers: Smash TV and Gauntlet.  Gauntlet is probably the worst offender of all time!

You want me to quit?  Fine.  I demand a refund.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

Just like Sumer, arcade games are not past-tense for me; I've got a whole room in my basement dedicated to all the classics that I love, and room for the last couple I am still missing (why does DK keep eluding me?).  You just can't recreate some of these games on any modern system.  Like Space Invaders with the glow of the moon in the background behind a half-silvered mirror and that throbbing analog bass coming out of the speaker... totally different experience.  Some personal favourites:

-Zoo Keeper

-Mr. Do!

-Frogger

-Space Invaders

-Monaco GP

[Tanooki | 4,932]

On 10/6/2020 at 6:13 PM, GPX said:

Neo Geo were like the Luigi of the arcades. They were second to the giants in Konami/Capcom (Mario-like status), but they indeed have a lot of charm that was undeniable. Samurai Shodown was a notable game for me, I think being the first genuine great arcade fighter using weapons. 

I guess I could see that, given how they always were over shined by fighter fans (Capcom), brawlers (Konami/Capcom), puzzles (Taito), sports (various), platformers etc like they were some B-team project in the red cabinet.  Reality though they are just as A-team level stuff as the rest, sometimes even doing a better example than the usual candidates.  More remarkable, the hardware lasted about 15 years.  The change in game quality from being a new born to an elder system is stark.  Look at your early games like Baseball Stars, Ninja Combat, Magician Lord, League Bowling.  Then to the mid life to later stuff like Neo Turf Masters, Metal Slug 5, Samurai Shodown Perfect, and Strikers 1945 Plus as it's stark.  It's why I went after the machine after wanting one for years, and have ended up picking up dozens of games for it in the last few years.  It's just a remarkable machine so many dolts just ignored or underrated.

[Sumez | 2,941]

13 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

Now I'm all about high skill ceilings and replayability. If you can credit feed a game to the end, just throw that theme park nonsense in the trash.

!?
I don't even understand that point being made here, it sounds like a contradiction to me.

If you need to credit feed to get to the end, it sounds to me like you aren't even close to hitting the skill ceiling. Time to replayability that thing instead of throwing it out 

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

6 minutes ago, Sumez said:

!?
I don't even understand that point being made here, it sounds like a contradiction to me.

If you need to credit feed to get to the end, it sounds to me like you aren't even close to hitting the skill ceiling. Time to replayability that thing instead of throwing it out 

I guess it's more the way a game is designed. I prefer a racing or rhythm that that's over with a high score in a set 5 minutes, or a game like Robotron where you go as far as possible you can on one coin to a game like Simpsons or House of the Dead where the goal is mostly making it to the end, which takes like 30 minutes.

[Sumez | 2,941]

30 minutes is a perfect length for an arcade game. Clearing them usually doesn't come easy, and takes a lot of practice. I'm not sure why you'd dismiss that unless you're actually able to clear them (though I'd dismiss Simpsons either way, it's a fun novelty, but not a very good game).

If the game has a solid deep scoring system, that also gives you a ton to go for to raise the skill ceiling even further, either competing with others or just trying to beat your own PB.

While I do like games that loop to take the difficulty up to a whole new level, pure marathon arcade games where getting a high score essentially comes down to endurance (like Robotron, Gyruss, Frenzy, Missile Command, Q*Bert, etc., which are otherwise great games) is exhausting and generally not a great thing IMO.
Imagine if Donkey Kong didn't accidentally have a killscreen - the competitive field for it would have been a lot less interesting.

Here are some fun 1CCs to go for, that in my opinion are some of the all-time heights of video game arcade:

Ghouls 'n Ghosts 2-ALL
Bubble Bobble normal mode
Rainbow Islands incl. 3 hidden islands
Blood Bros.
Metal Slug X
Bomberman World
Elevator Action Returns on hard setting
Basically any Cave shooter

Edited October 8, 2020 by Sumez

[Sumer | 221]

10 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Just like Sumer, arcade games are not past-tense for me; I've got a whole room in my basement dedicated to all the classics that I love, and room for the last couple I am still missing (why does DK keep eluding me?).  You just can't recreate some of these games on any modern system.  Like Space Invaders with the glow of the moon in the background behind a half-silvered mirror and that throbbing analog bass coming out of the speaker... totally different experience.  Some personal favourites:

-Zoo Keeper

-Mr. Do!

-Frogger

-Space Invaders

-Monaco GP

Yes, the "effects" of a true, original Space Invaders cab(silvered mirror and all) is part of the experience that never gets duplicated in the ports.  The moonscape of the "screen" just puts me in a 1970s wasteland of impending doom.  And that alone is a phenomenal reason why to play Space Invaders on an actual, upright cabinet to get the full effect.

Oh, and, yes, MR. DO!  MR. DO!  AND, more MR. DO!

[GPX | 1,369]

On 10/7/2020 at 2:12 PM, cartman said:

I experienced none of it i've never played an arcade machine machine even to this day so no i don't remember "what it was like X" that you've brought up. 

Even if you’ve never experienced it before, it’s never too late to try one out. Ideally try ones mentioned on this thread as most of them are arcade gems. It isn’t just about the nostalgia but also the gaming experience that is very different to home gaming with consoles/PC.

[GPX | 1,369]

12 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I guess I could see that, given how they always were over shined by fighter fans (Capcom), brawlers (Konami/Capcom), puzzles (Taito), sports (various), platformers etc like they were some B-team project in the red cabinet.  Reality though they are just as A-team level stuff as the rest, sometimes even doing a better example than the usual candidates.  More remarkable, the hardware lasted about 15 years.  The change in game quality from being a new born to an elder system is stark.  Look at your early games like Baseball Stars, Ninja Combat, Magician Lord, League Bowling.  Then to the mid life to later stuff like Neo Turf Masters, Metal Slug 5, Samurai Shodown Perfect, and Strikers 1945 Plus as it's stark.  It's why I went after the machine after wanting one for years, and have ended up picking up dozens of games for it in the last few years.  It's just a remarkable machine so many dolts just ignored or underrated.

Oh I absolutely agree with the sentiments that Neo Geo have some awesome games. Which is akin to Luigi having some awesome games in his own right. Just when we’re talking about the best of the best of the arcade genres I think Neo Geo tends to play second fiddle with other companies such as Capcom, Konami, Taito, Namco and Sega. I think also because these other companies also made home games (in the 80s/90s) so I guess this helped to boost their overall popularity. 

What I loved most about Neo Geo is that they were the original creators of arcade machines containing multiple games. Saves you the hassles of moving around from machine to machine.

[GPX | 1,369]

Just going through this thread makes me have a big itch to repeatedly press down with my index and middle fingers, turn on a jukebox and.. order a pizza!!

[Sumer | 221]

2 hours ago, GPX said:

Just going through this thread makes me have a big itch to repeatedly press down with my index and middle fingers, turn on a jukebox and.. order a pizza!!

That is also on the list for the basement arcade...a CD jukebox!  Wife also wants a vintage pop machine too.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

The only arcade I really frequented was at the local roller skating rink and most of my quarters went to the Simpsons and X-Men multiplayer cabinets. God, those games are awesome.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

18 hours ago, Sumez said:

While I do like games that loop to take the difficulty up to a whole new level, pure marathon arcade games where getting a high score essentially comes down to endurance (like Robotron, Gyruss, Frenzy, Missile Command, Q*Bert, etc., which are otherwise great games) is exhausting and generally not a great thing IMO.

Imagine if Donkey Kong didn't accidentally have a killscreen - the competitive field for it would have been a lot less interesting.

This is a problem only because those games (other than DK) give unlimited 1-ups, which I believe was a huge mistake on the part of the programmers of that era.  I think you're wrong about DK though since you only get so many men, so yes, it would be different, but it would still not be like 55 hours to get the high score; even the best guys in the world die eventually.  I mean, wild barrels are cra-aaazy!  But imagine if Robotron only gave out one free man at a certain score, like Ms. Pac-Man - to me that would make the game waaaaaaaay better; you'd only be able to last as far as your skill could take you.  I honestly hate arcade games that let you bank massive amounts of 1-ups, and as a result, I don't own any...

[Sumez | 2,941]

5 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

I think you're wrong about DK though since you only get so many men, so yes, it would be different, but it would still not be like 55 hours to get the high score; even the best guys in the world die eventually.

It's not just the marathon aspect though, but the fact that games with otherwise interesting scoring mechanics turn into pure endurance runs.
Donkey Kong is in fact a perfect example I think. The game is already running incredibly long with people pressing every point out of it.
If you can theoretically keep going forever (and obviously such a hack already exists), survival becomes the dominant strategy, and you're never forced to take risks, instead just beating each stage while the bonus timer is high. If you're just "running boards" the game would still last forever for people who are great at it, and it would be much less fun to play competitively.
It would also flatten out the difference between the top players and players that are merely good at surviving. This game really has a world of difference between point pressing and "merely" making it far.

It's not that I'm squarely against games that loop forever, I think there's a definite charm to it, and I think it does highlight the competitive aspect.
But I also think nothing beats a solidly designed 2-loop game with a sufficiently high skill ceiling, and I think dismissing them as "theme park rides" comes across like you didn't even take the time to see what they're about. It's right up there with the "all arcade games are unfair because they are only designed to eat your quarters" trope.

[cartman | 195]

On 10/8/2020 at 4:40 PM, GPX said:

Even if you’ve never experienced it before, it’s never too late to try one out. Ideally try ones mentioned on this thread as most of them are arcade gems. It isn’t just about the nostalgia but also the gaming experience that is very different to home gaming with consoles/PC.

I am interested for sure but the thing is barely any place house them anymore and i don't know where. Owning one myself i'd have to fuck around with a bunch of technical shit on top of restoration surrounding the cabinet itself and it takes a lot of space and a lot of money.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

22 hours ago, Sumez said:

It's not just the marathon aspect though, but the fact that games with otherwise interesting scoring mechanics turn into pure endurance runs.
Donkey Kong is in fact a perfect example I think. The game is already running incredibly long with people pressing every point out of it.
If you can theoretically keep going forever (and obviously such a hack already exists), survival becomes the dominant strategy, and you're never forced to take risks, instead just beating each stage while the bonus timer is high. If you're just "running boards" the game would still last forever for people who are great at it, and it would be much less fun to play competitively.
It would also flatten out the difference between the top players and players that are merely good at surviving. This game really has a world of difference between point pressing and "merely" making it far.

I see what you're saying about DK, but honestly I've always looked down on point-pressing as just another way of gaming the system and doing shit the original designers did not intend (jumping beside DK over and over until the timer runs out... gimme a break).  The problem with DK is that it caps its difficulty at a level that is master-able, thus turning it into a point-pressing endurance test (notwithstanding the Kill Screen).  To me, the perfect DK design would have the bonus timer be reduced by 100 every so often, until it would eventually hit zero, so it would be like the 100m dash: we know a time of 0.0 is impossible, but we don't really know what the actual theoretical perfect run is.

But anyway, I'll admit this is all being nit-picky about stuff that was made in the infancy of the industry, so we've definitely got to cut these games some slack.  The long and short of it for me is: I love arcade games and enjoy having a big room full of them in my home...

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

On 10/8/2020 at 1:09 PM, Sumer said:

That is also on the list for the basement arcade...a CD jukebox!  Wife also wants a vintage pop machine too.

The lady has good taste!

[Link | 2,709]

X-Men had a six player version that was awesome. At that point, you need a wide screen to accommodate so many people and so much action. So they had two CRTs, with the right one down low, image reversed, facing up, with a mirror next to the left one. This way the edges of the tubes didn’t split the image. Pretty genius hack when we didn’t have wide screens in America. The graphics and music were great, and the different stage settings sort of prefigured Turtles in Time. 

[GPX | 1,369]

4 hours ago, Link said:

X-Men had a six player version that was awesome. At that point, you need a wide screen to accommodate so many people and so much action. So they had two CRTs, with the right one down low, image reversed, facing up, with a mirror next to the left one. This way the edges of the tubes didn’t split the image. Pretty genius hack when we didn’t have wide screens in America. The graphics and music were great, and the different stage settings sort of prefigured Turtles in Time. 

I’ve never seen a 6-player version arcade fighter before. That would have been awesome to witness if all were playing at once!

It’s got me thinking, wonder what the most amount of players that can play on an arcade machine simultaneously? I remember seeing some arcade racers (Daytona maybe?) being linked up and players could challenge each other in the one race. Though I can’t recall the numbers that were set up combining the machines.

[Br81zad | 629]

Galaga

Metal Slug

AREA 51

Hydro Thunder 

Marvel vs Capcom 

 

All of those catch a dollar or 5 when I see them to this day. 

[guitarzombie | 924]

I easily spent the most on Tekken Tag Tournament.  One of my favorites and I had all the top times and most wins in a row... 42!  The guys stopped playing me so I beat the game and went back to class haha.  I also love Contra but never really played the real arcade version.  Mostly the Xbox live version.  Simpsons, TMNT are also godly.  Also want to throw in Wrestlefest!  Games I also fondly remember are Lucky & Wild, Arm Champs 2 and Time Killers!

[Link | 2,709]

5 hours ago, GPX said:

what the most amount of players that can play on an arcade machine simultaneously

I’ve never seen more than 6 on an old machine, but there’s a new game called Killer Queen that’s 10 players. 

I also wanna give a shout-out to Pac Man Battle Royale, which is for 4 players. When you get a power pellet, you can eat the other players! We found a machine on my birthday one year and it was a blast.

[drxandy | 3,225]

9 hours ago, Link said:

I’ve never seen more than 6 on an old machine, but there’s a new game called Killer Queen that’s 10 players. 

I also wanna give a shout-out to Pac Man Battle Royale, which is for 4 players. When you get a power pellet, you can eat the other players! We found a machine on my birthday one year and it was a blast.

There are those horse racing games that have like 8-10+ terminals and are really cool.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

10 hours ago, Link said:

I’ve never seen more than 6 on an old machine, but there’s a new game called Killer Queen that’s 10 players. 

I also wanna give a shout-out to Pac Man Battle Royale, which is for 4 players. When you get a power pellet, you can eat the other players! We found a machine on my birthday one year and it was a blast.

I've heard Killer Queen is a blast, but it really requires team coordination. I really should check it out though. I wonder if the online community is chill or toxic.