games  anime  |  toys
This is a Dtoid readers's blog. For staff blogs click here. Confused? read this Create you own!  |   Members: Login now





What you lose when you lose the arcade
MPHtails | 5:29 PM on 06.03.2008 11 comments


I was at the local pizza place over the weekend, and after filling up on delicious jalapeno pepperoni, I headed back to the arcade room. I looked through the 5 machines there, and after messing around for a game or two, went to the Metal Slug machine. I played to the second level. I'm working my way through when a pack of 10 year olds start watching me and cheering me on. I beat the level on one life, a feat I've never done in any MS level before, and they told me I was "Uber Leet" and left. I then proceeded to die quickly into level 3 and then left myself.

This is why I wish there were arcades still around. You can't gather around someone's TV in their house (unless you're at a party), you can't watch in groups someone online (except in Halo 3, but eh), and it's not even necessarily the being the center of the attention as it is bing in the group and cheering the player on. I never got to truly experience this due to my Arcade machine experiences being limited to NBA Jam and Bubble Bobble at Pizza Hut, but it's something that just doesn't get to happen with the way gaming's headed. Even then, it's not all that often you see people paying attention to people not on the DDR machine. I guess thats because people want to play their own game instead of watching someone else move their joystick as opposed to watching someone move their body, but eh. I'd rather watch someone plow through Smash TV than some guy do flips while 100%ing MAX300 or whatever the hot Bemani Jam is these days.



Is this post awesome? Vote it up!

0


Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

11 comments | showing # 1 to 11

prev next

Rifter01's Destructoid Blog
Very well put, and a great observation in saving some of the classics and fun of classic/arcade gaming. I really don't have any say or anything.. But, this, to me, is a strong nomination for the Front Page. And, my pick or post of the day!
mix's Destructoid Blog
You pay for gas/repairs and pizza and I will cheer for you while you play like no one else.

I have never drawn a crowd of people when I play, unless I'm playing for tokens and I'm wasted screaming at 6 year old kids 'bout my leet token skillz.
Alexradl's Destructoid Blog
I wish there were more arcades in the states. Japan has a huge arcade industry, I don't see why arcade gaming essentially died in the U.S. Oh well, I guess we have XBLA, PSN, and the Virtual Console to make up for that.
SteamyV's Destructoid Blog
Am I the only one amazed that some local pizza joint has a freaking Metal Slug machine? I would gladly come out to wherever you are and cheer you on, but I've got next.
Animated Trigger's Destructoid Blog
This pool a friend and I would go to had a Metal Slug machine, and any time we'd play, kids would watch. They thought we were brothers, and loved watching. It was awesome. I miss that pool, and that Neo Geo machine...
Puppy Licks's Destructoid Blog
We still have some arcades in Australia, but sadly they're mostly used for drug-dealing nowadays :(
Shin Oni's Destructoid Blog
there's still some cades around here in MD/VA. Lately though it seems to be dying out in this state too. (or at least my area.)

I've gotten crowds in many areas though. Course probably most at DDR as parents walk by with the "How do they do that?" or "That looks hard!". Hell, a few of my friends have got some a person watch us, love it, and basically give us a dollar each just for an encore. Cool I guess but its a great feeling in the end.

Every now and then you'll get crowds at Fighting games but usually the fighting game buffs. I personally just love the arcade for all the loud noise, all the crap going on within it, and it's still a nice way to meet new people through it. I've met more than enough people playing DDR or Tekken/Street Fighter. With it dying, i'm kinda stuck in the house getting fat or finding some other medium to do at the mall. It's really bad.
commish's Destructoid Blog
Montreal has it's arcade out on crescent street and I know of another one close to my home town when I was out in the fucking sticks
Jonathan Kerr's Destructoid Blog
Whenever I go to a movie theater I spend at least an hour in the arcade, no matter how small they are. This one cineplex has a Virtual Fighter anda Tekken 3 cabinet right next to eachother. Every once in a while I see some pros playing and just watch them play until they leave.
Tug Your God Out's Destructoid Blog
Being just down the road from Chicago we use to have Midway and Taito machines in every pizza place and grocery store and movie theatre.

Taito closed up, Midway just...I don't know...and all that seems to be at our local pizza hut are stupid crane machines.

And there's "noise laws" so there's no noise coming out the arcade in the mall. It's like on life support.

We do have a place called Kick's Pizza but it's meh. Time Crisis is about the only real cabinet.

But also -- that banner rules. Popful Mail, vastly underrated.
JamnOnTheOne's Destructoid Blog
www.funspotnh.com is all you need

New stuff kept to a bare minimum, just plenty of old-school greatness.


prev next


Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

Comments policy

Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?

Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!

 about me




WARNING: THIS PERSON HAS A TERRIBLE SENSE OF HUMOR, OFTEN TRYING TO BE FUNNY AND FAILING HARD, IS EASILY AMUSED, AND HAS A TENDANCY TO CLING TO OLD MEMES/JOKES. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

This is basically my game collection (minus N64, SNES, Xbox 1, and Game Boy games):



See more of my puny, meager collection (in image sizes that can be read) at: http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/MPHtails/My%20Collection/

Well, if your lazy and don't want to read the whole sidebar, I'll save you some time and tell you that all you need to know about me is in this image:




That aside, lets do some lists, because I enjoy lists.

Honorable Mentions:Zombies ate my Neighbors , Super Mario World
13.NBA JAM
12.Sonic 3 & Knuckles
11.Tetris Attack
10.Sonic CD
9.Popful Mail
8.Bubble Bobble
7.Chrono Trigger
6.River City Ransom
5.Tecmo Super Bowl (NES)
4.Jet Grind Radio
3.Earthbound
2.NiGHTS into Dreams
1.Cave Story


I'm a really slow player. I rarely blast through games, regardless of genre or my own skill of it. Final Fantasy VII, for example, took me 8 years, 4 new files, 2 memory cards, and two copies to beat, even with a strategy guide.
Also, I cant frigging beat Chrono Trigger because my PS2 wont read the damn disc, same with Popful mail. This pisses me off.

UPDATE 4/24/08: I HAS CT FOR SNES. COMMENCING OWNAGE NOW.
UPDATE 5/3/08: I R WINRAR. Now to do the same with Popful Mail

As far as favorite bands go, I like more or less any song that catches my ear, regardless of genre or even quality (something thats also with every type of entertainment, I tend to enjoy lesser things). So, lets list, but with less numbers this time:


Smash mouth I reguard as my favorite band currently, but thats quite a changing area.
Gorillaz
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Beefy
Rush
Queen
Duran Duran
Mew
and some others that I forgot.

As far as individual songs go, some of the ones that I favor due to memories or just general enjoyability are:


Fallen Horses- Smash Mouth
Waste- Smash Mouth
Then the Morning Comes- Smash Mouth
Eye of the Tiger- Survivor
16 bit vs PS3- Prinz Pi
Geto Highlites- Coolio
Flagpole Sitta- Harvey Danger
Rio-Duran Duran
Last Dinosaur- the pillows
Little Busters- the pillows
Scar Tissue- Red Hot Chilli Peppers


And of course, the rock prayer:
IN the name of the [Bohemian] Rhapsody, the Freebird, and the Holy Diver, May we all ascend the Stairway to Heaven.

Of course, theres more, but i just feel like stopping there.


Movies, well, theres Rocky III, IV and Balboa , Spaceballs, Snakes on a plane, Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, the View Askewniverse movies and the like, but my all time favorite is BASEketball. SO many underrated one liners.

Television, lets see. Red vs Blue, House, WWE Raw (yes, imma rasslin guy yee haw), Chappelle's Show, like over nine thousand 80's and 90's toons, Saved by the Bell, Fresh Prince, Psyche, Full House (i was raised on it, so it dosen't count), Simpsons, KING OF THE HILL, Shin Chan, FLCL, and such, but as far as favorites go it's gotta be Mystery Science Theater 3000. Dont let anyone tell you different, Red Zone Cuba is the best episode, even if it's not Final Sacrifice with ZAP ROWSDOWER.

My Systems, let me show you them.
-SNES
-64
-wii
-Genesis
-Sega CD
-Saturn
-Dreamcast (ITS STILL THINKING)
-PS2
-360
-Xbox 1
-DS
-PSP
-GB Pocket
-GB Brick

I like more under the radar.cult games like Earthbound, Popful Mail, Mr. Bones, and such, but usually due to their rarity they are a little pricy and thus I haven't played a truckload of them. I used to be a huge Sonic nut (even going so far as to read./collect the Archie Sonic comics even far after i stopped enjoying them), but thats since waned considerably. Though forever loyal to Sega in my heart (and, to a lesser extent, Nintendo), I can't survive on Shmups alone, and therefore branched myself out to accept all makes and models of vidja games and vidja game accessorries.

Well, if I think of anyting more, I'll be sure to add it so noone will ever read it.

 xbox 360 gamertag
 mii friend code:
mphtails@gmail.com

 friends' updates
Brad Rice's Profile Brad Rice
GTA IV isn't helping anime with Princess Robot Bubblegum
CocoJambo's Profile CocoJambo
Fails at blogging.
Cubilone's Profile Cubilone
Astronomy in games: does a realistic sky make a difference?
Dale North's Profile Dale North
New Shiren the Wanderer trailer looks awesome
Dyson's Profile Dyson
Madness spreads to Playstation Network, Military style
EternalDeathSlayer's Profile EternalDeathSlayer
Happy Thanksgiving Destructoid, I'm thankful for you and some other stuff.
Genki-JAM's Profile Genki-JAM
ShiMuNi Preview: Let's Try This Again.. EDITION!
Josh Tolentino's Profile Josh Tolentino
IBM to kill off the Cell processor (updated)
mehman's Profile mehman
C-blog restart! Senior project!
Mikey's Profile Mikey
The Destructoid Comic: Power up!
MissHinasaki's Profile MissHinasaki
10 Things You Don't Know About MissHinasaki (Sorry. I always come too late.)
Nick Chester's Profile Nick Chester
Dead to Right: Retribution all about 'awesome violence'
Scary Womanizing Pig Mask's Profile Scary Womanizing Pig Mask
Giygas: A psychoanalysis of evil Itself
SchickOuttaShape's Profile SchickOuttaShape
SH2 Parody....now with more Latina Pop Sensation
shipero's Profile shipero
PS3 Friday Night Fights: Boldly Going Forward, 'Cause We Can't Find Reverse


 

 
  get involved

register or login
post a blog
post a forum
enter a contest
contribute a news tip
suggest a feature
be a guest editor
support

new member's guide
login assistance
tech support
report abuse
email our editors
read our dev blog
nuclear crisis?
keep in touch

RSS feed
Twitter
Facebook
Myspace
Flickr
Game nights
Meetup+play online
seriously

about Destructoid
advertising
terms of use
privacy policy
jobs at MM
buy our crap
our network

Tomopop
Japanator
Despingation?




Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press
living the dream since March 16, 2006