Ocassionally, I walk into the local arcade here in Syracuse, just to check out what they've got in there. From time to time I come across some things that make me do a double take at what I'm seeing. Usually it's nothing too obvious -- it's something you have to see someone doing in order to really even notice that anything is off.
So, this week's Weekend Reading is dedicated to some of the oddities that I, or the rest of the staff, have encountered in our visits to the arcades. These aren't the utterly bizarre games that you'll find in Japan, but just quirks and oddities of machines here in the U.S. and Canada.
First, there's Beatmania III, which features a 3 1/2 inch floppy drive. When I first saw it, I had to pause for a minute, simply because I didn't believe that I was seeing a 3 1/2 inch floppy drive out in the wild. The use behind the drive in the machine, though, is so that players can save their high scores and use it again on other Beatmania machines, or so that you can go home and check the scores on your PC. Apparently in certain machines, with the floppy in the drive, the machine will allow for additional game modes and extra songs.
Now, the fact that Mario Kart has its own arcade machine is an oddity to begin with. The game is a co-development between Nintendo and Namco, creating Mario Kart Arcade GP. The game features Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky the ghost as characters. As a bonus, the machine actually has a camera built into it so that it can take your picture and place it above the player's character in multiplayer races. From what I've heard, it's actually a pretty fun racing game, as it builds up on some of the features from the previous Mario Kart games (Mario Kart DS came afterwards). Perhaps next time I'm at the mall, I'll actually drop the overpriced $1+ to play a race.
The Tekken 5 machine has some neat abilities: there are ports for PS2 controllers, as well as for a system memory card. This allows players to save their stats for the home version of the game, or bring in characters that they've been using for a while. On a similar note, Dyson brought up the fact that the old arcade version of NFL Blitz had ports for Dreamcast VMUs.
Faith brought up a Star Trek arcade machine that has two handles for competing players to hold on to. The handles then vibrate faster and faster, trying to shake off the players. There's not a lot of information for the game, but the flyer above just makes the game seem really odd. I'd find it a little creepy if while in the middle of trying to hold onto these two vibrating handles, an animatronic Borg face starts taunting me.
Since I have a fairly limited knowledge of all the arcade machines out there, I ask you readers: what are some of the strange things you've found in the arcades?
Contest:
4:08 PM on 03.25.2007
| 
And i've seen a arcade similar to the borg one but instead of a borg it would feature Fester from the Adams family, the goal was to hold on the handels while they vibrate, simulating intensefing electricety.
I also recall a NFL Blitz machine having ports for the N64 memory card too, you could bring over your custom playbook I believe.
Not fun, not missing anything. Driving is a mess. Weapons are randomly selected BEFORE a match starts so if you get a banana, thats the only thing you'll use for the whole race.
And its 4 courses. 4 courses played backwards and in reverse so it looks like there is more, but its only 4.
on top of all this, its over a dollar to play everywhere I've ever seen it.
The Borg machine I have tried with other methods. Some look like an electric chair and the other more famous one is the Uncle Fester one were smoke shoots out of his ears and the lightbulb in his mouth lights up.
NFL Blitz had N64 memory packs, not Dreamcast ports. You could put your plays onto a memory card and use them in the arcade. In Japan you could only unlock characters in Marvel vs Capcom 2 using a Dreamcast VMU, but they dropped that feature in America.
My friends and I started "Arcade Reviews" on our webcomic site. It's something we always wanted to do by seeing what is left of arcades in America. The first arcade we went to was FunSpot in Weirs Beach New Hampshire and it's well worth the trip if your a fan of gaming classics.
I have pictures, videos and two written reviews of FunSpot on our site, we also have Barcade in Brooklyn New York and were working on our local FYE Games and another local Dave and Busters.
http://www.pressstartcomic.com/opinions.php?type=Arcade%20Review
Let me know what you think!