Does anyone here miss the arcades from days long gone?

[ungibbed]

Back when we were rocking the Master System and NES, the arcade was the place to see the most amazing eye candy (graphics) and sounds. Our home consoles did have ports from the great arcade machines and some rather bold home conversions with a lot lost in bringing the latest technical gaming wonders to the humble 8 bit staples.

As time went by, our consoles grew more powerful and brought the full experience home with ever so much powerful hardware hooked up to the TV.

Who do you think is to blame? I want YOUR opinion (just keep it civil folks...)

More powerful home systems over the years keeping you on the couch?

Greedy publishers bringing the same games we saved a long time to play in public in the comfort of your living room?

Perhaps a little of both?


I am rather sad to see a long time arcade and miniature golf course plowed over to become a strip mall. We now have game systems that are far more powerful than the last arcade machines from recent years. Many great locations closed up and one of my partnerships come to an end as operation costs were higher than profit margins. Now dedicated to restoring classic upright cabinets even going as far as writing code to run the original game on a new system board as the older boards are falling apart.

I'm a fan of the classics... Donkey Kong, Frogger, Star Wars, Pac Man, you name it.

So Sega's fans, what's your feelings on the arcade business being on life support? Is there any hope or is the arcade a thing that only us old people remember?

[ungibbed]

I must be older than I thought for this crowd in general. After all, Sega made its bread & butter from the scene...

 

[Randroid]

I'm big on arcades, but honestly I wasn't introduced to Sega through them.

I used to play the original Street Fighter, 1942, UN Squadron, then SF2 was HUGE in my area, so years and years of that. Arcade-wise I was into a lot of capcom.

I did get to witness one Sega anomaly in the arcades though. Does anyone remember Holo Fighter (or something with a similar name)? Kinda of a crappy predecessor to Virtua Fighter but in full hologram.  I played it just to see it. It was amazing tech.

[segaismysavior]

I miss the experience of strolling through an arcade, especially one found in your average mall. I miss being amazed at how visually advanced the games seemed to be over home consoles. I miss the concept of "arcade style" game play, with levels meant to be played in a few minutes or seconds.

I do not miss paying quarters/tokens for lives/time, or game play specifically designed to cheat you out of those quarters.

It is sad to only expect arcade machines today at boardwalks, airports, and bowling alleys. In Japan, it's freaking epic to still see several arcades in every town/city.

[mylifewithsega]

Good lord, do I miss arcades. It was certainly my introduction to SEGA....well, that's not entirely true. I was playing Zaxxon on my brother's ColecoVision before he started taking me out to the arcade.

Still, that's where I first played After Burner, Hang-On and Out Run. That's part of the reason he purchased the Master System. We wanted to have those arcade experiences at home. As I mentioned in my Virtua Fighter review, I was homeless when the next phase of SEGA games hit the scene. That's when I was introduced to Virtua Fighter and Virtua Cop.

I also dug playing Robocop: The Arcade Game, Street Fighter 2, Aliens, T2: Judgement Day, Time Killers and so on.

God, I miss arcades. The last one I went to was in Deptford, New Jersey. Just this hole in the wall, tucked away in the corner of a mall. Had some classics, but it was usually home teenaged with big knockers lookin' to show off their "skills" with DDR. Not that I'm really complaining, but arcades to mean so much more. LOL!