I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about playing video games at the arcade (oh, lament a fast-dying tradition!) and some of the most memorable gaming moments we had. One of those experiences for me was the first time my brother and I ever played Double Dragon. Others that stand out for me were defeating Altered Beast and playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles every Friday night at the skating rink with my twin bro and our friends, and literally thrashing foot soldiers and area bosses till the cows came home!
So, what are some of YOUR fondest arcade moments?
David Crockett sez it best, folks: "Look at 'im, Tony! Look at 'im!"
Annihilating 3 identical fratboys who probably dumped $5 a piece into the machine. Spending $.50 to do it.
And I was maybe 13. I was cool.
Taking a tip from MoeGates, I find that I am Rex Banner, Ty Pennington, Dr. Scott, Berlin-era Bowie, a Snake Print Doc Marten, Jim Morrison, Butch Coolidge, Robocop, Regis Philbin, an Emotional Drunk, Lincoln, Kermit and Ghetto Fabulous. Of course.
Me and my friends beat The Simpsons arcade game on a field trip to Sea World back in 5th grade. I must've pumped $20 into that machine, but it was totally worth it. (Even if I was stuck being Marge.)
Winning two Philadelphia Flyers tickets (one row from the top of the Spectrum, but c'mon, they were FLYERS TICKETS) in a Punch-Out! tournament at my local mall. High-scores-of-the-day for eight successive days were entered; I went last among the three of us who showed up on tournament day. The first guy got to Bald Bull and lost; the second lost to the champ (Mr. Sandman). I played, and on my 24th title defense, the arcade attendant had to remind me that I could stop now...
Playing for five hours straight on The Main Event, just because I could, via some seriously cheesy tactics.
Beating Darius for the first time. This was the first in Taito's line of double-wide-cabinet scrolling space shoot-em-ups, and some of the later bosses were brutal. When I finally put Great Thing-Z down for the count, I was in shock, and damn near floated around the arcade while the (VERY cool) victory theme played over the credits.
Ditto for Blaster. Beating Level 19 (Armageddon) and finally seeing the fabled Paradise on Level 20 was like a rite of passage.
The first time I walked into the old Aladdin's Castle arcade at the local mall and had my eyes bug out from seeing dozens of games I'd never encountered before. Space Fury! Eliminator! Some game with a Smurf called Dig Dug! Crazy Climber! Satan's Hollow! Vanguard! Astro Blaster! The End! I was ten or so, and in heaven for the day.
"When I feel depressed, I sit under a willow tree by a cool river, and imagine that I am strangling a duck." -- Kotaro Sarai
- Finishing Sega's Rad Mobile without continuing or using warp routes to bypass the twenty stages. I must have had about 15 people or so watch me by the time I got to the final few stages.
- Getting my first 1,000,000+ score on Time Crisis 2. I'd play this a lot during my days at the University of Central Florida while on break from classes or work. Mine getting 1,000,000 was largely dependent on hitting all the bonus yellow guys, otherwise I'd be in the 980-990k range.
- Getting my first 5,000,000+ score on Crisis Zone. (Sense a pattern here?) This was more special to me than TC2 because I spent MONTHS trying to reach 5 million and while I'd only lose 2-3 lives per game, I would end up with 4,9XX,XXX because I didn't go fast enough in the last stage.
"Alright, now I'd like to show you one of my favorite cartoons. It's a sad, depressing story about a pathetic coyote who spends every waking moment of his life in the futile pursuit of a sadistic roadrunner, who mocks him and laughs at him as he is repeatedly crushed and maimed. I hope you enjoy it!"
Going to the arcade with my best buddy and taking on house of the dead and finally defeating the magician. Also going playing it again and beating it till it stops playing for us at the arcade. I also loved the arcades because it brought me and my stepfather together. Nothing like "heated battle" to bring father and son closer.
Hall: "Hey maybe we could have a few beers with the boys..." Nash: "I don't think thats such a good idea..."
Blowing up the Death Star on the old "Star Wars" arcade game. You know, the one that was just made up of glowing lines, kinda like "Tempest," with a bunch of asterisks for explosions.
I must've been about 8 or so...I announced my victory over the Empire, and the whole bar (I was with my dad) popped big-time. F'n cool.
Star wipe, and...we're out. Thrillin' ain't easy. . . THE THRILL All-Star Championship Wrestling Home Video Technical Director...& A2NWO 4 Life!
When I used to live in Las Vegas, there was an overnight all-free arcade night at Pistol Pete's (one of LV's answers to Chuck E. Cheese). The place programmed all the arcades in the place to have unlimited credits. I and countless others would take turns beating Simpsons, TMNT, and other 4 player games.
And of course there was the longest line in the place- getting to play Street Fighter II (not even Turbo, but the original) as long as we wanted. It didn't help that I sucked at SFII at the time, but I didn't care. IT WAS FREE.
Other than that, my recent arcade game fun happens at the place I get my oil changed. They have a Pole Position II arcade game that is free. So I knock out the Fuji course while they fix up my Saturn. Ah, good times.
(edited by Torchslasher on 30.12.02 0842) The call is from heroism, will you accept the charges?
The first time I finished Pole Position in first was a big moment. Setting world records in the 100m and long jump on Track And Field was awesome. It took me ages to figure out how to do that. 4 player Gauntlet is still my favorite. I'm glad they resurrected it on the PS2. Our favorite game in college was Rampage. Something about destroying a bunch of cities after Calculus...
"Ensign Kodos, set coordinates for the obscure, T-shirt producing planet of Earth. We are going to visit... MY DAUGHTER!" -- Kang
I was stuck in the middle of nowhere for a convention. A friend and I decided we would drive all over the town trying to find every video game at every convenience store. We finally found an out of the way 7-11 that had the arcade version of "willow"
we played that thing all night, drinking big gulps and eating nachos. good times.
Seattle sketch comedy fans, be sure to check out the dark new comedy show from "Flaming Box of Stuff"
Performances: Friday, January 3rd at 8pm and 10pm. Saturday, January 4th at 8pm and 10pm At the Union Garage @ 1418 10th Avenue. All tickets are $6
Mine had to be when my uncle took me and my cousin to the arcade wayyyyy back in the day. He kept pumping money in and we eventually beat the ninja turtles game. Good times.
I also fondly remember friends having birthday parties at the arcade. I know we beat X'men but we could never get to the end of Battletoads.
I am probably dating myself here, but I have two memories that come to mind - the first time I got a high score on any game - Centipede at the Ferrel's in Orange, CA (when I was young enough to actually believe it meant something).
Second, was when I saw the first pro-wrestling video game in an arcade (Mat Mania).
On a side note, I recently came across an arcade emulator and began playing a few old school arcade games. Is it me, or are they ridiculously difficult. I was playing Ten Yard Fight for a good two hours before I made any progress at all. The money I wasted on these bloody things....
Oh, and Happy New Year to everyone.
"It's hard to be a prophet and still make a profit." - Da Bush Babees
http://www.avclub.com/article/rip-nintendo-president-satoru-iwata-222162 Pretty sad news. Seemed so energetic and lively in the Star Fox puppet skit from E3 just weeks ago.