What did you like about the arcade environment back-in-the-day?

[Torr]

I just appreciated the fact that arcade were there, especially in shopping malls. For the kid that I was at the time, I considered arcades to be tailored for me. Adults had their boutiques full of clothes, kitchen stuff, jewelry, hardware, books (all the stuff I found quite boring) but arcade were the place that made visits at the shopping mall worth looking forward to.

 

Even when not in the malls, it was a just place for kids to "go".

Archie & The Gang had Pop Tate's... we had Duncan's; the Arcade/Pool Hall/Takeout (where I'm from).

[akator]

My priority was the games. I loved the sights and sounds of the machines. Some arcades had a great setting with nice lighting and signage.

 

I don't recall much "social" about arcades. I went to play the games, not to hang out with people. Most of my friends were the same, we all pretty much kept to ourselves and focused on the games. There was plenty of socializing at school, sports, and elsewhere, places that didn't have arcade machines. We would definitely talk about the games after we left, but not so much when we were there. It was incredibly annoying when someone came up staring a conversation in the middle of a good game, destroying the zone, leading to an unnecessary and premature game over.

 

Home console and computer gaming was different, we gave each other tips and were much more social. But not at the arcade, that was serious gaming time

[VectorGamer]

It was incredibly annoying when someone came up staring a conversation in the middle of a good game, destroying the zone, leading to an unnecessary and premature game over.

 

Sorry man. I was just trying to get some gaming tips and trying to be social.

[Keatah]

I grew up in Carol Stream, IL which had the very large Galaxy World to play in. It was the place were I first experienced games like Zaxxon, Tron, Tempest. They also had older games like Warlords, which was a lot of fun. Only bad memory I have from that place is running out of money.

I used to hang out there all the time. Sometimes playing games, sometimes getting high, other times leering at the wiminz. I even had a business proposal going for my own arcade.

[+Random Terrain]

I even had a business proposal going for my own arcade.

 

That reminds me. I almost forgot about my school project:

 

randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories.html#fortress

[akator]

Sorry man. I was just trying to get some gaming tips and trying to be social.

 

Finally! I've been looking for you for years. You owe me a quarter for screwing up that 500K game of Robotron

[Catsmasher]

The early 80s were the best! When the dancing and redemption games started taking over in the 90s it was all over for me.

[roland p]

- The sounds coming of all those machines.

- The bright graphics of the games (rich colors displayed on rgb monitors)

- Smooth animations.

- Latest technology (sampled sounds, laserdisc games, 3d games, texture mapping)

Edited February 20, 2015 by roland p

[8bitAndreReed]

Thoughts on the BarCades in Chicago and/or NYC? http://barcadebrooklyn.com/

Edited February 21, 2015 by 8bitAndreReed

[cybercylon]

Better game play and graphics than I could get at home during the 2600 days.

 

Once I had an NES and access to a computer, I stopped going. I was getting more into RPGs. Also, you get old enough to realize that touching a bunch of controls covered in pizza grease and snot doesn't do much for you.

[Hyperboy]

The sounds

The girls

The darkness and blacklights

The escape from reality

The music

And of course the games!

[BillyHW]

I loved all the bright colours, which stood out because of the dark lighting. The sounds were nice too, if it wasn't all too loud. The mix of new games with old games. Seeing games that were much better than what you could get at home. It was like playing the next generation. I didn't have much money to play, but I liked watching the good players, and learning tricks from them.

 

It was depressing how all the arcades got rattier and rattier over time. Fewer and fewer new games. Eventually the consoles even surpassed them in quality. Sad.

[ledzep]

I loved the amount of games and the variety. It was cool to walk into a new arcade and more or less instantly know all the games and where they were simply from the sound effects. I bought those Arcade Ambiance CDs just to relive that feeling from time to time. Unlike some here I don't think that home consoles ever caught up to arcade cabinets. Yes, in terms of CPU speed and raster displays but no home unit, except maybe the Vectrex, has ever equaled the vector displays from the classic arcade games, and no console has the array of controllers (with their custom layouts) that arcade games had as a whole. I miss that the most, I think.

 

I love the side art for the games (those games where you could see their sides, at least) and the dimly-lit rooms the games were in. As someone else mentioned, the blast from sunlight when I left was cool in a painful way (you can do that now if you spend all night in a 24-hour strip club in Vegas, haahahaa). The scene in "Tron" at Flynn's is a fantastic representation of the overall arcade vibe. I agree that once arcade games became nothing but 1st-person shooter games and 1st-person racing games I stopped giving a shit. I liked that nervous feeling you could get when trying a new game, others watching you to see if you sucked or not. It was fun, sometimes, to just watch a real pro go at a game and kick its ass, too, it was like nerd ballet.

 

The worst thing that happened to arcade games, from my point of view, was that the resolution got a little better. When games were 8-bit based you had to fill in a lot of blanks for what the game claimed you were looking at (vectors most of all). The ships, the enemies, the locations, they were all approximations, very abstract. I think Xevious was probably the best of the "worst" looking of the era in terms of detail. But after that, games got more detailed sprites and graphics. But they were still far far away from today's "photoreal" games. Yet they were detailed enough for you to notice how bad the representations were. Meaning now the crudely-shaded and shadowed ships and enemies were no longer abstractions but instead really shitty versions of the actual things they claimed to be. That turned me off completely. I guess I'm biased because I was around for when Space Invaders and Galaxian were new but I always preferred the LEGO block designs of early sprites and ships and enemies (and vector wireframe versions). But looking at something try to look real, and really failing at it (a lot of those Mortal Kombat style side-view fighting games), that was miserable to me, particularly when the game was trying to represent people. Spaceships and vehicles were more tolerable at that resolution and detail. But games makers started focusing on the visuals (how realistic they could make the various elements) and not the gameplay.

 

Lots of games in the late '80s and beyond devolved down to 1 joystick and 2 buttons, very boring and repetitive. My favorite games usually had odd control set-ups (Tempest, Star Trek: SOS, Centipede, Lunar Lander, etc.) so that was something I remember fondly as well.

[Keatah]

Back in the day, yes, I always felt arcade hardware was about 5 years ahead or 2 generations of consoles ahead more or less. The controllers? Ohh no. Home controllers were the most versatile and configurable and moddable things. I liked that I could use one controller across many cartridges, and I also wrote Atari that they should include DB-9 connectors so I could bring my own controllers to the arcade!

While no home system (except vectrex) looked like the vector displays, then or now, I'm all too happy to default to the reliability and consistency of modern displays for my home gaming activities today. Had LCD panels been in vogue at the arcades then I would also have taken a liking to them then, too.

I enjoyed the abstractness of the earlier graphics. It provided the framework upon which you could superimpose your own imaginings and stories and all that. In a roundabout way the game became your own fantasy. And the simple triangles and shapes and whatever else.. You knew what they were and what they meant. I'm all too happy to play Lunar Lander with the traditional wireframe LM as opposed to a 16-bit sprite. Anyhow, I think you're experiencing the "Uncanny Valley" as it would apply to mechanical things like vehicles and ships.

I never liked the "transition period" from 8 to 16 bits when it came to graphics and sprites. I felt this was the first step toward scripting and personality-less characters. Paper cutouts in a way. Pixels from the new breed of 16-bit machine's sprites didn't always interact with the exact precision when it came to collision detection or scrolling through the environment.They also felt disconnected from the game environment. In an intangible way the 8-bit or drawn-every-frame characters felt like they had a digital life of some sort. This was even more prevalent in home computers.

The ABSOLUTE worst thing to happen to arcades and videogames in general was/is the onslaught of Japanese Anime and fighting games. I can't stand anything from those genres. UGGGHHH!!

[Atariboy]

Would those Arcade Ambience CD's pass for how an arcade would've sounded like? Tried something like it a few years ago on my Xbox 360 with its custom soundtrack functionality and it was pretty much audio overload. Too many different sounds happening too frequently to ever complete the illusion while playing something like Midway Arcade Origins.

[Keatah]

Go to youtube to listen to them in their entirety. The problem I hear right off the bat with these recordings is that they have too many games within earshot. It might work if you set the volume to 1 or 2 on a scale of 1-10. And have Journey playing while you play your favorite on mame.

 

Then you run the risk of this happening:

 

See..When you're at the arcade, you pay attention to your game. That's one game! The others dissolve away. You may also pay attention to the radio or stereo they might have had going. And none of the games were in use all the time simultaneously. And I couldn't hear or discern 10 games with the clarity these recordings exhibit. And don't forget you also walk around so sounds fade in and out.

 

Simply put I think these are "too much". Reminds me of an electronic slaughterhouse. A death house for all your beloved videogame characters. JMHO.

[Keatah]

Would those Arcade Ambience CD's pass for how an arcade would've sounded like? Tried something like it a few years ago on my Xbox 360 with its custom soundtrack functionality and it was pretty much audio overload. Too many different sounds happening too frequently to ever complete the illusion while playing something like Midway Arcade Origins.

 

Nope.

 

Keep the rumble and thin it all out. Too much is happening. Seems like all the machines are in play and all within earshot.

Edited February 22, 2015 by Keatah

[Keatah]

In complete contrast to my opening post of this thread:

 

In strangely-odd way I'm kinda-sorta glad most of the arcade scene died off. I was growing up for real and was quite thoroughly upset that I wasn't having much luck getting wiminz from the arcade. They always went after the alpha males that smoked and got drunk and had fast and loud cars. That sort of behavior in society is commonplace, so I can't entirely blame the arcade scene. It would be many years after that till I had significant bank and turned into an asshole myself. THEN I had no problems.. Go figure.

 

Well I disliked the arcade because after all those billions of quarters I had nothing, absolutely nothing, to show for it. No investment portfolio. No wiminz. Nothing to put on a resume. And in fact people regarded me as a vagrant lazy ass. A skanky slacker. Assholes..

 

I got a job pushing mops at the oil change place and pump'n gas for the summer. All my rad elite Missile Command and RoadBlasters skillz meant shit. And I was upset. Breaking things type of upset.

 

Once the fighting games took off I got thoroughly disgusted with the scene. And then the older "classics" fell into disrepair, along with the rest of the arcade. The controllers on many machines got loosened up. Monitors were pushed bright. Some had in-op guns, like no blue. Worn carpet, faded lights and paint. No sealcoat on the parking lot. Then some sonofabitch stole my CB antenna and that was the last time I went there. What was once a cool experience into another world turned into a tedious mental-health sapping nightmare. I even had too many encounters with the cops, minor no-record type shit. But that should say something. The arcade was dragging me down with it.

 

TBH I never had (or have now) a serious nostalgic pull to go back into one of those things. Not even a $10 play-all type operation. Ohh I went to D&B or CEC with the family. But that's a different thing. The kids like throwing stuff and pulling on the levers and the wife likes boozing it up and all that. Chasing the tickets and getting cheap prizes. That's fine. I just don't play the classics there. I tried the Galaga / PacMan machine they had in the front and I'm like bleccchhh! Ewwhhh.. Maybe a nice clean maintained $10 play-all place would be different. IDK.

 

However, I thoroughly enjoy many many classic games via MAME and THAT IS very welcoming, warm, and nostalgic. Yep. Today I associate MAME with the arcades, have my own uber game room and chillout lounge, and that brings back a lot of the early good times I mentioned in the opening post! Without the sleaziness.

 

The only time I'd care to experience an arcade cabinet again in its natural habitat would be Lunar Lander at MSI. That was the epitome of sophistication to a kid. A real simulation with real physics. And a full-size real LM or mockup (it was real to me) right there next to you. Right there! And what made my day was going to the gift shop and getting a book on what I just played. A book about the moon lander. And then discovering Tranquility Base for the Apple II+.

Edited February 22, 2015 by Keatah

[Atariboy]

Wouldn't surprise me then if those recordings are what I tried out before, since it sounds just like it.

 

Too bad someone wouldn't create a real arcade ambiance recording, which as I said, would especially be useful on the Xbox 360 matched up with something like the Game Room app.

[Keatah]

No I'm not trying to increase my post number. I don't really give a rat's ass if I have 5 or 50,000. Just mentioning things as I recollect them and recall them. Memory has a funny way of flowing in erratic spurts sometimes.

 

I had a dislike for arcades beginning from around the mid-nineties. Before that, in the "classic era" 1979-1990 everything was kosher. I was hanging out with my buddies and doing home consoles and dreaming of the day when I could have a suitcase-sized all-in-one arcade game. Ahem.. Cough.. The last game I seriously fought with and eventually beat was Atari's Assault (1988). Then I was done for good.

 

And having since built a beautiful deep-space chillout room and gaming hideaway I've become spoiled - thus further adding to my current contempt for such establishments. Got a maid to do my bidding, have a selection of games I can play anytime without having to endure a trek through bad weather (of which there is plenty of it around here). Reliable modern PC emulation hardware. Things customized to how I like it. All the good stuff.

[Keatah]

Clarification: "And I couldn't hear or discern 10 games with the clarity these recordings exhibit. And don't forget you also walk around so sounds fade in and out."

 

That means in the recording I can pick out 10 or so games. The recording is too much, too clear. But in the arcade I couldn't. Not without walking around and getting the lay of the land. The sound from the real arcade machine speakers is mostly made for the person playing. Not to project sound across the entire room to a central point.

 

One of these recordings has TimePilot '84 going non-stop and another has what sounds like Space Invaders or Super Space Invaders '91 firing away for a full hour straight.

 

I suggest an alternate use for these sounds. A game.. A trivia game! See what games you can recognize.

[ledzep]

Would those Arcade Ambience CD's pass for how an arcade would've sounded like? Tried something like it a few years ago on my Xbox 360 with its custom soundtrack functionality and it was pretty much audio overload. Too many different sounds happening too frequently to ever complete the illusion while playing something like Midway Arcade Origins.

 

Yes, they're fine. Some people here complain that they're "too much". Yes, the first time you hear it it's obvious that it wasn't an actual room filled with the games but an edit. So what, after a bit it turns to background noise. And I don't mind that all the games are "on", I could give a shit about recording a game on attract mode that would be mostly silent except for the occasional repeated 5 seconds of music. The arcades I went to, most games were being played constantly so it sounded more or less exactly like those CDs. Yes, some games were harder to hear in real life because they were further away. This isn't a simulation disc, it's a CD of arcade games playing. Some people get too goddamn picky. It's not like there are hundreds of arcade sounds CDs out there to choose from.

[Atariboy]

I have nothing against it. It's just that what I've tried before, which may or may not be from this source, didn't really convey the effect that I was hoping for when playing classic arcade games on my Xbox 360.

 

That's not to say that such a thing doesn't have its place, or that anyone that purchased the cds and supported the author just was wasting their money.

 

And yes, I'm too picky.

Edited February 22, 2015 by Atariboy

[ledzep]

Back in the day, yes, I always felt arcade hardware was about 5 years ahead or 2 generations of consoles ahead more or less. The controllers? Ohh no. Home controllers were the most versatile and configurable and moddable things. I liked that I could use one controller across many cartridges, and I also wrote Atari that they should include DB-9 connectors so I could bring my own controllers to the arcade!

Dude, what in the hell are you talking about. There was nothing configurable about home controllers back in the 8-bit days. You had the few options that were supplied and that was it. 3rd party controllers might have looked different and felt different but an 8-way joystick was an 8-way joystick and a paddle (if the console even supported it) was a paddle. Few of them even admitted that trak-balls or spinners existed, much less analog joysticks, so plugging them in (if you wired your own) achieved nothing because the game wouldn't recognize them. Some consoles, like the Atari VCS, forced you to play a game with a joystick with only 1 button even if the arcade version had a spinner and 4 buttons (Star Trek) or a joystick with 2 buttons (Xevious) or an analog stick (Tail Gunner). The feel wasn't the same, the gameplay suffered, it was a joke. It was better than nothing but it was certainly not equal to or better than actual arcade controls.

 

Arcade controls were customized to the individual games. The button layout was optimized (Defender) in a way that a home console could not hope to duplicate and if it did duplicate it then that made it worse for another game with a different orientation. You really wanted to use an Atari joystick to play Tron or an Intellivision pad to play Missile Command? That's ridiculous. Even Battlezone would be a pain in the ass with 2 joysticks (what heretic would play it any other way in the arcade?) but no fire button on top of either stick. Stop it, you're confusing versatile with lazy. You play Tempest with a spinner. That's it (no home system had a true spinner though the Atari driving controller was a good attempt except you couldn't spin it really fast at all). Anything else, it's not Tempest anymore. You play Major Havoc with a roller. I've tried playing a conversion Major Havoc with a spinner, it's terrible. Star Wars requires a yoke even if you could force it to accept a joystick. Sea Wolf is useless without the periscope. Use. Less.

 

While no home system (except vectrex) looked like the vector displays, then or now, I'm all too happy to default to the reliability and consistency of modern displays for my home gaming activities today. Had LCD panels been in vogue at the arcades then I would also have taken a liking to them then, too.

Modern displays suck. They aren't as bright and "glowy" as old CRTs. Yes, more convenient, certainly weigh less, but nobody played arcade games for convenience. What kind of useless criteria is that? For the home, that's fine, since there were already so many concessions made for the fact that home systems couldn't hope to match the arcade experience (then or now). But I've seen modern arcade games with modern displays, they look like refried dogshit. And since when are LCDs more reliable? Those things turn ugly after 5 years, old CRTs (well-built ones) could last 10-20 years before becoming really poor-looking. And that's on all the time, no LCD can handle that beating, especially the early ones (which is what you would have had at the start of the "let's replace these CRTs" thinking). The only thing to knock about arcade games is particle board cabinets and their insane ability to absorb water.

[ledzep]

I have nothing against it. It's just that what I've tried before, which may or may not be from this source, didn't really convey the effect that I was hoping for when playing classic arcade games on my Xbox 360.

 

That's not to say that such a thing doesn't have its place, or that anyone that purchased the cds and supported the author just was wasting their money.

 

And yes, I'm too picky.

 

Hahaha, fair enough. And, ya, it doesn't quite work for your specific requirement with the Xbox 360 the way it was recorded. But sometimes I'd listen to one of those CDs driving home and think back to being in one of the better arcades of my youth. I think you'd have to record your own version in an actual arcade so that you'd have the fade in and out of certain games as you moved around and you'd hear games in attract mode more. But if the Xbox 360 (and you) isn't moving then I would think it would seem disorienting having sounds moving around and you're stationary on your couch or chair. Still, someone should record a "mobile" version of those CDs. And include more of my favorites!