The Disappearance of Classic Arcades

[NightSprinter]

Since we sorta hijacked the "greatest arcade games of all time" thread with a discussion about why the old arcades are disappearing, I thought it was about time to make a thread just about that. So feel free to keep posting the discussion here.

[davepesc]

*hasn't read other thread*

 

If you asked me why arcades have drifted away, first I would look at the home console.

I was born in 1974, so when I was discovering arcades circa 1982, the arcades were far and away more advanced than home consoles could offer. Even as the NES and SMS took hold, they couldn't give me the graphics, sound or technology I could get there.

 

I think the shift started with the damn good Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat ports available on the Genesis and SNES.

 

All of a sudden, you could play pretty much the same game found in the arcade, with no lines, all night-every night, with your friends, for one fee.

 

Something else happened after that. Consoles changed the focus of video games. What once was about beating high scores and surviving for as long as you could on a quarter, became more of a journey. Most games had endings. The pace slowed. Now, instead of blasting Space Invaders, I was planning out Sim Citys and plotting in any number of strategy RPGs.

Arcades either couldn't - for economical reasons - or just wouldn't allow the pace to slow. I no longer wanted to play 3 min. for (now) $0.50. I'd rather play at home.

 

Now, arcades have adjusted to provide what I can't get at home: Size.

I like going to Dave & Busters, where there is a bar and every game is played with a full-sized motorcycle or wave runner.

Cockpit racing games line every wall, providing head-to-head racing like you can't get at home (even online).

 

Arcades will survive like this, but I don't see them regaining promenance, especially with adult prices of $1+ per game.

[8th lutz]

The first reason has to be the playstation or dreamcast in arcade ports to home console quality. I don't think the 16bit era didn't had much of an effect. The reason is while there were motal kombat and street fighter 2 ports for genesis and snes, they were not quite as good as they were in the arcade in graphics and sound. It is true that the ports were getting closer but it took dreamcast to completely perfect the arcade port and playstation nailed the casket shut for the arcades in graphics and sound being better then game consoles.

 

The second reason was arcades had mostly sports, racing or fighting games in most of the 90's. The sports games in arcade was caused by arch rivals, super high impact football, and Nba Jam. The fighting games were caused by the street fighter and mortal kombat craze. The down side was there were not many new non sports, racing, or fighting games in the arcade around 1994 or 1995.

 

My thinking it was caused by the dreamcast not playstation due to playstation one was not quite able to due perfect arcade ports in 3d.

[Artlover]

I dunno. To me it seemed that arcades were dying long before the DC or PSX even existed.

[Atariboy]

Can't speak for the Playstation, but we were having these same threads at classic gaming boards for years before the Dreamcast was released.

 

So I wouldn't say the Dreamcast played a role.

[Atarifever]

Yeah, when I was a kid the two shopping malls in my little 6000 person town had arcade games in the porches. There were always at least three or four circulating games in places like that. There was also usually one in pizza places and in video rental stores. Now I don't know if there is even one machine in the whole town and surrounding area. Luckily, live about a minutes walk from the nearest (and I believe only) arcade here in the city. It still has a mrs. pac-man unit, Buster Bros, Metal Slug 4, Tetris, Lucky and Wild, and a sit down After Burner cabinate. That's some good stuff. However, outside of that there's basically only gun games, sitdown racers, and dancing games. Even the fighting games are disappearing. I can see why most people don't go to arcades anymore, as I agree with the "console versions are just as good" camp. Why is that by the way? With all the room a cabinate has, it must be possible to put enough junk in there to blow away the graphics of a console, right? Especially considering you have complete control over the screen type.

 

By the way, does anyone remember some weird cowboy game that was in 3D like the chess type game in star wars? That's the first (and probably last) game I can ever remember paying a dollar for, and that was in 1995.

[Artlover]

By the way, does anyone remember some weird cowboy game that was in 3D like the chess type game in star wars?  That's the first (and probably last) game I can ever remember paying a dollar for, and that was in 1995.

1003772[/snapback]

Time Traveler?

 

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=T&game_id=10124

[davepesc]

Can't speak for the Playstation, but we were having these same threads at classic gaming boards for years before the Dreamcast was released.

 

So I wouldn't say the Dreamcast played a role.

1003768[/snapback]

 

 

Besides, like 126 people bought a Dreamcast during it's lifetime.

[Mr_8bit_16bit]

The first reason has to be the playstation or dreamcast in arcade ports to home console quality.  I don't think the 16bit era didn't had much of an effect.  The reason is while there were motal kombat and street fighter 2 ports for genesis and snes, they were not quite as good as they were in the arcade in graphics and sound.  It is true that the ports were getting closer but it took dreamcast to completely perfect the arcade port and playstation nailed the casket shut for the arcades in graphics and sound being better then game consoles. 

 

The second reason was arcades had mostly sports, racing or fighting games in most of the 90's.  The sports games in arcade was caused by arch rivals, super high impact  football, and Nba Jam.  The fighting games were caused by the street fighter and mortal kombat craze.  The down side was there were not many new non sports, racing, or fighting games in the arcade around 1994 or 1995.

 

My thinking it was caused by the dreamcast not playstation due to playstation one was not quite able to due perfect arcade ports in 3d.

1003754[/snapback]

 

On your first paragraph: you took the words right out of my mouth. (stop that.)

 

One thing to highlight: The only thing the PS1/SAT put in their coffins with nails were the SNES/Genesis. All the 32-bit generation did in the arcade situation was change the mentality, shift the direction of thought and therefore the direction of the arcade. -PS1 started us down a road that was lead to the dreamcast.- Sure, you might be able to say that the PS1 maimed the arcade, but it certainly didn't kill it.

 

For the arcade, the PS1 was the prophet of the coming apocolypse, and the DC actually was the apocolypse. Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat on the home systems for all accounts and purposes really did nothing more to damage (or bolster) the arcade than Pac Man on the home systems did.

 

On your second paragraph: You forgot racing.

 

But by and large, you are right. There was very very little that came out after the 32-bit systems did that was not sports, fighting, or racing. DDR is the only notable exception I can ready think of. Those Deer Hunting/Target practice games perhaps, but that could also be considered sports.

 

On your third paragraph: You are correct, sir!

 

I think that Tekken was more or less arcade perfect, but as a rule, the PS1/Saturn version always fell short of the arcade version, even in seeminly umimportant ways such as (as I mentioned in the other thread) texture mapping quality, or qty of polygons or size of polygons (I.e. size of characters) or shading effects or even just speed. Arcade games are usually fast and loud, oft times, the home version would be neither.

 

If you really wanna know my take on this, read the other thread. I did a whole lot of posting on that thread.

[Mr_8bit_16bit]

Can't speak for the Playstation, but we were having these same threads at classic gaming boards for years before the Dreamcast was released.

 

So I wouldn't say the Dreamcast played a role.

1003768[/snapback]

 

There were other factors that were weakening the arcade long before the PS1, let alone the DC. And lets not minimize the PS1/SAT's negative impact on the arcade. With Tekken, that was the moment that people really began to realize that arcade perfect in the homes was attainable, granted, it took a whole other generation to see it to fruition, but it was with tekken that gamers and develpers started heading that way. That may be why nothing of note besides sports, fighting, racing, hunting, and DDR games hit the arcade after then.

 

But the Dreamcast -WAS- the actual death of the arcade. Granted, it did not come into a world where the arcade was this great and mighty armored empire, The dreamcast was not David vs. Goliath. That gives the dreamcast way too much credit.

 

Rather, what happened was a frail, weak, sickly old man took a tumble down a long long flight of stairs, gaining speed as he fell until he hit the hard ground below way too fast and was rendered, bloodied, dazed, and paralyzed. A little while later, a man with a knife comes along and slits his throat and allows him to bleed to death.

 

Now, the symbolism in that is this: the old man is the arcade, falling down the stairs is the gradual and long standing weakening of the arcade, the hard, crippling landing at the bottom was the PS1, and the man with the knife was the dreamcast. The reason I chose knife to the throat rather than bullet between the eyes point blank is that with a slit throat, it still takes you a short, painful while to die, it's not instant like the gun. Likewise, it took the arcade about a year to actually die after the dreamcast came out, it was not an overnight thing. But the dreamcasts arrival was when the slice actually happened.

 

(What's up with me and all of these morbid metaphors?)

[Atarifever]

By the way, does anyone remember some weird cowboy game that was in 3D like the chess type game in star wars?  That's the first (and probably last) game I can ever remember paying a dollar for, and that was in 1995.

1003772[/snapback]

Time Traveler?

 

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=T&game_id=10124

1003774[/snapback]

That'd be it. Thanks.

Edited January 21, 2006 by Atarifever

[Zonie]

Personal Computers, Chat lines, then later the internet.

 

Sure the better consoles started being close or the same as arcade quality, but then telephone chat came around about the same time. PC's started getting more powerful, VGA, and the sound blaster came about, so natch the games got better, then the internet started to draw people.

 

It is ever changing lifestyles. The internet is just the interactive TV they dreamed about in the 70's.

[tyranthraxus]

I remember arcades being popular up until about 1995 or a bit later. Mortal Kombat

and Street Fighter II did more to reviatalize the arcade than kill it through its

dissapointing home versions.

 

The arcades starting dying around when the good old NES hey day began

in the late 80s. That was when arcade games started to have endings like NES

games. Unfortunately all the good game designers seemed to be making home

games because the arcade titles started to look weak. Far too many of the arcade

games of the late 80s and early 90s with games where you could 'buy' the high

score with endless continues with a fresh coin.

 

Still the odd hit would come out and of course the fighters made the scene cool

again until they just ruined it with all the clones and gun games.

 

I really miss the variety and atmosphere of the arcade, I remember standing in what

seemed an endless lineup to play the brand new Double Dragon 2. And how arcade

employess would prowl the place ready to covert dollars into quarters. Now the lone

guy working the place just sits looking board at the counter.

 

I don't think the arcades could really ever gain relevence again unless some really

hot multiplayer game came along.

[MCHufnagel]

I remember arcades being popular up until about 1995 or a bit later. Mortal Kombat

and Street Fighter II did more to reviatalize the arcade than kill it through its

dissapointing home versions.

 

The arcades starting dying around when the good old NES hey day began

in the late 80s. That was when arcade games started to have endings like NES

games. Unfortunately all the good game designers seemed to be making home

games because the arcade titles started to look weak. Far too many of the arcade

games of the late 80s and early 90s with games where you could 'buy' the high

score with endless continues with a fresh coin.

 

Still the odd hit would come out and of course the fighters made the scene cool

again until they just ruined it with all the clones and gun games.

 

I really miss the variety and atmosphere of the arcade, I remember standing in what

seemed an endless lineup to play the brand new Double Dragon 2. And how arcade

employess would prowl the place ready to covert dollars into quarters. Now the lone

guy working the place just sits looking board at the counter.

 

I don't think the arcades could really ever gain relevence again unless some really

hot multiplayer game came along.

1005759[/snapback]

The Internet, Cable TV, better home systems, DVD's, and HDTVs have all contributed to the demise of arcades. Once past the intitial investment (which is usually charged) people can entertain themselves at home far cheaper than pumping money into a machine.

 

But I think the biggest factor is the advent of the big screen tv dominated sports bar. Why not just sit back and drink the night away. Sports is much bigger today than it was 15 years ago. And with networks like ESPN, you can catch a big game every night.

[Mr_8bit_16bit]

But I think the biggest factor is the advent of the big screen tv dominated sports bar. Why not just sit back and drink the night away. Sports is much bigger today than it was 15 years ago. And with networks like ESPN, you can catch a big game every night.

1006036[/snapback]

 

 

No, I disagree. I think the demographics are wrong for big screen sports bars to have killed the arcade. There are too few people who crossover into both camps to have made a make or break difference. In other words, Probably 50% or better, probably better, of the people in the sports bars were never into the arcade scene. And there are too many arcade goers who wouldn'tve been lured out to the bars. Kids mainly, cause they couldn't get en-masse into the bars, and the freaks and geeks who never were sports fans.

 

I'm sure it played a role, but not a deciding one for sure.

 

In order to effect a large enough portion of the arcade demographic, a major change would have to happen internally, in other words, something inside the world of video games. Nothing external could've done it. And that being said, I stand behind my claim that the console hardware catching up to the arcade hardware was the coupe'de'gras that killed a previously weakened arcade.

[supercat]

I don't think the arcades could really ever gain relevence again unless some really

hot multiplayer game came along.

1005759[/snapback]

 

I would think that arcades should remain relevant in places like airports where people are going to be stuck for awhile, but from what I've seen even when airports have arcades they put in a small selection of games that many people will have no interest in (e.g. beat-em up SFclones). If I found an airport arcade with $0.25 games worth playing, I'd be more than happy to play them, but I almost never do.

[MCHufnagel]

But I think the biggest factor is the advent of the big screen tv dominated sports bar. Why not just sit back and drink the night away. Sports is much bigger today than it was 15 years ago. And with networks like ESPN, you can catch a big game every night.

1006036[/snapback]

 

 

No, I disagree. I think the demographics are wrong for big screen sports bars to have killed the arcade. There are too few people who crossover into both camps to have made a make or break difference. In other words, Probably 50% or better, probably better, of the people in the sports bars were never into the arcade scene. And there are too many arcade goers who wouldn'tve been lured out to the bars. Kids mainly, cause they couldn't get en-masse into the bars, and the freaks and geeks who never were sports fans.

 

I'm sure it played a role, but not a deciding one for sure.

 

In order to effect a large enough portion of the arcade demographic, a major change would have to happen internally, in other words, something inside the world of video games. Nothing external could've done it. And that being said, I stand behind my claim that the console hardware catching up to the arcade hardware was the coupe'de'gras that killed a previously weakened arcade.

1006189[/snapback]

 

Maybe you're right about the demograhics. Since I'm 49 and have been drinking legally since I was 18, arcades with bars or bars with games were the places I frequented the most. So my view on that might be off.

 

But a lot of twenty-somethings do go to sports bars and sometimes play pool. When I was in my mid-twenties we played pinball (remember that), pool and video games and rarely just sat and watched sporting events.

[Mr_8bit_16bit]

Well, and again, I'm not saying that it didn't have any impact, but it'd be a poke in the eyes rather than the bullet between them.

[sega saturn x]

I think the final nail in the coffion for arcades is the fact most of the games out there now are from 1999 or the early 2000s. People aren't goignt o be going back to the arcade to play the same game they mastered 4 years ago. It's a shame ebcause arcades can provide things the consoles can't never will, such as gigantic pod racers.

Edited January 25, 2006 by sega saturn x

[MCHufnagel]

I think the final nail in the coffion for arcades is the fact most of the games out there now are from 1999 or the eraly 2000s.  People aren't goignt o be going back to the arcade to play the same game they mastered 4 years ago.  It's a shame ebcause arcades can provide things the consoles can't never will, such as gigantic pod racers.

1006520[/snapback]

 

Or giant screen light gun games. My sons and I love the House Of The Dead and Virtua Cop games. How many light gun games have come out on this generation of home consoles? Is it two or three?

[SteveW]

One of the reasons I stopped going to arcades was because of the cost of a single game. An arcade game went from 25¢ up to $1 in a decade. If I enjoy a game, i'd rather not spend $5 for twenty minutes of gameplay, i'd rather go out and pick up the home version for $20.

 

Why do newly made arcade games cost so much? Those Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga machines that are trickling out nowadays cost something like $3000. The technology inside can't cost that much, considering how much technologically advanced home consoles cost to manufacture. If purchasing new machines weren't such a huge investment for business owners, maybe there'd be more machines being made nowadays.

Edited January 25, 2006 by SteveW

[vanadium]

I think the final nail in the coffion for arcades is the fact most of the games out there now are from 1999 or the eraly 2000s.  People aren't goignt o be going back to the arcade to play the same game they mastered 4 years ago.  It's a shame ebcause arcades can provide things the consoles can't never will, such as gigantic pod racers.

1006520[/snapback]

 

Or giant screen light gun games. My sons and I love the House Of The Dead and Virtua Cop games. How many light gun games have come out on this generation of home consoles? Is it two or three?

1006537[/snapback]

 

To close the coffin and bury it under mounds of dirt, we have Xbox Live replicating the "quarter trail" arcade experience, starting with Street Fighter II. Call your place in line just like the good old days, except there's, uh, not really anyone next to you.

 

And there is seriously a dearth of light gun games. We've got guitars, taiko drums, and congas, but not nearly enough light gun games anymore.

[dalton4life]

I think it came down to 3D consoles with CD quality music killing the arcades and online gaming being the nail in the coffin. I remember a lot of games charging $1.00 at the end. Why pay a $.50 or $1.00 per play when you can play the exact if not better game at home with extras for $40-50 new and even less used? Arcades to me were always about the experience I can't get at home. That why I think places like ESPNzone and Dave and Busters are successful today. They make it an experience beyond just playing video games because we do that at home. I'm sorry if neither place is in your area.

[sega saturn x]

What gets my goat is that some of my favorite video games of all time will never leave the arcades. Star wars arcade is a great example of this, thanks to sega and lucasarts sqwabling I will never be able to play that game on a home system.

[dalton4life]

What gets my goat is that some of my favorite video games of all time will never leave the arcades.  Star wars arcade is a great example of this, thanks to sega and lucasarts sqwabling I will never be able to play that game on a home system.

1006615[/snapback]

 

2 words. Modded Xbox. I can play Star Wars The Arcade Game via Xbox Mame on my big screen. It's one of the best thing about my softmodded Xbox.

Edited January 25, 2006 by dalton4life