Remembrance of an Arcade Gaming Pastime ?

The sun was setting, leaving an orange tinged sky to gently illuminate the streets. As we opened the door to this building, we were met with a looming cloud of smoke. Tentatively, we walked in and could vaguely make out the silhouettes of arcade cabinets and gamers crowding around the more popular arcade titles. This was our first visit to our small town?s first arcade amusement venue, which was actually a renovated taxi office. That fog like atmosphere created in the venue was many of the teenagers smoking, which was commonplace in arcades. Having just started up, the new arcade venue only had some of the classic titles available, with the likes of Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Pitfall. As much as we admired these undeniable classics and enjoyed the sense of community spirit in the room, we wanted to taste the new blood of arcade gaming that only a bigger amusement arcade could offer.

A memorable moment from a memorable game

To many arcade historians and literature, the early 1980s is considered the golden age of the arcade gaming, but to us, the golden age truly belonged to the later 1980s. This was a time when our little community began sprouting arcade cabinets all over the place, be it a dedicated arcade amusement, takeaway outlet, public bar, caf? or ice rink. It was a time for our arcade senses to awaken.

Luckily, one of our local takeaway shops began bringing in an arcade cabinet to line up next to where people queued up for their food. One of the earlier game?s was the iconic Double Dragon. The classic side scrolling beat-?em-up has been considered as a reason for the arcade?s mini surge in popularity during the late 1980s and with two player mayhem and superb gameplay, who can argue with that. Other games that were equally memorable in that same venue were Shinobi, Cabal, Altered Beast (which didn?t seem to play that bad in the arcades), Salamander and Robocop.

Sega's classic Shinobi was never prefectly converted over to any home games console

As great as these games were, we wanted to see what else was out there. We wanted to experience the arcade games that the local takeaways just couldn?t get in to their shop. So we travelled 13 miles to get to an arcade venue that would cater to our gaming needs. As we strolled into the dimly lit building, we were met with the distinct clatter of amusement machines in the foreground and the distinct sound effects of games from the other half of the building. Here we could see the likes of the large gun mounted cab of Operation Wolf, the wheel/foot pedal combo of Chase H.Q., the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles four-player cabinet and much more. There was something special about playing in that atmospheric building with a group of friends and some good humored rivalry. We had found our arcade gaming paradise, but it wasn?t to last.

As the 1990s came, the arcades took quite a hit from the increasingly higher technical abilities of the home games consoles, particularly the Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo. It was becoming less appealing to travel to the local arcades to play a game that you could essentially play at home on your home games console. Games like Strider, Ghouls ?n Ghosts, Golden Axe and the popular Street Fighter II were successfully ported over to the new games consoles with virtually arcade perfect results.

Operation Wolf kick started the light gun shooter game clone wars

Of course, the arcades still survived, mainly due to the innovative nature of the cabinets, with the likes of four player sit-down cabinets that home consoles just couldn?t provide, but by the time 32-bit generations of gaming consoles arrived, the arcade?s days were numbered. By now, it wasn?t the arcades that was leading the way in gaming technology but the home consoles of the PlayStation, Saturn and N64. Gone were the days of mass arcade conversions to the home machines, but rather the other way around as the arcades borrowed elements from the consoles? games.

Returning back to our old arcade gaming jaunts brings a startling reality jolt of how bad arcade gaming has become. The local taxi office turned arcade venue has long been replaced by various stores, including a caf? and charity shop. The local takeaway and ice rink no longer have arcade games cabinets, but instead, have slot machines in their place ? apparently, people?s appetite for throwing their money away in a fruitless attempt of winning something back hasn?t waned. The only place that has arcade venues these days tend to be the larger cities or coastal towns where there are plenty of visitors or people on holiday.

Chase H.Q. was the pioneer of the ram-'em-up racing genre

By the turn of the century, console generations progressed with yet better technical abilities. Arcade gaming was now possible on the home PC with the?development of MAME?and arcade games compilations were being released across the many platforms. All these ways that?we can play our games has led to the demise of our industry?s forefather. The arcades gave birth to videogaming and in return the new videogame consoles had turned round and put the arcades into an early grave. Whether we have meant to or not, we?re all partly to blame for this. We?ve ignored the arcades so much since the mid 1990s that we may well have hammered those last nails into the arcade?s coffin ourselves.

Source: http://gamefanmag.com/gf-retro/remembrance-of-an-arcade-gaming-pastime

morganza spillway angelman syndrome smallville finale machiavelli spook frida kahlo costa rica