Whos arcade was best growing up?

Coin-operated games and arcades.
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andygeezer
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by andygeezer »

Memories. Remember when arcades had more than 5 games. Clacton used to be awesome in the late 80's till mid 90's.

Feel sorry for anyone under 27 as they probably missed out.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by Hewitson »

The arcades here that were the best growing up are still the best ones now. I should take some photos of them for you guys.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by LEGENOARYNINLIA »

Kernow finally shared with us the list of his favourite arcade games! :awe:
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by crunchywasp »

Wow, Truro arcade sounds like it was ace back in the day. Pity it's gone to the dogs :(

The arcade I have some of the fondest memories of was The Big Top which was in a holiday park in Berwick Upon Tweed. It was all woodies / dedicated. The ones I remember most, for a variety of reasons, were:

G-Loc
Rastan
Raiden
Bad Dudes
The Super Spy
Turtles
Simpsons
Space Harrier
Final Fight
Continental Circus
Power Drift
Operation Wolf
Operation Thunderbolt
Wonderboy
Dragon's Lair
Sega Hologram game
Double Dragon 3 Rosetta Stone
Street Fighter 2 WW

The arcade I visited most often however was in the local bowling alley. Again, all woodies/dedicated. The ones I remember the most were:

Alien vs Predator
Sega Rally
Golden Axe
ESWAT
G LOC
SF2:CE
NBA Jam
HOTD 1 & 2
Virtua Cop 1
a Mortal Kombat of some description
Fatal Fury Special
Samurai Shodown 2
World Heroes
King of the Monsters
Art of Fighting
GTI Club
Ridge Racer


And the bowling alley/laser tag place in Dundee which I visited reasonably regularly always had Model 1 & 2 stuff on woodies / dedicated & Naomis from memory. They used to always get the new stuff in pretty sharpish too. The ones I remember the most were:

Virtua Racing
Virtua Striker
Daytona 4 player
Virtua Fighter 1 & 2
Virtua Cop
HOTD

I remember when I first saw VR & VF running for the first time I was blown away.

I've visited none of the above for probably the last 10+ years or so. I expect they've all gone the same way as Truro.

I really miss those days but I'm glad I was at the right age I was when it was all going on.
kernow wrote: I always used to put a quid in SF2 and then lock it up with the guile bugs on vega on the last credit and then get 5 more because I'd tell them it crashed :awe: used to be on it for a good while.
:lol: :awe:
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by yosai »

Now we know why you're called Kern. :whoopsie:

The arcades in Portsmouth were good. Two on the seafront with a stack of different games, Kingston Leisure with a stack of Neo stuff and a small arcade in the Tricorn with some fighters and SF2 boots.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by geotrig »

:awe: we had 3 arcades in the city and another one opened for about 11/2 (never went there was full of scumbags)
I only really went to one of these(I think its only a pool/snooker hall now ) but it was the better one anyway, it had 20ish probably more pool tables, i'd say 15+ snooker tables ,a pay per hour console area where they had some neo geo's :awe: untill one got robbed :roll: (remember this was early 90's so was out of anyone i know's budget to own,)and a laser tag upstairs there eventually added 94-95ish, also a laneway behind that was used for dates ;), we where only 12-15/16ish so nothing too bad :shifty:
games wise this was from 89..90ish to around 97/98ish most where there all the time some changed over the years in and out etc. i dont remember alot of the earlier ones as i was clueless :palm:

sitdowns where :chase hq(was once left open and we got about 50 quid out of it ) :awe:
daytona (think it was an 8 seater downsized eventually to 4)
virtua racing think it was called that ..sega rally ,
outrunners,F1 Exhaust Note,
Continental Circus or game simillar to this ,Special Criminal Investigation,
Cyber Cycles,Cyber Sled, atari hard drivin:
Probably was more i know there was a bike game just cant remember which one, manx tt was in another arcade:think:
almost certain it was suzuka 8 hrs


cabs 30+ of them where fairly decent and all the same, plain red upright (straight screen with two plastic seats attached) ..dont think they where electrocoins .loads of mvs one slots ran in these .f3 etc
games that where there that i can remember where :

puzzle bobble (must have been the higest earner), samurai showdown ,and 2,
windjammers :awe: neo drift out, last resort ,
3 wonders ,sf2ww,sf2 ce and a couple of hack version,
sf the movie :awe: :awe: , snow bros ,
caveman ninja ,ghouls n ghosts. carrier airwing,
un squadron, mortal kombat , supersidekicks,
hyper athlete,metal slug (not sure which one prob just 1 )fatal fury again not sure which ones ,
art of fighting, bubble bobble,hatrick hero,
pang 3,super pang,cadillacs and dinosaurs,
rtype,king of monsters,world rally,mile milla,
knights of the round , kof's 94 .think maybe 95 as well cant remember there was definitly more games just cant remember now i can remember a lot of the layout but they did change it around a couple of times

dedicated cabs where :
killer instinct 1,vagually remember 2
virtua fighter
soul edge
police trainer
mortal kombat 2,3
tekken 1 ,2
nba jam
hot rod
revolution x
virtua cop 1 ,2
primal rage

other arcades had :
hotd afterburner ,final fight ,wrestlefest ,pit fighter, manx tt(think that is still there and in **** :( ) hit the ice,manx tt ,neo turf masters,
jesus its really is hard to remember all of them :(
Last edited by geotrig on December 3rd, 2012, 3:40 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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<trk>:I remember catching a big fat one and my friend said "throw it back in, that one already tastes like wood"
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by SuperPang »

Unfortunately I didn't grow up with local arcades. Aside from the odd machine here and there (MVS at the swimming pool, a nice selection of dedicated at Megabowl and the cinema), most of my arcade experiences were at the coast during the summer holidays. Most memorably visiting Seaton Carew and the like with my cousins.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by geotrig »

kernow wrote:nice

I held on for years for SF3 to appear but it never did, that was the 3d console era where arcades were dwindling, I didn't get to play it for about 6yrs after it came out when I eventually bought a DC.
yeah we had a load more in drivers early on as well cant remember half of them though so selection was pretty good tbh we never did get a ssf2 that i know of or sf3 :(

only place that i had seen a stand up driver was on the boat to england and the 1st time i saw a 4 slot machine was at a seaside resort where i just though it was wrong having 4 games in one cab :lolno: :oops: thinking it was some hack job :palm:
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<trk>:I remember catching a big fat one and my friend said "throw it back in, that one already tastes like wood"
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by chubsta »

The Rotunda in Folkestone - it had EVERYTHING over the years, most games wont mean much to young 'uns such as yourself but for example...

Ridge Racer full size (with the MX5)
Discs of Tron Environmental
TX-1 3 screen
Buggy Boy 3 Screen
R-360
Time Traveller
Peter PackRat
Food Fight

basically every game that is now considered ultra-rare was there at some point...

Of course, it also had a huge selection of the later games but i cant stand most of them so cant remember what they were!
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by gradius »

Birmingham had an ice cream shop called Davilles in the city centre. I used to spend loads of time there between about 1985 and 1990. It was basically a basement full of stand up cabs.

From memory they had.

Nemesis
Salamander
Rastan
Rygar
Jailbreak
R-type
Bubble Bobble
Super Sprint
Out Run
Side Arms
Slap Fight
Xain D'Sleena
Trojan
Dragons Lair
Afterburner
Super Hang-On
Section Z
Star Force
Paperboy
Gauntlet
ASO
Double Dragon
Wonderboy

I stayed away from there after about 1990 but I'm sure it became pretty popular with fighting game fans.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by skykappah »

At it's height, my town had 2 arcades from what I can remember..

The bigger one was T.C.'s:
Sega Rally twins
Daytona 4p
Metal Slug
X-men vs Street Fighter
Gunblade
Tekken 2
Alpine Racer
Street Fighter Alpha
Killer Instinct 1 or 2
They removed some to make way for a DDR machine during it's end I think..

The smaller one was Lynx Arcades... (Can't remember too well about the name though...)
Super Street Fighter 2
KOF's
Cruisin USA
Mortal Kombat 2 or 3

To speed up their deaths they went strictly gambling machines and killed themselves off.

Edit: I actually remember another one now!! Small dingy looking thing that was underground.. horrible and darkly lit...
Besides a Super Street Fighter 2 they had a Neo Geo cab with multi games and I got quite far on Last Resort.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by emphatic »

In my town, there were no real arcades, just video rentals or burger joints. At most, there were 4 cabinets and maybe 2 or three pinballs. But, the operators who had the machines imported Japanese PCB's, (most cabs were generic JAMMA ones) and I got to play lots of great games over the years.

The video rental 5 minutes walk from my home in the 80's had two woodies (at first single-player cabs, then 2-player ones):

Athena
Commando
Solomon's Key
Flying Shark
Tiger Heli
Twin Cobra
Slap Fight
Rastan Saga
Rush n' Crash
XX Mission
Argus No Senshi
Halley's Comet
Ninja-Kid II
Terra Cresta
New Zealand Story
Psycho-Nics O.S.C.A.R.
Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom
Double Dragon
Alien Syndrome
Midnight Resistance
Gemini Wing
Tokio
Arkanoid
Kid Niki
Sonic Boom
Image Fight
Metal Slug
Aero Fighters 2
King Of Dragons
Knights Of The Round
Robocop
Dark Seal
Alien Vs. Predator
Street Fighter 2
Marvel Vs. Street Fighter
Children Of The Atom
Galaga '88
Super Space Invaders '91
'88 Games
Track & Field
Hyper Olympics
Karnov
Mag Max
R-Type
Asuka & Asuka
Wardner
Willow
Three Wonders
Bad Dudes
Sly Spy
Snow Bros
Tiger Road
Hammerin' Harry
Thunder Cross
Heavy Unit
Twin Hawk
Cabal
Golden Axe
1943
Mutant Night

They had the games changed about once every two months. I don't think more than two days went by without a visit there, even when I wasn't allowed to play as they had a very strict 15 year restriction. :(
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by Ex_Mosquito »

When i was growing up in Newport, South Wales, we never had a dedicated arcade that allowed me inside ;/ We have a franchise of arcades called 'Stardust' which used to have a load of jamma cabs but it was over 18only, So I was left with pool halls, videoshops, chipshops, kebab shops, taxi ranks to get my arcades gaming. I remember my favorite place in the 80's between 86-90' was a videoshop in the dodgy end of the town centre called 'big john's video'. This place used to have all the classics: (to me anyway) Shinobi, R-type, golden axe, 1942, Pacland.. and every Saturday I was in there most of the day spending my paper round money. It was a pretty dodgy place full of dickheads' trying to steal credits.. I remember one kid(****!) whenever I tried to play Shinobi he used to try and push me off the machine and said "want me to get you an extra?"... Erm no thanks. I was addicted (not a bad way) to this place. I remember getting home from primary school, getting on my rollerskates and skating 1mile into town to play on Shinobi. (I hope my mum isn't reading this forum, if she knew I did that at 9 years old I'm gonna get mega done!)

Fast forward to 91' big johns had closed down and was forced to play in a Taxi rank waiting room, kebab shops and a pool/snooker hall called Mr Q's, consisting of about 10 Jamma cabs that were frequently changed. Mr Q's was my main haunt from 91-95 until it closed down. This is where I did most of SF2 playing and various other classic non-fighters. Every Saturday and most days after school in the week you'd catch me in here, I LOVED the place. They used to have a bouncer/change man there who didn't put up with any **** and was a safe place to play. It's a stark contrast to a cafe at the other end of town that used to have a grotty dark arcade at the back that my mate got mugged for his money by knifepoint, safe to say I didn't go in there much.

Not to say I never had my own share of trouble. I remember playing a guy on sf2 in a kebab shop in the town and beating him, so when I'd finished my go and I unlocked my bike from outsid he tried to steal if off me! Luckily the guy in the kebab shop came to my rescue. And another time I beat a kid on sf2 ww and he punch me in the face! (only punch I've taken to the face to this day!) bad loser or what! He had a **** Chun anyway!

Fast forward to 94-99'. We use have an indoor market type place called 'inshops'. It was mainly small own businesses, you know: shoe shops, knock off clothes, birthday cards. And out of nowhere one day an arcade opened with at least 30 bas jamma cabs and a few dedicated fighters and gun games! I couldn't believe it! Safe to say this was my new place to go. I loved that place. but like the others, it wasn't too safe. For some reason arcades in my area attracts dickheads. Every Saturday the place was crammed with kids, naught kids! I witnessed a few fights in that place. I was too busy playing time crisis and house of the dead to really notice, though ;)

There were about 5 other cool places that had a few Jamma cabs but I won't bore you with the details. Overall our town had it good for arcades in the day. With that, and my summer holidays at seaside arcade caravan parks, uk arcades made my childhood. We still have a local seaside near me 25mins down the road called 'Barry island' ( yeah, Gavin and Stacey) but it's suffered the same as everywhere else, redemption games and fruit machines... That's isn't an arcade in my eyes.
Last edited by Ex_Mosquito on December 3rd, 2012, 5:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by Paulie »

At my local shop in the village about 5 mins walk from my house they had about half a dozen cabs and a pool table upstairs. i remember they had double dragon and kung fu master. There were a couple of smallish amusements in town, Storeys and i cant remember the name of the other one. Then there was the odd cab in the chippy, cinema etc and there was a table top with bomb jack in a local pub where my parents would take me for scampi in a basket when I were a lad. There were also places to game in Leeds and Sheffield which were not too far away for me.

But the best arcades were always to be found by the seaside, we always used to holiday in the UK and there were some amazing places to play games, sadly we didn't have anything as good as those locally.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by gundarN »

I used to go camping in North Shields every summer back in the 80's (don't ask...) and Whitley Bay was packed full of arcades back then.
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Slightly later in life, I frequented The Big Apple in Glasgow.
First place I saw Ridge Racer amongst other games.
Glasgow had a pretty good selection of arcades in the early 90's, back when pinball tables were everywhere.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by Alukid »

andygeezer wrote:Memories. Remember when arcades had more than 5 games. Clacton used to be awesome in the late 80's till mid 90's.

Yeah.. lived in london at that time, i remember Clacton around mid 80's.. Awesome !
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by tony starks »

This thread is :awe:
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by supergoose »

Arcades were pretty much ilegal in our country. There might have been one in berlin, but otherwise you were lucky if you found a lonely polyplay cab in a youth center or hotel.
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by CharlieF »

Didn't have regular acces to an arcade unitl I was at college. The one I remember fondly was in Pwllheli near the outside market area where we spent hoidays when I was growing up.
I can remember the placement of most of the cabs even now.
Machines it had over the years:

PacLand
Rastan Saga
Commando
Up 'n' Down
Kung Fu Master
Burnin' Rubber
Ghosts & Goblins
Mad Planets
JumpBug
Zaxxon
Amidar
Xain d'Sleena

I really miss going. I have been back since and wish I hadn't.
Anyone here remember it in it's hayday?
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Re: Whos arcade was best growing up?

Post by strykr »

Grew up in southend, many arcades, cabs cabs cabs as far as the eye could see, lined up along the walls with hundreds of games. you name it it was there.

If i had that delorean i'd be back there in its heyday in a heartbeat! Not once did i ever think that I would go travelling as an 18 year old and at 21 they would all be gone replaced by fruitys and propcycle ****.

And like many, I have no photos of them in their glory.......:(

But I have a hatful of blinding memories :)
Last edited by strykr on December 10th, 2012, 10:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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