uk arcades

[Enemy]

can anyone/all list any uk arcades that still stock shmups/any other electronic games as opposed to fruit machines. i want to tour the uk with them and video them on youtube.

edit, did look very briefly on search but couldn't find any lists. please correct me if i am wrong.

[MX7]

It would be awesome to get a comprehensive list of UK arcades generated one way or another.

From my neck(s) of the woods:

Southend On Sea: Astro City - Several early 2000's CAVE games and some Astro City cabs, natch.
Also a bunch of arcades on the sea front with Virtua Tennis and DDR Supernova and that.

London: Trocadero - Maybe Strikers?
Las Vegas - A few. Maybe Aero Fighters.
HOG - Depends. Costs an arm and a leg to get in.

Hunstanton: ? - There's a good one with Operation Wolf and Mortal Kombat and The Simpsons arcade game. No STGs though.

[PAPER/ARTILLERY]

Excellent idea for a thread. Sadly I can only confirm that there are no arcades in my local area, let alone ones that have shmups available.

[theMot]

can anyone/all list any uk arcades that still stock shmups/any other electronic games as opposed to fruit machines. i want to tour the uk with them and video them on youtube.

edit, did look very briefly on search but couldn't find any lists. please correct me if i am wrong.

You are about 2 deacades late.

There is the one in London though - Heart of Gaming.

[Lordgalvar-II]

I'm flying to Blackpool in about a week. Any arcades there?

[n0rtygames]

London: Trocadero - Maybe Strikers?

Long since closed down I think?

A moments silence please

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIByOJWakfQ

[MX7]

London: Trocadero - Maybe Strikers?

Long since closed down I think?

A moments silence please

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIByOJWakfQ

Nah it's back but it sucks.

Still like this thread idea but it'd be a monumental undertaking; even if arcades are dead there are still hundreds of them in the UK. Best to stick to ones with shooters.

[Smraedis]

I'm flying to Blackpool in about a week. Any arcades there?

6 years too late on this, there are some, but absolutely nothing of interest anymore.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Hunstanton: ? - There's a good one with Operation Wolf and Mortal Kombat and The Simpsons arcade game. No STGs though.

Ha, I was there this week - I think you mean Thomas' Bingo. It has those games (though it's Operation Thunderbolt not Operation Wolf. For some reason the was a button next to the coin slot that added credits for free !!) and also the original Ridge Racer.

The pier had After Burner Climax (£1 per credit, lol) but there was nothing in the way of shmups. A shame, because I played the hell out of Flying Shark and Air Buster in Hunstanton when I was a kid!

[Cee]

There is a new arcade in bridgewater , somerset called timewarp that is a pay on door and everything is free setup ... They definitely have some metal slugs and raiden fighters , bunch of fighters and other stuff. I should pop along soon.

More info on there page https://www.facebook.com/TimewarpArcade

[MX7]

Hunstanton: ? - There's a good one with Operation Wolf and Mortal Kombat and The Simpsons arcade game. No STGs though.

Ha, I was there this week - I think you mean Thomas' Bingo. It has those games (though it's Operation Thunderbolt not Operation Wolf. For some reason the was a button next to the coin slot that added credits for free !!) and also the original Ridge Racer.

The pier had After Burner Climax (£1 per credit, lol) but there was nothing in the way of shmups. A shame, because I played the hell out of Flying Shark and Air Buster in Hunstanton when I was a kid!

Awesome, I try and make it to Hunstanton at least once a year. It definitely has a certain depressing chic. Did you grow up locally or just go on holiday?

[TransatlanticFoe]

From Cambridgeshire but live in Guildford now. Hunstanton was the family seaside day out when I was younger, so usually end up there if I visit the folks in the summer on a decent day. It's actually one of the less tragic seaside resorts in the region! Found a Flying Shark cab in Great Yarmouth (now that is a depressing place) a few years ago but it had a track and field style game in it instead

[neorichieb1971]

Steer clear of Bedford, nothing here.

Blackpool had nothing that I saw a few weeks ago. I remember in Zzap 64 in the 80's how they said Blackpool was the mecca of arcades.

Even in the Philippines (Manila), they have tons of arcades dotted about but finding shmups is pretty hard. You would find tons of Rallying and Tekken machines though.

[mastermx]

All I know is the HOG. All the places I went to as a kid have closed down. The most precious to me being Sega dome, how I loved that place.

Sadly I only ever got to experience the legend of trocadero a few times before it bit the dust.

[Jonst]

The basement of hamleys (the toy shop) in the west end used to have an arcade.I don't know if it still does...went there mid 90's,I wasn't particularly into shmups then,so don't remember if they had any.They did have loads of fighting games and a g-loc though...

[n0rtygames]

Nah it's back but it sucks.

So.. what remains there I wonder?

I know they had a small row of shmups near the fighting games and also just randomly in the middle of one of the floors. Is the whole area back online or is it just smaller or what? Details!

Used to be a regular location for me and the mrs pre marriage when I lived down that way

[Lordgalvar-II]

I'm flying to Blackpool in about a week. Any arcades there?

6 years too late on this, there are some, but absolutely nothing of interest anymore.

Oh well. My wife and I are going to the UK for the first time but will be on foot. Thought it might be a good break between bands at the Winter Gardens. Thanks. At least you guys had arcades in the last decade. I don't really remember any real ones in California in since the 1980s except for that weird one with the Moebius bowling in San Francisco (Metreon).

I know it's an off-topic request but if you have any suggestions for Manchester, Liverpool, or Blackpool (food, arcades, anything) PM me.

[PlanetHarriers]

I've been posting mini write ups about arcades in the UK on my blog

http://planetharriers.blogspot.co.uk/se ... aming%20UK

[Blinge]

Heart of Gaming - Depends. Costs an arm and a leg to get in.

I think you have to approach it differently, it's not a place you can pop in for a couple of credits, chat and leave. If I'm going there, I know i'll be spending most of the day there.

[Terramax]

I can confirm there were no arcades in the Devon or Cornwall areas with shmups in them. At least not when I lived there some 2 years ago.

Sadly, 99% of arcades in the UK have been relegated to overpriced beach resort time wasters. £2 for a go on a lightgun game? F&%k off!

[MX7]

Heart of Gaming - Depends. Costs an arm and a leg to get in.

I think you have to approach it differently, it's not a place you can pop in for a couple of credits, chat and leave. If I'm going there, I know i'll be spending most of the day there.

Come on, one of the big draws of arcade games is that you don't have to spend an entire day playing them!

Paying £10 to get in seems like a good deal for the fighting game people who just stare bug eyed at a screen for eight hours in marathon sessions. Given that a credit lasts a lot longer on a shooting game you'd have to spend even longer trying to get a return on your investment. The selection of shooting games is (currently) pretty lacklustre and there's nothing else in the general vicinity that warrants making the trip. The great thing about The Casino is you could head off for a pint or go shopping while you were there, but that's hard to do in an industrial estate in Acton. I also feel uneasy paying big money to play console games but that's just me.

So in short, it's great for fighting game fans, but not so much for shooting games. Now if they could revamp their pricing structure to include a STG only ticket that would be awesome. Because at the moment I'm just subsiding other people to be there :p

[mastermx]

I haven't been there for some time. But when I went when it first opened it was a fiver to get in. Has that been increased to £10?

[Blinge]

^price is reduced in late afternoon/ evening
I'll probably regret doing this but..

Paying £10 to get in seems like a good deal for the fighting game people who just stare bug eyed at a screen for eight hours in marathon sessions. Given that a credit lasts a lot longer on a shooting game you'd have to spend even longer trying to get a return on your investment.

Only if you're already good at shooters, and even then an accomplished shmupper can get wrecked prettty quickly on an unfamiliar game. Anyway, this is entirely subjective. I'm not the only one who'd happily spend hours on one shmup. As for the venue itself; if they charge any less they'll probably go under.

The selection of shooting games is (currently) pretty lacklustre

Okay, what would they need to get in, in order to fulfill your needs?

The great thing about The Casino is you could head off for a pint or go shopping while you were there

The not so great thing about Casino is it doesn't exist.

So in short, it's great for fighting game fans, but not so much for shooting games. Now if they could revamp their pricing structure to include a STG only ticket that would be awesome. Because at the moment I'm just subsiding other people to be there :p

There's more genres represented than shooters and fighters. How would they enforce an STG only ticket? what's stopping me from getting that and then sneaking off for a couple hours of tekken friendlies.

[Eaglet]

Just having any sort of place with shooters to go to should be enough for anybody on here.
Europe ain't Japan. Shooting players can't be choosers.
If you keep disregarding the "not up to my particular tastes" place it will probably disappear and you'll regret not going there more often.
I know this from actually helping with running a similar place in Stockholm. Unfortunately doesn't exist since more than 2 years ago.
You want such a place to exist? Show it with your wallet.

[MX7]

All good points. I guess my issue is that HOG isn't an arcade, it's more of a clubhouse situated in a location that prohibits passing trade and with an asking price that precludes the curious. It lacks the inherent democracy an arcade offers, instead offering a singular experience to people already versed in arcade games. And that's cool because that's what it is and it's not trying to be anything else.

But I'm being a miserable bastard. Arcades were born of capitalism and conservatism, arcade games designed to extrapolate money in a standardised way. It's really fucking awesome that HOG has managed to sidestep this and do it all without the usually inevitable battery of fruities. I think my biggest gripe is the last 3 times I've been they've just had Ikaruga and Giga Wing, while the arcade 20 mins away from me has a whole bunch of PGM CAVE games and a whole bunch of pubs around it.

@Eaglet - I was going to go on Saturday but then I did the maths and literally couldn't afford it. As much as I would like to support it out of principle, dropping that much cash on a whim isn't an option at the moment, unfortunately.

[Blinge]

I'm really not with you on "inherent democracy" unless you mean that guy at Casino you guys had to constantly nag to loan your boards to so you could pay the venue to play your own games.

Well it's likely HoG's gonna be running Ketsuipachi & others from now on, courtesy of JDE.
Which i'm glad about as i'd never get to play that

I do understand where you're coming from, especially with that place being near you

[Skykid]

I always assumed HOG's most important factor was that it put gamers together again under one roof. Rekindling the social factor is even more important than diversity of games, in a way, although learning to play fighting games would definitely be a plus.

[BuckoA51]

Along the Lincolnshire coast Ingoldmels and Skegness get worse year on year. Ingoldmels I didn't see any shooters and most cabs were in bad condition. One arcade did have a 4 player Daytona though. Skegness is the same story most cabs in poor condition and no sign of any shooters or good retro games.

Skegness was my arcade Mecca growing up, I remember first seeing games like Metal Slug and Raiden there. How times have changed

[Skykid]

Skegness was my arcade Mecca growing up, I remember first seeing games like Metal Slug and Raiden there. How times have changed

Hey same! (highfive)

Wasn't it the most incredible arcade land on earth?

Although Metal Slug and Raiden came later. I started there on Atari's Star Wars, Paper Boy and Pac Land, amongst others. That must make me old. But I'm not.

[BuckoA51]

It was indeed, with the fun fairs and the (admittedly pretty crappy) illuminations there was everything a preteen BuckoA51 could want

I think the arcade near the peer also had a Skykid cabinet for several years.