Retro arcade

[Ord]

Sorry if i've posted this in the wrong section, but i'm VERY drunk and if so please mods feel free to move it.
I was talking to my friend whilst on the piss and we passed an arcade between pubs, and it was the most dismall of affairs that consisted of one house of the dead III machine , a couple of other coin-ops ( mostly busted) and fruit machines. We walked in had a look and walked out MOST glum!
Now i don't know if it was this site or some other but i remember a forum member opening a retro arcade and it being a dysmal flop.
I expressed an intrest to, IF not opening a retro arcade then at least visiting one, which my friend agreed would be cool, but would ultimatly be a failure.
How could this be? Imagine having an R-type or street fighter compitition (with adverts in the paper), imagine recreating the same atmosphere of our youth (fag smoke, looking cool & apathetic, trying for the high score etc) HOW could this fail?
My friend assured me that i was looking to the past with rose tinted glasses and that although arcades back then were indeed cool as fuck ( and have yet to be bettered), people look to the future (graphics!) and don't look for gameplay any more but look for the gimmicks (light guns, force feedback steering wheels etc). He assured me that the arcade was DEAD (R.I.P!!)
Is this really true? Do you think the idea of a retro arcade is ridiculous? And if so why?
Sure i'm drunk right now but at the moment the idea of a retro arcade with compititions/play offs etc sounds bloody cool to me.
What do you think folks?

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

Sure, a retro arcade would be great...but only us here at Shmups.com would ever go there. Well, ok, some other people from some other sites, but that would be not enough!
Most people don't care about arcades anymore, and as far as "retro" games go, most can be bought and played on current consoles(but you knew that), also, emulation and computers have pretty much killed any chance at an arcade becoming a success.

It seems that the only place where this type of atomosphere exsist is in Japan where you took those pictures. Even then, you were the only person in there.

But yea, Billiards and Dart tournaments are very popular in the USA at bars, etc, I always thought it would be cool to have tournaments with video games like DoDonPachi and the likes. I could imagine leagues of players competing for the high scores, but seriously, this probably wouldn't work. Very few people would (maybe) show up once, to "check it out/see whats up". After that, the interest would most likely die, and they would go back to their "pub" games.

[MovingTarget]

I've never seen a single shootemup arcade machine in Scotland ever

[it290]

I went to this place in Portland that was a retro arcade. Not much in the way of shmups, but they had a lot of great classic games. This was about a year and a half ago, and they're still open AFAIK... actually I believe they moved into a larger space, and I think they have tournaments and what not there. Place is called Ground Kontrol. They also sell Atari and Nintendo consoles, games, and accessories.

[tehkao]

I had the same inspiration to open up a retro arcade a few years back, I planned to buy about 15 Astro City machines and just put nothing but shmups and run and guns and 2D fighters in them, but then never went thru with my plan....

I did buy one Astro City though. But I guess you can't have an arcade with just one machine...

[Bydo Dragon]

Does anyone else have a Dave & Busters in their area? D&B is probably the closest thing you'll get to a real arcade anymore. They have your general gimmick-ridden coin-guzzlers of the 21st century, but they also have an entire section cordoned off for nothing but retro--Galaga, R-TYPE, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man, Pinball, a Neo-Geo or two--and also the larger-buget things, such as a pod-version of BattleTech. For a while there was a really awesome 6-player, movie-screen-sized version of Galaxian in there, also. Alas, that one is gone now...

[dave4shmups]

I have a Dave and Busters, but I personally think the games stink. I always end up playing the Space Invaders 25th Anniversary/Qix cab-other then that cab, and maybe a Namco Ms. Pacman/Galaga cab-that's all they have! No retro section at all-I ought to call up and complain, or at least make the suggestion that they set-up a retro section-you're lucky man!

There's another place here in Denver called Fat City, and it has a much better arcade. Got to try out Hydro Thunder, San Francisco Rush, Outrun 2, F-Zero GX, and some Japanese vs. fighting game called "Joy-Ro"-which was housed in a Japanese slim-line cab! Great place.

There is another place in town called Nickle-A-Play, which has only old-school games, and each play costs a nickle-I've GOT to get over there someday.

[Ganelon]

Is this really true? Do you think the idea of a retro arcade is ridiculous? And if so why?

In the US at least, yes. As TWITCH said, nobody will waste quarters on games they can easily emulate or buy for $2 on an older system. Proper arcades with music games, lightgun shooters, and racers do poorly in the US; there's absolutely no chance for a retro arcade.

There's a Dave & Busters around my area but I haven't been there in about 6 years. Last I saw, they had plenty of Capcom fighters.

[tehkao]

but they also have an entire section cordoned off for nothing but retro--Galaga, R-TYPE, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man, Pinball, a Neo-Geo or two

Really? Which Dave and Busters? None of the ones I've seen here in California have any shmups or 2D fighters at all.

The only thing close to an "retro arcade" that still exists that I know of is Arcade Infinity in Rowland Heights, CA. Last I saw they had Border Down, Psyvariar 2, and a bunch of other Naomi cabs.

[Bydo Dragon]

*points at "location" under avatar* The last time I went back, they were down to a couple of the retro uprights, but they still had R-TYPE, Galaga, one Neo-Geo (with Last Resort and King of the Monsters II, which are two faves of mine) and a multi-game "classics" up there, along with a few pinball games. When I asked what happened to Street Fighter and the rest, they said the machines got worn out and broken, but "promised" they would get more--I figure this to be a likely story, but at least they're making an attempt. This was a year ago--I plan on going back this summer sometime to see if the classics section still exists.

EDIT: Anyone else in the Atlanta area remember TILT! in Perimeter mall (which has since been replaced by a Gap, if I remember correctly)? That place *ruled* 10 years ago...

[DEL]

Unfortunately, anyone opening up a Retro Arcade featuring new and old 2D shoot'em ups & platforms, would have to be independently rich enough to do it as a hobby and not as a commercial enterprise.

I have daily proof that such an arcade would not make money.

The reasons why are many and have been listed before;

*Money - Arcades are greedy and want 4 minute thrill ride games, not games that reward you with extended playing time for skill.
+ SFII/TekkenV challenging also makes the arcades quick money.

*Fashion - People on the whole are SHEEP, blindly following fashion. (Swiss Sheep excluded of course).

*Brainwashing - The general public has been successfully brainwashed into thinking that pseudo 3D games are where its at & that JAP 2D shooters don't exist. CULPRITS = developers and publishers who want you to buy their own products = monopolisation. This brainwashing must surely have filtered into arcade goers heads.

*Consoles

*Slots/Fruit Machines AWPs - make MUCH more money for arcades these days (in the UK, not in the USA where I believe that slot machines can only be operated in Casinos).

In fact, when I come to think of it, the removal of skill has been a general theme for Fruit/Slot Machines also in the past few years. To explain, UK fruit machines used to have skill features and tricks that could be exploited by skilled players. That was, until 2 years ago, when the slots/fruits industry removed skill features from all UK All Wins Payout machines (AWPs).
Skill has been removed from the arcade video games too (in terms of gametime). Outrunners 2 lasts 4 mins to completion, so does Tekken, so do almost all Driving games & Dance Dance machines that you find in every arcade nowadays.
The Manufacturer now has complete control over the Arcade.

As a result, we lose out.

I'm a forward looking guy, I don't want to wallow in the past, but upon reflection, the days gone by were better for the Consumer.

OFF TOPIC: Skill has also been removed from other industries in recent years. eg. Skill taken away from the Music Industry =Boy & Girl Bands = Control = Monopolisation.

[Frogacuda]

There's an awesome retro-arcade in Seaside Heights, NJ called "Flashbacks". Nothing but 80s (and some early 90s/late 70s) games and pinball machines. Great stuff, does very well too.

[CMoon]

but they also have an entire section cordoned off for nothing but retro--Galaga, R-TYPE, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man, Pinball, a Neo-Geo or two

Really? Which Dave and Busters? None of the ones I've seen here in California have any shmups or 2D fighters at all.

Same problem here in Rhode Island. We have a D&B and it stinks!