Shmups in New York

mats_j · Post by **mats_j** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 9:11 am

I'm going to N.Y. for christmas, so I'm just wondering if there are any good arcades with shmups in (or around) town.

I'd also appreciate tips on where to buy games.

Thanks.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:30 pm

I was there a few weeks ago and went looking for arcades, found nothing but Pacman. That city had just about everything though, and is unbelievably big, so theoretically, there should be a few decent places. Enjoy your stay

Texhnolyze · Post by **Texhnolyze** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:35 pm

If you want an arcade then look no further than Chinatown Fair:

http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/1 ... _fair.html

They have shmups (Strikers 1945, Raiden Fighters, and others) and lots more fighting games (Tekken V, Neo Geo , Capcom).

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 3:53 am

Chinatown Fair is the best arcade ever. I used to go there all the time. No kiddy bullshit (besides DDR), just a big dark corridor with fighters and shmups. The way God intended arcades to be.

mats_j · Post by **mats_j** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 9:13 am

Thanks for the tip! Chinatown Fair sounds really good, I will definitely check it out.

AntiPasta · Post by **AntiPasta** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 10:23 am

If you want to pick up games, DONT go to J&L though - they have about everything, but at horrible prices and often in shitty condition. You might try looking for a store called "multimedia one", I've heard some good things about it.

Texhnolyze · Post by **Texhnolyze** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:44 pm

mats_j wrote:Thanks for the tip! Chinatown Fair sounds really good, I will definitely check it out.

No problem. And to get your blood sugar up to play shmups, you should try my favorite Chinatown restaurant, the Excellent Dumpling House:

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdeta ... antid=1994

UnscathedFlyingObject · Fri Dec 02, 2005 5:42 pm

AntiPasta wrote:If you want to pick up games, DONT go to J&L though - they have about everything, but at horrible prices and often in shitty condition. You might try looking for a store called "multimedia one", I've heard some good things about it.

Yeah, avoid J&L. Go to the small store in the underground mall just across the street. They usually have games a couple dollars less than the normal price (eg. a 50 game for 48 and no taxes.)

mats_j · Post by **mats_j** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 8:32 pm

Excuse my ignorance, but what is J&L...? And where is it located (So I can go across the street)?

And thanks for the restaurant tip -- I love dumplings!

discoalucardx · Post by **discoalucardx** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 2:17 am

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:
AntiPasta wrote:If you want to pick up games, DONT go to J&L though - they have about everything, but at horrible prices and often in shitty condition. You might try looking for a store called "multimedia one", I've heard some good things about it.
Yeah, avoid J&L. Go to the small store in the underground mall just across the street. They usually have games a couple dollars less than the normal price (eg. a 50 game for 48 and no taxes.)

I bought Twinkle Star Sprites for the Saturn there for $45 (at J&L). They had Battle Garegga for $50 but I didn't have the cash. This was years ago though.

In general they're overpriced, but you can still find some decent things here and there.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Sat Dec 03, 2005 2:18 am

J&L is in 26 Elizabeth Street in Chinatown. I took the address from another thread 'cause I can never remember it, though I've been in that place countless of times.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 5:05 am

J&L used to be awesome for Dreamcast imports. Worth going to since in general they're overpriced but as with any store if you look around you're bound to find some item in a corner that's cheap and something you want. I remember I got Rent A Hero No. 1, Code Veronica X DC and a few other things there for very reasonable prices.

Plus it was just plain cool to know there was a store still where you could walk in and see Neo Geo games just there on the shelf in the boxes and everything.

Multimedia stores are great, there's one in St. Mark's Place, forget the address though.

The underground mall is AWESOME. Got the boxed Dreamcast Daisenryaku European Front there for like $20. Usually good deals on import handheld stuff too. Tons of mini-anime/action figure/etc. shops around also.

Balzac · Post by **Balzac** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:06 am

Mutlimedia is overpriced to hell and back. Boxed used Trubographx Duo for 300$? Used NES for 70-80$ ? Used Sega Saturn for 75$?

The whole place caters too people with a lot of money too lazy to look on ebay or a garage sale. Either that, or college hipsters that suddenly remembered they played mario as a kid and need a working NES to show they're "old school".

With that said, they do have a huge collection of rare stuff, and you can find some fairly priced imports amongst the 50$+ markup crap, but overall I've found most non-online stores, to not be worth it.

Fighter17 · Post by **Fighter17** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:43 am

New York City is a great place for pizza (best place in the US to eat pizza). If you go to Brooklyn, go to Sheepshead Bay, and then find the Sheepshead Bay Diner (I think I spelled diner wrong). Just order their Romanian Steaks, OMG the best steaks in the world. I used to live in Brooklyn, but housing went off the roof and crime was too high so I left (used to live in Canarsie, Brooklyn).

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 3:59 am

or college hipsters that suddenly remembered they played mario as a kid and need a working NES to show they're "old school".

EVERY DAMN DAY someone comes into the store exactly like this asking if we carry the NES system. Then they ask what Mario games are out on the XBox.

Nullsleep · Post by **Nullsleep** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 9:36 am

Balzac is right about Multimedia 1.0 being extremely overpriced as well. In general I've found J&L preferable if I have to choose between the two. But both are pretty fun to browse through even if you're not buying anything. As others have said, check out the Chinatown arcade ... pretty much the only arcade worth stopping into in nyc now.

And on the pizza tip, I have to throw in a good word for Koronet Pizza on 110th and bway. Definitely grab a slice there if you're uptown, biggest slice of pizza you'll ever see, a staple of the average Columbia University student's diet.

mats_j · Post by **mats_j** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:29 pm

Thanks for all the tips. I think I'll check out both J&L and Multimedia. Even if it is overpriced it's fun just to browse.

I find it odd that there seem to be so few good arcades in one of the biggest citites in the world though...

Texhnolyze · Post by **Texhnolyze** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 6:42 pm

This morning I went to Chinatown Fair after some Christmas shopping and found only three shmups: Raiden Fighters, GigaWing, and Galaga. The other two machines, Mars Matrix and Viper Phase 1, were not working. There are plenty of SNK, Capcom, and Sega fighters.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 7:24 pm

Viper Phase-1 must have broken pretty recently.

They had a ton of Eighting/Raizing stuff too at one point.

llaoyllakcuf · Post by **llaoyllakcuf** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 7:06 pm

They had a ton of Eighting/Raizing stuff too at one point.

I remember about 3 years ago they had Dimahoo.

on a side note, it was actually one of my first experiences with a modern style 'manic' shmup.