I had never played a shmup in an arcade until today

[shiftace]

I found a Raiden Fighters Jet cab at some mall around here recently, paid a dollar to get my ass kicked for maybe 5 minutes. 25c a pop.

[IlMrm]

I recently found a Strikers 1945 Plus and Raiden II machine. I found out how rusty I got in Strikers Plus, and how angry Raiden II still makes me. And the Strikers Plus machine the setting is easier than the one I used to play. But I have to pay the three dollar bridge toll to get back.

The best time of arcade shmup gaming has got to be my vacation in Japan. When I was staying with my sister in the countryside, I would take the train to Tokyo to play at HEY. I would leave her place around seven, take the bullet train for 2 1/2 hours to Tokyo, reserve a train ticket for the last train back, play at HEY for around eight hours, then ride the last train back. Eight hours of bullet patterns and second hand smoke. Ahh good times.

When I was wandering around her town I found an arcade that has DDP and Strikers II. Good times again.

[Ghegs]

I've played a shmup in an arcade a few times - the first time was many, many years ago, long before I had any real interest in the genre. I remember it was a vert in space. That's it. Would be interesting to know what game it was, but I have absolutely no clues whatsoever so it's a lost cause, though I might recognize the ship if I saw it again. It was a very standard space fighter type though, so even that might not work.

There's actually a "shitloads of games in one"-cab at the local movie theater, which has Ghost Pilots, Andro Dunos, Sonic Wings and some others. I wouldn't mind playing Sonic Wings there, but there's no chair and the controls are slightly too low for me, my wrists are in an awkward angle and my right hand starts hurting fast after tapping the firebutton constantly. I've been asking for a chair there, but no luck...

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

I've played a shmup in an arcade a few times - the first time was many, many years ago, long before I had any real interest in the genre. I remember it was a vert in space. That's it. Would be interesting to know what game it was, but I have absolutely no clues whatsoever so it's a lost cause, though I might recognize the ship if I saw it again. It was a very standard space fighter type though, so even that might not work.

There's actually a "shitloads of games in one"-cab at the local movie theater, which has Ghost Pilots, Andro Dunos, Sonic Wings and some others. I wouldn't mind playing Sonic Wings there, but there's no chair and the controls are slightly too low for me, my wrists are in an awkward angle and my right hand starts hurting fast after tapping the firebutton constantly. I've been asking for a chair there, but no luck...

Which is the same exact reason I hate standing at a cab. I feel as though I'm too tall to play em comfortably.
As far as cabs go, I prefer those Japanese "sit down on a bench style". No, I've never played on one, but they look as thought they are similar to my home setup. I hope to own one, one day.

[Marc]

Damn, I used to have two fuckin cool arcades near where I lived 10-15 years or so ago. One had Street Fighter 1(six button, not punch pads), Saboten Bombers, Road Blasters, Out Run, Vulcan Venture, R-Type, SFII Turbo, Op Wolf, Hyper Sports and Chase H.Q. to name just a few. How cool? The other wasn't quite as good, still had Strider, Cisco Heat, the obligatory SF2 machine, and a Neo 4-slot as I remember. My fave was the bowling alley nearby simply for its Out Runners 2-player sit down.

Then times changed, one of em now does slot machines only, and the other has just been demolished after being empty for the past six or so years. Damn I miss those bygone days. Nothing quite like the thrill of playing a REAL coin-op in a REAL arcade with other gamers.

[snap monkey]

If Springfield Mall wasn't a 40 minute drive for me, I'd visit said arcade more because I always end up playing better in the arcade than at home (and I already own both the DC and PS2 ports of GB2).

I'd visit Springfield Mall more often if I wasn't so afraid of getting shot while I'm there. However, I did not know GB2 was available there; If I'm ever there again I'll definitely check it out.

[The Bullet Dodger]

The only shmup I've ever played in an arcade was Truxton. And that was in the local Little Manuel's mexican restaurant of all places. Pretty sad huh?

Yeah, not too many arcades in my area. I'd have to waste some gas and get on the freeway to go to the next biggest arcade, which would probably be Q-Zar. But they probably don't have any GOOD arcades in there anyway.

[DEL]

Its good to see that people still value the arcades, even if they don't exist .

Kiken - Yes, I also play better on an arcade cab.

Ghegs/TWITCH - Stand up cabs are too low for me as well. I drag a Damn 3ft bin around Casino arcade and sit on it. A bit uncomfortable, but it works.

Marc pretty much summed it up for me;
"Nothing quite like the thrill of playing a REAL coin-op in a REAL arcade with other gamers."

[Molloy]

I found an arcade in Dublin I hadn't visited before yesterday. They didn't have a shmup (just Metal Slug and KoF 97 and 00) but what they did have was Mahjong. Two minty New Astro City cabinets with those wierd panels with 40+ buttons on them. Hadn't seen an Astro in the flesh before. Beautiful cab. These ones were pretty spotless as well. Barely any yellowing.

[Dewclaw]

Nothin like a good arcade...I would assume at least My town used to have a couple game rooms, but now there are nothing but video slot machine parlors. There used to be this one corner store called Flo's that had Karnov, Spy Hunter, Black Knight Pinball, Street Fighter 2 and a Neo 4-slot cab but it was the first to give in to the 8-liner vanguard.

I live in a small city(about 11000 population) and there are 5 or 6 of these places. Since gambling for money isn't allowed here, as far as I know these people are playing just for the "fun" of it. It blows my mind that someone would replace actual games with these ridiculous things. As far as I know, the only game in town is a 1942 and a broken Rastan machine at a convenience store I know of. How depressing...

[Capt. Takehiko]

In the Akihabara Don Quixote, on the 7th floor, they have all the games on freeplay. You just pay 400 yen ($4) per hour and play anything you want. Even Outrun 2!

Lots of shmups of course. I was playing Espgaluda the other day.

Whoa. That sounds awesome

There's an arcade that runs a similar deal in the unofficial Korea town of Sydney. Walls and walls of shmup. And fighters too.

[flux]

The only times I've ever played a shmup in the arcade was last year when I played Raiden 2 (which is what got me into shmups) and the original R-type at the movie theater a while before that. Since I've started playing, both places have gotten rid of their machines. The closest thing to a shmup either one has now is the Metal Slug 3 cab in the movie theater, which has half working joysticks.

[captain ahar]

lucky ass me. i'm florida by way of Greyhound and i ran into some shmups on my way (in greyhound terminals no less). detroit had Raiden 2, which was the most merciless game experience i have yet had. i could only get just mast the 2 walkers in stage 1 before some shit tank pointblanked me at around an inch away.

louisville had strikers 1945 vol 1. which was sort of unfun because some asshole made me let him join and the two player rank killed me quick.

tampa had a namco classics cab with Xevious, Super Xevious, and Arrange Xevious on it. friggin amazing! here, i'll say it louder friggin amazing! and again, friggin amazing!

seriously, playing Xevious was the most eye-opening playtime i have had in quite awhile. also, there were several Galagas. *raspberry, haha*

[russ]

Hmm... there's a Strikers 1945 cab at a local CiCi's Pizza, but the control panel is serious jacked up from all the kids banging on it with their greasy claws. Though here's a surprise: in this small suburb of Dallas, I went to this one "free-play arcade" where you pay by the hour, and through the mess of Mortal Kombat games and endless racing games, packed into the corner was a Metal Slug 3 cab and a generic cab with Mars Matrix in it!

[captain ahar]

also, in Atlanta they had a (broken) Wyvern cabinet. too bad though, i wanted to give it a shotaroony.

[iatneH]

My school's arcade has some free play nights from time to time, where it's $10 to play from 21:00 to 24:00.

I only really play ESP RaDe, and I'm not much good at anything else to make it actually worth my money to go play, since the Bemani stuff are usually occupied by a couple of absolute GODS....

It's 25 cents per credit on ESP RaDe too, and on a typical run I can get about 10-15 minutes now (hooray boss milking), so playing for the full 3 hours using just quarters for the credits might only cost me around $5...

I've lately taken a liking something fierce to Guitar Freaks V though...

[Bishamon]

It's been years since this town had a decent arcade.

I remember skipping class in high school to play R-Type, Truxton, and Arkanoid. Those were the days. *sniff* Sadly, the only place you'll find more than one or two cabinets these days is at the local 'megaplex' movie house.

[Specineff]

Other than the CyberStation at MetroCenter Mall, arcades in Phoenix are pretty much fuXX0red.

[russ]

Other than the CyberStation at MetroCenter Mall, arcades in Phoenix are pretty much fuXX0red.

Is there any shmups at this place? MetroCenter is sort of far from where I'm at in Phoenix, don't want to to waste my time....

[Specineff]

Not that I'm aware of. It's pretty much racing, DDR, and gun games with some fighters mixed in.

[Blade]

It's not fair, Namco should make shmups once in a while, I'm sick of all the Time Crisis, Tekken, and House of the Dead clones.

And I miss Pizzatime, goshdarnit!