arcade locations in the united states

[musicalbacon]

hey everyone,

so i'm newer to shmups, so i'm sorry if this question has been asked 300 times, or if it's just a hilariously stupid question. how often do new arcade titles from companies such as cave make it over to the united states, and how do we find out about the locations? is it 100 percent collectors buying pcbs for their house, or do some arcades import cabinets? is there any funspot arcade or barcade type place specifically geared towards newer arcade games and not retro ware? i'm looking for anything in the northeast essentially.

[Miher]

There are definitely arcades in the U.S. that have newer games, but places with imports are rare, mostly left to niche markets nowadays. Locations that import PCBs are pretty few and far between, I'd guess no more than 10-20 places in the whole country. I know in Rochester, NY (where I'm from) there's an anime store that currently has Progear and Deathsmiles, along with a few other non-shmup Japanese arcade games, and rumor has it that they're getting two verts, so that's pretty cool.

As far as finding out about the locations, I'd assume that many have a presence on the Internet, but I don't know if anyone's made a specific database. From memory, they're mostly in CA, TX, and various places on the East Coast.

[zendor118]

dave and busters (braintree ma and providence RI) have fairly recent arcade amusements, though not many shmups. I dont remember seeing any cave games anywhere, the last shmup I saw anywhere was raiden fighters. Try bowling alleys, i know around the Boston area you can try Boston Bowl and Lanes and Games. But again, there probably aren't any shmups there.
Old Orchard Beach, ME still has two amusement centers by the beach with arcade gaming. Not sure if they have a lot of recent games, but I do know they have ddr/beatmania there if you're into that genre.

[Thjodbjorn]

Galloping Ghost arcade near Chicago is supposed to have Daioujou.

[Yoshi]

Lost Ark Video Games in Greensboro, NC has a few candy cabs and has at least one shooter running all of the time from my experience. Of course, they are the last picture on the linked page.

[Pretas]

Pinball Wizard in Pelham, NH doesn't have much in the way of shooters, but has a great collection of pinball tables and retro arcade games. They're also pretty good about repairing broken machines.

Fun & Games in Natick, MA has apparently been in business since the eighties, and was still a great arcade about ten years ago. Now it's a depressing warehouse of broken games and redemption machines that sees little traffic. They have Viper Phase 1 and Strikers 1945, but both were broken the last time I was there.

Tokyo Game Action was a legendary arcade in Winchendon, MA that had imported Espgaluda and Gradius IV PCBs. They also had Street Fighter IV cabinets before the game was even out on consoles. Unfortunately, they had to auction everything off several years ago due to financial issues, and the owner moved to Japan.

[WedgeAntilles]

Dorky's in Tacoma, WA is more of a vintage arcade place with plenty of classics and lots of pinball. I think I spotted a few of the old-school shmups the last time I was in there (Galaga, Galaxian). Good times!

[wnka]

In Seattle we are lucky to have Full Tilt Ice Cream in Ballard where there are lots of pinball machines and some arcade games. There are some candy cabs there and the operator (bobbyconover) is kind to the shmup scene and we have one cabinet for shmups that we rotate games on. Currently we have RayForce there, in the past we've had Ketsui, Espgaluda II, Ibara Kuro, Mushihimesama, Gunbird 2, and others. A bunch of us from the area meet there weekly. It is a fantastic place and anyone in or visiting Seattle should check it out!

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

I've never seen a Cave game in an arcade in my entire life and I've sought them out and visited every one near everywhere I've lived and visited. If you did find one I would imagine it would be one of the cheaper boards and not overall successful. I haven't been to an arcade that regularly brings in brand new game kits since the 1990s. Actually there was one I went to around 2002 that still did. One. They had a bunch of oldies too.

If you do find an arcade in the US today chances are it's a "classic" arcade or barcade. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but no Cave. The last shooting game I saw showing up all over the place (even an ice cream shop and a karaoke bar) was Strikers 1945, and it stayed popular way past its day.

Seattle I guess is about as hip as it gets here.

[Deca]

In town the best I've come across is Raiden Fighters Jet and Border Down (which is gone now.) I've played Progear at an arcade we drove down to in either Kentucky or Tennessee when BlazBlue first came out in arcades, it was one of a few places in the US that got a machine. There's also a manga shop by my friends place in Buffalo, NY that has Deathsmiles and Progear. Cleared that DS cab on the only credit I played on it with a NMNB on Jitterbug, that was pretty cool since there was a crowd watching near the end (even though the score was awful because I have no idea how to properly score in that game)

So yeah they're around, but they're anything but common.

[Zerst]

Www.Aurcade.com is a site formed to compete against TG's silliness, run by a cool guy. Its main purpose is to hold and maintain a database of all games in all arcades in the US. (Though the score database suffers from TG style silliness like calling 6 million in ikaruga a world record)

[cj iwakura]

Arcade Odyssey in Miami, FL(Kendall area) has a shmup on rotation. Last I went they had Muchi Muchi Pork and Raiden IV. In the past they've had EspGaLuda and Mushihimesama.

[Some-Mist]

Galloping Ghost arcade near Chicago is supposed to have Daioujou.

It does. I've played on it a couple of times.

There are definitely arcades in the U.S. that have newer games, but places with imports are rare, mostly left to niche markets nowadays. Locations that import PCBs are pretty few and far between, I'd guess no more than 10-20 places in the whole country. I know in Rochester, NY (where I'm from) there's an anime store that currently has Progear and Deathsmiles, along with a few other non-shmup Japanese arcade games, and rumor has it that they're getting two verts, so that's pretty cool.

As far as finding out about the locations, I'd assume that many have a presence on the Internet, but I don't know if anyone's made a specific database. From memory, they're mostly in CA, TX, and various places on the East Coast.

Chicago's (actually in Lagrange probably 20 minutes west)Galloping Ghost arcade imports shmups. They have DoDonPachi DaiOuJou, DonPachi, Ikaruga, Mars Matrix, Truxton, Radiant Silvergun, not to mention they're working on getting Battle Garegga, Hellfire, Truxton 2, and DoDonPachi. The owners are really cool too - they helped me out with my Armed Police Batrider PCB and they have classes on repairing cabinets and superguns/jamma harnesses.
http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/games_list.htm

definitely worth checking out if you're in the chicagoland area ($15 entry fee and everything is on free to play).

Not that it helps out the northeast, but it's cool to know another place in the US supports import shmups.

[orbus]

$15 entry fee and everything is on free to play

Not to derail the thread, but I think if you're going to open an arcade in the US market these days, this is the way to go. Flat entry fee, setup some pool tables and things as well. Sell beer, setup a coffee bar, or bare minimum a drink fountain. Put in some couches and things as a hangout area. In the right neighborhood, like near a college campus, could do quite well.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Raging Waters in San Dimas, California has all of the Raiden Fighters games I believe. Another great arcade I visited is Nickel Nickel 5 Cent games in West Covina; admission was $2, and games were a nickel, except the older classic games were always on free play. They had Raiden, Raiden DX, Strikers 1945, Flying Shark, Galaga, and lots more. That location has since closed, but there is one located in Whittier, but I'm not sure what games they have there. The Playland Arcade at Santa Monica Pier has Raiden II, Aero Fighters, Galaga, Soul Calibur, Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs Capcom 2, etc. It's rare to find arcades with good shmups anymore, but I'm sure there are quite a few in Los Angeles. Here where I live in Palmdale, the only shmup I currently have seen is a Raiden DX in an indoor swap meet mall.

[Domino]

Arcade Odyssey in Miami, FL(Kendall area) has a shmup on rotation. Last I went they had Muchi Muchi Pork and Raiden IV. In the past they've had EspGaLuda and Mushihimesama.

They keep changing out games as an incentive to come in. I haven't been there but that's one thing I did notice when browsing their FB page.

[Kaire]

We have a few shmups at my arcade in Upland, CA

Shikigami No Shiro III
Strikers 1945 III
Raiden Fighters
Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive
ESP Ra.De.

Come check us out. James Games is located in the Inland Empire.
Here is their facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/James-Ga ... 99?fref=ts

[zeroroute]

2nd'ing lost ark. I went there last summer and I think they had esp.ra.de.

[BrianC]

Flippers in Grandy, NC doesn't have a lot in the way of shmups (closest are old school games like Centipede, Asteroids, and Defender), but it does have a lot of pinball machines, both older and newer. It also has one of the original 13 Big Bang Bar machines. Addams Family, Attack from Mars, and Star Trek TNG were modified with the color DMDs.

Crab Towne USA in Glen Burnie, MD, has a lot of classic arcades, a few pinballs. Last time I was there, they didn't have much in the way in shmups, but they did have Forgotten Worlds, Assault (shmup-ish), and a few old school games like Gyruss.

[GohanX]

2nd'ing lost ark. I went there last summer and I think they had esp.ra.de.

Thirding. They usually have at least one Cave dedicated cab (with Seimitsu parts,) I've seen Esp.ra.de, Ibara, and Progear on it at different times. I fell in love with Progear.

[nullstar]

Pinball Wizard in Pelham, NH doesn't have much in the way of shooters...

At present, they list Viper Phase 1 and Raiden DX, Gala*, and the major classic arena shooters. Its not enough to justify the drive alone, but it's worth a detour for VP1.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The Yogurt Station in Oakdale, CA has a Capcom CPS1 based 3 Wonders PCB (with the Chariots shmup) up & running inside an upright Dynamo cab but the monitor needs some serious work or replacing to be able to play it properly. Has the usual Happ controls in place for both Player 1 & 2. Takes quarters as the gold choice to credit it up.

There was an indie arcade hangout in Riverbank, CA back in early 2010 but it didn't last too long due to having just older arcade games (but no shmups) and the occassional pool table + air hockey setup. I think if they had some of the more recent arcade game titles, they'd still be in business today (as it's best to have the "latest 'n' greatest" to keep the customers/dough rolling in -- if you don't do that, such an arcade ain't gonna last long & fizzle away quite easily).

Nickle Play on McHenry Ave. in Modesto, CA closed it's doors for good back in May of 1998 and there hasn't been another indie arcade hangout since then. They were the only arcade to carry some cool arcade shmup titles like: Donpachi, Viper Phase 1 U.S.A., Raiden II, Outzone, Strikers 1945, R-Shark, Raiden Fighters, and got in Blazing Star back in February of 1998 (same debut month for the JPN release of BS in Japan's game centers as well for the USA based arcades) running on a MVS multi-slot cab (when it was spanking brand new).

There's a lone Psikyo produced Gunbird 2 running on a Dynamo upright cab (but the screen freezes up on the main title screen as of right now) at the Modesto, CA based McHenry Bowl joint. Upon closer inspection of this particular cab, you'll find a full-color original Psikyo Gunbird 2 instruction strip printed entirely in English (which is quite uber-rare these days to see in the wilds even today). I wouldn't mind paying a bit to have it professionally scanned or just buy it outright to accompany my barebones GB-2 PCB for completeness.

If you go back a bit further in the timeline into the Modesto, CA based arcades back in the early 1990s, the Regency Game Palace had some cool arcade shmups to play like: 3 Wonders, Galaga, Vapor Trail, Turbo Force (with three seperate Happ joysticks & the usual two push button layout per player -- so it was cool to play a 3-player serious shmup session of TF back in the day), Raiden II (debut back in February of '94), Forgotten Worlds, Space Fortress Macross, etc. Sadly, they too, shut down back in July of 1994. Tokens were considered the gold choice to credit up the numerous arcade games and pinball machines there.

Camelot Park in Modesto, CA (aka Boomers nowadays) used to have the following shmups: Air Buster, Galaga, Super Galaxian, Twin Eagle II, Raiden II, etc back in the early-to-mid 1990s.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[null1024]

Arcade Odyssey in Miami, FL(Kendall area) has a shmup on rotation. Last I went they had Muchi Muchi Pork and Raiden IV. In the past they've had EspGaLuda and Mushihimesama.

I love this place, but it's been ages since I've gone. A fair amount of what they have are import games. Usually go there to play Virtual On with my friends though.
last I went, they had Raiden IV and Mushihimesama Futari BL [really! I think I made a post in the Shmup Ticker thread]

[whitey]

Went back to Flint Michigan over the summer, stopped into Playland arcade in Grand Blanc, i hadn't been there in 15 years. The arcade has a lot less games and pinballs than it use to, but was happy to see Donpachi installed in a cab and working.

[Pretas]

Pinball Wizard in Pelham, NH doesn't have much in the way of shooters...

At present, they list Viper Phase 1 and Raiden DX, Gala*, and the major classic arena shooters. Its not enough to justify the drive alone, but it's worth a detour for VP1.

The monitor on their Raiden DX cabinet is heavily burnt out, and the P1 joystick was busted last time I tried it. PW is very proactive in keeping their pinballs maintained in full working order, but aren't so fastidious about their video games.

[Knockworstface]

Going to Arcade Odyssey in Miami Fl today. I'll report back as to what shmups that's have on hand.

[Domino]

Video Game Rescue in Jacksonville, FL is expanding with an arcade arcade. From the pictures on their facebook page they will have R-Type and 19XX to start with.

[Jeneki]

I stop by the Zap Arcade just south of Minneapolis MN every once in a while to play Raiden Fighters, Dragon Breed, and Sky Shark. Although the Raiden Fighters control panel makes me upset that such an awesome game has such a bad layout: It looks like it was a 3-player control panel at one time, and the joystick is rotated at this goofy angle.

Gotta love woody cabs that are jury rigged to work with different games.

[Knockworstface]

Arcade Odyssey in Miami Fl...only had two modern shmups. Raiden IV and Ibara. I was told that they will be swapping out Raiden IV for Death Smiles 2 in the near future. They had a ton of fighting games. Fans of that genre would be happy with the fighting games selections there.

[Doctor Butler]

Eight on the Break in Dunellen, NJ has Giga-Wing.

Yestercades in Red Bank, NJ has Galaga, and an MVS with Metal Slug (and KoF 99).

(Not really shmups per se, but still)