I've been following the emulation scene since the late 90s and have really come to appreciate how important a cultural preservation emulation is providing. It's more than just nostalgia, these machines were literally the focal point around which entire cultural milieus were constructed.
If you didn't grow up when arcades were healthy, there's literally nothing similar to them today. The local Dave and Busters has the games, but the mood and setting is all wrong. Stepping through the entrance at your local mall arcade was like walking out the backside of a magic wardrobe. The lights and sounds instantly drove parental units away and a curious kid could wander around with pocket change and try a few games and take control of skilled fighters, jet planes, space ships, skateboarders and on and on forever.
Forging skill, he could become a minor celebrity in this world, if he could top the high score, or compete harder than all challengers, a crowd would literally gather and start cheering the player on..and soon you had this https://youtu.be/07Upyd9EVog?t=84
With so many people in one place, all doing the same things, with competition and champions, losers and cheaters, how could a culture not spontaneously emerge?
I can't really think of any similar phenomenon today and work like this, and a few scattered preservationist barcades and personal collections might be the only thing that comes close.
> I can't really think of any similar phenomenon today and work like this
Japan still have a lively arcade scene. True, it's much less alive than how it was 25 years ago, but there's still many places where you can play games, retro and recent ones. There's a famous place in Tokyo where fans of Street Fighter 2 gather to fight against each other, following the rule "if you lose your fight, you let your seat to someone else and go wait in the queue". Those are some of the best players of SF2, and I could not even manage to every win a fight :/
There's always a bunch of 40 year old guys as well who regularly finish a famous shoot'em up with one credit, which is just amazing seeing how hard some of them are. (And this tells you how much cash they spent on them to reach that kind of level!).
The only thing I don't enjoy so much about these places in Japan: most people are smoking, and therefore it smells like shit there and you can throw your shirt in the trash after an evening there.
I can so relate to this notion of a lost culture or era.
In grades 4-6 I lived near Olympia, Washington, as my father was stationed at Ft. Lewis. Me and my peers were all gaming/computer types. I had an Atari 2600 and a TI-99/4A, another had a Timex Sinclair and Intellivision, another a ColecoVision (no computer), and 2 others had an Apple II (no consoles). All of us played games on the computers, of course, and all of us tried our hands at programming, whether it was copying lines of BASIC from a computer book (I had BASIC Computer Games, Vol 1, I think) or exploring the rabbit hole of peeks and pokes found in magazines. In hindsight, I suppose this fact alone in the early 80s was a sign of privilege many never had.
There was a local arcade called Shadowfax, and my buddies and I would spend hours there on Friday or Saturday nights. The place ran on tokens, not quarters. And if you bought $10 worth, you'd get double the tokens -- 2 whole rolls. So $20 would set us young dudes up for hours of fun.
The low lighting, the neon, the thumping bass from the cabinets themselves, and the ambient music. It all set the mood. I'm pretty certain there was even smoking allowed back then, well before the Clean Air Act stuff kicked in.
A row of quarters on the marquee marking one's place in line for a chance to be the next winner or loser in the PvP game of choice. The thrill of making that pattern work in Pacman, and the rage of your last man getting eaten a mere 3 dots away from getting to see the 3rd intermission. The awesomeness of those vector graphics games (Star Wars, Tempest, Asteroids, etc.). The odd combination of annoyance, envy, and admiration of that one dude who through raw skill could monopolize a favorite game of yours for hours at a stretch. The token weasley kid who slyly showed you how to get free credits by using washers or jamming a flattened soda straw into the coin slot. Or that asshole who unplugged the cabinet and erased your hard-earned initials from the #1 rank.
Such good times.
Sure, some of the above can be chalked up to the rose-colored tint of reminiscing about a long-lost youth -- I'm sure guys 20+ years my senior can similarly wax poetic about the pinball era. But that time was so exciting for me, as it was for so many here I'm sure. The atmosphere and culture was so unique and interesting, with a camaraderie that was unique at the time. Video games were becoming big, and personal computing was just ramping up. I'm glad I was able to enjoy that era at the age in which I did. It had no small influence on who I am today. And while my kids were playing and loving the old classics thanks to MAME at a very young age, they'll never truly know the joy of the arcade.
Of course, now that I can enjoy a beer, the fact that both these arcades serve fantastic beer and some food sure doesn't hurt. I'm only sad that I don't live in Portland or Denver near these arcades...
Ground Kontrol is absolutely awesome. I've only been there once, but it was as close to those glory days as I've ever experienced. Absolutely amazing place to go hang out for a few hours. I can't believe the ages of some of the hardware they have working there, stuff that would normally be in a museum behind glass, you can walk right up to and play in anger.
If you didn't grow up when arcades were healthy, there's literally nothing similar to them today. The local Dave and Busters has the games, but the mood and setting is all wrong. Stepping through the entrance at your local mall arcade was like walking out the backside of a magic wardrobe. The lights and sounds instantly drove parental units away and a curious kid could wander around with pocket change and try a few games and take control of skilled fighters, jet planes, space ships, skateboarders and on and on forever.
Forging skill, he could become a minor celebrity in this world, if he could top the high score, or compete harder than all challengers, a crowd would literally gather and start cheering the player on..and soon you had this https://youtu.be/07Upyd9EVog?t=84
With so many people in one place, all doing the same things, with competition and champions, losers and cheaters, how could a culture not spontaneously emerge?
I can't really think of any similar phenomenon today and work like this, and a few scattered preservationist barcades and personal collections might be the only thing that comes close.
I'm just sad I never made it to Luna City before it closed http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02...