by Alex “SupaSlick” Shaw

Rest in Peace Old Friend

When was the last time you were in an arcade? I’m not talking about the four crappy games they’ve got at your local movie theatre or mall; I’m talking about the HUGE arcades, the ones where you often had to buy $10 in tokens just to get in. Well let me tell you, times have changed.

Once there was a day in my youth when I would die to go to those places. I would beg mom for a ride – and pined for the day I could drive after she turned me down. To me it was my own special Disney World. One in particular was called Grand Prix Race-o-Rama (now it’s morphed into a bastardization called Boomers – more on that later). Anyway, GP always had the latest and greatest in gaming goodness. Games that I wouldn’t find anywhere else. Never-ending rows of fighting and action cabinets that would make you drool. Some even drew crowds and lines of people waiting to play! You know, with the little line of quarters on them signaling “I got next.” They had stuff that you would talk to your friends about playing after school, even to the point of sparking competitions - like the ones you see in cheesy 80’s movies! Well maybe not like that, but you get the picture.

There were so many that you wanted to play, you treated your token stash like it came from the Scrooge McDuck money bin. Any game that required TWO tokens must be considered worthy before playing. Well, if you take a look at those places today you’ll notice a drastic, undeniable difference.

So what’s changed? Well, besides the fact big arcades have dwindled to a near non-existence, it’s what you’ll find inside them that’s truly eye-widening. On a recent jaunt to recapture my youth, I went to the aforementioned “Boomers.” Mostly I was curious to see what was considered “big” in arcades today. Sure the crappy food, cheap ass prizes and overpriced underpowered go-carts were still there …but that’s where the similarities ended.

The closest thing I could compare what laid before me was a casino for children. Gone were the truly good games, replaced with almost nothing but chance games to win tickets. Nothing but money-stealing electronic and mechanical garbage designed to trick you into thinking you can win more crap. The only real games I saw were the big interactive ones, like gun games, racers, and flight sims.

Finally, don’t even get me started on the tokens, or should I say lack there of – now it’s all electronic “debit cards!” Oh the humanity!!!! What’s even worse about those cards is the pricing scheme, and I do mean scheme! The rip-offs going on in those places should be on 20/20! Since the prices are electronic, they all can have DECIMAL points! One game can cost 2.3 “credits” – what kind of BS is that?! That’s great – let’s not only rip everyone off a little at a time, but let’s also confuse them on how much they’ve spent, so they’ll spend more!!!! Just swipe, pay, lose … repeat! Cries of “Mommy, mommy, my card is empty” made me cringe!

So when did the good times of arcade exhilaration hit extinction? Really it depends on your age, and what consoles you had. For me it probably began when the big fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat made it to the SNES and Genesis generations. However even then, arcades were still pretty cool. I think the final nail in the coffin was when games went to cd with the PS1 and Dreamcast – by then the graphics seemed to mirror what was in the arcades, and playing again didn’t cost you 50cents each time! It certainly explains why today you only see the interactive games, they’re just too big to play at home!

I guess what they say is true, you really can’t go home again.

Goodbye arcades – I’ll miss you.

What are your fondest arcade memories?
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