I love arcade gaming thanks too.....

[tokyochojin]

Me and mates cant get enough of this. So now every Saturday we take a trip down to arcades and spend a small fortune on this bad boy, along with Sega Rally 2 and Sonic Blastman!
Have any of you guys recently been returning to the arcades, or is it a forgotten place for you?

[JU!]

Alrite James wat was that favour you wanted to ask? I have not been to arcades recently cus of shortage of cash, but usually go to Nottingham Namco station, i'll prob nxt go when Tekken 5 gets here or Initial D 3rd stage. Last time i went was to Sheffield to play Out Run 2 which may i add is amazing, bring on the X-Brick Live vers. Never seen that game yr bashin up there tho

[jezzace]

Recently I've been a lot more then I used to play on one game... Outrun 2!!

having said that me and a mate went to a crappy beach arcade but its full of classics I spent about 2 quid on Point blank and a quid in tgi club. I love 30p credit machines!

[Pij]

Last time i went to an arcade was when Bishi Bashi Special was released here (2000?) theres not really any local arcades anymore, I have the odd go on service station machines when im out and about though.

Used to play 3/4 nights a week when Sega World's were still around. Been intending to try the Namco Arcade in Telford, but none of my mates are into games anymore so its not much good on your own

[Yoshimoto]

I usually make the effort to go and play Outrun 2 for an hour or so at least once a week and before that it was Initial D.

The lack of an "arcade scene" in this country is depressing to say the least. I know Outrun 2 is supposed to be the most popular arcade game in recent years but where i play it certainly doesn't seem that way. Far more people appear to willing to put money into those stupid football games where you kick a ball at the machine or bounce up and down on something resembling a horse than they ever do in something that requires a bit of skill.

I know that a lot of people blame the arcade operators for the decline in the industry but i can't help feeling that gamers should at least share the blame.

[Saurian]

I know that a lot of people blame the arcade operators for the decline in the industry but i can't help feeling that gamers should at least share the blame.

I agree man, they do! I wasted 8 years working in arcades and it was depressing - especially when you take pride in providing people with the very latest stuff set-up to absolute perfection. Unless it's got a gun, a steering wheel or it emulates a real life activity very badly they arent interested.

I remember the fight to get Virtual On, only other place in the UK that had it when we did was Hamleys - you think anyone would even so much as look at it?

[Salsa Party Animal]

Arcade games are nice, but it is too expensive to play I mean 2 quid for a racing game.

[Saurian]

Who on Earth is charging ?2 for a racing game?????

It's ?1 for 3 credits on Initial D where I play.

[Ratso]

I live in Brighton and we used to have a whole street full of arcades (West Street), with all the latest cabs but now all but two are gone.

I used to go down several times a week but I hardly ever bother now. This is partly due to the fact that I have an arcade-trumping collection of games at home, but partly because they few remaining arcades don't seem to get anything new in anyway. I'm not sure anywhere in the whole city has an OutRun 2 machine in, though I haven't been on the Pier for quite a while.

On the plus side though, there are a couple of dusty, unintentionally retro arcades, with some old classics in, though most have magnetised monitors and/or dodgy controls.

It's a shame.

[Magnakai]

Where's that?
I've never seen anything less than 1 credit for a 1 pound!

[Madbury]

Ay ?2 is way too much. I remember F355 was up at that mark when it first came out, but dropped to a quid shortly after they ran out of printer paper for it

Seriously though I'm playing more now than I have done in a long time, but its mostly when I can (i.e. service stations) Namco Station in town if I happen to go in for a business meeting, that sort of thing.

For me its the only way to play, since the nearest arcade to me is miles away. My best arcading experience was a few weeks back when I made a special trip up to Oriental City (Saur I know you hate it). Anyway OC is crap compared to what it used to be, but I had a blast. Started out playing Mushi King with a bunch of 8 year olds and they taught me the basic tactics and were wowed by my special holographic Stag Beetle. Then moved over to Initial D Ver 2, where the same 8 year old raced against me. Great fun and a good warm up. (Cheeky sod even held back to let me past, but then couldn't get past me ).. Anyway then I got my arse handed to me by this Jap kid on Akina (I think) downhill wet. He was in an S2000 and I just couldn't catch him up in the 86.

Gave me a glimmer of hope.

[Saurian]

Where's that?
I've never seen anything less than 1 credit for a 1 pound!

Casino - Goodge St

Oriental City when it was Yaohan Plaza was wicked! That when Sega were running the proper Segaworlds and they were heavy for a while but the attitude within the company was such that high standards of operation would never last. Everything went downhill from when Segaworld Troc opened - that was a complete waste of money, being run by a management team who where simply in the wrong line of work - they didnt have a ****ing clue.

[Madbury]

True dat.

I remember when it was Yaohan, it was a joy to go there. Me and my mates went all the time, even bunked off school to go.

They had all of the latest stuff from Japan, it was clean, well run and full of keen Japanese gamers.

Problem is now I think OC is owned by the Chinese and there are less and less Japanese gamers down there. Actually less Japanese shoppers full stop. Its a real shame

There is such a vacuum in the market now, its like when the Cinemas went downtown after video took hold. I can only hope for a revival. Someone somewhere must be able to do something.

[tokyochojin]

Where i live the games aern't the latest so normally the most expensive is a ?1! I mean any game where names such as "grizzly" or "stud" are defaults deserve attention. Especially at only 20p a pop.

TBH i now prefer arcade gaming, it feels far more competetive and you have more of a desire to rule it. Definatley the way in Japan, although i wish they would start a card system for Street Fighter III !

[Saurian]

I am an arcade gamer at heart - it's just that there is nowhere good to play here.

We used to have Namco Wonderpark which was like a little slice of Japan - it was run like a Japanese centre, it was geared purely towards people who are into games and they were raking it in. I used to spend all my money coming to London to challenge at Namco, it's millions of times better than playing games at home.

Namco closed this site in favour for their westminster site which was geared towards tourists - it's complete ****, totally dead. Namco Wonderpark WAS the arcade scene in London, it's dead now apart from the VF and SF3 3rd challenges in Troc.