Arcades

[Hirst]

Hirst I've never played the first Lethal Enforcers (obvs know of it though) but your post makes me really want to do so!

Do you know which is the best port? I'm seeing on Reddit people saying that the PS1 version has accuracy issues.

The Mega CD port is the best one to actually play, despite the low colours and lack of being able to leave scenes riddled with bullet holes. The PS1 version is a messy port and doesn't play right.

[wakka]

Top tip. Thanks mate.

[Nu-Eclipse]

*snip*

It's a mark of M2's excellence with the Sega 3D Classics Collection on 3DS that the gyrometer motion controls are so good that it almost perfectly recreates the Super Hang-On coin-op controls.

[QualityChimp]

There was an arcade game from the 80s that was the precursor to Hang-On, where you had a full-size scrambler bike that ran on rollers and you had to follow a light and that would give you a score.

I can't seem to find a decent photo of it, but it looked like this:



Anyone else remember it?
We're talking 80s arcades.

[Yakumo]

I know that. I distinctly remember the cabinet that you mentioned.
It was wasn't some form of Enduro Racer was it?

[QualityChimp]

Probably predates Enduro Racer as there's no actual screen/graphics.

It's just a bike on a pole that moves on rollers as you turn the handles and you have to track a light that moves left and right.

[hudson]

Enduro Racer. Wasnt that the one where you had to pull up the handlebars to do jumps? Good times. I so badly wanted my bad copied spectrum version to load. It never did. It was number 096 on my C90. Was my own fault for being a child pirate.

[QualityChimp]

That's the fella, but there was a stand-up and sit-down version with the tilting handlebars, but also a bigger one with a motorbike saddle, where you raised the whole seat up like you're doing a wheelie.



This isn't the game I'm thinking of, though.

[QualityChimp]

Went to Retro Realm for an hour yesterday.
My subscription auto-renewed, which I'm a bit annoyed about (I'm a bit skint at the moment!), so thought I should try and squeeze a trip in.

Another gripe is that a few cabs weren't set up right.
I tried playing Steel Gunner 2 and the 1p gun didn't go up.
The Capcom AvP cab didn't allow my character to move down.
The Hokuto No Ken cab had the joystick on P1, but the buttons on P2!

I don't want to be a dick about it as I really want it to be a success, but there's no point saying it's perfect, when it's not.

However, I still had a great time, moving on to one of the dozens of other games if I hit a problem.

Loads more cabs being shuffled around and a few problem ones getting phased out.

Steel Gunner 2 was fun on the working gun. Made me want to play Operation Wolf and Thuderbolt again with them little uzis.
Hokuto No ken was fun, even straddling the controls! Wish I knew the controls as it looks superb - anime come to life!
Guitar Hero Arcade saw me hitting Paranoid again.

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[wakka]

I just spotted yesterday that my local barcade Four Quarters has opened a new branch near London Bridge and the pictures show it has Rave Racer!!

Bloody love Rave Racer. Haven't played it in years and years. The Mountain course (incorporated into later games under the name Greenpeak Highlands) is an absolute banger and an all-timer of a Ridge track.

They've also got Eighteen Wheeler, which is a game I also like and which you rarely see.

I love that barcades are a thing but I do find that they tend to emphasise the same handful of games - Time Crisises, Houses of the Dead, Outrun 2s, Crazy Taxis, etc. Bangers all but I've played a lot of them. So it's really great to see some deeper cuts.

It's only about 20 mins cycle for me so I'm gonna zip over and check it out this weekend I reckon.

I'm really pleased for Four Quarters, they've got a bunch of branches now and it seems to have gone from strength to strength. My local Peckham one is the original branch and I've met the owners a few times while just hanging out there, nice people.

[endo]

Will most likely checking this out next Wednesday as I'll be out and about round that way. The place we went on holiday two years ago had an 18-wheeler cab, which our youngest loved. Being able to sit down with a massive steering wheel, gear shift, pedals (that he couldn't reach- I had to do them!), and a goddamn HORN, blew his little mind. It was amazing to see that feeling of "Wow, this is so cool!" he had playing it. Exactly the same feeling I had playing Outrun nearly 40 (!) years ago.

I've emulated it here for him, but it's obviously not the same. It's great to see games like this being properly preserved now.

[Wools]

I've just come back from a 2 week trip to Japan and had a stunning time.

Since I was a kid, I've seen all the glorious shots of Akihabara over the years; From the first shots of the lines of people queuing up to buy Sega Saturns and PlayStation's, to the walls full of new games, to the Arcade's filling the dingy lit rooms with neon colour from CRT's and over the years, that excitement has never left me. Yes, I know Japan and Akihabara is not the same, focusing on retro games and past glories, but the gaming landscape isn't the same anymore as gaming has lost its way. So although that sense of new game technology causing the rush of people is now lost to time, the feel of the place, the retro oasis vibe and sense of the otherworldly by simply being an Englishman in Japan has always reminded for me.

We landed in Japan on a Thursday and spent the next few days acclimatising, exploring Shinjuku and luckily seeing the last remnants of cherry blossom that was just clearing in Tokyo. But the Monday thereafter was dedicated to me and Mrs Wools getting the early morning train from Shinjuku where we were staying, on the Yamanote line, to have a full day in Akihabara. I could not have been more giddy, I barely slept the night before.

Getting off the train at Akihabara, you walk down 1 flight of stairs, buzz through the gate and as you walk out, you see a long road that guides you towards the famous Sega Building 1, which is now rebranded as GiGO Building 1. As we walked towards it I said to Mrs Wools "I might cry at several points during this trip"

We spent about 2 hours in GiGO Building 3 on Floor 6 which is named Retro:G and is sadly, one of the only floors in all the GiGO Buildings that has classic games running, as most of the others are all UFO catchers. We stayed here till lunchtime playing some absolute classics. The condition of the machines was lovely, with CRT's all in machines that had them originally, with only a few bigger cabinets having some wear and tear. Highlights for me were Scud Race which had the volume all the way up, Virtua On with twin stick control, Street Fighter Alpha 2 in an Astro City cabinet, Outrun and Outrun 2 next to each other so you could sample them like a tasting menu! However, a real highlight as a memory to take with me is me and my Wife playing The Typing of the Dead. I gave her a primer before we put in the 2 100 Yen coins that imagine you have Zombies slumber towards you, but then a text prompt appears. As it does, typing the word is like shooting them with the required bullets. We were laughing constantly, it was so fun and a Japanese bloke looked at us and smiled with a thumbs up!

The Arcade was brilliant, it's nowhere near as exhaustive, well curated or well designed as Arcade Club in Bury, but the experience of playing some classic Sega Arcade games with my Wife in Japan, was an experience that almost topped it.

The rest of the day was a blur, having lunch and talking to locals in the cafe, spending hours in Super Potato, exploring the side streets, squeezing past people in tiny hallways that went from one retro shelf to another, it was just a dream. I picked up so much stuff and eventually we called time, having dinner at a steak and noodle shop, having fun with the Chef in broken English about what we wanted to order. It was such a dream come true, I couldn't have asked for a better day of visiting my dream City.

As the days went on, sadly the cold my Wife had (Which we think she had during the flight over) got worse, so we decided to have a day off the next day so she could sleep in and rest. It was that evening I got real pain in my gut and thought; I can't leave Japan without brining home a console and a few games, and realised I missed my chance. I told this to her and very kindly, we agreed that on the morning she sleeps in, I was going to nip back to Akihabara and pick up a console... I can't quite believe I did this, but on a dream holiday with my Wife, I ****ed off for the morning on my own in a foreign country, to buy a console! I arrived nice and early and went through all the shops I previously did, but spent the time trying to decide on what console I wanted and in what state. After an hour of going round, I decided on a 1st generation HST-0004 Sega Saturn with a handful of games. I was able to get it back to the Hotel safely however, I realised I was not going to get this in my suitcase home, so had to visit Shinjuku Don Quijote and buy a case that fitted the Saturn... I'm one of those!

All in all an epic trip, something I never thought I would do and somewhere I've loved with such passion for so long.

[Yakumo]

Dude, I'm glad you really enjoyed yourself. I remember that arcade so well from '97 to' 99. Back then the basement was all 1 on 1 fighters while the big cabinets ruled the ground floor. Second floor (first floor in English) was all about the shooters and classic games. So many fantastic memories.
I know it's no a patch on what it once was but I'm glad you got to experience Japanese arcade culture. The fact some random dude gave you the thumbs up really made me smile.
The photos you took were great. It was just missing a massive House of the Dead 2 cabinet and Samba De Amigo with 50 inch rear projection screens. Every Sega arcade had one of those two in blurring at high volume. Oh, and a beatmania. I don't think Dance Dance revolution was a thing at that point. Think that came late 99.