Retro|Spective 140: Arcades

[Neon Ignition]

Arcades
Though still in existence the fact is that for most of the world the Arcade scene is now a thing of the past, a nostalgic memory that found itself struggling for a while before being unceremoniously killed by Chris Tarrant and his purple Millionaire machines that beckoned an ill advised hard shift by most establishments towards outright machine gambling. The years that followed saw one business after another close down and the arcade output dwindle. New games still arrive though, more infrequent but still around and there are still notable games of yesteryear that have still never seen light in any form on home formats. Titles such as:

Sega Race TV


Mario Kart Arcade GP DX



Emergency Call Ambulance




What Arcade games that never saw a port to console do you still hope will be released one day and what are your earliest and favourite memories inside Arcades?

Which games to you defined the Arcade experience?

[CAPCOM]

Technically I guess the R360 never saw a true recreation, when you were 10 it was like an amusement park and video game rolled into one! Although G-LOC was converted Wing War I do not think was ever ported.

A successor, the R360Z, was released in 2015 for Transformers: Human Alliance, which can seat two players.

[Asura]

Mario Kart Arcade GP DX

Emergency Call Ambulance

Hate the MarioKart game; it commits a cardinal sin for arcade games for me - it asks for more money, even if you win.

Didn't the Ambulance game get a Dreamcast port? Not in the UK, but in other regions? I seem to remember a triple-pack of games on which it was included.

[QualityChimp]

Didn't the Ambulance game get a Dreamcast port? Not in the UK, but in other regions? I seem to remember a triple-pack of games on which it was included.

Apparently not:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Call_Ambulance

"The UK version of the Official Dreamcast Magazine reported that the game was to be released in a 3-in-1 compilation along with other games in Sega's "Real Life Career Series", Brave Firefighters and Jambo! Safari, but Emergency Call Ambulance remained an arcade exclusive."

[Asura]

Apparently not:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Call_Ambulance

"The UK version of the Official Dreamcast Magazine reported that the game was to be released in a 3-in-1 compilation along with other games in Sega's "Real Life Career Series", Brave Firefighters and Jambo! Safari, but Emergency Call Ambulance remained an arcade exclusive."

Aaaah, yep, that totally rings a bell. I must've had that mag.

[samanosuke]

Christ, there are loads of great arcade games which never saw a console release. Off the top of my head:

Moonwalker
Revenge of Death Adder
WWF Wrestlefest
R-Type Leo

Three of the above four always get a decent rinse from me whenever I’m up at Arcade Club. Unfortunately I’ve never had the fortune to see a Revenge of Death Adder cab at Arcade Club or otherwise.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Seibu Cup Soccer was released in 1992 and STILL isn't fully playable on MAME (as far as I'm aware), due to the way that Seibu-Kaihatsu designed the PCB, apparently.

A standout from the golden age of arcade football games, IMO, with a brilliant soundtrack.

Would love to be able to play it again.

[teddymeow]

Azumanga Puzzle Bobble.

It's just Puzzle Bobble but it has an aesthetic based on Azumanga Daioh!! It's on the Naomi board so strange it never got a DC port in Japan.

[Cepp]

Technically I guess the R360 never saw a true recreation, when you were 10 it was like an amusement park and video game rolled into one!

Everytime I saw one of these as a kid it was broke. I never got to try one

Is there anywhere in the UK that still has one operational?

[Mayhem]

The one they had in the Trocadero was always operational when I went... tried it a couple of times just for the experience heh.

[samanosuke]

Everytime I saw one of these as a kid it was broke. I never got to try one

Is there anywhere in the UK that still has one operational?

I think there’s one at Arcade Club in Leeds.

[Cepp]

I think there’s one at Arcade Club in Leeds.

Alright then, when it opens back up I'm making a trip to Leeds. Maybe I'll stop off at that Bradford game store along the way.

[monel]

There's so many that were never converted or done properly at home, that's one of the reasons emulation seems exciting till you run into issues or get sick of using a PC or whatever. Also, whoever decided what games were converted and which weren't were often confused or crazy, like Mega Drive got Altered Beast but no Shadow Dancer.

Two I guess are Planet Harriers and that Star Wars Battle Pod (only got to play because QC mentioned it here).

[Nu-Eclipse]

There's so many that were never converted or done properly at home, that's one of the reasons emulation seems exciting till you run into issues or get sick of using a PC or whatever. Also, whoever decided what games were converted and which weren't were often confused or crazy, like Mega Drive got Altered Beast but no Shadow Dancer.

Erm....Mega Drive did get Shadow Dancer, albeit a version that was markedly changed from the coin-op. Same with E-SWAT.

Funnily enough, it was the Master System that got more arcade-faithful ports of Shadow Dancer and E-SWAT.

[Leon Retro]

Sega should have ported this to the 360 & PS3. Yu Suzuki's last game for Sega.