Most surprising thing you've seen at the arcades

Jgames · 22 July 2010, 11:01

I have very good moments and memories of the arcades, and would like to share some of it's more unreal ones;
When i was about 13, a new game was brought by my local arcade owner, it was Operation Wolf.
We were a lot of teenagers playing at it, spending a lot of days and coins. And no one finished it, even with lots of continues. All i could do is see a glympse of level 3

One day, an unknown man came (we used to know pretty much everyone coming to this arcade), put one coin, and destroyed everything from start to finish. Everyone was amazed. (we were like 20 people around him).
I've never saw him again.

alexh · 22 July 2010, 11:21

At the pier in Blackpool in the late 90's I saw the most surprising thing at the arcades.

They were replacing all the old arcade machines and with one-armed bandits cos they brought in more money.

The arcade machines were being chopped up for fire wood. I remember seeing a sit down star-wars cab (worth about £4k today) being butchered.

deicidal · 22 July 2010, 11:26

That just pains me alexh

s2325 · 22 July 2010, 11:26

Free, forgotten tokens.

alexh · 22 July 2010, 11:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by deicidal

That just pains me alexh

Admittedly they could have all been ones which were broken and considered uneconomical repairs at the time.

ck1200 · 22 July 2010, 12:17

Loved Operation Wolf

mmhhh the most strangest thing i ever seen in an arcade though has to be a pensioner playing on Sega GT and doing very well, hey it's a good game though!

Baboon · 22 July 2010, 12:55

The rare full sized car and giant screens they used to have for Ridge Racer around '93.

I think it was in a Blackpool arcade on holiday with my parents that I got to play on it.

alexh · 22 July 2010, 13:00

They used a Mazda MX5 shell.

ck1200 · 22 July 2010, 13:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baboon

The rare full sized car and giant screens they used to have for Ridge Racer around '93.

Another great game! oh and no pics showing by the way :/

Muzkat · 22 July 2010, 13:09

Once I saw, playing in a case (or is it a cab?), Quake, by id Software. I only saw it once, and it didn't last long.

The cab/case was very plain and non-descript, which made me wonder if the arcade owners had wanted to make a quick buck by masquerading a reasonably powered 486 as an arcade machine and somehow attaching coin-operated functionality to it, thus tapping into the popularity of the game at the time.

seuden · 22 July 2010, 13:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muzkat

Once I saw, playing in a case (or is it a cab?), Quake, by id Software. I only saw it once, and it didn't last long.

The cab/case was very plain and non-descript, which made me wonder if the arcade owners had wanted to make a quick buck by masquerading a reasonably powered 486 as an arcade machine and somehow attaching coin-operated functionality to it, thus tapping into the popularity of the game at the time.

http://www.joystixgames.com/details.asp?ID=657

Muzkat · 22 July 2010, 13:16

Ha! Nice find! I guess I should research more before I post

The one I saw didn't have the Quake banner along the top though, I'm pretty sure of it.

seuden · 22 July 2010, 13:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muzkat

Ha! Nice find! I guess I should research more before I post

The one I saw didn't have the Quake banner along the top though, I'm pretty sure of it.

Hehe, only 20 of them made, maybe you see a very very very rare one

Baboon · 22 July 2010, 13:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by ck1200

Another great game! oh and no pics showing by the way :/

Thats strange as its showing fine on my machine? I got the images from here if you just scroll down a bit: http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=833

ck1200 · 22 July 2010, 13:28

Hey thanks for the link some good memories there!....and ahhh ok may be my work's server if there showing ok for you

Fabie · 22 July 2010, 14:06

When Ghost'n Goblins visited my neighborhood arcade local in 1986 ... was a fever of insanity
I remember the original cabinet was always surrounded by 10-15 teenagers at any hour and everyone wanna play it....and everyone wanna a good site to watch the game...and everyone inserted coins while the others were playing
so.. the cabinet always had 6 or 7 coins inside while everybody waiting to play
and every teenager claimed....ey..."I have 1 coin inside".....or "I have 2 coins inside"..."it's now my turn"...
lot of fights at the cause of the coins and lots of fights because the desesperation to play the game
all the teenagers were astonished by this game...the music...the atmosphere of terror...the mistery to see what's on the next stage
was incredible

BrooksterMax · 22 July 2010, 16:59

My only real experiences of arcades was on ferries across the channel to France, you know the P&O stuff. I wonder if they still have arcades on board with new stuff?

Anyway I always remember my first encounter with Outrun at about 10 years old but the stand up version and Ghouls and Ghosts. Usually being so young, I had no money so had to watch others like that irritating brat hanging around whilst the teenagers hogged the cabinets.

Funny times when the sea was choppy - the whole boat leaning to one side whilst trying to steer the Ferrari in Outrun

Jgames · 22 July 2010, 18:21

Another "disturbing" one;
The owner of the local arcade used to say to teenage players to either die at the first boss, or else he resets the machine.
Another thing, he removed the ninja magic button. Fucking bastard.
This led players to play the first 2 levels to death, and play them till the last minute.
One solution was to come very early on the morning, he used to come late around 11am.

The game was Shinobi, forgot to mention it.

Baboon · 22 July 2010, 20:51

I've uploaded the ridgeracer cab mages to imageshack seeing as it was dropping....

Plus on my bro's facebook he had some early pics of both us on holiday while at the blackpool arcade in 93 actualy playing on the game...

Thats got to be the biggest arcade machine ever in an arcade? lol

moijk · 22 July 2010, 23:24

I am still in awe for the sphere-afterburner arcade machine I once tried in germany. looked out of it during the game and the world was upside down. I was doing loops and corkscrews instead of shooting down other planes just for the entertainment factor.

22 July 2010, 11:01	#1
Jgames Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: UK Posts: 457	Most surprising thing you've seen at the arcades I have very good moments and memories of the arcades, and would like to share some of it's more unreal ones; When i was about 13, a new game was brought by my local arcade owner, it was Operation Wolf. We were a lot of teenagers playing at it, spending a lot of days and coins. And no one finished it, even with lots of continues. All i could do is see a glympse of level 3 One day, an unknown man came (we used to know pretty much everyone coming to this arcade), put one coin, and destroyed everything from start to finish. Everyone was amazed. (we were like 20 people around him). I've never saw him again.

22 July 2010, 12:55	#7
Baboon Moon Monkey Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Plymouth, Devon Posts: 419	The rare full sized car and giant screens they used to have for Ridge Racer around '93. I think it was in a Blackpool arcade on holiday with my parents that I got to play on it. Last edited by Baboon; 22 July 2010 at 20:53.

22 July 2010, 18:21	#18
Jgames Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: UK Posts: 457	Another "disturbing" one; The owner of the local arcade used to say to teenage players to either die at the first boss, or else he resets the machine. Another thing, he removed the ninja magic button. Fucking bastard. This led players to play the first 2 levels to death, and play them till the last minute. One solution was to come very early on the morning, he used to come late around 11am. The game was Shinobi, forgot to mention it. Last edited by Jgames; 22 July 2010 at 18:42. Reason: add

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22 July 2010, 11:21	#2
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,331	At the pier in Blackpool in the late 90's I saw the most surprising thing at the arcades. They were replacing all the old arcade machines and with one-armed bandits cos they brought in more money. The arcade machines were being chopped up for fire wood. I remember seeing a sit down star-wars cab (worth about £4k today) being butchered.

22 July 2010, 11:26	#3
deicidal Registered Insane Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Ununited Kingdom Posts: 792	That just pains me alexh

22 July 2010, 11:26	#4
s2325 Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Gargore Age: 43 Posts: 17,789	Free, forgotten tokens.

22 July 2010, 12:17	#6
ck1200 CBM & Retro Mad Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: North Wales/Wirral Uk Age: 42 Posts: 611	Loved Operation Wolf mmhhh the most strangest thing i ever seen in an arcade though has to be a pensioner playing on Sega GT and doing very well, hey it's a good game though!

22 July 2010, 13:00	#8
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,331	They used a Mazda MX5 shell.

22 July 2010, 13:09	#10
Muzkat Into the Wonderful Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Earthrealm Age: 42 Posts: 1,426	Once I saw, playing in a case (or is it a cab?), Quake, by id Software. I only saw it once, and it didn't last long. The cab/case was very plain and non-descript, which made me wonder if the arcade owners had wanted to make a quick buck by masquerading a reasonably powered 486 as an arcade machine and somehow attaching coin-operated functionality to it, thus tapping into the popularity of the game at the time.

22 July 2010, 13:16	#12
Muzkat Into the Wonderful Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Earthrealm Age: 42 Posts: 1,426	Ha! Nice find! I guess I should research more before I post The one I saw didn't have the Quake banner along the top though, I'm pretty sure of it.

22 July 2010, 13:28	#15
ck1200 CBM & Retro Mad Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: North Wales/Wirral Uk Age: 42 Posts: 611	Hey thanks for the link some good memories there!....and ahhh ok may be my work's server if there showing ok for you

22 July 2010, 14:06	#16
Fabie Banned Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: France Posts: 478	When Ghost'n Goblins visited my neighborhood arcade local in 1986 ... was a fever of insanity I remember the original cabinet was always surrounded by 10-15 teenagers at any hour and everyone wanna play it....and everyone wanna a good site to watch the game...and everyone inserted coins while the others were playing so.. the cabinet always had 6 or 7 coins inside while everybody waiting to play and every teenager claimed....ey..."I have 1 coin inside".....or "I have 2 coins inside"..."it's now my turn"... lot of fights at the cause of the coins and lots of fights because the desesperation to play the game all the teenagers were astonished by this game...the music...the atmosphere of terror...the mistery to see what's on the next stage was incredible

22 July 2010, 16:59	#17
BrooksterMax Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Norfolk UK Age: 43 Posts: 433	My only real experiences of arcades was on ferries across the channel to France, you know the P&O stuff. I wonder if they still have arcades on board with new stuff? Anyway I always remember my first encounter with Outrun at about 10 years old but the stand up version and Ghouls and Ghosts. Usually being so young, I had no money so had to watch others like that irritating brat hanging around whilst the teenagers hogged the cabinets. Funny times when the sea was choppy - the whole boat leaning to one side whilst trying to steer the Ferrari in Outrun

22 July 2010, 20:51	#19
Baboon Moon Monkey Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Plymouth, Devon Posts: 419	I've uploaded the ridgeracer cab mages to imageshack seeing as it was dropping.... Plus on my bro's facebook he had some early pics of both us on holiday while at the blackpool arcade in 93 actualy playing on the game... Thats got to be the biggest arcade machine ever in an arcade? lol

22 July 2010, 23:24	#20
moijk License to Bubble Join Date: May 2010 Location: Grimstad, Norway Age: 46 Posts: 293	I am still in awe for the sphere-afterburner arcade machine I once tried in germany. looked out of it during the game and the world was upside down. I was doing loops and corkscrews instead of shooting down other planes just for the entertainment factor.

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