Arcade is better than your cade

We didn't have a "yesterday I played in the arcade" thread, and while I'm aware not everyone is likely to find many opportunities to post in it, here it is . . .

Yesterday I played a spot of Mario Kart Arcade, which was banging as ever. When I first found the machine there was nobody else around, and when i came back it was super busy and they were all in use. Hopefully if I go back in the week, it'll be a nice middle ground and I can have a game against other people.

I also saw a Ghost Squad machine and a Pokken Tournament one, both of which I'd love to have a decent pop at when I go back to the arcade later on. Here's hoping I can get back into the groove and unleash that killer Pikachu Libre I had at my Pokken Peak.

Most excitingly, I played this table flipping game, which is utterly stupid and simple, but brilliant.

Whilst Jo and I were in a similar location to you last year, we got very much into this: Taiko Drum Master. We didn't get half as good as the player in the video but it was tremendous fun. I've told Jo that a Switch version is due this year, because it is, and that we'll get it. Yesterday she asked me to find out if there's a Taiko Drum Master arcade machine somewhere in the UK - apparently there is, somewhere in London.

I played a bit of Mario Kart Arcade alongside Jo: there may be a picture of me sitting in the machine on Facebook somewhere. I also saw the Luigi's Mansion cabinet but I don't think I was brave enough to have a go!

I'm still waiting for some impressions of the greatest adaptation of our time, Drunka. Get yourself to a pachinko parlour for some one on one time with Naked Snake.

The only arcade near me is in a bowling alley and I don't remember there being much there besides your usual Time Crisis machine.

I posted ages ago in the retro thread when Time Warp opened in Somerset that I have an arcade close by (I don't know if you ever went Drunka) but I've never been often.

It's fun but you can only play Street Fighter 2 so much, they did start the Nintendo Somerset in there but that's not happened for a while either and the last time dam Ibbsters beat me in the little tournament.

My only arcade memory is playing Rhythm Tengoku in Hong Kong. The arcade was so loud I could barely hear the music, so I was playing semi-Andyman style, and some of the buttons were broken.

MKArcade sounds like the best reason for arcades still existing.

Had a pop at your VS Super Mario Bros today, died more than I have on a game of SMB in probably years. It wasn't due to the developers' devious adjustments and extra challenges so much as playing with an arcade stick and on a slightly curved screen at a weird angle.

ZeroJones wrote:

Whilst Jo and I were in a similar location to you last year, we got very much into this: Taiko Drum Master.

Spotted a couple of those, being played by absolute heroes. I will try to give one a go.

Quote :

I also saw the Luigi's Mansion cabinet but I don't think I was brave enough to have a go!

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Didn't even know this was a thing! Exciting.

JayMoyles wrote:

I'm still waiting for some impressions of the greatest adaptation of our time, Drunka. Get yourself to a pachinko parlour for some one on one time with Naked Snake.

Oh don't worry, that is very much on the agenda . . .

Drunkalilly wrote:

ZeroJones wrote:

Whilst Jo and I were in a similar location to you last year, we got very much into this: Taiko Drum Master.

Spotted a couple of those, being played by absolute heroes. I will try to give one a go.

I'm glad: the machine we played was all about good, clean fun.

Yottayuri's Sunday at the Arcades

Star Wars Battle Pod
This is a cool machine. You sit inside a big pod, with a massive wraparound screen projected in front of you. You have a stick in one hand and a thrust/ break lever in the other, and I played the Death Star run. It was awesome as anything, but unfortunately the pod wasn't thick enough to keep out the bright lights of the arcade, so my view of the screen was hurt by a fair amount of glare. A shame.

Ghost Squad
I love this game! I played all three levels, but I did some dumb things like killing a hostage, failing the final shot on the aeroplane and so on. I plan to give this at least another go or two, try to properly one-credit the machine before I leave Akihabara at the end of the week.

Mario Kart Arcade DX
Played lots of this! I had a couple of multiplayer games, which I did well in, but most people come to play this with their friends rather than to throw down the gauntlet in the arcade. I played some solo games, but I was dominating the CPU and I don't want to keep pouring money in to get to the latter stages. I also don't have one of the save file cards to let me keep playing on different dates and machines. This is one I'd love to come back to if I'm ever in Akihabara with an actual posse.

Pokken Tournament
This is a game where you can just park yourself on a machine and throw down. I did exactly that, and mullered some children! I also had some good tight games with other players. Unfortunately, it isn't the most popular fighter in the arcades. Those are the classic Street Fighters and Tekkens, or some weird three dimensional games with mad controllers I don't understand. There are a few that look more like MOBAs or RTS games than typical arcade fare.

VS Super Mario Bros.
Got up to world 6, which felt like a good run on one credit. I had an audience of a little brother and sister, and their bewildered dad! They seemed to think I was pretty good at the old Mario. I've definitely become more accustomed to the joystick control, and I was playing on a proper upright machine this time.

I'm gonna head back to the arcade on a weekday to try to find a free Drum Master machine, and also to have another pop at killing it on Ghost Squad. I'm also disappointed I've not found an F-Zero AX machine anywhere.

Oh, and I went into a Pachinko parlour but the tight aisles and incessant horrendous noise drove me straight back out!

Yeah, that was our reaction to a Pachinko room in Shibuya. It literally gave me a headache.

Drunkalilly wrote:

VS Super Mario Bros.
Got up to world 6, which felt like a good run on one credit. I had an audience of a little brother and sister, and their bewildered dad! They seemed to think I was pretty good at the old Mario. I've definitely become more accustomed to the joystick control, and I was playing on a proper upright machine this time.

6-3 do ya in? It does me in

When I was first over here, still travelling, I looked up a google map of known F-Zero AX locations. There were two in Hokkaido and one in Tokyo. I visited the Tokyo one back around New Year 2019, but as I was in Sapporo this week I decided to try the one there. It was in a big Round One, pay to get in, everything on Free Play. Ideal.

I found the F-Zero machine but alas, the boost button was busted! I could play every track and have a fun experience of flying around at high speed with the moving cockpit, but I literally could not win a single race.

Nonetheless, I had a good time on various other machines!
There were classic Pacman and Space Invaders units.
I played a whole load of Initial D Zero - with the drifty handling, amazing soundtrack and tracks that look exactly like the mountains where I live, I might actually try to get into one of these games a bit more. Great stuff.

I played some Outrun 2! I'm not great at this game's drift, but I can tell that I'll love it if I nail that down.

I played Crazi Taxi, which was great fun but fucking painful on a stand-up cabinet.

I completed the latest Transformers lightgun nonsense. The Optimus Prime impressionist is shit and his lines make even less sense than the speeches in the movies

Played some Point Blanc! A good laugh, chunky gun with satisfying kickback, but would benefit from another player.

The highlight* was a Castlevania Arcade machine. Played behind a big elaborate tarp, you stand up and hold this ridiculous glowing Playstation Move-type controller and whip various skeletons and zombies and that. Barely functional, idiotic shite.

Jimbob wrote:

Drunkalilly wrote:

VS Super Mario Bros.

6-3 do ya in? It does me in

I seem to recall it was more like 6-1, a real idiot's death.

Bloody love a trip to a good arcade. I could have spent hours in a place like that. Sounds like you used your time really well, I’d have loved to have tried all those games.

There’s nothing like that in Scotland, I don’t think. About six weeks ago I went to probably its closest equivalent that I know of, a little barcade in Glasgow City Centre. They had Monkey Ball, The Simpsons Arcade, SEGA Rally and that stand-up Crazy Taxi cabinet, among other things. I finished Tekken Tag Tournament in the time it took for the two other patrons to shag in the toilets.

Buskalilly wrote:

I played Crazy Taxi, which was great fun but fucking painful on a stand-up cabinet.

I've been playing Crazy Taxi on my phone, as it's free (albeit with the occasional ad). It actually has the Offspring music in it, which was my main reason for downloading it. However, the touch screen controls are painful, perhaps more so than the arcade cabinet. They don't really work, and the moves like Crazy Drift are almost impossible to pull off. I tried to sync my DualShock 4 to my phone but turns out SEGA only let you play it with a specific Bluetooth controller. It's still fine for entertaining a child for five minutes, but it could have been the best version...

The quest for a real way to play CT in 2022 goes on . . .