remembering the video arcades of the 80s and the old classic games

[Figuremod73]

I would really like a retro-cade in my area.

Galaga, Ms.Pacman, Q-bert, and Gauntlet got most of my quarters in the early/late '80s.

What I miss the most about the old arcades is the sense of excitement with a new game and the competitive nature of the players.

[EmergencyIan]

^ There is some version of the Two-Bit Bandit still open in Evansville on Morgan Ave. with vintage pinball and arcade video games. It looks like it's part of a larger sports/game complex all under the Two-Bit Bandit name.

- Ian

[Random Axe]

The Gold Mine in Evansville, right. Was that the one at Eastland Mall? I know I used to go to the Gold Mine and a few others. But, I'm getting names and locations confused.

You know, Hartke Pool/Swonder Ice Rink had a fantastic pinball arcade.

- Ian

Yup. I didn't get out there much but it was a pretty awesome arcade. The one on my side of town on Diamond Avenue was Two-Bit Bandit. I spent countless hours in that place.

[EmergencyIan]

Yeah, I spent a lot of money in the GOld Mine. I loved the Tron game and Dig-Dug, but I always had a thing for vector graphic games. There was a sword fighting game that had an above perspective I liked, can't rememebr the name. I also was really into Red Baron, a vector WWI dogfighting game. But, my favorite game of all time, and the only one I can say I was an expert at was Battlezone. I could make my tank dance.

The Gold Mine in Evansville, right. Was that the one at Eastland Mall? I know I used to go to the Gold Mine and a few others. But, I'm getting names and locations confused.

You know, Hartke Pool/Swonder Ice Rink had a fantastic pinball arcade.

- Ian

[Random Axe]

Yeah, I spent a lot of money in the GOld Mine. I loved the Tron game and Dig-Dug, but I always had a thing for vector graphic games. There was a sword fighting game that had an above perspective I liked, can't rememebr the name. I also was really into Red Baron, a vector WWI dogfighting game. But, my favorite game of all time, and the only one I can say I was an expert at was Battlezone. I could make my tank dance.

[VintageMike]

I miss them a lot. There a few specialty places in my state with old games as well as some family fun centers which some times have a few old games. One of these has the treasured "60 in one" Cab with 60 classics in it. I go running for it whenever I'm int he area. The good thing is technology has got so good most of these have made their way onto home compilations (or official game downloads) in their original form. The only ones that haven't received that treatment are Frogger (new graphics versions released only) Nintendo arcade games (The home versions of DK, DK jr. and Popeye are not nearly as difficult as their arcade counterparts, and Punch Out and Super Punchout while fun were totally new games on the NES), Gorf , the Mr Do series which is owned by Universal. I have pretty much every one of the compliations and don't play them as much as I should.

[Godzilla]

Rampage was a favorite of mine. We have a bar her in town called the 16Bit Bar and arcade with tons of old cabinet games all set on free play. They just opened another on in Cleveland.

[Grimjohn]

YES!! The arcades of the 80's were so awesome, cutting my gamer's teeth on Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Defender, Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, Tron, Star Wars, etc.

I even had a blast in the 90's when Mortal Kombat, TMNT, Crazy Taxi, Smash TV, NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, Killer Instinct, Tekken, etc. made their debuts in the arcades.

[Bruce Banner]

Loved hanging out at my local arcade as a kid, playing classic coin-ops such as Gorf, Targ, Lock 'n' Chase, Popeye, Galaxian, Asteroids, Berzerk, Omega Race, Tempest, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Mr. Do, Zaxxon, etc.

Then in my mid to late teens I still visited arcades regularly to play stuff like Street Fighter II, Operation Wolf, Outrun, Roadblasters, Rastan Saga, Gauntlet, Golden Axe, Altered Beast, etc.

[Wee67]

Cool new "museum" opened up here in the Tampa area this week called Replay. They have over 100 video games and pinball machines. You pay $13 to get in and you can play any of the games ALL day! Takes me back to the way too many hours I spent at the Space Port at the Oxford Valley Mall.

The museum's site-

http://www.replaymuseum.org/

[Earth 2 Chris]

^I remembered Brainiac being in it, but I may be wrong. I liked when you had two players, one essentially looked like the original Superman-Red. I think the Williams theme going the whole time you played was one reason I loved it.

And yes, that TMNT game was one of the better arcade to NES translations.

Chris

[Werewolf]

the original TMNT game

That game was awesome! Played the heck out of the NES version too.

and my personal favorite arcade game of all time: Superman.

I had never played that. Looked it up on youtube. Music was good. Classic John Williams theme. The graphics looked nice for time. Superman looked great. But no actual DC super villains in the game. That was kinda odd.

[EmergencyIan]

I liked Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. I remember that Karate Champ was fun to play against someone else.


- Ian

[warlock664]

When I was in college there was a great arcade in Morgantown called Space Port. I used to waste a lot of quarters there playing Galaga, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Asteroids, PacMan ...
There was a cool tabletop trackball Football game that I loved, too. Kids today, with their HD Madden NFL games, would laugh at that!

[Earth 2 Chris]

Hmmm...some of my favorites were Excite Bike (there was a table top version at a local pizza joint), Rolling Thunder, Operation: Wolf, the original TMNT game, the original X-Men game, and my personal favorite arcade game of all time: Superman. Man, I'd LOVE to have that in a man cave!

Chris