GamerSushi Asks: Arcade Memories

With the release of the Game Room on Xbox Live, it occurred to me that many of the younglings on Xbox Live have no idea what an arcade even is. I spent many a day of my youth in the dimly lit, sometimes smoke-filled gaming meccas and I wasted many a quarter.

Those were the days of Star Wars Arcade, Nintendo Play Choice 10, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga and Asteroids. I never played Dragon’s Lair, but I watched the cinematic that would play automatically dozens of times, longing for one more quarter. Apparently, I didn’t miss much, but I wanted to know: do you guys have any arcade memories you are fond? Do you have any at all?

My favorite was pumping quarters into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game with my friends on my birthday and finally defeating the evil Shredder. It was literally a jump up and down, hug each other moment.

So…what’s your epic win? GO!

Written by

Age: 34 PSN ID: Starkiller81. I've played games since before I can remember, starting with my dad's Atari and I haven't stopped yet. Keep them coming and I will keep playing them.

7 thoughts on “GamerSushi Asks: Arcade Memories”

  1. Oh man, even to this day I can’t resist walking into an arcade just to look around a little bit.

    I think my favorites were the Ninja Turtles, X-Men and Simpsons arcade games. I also really got into Sniper Scope for a bit there, and Virtua Fighter was a big hit for me as well.

  2. I really do miss those arcades. There was something really satisfying about standing at those controls and having people watch as you pulled off a fatality in Mortal Kombat or defeated the dragon in dragon’s lair(yes, i could do that). It was a much greater social experience than sitting at home and playing online. For me those were “the good old days”.

  3. There weren’t any big arcades near where I grew up. My closest thing was the burger joint with 2 Arcade games and a pinball machine which all changed occasionally. The pinball machine changed frequently (Adam’s Family, Johnny Mnemonic, etc).

    So my “arcade” experience was limited to some top-down space shooters, a beat-em-up game where you could use weapons, and some racing ones.

    None the less, a great way to kill time while waiting for your burgers and fries.

  4. Just going to the arcade at my local mall was great. I spent many a weekends there…felt a huge sense of loss when it closed down…mainly because of the restaurant built into it I think. The final nail in my balls was when it got turned into a FOREVER FUCKING 21 store. I hate that place to this day. ='(

  5. Time Crisis 3 on a ferry from Ireland to Scotland. 3 credits, almost the entire game. I actually drew in a crowd! I used the pistol most of the time and heard people asking each other “Why doesn’t he use the machine gun?” Cue a BIG stupid grin on my face.
    Also, Crisis Zone.

  6. Thank you so much for writing this article!

    I love playing arcade games when I was young! I used to remember when I was 6, my dad would my siblings and I to Chuck E Cheese’s to play games such as Jurassic Park Arcade, Star Wars Arcade, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! And I also remembered playing some other arcades such as Time Crisis, Street Fighter II, Tekken, and a lot of racing games! I would like to agree with Stewtoyou on arcade games being a better social experience than online games. It is way much more satisfying when you have your friends cheer behind you when you did that final KO! Ahhhh, good times!

    I also have a question for people on this site: Has any of you played the Xbox Game Room and what do you think of it?

Comments are closed.