Image via Complex Original
Don't buy the hype: The video game arcade isn't dead.
Scads of arcades are still scattered around the United States. The collector scene continues to thrive, so there's still a healthy market for buying and reselling cabinets. And yes, new titles are still being developed. Recently, Sega dropped a teaser trailer for a shooter called Transformers: Human Alliance, and Namco began testing an air combat game called Sonic Storm in Japan.
All this said, there's absolutely no denying that the era of the arcade as a dominant force in the video game industry has long passed. The arcade's true golden age, which lasted from roughly 1970 to 2000, yielded landmark after landmark. The arcade once erupted with innovative gaming, raking in billions of dollars in quarters and doing some serious heavy lifting in terms of promoting video games as a social, mainstream activity.
We're still bummed about the arcade era's end. This doesn't just stem from us getting all misty-eyed about the good memories, although nostalgia has its place, too. There were several genuinely great things about the arcade era that home consoles have yet to replicate to the same effect or haven't really tried to replicate. Here are the 10 casualties we miss most.
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The glory of cabinets.
Aside from the actual games, cabinets-the very structures that house the software-will always be the niftiest thing about the arcade medium.
Having weighty, imposing and often fully customized machines dedicated to individual titles did a killer job of making games feel special and instantly recognizable. Whether it was Centipede or Hydro Thunder it was tangible and gorgeous. All the large and colorful art covering the sides, marquees and control panels helped arcade gaming feel like a big deal.
Another major upside of personalized cabinets was the ability for arcade games to use game-specific controllers without forcing the player to chip in substantial sums of money to try the novelty. The rhythm game Guitar Freaks had playable guitars (a precursor to Guitar Hero's key peripheral), Top Skater had its own skateboard you could hop on (a precursor to the skateboard device packaged with Tony Hawk: Ride) and Arm Champs had a giant forearm you had to exert force on to beat (if only this had a console descendent).
Other special features belonging to certain cabinets, like the two interlinked screens used by six-player X-Mencabinets, added to the energy and novelty of individual games
Deciding how much money you would spend.
When you pick up the latest Super Mario or Madden game as it's oven-fresh, it's a financial investment.
You are banking $60 or so on the game being worthwhile or fun enough for you to justify the expense. If the game sucks, or it's not your thing, you're generally unable to recoup most of the money you originally spent on the game since resale rates work against the seller.
Arcade games, however, followed a pay-as-you-go policy. If you dug the way Daytona USA felt, great! Not your thing? It's all good; just take your tokens elsewhere. In this way, impressive and/or replayable games were rewarded with money while unlikable games pulled in poor hauls. This encouraged better (or at least more consumer-friendly) game design.
You're seeing this tactic applied on consoles more with the rise of DLC-Xbox One's Killer Instinct will have you buy individual characters individually or sell you the entire roster at a discount-but the arcade perfected that model long ago.
The opportunity for broke gamers to experience new games.
The video game industry isn't kind to folks with shallow pockets, especially when it comes to new releases.
Dropping $10 plus to see the new Marvel flick in theaters isn't a frugal maneuver, yes, it can seem cheap compared to the exorbitant price tags attached to new video games (especially big titles). You're likely to get hours more entertainment from the average video game than you are from the average movie, but those painful prices on console games make them seem like more of a gamble and a greater obstacle to people with limited funds.
The poor and broke enjoy video games too, and the arcade-era was friendly to them. Thanks to the reasonable price of games (with a play up to and generally not exceeding a dollar), the have-nots could give Virtua Fighter 2 the same kind of run on day one as anyone else. Even if poor gamers couldn't play VF2 as many times as someone with more money, they were still able to experience the same basic product as everyone else without having to resort to playing a demo or a store kiosk. You didn't have to worry about getting a console first either since cabinets inherently covered that cost.
In the long run, was pouring loads of money into arcade games instead of consoles a financially sound move? Hell no. So much arcade business relied on customers limiting their play time to maximize the number of new players/plays coming in that some game play details were tantamount to grifting. (Just think of the con artistry of Gauntlet Legends and its life meter that automatically depleted with time.)
But by the same token, there are also several games (say, Pac-Man) that really reward skill, allowing you to go far on a budget if you know your stuff. Plus, the mere existence of opportunity is a check mark in the arcade's favor
Seeing this before your game started.
If you're truly dedicated to arcade games, there's a strong possibility you've hung around a machine or two to watch what happens during demo modes. Fighting games were usually very good for this, showing off character bios and game play footage that showed off special and finishing moves you might not have been familiar with before.
During the 1990s, the above screen and variations thereof were splashed all over demo modes. The PSA came courtesy of William Steele Sessions, director of the FBI from 1987 through '93. It had a sister PSA in the arcades with the EPA-sponsored message of "Recycle it, don't trash it!"
"Winners don't use drugs" appeared in games like WWF WrestleFest, 19XX: The War Against Destiny, and Marvel Vs. Capcom, and has been referenced since in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game.
According to a 1Up.com report, Sessions used the PSA to reach a young audience that he knew would be frequenting these machines. Utilizing the American Amusement Machine Association's Robert Fay as his inside connect, Sessions convinced 17 of the top 20 arcade game manufacturers at the time, including Taito and Tecmo, to insert the screen into demo modes.
Sessions didn't have that scrupulous of a reputation for a guy who attached his name to such a pushy agenda. In 1993, President Clinton dismissed Sessions from his position after a prickly ethics report on the director surfaced. We're still grateful he put that message out there or else arcade fans everywhere would have most definitely ended up smoking crack rock between rounds of BurgerTime
Gaming was a social event.
One of the great upsides about console gaming is that you can do it at home. This means you can sit there and do it naked if you feel like it. One of the great downsides about console gaming is that you can do it at home. This means you can sit there and do it naked if you feel like it. (You're probably not going to make many friends that way.)
Heading out to the arcade made gaming feel like an important event-something you can't emulate by flipping a switch and sitting back on your couch. What's more, a visit to the arcade meant interacting with people whether it was by getting to watch other players at work or talking about techniques. Hell, you didn't even have to talk to anyone and could monopolize the Dig Dug machine as much as you want, but the mere act of being around people was good for the spirit.
Plus, if you wanted to, you could play strangers. That brings us to our next positive.
Opportunities to play against strangers in person.
Freely throwing around racist/sexist/homophobic/whatever insults has become an ingrained aspect of online gaming. Don't play a lot of Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 on PSN if you don't want people you will never meet sending you hateful, threatening messages. If you're a good player, you'll get insults. If you're an average player, you'll get insults. If you're a bad player, you'll get insults. If you're a human being who happens upon the misfortune of being placed into a match with 420PSYK0_killa, you'll get insults. That's just what anonymity does.
You couldn't talk the same kind of smack in the arcade without getting smacked. Seeing as social propriety calls for all people-even the orneriest of gamers-to treat others with a modicum of respect, the arcade made for a much less hateful battleground. In fact, squaring off against flesh-and-blood folks in Street Fighter II encouraged the building of relationships since this meant that you were more likely to regard them as actual human beings and maybe even develop some camaraderie.
In 2013, it's much tougher to find places to play against strangers. There are LAN parties, tournaments, conventions and maybe a couple of other outlets we're forgetting. But those environments are unlikely to be as friendly to casual gamers as the arcade was.
Hearing the clink of quarters and tokens.
Few routines are as consistently charming as going over to a change machine with a $5 bill, feeding it the paper and then hearing and watching the device create a gold rush. The clink of falling coin hitting a plastic or metal surface was too sweet.
Dropping one of those same tokens into a game's slot produced joy. Too many pinball and arcade games over the decades have swallowed currency without providing a game in exchange, so when you hear a chime acknowledging that the machine has added a credit, it's like you've already won something. God bless lowered expectations.
Getting to play pinball.
Going to any arcade worth its salt was never just about video games. It also meant an opportunity to indulge in a couple of rounds of Addams Family or Pin*Bot pinball. Not to hate on video game versions of pinball too hard, but nothing on a screen will ever, ever duplicate the sensation of playing on a real Black Knight or Medieval Madness machine. The heft and feel of real pinball just can't be beat.
Plus, looking away from a flickering screen after you've been staring for hours is good for the eyes, which just solidifies pinball's status as an excellent companion to arcade games.
Thankfully, there's one American company out there still specializing in creating new pins. In the last few years, the Illinois-based Stern Pinball, Inc. has released top-notch, high-end tables themed around AC/DC, The Avengers, Avatar and Metallica.
The immeasurable unpredictability.
At home, you can rule your living room as lord of gaming. You can pick your consoles and your games, and configure your area in whichever way you please. You can pick who you invite over and what color the walls are. It can be perfect. Your average arcade, on the other hand, was a constantly mutating, frequently imperfect space, but that was a good thing.
Machines would cycle in and out, which meant that you had a decent shot of losing something you prized or scoring a high-quality new game. The clientele would change over time, potentially leaving a player with a huge number of people to interact with over the years. These places would develop with time, and that was what was thrilling about them. These spots were rich with vitality for 30 years.
Experiencing generations of gaming in one format.
Contemporary technology feeds off acceleration and movement. It's rare for any gaming format to stick around for 10 years and stay a serious contender. It's laughable to imagine one medium sticking around for three decades straight, but because the arcade existed in a perpetual state of evolution, it made that work.
Hypothetically, you could create an arcade that contains Pong, Punch-Out!!, Mario Bros., Pole Position, Double Dragon, Tetris, Donkey Kong, Ghosts n' Goblins, Gradius, Time Crisis II, Street Fighter II, NBA Jam, Tapper, Mortal Kombat II, Tron, Golden Tee Golf, F355 Challenge, and Tekken 5.
That lineup houses over three decades of gaming history. All of those games could be in their original format. Add Computer Space and your roster now includes the first commercially available video game of all time. This wouldn't just be a grade-A arcade but also a miniature shrine to video game history. The industry owes so much to the arcade that it's a true tragedy that the culture has left it in the dust.