Modern Arcades

**javierdlopez** · 06-21-2009, 06:22 AM

So my wife and I went to Gameworks last night. Work thing, everything was paid for...

As I walked around I had a hard time finding a game I liked. I had a $30 card and towards the end I found myself playing (and using up all my credits) on one of those Claw games trying to pull out a Pokemon plush for my daughter...

I think the main thing I realized is there are no quick burst, action games. There's no modern versions of those classic arcade games. A good 30% of the games I saw were light gun action/adventure games, which would be fine except there's no scoring and no way to extend your play. You get to play through a level of the game so there's no attachement to the game, nothing to draw you in. Example: they had Ghost Squad which was great on the Wii because you could actually play through the game, but doesn't translate well into an arcade game. I played through one game, but nothing made me want to play a second round. The other 70% of the games were driving games that were tethered to one another. Now that's kind of fun, but after the 3rd time playing through a driving game, I lost interest. Been there, done that, got the T-Shirt.

There had to be millions of dollars invested on that arcade floor, yet there wasn't one game where people were crowded around with. There's no modern day version of Gaunlet, Donkey Kong, or PacMan.

It's not that there aren't modern day quick burst arcadey type games, just no one turns them into arcade cabinets. There's tons of stuff on XBLA that would translate well into arcade cabs. Peggle, Geometry Wars and PacMan CE come to mind...

Kind of sucky, since I was excited about going to GameWorks only to be dissapointed. Luckily there was a bar not too far away so I drowned my dissapointment in a couple of Litres of Guinness.

**Flare** · 06-21-2009, 07:28 AM

And don't tell me.... they also had the one single pinball machine and it was either Pirates of the Caribbean or Indiana Jones.

I hate that as well. Pinballs used to rule the arcade floor, now it's not but a shadow of its former self

**BydoEmpire** · 06-21-2009, 07:48 AM

You can't go wrong with Guiness, so at least something positive came out of the evening! I bet these big arcades would makes some money if they put a few classic cabs in. The games are cheap for the operator, accessible to all types of players, and have a strong nostalgia factor.

**Shane R. Monroe** · 06-21-2009, 07:53 AM

Gameworks also carries Monopoly pinball too

Oh, and the pinball is always in VERY poor repair.

**alexjlopez** · 06-21-2009, 09:52 AM

I've always thought that a 80's themed place, arcade, pizza joint, maybe roller skating, with 80's music and decor would do really well as a franchise.

**BurgerTyme** · 06-21-2009, 06:09 PM

Just got back from Disney last night and we stayed at the Contemporary resort. They relocated the arcade since the last time we were at WDW and it is a bit smaller than before. They had 4 pinball machines and 4 retro arcade machines of which they were all multicade machines (Ms Pac-Man and Galaga in one).

I bought at $20 card at the beginning of the week and found myself doing as Javierlopez above and wasting credits just to clear the card.

I did score over 100K on Donkey Kong, which I hadn't played on a real arcade machine in years and I got over 150K on Joust which is one of my all time favoirites. As always, I still sucked at Defender.

One of the Pinball machines they had was Nascar by Stern. I had never seen this one before and really enjoyed playing it. It was kinda uniqe the way one of the pinballs would loop around like on a racetrack.

**Flare** · 06-21-2009, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by stturner

Just got back from Disney last night and we stayed at the Contemporary resort. They relocated the arcade since the last time we were at WDW and it is a bit smaller than before. They had 4 pinball machines and 4 retro arcade machines of which they were all multicade machines (Ms Pac-Man and Galaga in one).

I bought at $20 card at the beginning of the week and found myself doing as Javierlopez above and wasting credits just to clear the card.

I did score over 100K on Donkey Kong, which I hadn't played on a real arcade machine in years and I got over 150K on Joust which is one of my all time favoirites. As always, I still sucked at Defender.

One of the Pinball machines they had was Nascar by Stern. I had never seen this one before and really enjoyed playing it. It was kinda uniqe the way one of the pinballs would loop around like on a racetrack.

I went to WDW back in 2006 and stayed in the Contemporary Resort as well. I took a bunch of pictures of their arcade.

Is it still like this?

http://picasaweb.google.com/flarie/D...sortSFUNCENTER

**joejet** · 06-22-2009, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by stturner

One of the Pinball machines they had was Nascar by Stern. I had never seen this one before and really enjoyed playing it. It was kinda uniqe the way one of the pinballs would loop around like on a racetrack.

Never played nascar, but its a remake of Grand Prix... cool game... i agree the looping ball around the "track" is quite a cool feature.

Nascar:
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=5093&picno=28601
Grand Prix
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=5120&picno=29975

Nice to see pinball machine actually playable. The operators continue to dig a knife into pinball with thier poorly maintained machines. After you lose $1 on a pin, why risk it again?

I have seen pins not only taking coin and unplayable, but some so dirty you cant even see the inserts (Simpsons Pinball Party at Wyndam Ski resort for example... and they also have a non-working Monopoly)

Its sad because Stern machines are actually very maintenance free... rarely do they need help, most issues are from total neglect... jeez at least wipe down the playfield with a dirty rag once a year!

<rant off>

**BydoEmpire** · 06-22-2009, 09:15 AM

DisneyQuest used to have a really nice classic arcade game room, but that was 7-8 years ago. No idea if it's even still around.

I've heard the Fun Spot in Sanford (smaller, local amusement park just N. or Orlando) has a classic game room, but I've never been there.

**BurgerTyme** · 06-22-2009, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by Flare

I went to WDW back in 2006 and stayed in the Contemporary Resort as well. I took a bunch of pictures of their arcade.

Is it still like this?

http://picasaweb.google.com/flarie/D...sortSFUNCENTER

I believe that is they way it was before they moved everything up to the 4th floor of the Contemporary. They do not have near as many machines as you have in the pictures. They are almost ready to open a new vacation Disney time share right beside the Contemporary that has a walkway that goes right to the 4th floor of the main hotel. I assume this is why they moved the Arcade and Snack bar from the 1st floor to the 4th.

They built a new resturant downstairs called "The Wave" Very pricey, even by Disney standards, and not very good food in my opinion.