We still have the power to turn a major American city upside down, so don't get too cocky, humans.
Posted on 02/09/2007 8:56:25 AM PST by qam1
It's difficult to write a eulogy for the arcade, that once ubiquitous quarter-eating staple of malls, bowling alleys and college campuses everywhere.
Like Saturday morning cartoons and the NHL, it still exists, but has been slowly fading from the American consciousness since its 1980s heyday.
Still, I felt compelled to write a lament of sorts after learning recently that the plug is literally being pulled at Gunther's Games, a small mom-and-pop downtown arcade in Columbia, Mo., where I spent many of my formative years (and quarters).
Not that the closing of Gunther's is a surprise. In recent years, the dusty confines felt more like an old Presbyterian church with pinball machines than a living and breathing hangout.
But it's hard not to wax poetic about one of the last of the old neighborhood arcades - the kind of place Norman Rockwell would have painted had he been a Gen-X-er who felt romantic notions about "Double Dragon."
For many teens in the late '70s and '80s, arcades were actually prime destinations. It wasn't just that my generation was dying to guide a yellow anthropomorphic hockey puck through a maze or to help a mustachioed plumber rescue his girlfriend from an ape, but because arcades were one of the few shared spaces we could hang out that felt decidedly adult-unfriendly.
The arcades I grew up in were dark, sweaty, dungeon-like rooms filled with loud, obnoxious lights and sounds, with even louder and more obnoxious people. I remember the plethora of mohawked misfits, metalheads in Megadeth shirts and ripped jeans, "D&D"-obsessed geeky types and various other mallrats. Even the typical arcade employee embodied the aesthetic - the longhaired burnout or the twenty-something underachiever celebrated in virtually every Kevin Smith movie.
When arcades appeared in '80s movies, it was usually to show the natural habitat of some sort of slacker or punky teen, such as Sean Penn's iconic Spicoli in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." There was even an absurd 1983 teen B-flick called "Joysticks" about wacky teens trying to keep their video arcade from being shut down by a curmudgeonly businessman.
In real life, drug deals and rowdy behavior were usually the exception rather than the norm, but the reputation of shady things occurring in arcades led many middle-class parents, including my own, to frown upon their kids frequenting these places. It's also worth noting that the skating rink and the bowling alley garnered similar reputations - and both tended to have arcade games.
Ironically, though arcades were viewed by the older generation as seedy dens of teen corruption - the games themselves were often simplistic and childish affairs, especially compared with today's complex and over- stimulating consoles games.
Back then, video games didn't revolve around fighting virtual lifelike recreations of World War II battles or murdering gang members; rather, we were innocently helping a pixelated frog across a street or saving a princess from a dragon.
And despite all the unblinking eyes staring at video screens, arcades also often bred a sense of community - we'd chat with strangers about how to get past the Nth wave of aliens in "Galaga," look on in awe for the guy who got past Act V in "Ms. Pac-Man" without losing a life, or bicker over who got the turkey leg in "Gauntlet."
Over time, you grew to know the regular characters at the arcade - sort of like a teen version of "Cheers."
But by the late '80s and early '90s, fewer people were dropping dollars into arcades. The first big blow of competition arrived with the home systems - first the Atari 2600 and then the Nintendo Entertainment System - when technology began to allow kids to play arcade games in the safe space of home (as Mom and Dad sighed in relief).
For those of us who miss the old days, home consoles offer "arcade favorites" compilations and collections, but they never feel satisfying, because the sum of the unique arcade experience was more than simply standing up in a room while playing "Elevator Action" or "Burgertime."
It was about a community of like-minded misfits. It was about sticking it to the Man, especially if that man was the final boss in a hard-fought game.
My games were Phoenix, Dig Dug, and Tempest. I wasn't very good at them, since my eye hand coordination sucks, but there was something very social and safe (while fulfilling the need to feel like you were walking on the wild side) about them.
I remember walking past an arcade in Boston a few years ago and was surprised, thinking that the concept of arcades had gone the way of the 8 Track and pet rock. Apparently, it was just a gang hangout in Downtown Crossing. Looked seedy and unpleasant, so I wasn't surprised.
The full ROM set is pretty easy to get with Bittorent.
I still remember the first time time I ever completed Dragon's Lair at the local bowling alley surrounded by a cheering crowd of at least twenty. Great memories.
I was a military brat, so our arcade was the base bowling alley at the drill hall. I wonder how many hours I spent there. Cool article.
The local mall had an arcade and a bank branch side by side.
Myself and 2 other kids played Gauntlet through a bank robbery completely oblivious to what was going on around us.
Remember that day whenever I fire up the gauntlet ROM.
That game was TOUGH. Had to play while flying at a 45-degree angle across the screen. It sure taught spatial coordination and judgement!
The joy of Xevious was always the music. I've found "Firepower 2000" for the SNES to be an adequate substitute...(but then again, I have the cheat codes.)
If I'd put my quarters into a savings account, I could pay off my mortgage right now! Oh, man, I can remember an arcade that had "$7 night" on Fridays from 5 pm- midnight, and I NEVER left there thinking I didn't get my money's worth.
My brothers had an Atari 2600 in 1980, but it just was NOT the same as the arcade sights/sounds. (I still take my 14 y/o daughter to a local "arcade", but their games suck. I'd rather play air hockey.)
I think I played that one time...that was a quarter-sucking machine!
Galaga was one of my faves. But when they came out with Street Fighter II, I played the heck out of that, and I was an adult at the time...if they still made good games, I'd still play 'em!
I miss BATTLEZONE - driving a tank around a vector-graphics landscape, blasting the hell out of the enemy!
Good times...
Moon Patrol was my favorite. I wish I could find it for PC. I suggested to game Tap that they try to get it. The best thing about Game Tap is all the old arcade game from the 80's.
That's kinda sick, dude.
My favorite game to play at the arcade where I went to college was Gauntlet. Wasted many an hour there trying to get past all the wraiths and get that ferschlugganah turkey leg! LOL
It's a very cool clone/update of Battlezone.
"Elf needs food, bad!"
Hence the awe ...
Ahhh, Tempest.
I remember spending hours and hours on that game.
Pole Position, Pac Man, Donkey Kong were some of my favorites. I also had all of those games with my Atari 2600.
We still have the power to turn a major American city upside down, so don't get too cocky, humans.
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