If you live anywhere near Blackpool in the UK then heads-up – a classic gaming expo (which will include an arcade presence as well) is scheduled to be taking place there this coming November. While that is a little far off at the moment, at least by knowing now you can plan ahead accordingly. There is a teaser site up for the event at R3Play.info and we get a basic idea of what will be there from the image, which you can see above. Modern consoles will be there, classic arcades from companies like Sega, Taito, Atari, Midway and Capcom are seen and old computers like the C64, Sinclair, Amiga and others will be on hand too. So in other words, expect to see something like the Classic Gaming Expo in the US. We’ll have more info when it’s made available.
As a fan of classic arcade gaming one of those ideas from “back-in-the-day” that I like is the cocktail cabinet. While the idea has not been completely lose for arcades in modern times (as we saw at IAAPA with some new large screen cocktail cabinets) you really don’t see old school cocktail cabs at arcades these days. I have a Warlords cocktail at mine but the board has been dead for months so it’s not out for everyone to enjoy (and of course everytime I check eBay someone wants $200 for a Warlords pcb 😦 )
If you want to enjoy a cocktail cabinet for yourself and you don’t have the time/motivation/whatever to build one yourself then Arcade Tables could be a solution for you. We were contacted by one company who has been producing multi-game cocktail cabinets since 2001. Based out of Australia, Arcade Tables offer 60 classic games in a classic style cabinet that even can come with a coin mech. Admittedly I don’t follow how much multi-game cabinets go for these days so I don’t know how in-line these are price wise but they look pretty solid and you can check them out for yourself by clicking here.
A lot of classic games made their mark on our culture back in the 80’s but of those, Asteroids is certainly one of the top contenders for it’s reach and influence in gaming. I do not know how many arcades out there may still have one on location, but speaking for myself I have an Asteroids Deluxe at my place that gets played just about every day by the old and young alike. Asteroids was programmed by Ed Logg and EDGE Magazine has caught up with Ed to get his insight into how the game came about. There is some interesting information you can find in the article, including some concepts in what makes a great arcade game that I think are still applicable today, despite the gigantic leaps in technology that we have experienced since Asteroids came out. Hit the link below for the interview
If you have worked at an arcade before or if you own a few cabinets then you have probably come across some interesting coin buckets before. Some are rather irritating as they can be a pain to work with (personally I do not care much for metallic buckets or coin buckets that have grooves along the bottom as coins don’t come out as easily) others are easy to work with which is great when you have to do coin/token pull. On Driph.com, Chris Ainsworth has a picture collection of the many different kinds of coin boxes you can find in old games and I find it to be a great trip down memory lane as well as seeing some boxes that you don’t really see anymore.
Ever since I discovered vector games I have been a bit of a vector-junkie. I have an Asteroids Deluxe and would love to own more vectors but it seems that I never have the available funds when I come across a game I want. Many people these days have never seen a vector in person and personally I do not care for emulation since you need a vector monitor for that same effect. As a tribute to vector games, Jupiter 2 Arcade made a video showing off a bunch of these awesome games running on the real stuff instead of the emulator. Check it out
Many people have seen the documentary “The King of Kong” which delves into the world of high-score record setting on classic arcade games and the center of that story revolves around Steve Wiebe. We have mentioned him before and even after that documentary, he continues to make headlines with his awesome gaming skills, this time on Donkey Kong Jr. The first world record on Jr. was set back in 1983 by Billy Mitchell (who still holds the record on the original DK and he holds records on several other games) who was topped 25 years later by Ike Hall only some months ago. Now Mr. Wiebe has toppled that record by 106,800 points with his score of 1,139,800 and it just so happens that he is going to take another shot at the Donkey Kong score at this year’s E3 event.
I think it’s great that the attempt to set the world record on a classic game can still generate excitement for people, especially in this day and age where many video games have completely dumped the score system in favor of the “cinematic experience”. Arcades haven’t dumped it of course and I hope that the never do, without a high score board it makes it difficult to call a game an “arcade”.
Not many arcades have some of the good old classics on-site anymore but for those who do, there is one great advantage that comes out of it – those games easily attract older players who might not be enamored by newer games. Such is the subject of this brief news article in the Evansville Courier Press, which discusses how attractive classic game titles are at the Two Bit Bandit Family Indoor Sports Complex, located in Evansville Indiana. While the site operator does have some newer titles like Deal or No Deal, he also has a few classics which bring in the older players who might be looking for something else to play while their kids are playing the newer stuff.
I have seen this a little bit at my own arcade, and it’s one of the reasons I like having some classics on hand so that my game variety goes beyond the normal fare and so that anyone can find something that they would like to play. Sometimes the kids will go for the classic games but certainly not as often as the adults do.I even will have some adults ask for classic titles on occasion, such as Ms. Pac-Man or Frogger and my Asteroids Deluxe is played every day by the young and old alike (it helps to have that vector monitor of course). Of course the downside to some of the older games is maintenance, which can become troublesome as they get older but a couple of companies like Namco still release classic compilations on new hardware so you do not have to worry so much about that. Now if we could just see some more classic style games coming along with more modern graphics (that don’t all go to download services like XBL)
Not many arcades have some of the good old classics on-site anymore but for those who do, there is one great advantage that comes out of it – those games easily attract older players who might not be enamored by newer games. Such is the subject of this brief news article in the Evansville Courier Press, which discusses how attractive classic game titles are at the Two Bit Bandit Family Indoor Sports Complex, located in Evansville Indiana. While the site operator does have some newer titles like Deal or No Deal, he also has a few classics which bring in the older players who might be looking for something else to play while their kids are playing the newer stuff.
I have seen this a little bit at my own arcade, and it’s one of the reasons I like having some classics on hand so that my game variety goes beyond the normal fare and so that anyone can find something that they would like to play. Sometimes the kids will go for the classic games but certainly not as often as the adults do.I even will have some adults ask for classic titles on occasion, such as Ms. Pac-Man or Frogger and my Asteroids Deluxe is played every day by the young and old alike (it helps to have that vector monitor of course). Of course the downside to some of the older games is maintenance, which can become troublesome as they get older but a couple of companies like Namco still release classic compilations on new hardware so you do not have to worry so much about that. Now if we could just see some more classic style games coming along with more modern graphics (that don’t all go to download services like XBL)
While we eagerly await our ATEI coverage to be posted (it should be up very soon so stay tuned) I figured it might be nice to get in a video review before hand. I’ve been needing to do more of these but time is a precious thing as you know and I can’t seem to find enough of it lately. But here is one of my favorite games, Asteroids Deluxe, in all it’s vector glory. While I didn’t have a very good game here, I think that it’s always cool to see a vector monitor in action. Surprisingly, AD has been a popular game at my place, even kids who are only dazzled by today’s modern graphics constantly play this because “it looks so cool”. Too bad I don’t have a full color vector game to show them what that looks like but one day I’ll get my hands on a Major Havoc and that will change.
I still need to get the documentary, King of Kong. It’s the kind of film that demonstrates the rivalry that is such an integral part of arcade culture, or at least is most prominent with classic arcade games. In the video below, they talk with a few gamers about their favorite classics but they also get to talking with Steve Wiebe, one of the stars in King of Kong about – you guessed it, Donkey Kong. They also talk with Walter Day from Twin Galaxies about what’s so special about the classic games, which he articulates perfectly. Unfortunately they don’t bother to say if Steve broke the record again or not, which they set up in the video. I checked Twin Galaxies and unless they haven’t updated the score yet, it looks like he didn’t break it this time around.
Arcade Heroes 
Latest Comments