Generation Gap in the Arcade Machine "thing"

Someone said, in reference to today's bombcast:

"Another aspect of my young age (I'm actually only 19) is that I'm so so so glad that I missed the arcade thing, because paying 200-1000 dollars for, basically, a single game makes no sense to me. All it is is nostalgia I guess"

It there really that much of a disconnect with people that young, who don't get that, when arcades actually existed any a meaningful way, video games weren't really just something you did, they were more of an experience that you, more often than not, had to go and hunt out. The "Wake up, throw on my gaming machine of choice, play whatever game I want" kind of thing didn't really exist, there were a ton of great games that you simply couldn't play unless you had an arcade with that machine in your home town.

I dunno, I totally "get" the whole buying an arcade machine thing, but then I'm a crusty old guy in the eyes of that guy I quoted :/

I'm 17, and the concept of video games being an experience you "hunted out" is laughable. I used to have an arcade in a mall I sometimes visit and the feeling of playing against total strangers (and crushing them) in SFIV was fun, but I'm glad video games don't need to be such a social experience anymore. 
 
And yes, I find the idea of spending $200-1000 on a machine that plays a single game just because of nostalgia absurd.

If you look at it objectively as in value for money for games, I think Ryan said you could put all of CAX on his iphone, then having an arcade machine makes no sense. Its more like, if you missed arcade you don't have the nostalgia. If you ask the bombcast guys I guarantee they got those machines more for the look of them and the cool factor rather than the enjoyment of actually playing them all the time. Also, on another level its a cool conversation piece. You have to own your own house/apartment and be of an age (late twenties to thirties) to understand it as a pure collectible as opposed to a gaming platform. i.e. I cannot wait to haul an SF2 machine from like four towns away to my new place, just to have it be there, even-though i will still play sf4 on my 360 one hundred percent more. The arcade machine thing for guys in their say late twenties early thirties, scratches the same itch that say my dad's generation can now fill with a muscle car or motorcycle or something, its more the fact that you have it. That Silver Spoons reference was perfect in the Bombcast. I feel like I have achieved something in life if I can afford my own arcade machine and the place of my own to put it, its like a mini quarter life crisis.

I don't know, I'm 19 and I "get" the arcade "thing", even though I never had that golden era experience. I think everyone realizes that it is a poor value proposition, but the appeal is understandable. It's this big impressive thing that is significant to video game history and doesn't really exist anymore. That's pretty neat, and nostalgia could only add to the feeling.

arcade machines are things, it's not a console, it's not a media hub thing under your tv,it's a thing you went to and something you did with your friends, dropping 20 cents to play Metal Slug or SSF2, 
 
Arcade machines are awesome, my neighbor had a SF2 arcade in his garage when I was young, loved it.

You had to be there, simple as that. Trying to explain it to kids who don't "get" it is like trying to describe colour to a blind person. I'm not saying you can't enjoy the notion or experience of arcade machines if you didn't live through that era (and I think you're aces if you do like 'em) but these days playing coin-ops is a different thing. Now it's dirt cheap to get hold of a cabinet, most of the titles are easy to get hold of through other means, and home console games look just as good if not better than what's in a modern arcade.

Back in the day you were still futzing about at home with 8- and 16-bit machines, but you went to the arcade to blow your pocket money on mastering and getting a little bit further in games that usually looked considerably better. It was supply and demand, basically: if you wanted to play stuff on a big clear CRT monitor with great graphics and sound, that kind of thing only really existed in the arcade and they could charge you for that.

Going down to the arcade as a kid, jumping on and crushing some dude's high score in front of your friends then putting "ASS" or "POO" as your initials over his will never be replicated now.

You just know what dude rolled in later that week and saw the high scores on the attract screen roll by and got SUPER mad about it.

i dont understand spending 200+ dollars on nostaliga. 
 
 spending 200+ dollars on a arcade/pinball machine for the sake of having one in your house sounds awesome to me :P

Popping a quarter in an arcade machine was like renting a game for a few moments. If you liked what you were playing, you could add in another credit. If you didn't, you would simply move on to the next machine. You would get to keep the machine to yourself until you lost all your lives or credits, and you could keep it to yourself for a longer period of time if you worked on understanding the game. 

I am glad I had the chance to experience the arcade scene during it's final years. 
 
We will never see anything like that ever again, unless a couple of young, and talented people get together to create machines that accept nickels and dimes, and get us hooked on all those lights and sounds. 
 
Let's all take a moment to remember the good times we had playing Street Fighter and Metal Slug and Hang On and House of the Dead, and what ever else your local arcade happened to have.

I've been eyeballing a beautiful Crystal Castle machine on craigslist. I have no nostalgia for old cabinets, but there is just something about them. Like owning an old Les Paul, a piece of history, ya know?

I'm 22 and i would pay whatever it took to get a street fighter machine or a crystal castles machine or something else awesome.

Taste comes into it as much as age.

I'm still hoping someday I can find a "Burger Time" cabinet.  I know it's one of the few arcade games I could actually get my fiance on board with to actually buy.

You kids really missed out. I'm 28 now, and I grew up right on the end of the arcade scene. The arcade in my town was Aladdin's Castle. We played Terminator 2, The Simpsons, X-Men, Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, Mad Dog McCree, Dragon's Lair, etc. It was one of my favorite places.

Do you get movies? You know, theatres that show summer blockbusters, independent, anime, foreign language and art house films? Then you get arcades. You just missed out on the experience.

I would pay anything for a SFIV or Third Strike machine and I'm 11.

It's not just a matter of nostalgia. I don't feel the least bit nostalgic about arcades because they were never a thing here in Sweden, but I could still see myself buying a cabinet. The experience of playing on one -- the monitor, the stick, the buttons and so on -- is something special. You don't need nostalgia to realize that. You just need to try it once.

I'm 16, and while I have practically never played an arcade machine in my life, I can completely understand how they feel about buying arcade games.

"C'mon mom, one more quarter!" I sucked at games back then, but arcade machines were pretty awesome. I still like to go down to a local pizza shop just to play their Mortal Kombat cabinet. I'm also glad they took the Gauntlet machine out of our small theater, I'd pay $6.50 for a movie ticket and end up spending the entire time in the lobby playing that thing. Good times.

For me, going to the arcade meant playing Time Crisis 2, Machinegun L.A. (or whatever it was called) The Simpsons arcade, and Die Hard Arcade with my brother in co-op. They were also at a bowling alley and had air hockey and some other games. It was always really fun to go there with him and the rest of my family. It was just a cool chill place.

Now when I go back to that same alley, its been remodeled, the arcade room is in a different spot (with different games) and theres now a mini golf course where the parking lot used to be. Its not the same place. =(

@Icemael said:

It's not just a matter of nostalgia. I don't feel the least bit nostalgic about arcades because they were never a thing here in Sweden, but I could still see myself buying a cabinet. The experience of playing on one -- the monitor, the stick, the buttons and so on -- is something special. You don't need nostalgia to realize that. You just need to try it once.

There's a whole lot more to it than just that, though the experience of arcade quality sticks, monitors and buttons makes a difference. There's a social aspect to arcades which doesn't exist anymore and it's the same one which is slowly shrinking in terms of cinema. The internet for all its bonuses like convenience and breadth is one step too far removed for proper, immediate socialisation. The experiences which movies like TRON, The Last Starfighter and their 80s ilk glorify of Arcade kings with fans and other players watching on just doesn't happen anymore and that's a sad loss for this newer generation of gamer because that was truly something really special.

I'm 24 and I never went to arcades as a kid, either because they were becoming less popular by then or they just weren't a big thing in England. I don't really know. But yeah, I don't understand spending so much money on arcade machines either. I guess it is the awesome power of nostalgia.

@Icemael said:

It's not just a matter of nostalgia. I don't feel the least bit nostalgic about arcades because they were never a thing here in Sweden, but I could still see myself buying a cabinet. The experience of playing on one -- the monitor, the stick, the buttons and so on -- is something special. You don't need nostalgia to realize that. You just need to try it once.

There's a whole lot more to it than just that, though the experience of arcade quality sticks, monitors and buttons makes a difference. There's a social aspect to arcades which doesn't exist anymore and it's the same one which is slowly shrinking in terms of cinema. The internet for all its bonuses like convenience and breadth is one step too far removed for proper, immediate socialisation. The experiences which movies like TRON, The Last Starfighter and their 80s ilk glorify of Arcade kings with fans and other players watching on just doesn't happen anymore and that's a sad loss for this newer generation of gamer because that was truly something really special.

I'm 22 and never played in arcades much as a kid. I lived in a relatively small town and had no local arcade. And when I did visit arcades, they all seemed like a rip off. I would much rather save my money and buy a console game than put money into an arcade machine. I'm sure it would have been different if I had been born 10 years earlier, but I just missed out on the bulk of arcade culture and that stuff.

But the idea of having an arcade machine in my home is awesome. Yeah it's a dumb thing to buy. It's largely pointless and it is hugely expensive. But it would be totally awesome.

I actually think that we will see new mobile and social games that make you go out and meet new people. Kinda like an arcade game.

I would pay anything for a SFIV or Third Strike machine and I'm 11.

Arcades have never really existed in my country. At least not in the cities where I've lived, maybe in the largest cities. I've seen a Sega Rally arcade and Bust-A-Move a.k.a Puzzle Bubble machine, that is all. It's not just an age thing, it's a cultural thing. They still exist in some places while in others there have never been a market for it.

im 20 and have been to a fair amount of arcades and i dont get it still. they never have the one you want and when they do u get the guy in front that has more money than sence. ive also had bad expereances playing against people in them had a deqsent match against someone on tekken 6 i barely lossed wemt to say good game for him to just ignore my existence and steal the machine i was on just an example ive had more. the fact is consoles are better at least now because i can just get the game play it at my leisure against ether people online of at tournaments and gathering where people are good at it and most of the people there are willing to have a conversation at very least

In a sense, arcade cabinet machines are also a "Way Back" machines that transport us to a simpler time when video gaming involved going out with friends, having pizza or whatever.  I remember scurrying around a great arcade that used to be up in Pasadena, California from machine to machine while my buddies ran off in other directions.  When we found something new that was totally awesome, we'd run back to each other and say "You gotta see this bitchin' game, dude!"  or "Sweet, they've got Major Havoc. Where's the coin changer?"  It was all part of a night hanging out.  We'd hit the CD stores and maybe see a movie, as well.  The point is, it wasn't simply about the game but the collective experience of being with friends and sharing in the fun.
 
The question is would you feel the expense of a $1000 (give or take) on a pinball machine has any greater validation?  Pinball isn't something you can accurately recreate on another platform, but it's still a huge chunk of change on just one game. 

Arcades were just like playing online, except without the "derp" people everywhere. The only difference was they could see you cry when they beat you haha  It was a great way to play a few different games without buying a console or renting the games. It was also the greatest place ever to skip school.  
 
When I really quite small (probably 8 or 9) I was playing Virtua Fighter and some older dude came up with his girlfriend and tried to show off. I beat his ass soundly, it was hilarious, and it never could have happened without an Arcade haha

I'm 17. I missed out on the glory days but I grew up with video game hating and violence hating parents. I could play games at friends houses occasionally but the big draw was a far away shopping mall with an arcade. Due to the foods that only it sold I was able to go play games like Crazy Taxi, Metal Slug and Pac man all in arcade cabinet form with strangers who just wanted to have fun. Beating a giant metal monster in Metal Slug was a bonding experience between two people who would never see each other again which made nearly everyone in the arcade a good friend. Or killing hundreds of zombies in house of the dead by yourself and having a crowd around you just watching to see how awesome you are. Those experiences were arcade only, just as most of those games only worked because they were arcade titles and creatively played off the fact that you had to pay every game. Those experiences defined arcade gaming, and now that it's pretty much dead, all we have is the awesome memory of it. Still I'd rather have the memory than not experience it at all, and I bet everyone here who was in the glory days of arcades would agree.

@lclay said:

I'm 24 and I never went to arcades as a kid, either because they were becoming less popular by then or they just weren't a big thing in England. I don't really know. But yeah, I don't understand spending so much money on arcade machines either. I guess it is the awesome power of nostalgia.

I think there is a regional aspect certainly (I'm in England also). I'm 36 (blaaaargh, more and more gray hair every week), and I can probably count on 2 hands the number of times I went to an arcade. Such trips were generally part of a special occasion, rather than a regular activity. Of course, in those days, my gaming life was instead all about the ZX Spectrum :-)

@ExZippo said:

Someone said, in reference to today's bombcast:

"Another aspect of my young age (I'm actually only 19) is that I'm so so so glad that I missed the arcade thing, because paying 200-1000 dollars for, basically, a single game makes no sense to me. All it is is nostalgia I guess"

It there really that much of a disconnect with people that young, who don't get that, when arcades actually existed any a meaningful way, video games weren't really just something you did, they were more of an experience that you, more often than not, had to go and hunt out. The "Wake up, throw on my gaming machine of choice, play whatever game I want" kind of thing didn't really exist, there were a ton of great games that you simply couldn't play unless you had an arcade with that machine in your home town.

I dunno, I totally "get" the whole buying an arcade machine thing, but then I'm a crusty old guy in the eyes of that guy I quoted :/

I'm glad I missed the whole "run-on sentence" generation. Must be just nostalgia at this point.

I was a young teen in the early 90's there is more than nostalgia for the arcade days to me going to the arcades back in the day always was special arcade machines where  so much powerful then consoles and more interactive.The controls, graphics, and audio where pretty impressive at the time take for instance MK2 when you walk into the arcade you always could hear that machine it was loud and awesome.And damn if that game wasn't fun and playing a stranger side by side was interesting it was much more social then talking over a headset.The arcade days will always be special to me those where probably my fondest video game memories.I enjoy current games today but its not that same excitement I got back in the day.

Picture a world where the only games you can play at home are the ones you've seen in Game Room Quick Looks, and you can only play them on 12' TV's with wood paneling and leaky colours. 
Now imagine you and your folks walk by a pizza shop where they have a small crowd of excited people gathered around a PS4, XBOX420 and the baddest gaming rig running some next-gen shit. The game costs $1-2 each play. You ask mom or dad for it, and they reluctantly give you enough for 1 play of your game of choice. 
You rush to the line and wait your turn. You get there, pop the only money you have into the slot, and proceed to get your ass handed to you before beating level one. The pimply, older kid behind you tells you to scram, it's his turn, so you do. But you can't take your eyes off the screen. You're a little pissed that you suck, but you want more. SO MUCH MORE! But mom and dad won't give you any more money.
The idea of owning the machine outright doesn't even enter you head. You just wanna play. The older kid is now on level 2 and it's blowing your freakin' mind! But your folks tell you it's time to go home. You get home and see your crumby TV, and load up Game Room. You play, sure. It's all you got. But all the while your plotting how you're gonna get the money and time to sneak to the pizza place and make it to level 2. 

A couple of years go by, and you're as old as the dude who told you to scram ---when you can finally afford a little time and money--- you hit up the pizza place to get your game on. But wait, you can't play anymore. All that shit's gone. No games. No crowd. Just a dusty, sad looking pizza place.
So, bummed out, you go home and play your slightly upgraded version Game Room on your family's new 15' TV with leaky colours, and wonder why it's gonna take until you're a grown ass man before it catches up to the pizza place machine.

I'm 20 and I played a shitload of arcade games, whenever I could in fact. I always found them more interesting than the home versions even as they became technically inferior to them. I just love the customized controls for each game, the large personal screen, and the fast-paced short lasting arcade gameplay was appealing to me too.

EDIT: Rubbing my high score in people faces was fun, if you want to call that a social experience, go ahead.

I don't know if it was completely lost on my generation, but as someone who has become extremely dangerously close to building a MAME cabinet/refurbishing an old cabinet, and who keeps skirting with the idea I think one can grow to appreciate the arcade culture even it was dying down as I was growing up.

@CL60 said:

I would pay anything for a SFIV or Third Strike machine and I'm 11.

are you really 11?

Im 18 and I used to play games at my local arcade all the time. My aunt used to watch me and my brother during the summer from when I was 7-11. She worked at the mall and sometimes she would have to take us to work with her, she was a secretary for the owner of the mall and that was super boring so she'd give us each twenty dollars for the day and tell us to go play in the arcade. I loved all those old games and some new ones, I honestly played a ton of time crisis and gauntlet legends with my brother and that's even where i found my love of Tekken I owned on all those machines.   
  
So arcades have some nostalgia for me, but I'm not sure I would ever buy a full machine they're just too big. 

for the yoots who don't "get it"...  your loss.  no one is obligated to convince you that arcades are cool - arcades are cool.  15 years from now when most of you are in your early twenties, you'll get it.

It's the same thing as buying a vintage car. You won't drive it much, but it's fun to work on and it makes your friends jealous. 

@Damian said:

Picture a world where the only games you can play at home are the ones you've seen in Game Room Quick Looks, and you can only play them on 12' TV's with wood paneling and leaky colours.
Now imagine you and your folks walk by a pizza shop where they have a small crowd of excited people gathered around a PS4, XBOX420 and the baddest gaming rig running some next-gen shit. The game costs $1-2 each play. You ask mom or dad for it, and they reluctantly give you enough for 1 play of your game of choice.
You rush to the line and wait your turn. You get there, pop the only money you have into the slot, and proceed to get your ass handed to you before beating level one. The pimply, older kid behind you tells you to scram, it's his turn, so you do. But you can't take your eyes off the screen. You're a little pissed that you suck, but you want more. SO MUCH MORE! But mom and dad won't give you any more money.
The idea of owning the machine outright doesn't even enter you head. You just wanna play. The older kid is now on level 2 and it's blowing your freakin' mind! But your folks tell you it's time to go home. You get home and see your crumby TV, and load up Game Room. You play, sure. It's all you got. But all the while your plotting how you're gonna get the money and time to sneak to the pizza place and make it to level 2.

A couple of years go by, and you're as old as the dude who told you to scram ---when you can finally afford a little time and money--- you hit up the pizza place to get your game on. But wait, you can't play anymore. All that shit's gone. No games. No crowd. Just a dusty, sad looking pizza place.So, bummed out, you go home and play your slightly upgraded version Game Room on your family's new 15' TV with leaky colours, and wonder why it's gonna take until you're a grown ass man before it catches up to the pizza place machine.

Your little story there fully represents the nostalgia of the arcade for me. It's not that we didn't have games at home (I'm 29 and played from Atari 2600, PC in several iterations, sega, and nintendo) but when you went to an arcade the games were like nothing you could play at home. It's hard to describe any better then the quote and make sense if you've never seen that.

It's nostalgia, yes. Damn, though, if I had the money I'd get an arcade machine too. As a kid (I'm talking 8, 9 years old) I never imagined we'd have games like we do now at home. All the innovation and technology was in the arcade. The idea of having games that good or better in our home was a science fiction story.

Well said, I had to quote it.

I'm 19 and I see buying myself a Street Fighter II or Pinball arcade someday. It would look great and it would be fun when friends come over. It's not good value at all, but it's something fun to have (art isn't great value either if you look at the uses, but it's still nice to have).

Damn kids today...get off my lawn and let me play my Arcade Machine!!!!!!

Man I'm loving the murderer's row of 19 year olds. 1992 represent!

Anyway my friends and I are planning to Funspot in August and we have never really had that arcade experience from the 80's. I think the value proposition of paying with quarters and the value proposition of buying a machine are two different things. Even nowadays owning your own arcade machine seems impossible to a young child's mind because that rough facsimile still exists, albeit with shittier games.

I too would love a UMK3 or Total Carnage machine because I love those damn games. I never played them in the arcade but having them in that form is an homage to a time in games we all should at least remember.

Arcades were amazing, but consoles are also amazing. Arcades being a social experience should not be a negative, me interacting with another human being isn't a down side especially if we have the same interests and have a good time playing MK. It was cool to leave the house for a change to hang out with my friends face to face while i destroy them at some 720, we would comb our town looking for bars and laundromats seeing what we could find, it was an amazing experience when we found a vintage Pacman machine in an old repair shop and i really miss those days.

EDIT: Im 17 by the way.

I'm eighteen and I would love to own any number of arcade machines. I have a lot of fond, though distant memories playing games whilst standing on top of a chair so I could see the screen, in a dimly lit, poorly ventilated, noisy room. I'm glad I got to experience that. It was a lot of fun.

I'm 18 and I would freaking love to have a Metal Slug or Bubble Bobble machine.

You know when kids are young and they think to themselves "When I move out, I'm going to stay up all night and eat ice cream for breakfast?"

That's the same thing as buying and owning an arcade machine. Yes, it's partly nostalgia of owning a game that you used to love to play (even though it's probably been re-released on a much cheaper and more convenient platform). It largely has to do with the cool factor of owning your own arcade machine. If you grew up going to arcades, the idea of having your favorite arcade machine in your house that you could play as much as you want for free seemed like a crazy fantasy when you were a kid, which as an adult, you gleefully indulge yourself with. You're a at a place in your life where you have the space and disposable income to go nuts and do something kind of stupid and crazy. It's like guys in their 40s going out and buying a muscle car from the 70s even though there are faster and more efficient cars nowadays) because it was the car they always wanted when they were a teenager.

I'm 17 and I used to live right next to an Arcade. I remember waking up in the weekends very early to go to the arcade and watch people play. Back than my parents never gave me any money since I was so young, though I did get to play at the end of the day for free when there weren't a lot of people around, since my dad was good friends with the owner and he liked us very much. I remember playing MKII, Metal Slug, and some TMNT: Turtles in Time. Man it was great! I sure would buy a arcade machine. If i had the money.

You young people don't know what fun is, and get off my lawn.