Man I miss the days where you can go to any random arcade...

[FusionITR]

at any random time on any random day and find 20+ people surronding the machines of the good fighting games.

I remember a long time ago back when KI2 and UMK3 were popular, I could go to a local arcade (and there were tons of them back then) at any random time and there would be good comp. No effort what-so-ever to find comp. There days, we have to plan special meets on these forums just to get a fraction of the comp that we used to have those days. How sad :tdown:

[monkeyspank]

Thats cuz arcades are dying, sad to say but its true.

[Moogleborg]

True that...I remember where even a Chuck E Cheese had a decent arcade...now all it is are kiddy arcades and watered down versions of DDR...

[Ephidel]

at any random time on any random day and find 20+ people surronding the machines of the good fighting games.

I remember a long time ago back when KI2 and UMK3 were popular, I could go to a local arcade (and there were tons of them back then) at any random time and there would be good comp. No effort what-so-ever to find comp. There days, we have to plan special meets on these forums just to get a fraction of the comp that we used to have those days. How sad :tdown:

The good times has ended, sad to say. I also remember those days where fierce competetion was down at the arcades.

[Arcas V]

those who still have any arcade action better take advantage of the moment before the new generation of consoles make it worse lol

[wasp]

:tup: Thanks to counter-strike!!!

[doyerbest]

OH GOD I LONG FOR THOSE DAYS AGAIN!

I remember as a kid walking into ANY mall arcade and seeing at least 20 people surrounding KI, KI2, MK series, SF, even fucking TimeKillers. I was so young at the time, it seemed like heaven to me.

I only regret not being old enough to actually socialize with the teens at the time and making enemies for actually beating a few of them.

The arcade scene of today is not even a FRACTION of what it used to be. Not even a fraction of a fraction.

Now I feel old.

[Magnifico]

think it sucks for us? just think how the arcade owners must feel

i bet they used to be able to eat

[doyerbest]

I think it's partly the owners own damn fault. Nowadays I walk into an arcade and see broken equipment, loose buttons that don't work, shitty joysticks that don't move a certain direction, fucked up screens, you name it. That shit would have been UNACCEPTABLE back in the day.

Also, a point Seth brought up a while ago, they don't advertise as much as they should, if at all, so the only people that care about them are hardcore arcade kids like us.

What a sad state of affairs.

[Ciddypoo]

I think it's partly the owners own damn fault. Nowadays I walk into an arcade and see broken equipment, loose buttons that don't work, shitty joysticks that don't move a certain direction, fucked up screens, you name it. That shit would have been UNACCEPTABLE back in the day.
With little to no income, other than possibly to pay for the building (and even then they're probably feeding negatives in most arcades), it'd be kinda hard to spend time and money on maintenance for cabinets, or getting quality parts.

[doyerbest]

I'm not talking about quality parts, I'm talking about WORKING parts! What's the point of even having the game on if the shit don't work? Oh right, so the little 5 year olds can plop in their 50 cents and mash to their hearts content.

Quick story. Went to Gameworks in Las Vegas last summer, met a couple of cool cats there who were down to play some Marvel, things are chill until right side fierce kick goes out. They tell me that I should tell the attendant because if they tell him, he'll think they are just hustling him and turn off the game. So I go over to the front desk and tell the guy shit ain't working, and sure enough he goes over there and turns it off anyway. Doesn't even test the damn thing. That was an infuriating experience to say the least.

But I guess Las Vegas Gameworks falls into that low income bracket too right?

(Good thing I hotfooted it to the New Orleans hotel/casino to play with Ruin and his crew, else I would have had no comp at all)

[Duy Nguyen]

Yea, I miss those days.
I was only a little kid back then so I didn't really experience all of the fun with the teenagers at the time, but that didn't stop me from playing a game or two with them.

[PozerWolf]

We all know the Arcades are dying and we all know whats happening to the fighting game community.

Yes we know it sucks and its bad enough we have topics like this almost every week.

2D is dying, 3D is the future... end of story.

[Ryu & Ken]

Guess online will have 2 replace the arcade feel.

Man I miss the 90's for that aspect

[MrKarate]

yeah 90's ruled, fighting games and good rock music. now we have sony and microsoft leading a 3d gayfest and a bunch of watered down rap music.

[HeLGeN-X]

Ahhh, do I remeber my arcade days, when SFIII first came out, and people from Chinatown Fair would come to St Marks (in NYC) to fight me... those were the days.... travelling to Flushing Queens to look for a Tekken Tag Tournament or 3S challengers....

[Double Reppuken]

Travis' avatar is so...freaking...hypnotic...

as per the topic: i blame society.

[nitetakesqueen]

...I do NOT want to be the person to ask this. But...

Isn't there anything we can do? I don't want to say things like get off your asses and do something about it. Because I know that it would be hard to, and that it's basically asking people to spend their lives on something they may not have seen themselves doing in the future. Telling people that you're an arcade owner, really isn't much of a carreer to be proud of.

And we can't just tell arcade owners to keep shit fixed or else we won't play their machines. Arcade owners will just 'not care'. Arcade owners, aren't gamers it seems. I really don't get it. If they aren't gamers, then why are they arcade owners? It's kind of like every gaming store you walk into. The managers don't seem to be gamers, so why'd they take the job?

I live in NYC, and I play at Chinatown fair, so I'm lucky to have Huey, Henry and Akuma who actually care about our arcade [Save Except Huey]. So, I haven't had the same suffering of faulty controls that you guys have had. But I know what it's like.

I'm still wondering though. Here, we've got hundreds of people. We all see that the arcades are dying.

Not just the arcades, but our "Way of Life". Not that gaming is our lives, but being able to walk into a place where everyone does the same thing you do. Keeping arcades alive for the next generation. Which happens to be me.

It's just like what they said with Jab Strong Fierce productions. In arcades, any sort of people come to the same place and they have a simulated conflict. And then they share ideas. Streetfighter makes people think in the same lives. It even simulates alot of real world conflict if you really think about it. About the ONLY kind of game you can get. Where you don't break the game, or the game doesn't break you.

It's not about leveling up to level 55 and watching your character fight. It's not about getting the diamond key to open the diamond room to get the water medal. All players have characters that are equal, and it's up to the choices of the PLAYER to win or lose in streetfighter. It's a test. A test that NO walkthrough, or NO amount of time ONline can save you from.

And it's not against a computer. It's against a player. You translate yourself to another player by the way you play. Unpredictable, or predicting.

And that's not something I want to lose later on. I don't want it to become a dying thing. Because it's better than the games we have now. What will replace the arcades?

Is there anything at all though, that we can do.

[xYourMasterx]

How long can we play the same sf games over and over is the real quetion. I think its really fucked up how capcom didnt even try to market cfj. What really sucks is back in the 90's I was little and only pushed buttons. so I never got a chance to enjoy that stuff. You guys should be thankful, but sadly we'd all have to make a good fighting game to make arcade popular again. But now in days everyone wants shit easy and/or 3d. thats why devil may cry 3 ,gta:sa, and halo are so popular.I'm trying to become a computer programmer, so if we work to gather and put out a couple of decent fighter then I guest we could help the arcade became popular.then we could buy sf from capcom I dont think they even want sf anymore so it probly will be really cheap or free.

[X-Sapphire]

:tup: Thanks to counter-strike!!!

yeah it's thanks to counterstrike and other gay ass online games, mainly fps, starcraft shit and all that bs.

Although I couldn't appreciate the mad amount of competition back then since I was a little scrubby kid lol.

[Shadowhaxor]

I remember those days, they were great. I used to work at a local arcade in the area, and I remember when we got in Xmen vs Streetfighter. GOD, those were the days, always had mad comp in the arcade.

Sadly, there is nothing that can be done, unless you want to start your own arcade up. I don't see why it would fail, as long as you provide good service, great working coin-ops and have weekly or monthly tourneys.

[Agmaster]

Travis's Avatar is top tier.

[Geese Pants]

Me too......I miss those days.

[nitetakesqueen]

...You know what..

I just might do that.

How hard is it to run an arcade, repair buttons when broken, and kick off people for mashing.
Get in the newest games, advertise. And get the good players[they discount] in there so that they bring the comp with them

No sarcasm... I really just might do it.

[tsubame]

Closest I ever got to the SF feeling outside of an arcade was from an obscure RTS called Kohan. Curious if anyone actually played that MP around here (only the first one, the second one(KoW) was like comparing CvS2 to SvC- utter crap)

It had many of the same elements.

That being said, if I ever win the lottery, I'm doing a small arcade to have fun and do something with my life.

[DaDesiCanadian]

...You know what..

I just might do that.

How hard is it to run an arcade, repair buttons when broken, and kick off people for mashing.
Get in the newest games, advertise. And get the good players[they discount] in there so that they bring the comp with them

No sarcasm... I really just might do it.

Someone already tried that. It's called stargate. Read about it, or ask someone better qualified to tell you about it.

[Cryptlord]

Just go to japan. Tons of arcades and amazing comp.

[Kayin]

Just go to japan. Tons of arcades and amazing comp.
Beat me to it. But going to Japan would be a serious blow to the wallet I'd assume.

I'd actually like to continue learning Japanese sometime tho... Ya never know.

[Jin Cena]

I was at one earlier tonight, and nobody was playing any fighting games at all. They were all playing pool and I ended up wasting $1.50 on pinball and those stupid touch machines before leaving.
It was soooooooo booooooooorinnnnnnng

[Xero Kaiser]

Yeah, I remember those days...don't particularly care about them being gone. let's assume everyone goes rushing back to the arcades.....then what? we go back to playing the same fucking street fighter games until the end of time? anyone ever consider that maybe people just got sick of playing those games over and over again? how long is alpha 3 and MvC2 supposed to entertain us?

some people are so quick to jump on the "OMG fuck 3d aNd OnliN3 g4mez!!1!" bandwagon, without considering that maybe fighting games shot themselves in the foot. rehashes, shitty graphics and a fanbase that's more concerned about games being "hardcore" and "old-school" than keeping up with the times and what most gamers expect from their games now. maybe people just got sick of seeing games that look and play like the one that came out a decade earlier. and you wonder why people stopped coming....

I love arcades, I practically grew up in them, but there's only so much street fighter/King of Fighters I can take, especially when the new stuff looks and plays so much like the old stuff. eventually, I just didn't give a damn and moved on

somewhere along the line fighting games became all about frame data and tournament play, and these are the people companies like Capcom are catering to. the mainstream is what made arcades and fighting games so popular in the 1st place.

All players have characters that are equal, and it's up to the choices of the PLAYER to win or lose in streetfighter. It's a test. A test that NO walkthrough, or NO amount of time ONline can save you from.

And it's not against a computer. It's against a player. You translate yourself to another player by the way you play. Unpredictable, or predicting.

lovely....you just described any game with a multi-player mode

[nitetakesqueen]

I suppose you're correct about that, you could do that in any multi-player platform that has a challenge mode. But all the while, I believe that the top fighting games [Tekken 5, Third Strike, MVC2] are ever able to capture the essence of balance between predicting and unpredictability. Somewhere along the lines though there is also a game of fear and acting out of an initiative action. I picked that up from the old articles on Domination 101.

I agree. Alot of people jump the wagon when it comes to 3d and ONline play. I'm guilty of playing lots of 3d games and I actually spend 'much more' time playing ONline then I get to at the arcades. Since ONline is free and the arcades cost money. But ONline, there is so much anonymity that everyone has a free "be a jackass" pass. Whereas in an arcade, I haven't met that problem...

I know people can be stupid in real life just as well as they can be ONline. But in real life, people are afraid to be retarded. I suppose though, that ONline you could also build a community up just as much as any other arcade. I just fear that you lose something when you play SFIII ONline then you do in the arcade.

As for 3d... Well. Graphics are graphics. It doesn't matter if we're doing 8-bit or DX9, I think any human being could agree to that. Most people are afraid that graphics will water down a game. And I fear, that alot of game developers bank on their graphics selling the game and forget about gameplay or plot, or even the game itself. I hate saying this because I'm a strong Squaresoft fan. But somewhere along the line, Squaresoft stopped making 'games' and started making interactive movies.

I guess the one thing that you can do with an arcade is meet people who are likeminded. You can do that ONline as well, but you can't go grab a bite to eat and yell obscenities at passing cars with the people you meet ONline. It's kind of sad when all gaming goes ONline and you're stuck in your room all day with a controller in hand.

[Xero Kaiser]

Since ONline is free and the arcades cost money. But ONline, there is so much anonymity that everyone has a free "be a jackass" pass.

this is true

As for 3d... Well. Graphics are graphics. It doesn't matter if we're doing 8-bit or DX9

I disagree. one of the most important parts of selling any product, it doesn't matter if it's a video game, a car or a can of beans, is the presentation. I don't want SNES level graphics on my expensive computer and consoles. there's nothing wrong with expecting a certain level of visual quality from your games

Most people are afraid that graphics will water down a game. And I fear, that alot of game developers bank on their graphics selling the game and forget about gameplay or plot, or even the game itself.

Most people are afraid that graphics will water down a game. And I fear, that alot of game developers bank on their graphics selling the game and forget about gameplay or plot, or even the game itself.

I find this so....unwarranted that it's ridiculous. it's an arguement I've been hearing since the days of 16-bit and it's not any worse than it was then. people trying to push the graphical aspect of games isn't anything new. most of those "old-school" games that everyone worships advertised their graphics as much as anyone today. what do you think some of the selling points of games like donkey kong country, final fantasy 6 or A link to the past was? and good graphics don't automatically mean lazy gameplay

. I hate saying this because I'm a strong Squaresoft fan. But somewhere along the line, Squaresoft stopped making 'games' and started making interactive movies.

even old RPGs had long ass talking sections. the only difference is fact that they can actually make a cinematic looking sequence rather than a bunch of bouncing sprites

It's kind of sad when all gaming goes ONline and you're stuck in your room all day with a controller in hand.

true, it's different but I wouldn't neccesarily say it's worse. I talk to my guildmates on a game like World of Warcraft a hell of a lot more than random people in the arcade

[Ryu & Ken]

I remember when we had Sega World in Troc and when it opened up in 1996. Three MASSIVE floors of arcades and it was free for £15.

Man I would go from 10.00 - 00.00, for 14 whole hours and then after a few weeks they made you had to pay for each arcade and then it bombed out

[DanSC]

:tup: Thanks to counter-strike!!!
yea..thanks counter-strike..now i can buy a arcade cabinet for a real cheap price.. :encore: