[brandnewlow]

Dragon's Lair is a beautiful game and can be had on Steam for a $10: http://store.steampowered.com/app/227380/

I too used to love exploring arcades and had a similar experience with a crowd forming to watch me beat Killer Instinct in an arcade in northern Italy. I think he's dead-on that the rush you get from those experiences is similar to what people find on Twitch.

[incision]

>'I too used to love exploring arcades and had a similar experience with a crowd forming to watch me beat Killer Instinct in an arcade in northern Italy.'

Absolutely.

Personally, I have two periods of magical arcade memories.

First, the completely enveloping, holodeck-esque wonder of climbing into or onto just about any deluxe cabinet[1][2][3][4] as a kid in the smoky arcades of the 80s.

Later, the big communities around the 'quarters on the glass' era of fighting games when the local arcade was effectively a close-knit dojo - storming, challenge matches and all.

Online play has come a long way and Evo [5] keeps the highest levels of comp alive, but the world has changed in ways that make that have likely ended those old, physically rooted communities and networks for good.

1: http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/118/118124217270.gif

2: http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/108/1088284893.jpg

3: http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/118/118124211046.jpg

4: http://www.arcade-museum.com/images/122/1223249015.jpg

5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Championship_Series

[bane]

> Later, the big communities around the 'quarters on the glass' era of fighting games when the local arcade was effectively a close-knit dojo - storming, challenge matches and all.

Something I always thought was interesting from that time (I spent High School on Street Fighter II and a bit too much College on Tekken Tag Tournament). Was how the culture in different arcades was always a bit different. The play-styles, how the impromptu tournaments worked, what was considered cheap or fair play...it always interested me as your home arcade group think eventually set a kind of style momentum and mixing it up or discovering new techniques was always kind of a challenge. If you were really dedicated to the game you'd go over to the next city or wherever they had one of the games and spend a day or two there learning from the group think in that arcade.

[omilu]

i remember putting quarters on the glass to signify you were next in line. Sometimes there would be three or four quarters all from different people, and remembering which quarter was yours (your place in the queue) wasn't hard.