| >'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 |
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.