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Where are the classics?


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So I went to possibly the only arcade left in Canberra (Intencity Belconnen)

 

Thought that I might re-live some old times.

 

To my amazement, there are very few classic machines left, I had the choice of a 33"? Raiden Fighters, and a 33"? Metal Slug 3.

 

Both good games, after playing them for a few credits I realised that both screens have a serious wobble to them, and the joysticks and buttons are fairly stuffed.

 

Most of the newer style games also had bad screen burn, or were not working.

 

The place is seriously neglected. I won't be heading back any time soon, and I am more keen than ever to build my MAME cab.

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Sad but true, these machines simply do not bring in the money anymore so they will be left to run until they bring in so little it doesnt cover the electricity or until something breaks.

 

The number of arcade fans who actually go to arcade these days is a tiny fraction of the masses that used to drop coin after coin and its likely to continue to decline, virtually all kids have consoles at home and for those that dont the arcades never were a cheap alternative. The only corner of the market the arcades still have is the games that have an odd input mechanism, such as the DDR machines.

 

Arcade machines will eventually go the way of the "what the butler saw" machines, a curiosity from another time. Had one of my younger cousins over recently and he was amazed that people would go out to put money in large cabinets to play games on "small" screens. Reminds me of something I read somewhere online, a kid asked why people went to the arcades to play space invaders instead of playing it on their phone.

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Watching an episode of underbelly last night.

Had "lasers" arcade in Kings Cross featured.

Apparently I was one of the only ones there to play the games.

I may have shat myself if I'd used the note to coin machine :o

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Watching an episode of underbelly last night.

Had "lasers" arcade in Kings Cross featured.

Apparently I was one of the only ones there to play the games.

I may have shat myself if I'd used the note to coin machine :o

 

saw an episode of UB a few weeks ago, and saw the screen of a 60in1 in the background.

 

It may have been a 48in1 as it is based many years ago......;)

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To my amazement, there are very few classic machines left

A question for you: how many people were in the arcade? Was it full? Did you have to wait in line to play a game? Were people pouring money into machines?

 

I too long for the days of classic arcades. But the fact of the matter is they don't make money any more (at least not the 80's style arcades). Arcades are a business, and like all businesses they need to make money to survive.

 

Classic arcade games are not mainstream. They are now a collectors hobby. There are plenty of people around the world who have set up oldschool arcades, and the only ones that survived are ones where the local population is very high (much higher and more dense than any Australian city you can think of), and where they mixed newer style amusement with old games.

 

While I share you grief at not being able to find classic games in arcades, you need to apply a little common sense and a harsh dose of reality to the situation. Unless the guy running the arcade finds income from an alternate source and is doing it for laughs, nobody is going to run an arcade at a loss. And for that reason, you won't find 80's style arcades around any more.

 

My "lotto dream" is to start a chain of retro arcades around the country. And the reason it's only a lotto dream is because I know there's zero chance of me quitting my day job and being able to sustain an income from such a project.

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My "lotto dream" is to start a chain of retro arcades around the country. And the reason it's only a lotto dream is because I know there's zero chance of me quitting my day job and being able to sustain an income from such a project.

 

That sounds like hell on earth to me, spending your day sitting in an empty shop listening to a cacophany of machines in attract mode, would be so depressing. 99% of your visitors would be asian students wandering in and wandering straight out again (why is it that the remaining arcades are always amost exclusively full of asian students?).

 

I also dont think the "bored husband and kids" option really exists as a target market these days, the arcade machines you still see at airports are never used, yet there are plenty of families sat round waiting for hours in the cafes either side.

 

A better more entertaining use for your millions would be to set up a travelling arcade, going to fairs and events with a B-double full of the classics, at least you would get a lot of people to play them. The trouble with static arcades is that you use up the local interest very very quickly. In the 80s people went to the arcades to play the latest and greatest games, now the latest and greatest comes on a disc to slap into a PS3 of Xbox.

 

On the upside, if arcades were still profitable the machines we now have at home would cost 10-100X what we paid for them so the home arcade hobby market would be dead, afterall, who had a pac-man machine at home in the early 80s, only the stupidly rich.

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Retro gaming is dead in arcades.

 

Nothing you can do about it - the new generation simply will not pick it up.

 

The only machines that bring in money now are arcade racers/fighting games/beat games.

 

Go to Timezone in George St Sydney - its CONSTANTLY packed out with lines for Wangan Midnight all the time. Street Fighter 4 is constantly being played and Tekken 6 also is a big one across the road at Galaxy World.

 

Go on the weekend it's even worse. Sometimes I wait 1 hour to play.

 

Basically the person who said you are going to the wrong arcades is right - but if you are looking for RETRO games or CLASSICS then yeah you have no real hope besides the odd machine here and there in pubs mainly.

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Sadly, even in Japan, Arcades seem to be declining.

 

Having recently picked up a Blast City candy-cab, I have to say that you are only getting 60% at best of the intensity on a console.

 

I guess that today's young-uns would view the classic games as embarassing, compared to MW2 or FFXIII :(

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Sadly, even in Japan, Arcades seem to be declining.

 

Having recently picked up a Blast City candy-cab, I have to say that you are only getting 60% at best of the intensity on a console.

 

I guess that today's young-uns would view the classic games as embarassing, compared to MW2 or FFXIII :(

 

I was just going to post about Japan. This is pretty much the only place they still have a wide collection of classic/old games. You can see a wide variety of games from the 80s all the way to current.

 

Have a look at some of these pics:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcharlie/collections/72157624007899446/

 

They even have a classic arcade with stuff from the 70s!

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A better more entertaining use for your millions would be to set up a travelling arcade, going to fairs and events with a B-double full of the classics, at least you would get a lot of people to play them.

 

Not a bad idea that

 

Follow the V8 supercars around, I would have thought that pins and arcades are a 'working mans' passtime back in the day which would also equate to cars and bogans. :)

 

When your not at the V8's hit the fairs and shows, maybe local markets.

 

I think that would also be enjoyable to do, driving around the counrty, no real rush to be anywhere and hopefully bringing a smile to the faces of people everywhere. :D

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This has turned into an interesting conversation regarding the demand for retro style arcades.

 

I take an interest because I'm trying to setup a part time business in retro gaming. My idea is to hire retro machines to people in their homes. You pay me $65 for overnight hire and I'll drop it off and pick it up from your door.

 

My wife (being the smart, logical person that she is) makes me feel like I'm odd because I'm into the old games and that I'll struggle to find hirers.

 

However this forum and the occasional person I bump into in the street tells me otherwise. It tells me there are a great deal of others in their 20's - 40's who still have strong desires to relive these games.

 

I'd be interested to hear others opinions of whether there is still a way to stir up demand for these machines in the general public.

 

Retro gaming cafe perhaps? Eat your meal on a cocktail machine as a table and get free credits with every meal or drink purchase? :unsure

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Retro gaming cafe perhaps? Eat your meal on a cocktail machine as a table and get free credits with every meal or drink purchase? :unsure

 

Yeah that sounds like a place in New York called "Barcade". I think they get quite busy there so maybe something to look into. It's a huge risk however.

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This has turned into an interesting conversation regarding the demand for retro style arcades.

 

I take an interest because I'm trying to setup a part time business in retro gaming. My idea is to hire retro machines to people in their homes. You pay me $65 for overnight hire and I'll drop it off and pick it up from your door.

 

My wife (being the smart, logical person that she is) makes me feel like I'm odd because I'm into the old games and that I'll struggle to find hirers.

 

However this forum and the occasional person I bump into in the street tells me otherwise. It tells me there are a great deal of others in their 20's - 40's who still have strong desires to relive these games.

 

I'd be interested to hear others opinions of whether there is still a way to stir up demand for these machines in the general public.

 

Retro gaming cafe perhaps? Eat your meal on a cocktail machine as a table and get free credits with every meal or drink purchase? :unsure

 

I think your wife might be right, the lack of interest may not be the issue, the $65 a night may well be. Thats a lot of money for a very old game, especially one you can MAME for free, plus people will set their price expectation based on movie and games rental from the local rental shop. When you can hire a new PS3 game for a few bucks per night, dropping $65 on a single antique game is going to seem extortionate. When you proposed this arcade machine rental did you mention the $65 price tag? I would also think that Bendigo would be far too small a market, heck I think Sydney or Melbourne would probably be too small. You would be effectively going after a tiny fraction of the already tiny proportion of the population who are into retro games, the fraction that would prefer the real hardware instead of MAME and those willing to pay $65 to get it.

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If I was having a party and I thought that i could get SF2 or some sort of cab that would just be awesome fun for a whole night then I think $65 is cheap. $65 doesnt go far these days, its what 2 slabs of beer?

 

I dont think I would pay it for galaga or space invaders but if it was something that multiple people could play and compete you could eaily build a tournament around it and it could add alot to the party.

 

You could also advertise it with a (cheap) trophy, or maybe have a notice board thing on the side of the cab so that people could write pairing on it

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Anyone ever hired a slushie machine for booze for a party?

 

Its about $200 for the weekend, and I've been to several parties where someone has hired one (including two of my own).

 

I don't think hiring out games would get much love except at parties, but people would hire them - i'd just be interested to know whether there are enough people to hire games to make a decent business out of it. Probably not.

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I agree with most comments, old skool games died a long time ago in arcades, i worked for private aracdes and timezones, and it can get on your nerves listening to 50 odd machines for 8 hrs.But the line up for games was very common back in the day, 20c coins on the machines for xevious and 1942 and pole position was common, people are still lining up for games cause they have the new modern machines, and good on them.Classic games will never survive in todays inviroment,yes it will cause a buzz with the older crowd, but it will eventually wither away and the fad will be gone.Arcades are at the stage now where you can afford a full size machine for only a few hundred dollars so it makes sence to just buy one.
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c'mon

 

tell me you wouldnt get heaps of people wanting a SF2 party :)

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/Mango_wan/Arcade%20Pinball/sf2party.jpg

 

But would you make any money on it? even at $90, delivery, setup and maintenance take time and effort

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c'mon

 

tell me you wouldnt get heaps of people wanting a SF2 party :)

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/Mango_wan/Arcade%20Pinball/sf2party.jpg

 

But would you make any money on it? even at $90, delivery, setup and maintenance take time and effort

 

Yeah, but you're competing with all those consoles playing Super Street Fighter IV.

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Awesome advertisement poster Mango :laugh:

 

Womble (Kristen is that you in disguise :lol) I agree I'll possibly be dealing with a fraction of a fraction of the population and even then they'll probably only want it for parties etc. like Sleazius says.

 

But I'll be sticking a 150 in 1 cart in my Neo Geo and see if it rents, I've got nothing to lose other than a few bucks on advertising in the local paper.

 

I'll have other business dealings other than arcade rental such as second hand video game trading (waiting on my dealers license to come through) and sited machines. But I don't expect to make much out of it.

 

It's more for the exercise of learning how to start up and run a small home business. I've still got my full time job and family commitments to worry about as well :)

 

Perhaps the appeal for arcades now sits more in the pub scene / cafe type scene rather than a dedicated amusement center?

 

I would think it's pretty cool to be able to play retro games on a cocktail whilst I'm relaxing on my lunch break drinking a coffee.

 

Perhaps the appeal of them in the modern day world is more for the novelty value, particularly for the younger generations who missed out on the whole golden age. They're not the main attraction that they used to be.

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That sounds like hell on earth to me, spending your day sitting in an empty shop listening to a cacophany of machines in attract mode, would be so depressing.

It's a lotto dream, mate.

 

1) It wouldn't be 5 days a week.

 

2) It wouldn't be me managing the shops.

 

In this dream I'm the millionaire who visits any time I want with a bunch of mates to play. :)

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I am not sure the $65-$90 machine hire would work well.

 

I have been to a few party's where a Jukebox has been hired, mainly 21st, 40th, 50th... Bigger events. The Jukebox is a massive hit, especially when there is a ton of old music on it. You will have much better luck renting a Juke.

 

But the cost to drop off and pickup and wear and tear on the machine hardly seems worth the effort of $65.

 

 

Classic gaming seems to be fading, I guess it is no surprise. It makes me more keen to build my own MAME cab to share with my mates and remember what it was like.

 

Who else spent all day Saturday mowing the lawn, cleaning the car and doing other odd jobs for Mum/Dad so that you could get $10 to spend at the arcade on Sunday?

 

As an adult, it seems that I spend all day Saturday mowing the lawn and washing the car and drinking beer.

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