Your favorite arcade game

1. Spy hunter
2. Time Traverler / Holoseum (google it, it was sorta coolish)
3. Afterburner
4. Marvel X-men
5. Playboy Pinball (what? I was 15, and there were real pics of bunnies in there...whaddya want me to say?)

My "office":

^^NOICE

Shinobi! Super Hang-On! Outrun! Thunder Blade!

I was a SEGA geek, leave me alone.

And I'll still play the hell out of those 1st person shooters when I can find 'em. The ones with the little plastic pistols? Yeah.

How much did that Galaga machine run you, if i may ask?

I cannot pass a super GT without putting at least $5 in. The full motion ones especially:

I wasted a lot of quarters on "Roadblasters" when I was a kid. It wasn't the best game ever, but it had a steering wheel, pedals, and a big gun you could mount on your car. What more could you want?

J

P71 wrote: Pinballs, duh. My favorite actual arcade game though is "Hydro Thunder", a mid-90's sit-in boat game that still cracks me up. My grandad has restored amusement machines since the 1950's and he has a standing order to find me one.

I used to love Hydro thunder. Then we got a n64 and stopped going to the arcade.

Tommy Suddard wrote: I used to love Hydro thunder. Then we got a n64 and stopped going to the arcade.

[80s music] Console games killed the video arcade star[/80s music]

"Steel Talons"

MCarp22 wrote: I cannot pass a super GT without putting at least $5 in. The full motion ones especially:

Awsome I love'd playing that game. The only game I remember playing befor that was Spy Hunter.

Virtual On

Giant fighting robots with tank style controls.

I got to arcade auctions once or twice a year. Haven't bought anything yet (my friends always do though) but it's worth it to me to have 5 hours of "free play" before the auction to test the machines. I know way too much about arcade machines now and how they work. I have an empty original Donkey Kong cabinet in my garage waiting for a project.

stroker wrote: "Steel Talons"

Yeah, I had a buddy I worked with and we used to play Steel Talons against each other. It was pretty damn cool having a head to head attack chopper duel in a double full-enclosure setup.

But what we really went to the arcade for was Race Drivin', the sequel to Hard Drivin', because it had the original tracks plus the Super Stunt Track and a new speed course. We would blow work at lunch and run over to the mall to play that. Many times we spent hour-and-a-half-plus-travel lunch hours.

I can still drive those tracks in my head. It even had an autocross course! That game had steering feel that would not be equaled for at least 10 more years.

PubBurgers wrote: How much did that Galaga machine run you, if i may ask?

I bought it and a Galaxian cocktail from an old crappy pizza place about 15 years ago, both broken, for $50 each. It needed a power supply, so after about $30 in parts and an hour of my time, I had a perfectly operating Galaga machine!

I had "Hard Driving" in my head before I even opened the thread... That would definitely be the one arcade game I'd buy if I could... Although the graphics were primitive even then, it took years for the dynamics of that game to be matched by anything else. I've had this dream of buying that game and figuring out a way to re-program different tracks into it.

Others:

(it's hard for me to remember... I stopped playing arcade games around 1984 or 85)

the first Star Wars game as well as the Return of the Jedi game I poured many quarters into the Ms. Pacman game at the local WaWa... Another primative graphics game called Battle Tank (I think).

Once I found Hard Driving, all the rest were ignored... I remember they had the game set up in a replica NASCAR shell at the Philly auto show back around 90 or 91... Pay a $5 donation to some charity... play the game... when I got in, there was no line... and the manual transmission option was turned on... they somehow had a custom track loaded that was a sort of road course and was diffierent than the arcade version... much easier... if you left it in 3rd gear and the car was pretty easy to control and make the check-points on time... So I beat the game... and got a "bonus race"... I was in the game for something like a half an hour... when I finally got out, the line was dozens deep - and angry... and the one operator said to the other, "disable the manual transmission..."

Hard Drivin' and Race Drivin' were/are bad ass games. I remember the steering wheel would fight you back as if you were really wrangling the car around a track at speed. If I remember right you also raced some other car and wow. When that guy and I were close I was on the edge of my seat and flipping out about it. A truly classic game.

Duke is right about Race Drivin. Something like 3 different courses to choose from with apex cones and all. They were also 3 different cars and I think one was....wait for it......

A MIATA!

(oh yeah. Get some.)

I would imagine you could get that game around somewhere. Parts might be a bear to find as I don't know of any other game that had that feedback steering wheel.

I was so desperate for that game recently, I got a Race Drivin' cartridge for my Game Boy Advance. And I wasted much of 7th grade with that game on the Genesis.

Anyone remember this?

Totally awesome!

Oh, and more recent games: Any Rush series: I go to ESPN Zone and put about 20 bucks into Rush 2049 every now and then.

And don't forget about the Ferrari Challenge game. A local movie theater in a mall was located across from an arcade that had it. I used to purposely arrive early (with my friends) with the intent of "getting good seats". I didn't tell them that the seat I was talking about was behind the wheel of this game! I think it had three flat-panel monitors and the controls were pretty good too (but is it me or does the clutch never work in this game? It's just fake--the car grinds gears all the time).

At Wal-Mart, I used to go out to the entrance during my breaks to play Off-Road Challenge (the 3D arcade racer that came out with N64). I used to have the game so I was awesome at it. I'd go out for my 15 minute break, put two quarters in, and play until I had to go back to work. My initials (on that game) were TIM. This was almost every scoreboard for every track:

1. Tim
2. Tim
3. Tim
4. Tim
5. Tim

You get the picture. Of course, the skill level increased exponentially with every race, so you never really could just play forever.

How on Earth did you find those two listings on Craigslist? Maybe I just can't figure Craigslist out, but it seems to me like you have to select every friggin' city in the country just to check for something like that. Can you do a nationwide search on CL?

bamalama wrote:

confuZion3 wrote: I saw the thread about the book "Hard Driving" and it instantly reminded me of my all-time favorite arcade game: "Hard Drivin'". Or maybe it's "Race Drivin'", whichever came out in 1990 with the four selectable cars. There is, to me, no better arcade game than that. It's how I learned to drive a car with a proper transmission (OK, it's how I learned to drive). In 1990, I was 5. My mom used to take me to the Hunt Valley Mall for shopping and I'd endure whatever we needed to do (I hated clothes shopping--and still do). Her end of the bargain was to take me to the arcade (Which I called "Video Games House"--I was a cute kid). The only game I ever wanted to play was this one. They had the full-cabinet version and the smaller bench version (which was tucked away in the back). I always played the full version, of course. I have only faint memories of what that mall looked like back then and only a dark, foggy recollection of that arcade, but I remember this game cabinet and I remember exactly where it was. I also remember that it was frequently broken, but I didn't care. She knew back then that I was going to be a car freak and probably end up racing cars. I want to buy a full version of the 1990 game. A local pizza joint has a messed up version of the small bench game, but it's probably not for sale. Anyone ever buy an arcade game? How do I pick one up? Best Game Ever.

I loved that game when I was a kid. I was happy when I finally got all the way around that damn loop.

I too loved it when I finally got around that damn loop. As for other games, Time Pilot, 1943, Moon Patrol, Gauntlet, Street Fight II, Spy Hunter, Road Blasters, and Ivan Stewarts Off Road. I'm terrible at picking just one favorite anything, but they're all good.

alex wrote: And I'll still play the hell out of those 1st person shooters when I can find 'em. The ones with the little plastic pistols? Yeah.

Oh, hell's yeah! My best friend and I are awesome at light-gun games, like the Time Crisis series. My favorite was this import police game from Japan that had motion sensors in it. When you leaned or crouched, the in-game "you" would duck or lean behind cover. The first one only equipped you with a pistol, but the sequel had different weapons available as well (shotty, SMG). I wish I could remember the name, but I can't for the life of me. There used to be one at the local movie theater; we'd thow dollar bills at it like we were at a strip club.

EDIT: Police 911 was the name of the game. Loved it.

Appleseed wrote: I was so desperate for that game recently, I got a Race Drivin' cartridge for my Game Boy Advance. And I wasted much of 7th grade with that game on the Genesis. Anyone remember this? Totally awesome!

Iron Man's Offroad Challenge. I played that at the movie theater arcade for hours. Need to turn? Just spin the wheel! I actually loved this game, I'm going to have to fire this one up on my MAME box tonight.

Craigslist FYI: search using the keyword "arcade."

Although a large city search like Chicago will help,too.

Aw, man! How could I have forgotten "Final Lap"?

http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=final-lap&page=detail&id=840

The basic game was 2 player, but the consoles could be connected inline so that eight could race against each other.

Not going to lie:

I like pinball, personally. This is what I have in my basement: