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Its a little disheartening to know that my children may grow up without ever seeing the inside of an arcade. Sure they may still be alive in some form or another in Japan, but nowadays the arcade scene is all but dead here in the US.
Some of my most fond and exciting gaming memories are of being in an arcade. Either rushing to play my favorites like the Simpson’s arcade game, or seeing a new game for the first time. I remember staring in awe when an arcade near me picked up a new game called Tekken. I had always loved fighting games, but this one was in 3freakinD!
With thriving online communities on both the console and PC side of gaming, arcades don’t seem to be relevant anymore.Why drive to an arcade and pay money to play when you can sit on your couch and play with people online for “free?”
When we were younger we not only visited arcades to play the great games we loved; we went to be a part of a special community. An arcade was a forum for gamers to not only talk about gaming, but to also have the chance to pit their skills against other skilled players in person and learn new things.
As sad as that makes me, I don’t think that arcades will ever come back in the US. One thought I had that I think would be pretty cool is if an arcade opened up that was focused on us gamers that have gone to arcades as kids and are now adults. How awesome would it be to go to an arcade on a Friday night that has newer and older games along with a bar? Because we all know how well drinking and gaming go together with friends on a Friday night.
Anyhow, that was just something I was thinking about. Let me know what you guys think. Any arcade memories?