Question:
I grew up with video arcade games and when I was a kid it would have
been an unimaginable dream to actually have an arcade game in my home
(I remember thinking that it would be just heaven to have my own
arcade game). I recently decided to create a game room, but I decided
against putting any video arcade games in the room. It really just
seemed silly. I do understand the "nostalgia" factor, but I didn't
see any reason to play games with ancient graphics just for nostalgia.
Plus video arcade games take up a lot of space. Compare that to an
X-box or Playstation which takes up basically no space and can play
100s of games with far better graphics. I realize that better
graphics do not make a better game, but let's face it, it does add the
"immersion" factor. If I really wanted to play the games, I could play
it on my PC screen and not have a big cabinet taking up space.
Instead I decided to put in pinball machines, even though I did not
grow up with pinball. The nostalgia factor is not there, but pinball
machines do offer a physical element which is not present in any video
game. That way I do not feel I am taking up space with something I
can do on my PC. The downside of pinball machines is that they tend to
malfunction much more than video games.
So why do you collect video arcade machines? I imagine it the same
impulse which makes one buy, say, a jukebox machine.
Answer:
For me, I actually enjoy the "ancient graphics" games more than most
modern games (XBOX sports games not included :) ).
Also, I enjoy working on the games as my hobby. Most of the times,
finding a deal on a game and getting it working is the real fun part. I
play the working games much less than I'd like!
Sounds like you should just turn around and walk away. If someone has to
explain why you'd want to collect arcade games then it's not for you. I
think that nostalgia is a big factor for people collecting these games, it
is for me. In addition the games are fun. I collect games that either
myself or my wife really likes. In addition, I like standing at these
machines and using real controls, not a keyboard or console controller. If
none of these trigger anything for you then don't get into arcades. It's
that simple. Collecting anything is an emotional thing, unless you're doing
it for investing purposes. If you have no emotional attachment to something
then why collect it?
Also, as an aside. If you, or someone you know, likes to play older games
often times setting up a MAME machine, check out www.mame.net to find out
more about MAME. It supports 1,000s of games and you can play them all in
one machine. You can either build your own, using a PC to power it, or you
can by a nice looking fully functional one.
I grew up in the 80's! I was scoring over 100,000 in Pac-Man when I
was five years old. I started my obsession with my atari 2600. You can
also thank chucky cheese and Fun n Games. Chucky cheese used to have
all the new games when I was a kid. I could not go to a mall without
playing an arcade game. I remember playing Tron at a store called
Uncle Bills in Cleveland, Ohio. You can play all the emulated old
games you want, but the controls, sound, speed, and feel are just
never the same. I have never been able to play an emulated version of
Pac-Man and say this is exactly how the arcade game played. Video
games are my sports. It is my favorite past time and my stress
reducer. I play all the current games too, but they don't replace the
classics. The games in the past can be picked up and played by
anybody. I got my first arcade about six years ago. I had a very old
dude hit me while I was riding my bike. Well let's say I have ended up
with back pain and my very own Tron machine. I wouldn't trade Tron for
anything. After that I picked up a dead commando and an old robby roto
machine. Very CHEAP! There was a lot of stuff on the net that helped
me learn how to work on games. Bob Roberts put up with me bugging him
every time something came up. Bob, info on the net, and my love for
games taught me how to work on games. Doing a cap kit on the commando
machine for the first time was a little scary. I converted the roto
machine into a jamma cab with 15 diff games. Since there is a door in
front it works great for a multi jamma cab. Then my parent's nebior
across the street threw out a galaxian cab on his tree lawn. Which of
course I grabbed up and did monitor repair to get working. Then I
picked up a Chinese hero machine that I drove over 3 hours to get. I
even got a job with a vending company for 2 years. I've moved on and
now I'm back to my hobby again. Recently, I bought 4 games in a bulk
deal. (Bionic commando, bad dudes, heavy barrel, and bottom of the
ninth in an old zaxxon cab. I restored the zaxxon cab back to the
original game with the flight stick. Still looking for side art:-) I
am now working on an old midway cab that had three layers of black
paint and Ms Pac art underneath, which I am restoring to a galaga cab.
Trust me, I tried to do everything to save the Ms Pac art. It was the
hardest thing for me to sand off the paint. I tried all the different
methods of saving art. It was sad, but at least a good looking Galaga
will come out of the deal. I have spent over 15 hours sanding off
the paint. I am now in the process of filling in holes and cracks with
bondo. All this rambling says one thing. Arcade collecting is an
obsession. I would call it my passion. If you check this newsgroup
everyday and look at klov all the time, then we are alike.
