WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[The Gaffer]

Cid! Vincent! The topless muscly dude who owns the Gold Saucer!

I can't wait for this. I know one invariably will come around again but it feels like the only remaining triple A title that's going to eat my heart. The last one was the first Remake. 

What's funny is that overly cutesy, hyper, "Look, the main characters are going to dress up and do a song now" JRPG style completely isn't my thing, but my nostalgia for FF7 is so strong that I ate it up in the first Remake and this looks like more of the same on steroids. 

Bring it on. I'm going to sit there clapping like an idiot for 50+ hours come next February. 

[DavidB6937]

SEGAAAAAAAAA

My Crazy Taxi loving heart is excited.

[Loki]

I love how the New Era is just remakes of old classics, but I'm all in on that anyway.

It's always the same games though.

Where's the modern remake of Power Drift?

Or Super Hang On?  

Or Space Harrier?

Or Afterburner?  Christ, that would be amazing.

Or Virtua Fighter, or Virtua Cop?  Or Sambo DI Amigo?

Man, I miss going to the arcades in the 90s.

 

[FLips]

Baldur’s Gate 3 finally got released on Xbox so that will be us sorted doing splitscreen all Winter.

The FFVII and Sega stuff was ace. Some of the Sega stuff looks hit and miss but fair play to them reviving the likes of Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio. The Golden Axe/Streets of Rage stuff looked really bad, especially considering how good Streets of Rage 4 was. Shinobi looks gorgeous though. Hopefully they get Yuzo Koshiro back for the Shinobi/SoR soundtracks.

[DavidB6937]

16 minutes ago, Loki said:

I love how the New Era is just remakes of old classics, but I'm all in on that anyway.

It's always the same games though.

Where's the modern remake of Power Drift?

Or Super Hang On?  

Or Space Harrier?

Or Afterburner?  Christ, that would be amazing.

Or Virtua Fighter, or Virtua Cop?  Or Sambo DI Amigo?

Man, I miss going to the arcades in the 90s.

 

I always told myself if I got rich and a nice house then I'd buy myself a Space Harrier sit down arcade machine. One of my fondest arcade memories.

This was honestly one of the most exciting things as a kid I swear.

Although I once my parents let me go on THIS beast, there was no looking back.

Anyway long story short - I love arcades. I love Sega. To me, there's just some gaming experiences you can't replicate at home. Unless you've got a shit ton of money obviously.

[Loki]

3 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

I love arcades. I love Sega

My brother.

This was my Mecca - 

https://segaretro.org/Sega_World_Bournemouth

Every Saturday we'd get dropped in the centre of Bournemouth, and after a bit of a run around we'd end up here to spend our pound coins.  There was a Burger King inside so you'd start with a Rodeo Burger to get that fat-hit into your system before the games.

Virtua Racer 8 player.  Four of us and four random kids.  IMO the greatest arcade machine ever made. There was a screen up top with a commentator jiggling about.  Amazing.

Take your pic of the machines!  Whilst you were waiting for Virtua Fighter or Daytona you had tons of older games in the Zzap Zone.

My favourite machine there, I think it had Afterburner in for ages.  Good way to revisit that Rodeo Burger from earlier.

Bowling for losers who came with their parents (pictured).

 

 

 

[SuperBacon]

We had Sega World at the Trocadero, but that was obviously a trip into London, so was reserved for Birthdays etc.

There was a place in Kingston opposite the station which had some great machines (including a very early Japanese baseball one, was it Fury 11 or something?) and every Saturday would be spent there.

It's why my 10yo and me love our trips to see Southampton play, as we always combine it with a trip to High Score, which is an hour of just pure fun. Something we really love doing together. 

I think she'd be happy to sack the football off and just do that for 3 hours. It's bloody wicked and we talk about it all the time. Might go tomorrow now.

Edited December 8, 2023 by SuperBacon
Sp

[DavidB6937]

Yeah, Sega World in London was my place. Genuinely had no idea other similar places existed. As I lived in South east London/Kent at the time, it was never too far just to pop up there at the weekend so I luckily went quite a few times. 

As my parents would never go abroad, all my fondest family memories are tied to seaside trips and arcades, so probably why I still love them so much now, despite so many of the towns being run down. Blackpool, for all its faults, was a fucking dream for someone who loved arcades. And now living in Ipswich means the nearest beach trip is less than half an hour away which means I end up down Felixstowe pier more often than I should, but I still love the atmosphere of a buzzing arcade.

I love the nostalgia and it always amazes me how many machines still exist out there that have been around for years, but also a sad indication of the minimal progress made in that area of video game business now. Many of the piers/arcades are now just overrun with ticket machines with minimal video game cabinets.

Anyway now I'm wondering if I have any photos saved anywhere.. I'll have to investigate!

[69MeDon]

There used to be some kind of Sega World in Wood Green. It didn't last long. It was fun, though. It's a Lidl now.

[Merzbow]

I never managed to go to the Trocadero during the Sega World era but I did not long after Namco took over and they had the life size Ridge Racer cabinet, a replica of a Mazda MX5 and three massive screens. Easily the coolest arcade cab I've seen.

There's a story from last year about saving the last one of it's kind here.

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2022/11/the-epic-quest-to-save-the-final-ridge-racer-full-scale-cabinet-in-the-world

Edited December 8, 2023 by Merzbow

[DavidB6937]

I'd completely forgotten about that. Funny the article mentions Blackpool as I remember my dad going on it any time we went there. Can't remember exactly where it was. Might have even been at the Pleasure Beach maybe?

I was always more of a Daytona person and there was nothing more chaotic/fun than the 8 (?) player link up in Coral Island. That music. The speed. Shoving other cars into the wall. Nothing more satisfying.

[Loki]

Sadly the NAMCO Arcade in London has now closed down permanently it seems.  One of my proudest achievements was getting the top score on Time Crisis 2 there in about 2010.  Me and my mate had been playing it every lunchtime at work (EA had one in the offices) and we had it down perfect, so when we went there for a Xmas do and saw their machine, we knew it was fate.

Takes about 25 minutes to play the whole game through.  Our wives, who were also there, were oddly unimpressed by the achievement.  Only one credit used though, come on!

Edited December 8, 2023 by Loki

[FLips]

9 minutes ago, Loki said:

Sadly the NAMCO Arcade in London has now closed down permanently it seems.  One of my proudest achievements was getting the top score on Time Crisis 2 there in about 2010.  Me and my mate had been playing it every lunchtime at work (EA had one in the offices) and we had it down perfect, so when we went there for a Xmas do and saw their machine, we knew it was fate.

Takes about 25 minutes to play the whole game through.  Our wives, who were also there, were oddly unimpressed by the achievement.  Only one credit used though, come on!

Is the Namco Arcade the one next to the London Eye? If so I have fond memories of going there a couple of times back in the late 2000s and playing a Tekken game (5) in the Arcade for the first time. Last time I went, maybe 2016/2017ish it was a shell of it's former self. Couldn't find Tekken anywhere and instead only those shite mobile games like Flappy Bird or Crossy Road or whatever it is. We didn't stick around too long.

[DavidB6937]

8 minutes ago, Loki said:

Our wives, who were also there, were oddly unimpressed by the achievement.  Only one credit used though, come on!

Ha. Reminds me of one of the first dates I had with my wife. Found a Simpsons arcade game and smashed my way through a lot of that but she didn't seem to care at all.

She cared even less when I was SO cool and went on the Manx TT superbike game and entered the cheat code to play as a sheep instead.

 

I mean COME ON. The music itself is worth it!

... okay, I'm lucky I got a second date.

[SuperBacon]

26 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Ha. Reminds me of one of the first dates I had with my wife. Found a Simpsons arcade game and smashed my way through

Did wonder where this was going...