Still Remember The First Time You Played It....

[2DForever]

The singing was the best bit

It just isn't an arcade unless you hear "Daytonnnaaaaaaa" ringing in the background somewhere!

 

[MarkGrossi]

Street Fighter 2. The build up was incredible. I'd re-read my copies of C&VG and Mean Machines, looking at the same screens of the game, over and over and over; memorising moves before I'd even played it.

Everything about it looked perfect, and I still vividly remember a screen of E Honda A Hundred Hand Slapping Ryu with that blur the camera would produce trying to capture movement. It looked magical.

When I finally found a machine in Portobello I couldn't believe I was actually playing it.

 

[Vorbis]

Space invaders, Asteroids , Donkey Kong & Wizard of Wor are the ones I remember having a first play of.

Space Invaders - campsite in the lake District somewhere

Asteroids - at my first and (thank fuck) only visit to Pontins

Donkey Kong - in a hotel on a school trip to the Rhine valley somewhere near Cologne

Wizard of Wor - in my (then) local model shop in Romford.

I was and still am shit at all of them

 

[Alpha1]

Space Invaders tabletop. Hotel foyer Jersey or Guernsey.

Frogger tabletop. Isle of Wight hotel bar area somewhere between Ryde to Shanklin.

Atari Starwars. Marwell Zoo. Actually got this actual machine many years ago but foolishly let it go doh.

Double Dragon / Black Tiger / Armed Formation F / Legendary Wings / Rabbit Punch. Circle K convenience store. I am 99% certain I have the actual Rabbit Punch PCB which i bought from Swallow Amusements in 1998!

Cube Quest. Clarence Pier Portsmouth

Time Traveller. Clarence Pier Portsmouth

Virtua Racing. Clarence Pier Portsmouth

Daytona. Clarence Pier Portsmouth

Mortal Kombat II. Olympia Amusements Lee on Solent

Rodge Racer Full Scale. Clarence Pier Portsmouth

Galaxian3. Clarence Pier Portsmouth


Great memories ❤️

 

[Bods]

OutRun I remember so well

Operation Wolf I can remember having first go on it but can't for life of me remember where it was, I don't have any memory of playing it in local arcades
we played Double Dragon so much I can't remember the actual first go but least i know where it was with all the other classics in that small arcade
Only cab I can remember playing for 1st time in that place was Road Runner because I decided one day to have a go as I'd been playing it on the C64 loads and I lasted probably 1 min so it was my first and last go lol due to lack of money and getting game value

100% remember seeing Dragon's Lair for first time my mate says was in Ross's Cafe M1 Servies though it had changed names buy then but names stick, mate had a go.. obviously didn't last long but I stood watching it for a while in amazement. Maybe it was in the services I played some games was be before we were driving, we could walk over the fields straight to the services which was cool back then to go somewhere you couldn't go unless in a car. Possible I played Op Wolf there in the main area when they had video games, assuming it was the main reason we walked there to see what arcade cabs they had else it's a bus ride into town, shame I can't remember more about going there than Dragon's lair, I'll have to ask my mate

Pretty sure it was Skegness I first saw Ridge Racer Deluxe and had a go, looked incredible at the time but didn't do well in full manual mode
Also I remember having first go on OutRun Deluxe at Skegness in early 2000s in arcade next to mcdonalds, had the Japan layout in that one

 

[Bods]

Retroman839 obviously got far too much pocket money as a kid?????

I think “outrun” was the first driver I actually felt I was in the car in spite of standing with one foot on throttle ….I didn’t own one for ages due to cost but played it on M6 services at knutsford when I engineered part time for associated leisure…great way to spend winter days when seaside seasonal arcades closed.. There have been lots of good drivers in my opinion…

** The one game stands out in my memory is “Hunchback”… took delivery mid afternoon and wife and I played it till 4am next day by which time we clocked over 1400 metered units £140 worth! The meter read about 660 when it was bought ex showroom demo from hazelgrove music ltd it passed 2000 by next morning……

It took about 6 hours nearly midnight before I got on the rope swing first screen, I would have spent over £50 if I didn’t have the keys for sure just to achieve that…

Then the following levels were a bit less stressful until the level where random arrows come in behind as you also jump to clear castle battlements, maybe with soldiers spiking you from below on each jump too (screen 4 if I recall?) so frustrating if you stand you get an arrow in the arse .. if you run and jump you get an arrow back of your head …. Ouch either way life lost..

Went to bed dreaming about falling in the pit missing the rope… it took so long to realise reverse back to edge of screen and run fast to leap at the rope .. still needed expert timing but once succeeded I enjoyed the game and once sited it made a lot of money … I had about 4 or more of them in the end….

We similarly got quite addicted to “missile command” …….. playing into the night!

before I was driving a car playing OutRun I was like this is like driving a real car That's how amazed I was with it, everything worked with precision it was a dream to play it with the sense of speed, super cool scenary and a Red Ferrari and cool music, must have been mind blowing to play it in the Deluxe Sitdown cab at the time

 

[big10p]

before I was driving a car playing OutRun I was like this is like driving a real car That's how amazed I was with it, everything worked with precision it was a dream to play it with the sense of speed, super cool scenary and a Red Ferrari and cool music, must have been mind blowing to play it in the Deluxe Sitdown cab at the time

You forgot about the hot chick riding shotgun. 😀

 

[Bods]

You forgot about the hot chick riding shotgun. 😀

Skipped that part as it was even harder than getting a car and passing test trying to get Hot chick

 

[SIE]

Bomb Jack and Bubble Bobble in a pub on Anglessey, Shinobi in a games room in Dinas Dinlle, 1942 in a games room in Scarborough, Double Dragon in a pub in Stockport (possibly the George & Dragon), Golden Axe in Whitby, Outrun Dlx same holiday, Star Wars (Atari), Enduro Racer, Superman in an old arcade on Benllech Beach (now a house), TMNT and After Burner Dlx in an arcade at the back of the Jolly fryer again in Benllech, Rastan, Aliens, Cabal, Twin Cobra in the back of Mile End Stores in Stockport, Double Dragon 3 (thought it was bad from day 1) and Joe and Mac in an arcade in Callas De Majorca, R360 Blackpool on one of the piers i think. Sunset Riders, SF2, Killer Instinct, Primal Rage, Time Traveller and Simpsons all in Grand Central Arcade in Stockport, RadMobile, Starblade and Terminator 2 in the arcade of the bowling alley in Stockport.

Just a few I remember well. Would love all them 10 and 20ps back 🤣

 

[WatchThemAllFallDown]

Summer 84. Went down Barry Island by Cardiff on the train with two mates. All quite exciting to three 14 year old. Anyway, walked up to one of the Arcades on the front and could hear something? Seen a bunch of people, a dozen maybe, around a big Arcade machine going crazy.

Kung-fu Master - things were never the same after that, lol.

What a fantastic thread 👍

 

[Double_dragon]

Summer 84. Went down Barry Island by Cardiff on the train with two mates. All quite exciting to three 14 year old. Anyway, walked up to one of the Arcades on the front and could hear something? Seen a bunch of people, a dozen maybe, around a big Arcade machine going crazy.

Kung-fu Master - things were never the same after that, lol.

What a fantastic thread 👍

Great game and the sound effects 😯♥️ never finished it though, think I got to level 3 or 4

 

[spinbot]

I robot.
I can remember saying to a friend after playing it that there was now way they could ever reproduce that game on a home computer.

Yep
I Robot was mindblowing. I played it in an arcade in N.Ireland near my Granny’s caravan . The one and only time I ever saw it in the wild.
It wasn’t until the internet arrived that I found out I hadn’t imagined it 😁 Ahead of its time for sure.

 

[Shipwreck Arcade]

Summer 84. Went down Barry Island by Cardiff on the train with two mates. All quite exciting to three 14 year old. Anyway, walked up to one of the Arcades on the front and could hear something? Seen a bunch of people, a dozen maybe, around a big Arcade machine going crazy.

Kung-fu Master - things were never the same after that, lol.

What a fantastic thread 👍

I was playing Kung-Fu Master in the Arcade even in 1988/89. Sheerness Arcade had a few of the older games like Asteroids, Wonderboy, Kung-Fu Master at 10p a go. Suited me. All classics at half price on my then very limited pocket. ☺️

 

[big10p]

I remember seeing Asteroids for the first time. Me and my best mate were on the way back from somewhere with his dad. Stopped off at a pub for some grub, and there it was. I was amazed by the sharp graphics, smooth movement and the glow! Fell in love with vector graphics that day and still in love with them today. 😀

 

[69er]

It’s a pity a lot of these events preceded the iPhone era picture proofs as there haven’t been any??? In this thread .
Between 1978-84 we lived on the farm I managed, (73-85) and where our first two girls were born so we took lots of pictures as they grew…. Truprint free films with every develop batch came through the letterbox weekly… dozens caught arcade machines in background.

If you want see more we were trading from mid 1970’s with pooltables, pinballs, jukes, fruits & other novelty Arcadia but the video games were just coming affordable in any quantity.

Here is one of me 45 years ago (80/81) no machines were new just recent second hand , cheaper.. but were only ever seen at trade dealers and bigger seaside sites so one in the house would be rare??? Not our house! By mid 80s we could buy odd new ones!

Practicing Midway Space Invaders without looking at the screen …. What a scruffy guy I was? Not my first ever play I was quite good by this time .. always got extra life at 1500 pts and OOF on mother ship shots!

2nd photo was older daughter in an already end of life 7’ pool & snooker combi table I gutted for a brilliant sand pit … pool one side & 10 reds snooker other side they were always giving issues with mixed balls and the 6 colours were smaller like the cue ball so got abused free playing just smaller balls in use if arcade wasn’t supervised some days…. Colours returned until all reds potted…no wonder they disappeared from pubs etc! …

 

[69er]

Here’s a few more 1982-1984 Coinvend later called Herondata delivered regular as did Hazelgrove music and Assoc leisure.

8 pics here a few more on next post (max 10)

Our 69ers disco lights were stencilled on the sides with the Midway black/red alien

Not sure if the 2 older girls remember their first plays pictured below it’s been a whole life experience for them thought not as careers.. once leaving school or marrying…

We try not to allow Arcadia in the house since moving in 1985 but odd ones breach the rules still ……. There’s a Jupiter H80 juke from around 1983 also … saved a fortune not buying toys !!! ….

We no longer needed our tow truck either adorned with murals each side , Alien and Invaders Revenge ships …. The trailer hauled pinballs out of associated leisure Burton on Trent 6 at a time… great going there about every 10-12 weeks ….. I even got a part time job engineering their motorway sites new pins & videos in the late 80s/90s ….if only I had stayed on the farm we could store dozens of cabs ???

But by 1985 we had several arcades to run.
Also single sites for county councils , chippies, film libraries etc, and a few pubs.
So needed a 7.5 ton tail lift lorry to move stuff around.

 

[69er]

And a couple more early 1980s pictures with tow truck and disco ….also

We didn’t get cars through hedges or crashing on the estate like round the 3 farms with narrow lanes … and plenty space to store them till insurances paid up or scrapping them.. more pocket money !!!!

Pre 1985 as the land rover and trailer went in Auto Trader with that photo sold to a garage Ron Loffstat motors in Sandbach where we saw it frequently for a few years still with murals. Only 15 miles away.

 

[Double_dragon]

I was playing Kung-Fu Master in the Arcade even in 1988/89. Sheerness Arcade had a few of the older games like Asteroids, Wonderboy, Kung-Fu Master at 10p a go. Suited me. All classics at half price on my then very limited pocket. ☺️

I used to see it early 90's still and yeah, 10p 😁

 

[Vorbis]

It’s a pity a lot of these events preceded the iPhone era picture proofs as there haven’t been any??? In this thread .

I'm personally eternally grateful that there wasn't some arse around with a camera phone when I was a teenager. Some things are better just in the memory rather than with photographic evidence of how much of a twat I looked 😁

 

[Bods]

Summer 84. Went down Barry Island by Cardiff on the train with two mates. All quite exciting to three 14 year old. Anyway, walked up to one of the Arcades on the front and could hear something? Seen a bunch of people, a dozen maybe, around a big Arcade machine going crazy.

Kung-fu Master - things were never the same after that, lol.

What a fantastic thread 👍

Great game and the sound effects 😯♥️ never finished it though, think I got to level 3 or 4

I was playing Kung-Fu Master in the Arcade even in 1988/89. Sheerness Arcade had a few of the older games like Asteroids, Wonderboy, Kung-Fu Master at 10p a go. Suited me. All classics at half price on my then very limited pocket. ☺️

I can remember friend playing Kung-Fu Master in Thomas's arcade Leicester, Teenage Mutant Ninja (Hero) Turtles was in there at the time as I remember standing there watching the intro which was good for it's day
Google says that was released October 1989 so it gives me a good idea of us being in there late 1989 early 1990s.
They had some of the uprights near the back of the arcade and pictured in my mind is TNNT was on left and bit further down he was playing KFM which was on the right, it's the gaps in my memory that's frustrating as there would have been loads more cabs, just can't remember any of them

Shinobi as well, I can picture myself stood watching the Attract mode and loving this part
but can't remember which arcade it was in and I never had a go on it


Others that stand out in memory that I would stand watching but never played was Yie Ar Kung Fu which I'm sure was over near the front left of doors under the high windows in Krystals Amusments and then Indy Jones Temple Of Doom, loved watching that and wish I'd had enough money to play them all, again in there just so many blanks as i can't really remember any other games, sure they had Paperboy as well until early 90's when they had Double Dragon 2 and playing Ninja Warriors and Xybots with lad from College as he was happy throwing in loads of coins