Why This Hobby ??

Retroman839

Retroman839

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It got the adrenaline pumping.
Like sugar to the bee.

before watching a film in the cinema
We had a little side room only a few cabs I remeber them well. They would alternate a few different ones
1942 , wwf , gladiator, solar warrior,
Ki, sonic fighters, golden axe,

Get the film tickets
Then get some pop corn or sweeets
Then in the arcade.. I could have passed on the film and
Stayed in there all day.

The sound of all them games in attract mode was mesmerising.

Then the focus kicks In
you’ve made up your mind which machine is getting your coin.
All the other cab sounds Just faded into the back ground.. you can here your coin go through the mech then blam! Your in control. Your immersed.
Life is simple you gotta beat the game.
 
Chihiro

Chihiro

I do this shit for a living yo!
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I just like learning about arcade machines I've loads over the years & once I've stripped them down & got them all up & working I'm thinking about the next.

I now also work as a AWP engineer & get to learn about new versions of those too.

We just got the Cat C Vantage 32" AWP at work but its pretty simple compared to iPub/Prismatic.
 
LHantz

LHantz

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Arcades are in my blood ever since I contemplated putting more money into Raiden or walking home from Sheffield about 12 miles to home (I came to my senses and took the Bus!)
 
ChrisBEANS

ChrisBEANS

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Love this thread. I’ve really enjoyed reading the replies…

I’ll try to kinda bullet point it rather than waffle, but my beginnings are basically the same as 90% here…

I grew up in the 90s towards the end of arcades being popular.

There was a local arcade next to the cafe in Liberty Hall Basildon (just in case anyone here remembers?!).

Looking back, there was actually a decent rotating selection of games. SFII was the big one, obviously, and there was a thriving scene around that one game.
But other big favourites were Vendetta, Snow Bros, Revenge of Death Adder, Sunset Riders etc…

Years later I learned about emulation and it absolutely blew my mind. I was fascinated that I could now play arcade perfect (to my point of view at the time) games at home.
I remember Vendetta being the really big one to me as I’d only ever played it in arcades, and nobody I knew had ever even heard of it.
I thought it was simply lost to time.

After a while, I built a big, very ugly, two player arcade stick with an iPac and god knows what sticks and buttons. Loved learning to do it though.

Eventually I built my own PS3/PC fight sticks with proper Sanwa/Seimitsu parts for SFIV, and really learnt a lot about modding and learnt basic woodwork from scratch.
Still no real arcade games.

Eventually I had room for cabs, but I was content with ACA etc.

Covid hit, I started to stream like many other people. It only felt authentic to do it on real hardware, so I got a Mega Drive and beat all the same games on hardware and felt an entirely different sense of achievement.

Then I got into the ACA version of Metal Slug (it really is arcade perfect. Highly recommend if you want to play without real hardware), and eventually got really good.
Again, felt like I needed to beat it on real hardware.

Oddly, I bought a bunch of MVS carts before I had any hardware to play on.

Eventually I got a couple of cabs that needed some love, tarted them up as best as I could, and posted everything here and over at AO as I didn’t really know what I was doing and needed all the help and advice I could get.

I found a cool community, I got a huge sense of satisfaction from learning to preserve these cabs, and it was a major buzz to own things I genuinely never dreamed to own back in the days of Liberty Hall.

So I’ve stuck around…
 
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