What was your favourite year for arcade machines.
- Thread starter Body pop
- Start date
After around 1990/91 I hadn't been in arcades for a few years really, then I was playing Virtua Fighter and Mortal Kombat at butlins weekend around same time I had PC and playing games again on that like FX Fighter for the nothing like Virtua Fighter fix
K1ngarth3r
Active member
I suppose it would have been early 90s for me, playing all the older games from the 80s still whilst new stuff I’m interested in is coming out all the time!
If I had to pick a year for releases, off hand it would be ‘91 mainly for SF2! I remember them being play at full volume, you could hear the Haduken, as you walk past all the big arcades at Skegness during summer.
If I had to pick a year for releases, off hand it would be ‘91 mainly for SF2! I remember them being play at full volume, you could hear the Haduken, as you walk past all the big arcades at Skegness during summer.
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K1ngarth3r
Active member
I also remember Hang On, the red bike version at The American Adventure theme park. Iconic title music!
Probably the only thing the golden age didn’t have ,was the incredible music
A lot of my favourite games had the best music
Space harrier Outrun Hang on ,720 ,toobin ,even the catchy ones like
Bubble bobble ,Pacland ,rtype and nemesis .
These games were incredible ,I wonder if they would of been just as good if they all had the xevious music
A lot of my favourite games had the best music
Space harrier Outrun Hang on ,720 ,toobin ,even the catchy ones like
Bubble bobble ,Pacland ,rtype and nemesis .
These games were incredible ,I wonder if they would of been just as good if they all had the xevious music
Me too with the Hang On Music. Forever frustrated with the way it cuts off that last note.
It's part of my arcade earworm album. That'd be a good thread actually. One particularly bad one I have is a coin-pusher's distorted version of Ring My Bell. There's a certain pitch of machinery/motor noise that always triggers it.
Took me years to actually realise what it was. It was in the background of my life for over ten years. I paid no attention to the machine and its wedged itself deep in my subconscious.
It's part of my arcade earworm album. That'd be a good thread actually. One particularly bad one I have is a coin-pusher's distorted version of Ring My Bell. There's a certain pitch of machinery/motor noise that always triggers it.
Took me years to actually realise what it was. It was in the background of my life for over ten years. I paid no attention to the machine and its wedged itself deep in my subconscious.
All those are deep in my brain too. Especially Space Harrier.
I regularly find myself humming Pac Land's crazy music, which is all over the place with sound effects, requires a lot of wibbly tongue work, and sounds fucking ridiculous to anyone that overhears.
Pc engine version was pretty cool I remember.
Didn’t play the arcade cab at time .
Personally 1993 WAS A TERRIBLE YEAR FOR THE VIDEO GAME OPERATORS WITH OLDER 80s MACHINES ON ‘SINGLE SITES’
Luckily games like op wolf and double dragon and other newer ones commanded 20play but traditional pac man and asteroids Wonderboy etc all were on just 10p
Aside from arcades and council sports and leisure centres ,chippies and cafes, I had almost 40 youth club sites in Cheshire and Flintshire with around 100 video cabs .,shared between them , maybe 70 still on big 10p WHEN THE SMALL 10p LAUNCHED and big10ps were withdrawn by June 30th .. all on limited play availability a couple of evenings a week , tho some had all day activities.
PANIC TIME FOR SURE all the s10 and s1 roll in mechs and all the Mars multi mechs needed upgrading ( we did thousands for other arcades) s10 were a case of using now redundant 20p token mechs from fruity cabs with a bit of a tweak ….
S1 could be adjusted but removing them from cocktail cabs was time consuming then the front entry plates needed to have a pop rivit inserted in the top of the slot to stop big 10p coins jamming them up..
Weighing machines , snooker table light timers , kiddie rides, private coin op phones all fruit machines and many other coin op Arcadia things things were affected.,
Everything got red/white stickers on ‘ Now accepts New 10p’ some of mine in the workshop still have these stickers in place , (not being used in decades) or no longer accepts old 10p younger members on here will have missed all this !
Worse was the decline of 1980s 10p video games being played in public as all the school kids in chippies and youth clubs now had the free hand held ‘GAME BOY’ or similar and mummy / daddy bought the game cartridges for around £30 no cost to the kids but they started charging their mates for shared play time !
THEN in 1994 the government decided, due to the high price of copper, all 1p and 2p coins made from that year were steel based and magnetic … so again arcade costs included all the 2p fruits S10 mechs had to have the washer catching magnets removed and widened slightly too as many of the new coins were thicker.. ouch!
Got up a bit early this morning so as @Body pop said in the opening sentence ,
What else would we be doing just comments in this discussion thread.
Then again for the video games that survived on small 10p the s1 & s10 mechs in 2012 had to be tweaked again as the silver coins went from copper to steel magnetic base metal AND YES … the mars and coin controls multi mechs also needed reprogramming too !!!!
Now to maintain weight per coin for bagged banking the 10p widened from 1.7mm to 1.9mm so widening is required and again any remaining magnets for capturing washers had to be removed also…. But the weight / diameter cradle needed no action! .
Luckily games like op wolf and double dragon and other newer ones commanded 20play but traditional pac man and asteroids Wonderboy etc all were on just 10p
Aside from arcades and council sports and leisure centres ,chippies and cafes, I had almost 40 youth club sites in Cheshire and Flintshire with around 100 video cabs .,shared between them , maybe 70 still on big 10p WHEN THE SMALL 10p LAUNCHED and big10ps were withdrawn by June 30th .. all on limited play availability a couple of evenings a week , tho some had all day activities.
PANIC TIME FOR SURE all the s10 and s1 roll in mechs and all the Mars multi mechs needed upgrading ( we did thousands for other arcades) s10 were a case of using now redundant 20p token mechs from fruity cabs with a bit of a tweak ….
S1 could be adjusted but removing them from cocktail cabs was time consuming then the front entry plates needed to have a pop rivit inserted in the top of the slot to stop big 10p coins jamming them up..
Weighing machines , snooker table light timers , kiddie rides, private coin op phones all fruit machines and many other coin op Arcadia things things were affected.,
Everything got red/white stickers on ‘ Now accepts New 10p’ some of mine in the workshop still have these stickers in place , (not being used in decades) or no longer accepts old 10p younger members on here will have missed all this !
Worse was the decline of 1980s 10p video games being played in public as all the school kids in chippies and youth clubs now had the free hand held ‘GAME BOY’ or similar and mummy / daddy bought the game cartridges for around £30 no cost to the kids but they started charging their mates for shared play time !
THEN in 1994 the government decided, due to the high price of copper, all 1p and 2p coins made from that year were steel based and magnetic … so again arcade costs included all the 2p fruits S10 mechs had to have the washer catching magnets removed and widened slightly too as many of the new coins were thicker.. ouch!
Got up a bit early this morning so as @Body pop said in the opening sentence ,
What else would we be doing just comments in this discussion thread.
Then again for the video games that survived on small 10p the s1 & s10 mechs in 2012 had to be tweaked again as the silver coins went from copper to steel magnetic base metal AND YES … the mars and coin controls multi mechs also needed reprogramming too !!!!
Now to maintain weight per coin for bagged banking the 10p widened from 1.7mm to 1.9mm so widening is required and again any remaining magnets for capturing washers had to be removed also…. But the weight / diameter cradle needed no action! .
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Retroman839
Senior Member
Man !
I never thought about what a nightmare that is when the Gov decides to take a coin out of circulation that quick ?
But you could still take old ten pences to back after June 30th of that year ?
I was a cabinet makers apprentice from school
And our furniture was scoured from all over Europe, old French phone boxes for Victorian era ..
WW1 army issue single person wooden boat that folds into a box that you carry on your back.
Game foul hangging cabinets
Rabbits , pheasants etc ..
Old watchmakers cabinets full of parts.
And one day I found hidden in back of an Irish dresser £500
In old £5 notes ..
The bank took them without question ..
Now I wish I had not exchanged
Because they are worth more than £5 ! Doh
@69er great interesting read !
So much work going on behind the scenes
Now you walk In a people are using a bank card on the gambling machines
Even better ,they’re paying at door for arcades on free play
So much simpler ,somethings tells me that free play option would never of worked in your day
The games got me into through the door ,but I ended up feeding the gambling machines and wished I’d kept my money to play the games
I was smart enough when I got the occasional win to play at least one game ,🤣before feeding it all back into the gambling machines🥲
So much work going on behind the scenes
Now you walk In a people are using a bank card on the gambling machines
Even better ,they’re paying at door for arcades on free play
So much simpler ,somethings tells me that free play option would never of worked in your day
The games got me into through the door ,but I ended up feeding the gambling machines and wished I’d kept my money to play the games
I was smart enough when I got the occasional win to play at least one game ,🤣before feeding it all back into the gambling machines🥲
@Retroman839
Sounds an interesting job
Was there no arcade machine passing through ?
How much are the fivers worth now each ?
Would it beat inflation I wonder of when 500 quid was 500 quid
You could of maybe bought a mark 2 rs escort and sold it 60 times as much ,dust an all 🤣
Sounds an interesting job
Was there no arcade machine passing through ?
How much are the fivers worth now each ?
Would it beat inflation I wonder of when 500 quid was 500 quid
You could of maybe bought a mark 2 rs escort and sold it 60 times as much ,dust an all 🤣
Retroman839
Senior Member
I don’t know what the old £5
Is worth but ite more than double and rising
Is worth but ite more than double and rising
Old Five £5 Pound Note | eBay UK
The old £5 pound note is a collectible item featuring the signature of O'Brien, denominated in British currency during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Made in England, this banknote holds historical significance and is sought after by collectors of British paper money. As a piece of British...
ebay.us
Retroman839
Senior Member
Nah no arcade !
Some old bagatelle,
American bolling pins
Honestly the most cabinet of interest for me was watchmakers & Paris pine wood
Victorian phone booths with folding door.
Most expensive item was 50k Irish library rack shelf only
10m wide . No base 150 years old
Some old bagatelle,
American bolling pins
Honestly the most cabinet of interest for me was watchmakers & Paris pine wood
Victorian phone booths with folding door.
Most expensive item was 50k Irish library rack shelf only
10m wide . No base 150 years old
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Retroman839
Senior Member
My work site was RAF medmenham Buckinghamshire
Danesfield house
Ariel recon
now it is a hotel
Also Winston Churchill kept his rocket boat
We were in hangers that the raf
Used to store all old air craft spares …. Rifle ranges during
WW2
Which was super cool
If I could
Go back I would take an ejector seat and some pannels
PCB’s logic hé ha 😅
Danesfield house
Ariel recon
now it is a hotel
Also Winston Churchill kept his rocket boat
We were in hangers that the raf
Used to store all old air craft spares …. Rifle ranges during
WW2
Which was super cool
If I could
Go back I would take an ejector seat and some pannels
PCB’s logic hé ha 😅
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Free play kills the enjoyment of most arcade games imo. But it saves so much hassle for arcades today.