Why This Hobby ??

[TheDaddy]

So after a week of being in bed with covid and feeling very grim with lots of time on my hands I though I would see what gets people in to this hobby and what it generally means to them.

Remember there are no right / wrong answers so fire away with you thoughts below.

Bare in mind this is just for fun and everyone will be Different, We are all here for different reasons.

So for me its not so much playing the games as to be fair I am not realy that good, Although I do play them obviuosly. Its more the excitement for me I.E when i find a job lot of untested and unknown boards that have been boxed for may years and unloved. The finding out what they are , do they work and if not the whole repair behind them.

There is NO better feeling for me than when I power a PCB on that I have spend weeks or months repairing only to see that splash screen !!! I can not explain what goes on in my body its the nicest feeling ever it realy is. When I have boards on there way (Like now !!) my brain is always doing overtime and I even dream about unboxing and testing them, Sounds sad but last nights dream was just that and I woke with a smile on my face (Rare as I am known as ' Mr Grumpy ').

Couple that with a great community and I keep coming back and back.

Dave.

Look forward to hearing your comments

P.S I have other things I love , Model Railways , Flying in SIMS.

 

[Vamino]

My Nan had a home Pong console, it was cool but it wasn't as mystical as the big machines in bus stations/markets/arcades/chip shops/cafes/pool halls etc. I played Atari at my American friends house before it was a mass market thing, his Dad was super cool, I remember him giving me an American silver dollar coin with my Birth year on it, dunno where that went. :-(

My Dad loved the pub, my mates Dad loved videogames which was certainly in the minority at the time. But yet, the Atari still didn't feel as magical as an Arcade machine that took my coins. Arcade games were always one or 2 steps ahead of home systems, so any home system I owned when I was younger was always playing catch up. Some ports and conversions on home computers were OK, but the majority were tosh and never identical. At that time I think the NES was the best, it made me dump home computers. I mean, having multiple buttons on a joypad was much better than pressing space bar with my foot or something.

The PC Engine/SNES/MD generation caught up a bit, but then 3D polygon games gained traction and the gulf between arcade and console became wider again. For me, the Dreamcast generation brought the feeling of the Arcade home, most conversions were perfect.

IMO it was at this point that the term 'Arcade games' turned from a game you couldn't play at home (Barring home use machines and superguns) into a genre of game that had arguably simpler gameplay than console games or originated as an Arcade game that you could play in an Arcade machine in an Arcade before being released on home formats. It was probably about mid 2000's that the term Arcade game lost a lot of meaning for me, I then lost most interest in following new exclusive Arcade game releases and switched to console gaming, especially online gaming.

Mame and so on filled the void but it didn't fully scratch the itch. I ambled through for many years but I then wanted a real machine, and the first one I bought was ironically bought from this very forum, that game was Initial D Arcade Stage ver 2. Buying, restoring and playing IDv2 rekindled the feeling of enjoyment I had playing Arcade games, I eventually bought more machines and even though I said I never would, I later bought a lot of my favourite games on PCB and have never looked back.

Putting a coin in a machine is so satisfying for me, hearing the coin go through the mechanical coin mech on something like an Astro City and being rewarded with a credit chime is magical. Being older I can appreciate some things more now, pixel art being one of them, So seeing and playing a game such as Ghost's and Goblins on a CRT in something like an Astro City fully scratches my itch. I do have nostalgia for older Jamma cabs, but I like candies more due to my personal preference regarding their aesthetics.

Is it because the original PCB that I played back in the day can be installed in a machine that has all the aspects of what I consider an Arcade machine? Is it because I believe gameplay had pretty much reached perfection during the 80's at the time when the hardware was considered cutting edge and couln't be replicated at home? Is it because I experience some sort of nostalgic feeling that the coins/credits have value that brings back a sort of feeling of urgency to make that credit last?

Its a combination of the above that makes me to continue to enjoy this hobby after all the time I've spent playing.

 

[Spanky]

I like repairing things. And 1980s electronics is my era, where I feel at home.

 

[Lurch666]

I enjoy puzzles.
And to me a PCB that doesn't work is a puzzle where if you can ask the right questions (test the correct parts) you can solve that puzzle.
Even if it takes years my brain will still come back to a repair I haven't figured out and suggest a new way of looking at it.
Like others once the PCB is working I lose interest but It's my nostalgia that drives me to do these repairs because seeing a boardset working when once it didn't is like beating a very difficult game.

There's been times when I've fixed a difficult fault and afterward just turned the game on because getting to the point where the games runs is what it's all about. I don't play the game,just enjoy watching my work on the board showing a good result.

 

[_Matt_]

While I do still enjoy playing them from time to time, these days it's hunting down, documenting and preserving the UK stuff that keeps me interested.

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

When CVG used to give Neo Geo games 7/10 at best yet anything on Super Nintendo (Final Fight) and Megadrive (can't remember top of head, maybe Mortal Kombat) was 10/10. All that without mentioning shitness 50hz.

Dreamcast was a good console. Time to get serious. Neo Geo (sold all my stuff for peanuts in early 2000s 😭) now got what I need, Naomis and MVS.

Still regret not picking up a Pacman cocktail up the road for £70 back in 2001! Ha ha!

Arcade rules, computer and console conversions are poor, but fun because that's all we had.

The real deal is fukn super 💪🤘🕹️📺💥

 

[John Bennett]

When emulation started in the late 90's, my brother and I decided to spend my student grant (remember those?) on actual arcade boards as it was brilliant to own the actual game PCB you used to play down the arcades.
I got into other hobbies after a few years (partially after feeling a bit dirty for spending £200 on a PCB in 2000), while my brother got into writing emulators and fixing stuff.
Around 2015, I finally moved the arcade stuff to my house (from my parents) and started to get back into it - buying the odd game from time to time.
I think it's the tinkering I like most - repro-ing boards, making arcade-related gadgets etc. I did a little mucking on with emulation too, out of sibling rivalry, but I'm a novice at that.

I've fixed the odd board, but it's mixed feelings - half the stuff I look at turns into a nightmare. The obsolescence of many parts and custom chips bothers me a bit too. It is a great feeling when you finally get something working, but I find fixing cars and doing home DIY gets more reward for the effort.

But it's definitely become quite a big part of my life at the moment and it gives me something to look forward to in the evenings. My brother and I had a trip to Jonathan Ross's house the other week to dump Um Jammer Lammy Now, so you get some cool anecdotes from it too

Edit: I've also gone the other way with games consoles - never felt the need to revisit my old stuff, so gradually getting rid of it. I think maybe hanging onto the hardware and using CDR-s and memory stick thingies is enough for me in that respect.

 

[K1ngarth3r]

I remember as a kid, I said one day I will have my own arcades at home. By the late 90s when most arcades had hardly any videos I them I discovered MAME! I remember seeing cabs for sale so cheap, £50 for Hang-On etc but to space to store them. In the early 00s I got a SuperGun thanks to Assembler forum, and picked up Golden Axe PCB from eBay for £30! As soon as I got a decent sized house I got my first full sized cab via JAMMA+ the rest is history.
Arcade gaming was such a big part of my life, loved it as a kid and still love it now. Such an addictive hobby but wouldn't change it.

 

[antray84]

A lot of my best memories as a child in the 90s are from arcades or from the licences from those games. WWF, Turtles, Simpsons. Now in adult life when everything is much much harder it is good to have that novel reminder of that time. First cab was an MK2. I just couldn't believe I could own this and then.....I did. Hobby had died somewhat for me due to costs but I have realised that I much prefer buying a wreck and making it my own then someone else's restore. As even if I don't play it often I am always reminded of all the hard work I put in to make it pretty.

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

My brother and I had a trip to Jonathan Ross's house the other week

He bought my Neo Geo carts, about 15 of them, on eBay for £120. I was gonna wrap them in Alex Sachs homemade paper as that was the news at at the time, but bottled it last minute! 😆

 

[NivagSwerdna]

The pub I used to drink in as an underage sixth former had a RocNRope cocktail that I used to put my pint of Ushers beer on... simple as.

I grew up with hardware... there were no personal computers so you had to make your own.... and so repairing them is the other part of the fun

Sadly I get very easily distracted with other projects so I still haven't quite got my cocktail repaired/restored despite having bought it over 5 years ago... but one day it will be a RocNRope and I'll put a glass of wine on it.

 

[grobda]

I always wanted to play the arcade games in my home. Being brutally disappointed with the 1943 conversion for the Atari ST in particular then reading about JAMMA and seeing the odd advert for arcade gear in magazines made me want to build a JAMMA setup.

I tried to for my AS level electronics project. My teacher talked me out of it.

Forgot about it for a few years chasing girls and being at Uni, then discovered emulation, but didn't satisfy the 'real' thing.

Discovered ebay in 1999. Ran up a credit card bill buying stuff at 'junk' prices. Genuinely untested stuff where the postage usually cost more than the boards. Built a supergun and loom for 1942, my first PCB. It fell apart. Built another supergun, and got some more PCB's, some were faulty, tried to fix em, acquired a free Jamma cab, broke it, moved house, sold a lot of boards, put the rest in the loft.

Decided to sell what was left and some had died, tried to fix em, got hooked on fixing them, fixed a lot of them, started buying again. Bought some cabs, went on some raids with the ScotVac crew.

Then prices went crazy and I moved into consoles and computers. Prices of them started going crazy too. Now I mostly hunt for any old junk that's still cheap, preferably broken. Debating selling up again but every time I do I end up playing them and fixing them and it starts again

 

[Retroman839]

When emulation started in the late 90's, my brother and I decided to spend my student grant (remember those?) on actual arcade boards as it was brilliant to own the actual game PCB you used to play down the arcades.
I got into other hobbies after a few years (partially after feeling a bit dirty for spending £200 on a PCB in 2000), while my brother got into writing emulators and fixing stuff.
Around 2015, I finally moved the arcade stuff to my house (from my parents) and started to get back into it - buying the odd game from time to time.
I think it's the tinkering I like most - repro-ing boards, making arcade-related gadgets etc. I did a little mucking on with emulation too, out of sibling rivalry, but I'm a novice at that.

I've fixed the odd board, but it's mixed feelings - half the stuff I look at turns into a nightmare. The obsolescence of many parts and custom chips bothers me a bit too. It is a great feeling when you finally get something working, but I find fixing cars and doing home DIY gets more reward for the effort.

But it's definitely become quite a big part of my life at the moment and it gives me something to look forward to in the evenings. My brother and I had a trip to Jonathan Ross's house the other week to dump Um Jammer Lammy Now, so you get some cool anecdotes from it too

Edit: I've also gone the other way with games consoles - never felt the need to revisit my old stuff, so gradually getting rid of it. I think maybe hanging onto the hardware and using CDR-s and memory stick thingies is enough for me in that respect.

Did you get the tour of the toy rooms ?
I have a photo somewhere of Jonathan’s brother writing his ferrari off outside my house with a Datsun cherry

 

[TheDaddy]

Forgot Mr Ross likes his toys , Surprised he not on here !

Dave.

 

[John Bennett]

Heh, sorry, derailed us with my shameless namedropping 😀.
Yes, he's definitely into gaming and he's done a bit of high-level promo for Nintendo in the past.

Did you get the tour of the toy rooms ?
I have a photo somewhere of Jonathan’s brother writing his ferrari off outside my house with a Datsun cherry

🤪🤪. Paul Ross off'of the 90's? That's a good anecdote anyway.

I didn't see a hoard of stuff as he's only got a couple of arcade machines (music-themed) and they're not at his London home.

 

[Brettster]

I played Space Invaders at my sisters wedding reception, was hooked ever since!
used to be able to find arcade machines everywhere in the 80s, those were the days
in the early 90's I had my own Jamma Woody cab and around 10 PCBs and even made my own supergun.
always been a gamer, on anything that can play em!

 

[mx5dob]

For me its the kick of having commercial games that Joe Public couldn't dream of owning back in the day. Home console ports were pale comparisons to actual arcade games (especially being as I own a speccy). To think its possible to own some of the games I used to play back in the day, just blows my mind.

 

[Akira99]

So after a week of being in bed with covid and feeling very grim with lots of time on my hands I though I would see what gets people in to this hobby and what it generally means to them.

Remember there are no right / wrong answers so fire away with you thoughts below.

Bare in mind this is just for fun and everyone will be Different, We are all here for different reasons.

So for me its not so much playing the games as to be fair I am not realy that good, Although I do play them obviuosly. Its more the excitement for me I.E when i find a job lot of untested and unknown boards that have been boxed for may years and unloved. The finding out what they are , do they work and if not the whole repair behind them.

There is NO better feeling for me than when I power a PCB on that I have spend weeks or months repairing only to see that splash screen !!! I can not explain what goes on in my body its the nicest feeling ever it realy is. When I have boards on there way (Like now !!) my brain is always doing overtime and I even dream about unboxing and testing them, Sounds sad but last nights dream was just that and I woke with a smile on my face (Rare as I am known as ' Mr Grumpy ').

Couple that with a great community and I keep coming back and back.

Dave.

Look forward to hearing your comments

P.S I have other things I love , Model Railways , Flying in SIMS.

Not related to arcade collecting but you like model railways, I work at Hornby and onsite at head office where I work we have real locomotives on site. Just thought I would mention it

 

[TheDaddy]

Not related to arcade collecting but you like model railways, I work at Hornby and onsite at head office where I work we have real locomotives on site. Just thought I would mention it

What do you do ?? I watched some of the series on sky, They have a fair few full sizes one if I remember right. Must be a great place to work !

Dave.

 

[Akira99]

What do you do ?? I watched some of the series on sky, They have a fair few full sizes one if I remember right. Must be a great place to work !

Dave.

I'am a graphic artist so I work across all the brands doing retouching, 3D & 2D visualising etc for print & digital platforms. It's okay working there