Could the demise of arcades -in the West- have been delayed somehow? how would (You) have SAVED the arcade scene?

>>11859465 (OP)
That's too much gore, poor machines

First, don't let Bronson into arcades.
Second, I think arcades had a special place in Japan, becoming more of a place for people to hang out in. There was a reason to go to arcades beyond just having better games. The West had it too, but it died off too quickly. Too many arcades relying on "cheap fun at the mall for kids" model.
Third, Western arcade devs sucked cocks, plain and simple. Japanese devs made stuff for their own market , i.e. 2D fighters, shmups, later stuff like idolmaster that simply wouldn't fly in the West.

They were a stupid idea, because going outside to play videogames is stupid. Also expensive as hell if you want to actually get good at any game. I don't play games to socialize with people or whatever.

>>11859498
>because going outside to play videogames is stupid
You're only saying this because you grew up in a time of ubiquitous internet. People wanted an excuse —any excuse— to go out in past times. I bet you also think bowling is stupid.

>>11859507
>grew up in a time of ubiquitous internet
I didn't have internet access untill I was 25 or something. I grew up without internet and also didn't go bowling or whatever normies like doing. Socializing is fucking gay. Humans are cancer so voluntarily going amongst groups of them is retarded. It's a sign of weakness and stupidity.

Saving arcades would require having to redesign the majority of western civilization to be less car-centric.

The only way to save them would have been to connect them to McDonalds. Imagine every McDonalds having a room with arcades in it. That could have been a good business model and a win for both sides.

>>11859465 (OP)
>Could the demise of arcades -in the West- have been delayed somehow? how would (You) have SAVED the arcade scene?
Arcades were same places when I was a kid. They started getting very shady though, just one of the things that the spread of petty drug dealing and pedos ruined.
>>11859498
I was playig arcade machines in the 70s and 80s. You will never knnow what a sit down star wars arcade cabinet is because you are too stupid to even connsider how people could have afforded one for their homes
>>11859507
I did not go to arcades to meet peopel I went to them to play cabinets like star wars, spy hunt, battlezone, space invaders, galga, operation wold, ghosts and goblinn, 1942, etc. You could not get anything even near to the aracde machinnes for home use especially stuff like outrun with a full wheel or pedals. Arcades went from being safe fun places to places filled with seedy pedos and scumbags. The few that remained had machines that cost too much. A lot of them switched from a mix of coin games and arcade machines to being seedy poker machine dives

>>11859465 (OP)
how about offering something that isn't a shitty version of what you have at home?

pinball has been doing alright. the pinball bar here, with ~40+ tables on the floor, has 4 from just this year, and 5 released last year

>>11859548
True enough but macdonalds would not have allowed le violent video game to spoil their corpotate image. Hard to imaginge but they because sucessfull internationally for being clean, known quality ad family and kid friendly instead of the third would infested terrifying anxiety inducing violence and screaming any second food on the floor dives they have become.

>>11859550
>I was playig arcade machines in the 70s and 80s. You will never knnow what a sit down star wars arcade cabinet is
I also went to some places with arcades. It's nothing special. Just quick dumb fun for children, because actually getting good at a good arcade game requires thousands of coins.

The superplayers who actually played for score in arcades in Japan were pretty much insane, because they probably could have bought a house for the money they spend there.

>>11859550
there's a sit-down vector star war at one of the freeplay places here, and a standing at another, which also has Battle Pod.

arcades are mostly third places now, but usually only for people already in the group. house/diy/underground events are where i usually meet new people

>>11859553
>something that isn't a shitty version of what you have at home?
You got that backwards

>>11859573
i'm talking about more recent arcade systems. they need to cheap out on all the hardware to make a profit when they're arcade-only releases

>>11859465 (OP)
At the end of the day the players just didn't want it bad enough. On this board people refuse to drive over 15 minutes to get to a local arcade.

>>11859584
Which is understandable, because it's not comfortable to play games outside. I mean I guess it's better than going to bars or whatever, but when I play games I don't want to get distracted by people and loud noise.

>>11859465 (OP)
The entire reason arcades died, was because they stopped having hardware that outclassed what a normal consumer could buy for their home. For arcades to survive, they would have needed to have atleast an entire hardware generations worth of power over whatever system was currently hot on the market. Becoming large gimmicky machines that feel like mini rides, was the only way they were going to make money, atleast in any non urbanized region that couldnt afford to stick some smaller machines somewhere.

Arcades died because home consoles and arcade manufacturers being greedy shits and applying bad drm that hurt operators (it's not enough that you bought cab and have to maintain it, you have to pay the dev a regular fee to keep that shit running), also most places outside Japan being spread out instead of densely populated. There's a reason why Raw Thrills took over.
>could it be delayed?
Knee cap home consoles, not assault operators with drm shit?

No, arcades were destined to die due to consoles. While 3rd and 4th generation games had plenty of arcade like experiences, more and more long form games and forgiving games with unlimited continues, and especially save systems were released. People like these kinds of systems. Arcade games are much more unforgiving. I enjoy both Arcade games and home video games, but most people don't want their ass blasted within the first 60 seconds of the game. There's nothing arcades could do to circumvent this, consumers just valued other things. I think even recently an Arcade styled beat em up, Final Vendetta, had to bend the knee to consumers. They added, or added more, the ability to continue once you ran out of lives due to complaints from customers. People don't want games in which they get better at over time and won't beat within their initial sitting. They just want to keep progressing and not lose progress. Most arcade games cannot meet that demand. Sure, there were cute cabinets like Gauntlet Legends or some Initial D racing games that either allowed you to save a character profile onto the game or a card, but that's about it. It doesn't make sense to have that with most games.
>>11859498
It really wasn't feasible to have hardware of that power in someone's homes. None the less the method of control can widely differ among arcade games, especially from home games. Tell me how you'd do something like Rapid River at home that is authentic to the cabinet.

>>11859584
I drove 20~30 minutes to an arcade spot, but that was reserved for the weekends so that would limit me going there to 2~3 times a month. Kind of hard to get people in when they'd mostly go when they aren't working that day. Sadly I believe the place I went to closed before COVID so it wasn't going to make it through 2020 no matter what.

Cabinets getting fucked in that scene:
Gravitar(1982)
Lady Bug(1981)
Mr. Do(1982)
Thayer's Quest(1984)
Tempest(1981)
Lotta old machines in an arcade in 1987, even a roller rink arcade.

>>11859465 (OP)
>Could the demise of arcades -in the West- have been delayed somehow?
You'd have to prevent the American recession from happening during the early 90s, that's not something you can even begin to attempt unless you go all the way back to the 70s and prevent out of control mortgage lending from spiraling out of control, which in turn requires you to go back to the 50s when Savings & Loans companies sprouted like weeds all over the place, but now you have to...

>>11859946

>Could the demise of arcades -in the West- have been delayed somehow?
Multiple things would be needed just to delay the decline.
You would need arcade game devs on board in not making home ports 1:1 with the arcade version, so the arcade version would always be the superior way to play. You would need console makers on board in not adding internet to their consoles so console gamers would still need to go to the arcades to play with new people. You would need PC devs on board in not using internet multiplayer so PC gamers would still need to go to the arcades for multiplayer. Even with these things working in arcades favor, inflation would still have killed them dead as they would be forced to raise prices. Psychologically, a single coin doesn't feel that expensive. When you need to drop 2-4-8 quarters on a machine for a single round, it feels very pricey. Hence why most modern arcades use re-loadable cards.
>how would (You) have SAVED the arcade scene?
Get them all connected to the internet early, and have games be a bit more persistent. Gauntlet Legends had the right idea by letting players resume from previous play by putting in their initials and a numeric code. Imagine if it was also connected to a server that could bring in additional players to ensure you never had to play solo. No one at your local arcade has played enough to be at your level? No problem, it will connect you to another player two states over who is on par with you.
Fighting games could have been connected to a master server that would be a global ranked scoreboard and matchmaking service, and players could choose VS AI or VS Human after coin-in. Players could have put their initials and code in, game would load their record, and then play against someone close to their level.
It would have been the golden standard of multiplayer gaming, since cheating would have been virtually impossible.

>>11859498
>because going outside to play videogames is stupid.
You only say this because you have socializing issues and probably have issues interacting with people. You probably just stay home and never speak to others. The rest of us are well adjusted and can do both.

To be clear, I don't care that you are an unsociable hermit. But at least have some self-awareness and realize that you are one! Realize that you don't speak for everybody. Yeeesh. Come on anon.

>>11859465 (OP)
>Could the demise of arcades -in the West- have been delayed somehow? how would (You) have SAVED the arcade scene?

It's very simple. Ban any arcade games from being ported to consoles. Problem solved (at least for several years).

- No Street Fighter on consoles.
- No Mortal Kombat on consoles.
- Etc.

You must go to the arcade to play.

It was a huge mistake for arcade companies to allow their best games to be ported to consoles because it makes arcade customers stay home instead.

---------------

For those who don't know, this is the rule that arcades enforce today.

After the arcade crash of the early 2000s, Arcade businesses have told game companies that they will not buy ANY arcade machine if the same game is available on home consoles. An arcade machine is huge investment of cash. Often costing $10,000 to $30,000 for a single unit. So why would arcade businesses buy a game when it's available for home consoles?

For example, Arcade businesses told Konami that they will not buy any Dance Dance Revolution machines if it's available for home console. These DDR machines cost around $25,000 and are a huge source of income for Konami. They sell thousands of these machines worldwide. Losing the Western market would be a huge loss of income.

So Konami stopped making DDR for home consoles to appease arcade businesses. The last one released on consoles was around 20 years ago.

>>11859465 (OP)
>demise
Arcades did not "die". There are far less arcades now than the historic maximum, but they are not "dead".

>>11859465 (OP)
Arcades died because they allowed their best arcade games to be ported on consoles. So people lost any reason to go to the arcade.

Consoles should have stayed focused on RPGs and other long form games that don't work in arcade settings.

>>11859465 (OP)
I don't think my idea would work until 2010-2015 or so, but here goes.

Arcades always had a few things over home consoles and PC in the arena that they were a public spectacle, a place to gather, and a social event. Sure, when they were first making their appearance, they were just amusement machines that people put some quarters into to have a good time for a bit, slowly recouping their cost over the months or years, but as things developed, arcades became hang out spots, places to gather with friends, and a place to meet new people.

Local Game Stores that sold things like MTG cards, tabletop books, wargames, etc functioned similarly, except since the method of play for these games explicitly required playing them in person, there was no true equal to them for playing them with friends remotely. If you wanted to play Warhammer, you drove to a tabletop shop and played at one of their tables with strangers or went to a friend's house to play with them--you couldn't sit in your basement and expect to play across the internet with random people.

To revitalize the arcade industry, I would focus on designing and developing games and hardware specifically designed along the following criteria:
>The gameplay must be a spectacle; however it's played, it must accomodate and be interesting to non-players just standing back and watching.
>Games should focus on multiplayer in all its forms: The more obvious avenues of 1v1 head to head, cooperative play, team vs team, but also asynchronous multiplayer such as racing time trials and scoreboards.
>The experience should be something that can't be replicated at home on consoles or PC, even if it's just that the arcade venue has a local server which hosts arcade data (Scores, character progression, registered players, etc) and communicates it with a master server that can only be accessed by registered arcades. Even if someone reverse engineers the game and plays it at home, they can't sync with the master server.

>>11860727
So in effect, these new forms of arcades become something similar to playing tabletop games in person but with a curated network linked to other arcades. People might become locally famous, perhaps there's regular tournaments of an arcade version of Unreal Tournament or what have you, and you can climb to the top at your local arcade. On Friday nights or some other time, there's arcade vs arcade tournaments where each arcade puts their best players forward to fight each other, the results of which are recorded to the master server and displayed in each linked arcade.

On the technical side, you wouldn't put coins in machines anymore, just carry an ID card which is inserted into machines which authenticates you. The upside to this is you can go to an arcade in another city and still authenticate just fine, pulling all your arcade data along with you.

You'd pay a monthly fee to use the servers+the local arcade. Servers of course would keep your data up, and the local arcade for use of their machines. Arcade owners would generate more steady income this way and could plan around their monthly revenue while players would feel like they're getting more value out of their money assuming they played frequently.

Machines would support multiple games, mostly generic cabinets that could swap to other arcade games. Each arcade would have a main display of random players, particularly showcasing those who were frequent high scorers or major events such as team vs team games.

>>11860727
>I don't think my idea would work until 2010-2015 or so, but here goes.
It would Revolutionary in the 1990s.
A lot of your ideas were implemented in the 2010s like focusing on large deluxe machines that can't be replicated at home.

>>11860730
How would you prevent people from just dumping the ROM and playing it on emulation?

It's fine for older games. But I've gotten into arguments with YouTubers who try to teach others how to run modern arcade games (less than 5 years old) still being used in arcades. I told the YouTubers that they are hurting developers by doing it.

They argued with me saying not everyone had an arcade near them and don't have access.

>>11860031
yeah they are sprawling everywhere
cant wait to go to my local bar grab a coffee and play galaga. luckily they've got 20 arcade machines there because everybody wants to play arcade
cabinets are dead sadly. end of story.

If the boom of the rhythm games in the late 90's and 00's didn't save them then nothing would've

>>11860815
Rom's only half of the equation. Just like an MMO, you can play on a private server if you somehow get a hold of it and run a server emulator, but the gameplay alone isn't the big draw. It's the community around it and the validation that comes with achieving victory in a public spectacle that people want.

Using EVE Online as an example, a big draw of the game is that there's one persistent server for the world and the things you achieve in it are globally recognized. Organizations of hundreds or thousands of players hold space in that MMO's universe and do it organically through actual diplomacy and legitimate real life business practices to sustain their empires. You can emulate the EVE Online server, and hell there's even a test server where you can play around with all the fun stuff for free if you want, but it still doesn't draw as many people to it because the sense of accomplishment isn't there.

This may be an antithesis to traditional arcade games in some fashion, but not entirely. Playing R-Type in an arcade is fun for the game itself, but seeing your name at the top of the leaderboard on it for the 3rd month running is a metagame achievement you can't really replicate when you're playing it on your home console alone.

>>11860871
I think this sort of achievement mentality already exists in gaming in general. For example, we have numerous sites dedicated to tracking the completion time of speedrunners at a global ranking, but the fact that it's a global comparison means that only a handful of people in the world are capable of competing in it. For us other plebs, there's no reason to even try when the records are so tight that it might take years for someone to best it.

Local or even just regional scoring for arcades like this could provide a way for local leagues to form naturally and give people to compete within their division with a more fair playing field. You might not be world recognized, but maybe you're the best player of a game within your local arcade, or maybe the best in southern Florida. These divisions create a sense of progress as you improve and give you more immediate goals to work towards as you play.

>>11859990
Socializing is for faggots and women. Not everyone is that stupid to circle jerk with strangers who don't even give a shit about you. Well adjusted people avoid groups, because the average human is a dumbfuck like you.

>>11860727
>>11860730
They did something similar in Japan. The game ran a central server for arcades to connect their cabinets to.

But then it went badly. The game companies got greedy.

They charged each arcade owner a monthly fee for the privelege to connect to the server. Arcades had to pay for business internet themselves. Updates could only, be downloaded through the server. No offline updates could be acquired. In addition, some arcade cabinets would not function without staying connected to the server. Some cabinets could even be remotely disabled by the game company thought you were tampering with it.

Lastly, the game conoant required arcades to sign a "profit sharing" agreement contract. A contract that states arcade owners are required to share a percentage of profits from the arcade machines for a period of time (for example 3 years) with the game company. Sometimes the profits would be split in favor of the game company like 60%/40% in favor of the game company. Sometimes even more.

The game company will also monitor how much each arcade machine earns via the internet connection (Spyware). If you tamper with it, then they can remote shut it down.

You just agree to the terms of service. If you do not agree to these demands, then the game company says you do not have the right to buy arcade machines from them, and will not sell arcade machines to you.

This whole business arrangement has killed hundreds of arcades in Japan. Many small Mom and pop arcades can't afford the fees and costs. So they closed down. Only Large corporate mega arcades can afford to pay.

Several years ago, the Japanese game companies tried force American arcades (like Dave and Busters) to agree to this arrangement. The American arcades essentially told them to fuck off and they won't do it and don't want machines that need internet. The Japaneae game companies got scared and created export model arcade machines designed to work offline. These machines can't be used in Japan.

>>11860913
Based burgers for once. The internet has truly been the worst thing for vidya, atleast when companies are involved.

>>11859990
>>the rest of us

>>11860913
I'm not surprised. At its core, it can be just as predatory as DRM infested games on PC. There's a lot that can go wrong with things when you're reliant on a party to provide a service rather than buying a machine and having permanent ownership with it.

Honestly, that's part of the thing I don't like about arcades to begin with, by their nature you don't really own anything in an arcade and simply pay a few quarters for some playtime. Sure, you can buy a machine for home use, but that's often prohibitively expensive. The only reason to play in an arcade, much like an MMO or any of those modern live service games, are because they give you an experience you couldn't get elsewhere.

From a player standpoint though, if the terms of the arcade change, I can always stop going. Businesses have it hard though since they can be pretty heavily invested and not be able to peel themselves away from predatory practices though.

>>11859468
Those units would have already been gutted unless the cabinets were bought as is and just filled with special effects. That's more likely to have been the case because multiple takes are involved during any shoot.

>>11859534
You should move to Africa.

>>11859692
Do people really want to go back to those days though, wasn't this what people in 1993 were wishing for. Would people want Death Stranding 2 to out at the arcade for $2 for 5 minutes and then 2 years later you get a cut down version at home and then 7 years later you get the arcade perfect version. People these days get pissed at the limited lives in Sonic and Mario, you think they would have the patience for this. Yes it was cool seeing Daytona and being blown away but it kind of sucked to have to wait so long to get as good graphics at home. I just don't know the solution, how do you even make a game that is 4 times more detailed than whats at home. Remember the whining people did over Crysis.

>>11859843
Playing Gran Turismo 1, the graphics seemed perfect, why would I want anything more was my reaction. I'm not talking technically, more about color, music, design.

>>11859465 (OP)
In general I feel no but:

In the early days could have had a high quality steering and gear change set up, used VR when it first got good. They waited too long and now any serious simmer has a good wheel and VR setup.

What would get me back? good graphics wouldn't cut it, maybe focus on multiplayer, have machines linked up with retro/indie style games, something like an 8 player final fight type with linked up cabinets. Maybe early versions of hyped indie games like Metro Seige or Earthion thats supposed to be out later.
It won't be come check out these cool graphics, it will be check out this new Yuzo Koshiro game.

But a new sort of arcade did open up near me, stuff like mario kart arcade, fruit slice and some other bs with flashing lights. This is just what modern arcades are, the kids have fun seeing their characters they know and we are just too old for it.

>>11860913
No wonder Konami makes gambling machines now

>>11859465 (OP)
There was no saving arcades by the time the Dreamcast came out. Consoles achieving arcade hardware performance and fidelity in 3D was like letting the genie out of the bottle.

>>11861003
>No wonder Konami makes gambling machines now
Actually Konami still makes a bunch of Rhythm arcade games. It's still a huge money maker for them.

>>11860970
>Sure, you can buy a machine for home use, but that's often prohibitively expensive.
Buy them when they get retired from arcades. Machines that are older than 10 years old are usually a great place to start. The common ones are often a few hundred dollars. If you are lucky you can find one for free as it gets thrown out.

The main issue is being able to do repairs yourself. Like damages wood or broken parts like broken buttons. But it's worth it imo.

>>11860913
There are people (weebs) who tell me Japan has a very healthy consumer ecosystem, and then when you dig a little bit you always find corrupt shit like this all the time.

>>11860910
kek die

>>11861054
Those weebs only go to the big corporate arcades near tourist spots. Like in Tokyo or Kyoto.

The weebs don't visit the countryside or smaller/medium sized cities. In those areas, indie arcades are struggling or dead. The weebs don't pay attention to "mom and pop" arcades being forced to closed down.

No weeb wants to visit the arcade of a smaller Japanese mountain town (pic related). Or face the truth that owners had to shut down. Many owners even just leave their cabinets and abandon them.

>>11861101
The Japanese countryside is dead as fuck in general. It's not just arcades.

>>11861104
So it's comfy?

>>11861105
If you find retirement homes comfy, sure.

gen z and especially alpha are failed generations. They don't leave the house, many of them dont learn how to drive, everything is done in discord calls. You cant save arcade without reversing the many many insidious causes of that generational decline, and even then you couldn't stop consoles from eating arcades lunch. Go to any arcade today and it's all millennials and older plus their kids, there's literally no teenagers or early 20s

>>11861104
That's a good thing, you don't want urbanisation of rural areas.

>>11859946
... go back in time and prevent Jews from existing.

>>11861116
>many of them dont learn how to drive,
Most zoomers simply can't afford a car and most end up getting one later in their life when they're more financially secure.
I can't explain every gay thing zoomers do but a large part is simply the economy being hot garbage.

>>11860021
SF4 and SF6 both got arcade releases, and were quite popular. Both had console/PC releases. Arcade owners have been whining about home ports since the 80's, but they have NEVER succeeded in pressuring game devs into becoming arcade exclusive. Arcade owners don't have enough sway or economic impact on game devs for the devs to listen to them.

>>11860913
Anon, the small Mom and Pop arcades weren't buying the brand new machines that needed a server connection in the first place, they never got to the "sign this contract" stage. New machines would be too expensive for them, they would be buying up older used machines. The JP scheme did fuck over all the bigger arcades, and it's the reason ShouTime's eXa-Arcadia system has been such a hit among JP arcades.

>>11859946
This is a retarded-ass fucking post. The "early 90's American recession" was barely a blip, and lasted for maybe a year, and had nothing to do with the downfall of arcades. The biggest thing it was responsible for was causing Bush senior to lose re-election. That's about it. The 2001 recession had a far bigger effect than that did.

The real reason arcades died in America is due to the advent of online gaming in the late 90's, and the war against loitering throughout the 80's and 90's which ended up killing off arcades, as it became illegal to host arcades near churches or schools.

>>11861116
Good for them, honestly. I wish millennials didn't fall prey to the boomerisms that boomers use to guilt-trip their kids into working twice as hard as they did to support the sheer magnitude of their fucked up economy. Should just let it crash in on their stupid fucking heads.

>>11861117
>economy being bad and communities dying is LE GOOD!!!!!
your peabrain on /pol/

>>11859534
>>11859498
man you are a rotten little strumpet. how many people diddled your bunghole for you to end up like this?

>>11861340
Not what I said at all, shithead.

>>11861371
then explain what you meant. i have a pretty good idea but let's hear it from you first.

>>11859465 (OP)
Fuck arcades, console gaming was the future

>>11859498
>>11859534
>>11860910
Unironically, with all sincerity, please kill yourself immediately.

>>11859465 (OP)
>Could the demise of arcades -in the West- have been delayed somehow?
Simply, no. America is simply too goddamned big and the rent is too goddamned high. Running gamecenters/arcades is just too cost prohibitive when the owner needs to keep the lights on 24/7 and find a side hustle to keep making payments on essentials. Even places that keep arcade machines around as a temporary distraction (restaurants, laundromats) have to afford for upkeep and the amount of electricity used to keep them running.

>>11859540
This is why home console gaming with online caught on. No need to go out of your way (if you live in a rural area) to an arcade when you've got the entire arcade at your fingertips and friends a phonecall away.

>>11859548
>Imagine every McDonalds having a room with arcades in it.
We used to call those Pizza Hut.

>>11861003
>No wonder Konami makes gambling machines now
That's always been their business. Remember that they could barely keep up with development costs in the mid-to-late 90's and had to turn to crowdfunding to fund games like Tokimemo 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2.

>>11861683
i play arcade games and love them but we have got to give up the idea they were ever "savable." The golden era of consoles and arcade gaming existed because of a specific combination of factors that could never have ended differently. MAYBE you could have drawn things out a few more years but there wasnt some alternate timeline we were denied where everyone is playing in packed arcades today. Maybe if you conducted coordinated and constant massive purges of anyone who was researching microprocessor improvements so that you froze technology there and maintained global cooperation on this throughout the rest of time. Seems very reasonable.

>>11861003
Graphics have stagnated even between console generations, so its basically impossible for arcades to ever recapture the ability to have tech far greater than what a consumer could buy themselves. Ironically, i think those VR cafe shits are the closest thing you can get now to something most consumers dont have easy access to in their homes, atleast the ones that are really sophisticated set ups.

>>11860821
>cant wait to go to my local bar grab a coffee and play galaga.
you're the person referenced here>>11859584

>>11859465 (OP)
Government funding is the only answer

>>11859584
>At the end of the day the players just didn't want it bad enough. On this board people refuse to drive over 15 minutes to get to a local arcade.

Arcades lost the casual customers when they let consoles take all the arcade games. Imagine a world where no arcade game was allowed on a console. I think arcades would still be popular.

>>11859589
>when I play games I don't want to get distracted by people and loud noise.
Then what are you doing at an arcade? It's always going to have noise. You might as well stay home. You aren't built to handle arcades.

>>11859584
Arcades are primarily for children.
If you have to drive with a car to it, it's already doomed.

>>11861116

>hypothetical situation that did not occur and has no correct answer.
What exactly is retro about these alternative history threads? Why are there so many of them? There is no value in this shit. You cannot be right because whatever you claim simply did not happen.
Discuss games instead.

>>11859534
Based as fuck.

>>11859843
>>11859465 (OP)
Arcades were only "saved" in asias by gambling addicts and stupid "UFO catchers". it's a rotten way to die or survive.
hardcore gaming and good games moved to PC.

>>11863590
There are a few good arcades in the US. They're just very few and far between (I went to one recently, and it was a good time, although everything was on free play, since they had a door fee).