>>11959190
Arcades didn’t die because “games were unfair.”
They died because of how the industry evolved.
First the Japanese bubble burst, and the 3D leap made boards insanely costly.
Nobody could keep up with Sega’s investment, so Capcom/Namco/Taito gave up the race and started using PS1 hardware as a base.
Saturn already paved the way for perfect (or nearly perfect) CPS2 ports.
Every single game based on PS1 mobo was arcade perfect and usually had more content on PS1
(Tekken 3 had CGI endings and extra characters, for example).
Then Naomi came (basically a Dreamcast).
Soul Calibur on DC destroyed the System 12 arcade version, Kikaioh on DC was cleaner, better sound, full anime cutscenes.
Next was Namco 246/256 — literally just a PS2 in a cab.
Later Lindbergh and Taito X were nothing but PCs in a box.
No exclusivity, no wow factor. Aside from shmups, there was nothing you couldn’t already play at home.
Why waste 100 yen when home versions were better?
That’s why CAVE was still printing money even with harder games, they stayed arcade-only.
Ports were never as good as the original hardware, they were just training bases.
And let's not forget, with the PS1 and PS2 popularity to the masse, they built up a whole generation of people who’d rather watch cutscenes and stories than actually play.
which gave us the full cinematic experience and checkpoint every 10 steps we know with the PS360gen.
