Have an arcade near you that doesn't suck?

[portastad]

This is partially out of curiosity for any possible future travels and part out of selfishness and hoping all is not lost for a good arcade in Texas. All I can find here are the occasional treasures - like a Simpsons cabinet in a movie theater or the time I almost crapped my pants cuz I found a Guitar Freaks cabinet in an otherwise shitty Gameworks in Grapevine.

Name your arcade. Where is it? What super awesome or super shitty stuff does it have?

[HerosPlayDumb]

The one that's closet to me is at foxwoods casino in CT. About an hour and a half drive or so depending on traffic. I love it simply because whenever I go I end up dumping around $100 into initial D.

[Tony Ponce]

There are no more dedicated arcades nearby. At least none that I can think of. There are still those big fun centers where you can race go-karts and such. I suppose those count.

There's a place called Fun Depot that does the arcade, laser tag, go-karts, batting cages, etc. thing. Further out we have a Boomers!, same kind of stuff. Then there is a Dave & Buster's even further out.

There's also a Chuck E. Cheese's, but everything is BS, money-sucking ticket redemption garbage.

This is South Florida, by the way. I live in the Palm Beach area.

[Shinryu]

all the glorious old arcades around my area (and I think the whole town and perhaps even the country) have become slot machine joints/internet cafes. You’d be lucky to find the occasional arcade cabinet in a family-friendly pub or bowling place. As for the crowd, all you ever see is 10-year olds mashing it out on metal slug or virtua striker. Good street fighter competition seems far, far away now :’(

[Wry Guy]

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk arcade. Used to work in a related department down there and would be given assignments in the place. It's not the greatest, but last time I was down there we had Initial D, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Capcom vs SNK 2, House of the Dead 4, DDR and In the Groove, and a bunch of classic games all over the place like Donkey Kong and Sunset Riders.

Technically there's 3 arcades at the place, but the big one is the one people really care about.

[NihonTiger90]

Nothing around here except video poker places and such. Most of them got shut down for illegal gambling.

[IndestructibleWolves]

I wish! Nearest arcade from my house is about 30 minutes away and all the cabinets are wrecked to shit, not to mention the only good game ever found around here in a cabinet is Marvel VS Capcom 2.

[Wookiee]

Alas, the only arcade near me still open is usually full of gang members.

[A New Challenger]

There's an arcade in the Horton Plaza mall in downtown San Diego that has a Cannon Spike machine. They had a ton of other games as well, but I found that to be the highlight.

The Boomers close to me has/had a Simpsons arcade machine, but I think some of the buttons were broken. They had a whole wall of fighting games, though, including the first Marvel vs. Capcom in a deluxe cabinet. Shame one of the buttons on one side wasn't working last time I played it, which was a while ago. They used to have some pinball machines but that was a few years ago now.

Bowling alley nearby had a Biohazard Gun Survivor: Code Veronica cabinet. I didn't try it out.

[portastad]

Damn. I guess I'm hoping I'll accidentally take a wrong turn down a street one day and stumble upon a glorious arcade. None of this "Dave & Busters" crap. As I walk in a light from heaven will be shining down on a fully functional Pop'n Music cabinet... Good luck right?

What about these magical arcades I hear that Stella Wong lives near? Or the one with the free retro games section Chad has talked about? Theres got to be more of these right?

I had a dream that I was driving to the one Chad wrote about in Big Bear. Too bad my alarm went off before I got to play anything

[Moe P0w3r]

There is an ok arcade in my area at the mall. They had DDR in there, but they recently took it out so I don't go there much anymore. Oddly enough, they have Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo Arcade Game in there....too bad it was busted... :-\

[SWE3tMadness]

The only good stuff at the arcade in my town is Air Hockey and Star Wars Arcade. :/

[Jack Maverick]

I have one at a mall that's an hour away from me called "Time Out." And it sucks, since a good half of it is ticket nonsense. The rest is pretty much Time Crisis and other light gun shooters, which manage to barely redeem the place. I think there was a Soul Calibur II arcade machine there as well, I haven't been there in a month so meh.

However, there was an awesome arcade I went to when I vacationed in Arizona last year. It was a place called Gameworks in...some mall I can't recall the name of, but it was big. A lot less ticket nonsense, which is a good start, but they had more rhythm and fighting games. There was Drummania, Beatmania and Taiko Drum Master (say what you want, I love it ). I don't remember the fighters but I know they were there.

And that was only the first floor, the second floor had the old school arcade games. Like Pac-Man, Defender, that kind of thing. It also had Galaga.

GALAGA

All old arcade games are lame compared to the greatness that is Galaga. It can turn even the worst place into heaven for me, because I can play on that thing for ages. It was a grand place. I'd want to live there.

[portastad]

I have one at a mall that's an hour away from me called "Time Out." And it sucks, since a good half of it is ticket nonsense. The rest is pretty much Time Crisis and other light gun shooters, which manage to barely redeem the place. I think there was a Soul Calibur II arcade machine there as well, I haven't been there in a month so meh.

However, there was an awesome arcade I went to when I vacationed in Arizona last year. It was a place called Gameworks in...some mall I can't recall the name of, but it was big. A lot less ticket nonsense, which is a good start, but they had more rhythm and fighting games. There was Drummania, Beatmania and Taiko Drum Master (say what you want, I love it ). I don't remember the fighters but I know they were there.

And that was only the first floor, the second floor had the old school arcade games. Like Pac-Man, Defender, that kind of thing. It also had Galaga.

GALAGA

All old arcade games are lame compared to the greatness that is Galaga. It can turn even the worst place into heaven for me, because I can play on that thing for ages. It was a grand place. I'd want to live there.

Gameworks DOES get points for having a few retro cabinets. After I've spent some wads o' cash on Guitar Freaks I like to blow the rest on Frogger and Galaga. I hope they eventually get some Beatmania and Taiko Drum Master.

I wonder if anyone has beat my Frogger score there yet? Cue the Sienfeld reference.

[theredpepperofdoom]

There is an arcade near me (and by "near" I mean "10-15 minute drive") in Sunnyvale that has Pop'n Music, Puzzle Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Blazblue, Tekken 6, Guitar Freaks, Drum Mania, Ghost Squad, Street Fighter 3 Third Strike and Capcom vs SNK along with some other things. I also see the legendary Stella Wong there from time to time. It's called Golfland and I go there with my friend from time to time.

[Hector Garfria]

There is an arcade near me (and by "near" I mean "10-15 minute drive") in Sunnyvale that has Pop'n Music, Puzzle Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Blazblue, Tekken 6, Guitar Freaks, Drum Mania, Ghost Squad, Street Fighter 3 Third Strike and Capcom vs SNK along with some other things. I also see the legendary Stella Wong there from time to time. It's called Golfland and I go there with my friend from time to time.

Screw you.

No seriously, I'm jealous.

I could push SF3S's and MvC 2'S buttons better than you ever could.

EDIT: There's an arcade called Ground Kontrol in Portland Oregon, ten minute drive. The only thing I play there is 3S.

[MrSadistic]

I went to a Peter Piper's Pizza yesterday for my Niece's friend's birthday. The arcade there wasn't grand by any means, but it did have Ghost Squad, House of the Dead 4, and Time Crisis 3. Most of the games were the ones you play for stupid tickets. I also did see a Need For Speed: Underground racing cabinet which is weird because I didn't know it was released for arcades.

Around here, I just find random "classic" arcade games in traditional places like burger places, pizza places, or movie theaters.

[portastad]

There is an arcade near me (and by "near" I mean "10-15 minute drive") in Sunnyvale that has Pop'n Music, Puzzle Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Blazblue, Tekken 6, Guitar Freaks, Drum Mania, Ghost Squad, Street Fighter 3 Third Strike and Capcom vs SNK along with some other things. I also see the legendary Stella Wong there from time to time. It's called Golfland and I go there with my friend from time to time.

I mean I've heard Stella talk about it on RetoforceGO! but just to see all those great games typed out...

*pants officially crapped*

[theredpepperofdoom]

oh, and there's a pizza place downtown that has Capcom vs. SNK (the first one), Metal Slug and Samurai Showdown.

[portastad]

oh, and there's a pizza place downtown that has Capcom vs. SNK (the first one), Metal Slug and Samurai Showdown.

Ok where is Sunnyvale? California?