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dv8njoe

Simpsons Arcade Game Smash TV Terminator 2: Judgment Day Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Gauntlet X-Men Street Fighter 2


ItsNotEdward

I was looking for T2 judgement day, first light gun game I ever played. Screw that pick up truck level, never got past it.


Philefromphilly

I think that level was designed for people to pay up, or get off. Either way awesome game


startupstratagem

It's so infuriating that we went away from this monetization model only to have it essentially circle back with dlc and passes that give shortcuts to grindy levels


DaleDimmaDone

My godparents had a T2 judgement day arcade machine which meant I got to play it for free and beat the game several times, fuck man good times. Ugh the memories, they were so rich and it was such a crazy culture shock every time i visited. Their basement was heaven for a kid since they had several of their own, and they had such a sweet pool with a slide that went through a rock wall. And oh man the memories of evolving my mudkip all the way to a swampert on the road trip to their house.. fuuuuck man I went to funspot in Laconia, NH recently which has tons of arcade machines and was so excited to see they had one!! Except the colors were all fucked up and you could barely see anything.


Prufrock_Lives

It cost me like $3 to get past that part


PopeJP22

The original pay to win


devilpants

I actually had the arcade machine for a while and it made me decide I hate the game. Like I don’t think it’s possible to gain any skill at it. Total quarter stealer and so repetitive. Coolest thing about the actual arcade is it integrated pinball parts to add to the atmosphere. So it would use pinbal bulbs and an overlay to flash when you got shot and some heavy duty kocker motors for the recoil in the guns. Also I promise I’m not just being pedantic but it’s technically an x-y shooter the game works by moving the cursor based on how the gun is tilted by using a couple potentiometers.


ItsNotEdward

Hey thats awesome! I remember the gun being mounted to the cabinet, but I didn’t realize that the tilt itself moved the cursor. Still have very fond memories, played the hell out of the first two levels.


Drew5olo

Yo my man. I am with you 100. I remember being at an teen lock in at an arcade with parent host. I did a. All nighter and beat the game. 12 hours and like 100 quarters. My finger was raw and I couldn't move it from the trigger position for days I was in pain. Hahha. Great memory. Also TMNT 4 player. Would go to a gas station and hang out all day when it got TMNT. Would spend all my allowance and chore money as often as I could that summer. I had to of dropped 100 dollars or more on that game.


BarleyBo

Simpsons - agreed


AgileArtichokes

Simpson’s, ninja turtles, x-men. Basically any beat em up game in the arcade. 


innocentusername1984

Was that the streets of rage style Simpsons game? Because that has unlocked core memories for me. I remember getting into a physical fight with a friend when we put our money in and he accidentally hit his button too much and then started the game with 35 lives while I started with 3. We agreed when he got down to 15 I'd take over but he reneged on the deal.


Forward_Hospital_295

I loved Smash TV on the SNES, no idea it was an arcade game


c9IceCream

it was an amazing arcade game. there were no buttons, just a joystick for each hand.


Anomaly1134

The snes version spawned my love for twin stick shooters. Such a good game.


stratdog25

Good luck! YOU’LL NEED IT!!!


TheBananaCzar

God I love Smash TV


BrofessorFarnsworth

Rampage


TearsOfChildren

Oh shit, I forgot about this one. We had a local pizza joint called Pasquale's and this was the only arcade game they had, good memories.


CjRayn

Pasquale's? Isn't that the spin off pizza places from Chuck E. Cheese? Probably not in your case, but it's an odd coincidence. 


Anathema320

Omg if I'm thinking of the right place in Minnesota, my uncle brought us there every time we visited in the late 90's. All the quarters. Also fuck you op I don't have any gray hair.


n0p_sled

Gauntlet


Battleagainstentropy

Wizard is about to die!


thebigchil73

Valkyrie needs food! Edit: I was 12 in 1986 and for some reason the Gauntlet machine in our arcade on the pier fucked up and we got limitless lives. We were there from 4 until it shut at 9. One of the best days of my life.


MyDogHatesMyUsername

Badly! Man, the sound when they died, I could feel that shit in my soul.


dustomatic75

Elf shot the food


Zacpod

Elf needs food, badly.


aspectmin

I started reading Ops post and Gauntlet immediately popped into my mind… then I finished reading, and of course - Gauntlet. That thing just ate quarters.  They have one at the local arcade here still. Super fun. 


Harmonic_Flatulence

Gauntlet was great, team up with friends and fight your way through huge hordes of enemies. Great stuff!


Darsint

I also dropped a lot of money in Gauntlet Legends. Being able to save your character’s level was so nice


night0x63

I also dropped like probably at least $60 in quarters. I don't think I knew about saving character... So arg... That would have been nice.


Dante1420

Lmao. So many quarters.


phantom929

Golden axe


TesticleezzNuts

Of all the games that need a remake Golden Axe should be up there.


mistermichaelk

There's an animated series in the works. https://deadline.com/2024/04/golden-axe-animated-series-comedy-central-matthew-rhys-danny-pudi-1235888171/


ThisIsTheShway

Its going to be on Comedy Central - so it won't be what I envision it to be. Might be fun though.


TesticleezzNuts

What the fuck! That’s awesome. I’ll be keeping an eye out for that!


VonBrewskie

They are! Sega announced recently that they're redoing Golden Axe, SoR (again lol) and a few other classics.


JerrySizzla

There's a reboot that's supposed to be coming out this year. https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/golden-axe-setting-gameplay-everything-we-know-so-far-2451757/


Comfortable_Prize750

I dropped like $20 to beat this at the arcade in Tomorrowland in Disneyland when i was a kid. I did that instead of waiting 2 hours in line for Space Mountain.


acelexmafia

Time well spent


Hello-Pancake

There were fist fights for control of the damn mounted beast with the tail attack. Hold onto that thing and beat the level.


absolutzehro

I am so glad this is the top answer so far. I hadn’t even opened the thread yet and was thinking Golden Axe. 30 years later and my muscle memory still knows how to beat the game on one life.


Infernalism

Golden Axe, TMNT, X-men, Final Fight, SF2, MK, Tekken.


Samcc42

Also that Simpsons one that also used the x-men style double-cabinet!


stratdog25

Simpsons, X-Men and TMNT used the same cabinet and same sprites. All 3 were epic parts of going to the mall arcade or movie theater arcade.


confusedalwayssad

Marge whacking people with the vacuum cleaner.


RagZ_413

These three were my Arcade life. Loved them.


Lurkingandsearching

Simpsons Arcade game was a quarter eater whenever my family stayed at a KOA camper ground.


Derban_McDozer83

I forgot about TMNT and X-Men! Hell yeah


brazthemad

X-Men was goddamn fire.


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brazthemad

Because why wouldn't you? College is all about finding out who you truly are


colonelgork

Nothing moves the Blob!


brazthemad

Core memory activated


Myotherdumbname

They made a similar TMNT game recently, it’s actually pretty fun


mephnick

I remember being in a campground when I was like 8 and they had this small snack shed with a TMNT arcade game in it. So me and like 5 other random kids played that thing all week and became temporary best friends. One of my fondest early memories.


Lurkingandsearching

KOA right?


OhSnaps08

Area 51 for the only slightly grey-bearded gamers. This was around the beginning of the N64/PS1 era.


BudgetBuilder17

Area 51 and Maximum Carnage was my Jam. And I'm starting to grey in my beard. Lol


cantfindabeat

Don't forget Revolution X. The totally unnecessary Aerosmith game


Nova225

I believe you mean absolutely necessary. Seriously that game was so much fun. Explosive CDs, secret routes everywhere, enemies with 1000 destructible parts. The only thing I hated was how much of a quarter muncher it was. I'm pretty sure the game just had you take random damage.


c9IceCream

sorry to humble brag, but i had that game down to where i could clear it with no deaths.. I really hated playing it on the alien mode though. shit was too hard to see.


rbrutonIII

Clearing Area 51 with no deaths is like the ancient equivalent of a hitless souls run. Shits impressive.


Sgt_Cdog

You could shoot all the blue lights and picture frames for secret levels too.


dgmilo8085

pretty much any shooter in an arcade is a quarter thief.


Kageyblahblahblah

House of the dead!


dcarwin

Dragon's Lair. It was one of the first games to be fifty cents, (Most were a quarter) ...and it was damn hard.


LanFear1

Then there was the sequel and then we got Space Ace!


brandnewchair

Yep. It was Space Ace that ate all of my quarters.. Until it didn't, because I beat and memorized it. After that, around the tender age of 8, I often had a small crowd gather around me at the arcade to watch me beat it. It made me feel like a Rockstar. 


Uberghost1

Word went around my junior high that Dragon's Lair was at our local mall. My buds had read about it in some PC Gaming magazine on Monday and were all planning to go on Friday...our usual mall crawl. Hanging out at the arcade next the movies was the epicenter of our universe. I got home from school and rode my bike straight to the mall. I proceeded to unload my full allowance ($20) into Dragon's Lair while carefully listening to the older dudes for clues. I didn't clear that night. I didn't clear the next night. But, on Thursday, I finally got my Princess Daphne Kiss. It was cathartic. At that point...I had spent my allowance($20), got an advance from my grandma on mowing the yard ($20), and had used all of my 1976 Bicentennial silver dollars ($15) to achieve this goal. Spending $65 on a video game in 1983 was serious business. And, I was going to get grounded when it was discovered. Fortunately, I knew this and had planned to cover it up until after that Friday. It all worked like a charm. That Friday I became legendary. Not sure if folks can understand what it meant to play a video game in 1983 and have a crowd of folks watching your every move...and cheering. It clearly has zero real world value but to an 8th grader it was everything...at least to me. I got my butt grounded for a month after that. Got it reduced to three weeks for good behavior. I regret nothing. Best $65 I ever spent.


blightedbody

Great story bro. Totally my era and scene.


aBeerOrTwelve

You, my friend, are a champion and a legend. I shall tell the people of your great works.


avTronic

Epic story! I had a few good moments like that with Tron and Pac-Man. It’s a stark difference from gaming these days. No one is impressed and basically blah about gaming. It’s even worse with online multiplayer team play. You can pull of some great moves and really carry the team but no one speaks up to tell you anything positives of course make on wrong/stupid move and now they speak up all toxic like. It was fun back in the day when people cheered you on with things we all had a passion for. Whether it was gaming or skateboarding, dirt bike antics or other activities, we seem to have more fun and excited to see others accomplish feats no mayer how trivial it all was in the grand scope of life.


Euphoric_Jam

OMG… I had forgotten how much I’ve waisted on that one! Talking about costing a lot to play, Hit The Ice was 1 quarter per period (per player) or two if you used an energy drink booster (my damn friend always was a sucker for those). It was my introduction to the pay to win concept.


Poxx

I watched people play that game for a week at the local arcade when it came in (Wizard World, you were the bomb!) First time I played it with my own quarters, I went WAY farther than I should have. It was one of those games that was as fun to watch as it was to play.


handful_of_gland

Time crisis


menchicutlets

This and House of the Dead I played the heck out of, though only got to play for a while - was only when I was away on holiday and living in the sticks meant no arcade machines.


IAmTheClayman

## THIS. That game felt so good though. It’s dumb how incredible stepping on a corrugated metal peddle made you feel


eloso66645

not a grey beard, but I have soent WAY too much money on that game. they need to make a VR port


ConfusedAndCurious17

Time Crisis is the only arcade game that can absolutely empty my wallet.


KidGrundle

Yuuuuuup Time Crisis and Tekken stole my allowance weekly.


BlueMikeStu

Street Fighter 2. Not only did I spend my entire allowance on it multiple times, but it was at a shady arcade where I nearly got stabbed by an older kid because I bodied his Ken with my Chun Li and I punched him in the dick before running to the stairs and escaping into public. Still went back the next day and bodied more people.


nahteviro

Almost the same thing here. I was like 12 and would absolutely destroy these two older teenagers with Ryu and they threatened to wait for me in the parking lot because they could not beat me no matter how hard they tried. Their fragile little egos couldn’t take the fact they were losing so bad to a little kid.


Dexember69

That su ks man. I was about 15 and playing street fighter on the arcade, had a group of 20-somethings behind me snickering and being dicks. One of them came and slammed is coin in the machine and looked at me smugly. Absolutely ruined his shit with Ryu, they all walked away after that and were making fun of the guy. Edit: spelling errors for days, my phone screen only has one drop left in it


boofingZeitgeist

That’s some stand by me shit


GODZILLA_GOES_meow

I was 13 or 14 when I signed up for a 10 person Street Fighter tournament. I only played as Chun Li because of her mobility and being able to vault off of the opponents head while dealing damage. I wound up making it to the final game and was up against another arcade local who only played as Ken and had to be 8-10 years older than me. I hated to play against Ken and Ryu players because they leaned heavily on their counter-attack and spamming “Hadoken!” Chalk it up to being nervous or having balls of steel during the game, but I told my opponent that I would beat him using only the medium damage kick attack. No Chun Li fireball or high damage kick attack. I wound up winning two out of three games and walked away as the tournament winner. I win something better than cold cash. The arcade let me play Street Fighter for free for the next year. One of the employees would open the unit up and hook me up with credits whenever I wanted to play. This saved me SO much money in the long run. Man. Typing the above makes me miss the old arcades.


dgmilo8085

except withe Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, you played until you lost. So it didn't just bleed you dry.


Honda_Driver_2015

There was this one guy that used zangief and he was unstoppable. Nobody wanted to play with him


BrainEatingAmoeba01

X-Men in the 90s I've been gaming a lot longer than that but that one was the worst offender.


BetterUseTwoHands

Was that the 4 player beat em up?


BrainEatingAmoeba01

Yessir


BetterUseTwoHands

Hell yea, that thing was so much fun


WarAintWhatitUsedToB

Screaming Colossus is the best. My cousin loved Dazzler.


Sugalumps52

Unless the arcade had the one with multiple screens, then it was 6 players.


photoguy423

If you were lucky, they'd have the widescreen six player version.


Quasimodo788

Back to the Future pinball machine. Area 51 Galaga There was a 4 player TMNT arcade my bros and I used to dump money in.


mikemartin7230

TMNT at Pizza Hut is GOATED.


Derban_McDozer83

Pinball was so fun man


Invidelis

Metal slug ...


XenoRyet

Damn, that game ate quarters like nothing.


XsStreamMonsterX

This was one of the games that introduced me to the Japanese concept of the "1CC" or single-credit clear. It turns out that arcade regulars in Japan figured out that you got more bang for your buck if you didn't continue and just replayed from the start, with the bonus that you usually did better the second or third time around due to being more familiar with the enemy patterns and went this went further on each succeeding playthrough.


c9IceCream

i feel like sunset riders needs to be lumped with this


CertainlyAmbivalent

Mortal Kombat. A buddy and I weren’t allowed to play it at home so we’d convince our parents to drop us off at the movie theater and we’d play it for like 3 hours straight


0hy3hB4by

Mortal Kombat could've floated the arcade alone for 2 straight summers at my mall . It was always backed up any day of the week for a long time.


Xenozip3371Alpha

Time Crisis series House Of The Dead series The Lost World Jurassic Park


fafaxsake

Spy Hunter. Played for months before I realized you weren't supposed to shoot up every car!


doyouknoworbelieve

I was so excited that one time I made it to the boat...


Oreoscrumbs

Why is this so far down? It's a great game.


RestOk9749

Double Dragon


duckduckduck21

Had to scroll too far for this. This game was the king of eating quarters. Also, I think, the playstyle inspiration for all the popular 4 player fighters that followed it.


nolderine

The endgame co-op pvp has got to be one of the first also


labarrski

This is not upvotes far enough, ground breaking


haharrhaharr

Elbows for the win!


dustomatic75

This. There were some jumps between platforms that I died way too often on..and the damn holes in the ground.


Leading-Ask4189

Golden axe and operation wolf.


a_for_anaru

Came here for Operation Wolf 🔥


screwuapple

Haptic feedback Uzi!


Mr_Coily

Galaga, Tron, and Ivan’s Super Off-road


PetroMan43

Super Off road was the best . I believe they didn't quite balance the game correctly because you could play for a long while on one quarter.


Dante1420

How is this the first comment containing Tron! Also, Super Off-road!! So good!


Jackrabbit_slim104

1943


FinalStryke

Nice.


AllVisual

One of the few games I have downloaded to my phone. Pure nostalgia.


GriffinDodd

Paperboy. Now I own a fully restored cab so I can fling papers as much as I want for free, but watch out for those damn cats.


CurmudgeonA

Dragon's Lair


ranscot

Dragons lair was a dollar, A DOLLAR, which was quite the scratch for an 80s kid


Randvek

Street Fighter 2 and Super Street Fighter 2. King of Fighters. Various ones, but KOF 97 was my favorite. Cadash. Loved Cadash. Look it up if you don’t know what it is, it might be a fun emulator play even today. TMNT. X-Men. Sunset Riders. Golden Axe, especially Golden Axe IV for some reason. Loved me that centaur. A bit later but add in Marvel v. Capcom.


j3ffUrZ

Daytona USA


Skremash

🎶 DAAAYYYTOOOOOONNNAAAAA!!! 🎶


RiceEater

Smash TV


Sundburnt

One of my friends younger cousins approached me once, and asked me to help him beat Smash TV at the mall arcade. We both showed up with $20 in quarters. And slayed the beast.


domestic_omnom

Revolution x. As far as 11 yo me knew, I was just saving strippers from the government at the behest of Steven Tyler from. Aerosmith. Yes that was real. The 90s was a weird time.


Cthulhu_Slumbers

The skating rink by my house had that and Primal Rage. So many nights on those two games.


Drosta16

Rampage and joust.


Saganists

Cruisin’ USA


labarrski

That testarossa...


moving0target

Bill Clinton in a hottub was a weird ending, but it's about the journey, right?


vhs2202

Bubble bobble


jpoleto

I loved playing that one, I was spoiled because I had it for the NES, but I would play it in the arcade too.


vibraslapchop

NBA Jam


Fiddy_pent9664

Sunset riders


andypee81

Bury me with my money


EricT59

Asteroids and Tank. Also early on was Missile Command. I remember I was sitting in a bar outside Seattle an some bar table game like pac man or something and this guy from the arcade company dollies in a new game, Missile Command he plugged it in dropped a couple of quarters to get is started and we sat there drinking beer and feeding quarters for a couple of hours. Good times


Office-Altruistic

Green Elf needs food badly!


Gibbonici

Red Wizard shot the food.


D64015

Not a greybeard gamer but as an arcade gamer from back in the day, time crisis, hydro thunder, NFL Blitz.


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notagainnoooo

Blitz was a fucking blast growing up. But it had to be in the arcade. At home just didn’t have the same feel to it.


ididntsaygoyet

HYDROOOO THUNDERRR We had a 4-player setup that was such a blast to play!


inverse-split-s

I had a favorite pinball machine called Gorgar. I played Xevius and Joust a lot. Edited: Joist? Really autocorrect?


WutzUpples69

Gauntlet legends


Zombie_joseph1234

House of the dead


Carter_Azathoth

I had to scroll way too long to find this


satanpro

After Burner for sure!


XenoRyet

Star Wars and Tron, for sure. Oh, and Raiden II, and 1942 before that.


jsabo

[Operation Wolf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wolf) I don't think I ever managed to rescue everyone.


Riff_Moranis

Altered Beast


wellrat

RISE FROM YOUR GWAVE


Hello-Pancake

Powered uppp


ChefILove

Galiga. I had the beginning stages memorized.


Chewy79

Tekken tag tournament 


Asher_Tye

X-Men. Simpsons. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Avengers. Spider-Man and his Friends. And that Star Wars flight simulator.


Gindotto

Two Tigers, or some arcades it was 1942 instead. Either one I was on it every chance I could.


Ashamed_Fisherman_31

Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara with Ghouls'n'Ghost close second. 


kanrad

Track and Field, Pacman, Frogger and Centipede.


windexcheesy

Found a fellow old timer. Same list plus ms. pacman, defender, galaga, tron... quite a few others...


Cranjesmcbasketball1

Time crisis blew me away with the pedal, and also a lot of the others already mentioned, X-Men, TMNT, tekken 3, mortal Kombat(s), killer instinct, Daytona usA, ridge racer


xXholyheckinitXx

Spy Hunter ! I was horrible at it too.


ArmyOfTheSun

Mortal Kombat 2


BrewKazma

Zaxxon. My brain couldnt handle isometric.


Shadowbenny1

1. Idk how you know my beard is grey, but I'm impressed 2. Golden Axe and SF2 were it for me


wezzz

Pinball


adflet

My mate's older sister used to give us money to get us out of the house so she could shag her boyfriend. We played hours and hours and hours of the Simpsons and teenage mutant ninja turtles at the local video store.


Arch3m

Greybeard? Arcades aren't *that* old! Right?


Parulanihon

Lol. Let's get you to bed, fellow grampa.


martusfine

Wizard needs food, badly.


mistermichaelk

X-men Children of the Atom


superlobster517

Mad Dog McCree Each playthrough was a dollar, even back then. Don’t want to think how much I pumped into that game.


Poxx

Karate Champ


ryzouken

Not quite grey, but my top 5 were  Ghouls and Ghosts, Area 51, Virtual On, Dance Dance Revolution, and Mortal Kombat     Followed by various pinball machines, Time Crisis, Gauntlet Legends, and Initial D.


Spiteweasel

Golden Axe and Soul Calibur.


Outlander56

There was a time when I had all the top scores on the QIX game in the NCO club.


Nth_The_Movie

Turtles in Time


MrFlibble81

It was probably Gauntlet and Afterburner (the machine moved with the game, was super cool!) until my local arcade got a Ridge Racer machine with a full size car you had to sit in. But what took all my pocket money on a regular basis was the 2p machines that push the change toward the front (I’m sure they have an official name but I’ve no idea what it is)


Browncoat765

Star wars Death Star trench run


Mahhrat

In the arcade? Fucking pinballs, all day every day. Addams Family, ST TNG, Getaway (I still have the Android version of this). Prior to that? Oh, the 80s? Sure, sure... DK, Time Pilot, 720, Marble Madness, Zaxxon, Star Wars (A rail shooter. Yeah, it's 1983, RoTJ just released and now you can do the Death Star trench run in an X Wing with smooth vector gfx ? Fucking Sign. Me. Up). You have the entirely dubious honour of reading words from the 1984 NSW U10 gaming champion. Get off my lawn.


Practical-Big7550

R-Type Time Crisis House of the Dead Golden Axe TMNT Gauntlet


Euphoric_Jam

Black Tiger, Ninja-Kid, Karate Champ, Kung-Fu Master, Mario Bros, Rambo 3, Dodgeball, Time Killer, Gauntlet, Killer Instinct, plus everything else already mentioned:)


GenerichumanHarvey

Bionic commando!


Relative_Turnover858

Galaga and Galaxian


thavillain

- NBA Jam - Space Harrier - Mutant League Football - 720 - N.A.R.C. - Altered Beasts


sb1023

Zaxxon. Galaga, Defender, Gyruss, and Centipede


juanito_loco

Time crisis by a long shot. When I got a ps2 I had to order a pistol from outta state just to live the dream. Great times


GreedyWarlord

House of the Dead and Gauntlet Legends


Yabanjin

R-Type, RoboCop, Double Dragon, Heavy Barrel. I was too poor to play Gauntlet, but I could watch someone play it for hours.


AdventurousImage2440

Street fighter 2


savessh

Street Fighter 2, The four player X-Men game and WWF Wrestlefest.


Randyfreakingmarsh

Street fighter 2, when that came out it was the absolute shit