Exactly when did arcades die in the USA?

[BillyHW]

There's a lot to be said for the idea that the gaming public lost interest in genres that lended themselves to coin-op play. RPGs, FPS, and RTS games dominated after the year 2000, and none of them really translate well into an arcade cabinet. Meanwhile, shooters declined in popularity and one-on-one fighters went through some real growing pains as 3D hit. As much as we talk about the hardware "catching up", I think the public wasn't as interested in playing those games anymore.

 

It stands to reason that since mobile gaming has been the go-to place for bite-sized gaming sessions, arcade games have started to resemble giant cell phone games. I mean, the concept behind both is very similar.

 

Very good point, "new" arcade games these days just seem like phone games on a very big screen.

[Tanooki]

That and sit down light gun games too. I was at a kids arcade earlier this year for a b'day party and they had some jurassic park wannabe thing going on where you had two light gun shotguns while you motored around in a jeep blasting at dinos and stuff which was actually pretty decent. But aside from that, yeah phone games, even those with modes to act like something classic still, yet they spit up tickets.

[Keatah]

I think ticket spitters are a natural. The arcade has to offer something unique that can't be had at home or on mobile. And that is the experience of collecting tickets and exchanging them for prizes.

[BillyHW]

You're out of order! The question is, "when EXACTLY!"

 

 

I can tell you the *exact* moment, down to the second, when arcades died. It was the day my local mall arcade got Super Street Fighter II. I walked up to it very excitedly, saw how slow it was moving (it wasn't Turbo), heard the new voices on "hadoken", saw the strange new graphics, and said to myself, "Oh what have they done."

 

I had just turned 15, and I could feel my entire childhood crashing down around me. Life would never be the same. It was really a coming of age moment. (Thanks Capcom!)

 

I would soon discover girls. Little did I know that they could rip your heart out of your chest and take a shit all over it before throwing it in the trash. I guess I should thank Capcom for preparing me for that day. (Thanks Capcom!)

 

The look on Kevin's face here was the expression I had at the arcade that day. And on another day a few years later.

 

 

Mic drop.

[NE146]

 

It was the day my local mall arcade got Super Street Fighter II.

 

I had just turned 15,

 

Wow.. what are you doing here in this place of oldies.

[Flojomojo]

I missed the arcade debut of SF2 -- I was in college and not paying much attention to that stuff. But afterwards, when every game magazine was going on and on about the SNES version, I chanced $70 and it soon became a part of every game party I hosted. I resisted it too, though.

[Tanooki]

I lucked into SF2 and MK1 debuting both in the same arcade I happened into at a daytime in town summer camp when I was a kid. I was all over that, took quite a bit to learn it, but what really nailed it was the SNES release of both, especially SF2 which was the better game by far (gore aside.) I played there, then practiced at home using max (7) level and I could do that on all but -1 for Zangief and Dhalsim. I'd take that back in there, and get people off the machine fairly quick after a little time. Same one also got me down to a 1 quarter game (or 2) of Double Dragon, that ruthless Pit Fighter and also Altered Beast. Good times.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

They were mostly dead before it, but I'd say the final nail in the coffin for stand-alone arcades was the rise of online gaming. Tekken looked and played as good on the Playstation as the arcade, but you still had to go out and put your quarter in a machine if you wanted to test yourself against anyone besides a couple of your buddies. Once gamers could do that from home, the few real arcades that managed to survive that long finally died and all that was left were the Chuck E. Cheeses and the Dave and Busters of the world. As much as I love going to my local barcade, it has a lot more in common with Chuck and Buster than arcades from the classic era.

[The Usotsuki]

Wow.. what are you doing here in this place of oldies.

 

For the record, I was 13 when SSF2 came out.

[+GoldLeader]

Wow!

 

Not a lot I could say here that hasn't been already said better...

 

I agree with everyone who said the PS1 and Dreamcast eras...Somewhere in there lies the death of arcades. Starting with Playstation (look at the NAMCO Museum games, for example), they really were able to bring the arcade home, a dream we'd been chasing since Atari and Coleco. And after they flat lined, they were reborn like a Phoenix in the ashes, as Barcades.

 

For the record I see arcades as having 3 timeframes...(These are my own view of the world, not talking History).

 

1980-83: This was the Heyday of classic arcades! They ruled and they were everywhere! There was an arcade tent with every traveling carnival, fair, or circus too...And Every Mini Mart had a game in back and every restaurant had one or two machines in front...You want to play Mr. Do!, Pac-Man, or Space Firebird while you wait for your pancakes? No problem!

 

The drawback to these times came when you realized arcades kept getting rid of old games to make way for new ones....First Rip Off's gone, then no more Star Castle, Now Astro Blaster has disappeared! Pretty soon you could barely find a working Asteroids game!

 

1983-88: Still had a great arcade presence....I thought it was cool to see some NES home versions of many games...We went to arcades to see new games and gave up being hurt when they replaced old games with new ones, and myself and certain friends began collecting arcade machines...

 

After '88: You had the rise of fighting games which really helped for a while and then came the idea that arcades in malls needed to put in skee ball and crane games, (and later, giant cell phone looking games) and turn up fluorescent lighting that hurt the eyes of us poor old video game vampires looking for darkness...At this point arcades were getting their interior decorating tips from Insane Asylums and remodeled Taco Bells (You know the ones...Where they took out the plants, earth tones and all atmosphere...and made everything hospital colors)...I'd say the "brightness" caused Dark Times...

[Schizophretard]

You're out of order! The question is, "when EXACTLY!"

 

 

This topic made me think of that huge arcade from Terminator 2. That movie took place in 1995. So, the PlayStation would have been out and yet John Conner chose to go to a massive arcade. I think that disproves your theory. Anyway, the exact answer to your question is August 29, 1997: Judgement Day.

[Keatah]

It's not like when the PS came out, instantly on release day, that people stopped going to the arcades. It was more likely a gradual dropoff.

[Q*bertkid]

The last time I remember seeing a long line to play a game was in 1988, Double Dragon. But I went to Dave and Busters not long ago and played a Star Wars Battle Pod game and it was pretty sweet!!!!!

 

http://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=hlZa7mpT&id=1EECA480A05BAA9185D8C666811AE6D97695F405&q=star+wars+falcon+game+dave+busters&simid=608037250212169567&selectedIndex=15&ajaxhist=0

[HoshiChiri]

 

Wow.. what are you doing here in this place of oldies.

 

 

 

For the record, I was 13 when SSF2 came out.

 

HA! I was 8! I win!

 

I have a very distinct memory of watching someone beat the game with Guile at my local bowling alley- I was awestruck at the idea that arcade games had ENDINGS.

 

 

After '88: You had the rise of fighting games which really helped for a while and then came the idea that arcades in malls needed to put in skee ball and crane games, (and later, giant cell phone looking games) and turn up fluorescent lighting that hurt the eyes of us poor old video game vampires looking for darkness...At this point arcades were getting their interior decorating tips from Insane Asylums and remodeled Taco Bells (You know the ones...Where they took out the plants, earth tones and all atmosphere...and made everything hospital colors)...I'd say the "brightness" caused Dark Times...

 

This is mildly funny to me, because the Aladdin's castle I grew up with had two very dinstinct halves. The front half was bright lights, ticket machines, and a handful of games... then there was a doorway in the back to a dark, crowded room with the 'real games' in it. So I guess, in a weird way, I had both?

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I was thinking about this and I realized the two "arcades" I spent the most time in in the 90's were both pool halls with large video game/pinball areas. The larger of the two had more video games than any of the mall arcades that were still around at the time (and even most of the ones that had been around in the heyday of the early 80's) and they were both still around after those mall arcades shut down (One is still open and their website says they have video games. The other closed after the guy running the place killed his wife and son but there are rumors that all of the games, including a Death Race, are still locked up in the building), but I'm wondering if they count as arcades? I think of an arcade in the classic sense as a place where video games are the primary reason to go. You may have been able to get snacks or soda at an arcade, but people went there specifically to play video games. Chuck E. Cheese isn't an arcade, it's a shitty pizza place that has video games so families will go there instead of Pizza Hut. Dave & Buster's isn't an arcade, it's a shitty restaurant that has video games so people will go there instead of TGIFridays. Even modern barcades are really just shitty bars with video games so people will drink there instead of another bar.

 

You can say that arcades died when fighting games took over, but the arcades themselves didn't change, the video games did.

Edited April 8, 2017 by KaeruYojimbo

[+GoldLeader]

I was thinking about this and I realized the two "arcades" I spent the most time in in the 90's were both pool halls with large video game/pinball areas. The larger of the two had more video games than any of the mall arcades that were still around at the time (and even most of the ones that had been around in the heyday of the early 80's) and they were both still around after those mall arcades shut down (One is still open and their website says they have video games. The other closed after the guy running the place killed his wife and son but there are rumors that all of the games, including a Death Race, are still locked up in the building), but I'm wondering if they count as arcades? I think of an arcade in the classic sense as a place where video games are the primary reason to go. You may have been able to get snacks or soda at an arcade, but people went there specifically to play video games. Chuck E. Cheese isn't an arcade, it's a shitty pizza place that has video games so families will go there instead of Pizza Hut. Dave & Buster's isn't an arcade, it's a shitty restaurant that has video games so people will go there instead of TGIFridays. Even modern barcades are really just shitty bars with video games so people will drink there instead of another bar.

 

You can say that arcades died when fighting games took over, but the arcades themselves didn't change, the video games did.

 

I remember lots of arcades doing really well after fighting games took over...Even as many of our darkened and seedy '80s arcades had disappeared...One of my friends bought a Mortal Kombat II machine and put it in a pool hall/arcade, where he'd put post it notes on the side of the machine claiming it was possible to find Pat Morita from Karate Kid as a hidden character...LOL

 

To me it just felt like instead of classic video games (or genres), There were way more Mortal Kombat Machines and Street Fighter IIs of every stripe,...More Neo Geo cabs and stuff like Primal Rage...And later the 3D fighting games, which around here came with remodels to make arcades look more "family friendly", which really sucked...

 

Then again (at the opposite end of the spectrum) in the 80's there was one arcade here called "Video Village"; A darkened place with loud heavy metal playing, where the kids would smoke pot in the back and there were often "lookouts" posted watching the doors that would either let kids know if their parents pulled up, or run out to the car and "graciously" offer to go in and get their kid so they could keep the car running...

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I guess where I was growing up I didn't see much of the remodeling. The mall arcades were always a little brighter and a little more family friendly, even in the early days. Well, one of them was kind of dark and sketchy, but it was in kind of a dark and sketchy little mall.

 

A couple of other things to keep in mind. In 1982, classic games weren't classic. They were still new. And some arcades would have multiples of really popular games like Pac-Man or have rows of nothing but space shooters.

[BillyHW]

It's not like when the PS came out, instantly on release day, that people stopped going to the arcades. It was more likely a gradual dropoff.

 

It was basically a long slow decline from the release of the PS1 to the release of the PS2.

[+Cafeman]

2 times I've experienced when arcades were so popular and pumpin', that it was a wonderful surprise just to walk into an arcade. The first was 82-84, the second for me was like 91-94.

 

Arcades started to die around me in 1984, and from approximately 85-90 it arcades seemed to disappear / shrink and it was slim pickins. I used to get my gaming fix at 7-11 or CoGo's, which would have a wrestling game or Double Dragon in it.

 

Then I was pleasantly surprised when SF ('91) and MK ('92) came out, as well as SEGA's Virtua Racing ('92) , Virtua Fighter ('93) and Daytona USA ('93). . Arcades at the mall were packed one again and new games were appearing all the time. Then I do remember it all slowly fading , and I think it was definitely during the Saturn/PS1 years. I had to hunt around because the mall arcade would not buy new SEGA games - I had to go to the movie theater, or to a short-lived pizza/lazertag place to play Model 3 games like VF3 and Super GT. I only played Crazy Taxi 1 time at the arcade, before it became available on the Dreamcast in 2000 - because only 1 place carried it.

 

Here's some Statistics of sales I found.

 

[NE146]

A couple of other things to keep in mind. In 1982, classic games weren't classic. They were still new.

lol so true.. I have never felt more like "THIS IS THE FUTURE" more than walking into an arcade filled wall to wall with Space Invaders cabinets and cocktails.. and Gary Numan "Cars" blasting over the sound system

[thadsilverfox]

Skeeball Rules!!!

[mbd30]

lol so true.. I have never felt more like "THIS IS THE FUTURE" more than walking into an arcade filled wall to wall with Space Invaders cabinets and cocktails.. and Gary Numan "Cars" blasting over the sound system

 

Combine that all that with lots of neon and you have the most 80s thing ever.

 

[atarilovesyou]

Since I'm in Canada, I can't comment on this thread.

 

OR CAN I...sure, I'll give it a shot.

 

Like many opinion based questions, one must look at it like this: our own recollection of events doesn't make anything more or less 'true', it's just our perception of an event. When it's part of a larger experience, such as the rise and fall of arcades, one has to look at things somewhat objectively...there are so many things in the retro gaming world that require this kind of mindset. I'll try not to digress.

 

After reading this thread (and it does come up somewhat frequently), I always used to think the downfall of arcades happened shortly after the brief explosion of fighting games post-Street Fighter 2. After that game, there just wasn't as much innovation in terms of different types of games to be played in the arcade. Much of the fun was in in expensive, dollar games (or whatever your local arcade token system was...anything more than a mere quarter). And that took a lot of the fun out of it, as you couldn't get a lot of play out of 5 bucks anymore.

 

That said, unless you lived in a major metropolitan city that had MASSIVE arcades that truly spoke to the culture of the time, you didn't really see the impact in all its glory: the rise, nor the demise. I'm included in this, by the way. Most of my gaming memories were not of arcades (although we had a few) but of arcade cabinets scattered about the city at corner stores, pizzerias, anywhere really. So when THOSE games went away, that was when I felt that arcade games (not arcades, as such) had seen their moment pass.

 

So many different eras existed of games, and for a lot of us were simply too young to go to a 'real' arcade back in the early 80s. I read all about them at the time, though, through the few books that existed. They weren't kid friendly in my town, far from it. That my Mom ever let me set foot in the only 'real' arcade we had back then (and this was 85, far past the date that many here would say the arcades stopped being a force) is a small miracle: but I loved it. People talk about the dark, smoke-filled (cigarette or other substance) rooms with the neon signs and screens glowing...that was this place to a T. Fucking Defender ate TWO of only eight quarters I was allowed to spend that day...because it was a 50 cent game, and I thought you had to put a coin in each slot (you had to drop two in the same slot to get one credit...this was a typical ploy in those days to get more quarters. The manager dude felt sorry for me, though...lol, which lead to a typical 30 second game of Defender that no small child other than myself was eager to do at the time. 85, yes, but to play the REAL Defender?...in a REAL arcade? Priceless memory, however short!).

 

This is turning into a nostalgia fest, just like I like it But my point is this: the question is really tough to answer, mostly because very few of us are 'qualified' as such to answer: those who lived in cities which had the massive arcades that would have blown your mind! But for me, it's when the games stopped coming in fast and furious...when we got used to the 'new game' being another SF2 clone. That sucked. And the arcades became nostalgia driven, frequented by those of us who liked the old games they still had. Fast forward a few more years to a place called...shit, I can't remember the name! But it was full of expensive 'ride' type games...eight man driver games, that Star Wars Trilogy game....you swiped a loaded plastic card with your credit total to play. So the arcade didn't really 'die'...but the games changed.

 

Anyways, I'm not making much sense anymore. I miss those old arcades though, and would give my left nut to be close enough to a place like Funspot so I could go often enough for me to become sick of the place But I'd still give even more (perhaps BOTH nuts?) to find a place like the arcade pictured above, photoshopped though it may be, and spend a whole day dropping quarters into those glorious machines.

[Zonie]

 

Lol at all the fighting game hate in the thread. I thought I was the only one who didn't like them

 

I think there's a cyclical nature to arcades. Even before the video game golden age, there were pinball arcades, and penny arcades before that. They are popular for awhile, mostly fade, then comeback with a new form of entertainment-- repeat.

I hate fighting games too. Yeah, that's probably when I quit going too...

[BillyHW]

Most of my gaming memories were not of arcades (although we had a few) but of arcade cabinets scattered about the city at corner stores, pizzerias, anywhere really. So when THOSE games went away, that was when I felt that arcade games (not arcades, as such) had seen their moment pass.

 

 

 

Yeah, I miss the one-off games you used to find here and there. I used to know all of the ones you could find within a bike-ride's distance.

 

The local bowling alley had Street Fighter II. The local Pizza Pizza had Mortal Kombat. The Zellers had Rampage. The 7-11 had GnG. It was a better world back then.