I think the experience provided by today's consoles, combined with the expense of purchasing and maintaining game cabinets pretty much means we will never see arcades make a comeback here. Which is really sad, but understandable. In memory of video arcades here are a few things I will miss the most.
Spending an hour playing games instead of shopping for clothes.
Bugging the concession monkey for quarters.
That unique arcade smell. Vomit mixed with popcorn.
Beating Tekken with 1 quarter.
Finding 3 strangers to play Turtles in Time with.
Spending all day cheating at skee ball to get enough tickets for a lava lamp.
The beautiful cacophony of 20 cabinets all blaring at once.
Climbing into the cockpit of an Afterburner cabinet.
Spending most of my birthday money to beat Terminator 2.
Enlisting 2 friends to cheat at Whack-a-mole.
Playing House of the Dead with 2 guns.
Lining up to play Mortal Kombat when it was released.
That one cabinet that the arcade would only have for a week. You'd play it once and it was so incredible. You'd tell your friends tales of it, ranting like a mad explorer while they shook their heads in disbelief.
Watching my brother beat the Simpsons on one quarter.
Aliens vs Predator.
When the planets aligned and you could find 5 other people to play X-Men.
Killing Death Adder.
Finding a cabinet that already had a coin in it.
Beating an older kid at Street Fighter.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go weep for the future.
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