2 SR15

Original Article: (6.06.04)

Before SCG even launched I wrote an editorial to defend my decision
for not having a dedicated Sega arcade section. In the editorial I
wanted both to acknowledge Sega's impressive history in the arcade
history and to demonstrate that with the decline in the arcade
industry over the last decade arcade coverage would be pointless.

Now there is no denying this decline. I remember when I was a kid and
my friends and I could go to any mall and spend countless hours in an
arcade. I also remember watching those arcades slowly go out of
business with pockets full of ready-to-spend quarters. In the late
1980s and early 1990s the arcade industry was strong. Anywhere you
went you could find an arcade, or at least a small colony of arcade
machines: restaurants, movie theaters, campgrounds, you name it,
they were everywhere. But with the rise of the home console came the
fall of the arcade as kids were no longer as willing to pump money into
a machine to play a game they could own. Arcades slowly died out,
and the one's that survived the great fall are depressingly outdated
(every time I go to the movies and see NFL Blitz '99 or Tekken 2 I can't
help but shake my head).

Accordingly, if the classic arcade wanted to survive it was going to
have to innovate; it was going to have to separate itself from the home
console and offer something unique. (And raising game prices from
twenty-five cents up to two bucks was not the solution). Even I had
lost hope in the comeback of the arcade. And it wasn't due to the
efforts of industry leaders such as Sega, Namco, Capcom, or Konami
as they continually pushed the bar, creating big-time arcade cabinets
like the Lost World, Time Crisis, and Dance Dance Revolution. Games
(especially racing) became designed to be networked-multiplayer
through linked arcade cabinets. It was exactly what the industry
needed, but it just wasn't enough. The arcade industry seemed
doomed forever---or so I thought...

Now, I'm basing my perception of the state of the arcade industry on
my own personal experience (which is the only thing I can base it off
of); but this poses the problem of my limited experiences---as the
Midwest is all I have really known. So, this resurgence that I'm about
to talk about could have happened a while ago in other parts of the
country, but if it did that's just more good news.

Flash-forward to August of 2003 when I go on vacation to Cabo San
Lucas, B.C.S., Mexico. I finally pull myself away from the beach to visit
the mall and what do I discover: an enormous arcade! The arcade
(Recorcholis!) features a restaurant and bowling alley and it is the
biggest arcade I've ever been in. I grab some pesos out of my pocket
and get ready to play. But what's this? No coin slots? But how do I
play? I see a kid swipe a card through a credit-card-like slot on the
adjacent arcade cabinet. Of course! Just like the arcades I had read
about in Japan! So I go up to the arcade's main counter, put money on
a card and start swiping away. The place is packed full and I'm happy
to see that the arcade industry seems to be striving in at least some
part of North America. I think to myself, that's what's missing in the
U.S.: companies have to be willing to create "arcade-amusement
parks," large arcades full of hundreds of different games with
accompanying recreational activities such as bowling and food.

Flash-forward to April of 2004 when I go on vacation to Miami, Florida.
I finally pull myself away from the beach to visit the mall and what do I
discover: an enormous arcade! The mall is very similar to the one in
Cabo as most of it is open to the outdoors. Equally as similar is the
arcade (Gameworks), which to my pleasant surprise is two stories
(though all in all it is not as big as the one in Mexico, which had the
edge due to the bowling alley). And again, instead of paying by
quarters or dollar bills there are several card-buying options. Every
game costs a certain number of credits (usually 2-6) and you can
either pay by the credit, or even better, purchase a "time card."

My friends and I decide to purchase a time card. Our options are $20
for one hour, $25 for two hours, or $27 for three hours. Obviously we
pick the three hour card. But out of the four of us we only buy one
card, split the costs, and decide to "share" the card's unlimited
swipes. We discover that you have to wait forty-five seconds between
swipes, but we can deal with that. We take turns running all over the
arcade, swiping any game we want and passing off the card to one
another. My friends conquer House of the Dead 3. I play a Konami
shooting game where I have to physically duck and crouch to make
the onscreen player do the same. It's like Time Crisis, but I do all the
work.

The arcade is set up like an amusement park with an enormous set up
for Sega's the Lost World, complete with foliage, fog, and a life-size
velociraptor. I play Konami's Guitar Freaks (but I'm not musician),
Sega's Star Wars Pod Racing game (but I'm not Jedi), and a fighting
game by Namco against my friend in which we stand over sensors and
literally kick and punch the air to make the onscreen characters do
the same. It's a blast. I win. Then we play Sega's Bravefighter's game
and hold giant hoses to put out the onscreen fires. Again I dominate
the game (perhaps I should be a firefighter in real life.

And then...then we play Sega's Indy 500 game. The setup is
gargantuan with six mini-sized Indy cars positioned on a sixty foot
wide by thirty feet long platform. There is a fence surrounding it. The
cars face six monitors. The race begins. I take the first corner, the
back end of my car literally slides out and the inside dips down as
though I were really turning. I drive over the grass, suddenly the car is
shaking violently as it probably would in real life if I were driving on the
grass at two-hundred miles per hour. There are television screens
above each player's monitor showing their faces as they drive. Then I
bump into another onscreen car, the car I'm in shakes again. The race
ends. I win. I laugh at the other five losers as we leave the platform.

We head towards the game we've been waiting to play the whole time:
Sky Pirates. The game consists of a thirty-foot high by twenty-foot
wide screen. Four seats attached to thirty-foot steel columns face the
screen. The concept of the game: you sit in your seat (they strap you
in well, like you're on a rollercoaster) and control a hot-air balloon with
a spike attached to the bottom attempting to pop your opponent's
balloons. You control your balloon with a joystick: move left or right
and your onscreen balloon moves left of right, move forward or
backward and your seat literally shoots up or down the column as
your onscreen balloon mimics your movement. There are onscreen
powerups. I play against three preteen girls. For what seems like a
long time we fly up and down the steel columns, balloons pop and the
seats drop back down to the floor to start over. I kick their asses.

The arcade also has a restaurant, two bars (they kick all the kids out
at 10:00 PM so the arcade turns into a college hangout at night), pool
tables, and dart boards. Our three hours eventually run out. As I leave
I notice promotions posted on the door: credits cost half as much on
Sundays, and even better, you can come in anytime between 11:00 AM
and 2:00 PM Sunday through Thursday and buy a $10 entree from the
restaurant and get a free thirty minute unlimited play card. Now that's
a deal.

In sum, my experiences at those two arcades has given me hope that
the arcade industry is moving in the right direction. If arcade owners
are willing to invest the money and create theme-park-esque arcades
then people will come (from what I've seen anyway). Here's to hoping
those giant arcades continue to migrate north! Oh, and Sega by far
ruled the arcade scene at both places. I was impressed with the
innovative designs behind all of Sega's arcade games, as well as most
of the other companies; that and the prices were quite reasonable,
which is probably why both arcades were so packed.