Some buds of mine and I are thinking about an idea to open up an arcade. We’re not sure if it’s going to really happen yet but we need some opinions from the SRK community to make it the best we can. Depending on the situations we might be more in it to make an arcade. I just want some of your guys opinions on some of my questions and ideas… (All the fighting game arcades are going to be in pairs back to back so make sure you understand what we mean. 2 copies of the game means there’s going to be 4 arcades they’re going to be in pairs for versus mode.)
We want at least 4-6 main fighting games and we’ll be having probably 4 of each of that game. We’re going to do back to back arcades so we’re going to have 8 arcades of one game but each pair of arcades will be 1st and 2nd player respectively. The arcades will be back to back for more space.
-Please make sure your opinions of the games you list are the more popular games being played as I can already name some but would rather hear it from the community. Any game is welcome but just make sure its quite the popular ones.
We don’t mind having at least some other fighting games such as Guilty Gear or etc but we will probably limit the game to 2 pairs of arcades at most since they’ll not be as big as the other popular games.
-Any type of game is allowed such as Guilty Gear Isuka, Mortal Kombat, just anything you want that you wouldn’t mind only have 1 or 2 pairs of in a arcade. Fighting games only for this category as well.
Alright for this part we’ll probably say its the music games to the lines of DDR(Dance Dance Revolution) types of games.
-Please try to refrain from duplicates of one version of a DDR and such unless its a REALLY good version or something. We’ll probably only want 2 of the same game though at max not counting the same version. So in example lets just say DDR 1 and DDR 2. Other games other then DDR are welcome to be listed such as Beat Mania or etc.
Racing games aren’t as popular anymore unless your from those racing game areas but we don’t mind getting some opinions on that either. If we bring these in we’ll probably only be accepting two of the same arcades such as 2 pairs of Initial D Arcades.
Having some shooting games is a plus too since down here I know I have some friends that just love playing these games. Just name a couple and we want to limit these to at least 2 arcades each game as well.
We probably are going to bring in some Neo Geo Cabinets with 4 slots so go ahead and name a group of 4 games for the neo geo arcades and we’ll jot that down. We don’t mind having like 4 of these 4 slot machines around. We want some variety though so don’t go all out fighting games. If possible, try to mix in half fighting games and half strategy games.
Any other ideas and opinions of what you would want to see at an arcade go ahead and list 'em. If you want to add another game that doesn’t fit any of the criteria its more than welcome. We really want to hear from the community what you guys would want. We might go with the idea depending on what we hear so we want this to be successful. Thanks for everything guys. Leave them comments and we’ll jot em! :rock:
the 8 fighting games i would take would be the top 8 according to arcadia… i know thats lazy but fuck its whats making money.
some must haves imo are:
SF4
Tekken 6
any GG
Soul Calibur 4
MvC2
TvC
If you do end up opening an arcade i wish you the best of luck, if your very succesful open one in the chicago suburbs. if you open one around here thank you :).
I know, I hear it a ton before and people always tell me they go down hill and crap. Still, its our dream so no matter whats up we might still want to do it.
I’d rather just hear suggestions what you guys would want in a arcade. Just forget the “falling into doom” kind of mind set for a bit. I’m just asking what you guys always wanted in a arcade and what makes an arcade to stay a arcade. Just list ideas please, I already know how many people think an arcade will drop to the inner depths of Diablo. It’s not that I’m not aware of this its just something we’ve been wanting to do for so long and everyone down here in Minnesota really want us to throw some kind of arcade or something to play at.
a major part of the problem with arcades is the cost of the cabs. I suggest using ps3\360’s and forming a type of console arcade. That would cut the cost of operations right there heavily. You can have them on a mechanical trigger to only turn on when people insert money or however how you want to rig it up. That would increase the life span substantially and allow more profit to be made per setup.
Most games these days like ssf4, t6, blazblue, and HDR are all tournament games with accurate console ports. Why buy the arcade rig when a ps3\360 setup is just as good? another bonus about a console arcade is that you can bring your own sticks which is the #1 reason most players hate the arcade. yea, there’s no lag but god damn, sometimes the sticks are so shitty even jesus couldn’t win with it. Having players bring in sticks\controller would also be a great way to cut cost. 99% of players have their own stuff. As an owner, you wouldn’t have to pay for joysticks, switches or buttons. All you would have to provide is a TV\Console and maybe some games.
another bonus is that with a console arcade, you can draw in the FPS scene which is targeting another big consumer to draw in more business.
The major games would be out the way cost wise since console ports are 99% accurate these days. You can then spend money on other novelty cabs that you might think will get play, DDR, light gun games or perhaps older fighters like 3s. Even with the light gun games, you can still rig up a 32-40in older TV and use consoles to produce light gun games. DC\ps2 have some excellent light gun games.
sf4 cab = 8000$+ right? its rather high or something like that.
a ps3\x360 setup with a monitor that has no lag, 500$? depending on what you pay for your ps3\x360 and monitors.
Throw in other sources of profit like a soda machine, food, etc… perhaps a pool table you get the idea. If people are there to spend money, put more stuff out there for them to potentially spend. I would even sell joystick parts because someone will get a bad switch or need a new spring sooner or later.
Yeah, we were thinking about just console arcading it up too. We have a guy down here that made some cabinets for himself with a mame system. He can build cabinets and we were just thinking just riggin that up. We’ve done it a couple of times too with computers as well. Thanks for the opinions though it helps a lot.
Its all about location imo, dont put it somewhere no one would be able to find you at… have some other things other than machines… like bar area, pool table(like a dollar game), and other avenues for money, don’t put all of your focus into making money off machines.
I applaud you for wanting to start an arcade no matter what… takes balls and a little bit of stupidity(no offense I would like to see it become successful or at least see you get back what you put in) to do something like this…
Get other people to invest their money and don’t use your own. I seriously hope you have at least one business person in your group of “buddies” or are getting some outside advice. When everyone tells you it’s a bad idea well… it probably is.
