A sketchy arcade in the other mall in my town. Next to the movie theater. Was filled with skaters, punk, burnouts, smoke, and general bad behavior. I learned to play SF2 and pinball there.
They tore the whole thing down forever ago and built a school.
the7k
22
This is a picture of what used to be the Aladdin’s Castle/Time Out at the main mall in my area. Used to have rows of fighting games. I remember playing KOF’98, Third Strike, Capcom vs SNK 2 and Marvel vs Capcom 2 here. Now, it’s a damn family photography place.
We have a foodery that used to have some kick ass cabs as well, called Red Bone Alley. I remember playing Samurai Shodown 2, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Daytona USA and Battletoads vs Double Dragon here. Now, all they have is a basketball shooter and Deal or No Deal.
Had a movie theater that had incredible arcades. Darkstalkers and Killer Instinct were big here. Now, it’s been torn down and is nothing but a brown spot in a parking lot.
All our Pizza Huts used to have arcades, including Street Fighter II, Fatal Fury 3, Magical Drop 2, Ms. Pac Man and Metal Slug 2. I actually managed to beat Metal Slug 2 on location without getting hit back in the day. Now, if our Pizza Huts have anything, it’s just crane games.
All we got now is Chuck E Cheese (used to have KOFXI - beat the game with every team to see all the endings back when the only home option was the Japanese version), as well as a small arcade that rents out all of their machines. I go to this arcade to play Simpsons Pinball Party and Ms.Pac-Man/Galaga - everything else there is pretty much garbage.
There is this place which is a bowling alley/arcade and that was the first arcade I have been too. Had Xmen vs street fighter and tekken 2
Each game was only a quarter and that shit was great with all the fun everyone had back then. Great community and everyone having fun. But that was then, all these places now are getting closed/quite and filled with mini clicks of people staring at everyone lol
Tilt at Southlake Mall. They had a shit load of games. CVS2, MVC2, 3s, Tekken, VF and just a wall to wall set ups for Capcom games.
Before I became a Tilt regular I used to go to the Stop N Go down the street from my apartments to play Street Fighter 2 and Double Dragon. The PX at Fort Gillem used have SF2, Double Dragon, MK, and a NEO-GEO machine. I used to play when my parents went to the PX.
None of these locations exist anymore.
Tilt in the ghetto Chula Vista mall was the only place to get decent competition for 3rd Strike, MvC2, CvS2, and also Garou. It wasn’t great, but it was all we got. When I finally got my drivers license, first place I went to was Tilt in Chula Vista mall and what do you know, they fucking replaced 3rd Strike with SF4. :shake:
Man it sucks living in America if you want to be an arcade junkie huh? 
I had a Time Out in the mall and an Aladdin’s Castle down the street from that. Now one is an animal adoption center and one is an empty space.
This thread is depressing…
Slutty
27
It was a local bowling alley for me. They had Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat II. There was also an arcade in this little spot in the road called Union City, they had Killer Instinct and a King of Fighters cabinet. Then there was a Mexican food joint called Lone Wolf that I used to go to so I could play UMK3. I know the arcade is shut down. The others are probably still in business, however, I doubt they still have the games.
pherai
28
Either July or Aug 2010 :’(
So I guess we have no choice but to move to Japan if we want to go to gdlk arcades huh?
Not necessarily, but you definitely have to be willing to drive an hour or two.
Slutty
31
Closest place to me now “was” a Game Works in Dallas, but it closed down too. They had a nice Virtua Fighter cabinet. Man I miss that place.
Roscoe’s on the Wayne State campus in Detroit. RIP
Slutty
33
There used to be this place in Dallas called “Einstein’s” If I remember correctly they specialized in fighting games. Of course, it closed too.
milpitas golfland
we play technika instead of ddr extreme
the pizza comes from papa murphy’s
ricky doesn’t get mistaken for a woman anymore
aside from that it’s more or less the same
There were a couple stores that had a machine or two. But I think where I got my first taste of the arcade experience was at a Shakey’s Pizza. Didn’t have the biggest arcade, but it had all you needed. Couple light gun shooters, TMNT Arcade, Super Off Road and of course, Street Fighter II. It was good stuff. Last time I was there was a few years ago, and they took out the arcade in favor for more booths. They also took a lot of items off the Lunch buffet(seriously, no more lasagna?), but I’m getting off topic.
Parents used to get things in the mail for free rooms/food/slot play for those casinos by the Nevada stateline, and I remember spending so much time in the arcades there. Capcom vs. SNK, Killer Instinct, UMK3, Tekken Tag, Soul Calibur, DoA2. I remember they used to put $100 bills on the claw machine toys and I got one after about $10 of tries, haha. Plus there was a Carousel in their arcade that offered free rides. The early 2000’s had to have been one of the last great times for arcades. Back in the days when you’d pick up a home version of a fighting game and it wasn’t arcade-perfect. haha.
The main places I went to were some liquor store down the street from me, which mad some good games every now and then, a local bowling alley, an arcade called Timeout in a mall, and another called Westworld all back in the early 90’s. The Bowling alley and Westworld were the most fequented ones, and where I learned how to get good at Street Fighter. Obviously, the arcades are long gone, and the other places no longer carry arcade games.
It’s rough to come around ANY arcades in the south, at least today. I do remember this restaurant in NW Atlanta that we used to go to a lot. It was across the street from my house so after 6pm (when Toonami went off for the day) my brother and I used to go there and mash buttons on MVC2. There was also a quarter-eating Metal Slug 2 machine and, from what I remember, there was also a SF2 machine that I never learned how to do hadoukens or shorykens on.
Today, going to college in Charlotte, I have to frequent Concord Mills mall for anything like an arcade environment. There’s Tekken 5 (my favorite so that’s always a reason to go), Soul Calibur 2 (also a favorite), MVC1 and 2, and CvS Chaos. Also… All of the machines are available to buy. I’m gonna have to buy one for my house one day…
Also, being a military brat, the bowling alley on Patrick Henry Village in Heidelberg, Germany. Mom would go into the smokey slot room and magically she’d produce quarters for my brother and I to play games with. I really miss lively arcades.
arcadefly.com<==== Check it out. Figured out there was a 3rd Strike machine in Fayetteville, NC. Gonna have to make that trip someday.
Funny thing, I still rather spending change on fighting games rather than dropping $40+ for it. Unless of course I want to be good at it. (Regrets buying mvc3 and sf4 just to get rid of them for boring me out of my mind… SF4:zzz:
Challenges Arcade. North Dekalb mall. Georgia.
Good fucking arcade
It’s still around, fortunately.
I played practically every Marvel game there, also Power Stone, the X-Men arcade game, UMK3 and other various other gems.
There’s three malls in my city that each had arcades. One of those malls is closed down now, but neither of the other arcades are still there. I used to play Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat II, Tekken 2 and Virtua Fighter at these spots.
