Back in the 80s...

[vib_ribbon]

Since I'm not able to get to an arcade to take some photos at the moment, nor am I able to travel back in time to visit the arcade where I spent my childhood, the best I could do is to draw what it looked like... in MS Paint.

So this is how I remember it, and a snap shot of the games in the late 80s.

I used to come here on Saturday mornings with a pound of spending money and be able to stay there for hours. Sometimes I'd be there with a school friend who was a great shoot 'em up player, could complete Nemesis with 1 credit (something which I havent managed to do). I was more the beat 'em up guy, Shinobi with 1 life etc.

I loved this arcade even though there were 2 others within close proximity. It was eventually knocked down to make way for a flyover that runs parallel to the train station. I remember when the arcade owner told me the news, it was a very sad day indeed! :ohmy:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2266/2086835251_f3b8b05c36_o.jpg

[Neo Gold]

Its a sign o' the times chun....yeah its a real shame so many of our favorite arcades have closed down...
Used to frequent all the East coast arcades..past..many are still there tho!...being a seaside town & all.
All in the leeds city centre..as far as i know have closed down..
But wait...i'm sure 'Storey's' arcade (that moved) is still in use...albeit may just have gambling machines now tho...i'll check it out when i do a little chrimbo shop soon & a wee drinky & stuff.

[A2-UEP]

I heard there is some basement of a club like in Phoenix Nights in Bolton full of classic cabs just waiting to be snapped up!

[arcadefever]

That was a tought set up:

K.fu master
shinobi
vigilante

wrist bracking game :ohmy:

nice drawing !!!

[gundaRn]

I love the 80's, that's why I had this whinge a while back:

The decade that was the 80's has been with us for some time now, unfortunately I feel it's legacy is all but over.

RIP VHS
It all started when I was thinking about my three year old son asking for his DVD to be put on; I gave my VHS VCR (Video Cassette Recorder for the younger readers) away to my wife's parent as I hadn't used it in years, so my son has never used a video tape in his life. The 1980's were when video's really took off, can you imagine the term DVD-Nasties ever catching on? The early part of the decade was all about the thrill of being able to watch movies that were not available on TV in the comfort of your own home and at a time that suited you.
Videos were so successful, they killed off the Cinema in a big way. The last movie I saw in my local "pictures" was Ghostbusters before it too fell victim to the success of VHS (don't even mention Betamax).
DVD has now slaughtered the humble video tape like some cheap teanagers (who has had sex) in a schlock horror movie. Everyone now stores their "recordings" on a hard disk and even my father now has a DVD recorder with which to record off TV.
At least the cinema has made a healthy recovery since.

The future of the Compact Disc
CD effectively killed off the Audio Cassette many years ago although both lived hand in hand during the 80's. How long has the Compact Disc got left before it too goes the way of the dodo? The threats lie in DVD or HD-DVD possibly, most likely the Internet Download will do away with it sooner. Don't get me started on Digital Rights Management though, it's a joke. All I can say at this point is "long live the CD".

Special Effects
The 80's were when the blockbuster movie really caught on, Arnie and Sly duking it out, Star Wars winding up the original (and best) trilogy, Die Hard, Evil Dead (1 and 2), Dune, Indiana Jones, oh the list goes on and on...
This was when special effects were special, guys (and gals) sweated over miniatures and models, stop motion was still king. Now all you have is CGI. Don't get me wrong, CGI is good, Jurassic Park still rocks and all that; but CGI still looks like CGI. Give me a physical model hand animated and blue-screened goodness. Tell me that doesn't make you feel closer to the movie. Now kid's will just laugh at such arcane technology and their imaginations will be left to rot.
They don't make them like they used to. Bastards.

The arcade scene
If you grew up in the Eighties and are reading this, you will recall the UK arcades in their hey-day. I have many fond memories shoving the big-ass 10p pieces (or a two Shilling piece as it was still legal tender) into many a cabinet. In 1985, the seeds of the arcade decline may have been sown by Sega when they produced the hydraulic version of Space Harrier (or before with the full size Hang-On machines). At the time, Sega's technology was astonishing; no home system could come close to replicating the graphics or the experience. Unfortunately it was the "experience" side of the equation that eventually saw the price per play rise and the expectations of each game exceed what most manufacturers and operators could afford; hence the steady decline started and here we are today, almost no arcades exist in this country and youngsters will miss out on the thrills of the "arcade" experience.

Home computers/consoles
I grew up with the Sinclair Spectrum 48K during the 1980's. At the time, it was either the Spectum of Commodore 64; it was never both (mind, some losers had an Amstrad or worse yet a BBC Model B). In retrospect the C64 was a better bit of hardware; but it lacked the enthusiasm present in the Spectrum and it's community.
Yes, I admit piracy was rife and home machines could never emulate the thriving arcade scene, it was still the good days. The gaming scene was growing and to us normal guys it was all new and paying £140 for a Spectrum was a helluva investment. Now we got parents getting ready to pay way too much for a PS3 for 10 year old Timmy (the spoilt little shit).
Gaming has got better and home machines are now more powerful than most high-end arcade systems, but it's lost some of it's sincerity and enthusiasm; it's not so innocent and fun anymore.
I blame Sony.

What you can do to prevent the word-wide catastrophe of de-1980's-ification?
Don't buy video tapes; but pick up Predator on DVD now; then buy it again on HD-DVD when it takes off. Build a model of the Millennium Falcon and make your own Star Wars sequel (fuck George Lucas: the chinless freak. That "beard" ain't foolin' anyone). Buy a hydraulic Space Harrier, restore it to it's former glory and use it to replace some shitty Noddy kids ride at the local supermarket. Ban Evil Dead in your own home, then turn the lights down and watch it quietly, avoiding the "Filth" knocking at your door.
Most of all: educate your children.

The 80's must live on.

[joeblade]

but pick up Predator on DVD now; then buy it again on HD-DVD when it takes off

F**kin A !! :cool::cool::cool:

"Bunch of Slack-jaw faggot's around here...this stuff'll make ya a god damn sexual Tyrannosaurus...........just like me" :biggrin::biggrin::wink:

[gundaRn]

I loved the 80's.:huh:

[vib_ribbon]

anyone else handy with MS Paint then can draw the layout of their old arcade??

i dont think i'll be near an arcade any time soon... maybe over christmas, that's it.

[gundaRn]

When we had a local arcade here, the layout was very random with cabs sitting all over the place facing this way and that.
It was a big area, so they didn't seem to need any plan to them, plus the games changed quite frequently.

[vib_ribbon]

Apart from the arcade detailed above, regular members of this forum would often hear me banging on about several arcades that I used to frequent while I was in my teens.

One of which was called "American Pool", the arcade that had Gradius 3, Castlevania, Kick n Run, Salamander, and a few others off beat games that were set to the hardest difficulty (or at least it felt that way).

I was rummaging through some of my VHS tapes to digitise when I found a short clip of said arcade taken from a bus. The footage would have been taken in 1991. Sadly, I never took any video from inside this arcade, but I may have some of the arcade detailed in the opening post.

Anyway: American Pool!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/2661145914_47cb0064ec_o.jpg

[guddler]

Golden opportunity to post a couple of quick pics - apologies to those who have seen these before!

This is the main arcade here in Minehead c.2004 (i think). Myself and a mate got a call to say that if we wanted anything we should go over and get it quick. Suffice to say we were too late for a lot of stuff however we did manage to save a few things.

I would very much like to try and put together some stuff on how it all used to be but that will be a very long time coming since I don't personally have any footage from 1980 - 1985. Not the kind of thing you think of when you're at school.

This place is now a large (erm, massive) pub with a 27 foot TV screen. Small arcade with half a dozen or so machines downstairs in the kids play area. Actually not a bad pub as long as you go when a) it's not packed with footy fans and b) it's not packed with the Butlins crowd.

Incidentally, it's an old theatre. It's MUCH bigger than these pictures lead you to believe but I can't bore you all with too many photos.

http://guddler.co.uk/images/wpg/qh1.jpg

http://guddler.co.uk/images/wpg/qh2.jpg

[vib_ribbon]

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, what's happening in those photos??

with regards to the american pool place, i found out the other day that the building actually collapsed and the piece of land later sold on. i wonder if there was anything in the building when it caved in?? small town where i was from, so someone must know!

[guddler]

:laugh: The entire contents of the place were meeting Mr Sledge-Hammer in those photos. Obviously the owners weren't entirely stupid, certain things are still standing as they were getting saved. Namely the Addams Family pinball. Off the top of my head we rescued an Outrun (which was then later traded for two full sets of Storm Trooper armour), a Track & Field which was kept and a House Of The Dead which we sold.

Of the rest, I know the owner saved an Alca Pacman and some old electromechanical stuff. A very nice condition Taito SCI met it's maker, as did a Goliath cab. I whipped the PCB out of a lethal enforcers but the rest of it bit the dust. We also rescued the PCB set from a Prop-Cycle, while the rest was kept back for spares by the owner. I always thought there were some Daytonas, motor bike games and alpine racers that bit the dust but I think they may have been saved since that stuffs all downstairs in the pub now.

I did get quite a lot of stuff for putting on the walls, such as the massive marquees from some of the coin pushers and stuff like that. It's not quite as bad as it looks incidentally. 90% of the piles of chipboard that you can see where fruities and coin pushers...

[vib_ribbon]

who did you get the phone call off? was it a mate who got wind of the situation or was it the owner? did you know the owner then and why did they leave it so late before they called you?!

[guddler]

My mate (fellow collector) has been "in" with the owner for about 10 years now. I'm friendly enough with the guys that run the place and happen to live two doors down from the guy that does the books for them, so chances are that if it were to happen all over again, we'd have had a bit more notice.

I don't really know why we got such short notice. I guess its just one of those things, an after thought I suppose. Apparently me mate has been round the back of the place in the past to see the smouldering embers of a bonfire only to find out it was a machine he'd been promised for ages. I guess some times these people get up on the right side of the bed and other times they don't!! Such is life.

Actually, I'm rather glad we didn't have more notice. It was good to have to be very selective otherwise we'd have filled up a storage unit and been in trouble with wives for ever more :laugh:

Oh, phone call was from the manager. Bit of a "boss says you can come down and see if theres anything you want but it'll be dust by then end of tomorrow so you better be quick" kind of thing. And that was the site that greeted us when we walled in - jaws open. Sad thing was, the year before, the wife and I spent an entire week in there playing on the coin pushers as our house move (the previous one) had messed up timings so we were in me grandads cottage for a week with nothing else to do as all our possessions were on the removal lorry!

[vib_ribbon]

Actually, I'm rather glad we didn't have more notice. It was good to have to be very selective otherwise we'd have filled up a storage unit and been in trouble with wives for ever more :laugh:


know what you mean there... otherwise it'd like every last nut and bolt (you know how hard it is to get those original nuts and bolts!! :rolleyes: )

wouldn't mind more photos, actually, if you can be so patient. :wub:

[alien_mame]

Cheers for that Martin. Those are the photos you were talking about when we were sat in there haveing a few beers the other week then.

Oh, and BTW, the 27' screen is really awesome even though it was soccer on it at the time :wink:

[guddler]

Cheers for that Martin. Those are the photos you were talking about when we were sat in there haveing a few beers the other week then.

Oh, and BTW, the 27' screen is really awesome even though it was soccer on it at the time :wink:

Yes indeed - and if someone reminds me when I actually have the time to know if I'm coming or going then I'll dig out the rest of them. It's mostly more of the same though!

Must get down there for one of their Wii nights - sounds like it could be fun :smile:

[vib_ribbon]

do you have any pictures of the machines? like that 5p machine in the 1st photo you posted? what does it do??

[alien_mame]

The two versions of that machine i remember when I was a lad were like this. There is a coin shoot on the front of the machine which swivels and a "playfield" which "runs" an is painted with chunky pinstripes. if you manage to get your coin to land EXACTLY and COMPLTETLY on the white line, you win some money. the ODDS are printed at the far end of the play field. the other version was similar,but there were ten-pin bowls at the far end with he odds printed on. If your 5p (sheesh, inflation) hit one of the pins, again you won money.

HTH

[vib_ribbon]

the 10 pin bowling thing rings a bell, a_m. i guess this machine took old 5p coins?? :wacko: ...but guddler was called to this place in 2004 ?? maybe it took 10p coins but they didnt bother replacing the sign.

[guddler]

They've updated it over the years. I don't recall what it actually did or didn't take the last time I was there but certainly I remember "back in the day" that it used to take pennies.