I've noticed that arcades have stopped carrying old-school arcade games. I rarely ever see a Pac-Man, Dig Dug, or Galaga anymore. It's either Dance Dance Revolution, Deal Or No Deal, Guitar Hero, or some game with a punching bag. Not that there's anything wrong with those, but they've taken away from the old-school arcade experience. Anyone else feel this?

I've noticed that arcades have stopped carrying old-school arcade games. I rarely ever see a Pac-Man, Dig Dug, or Galaga anymore. It's either Dance Dance Revolution, Deal Or No Deal, Guitar Hero, or some game with a punching bag. Not that there's anything wrong with those, but they've taken away from the old-school arcade experience. Anyone else feel this?


When I was in Florida, I went to this arcade at the Orange Lake resort and most of the video games that I see don't appeal to me too much. They used to have such cool games like Fatal Fury 2, The Simpsons Arcade, Crazy Taxi, etc. Yeah, I also do miss games like Pac-Man, Ms. Pac Man, etc. What I also miss most of all is that they don't have any old-school fighting games like they used to. i was disappointed that I don't even see DDR there either. Those kind of games that they had were either based upon casino games, shooting games that I haven't heard of, and those claw machines where you try to pick up prizes. There was only Guitar Hero, thank god. I watched two teenage guys trying their shot at that at GH.

I sure wished that they could bring back old-school games like Pac-Man, The Simpsons Arcade, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and Street Fighter games. I can concur with you at the fact that they've taken away from the old-school arcade experience. They really ought to bring those old games back. Oh, well, I can always play DDR in the AMC theatres from where I live.

I miss good old games too

The upside to the disappearance of classics from arcades is that the games can now be had on the cheap.

Original machines from the era typically run $200-500, and custom cabinets with PCs running MAME - which run the original arcade code in a virtual machine on any old PC you may have laying around - can be built or purchased for similar prices.  There is a large and active community of collectors out there who can help new owners with maintenance, repair, and restoration.

A happy medium for the coin-op operator is the xx-in-1 multigame; essentially an embedded MAME solution.  $50-100 for a single printed circuit board that plays 48, 60, 100, or 300 classic games, fits into any generic cabinet, and takes up only one cabinet's worth of space, is a pretty good bet for any location in which parents are likely to drop a few tokens while waiting for their kids to finish their games.

I was at a corner bar in town here that had a video game machine~ all the old school stuff.  Pac Man, Ms Pac Man, DigDug, Qbert, Original Mario bros, Donkey Kong, there were like 36 games on this thing. I think I pumped about $20 into it that night. I immediately felt old when I was kicking everyone's ass at DigDug and a few of the friends that I was with didn't know what that game was.  :o

I think arcades want to change with the times.

RIP Arcade Games  :\'(

  I still see pinball machines around, movie theater lobbies, &etc, and play whenever I have the chance...

Arcades can usually be found in movie theatres, but the selection mostly is not what it used to be.  The odd game, but mostly those basketball throwing games, or airhockey, or DanceDanceRevolution.  those aren't bad, but where's Pac-Man or Galaga?  Those were always good time killers 8)

Looking for an arcade?  Aurcade is where you need to go.  Look up your location, and see what games are on site.  Or punch in the game you're looking for, and find the machine nearest you.  (Your favorite arcade isn't there?  Add it to the database!  Got there and discovered half the games had been changed out?  Make a note of what was there, and update the entry!)

If you're looking for old-school, there are still a few places out there scattered across the country, most notably Funspot in New Hampshire, and Ground Kontrol in Washington state.

   I still see pinball machines around, movie theater lobbies, &etc, and play whenever I have the chance...


I think Pinball machines might be still around in big Upstate NY hotels in the lobby.

Looking for an arcade?  Aurcade is where you need to go.  Look up your location, and see what games are on site.  Or punch in the game you're looking for, and find the machine nearest you.  (Your favorite arcade isn't there?  Add it to the database!  Got there and discovered half the games had been changed out?  Make a note of what was there, and update the entry!)

If you're looking for old-school, there are still a few places out there scattered across the country, most notably Funspot in New Hampshire, and Ground Kontrol in Washington state.


Thanks Foo.  :)

I remember wasting $10 in quarters playing Pac Man in one of the arcades 20 years ago.

Here in Vancouver, WA, over across the river in Portland, there are still tons of retro arcades around. :)

Here in Vancouver, WA, over across the river in Portland, there are still tons of retro arcades around. :)


Pac Man?

Pac Man?


oh yeah.

Pac Man?


Arcades in Portland, OR?  Yeah, what the other guy said.  You name it, Ground Kontrol had it, and that was before they won last year's Save the Arcades contest.

oh yeah.



You can play Pac Man online now.

Arcades in Portland, OR?  Yeah, what the other guy said.  You name it, Ground Kontrol had it, and that was before they won last year's Save the Arcades contest.


are you from the area? :)

You can play old school arcade games on-line now.

are you from the area? :)


Nope, I'm from Kahleefornyuh, but I try to keep up with the locations of the few remaining arcades, so that if I ever find myself within an hour's drive, I can make an evening out of it.  If you're ever in Portland, Ground Kontrol's a must-see.  Doubly so after having won the $25K grand prize and having put most of it into the relocation/renovation.

Nope, I'm from Kahleefornyuh, but I try to keep up with the locations of the few remaining arcades, so that if I ever find myself within an hour's drive, I can make an evening out of it.  If you're ever in Portland, Ground Kontrol's a must-see.  Doubly so after having won the $25K grand prize and having put most of it into the relocation/renovation.


I'm from New York,They rarely have old school arcade games anymore,everyone seems to be upgrading.

You can play old school arcade games on-line now.

But that's not quite the same; you don't get the "arcade" experience, you know, of playing it on an actual arcade machine.

But that's not quite the same; you don't get the "arcade" experience, you know, of playing it on an actual arcade machine.


It doesn't have that arcade feel like in stores used to have.

I've noticed that arcades have stopped carrying old-school arcade games. I rarely ever see a Pac-Man, Dig Dug, or Galaga anymore. It's either Dance Dance Revolution, Deal Or No Deal, Guitar Hero, or some game with a punching bag. Not that there's anything wrong with those, but they've taken away from the old-school arcade experience. Anyone else feel this?


Part of the problem is that those games are simply dying due to old age.

Most of the games of that era are Pre-JAMMA, so basically each is in a dedicated cabinet.  And when they stopped making money, owners would often times gut the cabinet and turn it into another game.  So a Lunar Lander becomes Asteroids, then becomes Dig Dug, then Mr. Do before ending it's life as a Rally-X.

And also a lot of parts are just not available anymore.  Power supplies, monitors, and sometimes even controls are just not made, especially for specialty games like Tron, Firefox and Star Wars.  So these were often scrapped at the end of their lifespan.

There have been some "4 in 1" and "10 in 1" cabinets released over the years, but they are not big draws, mostly for nostalgia purposes or to keep a trademark alive by fulfilling the requirements to show it is not abandoned.

If you want to play the old games now, I suggest getting into MAME.  This is basically an emulator, which can play almost any conventional arcade game once you find the ROM files.  I have over 30,000 ROMs in my collection, and still hope to build another MAME cabinet in the future.

That is quite a hobby that many get into.  Basically you gut an old arcade cabinet or make your own, put in a computer and run MAME on it.  You can then play all the original arcade games you want, whenever you want.

And if you like the old LASERDISK games, there is a similar emulator called DAPHNE.  For those that miss Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, Thayer's Quest, and Cliffhanger.

Part of the problem is that those games are simply dying due to old age.

games from Atari are dead so now you can play some old school games on your computer and download them, places don't sell them anymore but you can get them from Ebay or Amazon.

Alot of older arcade games do show up in collections for modern day systems like PS2, Xbox, et al.  Here's some of them:

'Midway Arcade Treasures' (There was also 'Midway Arcade Treasures 2' and 'Midway Arcade Treasures 3')

http://www.covergalaxy.com/forum/attachments/microsoft-xbox/12303d1319083541-midway-arcade-treasures-vol-1-ntsc-u-cover-sleeve-midway-arcade-002.jpg

'Tecmo Classic Arcade'

http://www.covergalaxy.com/forum/attachments/microsoft-xbox/9459d1291131254-tecmo-classic-arcade-cover-ntsc-tecmoclassicarcade_xboxcover.jpg

'Taito Legends' (There was also a 'Taito Legends 2')

http://www.covergalaxy.com/forum/attachments/microsoft-xbox/10463d1299690773-taito-legends-ntsc-u-cover-sleeve-taito-legends-sleeve-001.jpg

'Capcom Classics Collection' (There was also a 'Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2')

http://www.covergalaxy.com/forum/attachments/sony-ps2/7712d1264951932-capcom-classics-collection-vol-1-cover-disc-capcom-classics-collection-vol.1-cover.jpg

'SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1'

http://www.gamepcrip.com/wp-content/uploads/SNK-Arcade-Classic-Vol-1.jpg

'Data East Arcade Classics'

http://www.covershut.com/covers/Arcade-Classics-Data-East-Front-Cover-33306.jpg

Alot of older arcade games do show up in collections for modern day systems like PS2, Xbox, et al.  Here's some of them:

'Midway Arcade Treasures' (There was also 'Midway Arcade Treasures 2' and 'Midway Arcade Treasures 3')

http://www.covergalaxy.com/forum/attachments/microsoft-xbox/12303d1319083541-midway-arcade-treasures-vol-1-ntsc-u-cover-sleeve-midway-arcade-002.jpg

'Tecmo Classic Arcade'

http://www.covergalaxy.com/forum/attachments/microsoft-xbox/9459d1291131254-tecmo-classic-arcade-cover-ntsc-tecmoclassicarcade_xboxcover.jpg

'Taito Legends' (There was also a 'Taito Legends 2')

http://www.covergalaxy.com/forum/attachments/microsoft-xbox/10463d1299690773-taito-legends-ntsc-u-cover-sleeve-taito-legends-sleeve-001.jpg

'Capcom Classics Collection' (There was also a 'Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2')

http://www.covergalaxy.com/forum/attachments/sony-ps2/7712d1264951932-capcom-classics-collection-vol-1-cover-disc-capcom-classics-collection-vol.1-cover.jpg

'SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1'

http://www.gamepcrip.com/wp-content/uploads/SNK-Arcade-Classic-Vol-1.jpg

'Data East Arcade Classics'

http://www.covershut.com/covers/Arcade-Classics-Data-East-Front-Cover-33306.jpg


I enjoy playing old school arcade games.

I think arcades want to change with the times.

They should not bother.... They are failing :(

Notihng but garbage in 99% of any arcade now and its sad..... Even if they have 80s games now THEY ARE MOST LIKELY NOT THE ORIGINALS... THEY ARE DIGITAL CRAP THAT ISNT ANYWHERE NEAR AS GOOD!!!!!

I was in an arcade recently that had Ms pac,man but it wasnt the original. The cabinet was from 2000 and the music wasnt as good,etc.........

Just sad........ I guess MAME on our computers is the best way now........

What an I going to do now with my six dollars of quarters?

They should not bother.... They are failing :(

Notihng but garbage in 99% of any arcade now and its sad..... Even if they have 80s games now THEY ARE MOST LIKELY NOT THE ORIGINALS... THEY ARE DIGITAL CRAP THAT ISNT ANYWHERE NEAR AS GOOD!!!!!

I was in an arcade recently that had Ms pac,man but it wasnt the original. The cabinet was from 2000 and the music wasnt as good,etc.........

Just sad........ I guess MAME on our computers is the best way now........


Dude, you can always play an arcade game on your computer, all you need is Java.