Posted by Mark Lord on 6, 2001 at 9:06 PM:
In Reply to: Why the Arcade Classics will live forever. posted by jdsabin on 6, 2001 at 6:03 PM:
: So why aren't there still actual arcades like there used to be in strip centers or even malls?
: One of the reasons is there became no more "HI-SCORE" based games. The early games where "Hi-Score Based" meaning that they never ended. The kudos here was in have the higher score over all your rivals rather than being the first to finish the game. Games like Galaga, Pac-Man, Hyper Sports, Gauntlet, etc. where all hi-score based and were fiercely competitive in their heyday. When they started to make "See The Ending First" style games, rivalries died a little bit as scores on these games were more or less meaningless. How many of you remember feeling a little bit of
: pride seeing your initials on the high score table after you were done playing? Did you ever get good enough to have other people come and stand and then watch in awe as you were obviously a 'master' of the game?
Is that really the reason? Because I can walk into the local arcade and show you that almost every game has a high score table of some sort. Tekken Tag Tournament has the "beaten-the-game-the-fastest" list. Every driving game I've seen has a fastest lap list. Every shooting game I've seen has a high score list. As a matter of fact, I believe that the new genre of games has increased the high score lists. Take Killer Instinct for example: it has a highest combo list AND a high score list AND a fastest time list.
It's true that most games today have an ending, but I appreciate a good story and I'd like to see what happens to my favorite character after beating big boss man or whatever. But this also effects the high score table. You have a time limit for you to gain your best score possible, so you have to come up with new ideas and new tricks. This leads me to my next point: the learning curve.
The learning curve on today's games has become higher since the early 80s and if you want to compete for the high score or be #1, you've got to read up or ask around about the game. But has it really gotten THAT much higher? I still have trouble getting past stage 3-4 on Q*Bert (one of my all time favorites), but if anyone challenges me in Mortal Kombat II, they'd better watch out. Some people can say, "Well I don't want to have to learn all of those special moves. I want to be able to walk up and just play." Alright, do that. Just walk up and play. But remember this... like any video game, in order to become good, it requires practice. I'm sure the first time you played Galaga, you didn't get the high score. So don't be sour about not beating the 12-year old kid on Super-Fighter-Tournament-Edition-Ultra-Legend-Back-Alley-Brawl. I'm sure he practiced many an hour and spent many a quarter to get that good. Instead, you should congratulate him on his victory and if you're interested, watch the "master" at work and learn a thing or to. (that's how I learned how to play Tron)
In my opinion, I think arcades are dying out because the arcade genre has come and gone. It's not new and fresh like it was back in the 80s.
We're a dying breed. I don't like to admit, but we are. But we're tried and true and we'll keep playing our games until we're not strong enough to move the joystick and push the buttons. It all comes down to one simple fact: play what's fun to YOU.
Game on!!!!