What would it take for arcades to make a comeback?

[Shadow)OS]

sguy78 said:
One thing I noticed when I was serving in Japan in 1999-2000 was that you could interchange your home console memory card with the arcade of the same game. This was years ago, and they are always releasing their crazy technological advances years ahead of U.S. release. Also, arcades are still rather popular over there.

Yeah, there are actually a few games that made it to N.America that do that (to this day). Mario Kart GP and F-Zero AX come to mind.

 

Someone was talking about prices... I think they listed some awfully large price-points. Well... kind of. If you buy a stand alone arcade machine from Capcom themselves or a reseller, it will cost you a pretty penny. However, if you already have a well established arcade you can use your existing cabinets and just buy the board for muuuuuuuch cheaper.

You can always go completely homebrew and build your own cabinet and do some wire work. You could probably get as low as 700-1500 per machine if you really cut corners.

 

Any-who, it's time for my two cents. What they need is more exclusive games that people want to play. House of the Dead, Street Fighter, Time Crisis and Raiden can only keep people coming back for so long. I know I still frequent my local arcade, but that's solely because of Street Fighter.

Another thing Arcade owners have to start doing is KEEPING THEIR DAMN MACHINES IN GOOD SHAPE! I can't tell you how many times I've walked into an arcade only to find the sticks and buttons completely worn down to the point where they can't even be used competively.

Speaking of competition, that brings me to my final point. There has to be more tournaments! There IS something that is completely unique to the arcade - and it isn't exclusive titles. It's the feel. It's the unique competion. It's the crowds that gather around to two champions duking it out blow for blow in their final stands against each other. I'm sorry to inform the console only crowd, but the arcades have a MUCH fiercer players than what you can get online or even with friends. That experience can't be brought to the home consoles and that experience is what the current day arcades need.