I will never forget the very first time I played Street Fighter 1 with that ball control thingy at an arcade at a grocery store near my elementary school after class. At the time I must have been around 8? I was attending P.S. 199 in Queens, N.Y. I remember even playing that one big arcade where you sat on this machine and in game you flew with a gun killing dragons and stuff (Sega game, I forget the name). At a pizzeria near my father's record store I would spend hours and countless quarters playing the very first version of Street Fighter 2. Right next to that was Final Fight waiting for me whenever I got my ass handed to me by a 16 year old at SF2. I remember that same pizzeria ended up getting Mortal Kombat 1 OMG!!! Seeing the first fatality was just epic. I remember people would be VERY secretive about the fatalities they would do, even adding extra movements at the beginning which were of no consequence. Hell I remember a friend of mine (Max) had actually gathered all fatalities and would sell each sheet for 5$!!! ROFL. Oh man, remembering Altered Beasts when I got my first transformation powerup and turned into some werewolf, it was just amazing. Neo-Geo appearing at the Arcade scene was a godsend! I remember Neo-Geo arcades with 4 games!!! Now that was innovative. I remember playing Sengoku, King of Fighters 94, Bust a Move, and some other random game at the same Arcade machine. Hell I remember playing TMNT2 with 4 other people and spending probably 2-3$ to beat the game with them.

All in all in Vs type games it was always good to trash talk someone face to face. No need to be an internet tough guy, but just looking at someone in the face older, taller and most likely stronger than you and saying "I just handed your ass to you, how did that feel" with a crowd of other people just laughing and the next person in line to play telling that guy "move over, I got next". Don't get me wrong, I like my online gaming, but I would certainly go and spend a few quarters to play KoF 2003 or 2004 against a few people at the arcade, or even that sick X-Men game at the arcade with 4 players. Sadly online gaming has been the death of the arcade and the advent of screaming 12 year olds and internet thugs. It's nice having 4 player games at home with friends, but also being able to meet new people who share similar gaming interests is a huge plus.

P.S. I did get jumped for being obnoxious and talking too much trash at one point, as well as drop kicking someone for doing the same at another point. But all in all, I don't regret the human interaction that I feel lacking.

Bumping for the sake of.....bumping. Someone has to have lived something similar to what I have! At least let me know of your experiences, joys, beatdowns, etc.

Ok before I get banned AGAIN, I promise this is the last bump for perhaps a week for this topic. I guess I got nostalgic and I simply wanted to see if anyone else shared their nostalgia with me.....I guess not. Have a good rest of the summer everyone (or winter in some parts of the world).

The best fighting game players (Tekken/Soul Calibur/Street Fighter/KOF/VF/Blazblue) etc frequent arcades at least once a week to meet up with other elites and hone their skills. There will always be a place for these pple. There will always be arcades.

 And theres nothing more exhilirating than watching 2 high level pros duking it out in a first to 10 match in a Tekken/VF/Street fighter match.

Im sure Kinect, in some form or another will be incorporated in future arcade games as well.

In my country Singapore, arcades are very very alive and well. Packed even at 11pm on weekends. So packed that you have to squeeze to move.