Nov 26
Dave and Busters Sucks - I Miss Arcades
Last night, a friend of mine called me saying he was in town visiting and that a bunch of people were going to head over to Dave & Buster’s for some fun.
Now even though I don’t particularly care for Dave & Buster’s, I hadn’t seen this particular friend in a while and the kid was asleep so I figured, “Why not make an appearance?” And I did.
After getting turned around a couple times on the way, I finally made it to D&B and said hello to everyone.
Dave and Buster’s
After we all spent a little while catching up, I took a little tour of the joint since it had been a while from the last time I was there.
OH - For those of you who aren’t familiar with Dave & Buster’s feel free to check out their website, but it’s basically a more adult version of Chuck E Cheese’s. While there MAY be no ball pit, there’s a bunch of ticket games, (basketball, skeeball and the like), and also interactive arcade games and sims.
So as I made my way around the place, it quickly became apparent that THIS - The closest thing to what we old timers called an “arcade” um…how can I say this… SUCKED.
Why Dave and Buster’s Sucks
(Don’t you just love these bolded topics? Next up is probably “Why Dave and Buster’s Sucks Ass” but hey, I digress…) So maybe I shouldn’t be saying flat out that “Dave and Buster’s sucks” but moreso that “I miss arcades and I wish Dave and Buster’s WAS one with all the arcade games they have”. Hm. Re-reading that it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense… “If they have a lot of arcade games, doesn’t that make them an arcade?” Maybe. I guess. But I would argue that an arcade is more than just having a lot of arcade games. It’s about having the right arcade games.
Why I Had a Blast at Dave & Buster’s
(Didn’t see that coming did you?) Well halfway into the night after I had poured a ton of credits into some horrible gun game, I started wandering around D&B’s pretty defeated and depressed looking (aside from being really disheveled looking since I’m sorely im need of a shave and haircut) and found my savior. The one game that has been there for me more than any other and more than most people. That’s right, the king of kings, my favourite game, the one and only - Street Fighter II.
Me and a friend of mine entered the mix with about 3 others that were already there and it was awesome. I’m talking we had the rotation, the one joystick that sucked, comradery… Everything arcade games should be, and everything that arcade games now are missing. I’m talking about the days where games would be a quarter or fifty cents and you would gladly pump more in to get another chance at dethroning the current king (or queen) of the game. I’m talking about the days where pinball machines like Batman were king and when you died in an arcade game, it was because of your lack of skill, not the game taking every incredibly cheap chance it could to deduct lives and health (cue that bad gun game again).
In Conclusion
Look, I don’t pretend to know why you really can’t find arcade machines anymore in the US. But the fact that you can’t sucks. And the fact that there are establishments like Dave & Buster’s that COULD have a little section of their huge place house decent arcade games and choose to not, that sucks too and makes me sad. But at least on one night in late November I managed to find some warmth with an old friend stuck in a dusty corner with other classic games.
…And even if I did get my a$$ handed to me over and over again ’cause there was no air blocks, techs, or two good working joysticks, at least I could find some solace in pulling off a spinning pile driver. (#);)
November 26th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Ahh, Bush - I’m right with you with missing the good old fashioned video games. And Skee-ball - the old machines that you could bounce the ball of the side of the alley in just the right sweet spot to get it to angle over into the 50 point hole. Sweet memories. :)
November 26th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
@Teeni - Well they DID have skeeball thank goodness. And when I go to D&B, I DO sometimes play that and basketball. Those two and SF and 8 player Daytona USA are the only things redeemable at that place.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
You sure that was the problem? Look I can basically blame arcades dying on the Dreamcast. When Soul Caliber came out and looked as good on the system as it did on the arcade… I knew where things were going. I definitely miss them also. Hopefully they make a comeback.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
@Noob Tastic - All I’m sayin’ is I pulled off a spinning piledriver (w/o the jump) on the good side. On the joystick that sucked, the king of the hill gave me 15 seconds to try and do a fireball and I couldn’t do it.
And secondly, Japan has arcades. Why can’t we!?
November 27th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
The Japanese arcades are the opposite of D&B; they are 90% oldschool fighting games. I even played Super Mario Bros. in an arcade, with a Famicom controller connected to the cabinet. I don’t really know why they’ve continued to thrive where as in America they bombed pretty hard, but I’d agree that “arcade perfect” ports did some damage over here. A lot of people don’t have Xbox Live in Japan (or Xboxes in general) though, so if you want play some random people you have do that in the arcade.
November 27th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
@Bradelby - Is the XBox situation in Japan still as bad as with the original XBox? I only ask (even though you’re not over there anymore) because I know M$ went through pains to try and make this one appeal more towards that audience w/ the design of the system as well as games on it that should have more appeal like Ninety Nine Nights.
November 28th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
In the last sales chart I saw the PS2 sold 2,000 more units than the 360 that week. The Wii? 30,000 more units. Shockingly the PS3 outsold the Wii that week, so I guess they are doing a better job of reaching out to Japan than America at this point (unless I am clueless on a sudden surge of PS3 popularity here).
November 29th, 2007 at 6:44 am
…Are you telling me I might actually have a chance to win against the almighty Bush in a game! I really need to brush up on my skills and challenge you on something in Xbox live. You should plan a xbox gaming night for your blog buddies. I would try to make it. I think it would be a lot of fun even if I did get my A$$ handed to me.
I saw an arcade area a shop we stopped at on our way from South Carolina. I would have loved to go in and see what games they had.
I had no idea Dave & Busters was an adult version of Chuck E. Cheese I need to check it out.
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:28 pm
@Bradelby - BTW, do you know how much Wii’s are going for on eBay? Crazy.
@Opal T -
No.
Ha ha ha. j/k Of course you do! SFIII, probably not. But CoD4, probably. *nod* And that Xbox Live online party isn’t a bad idea. Too bad I only have Halo 3 and GH3!