Gen Y Archives: Arcade Cabinets

 Arcades, well that's a subject for another time. First, let us cover the once mighty arcade cabinet.

We can get into the history of where they came from in a minute, but the best way to get across what a product is is to sell you on the experience. Apple knew that with the iPod, which is why, while other mp3 players marketed sound fidelity and various features, Apple went with the simple "10,000 songs in your pocket."

Back in the day, an arcade game was the best video game experience you could get, and that for the price of a mere quarter. For most of the 80s and 90s, you could go into an arcade with a pocket of change and get a few hours of video game fun that was far better than anything available on home console or the Glorious PC Master Race. You didn't even need that. Walk into your neighborhood pizza place, and if there was a dining room, there were at least two arcade cabinets. In my experience, it was usually some version of Street Fighter II and either a driving game or a beat 'em up (think Double Dragon or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) with some even having an older cabinet like Pac-Man or Galaga. Pop in a quarter and the game is yours to play until you lose. So where did these come from, where did they go, and why are people nostalgic for them? Buckle up, cause here we go.

Origins:

The origins of the arcade cabinet can be traced back to the classic past time of pinball. For those of you who aren't familiar, a pinball machine:

Stick a quarter in one of the slots in the front, and you get three balls. Pull the knob on the right and let go to launch one ball into the machine. Since it's sloped, the ball will roll towards the player, striking several obstacles on the way. Every strike gets you points. At the bottom of the cabinet are a pair of levers. The buttons on the side cause the levers to flick upwards, allowing you to launch the ball back into the machine. Fail to do so, and the ball will fall into the hole, never to return. Lose all three balls and the game is over. Score enough points, and you may get an extra ball. For decades, local hangout spots (diners, pizza places, etc.) tended to have one or more pinball machines, and you can see them depicted in fiction as early as the 1950s (the first machine that fits our modern perception was made in 1947, being the first pinball game to feature flippers).

Arcade games expanded the gameplay and made it electronic (or rather more electronic). Stick a quarter in a Pac-Man machine, and you get to munch pellets and ghosts in increasing difficult levels until you lose all three lives. Do the same in a Street Fighter cabinet and you get best 2/3 matches against computer opponents until you defeat M. Bison or lose a match, though you can insert another quarter for a rematch and the chance to continue where you left off. This didn't replace pinball, but rather eclipsed it. Most places with arcade cabinets would still have a pinball machine, but from the time of the first mass marketed arcade cabinets in the 70s, pinball and arcade games have existed side by side, but arcade games were far more common (at least in my experience) after the early 80s with the two industries dying almost simultaneously and for the same reasons.

Rise and Dominance:

This was easy money for entrepreneurs. If you played arcade games in the 80s and 90s, you know hundreds of quarters went through any given one in a week, and we all loved it. Wanna play some Street Fighter? One of your friends with a SNES could talk his parents into shelling out $50+ for the cartridge, then talk his parents and siblings into letting a bunch of you commandeer the TV for an hour or so...or you could head down to the local Pizza Hut with a quarter and take your shot. Somebody already playing? You could go for the player 2 slot. Beat the current player and you take over. Or you could just put a quarter up on the cabinet to tell him you're next. If you get tired of Street Fighter, you're not stuck with an expensive cartridge. Just take your change over to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Racin' USA and try your hand. This in addition to the fact that your quarter got better graphics than the home version. The video below compares the arcade vs. the SNES versions of Street Fighter II, one of the best arcade ports of its day.

For comparison, here's a similar side by side between Pacman arcade and the port for the Atari 2600:

With games that actually had an end, like the aforementioned TMNT and Double Dragon, enough quarters could get even a terrible player to the end of the game, and you could also play with up to four players...locally. Of course, if 'enough quarters' is a bit much, the solution was to 'git gud,' as the game didn't end until you finished it or lost.

These were also social events. You didn't play an arcade in the dark in your room in the middle of the night. You played it in a well lit room with an audience. Anybody could go up and joint your game if it had a player 2 slot. If you were doing well, you might have actual spectators. You went with friends and family, held your birthday parties at places with these machines. And if you got onto the coveted high score list, your initials were up there until somebody knocked you off...or you could write ASS, because you're a kid and find that funny.

Of course, this wasn't without its drawbacks. The point of an arcade machine was to fill it with quarters. Slower, more ponderous games like Zelda or Final Fantasy (really anything with saved games) would have a hard time giving a player enough value from one quarter in a short enough time span to make the cabinet attractive to potential buyers. Arcade games are working ideally if people are only getting 5-10 minutes out of a single quarter. This meant that it was ideal for fighting games, racing games, and other faster paced action games. Some games even had mechanics specifically designed to limit game time. Ever play Gauntlet? In the arcade versions, every player's health constantly drains. Rhythm games limited the number of songs per quarter. There was even an arcade cabinet that contained the entire SNES launch lineup, but had a timer on it per quarter.

What Killed It:

Consoles, plain and simple. Starting with the N64, and extending into the Gamecube and Xbox, consoles began to come with more controller slots. The price stayed the same while inflation drove arcade prices upwards to two quarters and later a full dollar, eventually leading to requiring arcade tokens just to keep inserting the money from being clunky. In the late 90s, home console revenue topped arcade revenue for the first time ever. By the time the Xbox hit, multiple games were available for four player local play on a console, and enough gamers were adults that they didn't have to fight for TV space. Frat houses had Halo or Smash nights. The arcades were empty, but we had a nice replacement until...

Why the nostalgia:

Just like so many other things before, the big boys lured us all in with a replacement, then yanked out the rug once the competition was dead. See how many AAA games you can name now with local multiplayer. Smash Brothers and other fighting games still have it, but the couch multiplayer franchise that really pulled people from the arcade to the couch was the FPS, and it's dead. Anybody the right age at the time remembers Goldeneye and Halo multiplayer deathmatches and Halo co-op being all the rage, but the big boys only sell one copy of the game for that. If they force it online, they sell a copy of the game for every person playing, so the thinking goes. Now, you no longer get three of your friends and a pizza and play Halo for hours. To even be in the same building, three people would have to unhook their machines and go to a house with three extra TVs. The games are better, but instead of the smell of cheap food and the cheers of friends and strangers, you play in the dark, alone, with nothing but voices on a headset to keep you company. The soul of the experience is gone, and only a shiny veneer remains.

The world you were raised to survive in no longer exists.

Is it any wonder tabletop games are making a resurgence?

P.S. I know Halo 5 is bringing back split screen, but it's the exception rather than the rule and only happened due to consumer outrage.