Arcade Kingdom - new classic arcade opening in Portland area

[BBH]

http://www.arcade-kingdom.com/

opening this Saturday, May 29th at the Clackamas Town Center.

Going by the gamelist on the website they have:

1942
Alien vs. Predator
Area 51
Battlezone
Final Fight
Golden Axe
Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death=Adder
Mortal Kombat
NARC
NBA Jam Tournament Edition
NFL Blitz 99
Operation Wolf
Pacman
The Simpsons
Sky Shark
Street Fighter II
Super Hang-On
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Time Killers
Toki
X-Men

Might be some other games not listed, the front page of the site has pictures of an After Burner sitdown cab and a stock picture of Silent Scope EX.

A lot of the games listed might not fit the "classic" category for some people here, but I think it's great to see a new arcade opening up in this day and age that doesn't entirely consist of Big Buck Hunter and The Fast & the Furious.

Unfortunately I don't think I can make it to their "grand opening" because there is a local Super SF4 tournament the same day     And since they're in a mall they close at 6 the day after since it's Sunday... bleh. I'll find a way down there at some point soon.

[VonDummpenstein]

Thanks BBH.  I'll definitely make a point of getting out there sometime.  There are several games listed that I would like to play, some of which I haven't seen or played in years.  I don't think I've ever played Revenge of Death Adder.

Maybe you can show me how to pimp NARC one of these days.

[MDARULZ]

Yes, thanks for the report, Matt.  It's always fantastic to hear about another arcade that has at least a few classics as part of the mix.

This location is pretty atypical, having mostly titles that date from the later 80's to the mid 90's.  After this period, games became really overdone, and monolithic.  In other words, the typical (lame) setup you'll find at Dave & Busters...

[BBH]

So I made it out to Arcade Kingdom.

First of all, I really like what they did with the location. They darkened the place to give it that old arcade feel, have a blacklight to make your white clothes glow, and even have a disco ball for some reason.

Secondly, I was pleased to see that there are quite a few more games than what's listed on the website. Hopefully this is a full listing but I'm not 100% sure:

After Burner II (cockpit cab)
Alien vs. Predator
Area 51
Barb Wire (pinball)
Battlezone (out of order)
CART Fury (2 cabs)
Caveman Ninja
Combatribes
Cruis'n World
Daytona USA (2 cabs)
Double Axle
Final Fight
Galaxian
Gauntlet Legends
Gauntlet Legends: Dark Legacy
Golden Axe
Golden Axe: Revenge of Death=Adder
Hang-On (out of order)
Hard Drivin
Hook
Hydro Thunder (2 cabs)
Indy 500 (2 cabs)
Ironman Stewart's Off-Road
Mario Bros (out of order)
Marvel vs. Capcom
Mortal Kombat
Moto Frenzy (2 cabs)
Ms Pacman
Ms Pacman Plus?
NARC
NBA Jam
NFL Blitz 99
Ninja Gaiden
Operation Wolf
Pacman
Pit Fighter
Playchoice-10 (not sure what games)
Police Trainer
Popeye
Raiden II
Rampage World Tour
Revolution X
San Francisco Rush: The Rock
Silent Scope EX
The Simpsons
Sky Shark
Smashing Drive
Sports Shooting USA
Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II Champion Edition
Super Hang-On
Tekken Tag Tournament
Tekken 4
Terminator 2 Judgment Day
Time Killers
Toki
Twin Eagle II
Vapor Trx
Virtua Cop
Vs. Super Mario Bros
X-Men (6-player cab)
X-Men Children of the Atom



Alright, now for the bad news.

First of all, the pricing on some games is a bit... strange. Most games are a quarter, sure. The sit-down driving games tend to be 50 or 75 cents, ok. The After Burner cockpit cabinet costs $1.00... WTF? I mean, it's cool and all to see a sitdown After Burner cab, but a dollar? In the year 2010? Why? Also there are a handful of other games that are 50 cents when they shouldn't be - NBA Jam and NFL Blitz 99 come to mind. A full 4-period game of either of those should not cost $2 nowadays. The Mortal Kombat in particular has this weird pricing where it's 50 cents for 1 credit, $1.00 for 3 credits. Um? Why not just make it 25 cents? And don't get me started on how hilarious it is to see Time Killers for 50 cents - nobody wanted to pay that much to play it in the year 1993, I doubt anyone is going to pay that now.

And of course, the other unfortunate part... which I was kinda expecting, being that it's an arcade with old games and all. But a lot of these games are just not in great condition. Expect a lot of stiff joysticks, buttons that don't work 100% of the time, monitors that aren't displaying perfectly, no sound, etc. Not to say that every game is like that, but there were a lot of disappointments. The $1 After Burner cab? Clunky joystick, and the throttle doesn't even work correctly. Operation Wolf's gun didn't fire half the time when you press the trigger. Virtua Cop's guns have a hard time hitting the corners. Both joysticks on NARC have a hard time hitting diagonals. Super Hang-On is this weird cabinet with no brake lever, and turbo that kicks in automatically instead of being a separate button (?). Sky Shark's monitor is pretty much completely devoid of the color red, and part of the left side of the screen is cut off (which is killer when some enemy is there that you can't see shooting at you). Not every game has problems like this, but it seemed like everything I wanted to play had some sort of issue that kept it from being fully enjoyable.


Don't get me wrong though, I want this place to do well because I think it's fantastic to see a new arcade opening up in the year 2010. But business didn't exactly look to be booming when I was there (which was a Saturday). I certainly hope business picks up a bit for them, but I'm not sure a lot of these games are of interest to random people.

[dmoreland]

Thanks for that additional information.  When I looked at the first list of games I was thinking there wasn't enough there to motivate me to make the 1 hour drive but looking at this new list, I think it would probably be worth it.  Double Axle is one I've played a bunch of in MAME and would love to play an original.

[Eric Liddell]

If they really want this place to be all that it can be, it needs to have a core amount of the classics.  games like...

Ms Pac man
Centipede
Galaga
Space Invaders
Asteroids
Tempest
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr
Defender
Pac-Man
Street Fighter II

These are the basics to build from in my opinion if you want to open a decent arcade.

-ez

[Berzerk]

Indy 500?

like...ORIGINAL Indy 500?

Glorious black and white Indy 500?

Wow.

[SanTe]

Indy 500?
like...ORIGINAL Indy 500?
Glorious black and white Indy 500?
Wow.

Doubtful.  Probably this one:

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8189

[Berzerk]

Indy 500?
like...ORIGINAL Indy 500?
Glorious black and white Indy 500?
Wow.

Doubtful.  Probably this one:

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8189

Shame. I remember reading when Warner Bros. bought Atari, Steven Ross (The clueless about video games CEO of WB) wanted an Indy 500 sitdown cabinet for his apartment but, as those old enough remember, that was a frickin' HYOOGE cabinet, so they couldn't fir it in! I presume, being a business big shot, he was NOT living on the first few floors, either.

[BBH]

yeah it's the 1995 Sega version, sorry.