Arcade Club

We recently made another visit to the awesome Arcade Club.  The arcade has a lot of new additions, including quite a few titles I had never played before.  Here is a walk round video of the main floor.

My gaming highlights, in no particular order.

Moon Patrol – Irem - 1982

This is one I’d never played before.  The controls are great and I love the physics of the buggy.  The game feels entirely fair and has that ‘one more go’ quality.  Awesome cabinet art as well.

Mechanized Attack – SNK – 1989

It’s been years since I’ve played this.  I enjoyed a run through, and saw the ‘You are dead!’ message quite a bit!  The visuals are great, with awesome Terminator inspired enemies.

Total Carnage – Midway - 1992

It was great to have a few credits on this Smash TV sequel.  I only ever saw this in one arcade back in the day, The Majestic, Great Yarmouth.

Vendetta – Konami – 1991

A fun scrolling beat-em-up with lots of nice touches.  I particularly liked the bucket.  Not a conventional weapon, but kick the bucket and it will land on an enemy’s head, causing him to roam about like a headless chicken!

These four-player dedicated cabinets were everywhere in the nineties, but it’s the first time I’ve seen a dedicated Vendetta.

Monkey Mole Panic – Taito – 1992

Basically a videogame version of Whack-a-Mole.  It’s the first time I’ve seen this Electrocoin cabinet.  Great fun, especially in multiplayer. 

Mercs – Capcom – 1990

I don’t recall seeing this game in the arcades, but remember renting the Megadrive version from the local video shop.  Awesome game, I love the control panel art.

Zaxxon -  Sega - 1982

Another arcade first for me.  I enjoyed playing this isometric shooter, but the more I played, the worse I seemed to get.  The joystick did feel a little clunky.  Yes that’s right, I’m blaming the joystick for my poor performance!

BurgerTime – Data East – 1982

Great fun and addictive, but never have fried eggs and hot dogs been so infuriating!  I love the control panel and side art.

Tapper – Bally Midway – 1983

Serve beer and collect empty glasses and tips, much more fun than it sounds!  Another title I’ve only played at Arcade Club.

I love how the cabinet is designed to look and feel like a bar, with possibly the best control panel ever!

Osman – Mitchell Corp - 1996

It was great to see this rare and beautiful spiritual sequel to Strider.  The artwork really is stunning, but the game is punishingly difficult if you stick to the one credit rule.  I actually have this game, and really need to get this in a cab and spend some time with it.

The awesome line up of Electrocoin cabinets takes me right back to how I remember arcades back in the day.

Some more pics of Arcade Club.