My university was hosting an arcade/pinball expo last Saturday. I really haven't been immersed in the coin-operated arcade genre that much and it was only a short walk from my dorm, so I might as well check it out, take some pics, and satisfy my curiosity.
I am very inexperienced with arcade games mostly because I grew up in the age of the Game Boy Advance. Arcades have lost much of their popularity and there weren't any (that I knew of) to go to where I lived. Unless you count those lame games at the mall and movie theater, but I wasn't planning on wasting money on those things anyway. I was perfectly content with my GBA thank you very much. Ironically one of the first GBA games I got was a Pacman game. (I don't exactly remember which one it was though.) However, I liked Pokemon Leaf Green a lot better, and so the Pacman game gathered dust. As of today, I have know Idea what became of it. Maybe I sold it or something.
When I played the arcade games at the expo, I didn't do well on a majority of them. But I didn't expect to anyway. The controls for some games have a different feel; they're not as smooth or elegant as what I'm used to. But, I still had fun with them and I got through a few levels of Pacman too.
As for the pinball genre; I think my first experience with pinball was probably that Space Cadet pinball game on Windows XP. Then Pokemon Pinball Ruby/Sapphire; which I still like to play every once in a while. (Does the Waluigi Pinball track from Mario Kart DS count too?) Both of these games were very addicting to me and I enjoyed them. But, as far as I can remember I don't think I played on an actual machine before this. I loved the flashing lights, moving parts, and ramps of the pinball machines. The machines were just as addicting as the games I mentioned above if not more. It got especially chaotic during those multi-ball bonuses with 3 - 4 balls flying around at the same time. Then there was that frustration when the ball gets in those far side slots that lead you to losing your ball. (Where's that Pika bonus when I need it?) It was definitely one of my favorite parts of the expo.
Anyway, here are some pictures. Just so you know, I didn't take pictures of every single machine. There are a lot more that are not pictured.
First with the pinball machines:
I AM THE LAW!
Strangely enough, Nesbro posted the music for this in the VG spam thread a few days ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear it that well because of all the other machines around me.
Below (Left -> Right) Simpsons, Star Trek TNG, and poker themed pinball machines
Another pic of the Star Trek TNG pinball machine
Below (Left -> Right) are AC/DC, Avengers, Star Trek (2009 movie), X-Men, and Metallica themed pinball machines.
In my opinion, the Star Trek pinball machine was the most visually appealing machine
On to the Arcade games:
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong 3 and Donkey Kong Junior
Super Mario Bros
Double Dragon
Capcom Vs. SNK 2
Frogger and Space Invaders
Tron
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Punch-Out
Someone was playing a Star Wars machine and my camera got lazy.
I'M GONNA WRECK IT!
To tell you the truth, I honestly thought Fix It Felix was a fictional game that Disney made up until now.
EDIT: It's actually a mock arcade cabinet Disney used to promote the movie during E3 2012.
Street Fighter II
Someone came over while I was playing and battled with me. I managed to get a few good hits and KO'd him once, but it was too much and I lost 2/3. I was losing to the computers anyway, so I'm happy I won at least one round.
A PSA that appears on the Street Fighter machine (As well as some other machines) during their demo sequence.
Below is a NES and SNES both available for playing. Which I did not expect to find here. So I played Super Mario World, Mario Kart, and Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2. I own all 3 of the GBA ports for the DKC games and it was a bit of a challenge adjusting to the SNES versions. I'm used to using the A button for jumping, but the SNES uses the B button instead. To pick up and throw stuff, you use the X instead of B. Things like this lead to a few deaths.
A case of NES, SNES, and N64 games nearby. I think those are Genesis games at the top of the picture.
Also nearby is a couple of Gamecubes, a Sega Saturn, I think a NES, and something else on the bottom
Yep that's all.
I am very inexperienced with arcade games mostly because I grew up in the age of the Game Boy Advance. Arcades have lost much of their popularity and there weren't any (that I knew of) to go to where I lived. Unless you count those lame games at the mall and movie theater, but I wasn't planning on wasting money on those things anyway. I was perfectly content with my GBA thank you very much. Ironically one of the first GBA games I got was a Pacman game. (I don't exactly remember which one it was though.) However, I liked Pokemon Leaf Green a lot better, and so the Pacman game gathered dust. As of today, I have know Idea what became of it. Maybe I sold it or something.
When I played the arcade games at the expo, I didn't do well on a majority of them. But I didn't expect to anyway. The controls for some games have a different feel; they're not as smooth or elegant as what I'm used to. But, I still had fun with them and I got through a few levels of Pacman too.
As for the pinball genre; I think my first experience with pinball was probably that Space Cadet pinball game on Windows XP. Then Pokemon Pinball Ruby/Sapphire; which I still like to play every once in a while. (Does the Waluigi Pinball track from Mario Kart DS count too?) Both of these games were very addicting to me and I enjoyed them. But, as far as I can remember I don't think I played on an actual machine before this. I loved the flashing lights, moving parts, and ramps of the pinball machines. The machines were just as addicting as the games I mentioned above if not more. It got especially chaotic during those multi-ball bonuses with 3 - 4 balls flying around at the same time. Then there was that frustration when the ball gets in those far side slots that lead you to losing your ball. (Where's that Pika bonus when I need it?) It was definitely one of my favorite parts of the expo.
Anyway, here are some pictures. Just so you know, I didn't take pictures of every single machine. There are a lot more that are not pictured.
First with the pinball machines:
I AM THE LAW!
Strangely enough, Nesbro posted the music for this in the VG spam thread a few days ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear it that well because of all the other machines around me.
Below (Left -> Right) Simpsons, Star Trek TNG, and poker themed pinball machines
Another pic of the Star Trek TNG pinball machine
Below (Left -> Right) are AC/DC, Avengers, Star Trek (2009 movie), X-Men, and Metallica themed pinball machines.
In my opinion, the Star Trek pinball machine was the most visually appealing machine
On to the Arcade games:
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong 3 and Donkey Kong Junior
Super Mario Bros
Double Dragon
Capcom Vs. SNK 2
Frogger and Space Invaders
Tron
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Punch-Out
Someone was playing a Star Wars machine and my camera got lazy.
I'M GONNA WRECK IT!
EDIT: It's actually a mock arcade cabinet Disney used to promote the movie during E3 2012.
Street Fighter II
Someone came over while I was playing and battled with me. I managed to get a few good hits and KO'd him once, but it was too much and I lost 2/3. I was losing to the computers anyway, so I'm happy I won at least one round.
A PSA that appears on the Street Fighter machine (As well as some other machines) during their demo sequence.
Below is a NES and SNES both available for playing. Which I did not expect to find here. So I played Super Mario World, Mario Kart, and Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2. I own all 3 of the GBA ports for the DKC games and it was a bit of a challenge adjusting to the SNES versions. I'm used to using the A button for jumping, but the SNES uses the B button instead. To pick up and throw stuff, you use the X instead of B. Things like this lead to a few deaths.
A case of NES, SNES, and N64 games nearby. I think those are Genesis games at the top of the picture.
Also nearby is a couple of Gamecubes, a Sega Saturn, I think a NES, and something else on the bottom
Yep that's all.