(Topic ID: 233016)

Anyone else switching to buying arcade games?

By Backyardace

5 years ago


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  • 127 posts
  • 95 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 5 years ago by Lamprey
  • Topic is favorited by 3 Pinsiders

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    There are 127 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.
    #1 5 years ago

    When I got started in this hobby about 3 years ago my sole focus was on pinball machines. However, over the past year I have switched to buying arcade games. This is largely due to the rising cost of pinball machines.
    I have picked up games like Tempest, Pole Position, and Asteroids for far less than a thousand each.

    Curious if other have changed their focus, stopped buying, or have accepted significant increases in prices to get what you want?

    #2 5 years ago

    I go after both. I started with arcade machines and then started picking up pins. flipping some good arcade titles have paid for pins in the past.

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    #3 5 years ago

    No, they take up space that could be filled with pinball machines.

    #4 5 years ago

    I am in the market for a high end mame custom......been looking at pdx ....pins are getting pricey...

    #5 5 years ago

    Naw. It's the weird thing of single video games not being enough, and mame being too much.
    I may rebuild my Mame with a classic cab but still dont have much room for it.

    #6 5 years ago

    Maybe a cocktail table. Ms. PacMan?

    #7 5 years ago

    Have always wanted a cocktail table for sure.

    Decades ago I owned a Hyper Sports which was great...but a pain to move around.

    #8 5 years ago

    I did the opposite. I was really into arcade machines back in the 90's. Sold most of them to make room for my pinballs... And to buy more of them. (recently sold my OutRunners double cabinet for $650 CAD). But I kept my classics: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Killer Instinct 2 and Lethal Enforcers 2. I realised I'm more a "pinhead" than an arcade guy. But that's my choice.

    #9 5 years ago

    That is de-evolution...prices of pins do suck, but they are so much more fun. Arcades break way more and are more difficult to fix...Either way, whatever floats your boat works....

    #10 5 years ago
    Quoted from jkashani:

    Arcades break way more and are more difficult to fix

    I am not an arcade guy but I find this interesting. I would not have thought this to be true.

    #11 5 years ago

    Yep, take it from a guy who had 25+ arcade games at once. Points of failure: the power Supply, the boards, the wiring harness, the monitor and all the component boards....

    Quoted from Jgel:

    I am not an arcade guy but I find this interesting. I would not have thought this to be true.

    #12 5 years ago
    Quoted from Jgel:

    I am not an arcade guy but I find this interesting. I would not have thought this to be true.

    Must be all the moving parts in arcade machines..

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    #13 5 years ago

    i used to have 30+ plus arcades before i got my first pin. kept a few but sold almost all of em. never played them by myself, only when people came over but you can always enjoy a game of pin.

    i disagree with the fixing thing tho, arcades are way easier to fix most of the time. I would buy em broke and fix em and keep or flip em. also, once a arcade is up and going, hardly ever going to fail ya in your home.

    #14 5 years ago

    I like both! I’ve begun putting games and pins on location. Driving games make a lot more money than pins at my location. I’m shifting to provide more causal games, but still have some pins

    #15 5 years ago

    Yes sir, but I tend to lean towards games that are not easily emulated in MAME such as driving and other special controller type games.

    Recently picked up Atari APB and a Great 1000 Mile Rally that I modded to have both 1 and 2 in the same cab with a switch. Tore both apart and fully restored them. Both are great fun !

    #16 5 years ago

    I like both, but have many more pins than arcade games. I like the classic 80s ones. Simple 4 way stick a fire button or two.

    Not into the fighters at all. Don’t like all the buttons and all the stick combos.

    #17 5 years ago

    Not switching per se. I started with arcade games, mostly vector games that MAME can't simulate very well. I have about 12-13 arcade machines now and will continue to buy the ones I want if I can get a good deal. But, I tend to focus on Pinball these days. I just need to get a new place with more space.

    #18 5 years ago

    Pinballs are my choice, but yes, too damn expensive these days.
    So, I do have a few arcade machines, console games and games of ( uhh hmm ) skill!

    #19 5 years ago

    I have a stand up Star Wars, Big blue SFII Champion Edition, professionally restored Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4-player, Baby Pac-Man, Toobin, and a Bartop ms Pac-Man. They are fun but I’d rather have pins these days.

    #20 5 years ago

    I have a 999 multicade, but have a hard time understanding buying a single original arcade game that can be emulated for cheaper.

    #21 5 years ago

    Love my NFL Blitz mame cabinet, as video games are an inseparable part of arcades for me... But the pins have more replay factor for me, and they don’t emulate the same.

    #22 5 years ago

    Started with all videos. Always had about 50 or so at a time. I built 2 multicades then sold everything and bought pins. I have one vertical cab and one horizontal cab. I can play all the games I had and hundreds more with only two cabs. Don't take up much space. Now with pins, it's a different story.

    #23 5 years ago

    I collect both. I have a mint tempest that I picked up for $800. Got lucky on Craig’s list. The game is beautiful!!! The artwork is simply amazing. Looking for a Star Wars and Tron next!! I also have Atari console game.

    #25 5 years ago

    I think a person could get by with most video games in a MAME cabinet. If you want to get semi specialized you could have a cab for most horizontal games, one for most vertical games, personally I would want a dedicated one with a Street Fighter button layout. You could have another one for 4 player games (NBA Jam, TMNT, The Simpsons Arcade, etc...). That would have you covered for the vast majority of games without a control panel that was crazy with button variation.

    Of course that isn't taking certain games into the equation (ex: A vector monitor game is never going to look as good with a LCD or standard CRT monitor). There are also specialty games like light gun, driving, flying, etc....that can't be as easily replicated with am all in one solution......but in most cases, I think a MAME cab is all that is needed to acceptably replicate a classic arcade game.

    #26 5 years ago

    Gotta have a good balance of both.

    #27 5 years ago

    Have a Timber, Tapper, Star Wars and Namco 25th anniversary Ms. Pacman/Galaga. Rarely play them as pins are much more enjoyable. Turned them on over the holidays to play a game of Timber and make sure everything was working properly, but the pins get the bulk of attention. Most people don't realize how rare a Tapper or Timber is and could care less.

    #28 5 years ago

    Working on a tempest purchase, but in general I’ve found more enjoyment from my pins. I started with arcades, but I can’t leave the silver ball alone anymore. Except for a zoo keeper or turkey shoot, tempest may be my last arcade purchase. Agh, who am I kidding I want a defender, joust, missile command, asteroids..............

    #29 5 years ago
    Quoted from fxdwg:

    Simple 4 way stick a fire button or two.

    Not into the fighters at all. Don’t like all the buttons and all the stick combos.

    Totally agree with this. 1942 Bomb jack and Pengo were my favorites back in the day.Also Galaga,but a 2 way stick none the less.

    #30 5 years ago

    Must have both, Just bought a Pac Man Pixel Bash its great.

    #31 5 years ago

    I love driving games so I get the video arcade addiction.

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    #32 5 years ago

    3 Wheel Super Sprint, I will never part with that gem.

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    #33 5 years ago

    A game room should have atleast one or two arcade games in it.

    #34 5 years ago

    I think you are looking for KLOV forum?

    This is Pinside...

    In reality I have bought what some consider arcades, but i think of them as novelty mechanical games... ICB, Fire Escape, Little Pro
    To me, those are more pinball than they are arcade.

    #35 5 years ago

    I have both but the pins get way more love.

    #36 5 years ago

    I had a multicade 60-1, couldn’t wait to get rid of it. Took up too much space, nobody really played it much. I’ll stick to pinball.

    #37 5 years ago

    Interesting discussion.

    I have both and arcade games are 10x more reliable than pins. Not even close. A new arcade cabinet rarely has any issues, most pins require adjustments and leveling to insure proper game play. Arcade cabinets require putting the feet down and walking away.

    I collect both, pins are what my kids like so I'm partial to that but new locations rarely ask for pinball machines so our inventory is always growing with racing and shooting games.

    Pins are much cheaper than new arcade games. IE: JJPOTC =$9500 Halo=$30k+

    #38 5 years ago
    Quoted from TheLaw:

    Naw. It's the weird thing of single video games not being enough, and mame being too much.
    I may rebuild my Mame with a classic cab but still dont have much room for it.

    So true. I’ve got a custom Mame cab i made and doesn’t get much play. But I still love the classics. I’m thinking getting a nice cocktail with 40-60 classic games on it. Then I can also use it as a work bench for pinball.

    #39 5 years ago

    I have found myself with interest in arcades again (found myself with zero interest for several years). I have added 2019 Golden Tee and have been strongly considering Big Buck HD, but currently have “panic museum” to satisfy the Shooter.

    I will say I have little interest in buying single game units or classics, I have Arcade Legends 3, Pacman Pixel Bash to satisfy vertical and horizontal classics.

    Then have a couple hydro thunders and a California cruisin to satisfy the drivers

    I sold off my MAME and cheap multiboards, I did not care for them at all, things weren’t right.

    #40 5 years ago

    just sold my MAME and pool table last month.......but do still have a pair of Mario carts, and ice cold beer, and 7 pins

    #41 5 years ago

    Was just going to say Golden tee, i have it awhile now and just upgraded to GT 2019. This game gets alot of plays. So it really depends on the arcade game itself (title), Yes 60 in 1 games not that great, Pool tables great at first, Give them a couple months and see how much stuff you have stacked on them.

    #42 5 years ago

    I picked up my first arcade machine Rampage in 2009. It was only $200. I've got more into arcades the last couple years. They are much more nostalgic to me than pins. I waited on picking up many until I had more room, but wish I grabbed more back 8-10 years ago. They were so cheap. But now I've got most of my favorites from back in the day and I got them all at pretty good prices: NBA Jam, MK1, MK2, 2 Cruisin USA's, Neo Geo, restored Smash TV, Namco Donkey Kong 25th anniversary, Rampage, Paper Boy, & Ivan Stewarts Off Road. I'd love to pick up a Chiller.

    I'm selling a Namco Bowl-o-Rama (project, needs hard drive), Space Invaders, Combatribes in a Berzerk cabinet, and a 27" monitor Namco cabinet (w/soul calibur, soul edge, tekken 3, & pandoras box) if anyone is interested. I'd also probably part with Ivan Stewart's Off Road.

    #43 5 years ago
    Quoted from Bax1:

    I go after both. I started with arcade machines and then started picking up pins. flipping some good arcade titles have paid for pins in the past.

    This is me in a nutshell, will always have dedicated arcade games whether pins get the most attention or not.

    #44 5 years ago

    I have one giant MAME system and the rest are pins.
    Still find myself playing my pins way more.

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    #45 5 years ago

    No!! Never! I've been around long enough to remember when video games began to push out the pinball machines from the arcades in the early 80's. I hated it when I'd go to play, and there would only be one or two sad/broken pinballs stuffed in the corner, and the rest of the arcade was all video games. I tried to like 'em, but could never get into 'em.

    ...until DOOM late 90's. Then I started playing on-line and was hooked on the First Person Shooters...until around 2009 when I rediscovered pinball - and realized that was *IT* for me. You can play every video game on a PC, Tablet, TV - whatever - but there's only one way to play REAL pinball.

    #46 5 years ago

    I love MAME/multi cabinets. The problem with them is two fold, first too many games on one machine makes it impossible to find a game easily. They should have no more then ~100 games. The second problem is controller/screen layout. You can’t play Mortal Kombat well with a street fighter button layout.

    My solution was to have several MAME machines. One has a vertical screen, one is a 4 player cab with street fighter controls and a trackball. Another is a race car set up. If I build another it will be a cab with just a spinner and trackball to divide the list of games in my 4 player cab into two.

    On another note I just learned about a mod that’s being worked on that will take a 19” color crt tv and convert it into a color vector monitor. It’s was a $350 board, and you would have to re-wind the yoke coil. Not an easy job, but for the die hard vector guys it might be a cool product.

    #47 5 years ago

    Interesting-years ago all the KLOV guys were switching over to pins, must be the opposite now. I think some get tired of just pins and are looking for diversification, and some get tired of just arcades and gravitate towards pins. I would love to have a bunch of dedicated arcades but they take up too much space. I compromised and got a couple multi-cades to get my fix for most games but the games with special controllers are not replicable. I have a 720 and Paperboy and now hunting for several others. Pinball will always be my main passion but having fun with arcades on the side. It also helps me not get burnt out on just pins.

    #48 5 years ago

    I've always loved arcades, that's how I got into it all. But it seems lately every arcade I buy leaves at some point whereas all the pins have stayed. If I had more space would love to keep more of them but it's just not worth the space and money for me at this point. I can play most arcade games true to their form on my home consoles, even light gun shooters. I have a 30 in 1 cocktail arcade with the Arcadeshop board and a CRT that I love to have for guests, but otherwise just not feeling the investment with the rising costs of arcades too. It was much more appealing when arcade cabs could be had for a couple hundred vs a grand each.

    #49 5 years ago
    Quoted from RVApinballer:

    was much more appealing when arcade cabs could be had for a couple hundred vs a grand each.

    I agree it makes it harder to choke down what some of these arcades are selling for nowadays. I thought 'pinflation' was bad, 'arcade' inflation has been crazy in the last decade. When you find yourself paying pinball money for an arcade game-you have a problem.

    #50 5 years ago

    Hell no. Video games are boring AF compared to pinball. That's why they're cheap. Can only play them so many times.

    There are 127 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.

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