Your greatest moment in the arcades

[Syntax Error]

Part of the charm of playing at the arcades is having a large crowd forming to observe your mad skillz. It's the reason why there are groups gathered around those Tekken cabinets because a guy has this 20-win streak that's not likely to end anytime soon. Or like when people look at those two who net insane scores and ranks at DDR. Or people see you blasting hordes of baddies in Time Crisis 4 and not get hit even once.

My greatest arcade moment happened around five years ago at House of the Dead 3. I was playing the game like I used to. Going from right to left when I get to choose the next level. That was probably my best run through that game ever. I made it to the Sloth-like boss without dying and it looks like I'm on my way to beating it. Before I knew it, there were people behind me. Then, at the most intense moments of that fight, the screen suddenly went white. The crowds left and the place gave me another round. I wasn't able to top that moment even now.

So what's your greatest arcade moment?

 

[Valiance]

I'm jealous. :/

Does best-buy count and a crowd around a guitar hero setup count?

Otherwise, I'm pretty much empty for a house of the dead 2 thing, where I was doing relatively well (people thought I was doing really good for some reason - I guess they have no standards) and some people started to watch. I lost at the end of chapter 4 with the giant chainsaw guy in the maze. Probably because I forgot to use the player 2 gun (first one randomly decides to not fire sometimes, gets uncalibrated and such...)

 

[peachy_keen]

I got through LA Machine Guns without any continues! I was vry proud of myself, even though I got a indian burn on my trigger finger.

 

[Captain Spectacular]

I was 11 years old in an arcade in Vegas. I decided to play Daytona USA because there were doing some sorta tournament thing or something. I joined in and went against 7 other players (most of which were in there late 20s). Now these must have been some of the cockiest bastards I'd ever seen because they kept bitching about how the rules were we had to play on the easy track while they wanted to play on the expert one. So I felt a little out of place and figured that these guys were some sorta hot shot professionals or something. As soon as the race started I quickly found they were no better than me, though they didn't lose any of their cockiness. But the most satisfying moment was at the last second when they thought they were about to win, I inched past them and grabbed first place. There was nothing sweeter than to see the look on their faces when they saw their screen say second to an 11-year old kid in front of a whole crowd of people.

 

[willard3]

Most of mine revolve around DDR, because I can actually play on Heavy. A girl offered me her number after she and a couple of her friends saw me playing. Most unfortunately, I was not attracted to her at all.

Playing DDR when nobody is watching is way less fun than having a crowd. It gets so that my decision to enter the arcade at all depends on how many cars are out front.

 

[MrGFunk]

19 vs. wins in a row playing Mortal Kombat way back in '93.

I'm sure that won't impress most people, but I was proud.

I'm impressed - were the losers random people, coins across the cabinet...

Good times.

Using my "Research Time" for business studies to go to town and play Mortal Kombat and ripping people's hearts out with Kano and spinal cords with SubZero.

 

[Theo Samaritan]

Most of mine revolve around DDR, because I can actually play on Heavy. A girl offered me her number after she and a couple of her friends saw me playing. Most unfortunately, I was not attracted to her at all.

Playing DDR when nobody is watching is way less fun than having a crowd. It gets so that my decision to enter the arcade at all depends on how many cars are out front.

I can second this. DDR on Heavy, and even more so ITG and PIU, brings in the best crowds and stroke the ego like none other ^^

 

[stevenrkorea]

I can still remember having a bunch of people around me watch on as I defeated Blues Bloody to become the world heavy weight champion in Exciting Hour wrestling.

That game was so awesome. It's still awesome.

 

[Locker420]

Well my best moment wasn't because of an audience but I'll share anyway as you gave me a flashback. Finding a twenty dollar bill on the street in the small town in which I grew up. Riding 4 miles on my pre-bmx bike out to our crappy mall with the only arcade for 30 miles. Blowing the entire twenty dollars playing Tempest and Battlezone. Ahhhhh.... memories....

 

[Bofus Teefus]

Rolled 12 people in a row in Street Fighter 2. Not a huge number, but it felt like it.

 

[TheFace]

I used to visit an arcade near my house an frequently go the whole day without losing at Mortal Kombat II, with Kitana. I'd stop after 20-25 fights to let other people play. After a week or two people started getting better at it and I started getting beaten more often.

 

[Dr. Hobnob]

Am I the only person who still plays Pacman or Glaxian in arcades?
My greatest arcade moment was a few years ago when I completed 15 levels of Pacman in one life 8) No crowd though. Not exactly an awe inspiring/interesting thing to watch. Was a complete fluke and I've not done anything near as well since.

 

[WingedFortress]

When I was a kid, we'd go to a hotdog joint named skinners outside of the city. Conveniently for me, there was a limited arcade in the back. Most of the games sucked, but I remember getting the high score on bubble bobble once.

Yeah, pretty sad story.

 

[Kongming]

A DDR kinda game in China (gotta love em)...
had seats next to em cuz the waiting time was sick. I say kinda DDR as it needed hand movements to 2 chinese girls were on sicko-frigging-rockhard mode and both had a score which was in the billion... huge crowd and their dancemoves were looking rather awesome...
My own best arcade was Ghostsquad shooter co-op, me and a mate knew every enemy and we just rocked that time... i dunno why people were more intrested in it, could be because we were good, or because we were white (they dont see white people often )

oeh: nearly forgot! a bullstopper arcade game, you had to turn the head to tackle the bull with various strenghts... i was the only one who was actually able to win that damned game ^_^
made me feel strong and manly

 

[DigitalSushi]

19 vs. wins in a row playing Mortal Kombat way back in '93.

I'm sure that won't impress most people, but I was proud.

Au contraire! I am filled with awe!, I too had a mad streak in front of a crowd at mortal kombat, Using Scorpian, each new combatant got fried.

We should get together and exchange blood spatter theories or something.

edit: I was actually very young at the time, and the people putting their money in where bigger boys, and threatening to beat me up.... I was on my own in the arcade, so i just concentrated on playing the game, when I told my mother, she was so proud.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

True poseur moment

I'm playing on Virtua Cop when my phone rings. Without breaking a sweat, I flick the gun to my off-hand, reach for my phone and answer it.

*BANG* *BANG*
"Can I ring you back? I'm in the middle of a firefight."
"...Yeah...sure..."
*click*

Phone back in pocket, flick the gun back and blow away the guy who's drawn a bead on me.

Never manage it again in a million years, but for that one moment, I was the Fonz

 

[Megacherv]

When I first completed Time Crisis 2 on a ferry to Belgium on a trip for school.

 

[DigitalSushi]

True poseur moment

I'm playing on Virtua Cop when my phone rings. Without breaking a sweat, I flick the gun to my off-hand, reach for my phone and answer it.

*BANG* *BANG*
"Can I ring you back? I'm in the middle of a firefight."
"...Yeah...sure..."
*click*

Phone back in pocket, flick the gun back and blow away the guy who's drawn a bead on me.

Never manage it again in a million years, but for that one moment, I was the Fonz

you get bonus points if it was a clamshell phone and you flicked it open.

Please tell me you did that?

 

[ta_bandit]

For arcade games I would have to say galaga, i can spend hours on that game with just a quarter or two. It's a classic and one of the best retro arcade games in my mind.