![XBLA horror game Deadlight "is NOT a zombie shooter," says dev](http://www.oxmonline.com/files/imagecache/featured_content/deadlight-feature-300.jpg "XBLA horror game Deadlight "is NOT a zombie shooter," says dev")
Back to the Womb
A recent discussion on the OXM forums got me a little misty-eyed for the past. Greater Joe over there talked about being in his 30s and still lusting after some of the games he never had, and remembering the gaming culture of New York City 15 or 20 years ago fondly.
Of course, a good chunk of the people reading this don't remember gaming 15 or 20 years ago, period. They might remember sippy cups and nursery rhymes, if they're lucky. For many current gamers, their hobby started with the NES or SNES -- if not the original PlayStation -- and they saw games evolve in their own home. But I am and will always be an arcade rat.
And at the risk of sounding like an old fart (a reality that Ryan has lovingly euphemized into "Chief Retrologist"), I will admit that I miss the arcade culture -- and I was in New York for Greater Joe's era, too. I grew up on the east coast and visited the city often, and some of my strongest arcade memories were of Station Break at Penn Station, below Madison Square Garden. I just ran a quick Google search to see if anybody had any photos of the place posted online and -- I don't believe this -- someone has rebuilt the place as a 3D model for a MAME interface. This blows my mind (I don't even have 3DArcade installed) and kinda gets me choked up. Clearly the place meant something to someone else, too.
Welcome home.
Station Break was the place where I played Pac-Man for the first time, as a ten-year-old kid in 1981. There were lines waiting to play each of the five machines, seven people deep. I waited 20 minutes for my turn -- an eternity to a tyke in a room full of flashing lights. It was worth it.
When I got my first job in magazines, I commuted from NJ to NY and, every morning, visitied Station Break on my walk to work. I played Mortal Kombat II there for the first time, and soon became addicted to NBA Jam. They say you never forget your first. I can remember where I was when I played certain games for the first time, but a hell of a lot of gaming "firsts" in my life were at Station Break -- Columns, Killer Instinct, Punch-Out!!, Smash TV. It was noisy and dark and set the standard for what an arcade was supposed to be.
The lower level housed most of the pins, interrupted by an island of vids right about where you're standing.
I am extremely grateful that classic arcade games live on through emulation and rereleases, and it's easy to romanticize the past -- not every arcade I went into was all sunshine and rainbows -- but I can't deny that I liked gaming to have a social center that wasn't a store. Xbox Live is a great way to keep in touch with and play with my pals, but it's simply not the same as putting a quarter up.
We had to walk to the arcade uphill both ways in the snow in my day, too.
Related
More like this:
EWalker798
December 12, 2007 at 8:26pm
Dan your not alone, being in my forties now I remember the first time with pong on the BLACK & WHITE T.V. (most of them are saying right now "What's a BLACK & WHITE T.V.),but those were the good old days I was 14 in 1977 so you know I know what your talking about when you say long lines to play Space Invaders or trying to beat that 5000 high score (5000 is that all) still gaming to this day with all of the old systems still have the first atari hooked up and every gaming system after that I mean all of the systems from 1st nintendo to playstation 3 and all in between going back to spending one quarter and staying on galaga for at least an hour was the way I spent my afternoon right after work at 15 would go straight to arcade and 1 dollar and be there for 2 hours man you took me back to the time when games were games and people did shoot people because of them thanks for the memories Dan "You Da Man"
Aftrthought051
December 04, 2007 at 10:14am
dang whippersnappers! think they know everything. Thx for the correction. LMAO ------------------------ The place for gaming dads DaddyPlace.com
Dan OXM (not verified)
December 03, 2007 at 5:55pm
Computer Space. "Computer Flight?" You kids today. (Computer Space and I came out the same year.) Arcades got a rep as a dangerous or violent place. It varied greatly by location, but as coin-op tapered off and home gaming took over, the arcade owners couldn't afford the rent. That's why they disappeared.
Aftrthought051
December 03, 2007 at 2:55pm
while I'm not as old as you Dan, (LOL), I can remember fondly playing video games from asteroids to donkey kong (no pong or computer flight though) I really miss those days, but most of all I miss .25 to play. What's up with these games now being a $1 to play, and you die in the first five minutes. No dedicated arcade stores in malls or stand alones either. No thanks. But give me a .25 machine and I'll play for days. Feels like I'm getting more for my money. ------------------------ The place for gaming dads DaddyPlace.com
Ghost
November 29, 2007 at 7:40pm
Well Dan, have you started using the term "Whippersnapper" yet? ______________________________ http://gameghost.blogspot.com/
CAWeissen
November 29, 2007 at 5:42pm
Oh boy, the place I lived in in Orange County, CA didn't have anything like this! (As far as I can remember.)
djpotatohead
November 29, 2007 at 3:39pm
i grew up in a rather small city. We didn't have arcades so i was really jeolous of people talking about going on vacation and spending all their time in an arcade. I do however remember growing up on the commadore 64 and calicovision. Then it was straight to Sonic and the Sega Genesis. My brother still has a Genesis and i go over there every once in a while and relive the good ol' days.
Juggler_of_Geese
November 29, 2007 at 2:24pm
I cannot imagine how many quarters I pumped in to Defender, Galaga, Zaxxon, Spyhunter, Donkey Kong or Space Invaders. Don't get me started on Tempest, The Vectron Star Wars game, and that tank one I cannot remember the name of.
Greater Joe
November 29, 2007 at 2:08pm
Wow, you remember Penn Station!!!! (Huge Smile) I'd hop off of the 'A' train right after school there, fiending to play the original Street Fighter, World Heroes or Double Dragon!! Aah the memories.
Connect with OXM Online
Featured Content
Bungie's contract with Activision includes four sci-fi shooters, a year of Xbox...
Failed Kinect integration proves that you can't teach an old serpent new tricks.
This month's issue
Features
Crysis 3 announced!
Reviews
Trials Evolution, Devil May Cry HD Collection, South Park XBLA
Previews
Assassin's Creed III, Halo 4, Deadlight, and more!
OXM Twitter Feed
- OXM: Lego Batman 2 pre-order DLC lets you choose from heroes like Captain Marvel & Nightwing or villains like Bizarro. http://t.co/XxhkAskd50 min 6 sec ago
- OXM: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is here...and it's amazing! Don't miss our red-hot review: http://t.co/yRZ8GMtt @GhostRecon @Ubisoft @RedStorm2 hours 23 min ago
- OXM: Minecraft-playing SDTV owners, good news! You get a refund since splitscreen is HD-only. Bad news? You're using a SDTV. http://t.co/ccirILJk3 hours 25 min ago
