The idea of the arcade isn't what it used to be but they still hold memories for a lot of people.
The idea of the arcade was a great idea. People of all ages could go to a location and play video games that might probably weren’t released to the home market yet. If you were good enough to have a reputation as the guy/girl that was still on their initial quarter, you were considered the best player in the building. Now, where I live, the arcade signals one of two things. You either live in a shore town and arcades are everywhere or the arcade is a dying animal. In this instance, I’m referring to the “dying animal.” Please join me in taking “a Look Back” to arcades.
My favorite arcade growing up in New Jersey was in a mall off the highway. Unfortunately, this gem doesn’t exist anymore. The mall also had a McDonald’s in it and also went out of business. When you have a McDonald’s go out of business, the area is going downhill fast. I can still remember being told if I was a good boy, I could go to the arcade when my mom was done shopping. You have no idea how much I wanted to go to that arcade! I was a little rambunctious as a child so the bribe was mostly so my mother could shop in peace but I didn’t care, I wanted at those video games. One of my favorite memories was getting bootleg Mighty Morphing Power Ranger toys in this same mall outside the arcade, spray paint and all.
This arcade had some of my favorite beat-em-up games. It had the classics like The Simpsons Game and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time. I also remember playing one of my favorite games as kid there. This game was basically a take off of another popular rail shooter. I’m talking about The C.O.W.Boys of Moo-Mesa classic arcade game. The game went off of the classic concept of having a TV show, toy line, and video game franchise. The game stayed in the arcade rather than going to home consoles, like TMNT eventually did. The area was also where the Toys R Us was where my mom and I sat outside overnight to wait for the Game Cube launch.
