Money-hungry arcade machines

flying_delorean81 · Post by **flying_delorean81** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:46 pm

I went to the Trocadero in London this weekend to see what arcades they had, and ended up having a go on the Mario Kart machine. It's an alright game, and I tried hard and won my race. After the race however, I was disappointed to see that if I wanted to continue I was expected to drop another pound into the slot!

My point is that if you succeed on an arcade game, shouldn't you be rewarded by being allowed to continue on the money you originally put in? I dread to think how expensive it would be to try and complete that Mario Kart game, and I'm now curious as to whether most other machines employ this money grabbing method. It was the first time I've been in an arcade for years, and I was kind of expecting the old days of playing Street Fighter 2 - if you won a fight, you got to fight the next opponent on the same credit (at least that's what I hear - I always sucked at SF2!).

I'd be keen to hear the opinions of others who have more recent experience of arcade machines than myself.

The Master · Post by **The Master** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:56 pm

I think it only does that if you lose. Be of pure heart, my retro children.

sscott · Post by **sscott** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:11 pm

A pound is extrotianate really where on House of the Dead you'll get 5 minutes play or whatever. But worry not, no-ones making real money out of arcade machines anymore. SF II and Mortal Kombat were blips on the ever sliding fortunes of arcades since about the mid-80's.

Fred83 · Post by **Fred83** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:19 pm

i think its also down to consoles are getting more powerful and are able to have arcade perfect games ported to them,so people more rather play them on console than a quid a go in the arcades

David · Post by **David** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:13 am

Deffo on the Mario Kart arcade machine.

Played it once - won my race - it wanted another Â£1 to move onto the next track.

flying_delorean81 · Post by **flying_delorean81** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:28 am

It looks like it's just the Mario Kart machine that's being greedy. After walking away from it in disgust I found an old Virtua NBA machine (circa 1999/2000 I think) which gave me 2 credits for my Â£1 - just enough for me to win 4 matches and become NBA champion! The only problem with that game was there was no high score table so kids won't be able to marvel at my 3 letter name for years to come... Not that they would, most people seemed to be steering clear of this corner of the Trocadero, with its 3 "retro" machines.

thl · Post by **thl** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:44 am

I experienced this problem when I played the Super Sidekick series. At first I thought I was going to play both 1st and 2nd half during the game. Despite the scoreline being at least goalless and when time rans out, the continue screen pops up. Can't believe I have to insert few coins to try and progress to the next round.

ToxieDogg · Post by **ToxieDogg** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:19 pm

David wrote:Deffo on the Mario Kart arcade machine.

Played it once - won my race - it wanted another Â£1 to move onto the next track.

And me. Put me off pkaying it completely. However, given that Namco developed it for Nintendo, and also Namco's recent track record with Xbox Live 'downloadable content' (ie. having to pay to unlock content that's already on the disc!!) I'm not surprised.

I seem to remember that on the arcade version of Double Dragon 3, you had to pay for upgrades/new moves from the item shop with real cash!

killbot · Post by **killbot** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:29 am

Arcade machines are a joke these days. It would probably cost Â£5-10 to complete the average game, or I can buy something similar for a home console and (if it's a year or two old) probably only pay the same price, but it takes ten times as long to complete and is much deeper and more fun.

Tronads · Post by **Tronads** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:53 am

Im still miffed from when games went from 10p to 20p.

TheDude18 · Post by **TheDude18** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:57 am

The Mario Kart machine is a right rip off. Me and mrs dude jumped on as we both play a lot of mario kart. We came in first and second. I was shocked that we had to put in some more cash!. This is the first machine I've used that you have to pay to carry on in the game even though you had won the previous round/level/course.

Are there any other machines like this?

STranger81 · Post by **STranger81** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:20 am

We went bowling recently to Megabowl in Derby and the arcade is crap compared to what it was, we used to go to a lot and the arcade was brilliant. It was at Derby Megabowl that I first played Mortal Kombat all those years ago, and its had to move with the times, but the times arent that good im afraid.

If you dont like "dance dance humiliation" or lightgun games your screwed. The only game I played was Time Crisis 2 and that was for the sake of it because ive got it at home on the PS2

DPrinny · Post by **DPrinny** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:05 am

Theres still some arcaes chargen a quid a go for Daytona and Sega rally

No wonder they have got "Insert coin" burnned into there screens

A pound is extrotianate really where on House of the Dead you'll get 5 minutes play or whatever.

Unless your good at it or if the owner put it on one life

Trixta · Post by **Trixta** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:12 am

most snk games rob you blind aswell

Kaede · Post by **Kaede** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:40 am

To be fair, the Mario Kart arcade game is all about the multi player and Â£1 a race is fair I reckon. But yeah, it is cheeky there isn't a proper one player mode.

Can't remember if Daytona USA was set up like this as well?

As for money grabbing games: every side scrolling fighter ever. Impossible on one credit.

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