I posted this over at KLOV, but I figured I'll post it here and make it the beginning of a blog that I'll update when I reach some score milestones etc.
When I was a kid I had a friend who was one of those kids whose parents bought him everything - a spoiled rich kid of sorts. So he had like every video game and system imaginable. Both his parents played games. His mom was really good at Tetris, Columns, and Dr. Mario, and I always remember her in the living room playing one of those three games. He was the first person I knew that got a Sega Genesis, I still remember him showing me Altered Beast. But the most amazing thing of all was that his dad collected Arcade machines and they had a basement full of classic games, all free to play! This was in the late 1980's so by this point they were already a bit dated, but it still blew my mind - just the whole concept of actually having an arcade machine IN YOUR HOME! My young mind would never have even conceived of such a reality before I saw it with my own eyes. We didn't even have cable TV at my house and just had one old 19' Zenith TV from the late 70s, the kind with the big knob to change the channel. The contrast between my home and my friend's home was almost overwhelming, it was like entering some sort of video game utopia. I had to beg for years before my parents finally and reluctantly got me an NES (Yes that's the same one seen in the pictures below!) One of the arcade machines I remember playing in that basement was Donkey Kong, and I never forgot just how difficult the game was. Even in the late 80s and early 90s when I would go over this friend's house, I still knew there was something special about these older era games, and that memory stuck with me. With the resurgence of the arcades in the early 90s, I was mostly interested in the new games like NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat, Turtles, etc, but when I started getting down to my last few quarters I would head to the back corners of Aladdin's Castle where they kept the old games that only cost 25cents per credit, milking the last of my resource.
Ok, now that that nostalgia trip is aside, I present you with the latest, and for space limitations in my apartment, FINAL addition to my humble, two machine arcade. I really wanted a cabaret and I needed one in great condition as it's literally in the middle of my living room. It arrived this afternoon. My friend was there to help me set it up and start playing. My current high score is 80K.
What's that in the distance??
My friend will be providing fierce competition. We already have an intense Galaga 88 rivalry.
I got some new side art for that Galaga.
They look so happy together!!
Current high score. Just warming up. I to the DK Remix high score save kit, but haven't put it in yet.
