Page 7 - Old School Gamer Magazine Issue #42 FREE Edition

sleep. When I returned to Replay II after that vacation, I would always gather a huge crowd around me when I played Space Ace. It was awesome.
As a young adult in my 20s I fell
in love with fighting games. I got a job, and during my lunch breaks I would always go across the street from where I worked to a little pizza joint, and play their Street Fighter II for the entire time. All this practice paid off, as I ended up being the local Street Fighter II champion at my local arcade for a few years.
John Riggs Content Creator
One memory that many may not be able to wrap their heads around in today's digital age of news is that, in the early days of the arcade, we didn't know what games would come out. There were no 'look out for this arcade game coming soon' as we didn't have the Internet, and magazines didn't really talk about video games outside of the rare blip from OMNI or something. You just had to show up to an arcade to see what they had. If you loved that game, you'd have to hope they'd still have it next time you went.
I remember the first time I saw Street Fighter (the first one). I thought it had a fun idea where the harder you hit the two giant, padded buttons, the harder you
would attack in the game. It's a fun idea in theory but my weak arms weren't built for playing that game seriously, so I did terribly the one time I tried it. Fast-forward a few years later, I saw Street Fighter 2. I thought to myself, "A sequel to that terrible game?" Little did I know that it was a huge hit and could
be one of the most, if not the most, influential video game of the '90s.
Todd Friedman OSG Writer, Content Creator
My first memory of the old days and arcades was Aladdin's Castle in the 80s, where the "coin pouch" was used to hold the quarters. You would pinch the ends to open the pouch and grab the quarters. I had the official Aladdin's Castle pouch and collected many different ones. Ironically, in the mid-90s, I worked at Aladdin's Castle at college. I
was on the other side of giving the quarters out instead of taking them. It really was cool to see how the arcade and ticket machines worked behind the scenes, which gave
me a larger aspect of the industry. Another favorite spot to play arcade machines was Chuck 'E Cheese restaurants. There are still Chuck E' Cheese locations near me, and they are doing pretty well. I spent many birthdays there and spent a lot of money to get tokens to play the games. I was the champion at
pop-a-shot basketball and always got the jackpot for the most points anytime I played.
John Hancock Content Creator
I grew up in a great time when arcades were thriving. I have
so many great memories of the arcades, and all at different times. One of my very first vivid memories goes to the early years of arcades.
I was very young, probably around the age of 5, and remember going to a Shakey's Pizza in Redding, California. My parents got me
set up with a barstool and a few quarters to play a game of my choice in their arcades. This was my first experience playing arcade games, and there were many to choose from. The ones that stood out to me at the time were Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Galaxian. I chose Space Invaders and loved the experience. I went back to ask for more quarters from my parents, and they replied with a "no," though.
One of my more unusual memories of an arcade game was from a grocery store. I lived in the country, but we did have a pizza parlor
and a few other restaurants that provided arcade games in the 80s. We typically did not get new games in our town very often, and news traveled by word of mouth about what locations had new games. I remember seeing a line out the door but did not know why. The grocery store got a new game in, and it
was Super Mario Bros. I remember people being amazed with the scrolling aspect of the game, and the line was at least 20 deep. This was my first experience with Super Mario Bros, and I remember waiting in line a long time to play it.
Tristan Ibarra OSG Publishers Board, Author
Growing up, we had a couple of arcades in Humboldt County, CA, but since my parents would never
SEPTEMBER 2024 • WWW.OLDSCHOOLGAMER.COM
7