I bought one of those stick that plugs into tv with 2 PS1 controllers for my bar, all good fun. Although I had lots of gaming systems over years with loads of games. Not really mastered any or got a big favourite. Usually just always fall back to footy manager games or Footy games. Loved Football manager and soccer boss on Amstrad
Slightly further afield for most, although closer for me, is Arcade Club in Leeds, which offers the same thing but on a bigger scale. A typical day in there for me will involve Out Run, Space Harrier, Track & Field, Hyper Sports, Paperboy, Super Sprint and Kung Fu Master, but there's pretty much every game you could name within there across the 3 floors. Top floor also has consoles, PC's for Minecraft/Fortnite, etc plus a VR setup. There are pinball machines and air hockey on the ground floor. Huge fun, with a bar and food offering too.
I used to love Phoenix, when I was about 10. Also Daley Thompson's Decathlon, when I found that you could jump under the high jump and it would think you had gone over.
I've been to their one in Bury, which I believe is the biggest free play arcade in Europe. They've literally everything you can think of, and a lot of weird Japanese stuff that you've never seen anything like before.
I am now trying to work out where I could have one of these in the house without the missus having a fit!
I bought one of then Mini-Snes the other year when they were all the rage. About 20 built in games - Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, Streetfighter, Zelda, Castlevania etc. Blumming memories there. Still play Championship Manager 01/02, which is the factually the greatest game of all time.
Haha! We built a pub in the cellar - well, it's actually a dive bar - so mine is down there. Can't recommend the guy highly enough. It's partly a social enterprise, he provides work for young offenders and stuff like that.
They have some of the Japanese stuff in Leeds too, some of which I've never figured out how to play as it's in the native language on screen. I think they're opening, or have already opened, another one in Blackpool too.
Emlyns was the dogs b@ll@cks but it was hard on those frail cheetah joysticks.....knackered a few all through playing Emlyns..........sithi.
As a kid I loved Asteroids and Missile Command, both played on the big cabinets in seaside amusement arcades. Later, in the pubs, it was Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Galaxian and Defender. Later still, on various home consoles, my favourites were Football Manager, Pro Evolution Soccer, and Tomb Raider. And on the PC, Command & Conquer was the bees knees. Happy days, but looking back, a complete waste of time
Ridge Racer Full Scale at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Cinematic projection and an actual Mazda MX5 to sit in. We used to go for FA Cup final weekend every year and I'd always do a pilgrimage to the arcade with it in before we'd leave for home. Whoever left that machine out to the elements deserves a public flogging. Projector used to burn through bulbs so they took it out and left it all outdoors to rot.
True, although if it's a knackered joystick you're concerned about, Daley Thompson's athletics or whatever it was called was absolutely mental. Proper intense joystick waggling if you wanted to win the hurdles, triple jump and anything else!