What? When? and Where?

DickyC

I was just reminiscing of days gone by and was wondering if many people can remember their first play on an arcade cab. All I ask is for honesty, good or bad. So anybody claiming DonPachi in a arcade in Akihabara in 1995 will be looked on with suspicion.:P
Showing my age here a bit but mine was G.O.R.F. an acronyn for "Galactic Orbiting Robot Force" according to wiki. Think it was the synthesized speech that lured me in, it had the sloppiest joystick ever. 1983 was the year in a small smokey arcade with about eight cabs and two pool tables, a two minute walk from home just off Manor St. in Dublin 7.
Looking forward to hearing of other peoples past sins:pac:

horgan_p

one of 3 , which one came first I dont know.


1) Star Wars , sitdown cab in Perks in youghl
2) Pengo in a bar in Midleton while the adults were "busy"
3) Jackal in a chipper in Midleton.

the year ? without embarrassing myself too much I can say it was the mid to late eighties.

o1s1n

I can't 100% remember my first as I grew up in Bray so was in arcades from a young age.

I have a few possible firsts though which I remember playing when I was a young lad.

- A cocktail Bomb Jack in the Killiney Hotel (very possible as it's the oldest game on the list)

- Operation Wolf, Mercs or NARC in Fun Palace Bray.

- Moonwalker or Rastan Saga in a pub called O'Connors in Tinahealy.

All would have been in the 80s/very early 90s As I was only 6 or 7 in those days my memory is a tad hazy!

johnny_ultimate

DonPachi in Akihabara in 1995. Good times.

Something in Bray Bowl in the early 1990s, probably. I vaguely recall a Metal Slug cab, although the likes of Time Crisis and Silent Scope would have been the ones I spent most punts on.

DickyC

o1s1n wrote: »

I grew up in Bray

So you grew up in heaven then:)

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

DonPachi in Akihabara in 1995. Good times.

there's always one:pac:

pdbhp

Can't wait to see what Cidermans one is. Probably oscilliscope tennis or something.

Me, Pole Position arcade, extremly early eighties couldn't reach the pedals or even steer properly, still can't!!
Good times!

Best arcade memory was in a rotten pub in Killaloe that had a 1942 cab.
Some sad bloke was trying to show off and gave the joystick a blow job right after a load of travellers had just played it. My brother who was about 15 at the time thought this was the funniest theng ever, I hadn't a clue why.

o1s1n

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

DonPachi in Akihabara in 1995. Good times.

Ah, I knew I saw the top of your head on the other side of my 19XX: The War Against Destiny cabinet.

DickyC wrote: »

So you grew up in heaven then:)

You're probably the one and only person in human history to ever say that about Bray :pac:

Retr0gamer

I think it was contra when I was in Tramore. I also have fuzzy memories of playing a game with a knight in it with my cousin in the airport. It was old than ghosts n'goblins.

DickyC

pdbhp wrote: »

Can't wait to see what Cidermans one is. Probably oscilliscope tennis or something.

Steady on I think he's only a year older than me:p

Some quality games have come up so far, thanks for all the replies.

pdbhp

DickyC wrote: »

Steady on I think he's only a year older than me:p

So you played "Super Oscilliscope Tennis" then:pac:

DickyC

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I think it was contra when I was in Tramore. I also have fuzzy memories of playing a game with a knight in it with my cousin in the airport. It was old than ghosts n'goblins.

Was it Black Tiger, not sure if that came out after Gn'G it was a great game.

Retr0gamer

No it was a very basic game. Definitely pre- CPS1 graphics. It was more like it was from 83-86

DickyC

pdbhp wrote: »

So you played "Super Oscilliscope Tennis" then:pac:

Laugh it up then:D
it was actually "Super Oscilliscope Badminton" all the rage in the early eighties

CiDeRmAn

My first arcade game would have been Donkey Kong, played in a caravan park in Wales.
Oh, wait, there was the Battlezone machine on the ferry over!
And, I never played ocsilloscope tennis, it was so long ago that it was actually on a Babbage Difference Engine, plays a mean game of Pong let me tell you, only truely played eithe click of brass cogs in the background!

o1s1n

Is 'Caravan park in Wales' the code term for 'Black Mesa?'

Alright, alright, I'll stop

CathalDublin

Double dragon back when I was around (1988)8 in a pool/kids room in a pub in Wexford(still not exactly sure where it was)
then when I was a bit older(1990+) my current defender machine was converted to a jamma cab in the local chipper in portmarnock and I'd played Snow Brothers, Bubble Bobble, World rally championship.
Ah those were the days

Pyongyang

My earliest memory was playing a Space Invaders cocktail in a bar in the UK around 1984/5. The other is one of my faves I played around 1986, the legendary Iron Horse.

o1s1n

Wouldn't it be great to somehow go back in time and have an arcade and Retro forum beers in 1990?

Atavan wouldn't be there though...and Ciderman would probably be a little annoyed having to look after a bunch of drunk kids.

Mr Vengeance

Sega Rally for me, though I really didn't appreciste it at the time :rolleyes:

Optimus Prime

Space Invaders Cocktail in the Sacre Cor Hotel in Salthill, Galway. after that probably Operation Wolf out in skerries!

LoGiE

Loads of memories playing space invaders in ALSAA Pool by the airport, Defender on a family holiday in the Uk and later Arkanoid, TNZS and Ghosts n' Goblins, Superman and Final Fight.

CiDeRmAn

A mate and I used to get the bus to Dublin Airport where you could play the large, articulated cab of Outrun!
Also there was a large arcade there on O'Connell street, next to where Supermacs is now, and I used to play Stun Runner and Indy and the Temple of Doom there.

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

Wouldn't it be great to somehow go back in time and have an arcade and Retro forum beers in 1990?

Atavan wouldn't be there though...and Ciderman would probably be a little annoyed having to look after a bunch of drunk kids.

No change there then....

I can see it now, 1990, Pdbhp tearing around in his little pedal car, trying to ram-raid the Barbie house...

Dr Bob

Asteroids/space invaders in the back of a shop in crumlin , early eighties I was around 6-7 so around 1981/2 I think.
Both were there , but I've no idea what I played first!

alpahaeagle

one of the first was outlaw then Night driver... in Drayton manor park ( Birmingham ), and then there was the local chiper which had Scramble.

I remember using one of those hand held igniters, the ones for the gas cookers. Put it to the coin slot and press...nice electric shock gave you free goes.....:D

vangoz

The snooker hall across the road from me had many a good machine in it. Spent every penny of my £2 pocket money there on weekends

MK 1
SF 2
Parodius Da
World Rally
Sunset riders
Simpsons beat em up
Puzzle Bobble
Shinobi
Captain Commando

Think the first one I played was Mario in some smokey old mans pub down in wexford.

Optimus Prime

You really get a sense of how old some of us are on this thread by judging their first arcade playing experiences! :pac:

safetyboy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvim7O9RvK0

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBQmYNYZkFM

DickyC

I rolled many 10p coins into wonderboy.

80s Synth Pop

A pub with Space Harrier and Bomb Jack and Cabal when family holiday camping in Donegal many many years ago.

Dropped the most 20p's on those a lovely Electrocoin Duet cabs. I'd love to get one of those! 32 million on puzzle bobble 1, 99999999 on virtual cop, lots of '80' combo records on Killer Instinct1/2

Lab_Mouse

kung fu master in a chipper in kilkee in the early 80's.

also remember double dragon,ikari warriors and r-type in an arcade in the same town.

was too young to be going to arcades back then on my own so only ever seen games when on holidays.

I was 12 when i got a c64(for about 300 pounds so my mam tells me!!),from my confirmation money.

also remember shinobi and narc in ranelagh a few years later.

I've loved gaming ever since

EDIT:sorry not black tiger but r-type

sham69

skating rink in phibsboro where des kelly's is now.

a few games come to mind:
Yie ar kung fu
Karate champ (with the 2 sticks)
The hunchback and they had boot hill aswell.
My uncle actually had 3 or 4 machines in his small arcade in athboy.
Games I can remember from there are bomb jack and bump n jump
These were both before Caesars palace hit phibsboro in the mid 80's.

Good times.

Mr.Saturn

Wow, you're all incredibly old. I was reflecting on the MVS cabs of my youth, and feeling a fossil for it. Now, not so much.

I only strongly recall House of the Dead 2, beat it twice, in as many days. I grew up trying to play the fighter-cabs in the likes of Quirkey's et al, but I was only a nipper, and frankly, I'd just get physically removed from the machine so the players could play.

n0irin

I'm sure I played a few before this nearer to home, but the first one I actually remember was Cadillacs and Dinosaurs when I was...maybe 8 years old, in some dodgy kids club in France in 1993 or 1994. Good times :P

Professey Chin

I genuinely couldnt pick out a single machine as the 1st I played.
Loads of memories jumbled up covering everything from some machine with excitebike on it to the simpsons & turtles.
I also remember some side scroller where you were cavemen

OwaynOTT

pacman on one of those sit down table machines in the local pub is prob the first one i ever played.
Other games at around the same time would of been Super Pang and Street Fighter on the ferries to England.
Also an excellent xmen game as well in the UK. In a massive arcade. Got up to the machine and there was 2 credits already on and myself and my cousin played away for ages on them, good times.