Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

I had this idea some time ago here, and it worked out rather well. Some people have suggested I run the thread again, so, I'm bringing it back. In good Ask Me fashion, I'll be around for the next 1.5 hours or so to field all the questions you have, then I'll review tomorrow afternoon and catch up on the more important ones that I missed.

Now, I know a LOT about NES/SNES/Genesis/Playstation/N64/Dreamcast, and a good amount about XBox/PS2 and newer (but not too much more than a serious hobbyist).

I also know a significant amount about coin-op machines, having run a few arcades (read: Not "I worked a minwage changemaking job") in my time.

So, coin-op questions are preferred, but I'll take old console questions too. My knowledge of Atari is somewhat on the weak side, but anything Nintendo/Genesis era is fair game.

Have at it!

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

How hard is it to put PacMan in the arrangement of man + ghosts so I can go take a break and leave the game running?
-Sam

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Are there any games where 1 player just gets too good, and the house has to ask him to leave?

Similarly, is it EVER possible to get SO good at an arcade game that it can be +EV with those little prize tickets? Are there professional skee-ball players out there?
-Sam

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
How hard is it to put PacMan in the arrangement of man + ghosts so I can go take a break and leave the game running?
-Sam

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this even possible? I've never heard of this in any of the PacMan versions, including the Split-Screen level.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Are there any games where 1 player just gets too good, and the house has to ask him to leave? I suppose this relates to my pacman question. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
-Sam

[/ QUOTE ]

Nah. Typically these players bring in other players since they are the "pros" of the arcade, and they even get "fans." Example of this in my arcade included dominant Street Fighter 2 players, Tekken Tag Tournament players, and Soulcaliber II players.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Where is the best place to buy used arcades? (online)

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How hard is it to put PacMan in the arrangement of man + ghosts so I can go take a break and leave the game running?
-Sam

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this even possible? I've never heard of this in any of the PacMan versions, including the Split-Screen level.

[/ QUOTE ]
Boo. Wikipedia even mentions it.[ QUOTE ]
Pac-Man may go upwards into (and stop in) the corner immediately to the right and above his starting location facing upwards. When the ghosts are not closely pursuing him, they will never find him, and instead will roam aimlessly around the board until Pac-Man leaves that spot. This trick is used by marathon Pac-Man players to allow themselves an occasional bathroom break.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Bah, never knew that. I am embarassed.

To be fair, I am only 23 years old, and I never ran arcades when Pac-Man was the big hit. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Where is the best place to buy used arcades? (online)

[/ QUOTE ]

I've had some success with Ebay, actually. However, I prefer to go through local and regional retailers to test the machines out before purchasing them - especially if they are uncommon games. Most of my major purchases went through the retailer Tilt.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Okay, we all know there was the regular edition of Street Fighter, Championship edition, etc. but I remember a version at my local pizza parlor where you could throw as many fireballs as you wanted without having to wait for one to go off the screen. Not only that, you could throw them in the air and keep jumping up afterwards, enabling you to go to the top of the screen, at which point you'd reappear at the bottom. Jumping over your opponent and pressing a fierce button would also initiate a throw without actually making contact. Do you know this version of Street Fighter? There was also another variation at another place where fireballs would fly in a zigzag formation.

I actually did a lot of searching online and the closest version I found was the "Hyper Fighting" hack on the MAME console. Not the same.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

To be completely honest, this sounds really familiar. I think I saw one of these machines at a local Hills store in the Midwest when I was growing up. However, I can't say I know specifically what edition it was (or if it was even Street Fighter at all).

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
ASimilarly, is it EVER possible to get SO good at an arcade game that it can be +EV with those little prize tickets? Are there professional skee-ball players out there?
-Sam

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't see this, you must have edited it before I could get it! :P

Anyway, yes, this is definitely possible. My friend has a positive ROI at the Cyclone ticket machine game, and has proven it to me on several occasions.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
My friend has a positive ROI at the Cyclone ticket machine game, and has proven it to me on several occasions.

[/ QUOTE ]
Very cool. Do you mean one of these?:
http://www.bmigaming.com/Images/cycloneredemption.jpg

How does he get the best return for his tickets? What's the best value/ticket on the gift wall? (Please say bouncy balls. Please say bouncy balls.)
-Sam

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

I'm guessing you've run into some slugs in your time. What did you do with them? Do you know how they are made? Did you ever try putting a stop to them?

What tools would one need to trick coin-op machines into thinking that quarters were being inserted?

Who is your avatar?

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm guessing you've run into some slugs in your time. What did you do with them?

[/ QUOTE ]
Go to the vending machines and buy lunch?
-Sam

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My friend has a positive ROI at the Cyclone ticket machine game, and has proven it to me on several occasions.

[/ QUOTE ]
Very cool. Do you mean one of these?:
http://www.bmigaming.com/Images/cycloneredemption.jpg

How does he get the best return for his tickets? What's the best value/ticket on the gift wall? (Please say bouncy balls. Please say bouncy balls.)
-Sam

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, one of those indeed. He is uncanny - I would say he can hit the jackpot 30%+ of the time. With practice, he hits it around 40%. It's sick.

You have to wait for the jackpot to get to a high enough point before whoring it repeatedly, otherwise it's not worth it. Luckily the Dave and Busters place in Cleveland has multiple Cyclone machines!

The best return on his tickets is not bouncy balls, unfortunately. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] It is indeed XBox games that can be resold easily.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm guessing you've run into some slugs in your time. What did you do with them? Do you know how they are made? Did you ever try putting a stop to them?

What tools would one need to trick coin-op machines into thinking that quarters were being inserted?

Who is your avatar?

[/ QUOTE ]

Slugs were not too common in my arcade, actually. However, when I was younger and worked for a Namco arcade, people would buy tons of tokens from Ebay and bring them in to our arcade - they were called "walk-ins," and you really can't stop them.

It's fairly easy to defraud the older machines - in fact, the string and quarter trick works on a surprisingly large amount of them still. As for the newer machines, it requires a lot more work than is worth it, trust me.

My avatar is none other than Jodie Sweetin.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Holy [censored], never would have thought it was Jodie Sweetin. She's all grownsed up!

I went on a sick hot run on Cyclone once and thought I could destroy it, but never was able to repeat. Is your friend some freak, or is actually exploitable in some way?

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Any interesting stories of the arcade business? Maybe somebody becoming frustrated with a game and attempting to damage your hardware?

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

What sort of return is there on most coin-ops? How long does it take for a machine to hit the green? How often does the change need to be replaced? How secure are the coin holders against theft?

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Holy [censored], never would have thought it was Jodie Sweetin. She's all grownsed up!

I went on a sick hot run on Cyclone once and thought I could destroy it, but never was able to repeat. Is your friend some freak, or is actually exploitable in some way?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, she was my first crush. <3 Stephanie Tanner.

Anyway, I was skeptical at first, but my friend has proven it over a pretty meaningful sample size (and repeated session trials) that he is +EV at Cyclone.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Any interesting stories of the arcade business? Maybe somebody becoming frustrated with a game and attempting to damage your hardware?

[/ QUOTE ]

Someone cracked the glass of a Killer Instinct 2 cabinet when he punched the bottom of the screen after losing. No damage was done to his hand, but we did bill him for the repair (and he paid).

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
What sort of return is there on most coin-ops? How long does it take for a machine to hit the green? How often does the change need to be replaced? How secure are the coin holders against theft?

[/ QUOTE ]

The return on most coin-ops is not terribly good - running an arcade is a lifestyle business, not one that you can get rich on. Consider that the average game cabinet costs $2000-5000 and you have to factor in maintainence and electricity, and profits can be real thin for a long time. Of course, all you need is one big takeoff game like Dance Dance Revolution, and you can recoup a ton of money quickly.

Accepting tokens allows you to keep the money concentrated in the arcade by forcing players to exchange real money for fake currencies - and by offering them discounts ($5 free when you buy $20, for example), you aren't hurting your marginal revenue much and you're getting more gross revenue in. The problem with tokens is substantial, however (as I mentioned above) - people can then buy copies of the tokens for cheap on Ebay and walk them into your arcade without ever paying for them.

Offering value-added services like refreshments does help your profit margin, though. I made quite a bit during the DDR craze by selling bottled water, sodas, pizza, and even towels for the kids.

As for coin holders, they are secure enough against theft. It's important to design the arcade with good lines of sight, so you don't see people breaking into cabinets and damaging your hardware. Interestingly enough, the change machines are some of the most expensive and annoying equipment in the house!

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Slightly off topic, but someone might have a clue and help a brother out.

Back in the 2001-2002 era, back when WAP based phone internet was new, and therefor no one knew how bad it was, there was a game me and my friends played.

It was based around the theme of hacking. You had a mixture of 'cards' split into attack and defence. You would set up a four card defence and could attack with (i believe) 6 cards.

The cards would change in value, and some had special features like the ability to steal an opponeants card. The only ones i remember was the Cipher defense card, and the Unnamable attack card.

Basicly there was a huge leaderboard of players, and you could work your way up as you took the spot of anyone you beat - and me and a couple friends basicly dominated the leaderboards.

This game has come up in several conversations, and it was highly adictive for its really simple play - just none of us can remember its name and ive tried searching for it on a few occasions but to no evail.

Any ideas?

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Since we talk about this all the time I will throw you something different. What characters were featured on Captain N? Also why is Goonies II called Goonies II for the U.S. release?

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm guessing you've run into some slugs in your time. What did you do with them? Do you know how they are made? Did you ever try putting a stop to them?

What tools would one need to trick coin-op machines into thinking that quarters were being inserted?

Who is your avatar?

[/ QUOTE ]

Slugs were not too common in my arcade, actually. However, when I was younger and worked for a Namco arcade, people would buy tons of tokens from Ebay and bring them in to our arcade - they were called "walk-ins," and you really can't stop them.


[/ QUOTE ]

Ah jeez...I've walked the straight and narrow all this time, but I just can't resist. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]




LOL SOOGAMENTS!

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Never heard of this. It sounded like Netrunner to begin with, but then I realized it was an Internet game.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

are one of these really worth $3K? Or is using emulators on a modded xbox pretty much the same thing?

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

How many people a day would play the pinball machines? 2? 3?

I love these things, but the business is dead from what I here.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Since we talk about this all the time I will throw you something different. What characters were featured on Captain N? Also why is Goonies II called Goonies II for the U.S. release?

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice, Captain N.

Okay, the good guys were Duke (his dog), Mega Man, Game Boy, Pit (Kid Icarus), and Simon (Castlevania). I believe Link is a cameo in a few of the episodes, but I'm not sure.

Captain N's gamepad on his belt was badass, as was the Zapper.

The Goonies question is easy - the original was released for the Famicom, but not the US NES system.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
are one of these really worth $3K? Or is using emulators on a modded xbox pretty much the same thing?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's worth $3k if you want to actually put it in an arcade, considering it's 100% legal then, but if you want it just to play it, just hack an XBox 1 and install a ton of emulators on it. Buy some quality joysticks from Lik-Sang and you'll be fine.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
How many people a day would play the pinball machines? 2? 3?

I love these things, but the business is dead from what I here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pinball machines were pretty popular when I ran the arcade, but only specific ones. Jurassic Park, Theatre of Magic, and High Roller Casino were the most popular ones, so we hung on to those for a long time.

A great place that has tons of pinball machines (or at least used to) is Pinball Pete's in Michigan. Check it out if you're in the area.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Who would win in a fight?
bionic Commando or Ninja Gaiden
SubZero or Sagat
Pac Man or Donkey kong
the plane from 1942 or Paperboy

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Man, those Pinball Pete's fools don't even have the best pinball game ever: the arabian nights one.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Who would win in a fight?
bionic Commando or Ninja Gaiden
SubZero or Sagat
Pac Man or Donkey kong
the plane from 1942 or Paperboy

[/ QUOTE ]

Bionic Commando
Subzero
Donkey Kong
The plane

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

Why did Williams' 8-way joysticks always fail? I seem to remember having the same problems with Robotron 2084, Smash TV, and Total Carnage. Were they just inherently bad hardware or something?

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Why did Williams' 8-way joysticks always fail? I seem to remember having the same problems with Robotron 2084, Smash TV, and Total Carnage. Were they just inherently bad hardware or something?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, I never had a non-standard problem with the Smash TV machine I had in my arcade.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why did Williams' 8-way joysticks always fail? I seem to remember having the same problems with Robotron 2084, Smash TV, and Total Carnage. Were they just inherently bad hardware or something?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, I never had a non-standard problem with the Smash TV machine I had in my arcade.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh man - the diagnols always failed, and this was on multiple machines. Robotron, too. Tough to get around in Robotron only moving 4 directions. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

I really enjoyed going to the arcade at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in CA, as they had a bunch of old games, and the ones I played worked great (Tempest, Battlezone, Track & Field, etc).

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

kyleb,

Which is a better game -- Final Fantasy I for the NES, or Phantasy Star for the Sega? Please answer on the basis of those games only and not any subsequent titles.

Re: Ask kyleb about old-school video games (or coin-ops)
 

[ QUOTE ]
kyleb,

Which is a better game -- Final Fantasy I for the NES, or Phantasy Star for the Sega? Please answer on the basis of those games only and not any subsequent titles.

[/ QUOTE ]

I feel like I'm being put on trial and asked a very direct question for the purpose of giving one obviously known answer.

So, I'll come right out and say it: Phantasy Star.