posted 2007/09/11 at 22:56
Yesterday afternoon as my lunch was cooking I went out to the garage, where I normally play my dance games and we also have a secondary fridge (convenient for keeping cold water and Gatorade nearby) as well as our trash cans. Imagine my surprise when I go out there and there's a Pac-Man arcade cabinet out there. At first I assumed that my brother-in-law had picked it up from one of his gaming buddies, but later it turned out that one of our next-door neighbours had put it out on the street for anyone who wanted it, and Jeff, on his way out, picked it up and asked if he could keep it here until he could get a truck to take it back down to Bowling Green with him. The machine's kind of dusty, and we're not even sure if it works, but Jeff thinks that he can either get it fixed and place it somewhere or else sell it on eBay.
I guess seeing an old Pac-Man cabinet there kind of took me back to my youth, when arcade machines were still a big thing and I dreamed of owning my own one day. Pengo was my favourite game back when I first got into arcade games, but I probably would have given anything to have my own Pac-Man machine. Having the machine out there kind of took me back to those days, and even though I've got an arcade-perfect version of Pac-Man on one of my PlayStation discs, it's still tempting to go out there, dust the machine off, and see if I can get it working right. As with my older console systems, I just think there's something romantic about playing on the original systems as opposed to playing the games via emulation.
This has also made me think about my own wishes when it comes to owning arcade machines. Right now I'd really like to have an arcade dance game machine, not only because the dance game community online has this thing about only "counting" arcade scores for various reasons (tighter timing windows, can't use a hand controller), but because the platforms are generally a lot more reliable and less prone to break down than any home pads, even the super-expensive ones I have. If you count pinball machines, I also desperately want a copy of the Twilight Zone pinball game, not only because it's the greatest pin ever but because it was the game I played the most when I was at Antioch back in the day. The only other game I can think I'd really want is Street Fighter II Champion Edition, not only because I played the Toot out of it back in my teenage years, but because they're only about $300 each and fairly easy to find.
How dare you make a blog entry with that title without mentioning Fozzy the Bear!
I think Jim Henson always spelled it "wakka," but you're right, I should have mentioned something, especially considering that The Muppet Show was nearly as big a part of my childhood as arcade games were.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon