Is that a roll of quarters in your pocket?

With the emergence and criticality of arcades in the far east (Japan/China) you would think that arcades would be a prominent force within the video game realm back here in the "States." That's not the case however, in fact here in America the downfall of the arcade has already hit and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Or is there?

Back in the early 80's a fast and furious trend was taking place in America. The uprising of arcades was rolling through malls and shopping centers all over North America and seemed to have no end in sight. The sky was the limit for developers like Bandai and Capcom; the arcade industry was booming. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent on a weekly basis at arcades like Aladdin's Castle and Fun Spot. Games like Spy Hunter, Pac-Man and Galaga where primarily the "poster boys" for the arcade industry and they were making a "killing." You could almost say that this new fad or trend was bullet proof. The blue print was: You wanted to play video games? You needed to go to an arcade. That mentality could only last so long.

Enter: The home console. The home console is said to be the catalyst that brought about the inevitable downfall of the arcade. They were easy to buy, easy to set up and you could basically get the same playability out of the home versions of each arcade game. Slowly but surely the arcade industry was brought to its proverbial knees and surrendered it's video game crown to the newly introduced "home video game console."

Ok, Ok...enough with the history lesson. Lets get to the nitty gritty here folks. Why do arcades flourish in Japan and not in th U.S.? No one really knows, it's the society I guess. They love the social aspect of it and it isn't looked down upon or 'socially wrong.' There needs to be a conduit that passes the passion of arcade gaming from the far east to the far west...

Enter: Street Fighter IV and the "teeny tiny" resurgence of the giant known as "The Arcade." Street Fighter is a powerful name when it comes to video games. Its reputation is among the biggest out there and each game released is a sure fire way for Capcom (developers) to make billions of dollars. Yes, there hasn't been an arcade cabinet made for mass production for a Street Fighter game in nearly twenty years (except for Japan), but there have been console versions left and right. There has been murmurs...tiny rumblings...minuet nods and inclinations that maybe, just maybe a special resurgence of Street Fighter IV cabinets will be made specifically for American SF fanatics looking to spend 4 grand. You need to place a special "consumer" order within the Capcom web pages and pay up front; no ifs ands or buts! The cab. is then sent to you (oh yeah, you pay for shipping) via air lift and dropped off at your front door step in three to four weeks.

Though this really isn't the resurgence the arcade era needs it is good to know that there are still arcade enthusiast like us here at Warp 9 that still love to play the occasional arcade game with a good old joystick and six button set (I'm looking at you Mortal Kombat). Arcades are a part of video game history no matter how you look at it. Without that era perhaps we wouldn't have home consoles to date...perhaps we would still be playing the Atari 2600! Oh, the horror.

Until the next Arcade resurgence....

-GAME HARD-