Pigeon Forge 2018 (Pick Ups and Arcade Review)

As a last hurrah for summertime, we decided to take a small weekend trip to Pigeon Forge TN to do some sight seeing, swimming, and of course shopping.

On Saturday afternoon we made our way to Control Freak Video Games to peruse some retro games. I actually hadn't planned on buying anything, figuring that prices would be way out of hand being in a tourist town and all but I was pleasantly surprised. They definitely knew what they had and what their product was worth but weren't charging an arm and a leg by any means. The selection was nice, with just about any common game you were looking for readily available and of course the rarer pieces behind the glass to draw your attention. I especially liked their case of rarer import consoles, which were of course for sale but not in my price range for what I had budgeted on this trip.

While they didn't have any games I didn't already have in my collection on the racks, I did find some neat souvenirs to bring home.

Poster Prints: R-Type and Chrono Trigger

Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf. This was a dollar complete and I didn't have it so I couldn't exactly pass it up but my main intention was to confuse my brother. Like "we're having a game night tonight and you're picking golf?" I also wanted to try out a Fantasy Zone related trick I heard about recently.

If you're curious, on the first hole try to take over 100 strokes before reaching the putting green for a surprise. It's a neat easter egg and also the game's way of telling you that maybe Golf isn't exactly your game.


Just click here to save yourself a ton of time.







I also snagged these Sonic and Tails decals. Not exactly sure what I'll stick them on yet. I'm bad about stickers this way. What if I don't like where I put them? They'll probably just end up in my folder with all the other sticker sheets I've found over the years. Anyone else have this problem?

Before grabbing dinner for the evening the kids were itching to get some go kart racing and arcade play in. This brought us to the Rockin' Raceway.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a go kart racing expert by any means. I can say that the karts handled well and I was able to go fast so that got an A plus in my book.\

The arcade on the other hand, well it's not exactly something that would please an enthusiast looking for the classics. Their main focus seemed to be aimed at ticket redemption, so we loaded up the kids with tokens and sent them on their quest for spider rings and candy that could be obtained much cheaper at a gas station.

That's not to say there weren't a few things here and there for the 30 somethings though. They had a nice Sega Super GT setup that felt like it was well maintained. They also had a couple of Sega 18 Wheeler Pro Trucker cabinets, though I never was much of a fan of these.

As we made our rounds looking for something engaging to play, out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of the Street Fighter 3 Third Strike character select screen, a personal favorite. The excitement grew fast but crashed and burned when I saw that it was actually one of those multicade machines that 9 times out of 10 look like they're built from leftover particle board. My heart sank even more when I saw the joystick layout.

This has got to be, hands down, the worst button layout I've ever seen.

So unless you have Hulk sized hands, rest assured there's no way to effectively play 90 percent of the games on this cabinet. But I thought, what the heck, let's give it a shot for laughs since it was only a single token to play. That's a token I'll never get back. Not only did my muscle memory have me pushing the blank spaces between buttons, but the controls had been setup backwards-kicks on top and punches on the bottom. 3rd Strike wasn't the only game that suffered; my brother took a shot at Capcom's Alien vs Predator and had similar difficulties.

So the Rockin' Arcade ended up being a bust for the adults but at least the kids had a good time. I obviously can't recommend it for anyone looking for the traditional arcade experience but I suppose it makes for a good enough break between go kart races. One bit of silver lining is that they still use their own unique tokens for the games, so I took one home to add to my token collection.

Overall it was a great weekend and it was refreshing to do one last mini vacation before going back to the day to day of work and school. There's plenty to in Pigeon Forge no matter what you're interested in and I'm sure I'll be back in the future.

Arcade Memories

Arcade memories....oh man where to even start? I could probably write an entire memoir on all of my great arcade experiences. Here are just a handful that come to mind. Inspired by this thread.

The first time I ever played Dig Dug was at the Damascus video store. I had already picked out an nes game and my Dad and brother were still making their selections so I tried the old machine out. I remember the screen burn on the old monitor and the smell of that place even today.

The first time I ever played Street Fighter 2 was amongst a bunch of intimidating high school kids gathered around the machine at the mall arcade. I saw the graphics of the game and the crowd huddled around and it felt like I was a spectator in some underground fighting tournament. I put my quarter up and patiently waited for my turn only to have my ass handed to me, but man what a ride. The older kids were congratulating me for giving it my best shot and started giving me tips on doing the special moves. It was the first time I had experienced any sort of gaming "community" other than friends you knew coming over to your house to play games.

When we were kids our family used to visit Myrtle Beach once a year on vacation. Usually after hitting up the Pavilion amusement part we would tour the main strip and hit the many arcades on the way. It was there, as @Fr0zenFist mentioned, that I played a ridiculous amount of Street Fighter Alpha 2 in it's heyday. I met tons of really cool locals and vacationers who were more than happy to throw down several times and exchange tips along the way. It was also on these trips that Daytona USA became my Dad and I's racing game of choice. I'm sure we raced each other on just about every Daytona USA machine in the Myrtle Beach area. To this day he still smokes me on that first track like it was built for him. Good times!

In my Junior year of high school I was a part of a college study program that offered trips to visit various campuses on the east coast. On a certain trip to Atlanta, we were given a "free" evening to wander around a shopping strip for souvenirs, which also included a mall. There of course I found the arcade and enjoyed an evening Street Fighter EX and Alpha 2 matches with the locals. The highlight of the night was when a group of us took on both of Capcom's Dungeons and Dragons machines from start to finish. It ended up being expensive, but the memories of taking on that challenge with those fellow strangers was the best souvenir I could ask for.

Our local mall arcade once had a magnificent 2 seater Marvel vs. Capcom 2 machine, giving each player their own monitor and comfy fighter pilot seat. I spent countless weekends there on that machine. Sometimes friendships were made and sometimes things got salty, but it's safe to say we were probably keeping that place a float from the attention we gave that machine.

Lately I was given the argument that paying for each game at an arcade is no different from the microtransactions of today's mobile gaming. I had to disagree. You see, if you've read the above memories you'll notice that I had a great time playing the games, but the more important piece is the people you enjoyed the games with. Arcades for me weren't around as much to supply gaming as they were to experience them with your friends and family, which is something sorely missing from modern gaming. Online gaming is fun, but everyone should make a point to gather around a tv with your friends every once in a while. Those are truly the best gaming experiences, in my opinion anyway.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out the thread below and share some of your own arcade memories with us:
http://retroafterdark.com/community/showthread.php?tid=242