Updated Wednesday & Friday Evenings
Castle Crashers, are 2-D Games Dead?!?
2600 - writer/artist - posted on Thursday, 09/11/08 18:22:47 EDT
Hey everyone, just want to let everyone know the next episode of Arcade Hunters is on schedule and should premiere next Wednesday!!! Also keep an eye out for a new comic on Friday. Nothing much else new except that Castle Crashers is really amazing and everyone needs to go download it for the 360. The game plays like both an original and an homage beat'em up. The game really reminds me of a mix between Guardian Heroes and Konami Beat-em ups (Especially the one fortress which has quite a few nods to the infamous Technodrome stages in Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat'em ups). Definitely check out the game and chill in all its glory. Besides, I thought beat'em ups was a dead gaming genre? I thought no one wants to see 2-D games? Well, why has Castle Crashers been downloaded sooo many times? Why have sooo many people been clamoring to play online, only to crash and glitch up the server? I guess this games success is a big F*CK YOU to all who believe a game needs EXTREME 3-D GRAFIX!!!! Enough bantering, here are the Tokyo Game Action links again, so that no one misses this amazing place. Also go to TGA's site and check out their release party weekend for Street Fighter 4, looks like it is going to be an amazing time and I will be there with camera in hand to get some footage.
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 1
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 2
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 3
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 4
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 5
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 6
Here is a link to Tokyo Game Actions site as well as a link to yahoo maps for driving directions:
Tokyo Game Action Website
Directions and map to Tokyo Game Action
Go watch the video, check out their site, and support one of the only Japanese arcades in the United States! Check back next week for a comic and the following week for another episode of ARCADE HUNTERS!
ARCADE HUNTRS!!!!!
2600 - writer/artist - posted on Thursday, 09/04/08 20:05:35 EDT
Yes, Nick and I's long overdo internet show is finally premiering. The show is "Arcade Hunters," a sort of spin-off/knock off of "Ghost Hunters." Nick and I happen to be huge "Ghost Hunters" fans and the idea sort of clicked in my head. We finished all the filming for our first season, and I am in the process of editing all the footage. We should have a new episode every two weeks. The first episode we have for ya is a very special one. Nick and I had the honor of visiting Tokyo Game Action, one of the best arcades I have visited. It is literally a Japanese Arcade (with a bowling alley) in the States. I use to live in Tokyo so I know exactly what I am talking about. Words do not begin to describe the arcade so check out the first episode of Arcade Hunters below!!!
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 1
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 2
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 3
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 4
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 5
Arcade Hunters Episode 1: Tokyo Game Action Part 6
Here is a link to Tokyo Game Actions site as well as a link to yahoo maps for driving directions:
Tokyo Game Action Website
Directions and map to Tokyo Game Action
Go watch the video, check out their site, and support one of the only Japanese arcades in the United States! Check back next week for a comic and the following week for another episode of ARCADE HUNTERS!
Castle Crashers is awesome.
Nick - writer - posted on Friday, 08/29/08 22:38:08 EDT
Hey everybody. Yet again, no comic from 2600 this week. He told me the cable company up in New Hampshire is a little ass backwards. He tried to see if they'd connect him if he got a cable modem himself and they told him no. So the only time they could get a tech out to him would be on Saturday. So hopefully everything goes well.
Some of the new videos he was working on are now finished, so look for them in September for a lot of new stuff. I finished uploading all of the PAPA videos onto Revver, and the one tour video is up on YouTube. Big thanks once again to Kevin for keeping pinball alive and for hosting such an awesome event.
Sorry for no update on Wednesday. My dad was complaining to me that he wanted to go with me to see The Dark Knight (He took me to see the Tim Burton Batman when I was a kid) and I ended up treating him on Wednesday. It's a good thing I saw the movie twice, because almost every time Christan Bale spoke as Batman my dad looked over to me and said "What did he say!?"
I also plunk down 25 bucks for some Live points and I've been playing a ton of Castle Crashers and Bionic Commando. Both are well worth the price of admission. While I'm glad Castle Crashers is selling well, it's been a pain to try to get online. I played with one of my friends from Neo-Geo.com and about an hour into the game it lagged up and kicked us out.
Once again, sorry for no comic this week, but we should have some new stuff next month.
CyclopticInsight - writer/webmaster - posted on Friday, 08/22/08 22:56:27 EDT
PAPA 11. All I can say, which I'm sure Nick could elaborate on, is that the place pulled money out of me faster than I thought possible -- and that's WITH winning replays on the tables. I've gone to casinos and played that most terrible of bets, the slots. I've done so quite a few times, in fact. Let me say that I have never, ever seen a slot machine due to my wallet what PAPA 11 did. Compulsive gamblers, I have to hand it to you: despite how bad the addiction may be, at least the money sometimes comes back out of the slot machine.
That being said, I want to point out that if PAPA 11 were an arcade open year round, I would have to declare it as the best arcade I have ever been to, by far. 2600 loves classic games, and undoubtedly that honor would go to Funspot for him, Nick likes a bit of everything, and I can't speak for him on it (though you can read his review here!), and the Captain would much rather have an arcade full of '90s Capcom beat-em-ups than anything else. For me, PAPA had everything I'd want in an arcade.
You may have read my Funspot review, where I had said that Funspot was one of the best arcades out there but lacked a few key features for me: a Sinistar cabinet and a Black Knight 2000 table, among some others. PAPA had both. While Funspot has one of other favorite classic games, Bosconian, I'd like to point out that PAPA even had that rare treasure on hand. The part that really takes me aback though is when I think back on it: I played one game of Sinistar, and didn't even touch the Bosconian cabinet. By the way, I saw maybe two people playing any arcade cabinets our whole time there -- while I'm pretty good at Sinistar, I slaughtered the high score on the cabinet, and that means that it's almost certain that nobody else even bothered to play it.
You might have read one of my other reviews instead, perhaps my section of our 8 on the Break review, where they have some amazing pinball tables in rotation. PAPA had them all at once. In multiple locations and usually in good repair.
I had one single nitpick about the place: Black Knight 2000, the one table I'd have sunk far more money into than anything else, had a weak upper flipper and a part on backwards that caused early draining on the upper playfield (while that may not mean much to readers who don't know the table well, the upper playfield is vital for scoring) as well as making it nearly impossible to lock the ball. Hopefully this will be fixed for next year. On the other hand, being as I had Judge Dredd, Scared Stiff, Twilight Zone, Lord of the Rings, Attack From Mars, Medieval Madness, Monster Bash, and so on to play, I didn't miss it too much. Somehow, I didn't even get around to playing Addams Family, as I'd played it so much at Funspot.
If you enjoy pinball, I highly recommend making the trip to PAPA next year. Also, please support your local arcades, laundromats, bowling alleys, and even pet stores(?) that keep a pinball table or two around, because pinball needs to be preserved. Remember, while you can play arcade-quality (or better) games on your console or PC, you cannot play pinball without an actual pinball table in front of you. Video pinball can be fun, but without a ball flying around a real playfield and smashing into real objects, it isn't pinball.
PAPA 11
Nick - writer - posted on Wednesday, 08/20/08 23:15:21 EDT
Hey everybody. Well, Craig, The Cap n' and I are back from our LONG trip to Pittsburgh. We attended the PAPA11 (Pro-Am Pinball Association) Pinball tournament. PAPA is home to over THREE HUNDRED pinball machines and some arcade games. It was a long haul to get out there but it was well worth the trip.
Since 2600 was not able to join us, I took full picture and video duties. Since I had to use my camera, the videos came out decent, but they would have looked much better with 2600's video camera. I took over 100 pictures and a couple of videos. I ended up maxing out the memory card, so I'll have to pick up a bigger one just in case this happens again if 2600 can't make it.
Since the place is so huge, I wasn't able to get all of it in video form, so hopefully the pictures will be enough. As always, their hosted in the Photobucket, here's the direct link.
PAPA 11 Pictures
Now, onto the videos!
First up, is the Video Tour of PAPA, as I said, I couldn't get all of it, but it'll give you a good idea of how big the place really is and what they have to offer.
PAPA 11 Video Tour
The next video is one of Craig's favorites, 1993's Judge Dredd. The game is based more off of the comic book and not the film staring Sylvester Stallone.
Judge Dredd
Second is another one of Craig's favorites, Elvira's Scared Stiff. This machine was the harder of the two machines, but it included cool bone flippers and an eyeball for the plunger!
Scared Stiff
Next up is the Johnny Mnemonic machine, based off the film. This game is VERY hard to find with it's fully working magnetic VR glove. It was great to FINALLY play a working version of the machine!
Johnny Mnemonic
The last video for today is one of PAPA's special Tournament Videos. PAPA also hosts smaller more fun tournaments like a One Handed Tournament, Split Flipper Tournament (Video to come on that) and this one. Attack from The Back! They took an Attack from Mars machine, took the legs off and put the flipper and launch buttons on top of the machine, so you play looking down at the game. I wish I could have took a video on top to give you a view of what it looked like, but there really wasn't room for two people up there.
Attack from the Back!
So that's it for tonight. The written review will be up shorty, so stay tuned for more! Thanks for checking us out!