best games for a new arcade

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I am exploring the idea of opening an arcade.

I will be including the classic standards:

Pacman
Ms.Pac
Centipede
Donkey Kong
Asteroids
Neo 4 slot (I have a lot of carts)
Star Wars

I also have three pins and a cruisin world.

I have several other games as well and can rotate them.

I am limited on floor space to about 1000 sq.ft.

I am aware of the odds of turning a profit but I would like to try. I am interested in opinions (especially from other arcade owners and ops)
 
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Raiden 2 is one of the best games ever made. It is a classic. I am not talking about Raiden Fighters 2 just the plain Raiden 2.
 
I am exploring the idea of opening an arcade.

I will be including the classic standards:

Pacman
Ms.Pac
Centipede
Donkey Kong
Asteroids
Neo 4 slot (I have a lot of carts)

I also have three pins and a cruisin world.

I have several other games as well and can rotate them.

I am limited on floor space to about 1000 sq.ft.

I am aware of the odds of turning a profit but I would like to try. I am interested in opinions (especially from other arcade owners and ops)


Pins and vectors........
 
If u wanna make a lil cheddar get a merchandiser and a small crane machine....Convoy or Lighthouses are pretty cheap at auctions and small cranes can be picked up for about a grand...I used to clean house in cranes with peoples ty beanie babies they were tired of collecting( 1 dollar each is about right )
A driver( cruisn world or Rush or like title)
Classics are cool to get parents attention and hell if I ever do another one I will include about ten of them as well..
 
wow, great list so far.

every arcade needs one or two fighters like STREET FIGHTER II.

i would say these would be good choices too...

SPACE INVADERS
BATTLEZONE
MILLIPEDE
TEMPEST
Q-BERT
GALAGA or GALAXIAN

I am exploring the idea of opening an arcade.

I will be including the classic standards:

Pacman
Ms.Pac
Centipede
Donkey Kong
Asteroids
Neo 4 slot (I have a lot of carts)
Star Wars

I also have three pins and a cruisin world.

I have several other games as well and can rotate them.

I am limited on floor space to about 1000 sq.ft.

I am aware of the odds of turning a profit but I would like to try. I am interested in opinions (especially from other arcade owners and ops)
 
modern gun games wouldn't be a bad idea... i just picked up a CarnEvil for $195, and a Ninja Assault for $95 (that one in a converted MKII,) both working 100% from a Tilt! during the holiday sale. i've already got a location that wants to place 'em because modern gun games make 'em money.
 
classics are good and all but your gonna need some 85' and newer flare to get the money really rolling in.

I'd try and get my hands on a 3player The Grid (big game tho), Candy cabs don't take up a ton of space, Rush 2049/initial D/cyber sled and as much as i'd hate to say it either a ddr/guitar hero. (sorry these are all large games)...
 
You can't be serious about any recommendations without knowing more about your market. I operate 6 games in 2 locations and will be opening one of my locations to a 1200 sqr/foot space to fill it with more stuff.

SHMUPS draw low coin drops from my experience and so do classics. I suggest a Multi for the classics.

I operate in asian plazas were there are kids, sometimes too young. My bigger draw machines are Street Fighter 2 HF, Wacky Gator, Metal Slug and Virtua Cop/HOTD. I also have Konami 4P cabs, Multi classics, gun games and SSBMUPs but have not ventured into drivers yet.

There was a thread here about which games earned the best and worst in Galaxy Arcade which is in a mall.

Just because a game is one of the best ever doesn't mean that someone is going to play it.
I would say that you are nuts to put out an Atari Star Wars. Trilogy may get some good drops.

Even without a target market, I know you're going to need a fighter, Capcom fighters are your most solid bet. I think that you should target these from top to bottom priority if you can get any of them.

SF2HF
MvC2
SSF2T
SF3 3rd Strike
SFA3
 
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about 10 years ago the last "real" arcade closed in my area. There are still other arcades in my area but this was the last one that felt right. Like it mixed the past and the present enough. The owner had been in the arcade business since BITD and seen the highs and lows. I recall talking to him and him mentioning his theory of which games or game types he felt should be in an arcade.

He said he wanted a game or two to represent all the major types/styles/genres of arcade games. I recall he had a ms pac and a red tent (classics), house of the dead (shooting game), after burner (plane/flying game), jambo safari(newer at the time driving game), 4 newer pins, mo cap boxing (newer at time inter active game). There were others but those were what I recall. He also had a soda vending machine and snack machine.

I would suggest that you not focus on too many classics unless you are confident you can bring in the older crowd consistently to play them. Get a good shooter and a driver. probably a skill prize game like a barber cut, stacker or skill crane. Probably get a vertical shooter and maybe something like a tetris or puzzle bobble.
 
BITD, my local arcade OP got a lot of good drops off the usual CAPCOM and NEO games.

STREET FIGHTER
--WW, C..E.,.
--ALPHA 1, 2, 3
--THIRD STRIKE.
D&D1, D&D2
MvC
PUZZLE FIGHTER

THE KING OF FIGHTERS 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 99, 2k, 2k1, 2k2, 2k3,
SAMURAI SHOWDOWN II & IV
METAL SLUG 1, 2, X, 3, 4, 5
PUZZLE BOBBLE

And all the other great games not mentions above there were cycled in--even though these great games seemed to be the main attractions. at some other local arcades and game rooms.

So other big winners at other local arcades and game rooms in the area seemed to be:

MORTAL COMBAT I, II, III
KILLER INSTINCT I, IITMNT
X-MEN
GAUNTLET I, II, L, D.L.,
RAIDEN 2
TIME CRISIS
AREA 51
HOUSE OF THE DEAD
DRAGON'S LAYER I & II
 
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Yeah, you need to know your area.

Classics? I don't recommend unless you have Galaga/Ms. Pac-Man but you need to know what the place is, area, demographics, races that come in, etc...I can help you but I need to get an idea....classics though...that is pretty funny.

Pinball is a bigger beast. Have fun with maintaining them and if you don't have a dedicated group of players don't get more than one. Any cheap $1000 pin would do. High Speed/Pinbot are pretty popular and cheap or a DMD 90s pin would work.
 
80's pins around 1K some a little more some a little less. Flash Gordon, Xennon, fireball, ect

Unless you plan on wasting your time, I'd avoid any pin unless it is 1988 and up. Pinheads play old pins that are known tier-1 level (Addams Family, Elvira, STTNG,etc). Kids play new Sterns that are new and flashy. Anything less than that is really just a waste of floor space for fighters, drivers, and shooters. Those three genres IMO are the meat and potatoes of vids these days.

You need to have a game plan of who your target audience is before you even worry about games. Kids all ages? 21 and over with booze? Teens? Are people traveling from around the area because there are rare games there? Is it a pin collection which would rival Ground Kontrol? What is the draw to coming to your place over other arcades? Know all these things before you go further.

Also, revisit Ground Kontrol, Chuck E Cheese, Big Al's, and Tilt and stay at each one from 3pm to 10pm to see what games are being played and how the demographics might alter.
 
Drivers and Shooters. Most arcades that are still around have nothing but these types of games, and for good reason. Doesn't matter how old it is, honestly, so long as it's flashy.

Fighters are also (thankfully) seeing a resurge in popularity. Stick with tried-and-true titles like Street Fighter II (Champion Edition, Turbo, or Super Turbo preferably), SF3:Third Strike, CvS2, MvC2, Tekken Tag, KOF'98, SamSho2, MK2, UMK3 or Soul Calibur. No point buying the latest SF4 or TTT2 for $40,000 only to have it come out on consoles less than 3 months later.

Other classics that I'm sure would turn some heads would include Donkey Kong, Punch Out, PlayChoice-10, Centipede, Millipede and NBA Jam. Pac-Man/Galaga wouldn't hurt, but I see them EVERYWHERE so I don't know how effective they would be.

But yeah, it's best to do a lot of market research, because your area is just going to be different from everyone else's. I've talked to a lot of people in my area about this sort of thing: You know what I've gotten more requests for than any other games? Lucky & WIld, and WWF Wrestlefest. I know why L&W is popular (it must have been at the now-deceased local arcade for at least a decade), but I don't understand why WWFWF is so popular, even amongst casual gamers/non-gamers. Doesn't matter - it's popular, so it's a must.
 
Unless you plan on wasting your time, I'd avoid any pin unless it is 1988 and up. Pinheads play old pins that are known tier-1 level (Addams Family, Elvira, STTNG,etc). Kids play new Sterns that are new and flashy. Anything less than that is really just a waste of floor space for fighters, drivers, and shooters. Those three genres IMO are the meat and potatoes of vids these days.

I agree those titles will do better, but he does not want to spend the cash..
 
Yeah, I'm assuming it would be better to just not have any pins than to have a bunch of pins that won't get played. As expensive as pins are, it's best to make sure each dollar counts.

Thought I might be in the minority by saying that I love some of Stern's pins. I could play Indiana Jones, Simpsons Pinball Party and LOTR for hours. Most of their other pins bored the hell out of me, but I'd get those.
 
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