Game sounds that take you back...

Pleiades10

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Are there any specific game sounds or music that take you back to a certain place every time you play that game?

I have several...

The music from both Phoenix and Gyruss gives me a flashback to the Peoples Drug store in LaPlata, MD circa '82 (for Phoenix) and '84 (for Gyruss). Peoples was a DC based chain that was bought out by CVS in the early 90s.

Donkey Kong's opening jingle and Super PacMan's attract mode sounds remind me of the Pizza Hut in LaPlata, around '82.

Sega's Champion Baseball reminds me of a restaurant called Twin Kiss in 1984. Specifically, the sound of the pitcher throwing the ball, followed by the crack of the bat, the sound of the guys running the bases and the muffled voice stating the call. I always heard that sequence of sounds in the background while I was enjoying an ice cream cone, or perhaps a pizza.

And the theme music for Gunsmoke and Arkanoid 2 always reminds me of Baldwin's 76 truck stop which was a mile from my house growing up. I rode my bike down there and played games in their game room many hours in the mid 80s through the early 90s.

What are some of your game sound flashbacks?

Kyle :cool:
 
I was in Albertson's grocery store yesterday and Pac Man Fever came up on the store radio system... that brought me back.

I'd say the DK intro music... Pac Man dying sound... and the Defender "fire" sounds probably are the most distinct sounds that bring me back.
 
What are some of your game sound flashbacks?

Kyle :cool:


-Pole Position attract mode and game sounds bring me back to the Albany Bowling Center cir 1986.

-Berzerk speech takes me back to the Dreamland Roller Rink cir 1982-87.

-Pacman siren and pellet eating sounds take me back to the Skatin' Place May 1982, my 3rd grade field trip.

-Ghosts N Goblins 'armor off' and other scary sounds takes me back to the Melrose Bowl cir 1985-86.
 
Pole Position attract mode and game sounds bring me back to the Albany Bowling Center cir 1986.

Pole Position's attract mode sounds are the only arcade attract sounds that everyone I know universally remembers.

Just the other night, I was around some women who never frequented arcades BIID. I mentioned Pole Position, and they looked at me with confused faces. Then I went, boop, boop, boop, beeeeep and it was "Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod I totally remember that!"
 
My grandfather used to own a bar at the beginning of the NJ Turnpike and my mom would place grocery orders through his suppliers. I got to hang out there all the time as a kid. He had a Pac-Man machine and a pinball. The Pac-Man sounds bring me right back every time.
 
There aren't too many sounds that bring me back, I'm more visual. But whenever I hear Excitebike I remember an arcade that was at a KOA in Washington state. They had a stand up with Excitebike. There was a metal stool with a black vinyl top. I don't remember when it was but I would say around 86 or 87.
 
Spy Hunter & Pole Position sounds takes me back to the Atari Arcade in Crestwood Plaza mid 1980's. Street Fighter II & Capcom Bowling at the bowling alley early 90's. Tetris at the Highland Arcade as a teenager (among others of course) Tekken 2 at Swing Around Fun Town during high school (had a GF that lived nearby at the time and we played the hell out of that game).

As far as games I own:

Donkey Kong at after school latchkey in 6th grade.
Ms. Pac-Man & MK, also from Highland.
RoadBlasters at Big Lots (where I worked at 17 years of age).
California Speed at Wal-Mart 10 years ago.
Centipede at a campsite during a float trip about 7 years ago.
Rush the Rock at a local laundromat a few years ago.

I can go on and on with this...
 
The attract sounds from Space Ace & Dragon's Lair..

"Help Dexter to regain his manhood" makes the 12 yr old in me laugh every time I hear it..
 
For me, anytime I hear the intros to SFII Hyper Fighting, Chase HQ and MK, takes me back to the early 90's at my local high school arcade. Pockets. Man I miss that place and the memories.
 
Dig Dug and Battlezone sounds put me in the local bowling alley in the fall of 1985 after football games...pizza and pop was always in hand.

Defender and Centipede sounds put me in the local movie theater in the summer of 1982; I remember them being there when we went to see E.T.; you couldn't even get close to the game to even see it because there was so many people, but you could hear them. Pac Man and Joust was in there, too.

Gorf sounds put me back in the little grocery store 3 blocks from my house, Feb. of 1983...man those were fun times. Every day after school some friends and I would go in there and try to become Space Warriors.
 
Mat Mania and Spy Hunter music put me back into Mars Music at the Big Elk Mall in Elkton, MD back in the early 80's. Dragons Lair and Star Wars put me back into Galaxy Arcade in Christiana Mall in Christiana DE back in the 80s. I remember that DL was such a big deal that it was the feature of a TV news story on Channel 10 in Philly that it had arrived in the Christiana Mall.

I know, sad that can remember this, but couldn't remember my blood type if I was stuck in an emergency. ("O... maybe A. I think it was a letter...")
 
Pole position was a very exacting background white noise machine for me, boop booop boop beeeeeep!

Ah old zares by the bathrooms!
 
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