Are there no new side scrolling arcade games?

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I've been to three arcades in the last three months and not seen a single side scroller, beat 'em up, or hack and slash game.

They all seem to be racing or fake gun shooting games now.

Did they stop making the three (side scroller, beat 'em up, and hack and slash) I use to love?

When did this happen?

Where do you live that they even have arcades anymore?? Anyways as for the three genres you like, about your only choice today is indie titles, and the few that are made don't hold a candle to the likes of Final Fight, Golden Axe, etc. That's one reason why I still have a SNES an Genesis hooked up. I wouldn't touch a PS4 with a ten foot pole.

No, there are those that can measure up; wether indie or otherwise, new or otherwise, does not dictate what the developer's level of skill is. As much as I like many classics from the NES and SNES era, since then...generally among the indie selection... I've found games that far surpass the things I like from that older era within the genres I'm most into.

The problem: FINDING them. These days people expect games to come to THEM, because that's how the console trends have been going for a long time. Publishers basically screaming at you to get your attention for their game. It doesnt work that way with indie games. You have to search them out, and it's not an easy search; there's so many of them, in so many different vendors and distributors, and hell, there's a huge blob of free ones that arent linked to ANY of those distributors. It's difficult to really figure out just WHERE to look. Most people only see the "major" indie titles, and tend to think that's all there is.


As for arcade games mentioned by the OP.... yeah, dont expect to ever find more of those. EVER. Arcades are pretty much dead. Oh, there are still some out there.... there's a gigantic one near me.... but they're typically retro arcades, because modern arcade games are usually.... bad. Really bad.

You have to go to the old arcade titles to get what you're after. I could probably recommend a few bazillion of them, but I sure as heck couldnt tell you where to FIND them. I simply use Mame, myself, as I've an archive of about 7500 arcade roms. It's the only way to play... most of them.

"Where do you live that they even have arcades anymore??"

Large Mini golf courses plus Dave and Busters.

When did they stop making those good arcade games though?

They stopped making those a LONG time ago. Seriously, it's been like, decades. Arcade machines are not profitable anymore. The newer the game, the more resources and time it takes to make, and these days it just takes too much, so you get arcade machines that charge $1 or more per play (and it's often TIMED play, which is even worse), which.... yeah. Nobody likes that. And even then, most games developed in the later years of arcades were just not very good, as just focusing on graphics and such wasnt enough with those like it was with consoles.

That's why what arcades ARE out there are usually retro arcades, with just a random smattering of newer machines in there (and the newer machines tend to just be things like light-gun games or fighting games), and those arcades are usually difficult to find.

I may have found my answer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Slug_6

2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Slug_7

Yeah, those were made well after arcades had pretty much died off here and in the UK. They continued to be viable for some time over in Japan, but mostly consisted of fighting games and shmups, and similar things, nearly all of which were never brought to other countries, except the fighting games that were ported to consoles.

That SNK even released a game in that series that late is amazing.

And of course number 7 is not an arcade title at all.


Never liked that series myself; it was basically impossible to beat without pure memorization. Note that by "beat" I mean "finished without continues". It's a common rule in the community that plays these sorts of things that only a 1-credit victory counts; the moment you use a continue, you've already lost.

Good news:

I've discovered something called retro-aracdes.

If you wanted a good side-scrolling series to play, Streets of Rage for the Genesis / Mega Drive is a great series.

If you can't be asked to buy them, there is a fan remake that revives all three games into a arcade-style fighter with remastered music called Streets of Rage Remake.

I know your pain, though. Every time I think of an arcade, I think of actual enjoyable arcade games and not the coin dropper drivel that Britain has nowadays.

It's like I always say; it's emulators if you want to play these, nowadays.

Granted, there's no cabinet involved, but... they're still the same games. And of course, it's possible to simply build your own cabinet, powered by the machine that contains all of the roms.

I've got most arcade roms that exist on this computer and backed up elsewhere, and yeah.... it's the only way to play them, usually. Heck, even back when arcades were common, many of these games would STILL be unplayable, because plenty of them, even the good ones, were rare.

There's a giant retro arcade near me... one of the biggest ones there is, apparently with 350+ games... but as it's difficult to get to, being in the sort of area that I have great trouble navigating... I havent gone there yet. I will though.

Other than those options, to get those styles of games these days, as in, new ones, for the most part only indie devs make those now, and almost all of them are PC-only. That they make games similar to those old arcade games is one of the things that drew me to PC gaming.

Tl;dr

Look up Resogun

Eh, as someone that's played about a bazillion shmups of all types (seriously, I have *tons* of them), it being one of my main genres, I can say.... Resogun is mediocre at best, compared to so many others that are out there. It's one of those games that seems pretty good.... IF you havent had a chance to see some of what other options are out there.

There are indie devs that make stuff for consoles, sure, and a few of them make shmups on there... but not very many (not compared to the swarms of them found on PC), and I find that shmups on console tend to follow a few trends that keep them from really hitting any high points. They often HAVE to, as consoles tend to be very... stale... about what is viable to put on them, and what isnt. Even indie devs HAVE to follow certain trends, or their game either A: sells badly, or B: doesnt make it to the console in the first place. PC indie devs can make whatever in the bloody hell they want, and usually do exactly that.

Which is why, while I often recommend looking for indie games... I usually dont mention consoles when pointing that out. Particularly not for the shmup genre.


....also, how in the world was that too long to read? It takes only a few seconds to do so. It was a SHORT post, as is this one.

If you want a short, cheap game, Out There Somewhere is really fun

I miss arcades too!!

You may want to keep an eye out for River City Ransom: Underground. It was Kickstarted about a year ago but looks to be hitting Greenlight soon (and/or Soon™).

I missed arcade video games from my youth so much that I slowly started collecting them on top of my console video game systems. (But, that does get pricey and you need a lot of room to store/play them in, so be prepared if you go that route.) Occasionally, you can find a working one that someone just wants to get rid of for a few hundred dollars (or less if not working/needing repairs). My best luck finding them has been word of mouth from antique dealers working on estates.

Here is a site that might bring back a few arcade memories (check out the top 100 list):

http://www.arcade-museum.com/

I'm surprised there are any new arcade games at all, but I understand that they're trying to make arcade games almost more like carnival rides so people think it's worth paying coins or tokens for a few minutes of gaming instead of just going home and playing all they want for free on a computer or console.