Gotta Play! 2084 Arcade

After the show Saturday we met up with a friend to hit 2084 Arcade, an Anaheim original where several game owners open up their warehouse of 80+ games to the public. There's a $10 cover charge but all games are on free play, there's a couple of consoles upstairs, giant Jenga and a fridge full of waters. You know I'm a sucker for arcade games but had recently sated my appetite during a weekend in Fullerton which boasts not one but two button mashing destinations. One of them even had my holy grail of games, Capcom's Alien Vs Predator brawler! But I'd never been to 2084, we were in the neighborhood and they're only open a couple of times a month so we had to go. The place is jam packed with cabinets but more than that the ambiance is killer with lasers, music and videos projecting against the walls. 80's games aren't really my favorites though, I'm more of a 90's action guy but I tried my skills at Missile Command, The Empire Strikes Back, Punch Out and several other obscure titles. It was a bit crowded so we didn't stay long but one more spot I can check off my list of arcades for grown ups in the modern age.

Gotta Play! Button Mash

Another day, another Los Angeles based barcade. As a child of the 80's and 90's, I grew up pumping quarters into machines at my local malls, mashing buttons to Street Fighter, Final Fight, X-Men and the like. One more recent addition to the LA scene is Echo Park's Asian fusion restaurant with a bar and arcade Button Mash. Just up the street from Union Station in downtown, Button Mash is located in a curious strip mall that holds a tropical fish store and a Domino's among other businesses. There's a small parking lot and plenty of curb side parking around the area. They were supposed to open at 4:00 PM but were actually in the midst of shooting a TV show, movie or online series whatever. Surprisingly, many an older person patron was waiting to get in as well and when I say older, I mean retirement age. I wonder what games they came to play.

The place is split up into a restaurant on one side and the arcade on the other. It's strictly beer and wine at the moment but there are several kinds of cider for people like me. Food wise you had a double hamburger next to chicken wings and tofu balls, all in, not too shabby. Then your check comes in a 90's area paperback which was a nice touch, if you ever see Governor Schwarzenegger, Party of Four, scrawled in one, that was me. Game wise it's token based and the selection is quite solid with the full X-Men, Street Fighter II: Championship Edition, Mortal Kombat II, WWF, Super Contra, pinball and more. The more I play, the more I find myself craving the Street Fighter Alpha series with it's faster action and ability to pull off super combos. But so far, that's only located at Shatto 39 not here, Eighty-Two, Blipsy's or my local burger joint that has games in it. I'm sure The One-Up has all of them on their beautiful emulator cabinet but it's not quite the same thing.

Playing MK II was a trip back down memory lane as I could not recall ANY of the moves but was quickly reminded how cheap a game it is as you can seriously just trip someone over and over again until they die. We looked up moves and before you knew it, it was all about Johnny Cage and the splits to nut punch. I'm not saying Jean-Claude Van Damme invented the move in Bloodsport but can you name me a precursor example that had as much impact? And for a place called button mash, it could use a lot more brawlers. But overall a cool joint I'd check out again.

Gotta Eat! (& Drank): Odyssey & The One-Up

It was 405 time Sunday as we headed up to Granada Hills to meet a friend at Odyssey, a long established, would be swanky establishment on top of a hill overlooking the area for brunch. The offerings were varied and delicious with breakfast staples like eggs, bacon, fresh made waffles and lox along with Chinese food, a carving station with prime rib and turkey, shrimp, crab legs, turkey pot pie and much more. It was a little pricey at $40 bucks a person but the ambiance, service and food were all excellent. Dranks were only $3.50 as well as we opted for some red wine Sangria. After eating our fill it was down the 405 to Sherman Oaks for a little button mashing at The One-Up. The place is great when no one's there because there's only one multiplayer machine with 400 titles like Final Fight, Street Fighter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and King of Fighters. The rest of the cabinets are kind of weak sauce, 10 pages of 8 bit titles like Pac-Man, Asteroids, Ghouls and Ghosts and the sort. Solid titles but not what I think of when I come to arcade. Scrolling through the massive list, that's missing Alien VS Predator, G.I. Joe and The Avengers sadly, there's still plenty of games to keep you busy.

We started with Bomberman, where you run around dropping explosives, blowing up creatures and walls, collecting power ups and decapitating yourself with fire. It took me back to the good ol' days of Super Nintendo and then Nintendo's Game Cube, their less than successful follow up to the N64. After that it was brawling time and we set out to defeat the really loud Cadillac's and Dinosaurs game by Capcom. Originally a comic book from 1986, the title was translated into video games, a cartoon, action figures and more. After pollution and natural disasters threaten mankind, humans go underground for 600 years. When they come out, extinct life forms like dinosaurs have taken over and those with basic mechanical skills hold the power. Motor head Jack Tenrec and busty scientist Hannah Dundee are featured in the 1993 arcade game along with quick footed Mustapha Cairo and bruiser Mess O'Bradovich. Like Final Fight, you punch, kick and spin move your way through sections of the city taking on thugs and here, dinosaur slavers and a few of the creatures themselves. With 8 areas to get through, game play gets a little repetitive but you get to shoot baddies with Uzi's and shotguns, blow them up with grenades, stab them with knives and run over them with a Caddy in one part. Surprisingly bloody by today's standards, you end up in the lab of Dr. Fessenden who transforms into a big dinosaur with an alien looking creature sticking out of his chest. I'll be back to defeat another brawler soon!

Con-Man: Twin Galaxies Entertainment Festival

On Friday morning we ventured out to Banning, California past Riverside and next to Morongo Casino for the Twin Galaxies Entertainment Festival at the Museum of Pinball. This is a private eSports facility that's only open to the public a few times a year so we figured on making a weekend out of it. Driving out east is about the closest I get to feeling like I'm back in Ohio or the middle east of America as traffic is lighter and there isn't much to see besides fields and a surprising amount of semi-trucks. We posted up at the Holiday Inn which was surprisingly nice with a separate living room, kitchenette area, a little gym and a substantial breakfast that included eggs, cinnamon rolls and BISCUITS AND GRAVY! The Pinball Museum is tucked away by the airport in a nondescript series of structures. It wasn't very crowded with people but there were tons of games to be played. The Museum is split into two halves, one with arcade games and the other with pinball. We walked around the arcade a bit with classic games like Pacman, Galaga, Super Mario Brothers and a crazy Japanese version of Tetris where you play as a Disney character. Then you had your Street Fighter, Fatal Fury and King of Fighters section and another with shooters like Area 51, a Time Crisis with the machine gun, etc.

Over at the end was a red carpeted area set up for competition and early YouTube show host Jace Hall was holding it down. While there were plenty of 80's games, I was disappointed in the lack of 90's button smashing brawlers like Final Fight, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or X-Men. Rather than finding a holy grail title like Alien VS Predator or G.I. Joe, runners up like The Simpsons and Airwolf weren't working. Instead we found solace in the driving games section with Spy Hunter, Star Wars and the most fun game of the day, Crazy Taxi! Basically where you drive around picking up fares and are on the clock but cause wanton destruction on your way to KFC, Tower Records, the train depot and other spots.

 
Across the hall was the pinball section where the museum really had some historic and cool things. One room was set up with old school shooting games where you fired at model planes and cars or flashes of light signaled bullet hits. Pinball wise you had a ton of early models and lots of new age, flashing lights, licensed ones like Maverick, Hook, Last Action Hero, Robocop and Judge Dredd. There was also a bar on the pinball side with $7 cocktails so it wasn't too shabby. There were panels and competitions throughout the day then food trucks and a DJ outside. At $50 to get in, it was a bit expensive for what amounted to about 4 hours of being onsite and like I said, even with 800 games to play I was disappointed in the selection. But it was only one part of the weekend and a solid one at that. The next open event is ArcadeExpo scheduled for January, apparently you can camp out on their multi-acre compound for that one.

Gotta Play! Knights of the Round & The Punisher

It was a pretty productive and busy Saturday as I started things off with a nice workout then my lady had a geek girl brunch thing at The One Up in Sherman Oaks. Enlisting a fellow arcade game loving friend we set out to do some brawling while the ladies did their thing. Jameson and Ginger Beer beside me, I hit Start on Capcom's Knights of the Round from 1991 and away we went. The game sees wizard Merlin sending King Arthur and his two knights Lancelot and Perceval on a mission to take out evil king Garibaldi in order to unite England. Like Final Fight you have three types of player to choose from. Arthur is like Cody, well rounded in the strength and speed department while Lancelot is Guy, being faster and a touch weaker while Perceval is your Haggar, big and slow but strongest of the trio. Opting for Lancelot with his beautiful mane of Fabio-esque hair, we mashed buttons taking out soldiers and thieves with hack and slash spin moves. Tigers are your enemy, sorry Tony while you can jump on horses and hack from above. Health replenishment comes in the forms of salads and cheese plates. Knights is cool because you level up after taking out so many baddies and picking up treasure so you gain a shoulder pad, a breast plate, a bigger sword, a gold suit of armor etc. After 7 levels of medieval mayhem, we defeated Garibaldi and united the realm.

Next up was another side scrolling beat'em up from Capcom, 1993's The Punisher. Here you can only choose Mr. P. himself Frank Castle or former Howling Commando turned head of SHIELD Nick Fury. Unlike Knights or Final Fight where each character is a little different, The Punisher and Fury are basically the same in the speed and strength department. While Punisher does a low spinning sweep special move, Nick Fury whips off his belt and goes around the world. What's great about this game is how violent it is, plus Fury smokes a stogie the entire time. Besides punching, kicking and jump side kicking, you can pick up lead pipes, samurai swords, throw knives and blast fools dead with pistols and M-16's. Oh yeah, you also grab flame throwers and set peeps on fire. You also pick up grenades and explode your enemies whenever necessary. Surprisingly violent, there's blood splatters from the sword slashes, bullet hits and in one scene, Punisher grabs a punk and shoots him under the chin! The food selection here is great, giant roasts, Swiss cheese, flan and hot dogs! This would have been prime time Jim Lee Punisher: War Journal days but I couldn't remember what villains he went up against there besides some ninjas and Bushwhacker. Luckily the blond buzz cut with gun hands Bushwhacker showed up as a boss before we fought the Kingpin. The cool thing about The One-Up is that games are on free play so who knows how many quarters it would have taken to beat these games otherwise. When we defeated Data East's Captain America and The Avengers in Salt Lake City, it took a good $10 for two of us if I recall correctly.

Still on the hunt for Capcom's brawler Alien VS Predator and Data East's run and gun G.I. Joe game. Until then, keep mashing!

Gotta Drank(& Eat)! Unicorn and The Comet Tavern

Wrapped up Saturday night in Seattle with a trip up to Capitol Hill, an area not far from downtown but said to be the "New York" section with lots of dive bars, ethnic food and new-modern art blah blah blah along with plenty of neon lights illuminating the hilly streets. I'd been searching for a solid Barcade to visit and while Shorty's was nice, it was also pinball. Unicorn was a must stop as it was touted as a Coney Island meets Carnival joint complete with food named after balls and drinks named after jizz. Plus they had arcade games the website said. Place was pretty chill, nice service, lots of crazy crap on the walls like a million stuffed animal heads and a funny themed drank and eats menu. Their Moscow Mules were sadly not very good though, the muddled lime overtook the drank. We got some Apple Pie something or other shots after which were delicious. We got the Unicorn as well as Narwhal Balls which were basically potatoes or meat deep fried served with cheese sauce, my mouth is watering just thinking about them. The stuffed burger was excellent as well. Downstairs are a handful of games, mostly 80's style like Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga and Frogger along with an unplugged Tron machine, skee-ball, pinball and a claw machine filled with sex toys.

We debated heading to yet another arcade but it was just far enough we didn't wanna walk or feel like taking a 5 minute Uber since it had already been a long day. I wanted some 90's fighting, brawling, button mashers, Damme it! Next time... Down the street though was The Comet Tavern, a nice neighborhood joint that loudly announced they were anti racist, homophobic and other things people use to label each other. The mascot was a comic strip looking dude who loves you all. We reverted back to ginger beer and Jameson and took in the place that had pinball and pool. Chill spot and there was a dude in an Ohio sweatshirt randomly.

I don't recall seeing the deep fried burger on the menu?!

Gotta Drank(and Play)! RN74, Lava Lounge & Shorty's

Hello hello, Dammaged Goods coming at you live style from beautiful and green Seattle, Washington for this year's Emerald City Comicon! The event has sold out with attendance jumping a full 10,000 and expected to hit 80,000 attendees. We hopped a Virgin flight up yesterday afternoon and saw none other than voice of Duke and Prowl from G.I. Joe and Transformers as well as Sunbow Celebration guest Michael Bell in the terminal! Mr. Bell is working on a voice acting workshop and will be a guest at ECCC all weekend with a panel on Sunday. Our flight was filled with something like 60 Australian teenage middle schoolers who were traveling the northwest. I bought tix months ago and snagged Main Cabin Select which puts you right behind First Class. There's free booze and food but here's a tip, order as soon as you sit down because they ran out of Jack Daniels and Glenfiddich quick!

Landing in Seattle it was beautiful and pushing 70 degrees as we walked to the convention center to get my press pass and then around the Pike district for happy hour and supplies. I had scouted out RN74 on my Happy Hour hunt and as soon as we sat down we spotted some copper cups filled with Downtown Donkey's, their version of a Moscow Mule. Two of those please! But with Jameson. Alas, disappointment, it was literally a cup full of crushed ice and just really sour. Would have been better off going across the street to YardHouse because I know their mules are excellent. Food was good though, Deviled Eggs, Chinese Pigs in a Blanket, Sliders and the especially the Duck Fat Fries. Crisp, delicious with three dipping sauces, mmmmm. On Thursdays they also have oysters on the shuckin' shell but I've never had good experience with raw ones. Nice joint, good food but a little pricey for what we got.

Meeting up with some friends over in Belltown near the Space Needle we hit up tiki themed dive bar Lava Lounge. Apparently Ginger Beer is big in Seattle with many local brands. But they're like pop, not alcoholic like Crabbie's so no black out juice tonight...They had Street Fighter II: Championship or Turbo Edition in the back but I didn't get a chance to play. Right next door was Shorty's a Coney Island style joint with pinball machines as tables, who knows how old hot dogs on a 7-11 style roller thing and a room full of pinball machines along with a back room bar with awesome Captain chairs.

I tried my hand at X-Men because it had Jim Lee art but there were some old school ones like Centaur as well as Indiana Jones, Wizard of Oz and The Walking Dead machines. Cool spot. Again, Ginger Beer as a mixer versus a double booze hit. Then it was off to dinner at Buckley's, a sports bar with TV's at your table. A little much but people be loving that sportsball. A great kick off evening to what is sure to be a fun weekend. Pumped to see the exhibition floor and panel with The Flash John Wesley Shipp!

Sherman Oaks Saturday: Earth 2 Comics & The One Up

Wow what a week! Started a kick ass new gig all while going into the final days leading up to the Sunbow Animation Celebration double feature of The Transformers and G.I. Joe: The Movies, fighting a cold and planning another big movie night. Saturday it was off to Sherman Oaks to check out a parking lot sale of comics with thousands of issues advertised for a buck a piece. Earth 2 Comics is located right on Ventura Blvd off the 405 a few minutes from The Galleria. The Galleria? John Conner alert! I think that was Glendale actually...Anyways, it was already a bustling scene
with people elbow to elbow skimming through books. Toys, calendars, figurines and more were also on sale but I was more there looking for issues. After whetting my appetite with some Cable (Body slide by one) from last week's Long Beach Comic Expo, I was hoping I'd run into some more 90's action and was not disappointed as I scooped up some of Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza's X-Force from 1991. Also grabbed were several issues of Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, some more 80's Captain America that I already have in boxes in Ohio, Sgt. Rock and a couple of random issues of West Coast Avengers with interesting covers. There seemed to be a lot of DC for sale and I hauled up a few issues of The Flash written by the TV writing duo of the 1990 show, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo. If you bought 20, the price went down to .50 cents so it was money well spent. The staff there were all super cool and say they hold the sale a couple times a year so we'll be sure to come back.

Since we were already in The Oaks, we cruised down to The One Up for a midday cocktail and some more brawling action following up on The Punisher mayhem from a few weeks ago. It was barely noon so the place was empty but with Space Balls on the tube and a Jameson Mule aka Dublin Donkey in hand, it was time to check out what other oddities and classics the 400 game emulator had in store for us. I really hoping for Aliens VS Predator so I could be video game Arnold aka Dutch but with a metal arm and fight xenomorphs. Alas AVP was not included but 1991's forgotten yet awesome side scrolling beat'em up Knights of the Round from Capcom was. I remember playing the crap out of that game as Lancelot, Arthur and Perceval. We settled on Cadillacs and Dinosaurs for the sheer WTF value as it's a beat'em up but with a story involving cars and dinosaurs. A comic book series turned cartoon, the Capcom arcade game came out in 1993 where you play as the hyper buff dude Jack Tenrec or hot diplomat Hannah Dundee along with fast fighting Mustapha or heavy hitter Mess O'Bradovich.

Like Final Fight or The Punisher, you roll down the streets of some crazy city where dinosaurs have been hunted and modified, becoming violent tools of gang warlords. Using your fists, feet, uzi's, shotguns, knives and TNT, you fight your way through various parts of The City by the Sea and a nearby jungle. The game had a BLARING rock and roll soundtrack and was really, really loud. But fun to button mash and brawl. It was surprisingly violent with dead dinosaur carcases, being able to use swords to hack peeps and of course shoot them with a variety of firearms. One stage you're driving a Caddy and literally trying to mow down the baddies in your way. Road rage! It was a fun morning before we needed to head to Hollywood for the big show...

Gotta Drank (& Play)! The One-Up

It was a Saturday in Sherman Oaks as we ventured north to catch 50 Shades of Grey at the Arclight then made our way down Ventura Blvd to the Von Eaton Animation Art Gallery that had a Disney exhibit going on. Right next door to that is The One-Up, a cozy barcade. With a chill vibe and great ambiance courtesy of 80's classics Back to the Future, The Goonies and Fast Times at Ridgemont High on repeat along with lots of English easy listening pop as I haven't heard Travis in ages. There's a small menu of pub favorites like burgers, mac n' cheese and delicious mini-corn dogs. There's a list of specialty cocktails or a full bar to choose from. My Moscow Mule wasn't amazing so I switched to the very tasty Monkey Brew, a mix of scotch, orange tea, lemon and mint. Unlike Eighty-Two or Blispy's, there are no quarters required for the games at One-Up as they're all free to patrons. There's maybe 10 emulator cabinets with 10 pages of games each in the vein of Mario Brothers, Pac-Man, Galaga and the like. I played some plane flying/shooting 1943 and Ghouls and Ghosts before the holy grail of the joint opened up: a sit down, two player console with 400 games on it. Mainly your fighting and side scrolling beat'em ups. I didn't even peruse the entire list to see what oddities and golden nuggets were inside but you had several Samurai Showdown's and Street Fighter's along with Final Fight and THE PUNISHER.

You see, Beat'em Ups or Brawlers are multi-player games where you take on lots of opponents through button mashing mayhem. You usually punch, kick, jump or do a special move and can pick up useful items like weapons and food along the way. Double Dragon got it going in the late 80's and soon you had Golden Axe, Final Fight, Alien Vs Predator, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons, X-Men and The Avengers gracing arcades in the form of scrolling beat'em ups. The Punisher hit arcades in 1993 towards the tail end of the Brawler glory days but remains an awesomely good time. As either Mr. P. or Nick Fury, you battle thugs and criminals on your way to a showdown with The Kingpin. Not only can you punch, kick, spin and jump kick, you can pick up pipes, bats, katanas, knives, pistols and M-16's! We battled our way through 4 stages before I began to worry about the remaining time on my meter and called it a night. It was a lot of fun, like playing Avengers in Salt Lake City as you just beat the hell out of guys named Chrys, Scully and Yan Lee in clubs, casinos, bars and subway trains. One-Up could definitely use a second console with these 400 games as shit like Dig Dug and Pac-Man just can't hold a candle to beating the crap out of thugs, 90's karate style!

Gotta Drank! Up - Down

Located in lovely downtown Des Moines, Iowa is a dive bar for the 80's and 90's ages, Up-Down.  Steps away from the capital building and Ray Gun, the joint is filled with arcade games like the two-screen, six player X-Men (Jim Lee console art!) and nostalgic hits like Wrestlemania, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Contra (frigging rip off!), Street Fighter II (so slow!), giant Jenga and Connect Four.  I was impressed with the wall decor, a mish mash of 80's and 90's pop culture wall paper featuring The Goonies, Back to the Future, Pauly Shore, Pulp Fiction, AC Slater and Jean-Claude Van Damme!  The bar was stocked with beers on tap, Strongbow in the fridge and a 2-4-1 token special for Saturday night.  I've been to several arcades lately and this had the best working games by far.  The selection and variety of games is solid but I'm still on the lookout for Avengers (America needs your help!) and the G.I. Joe run and gun shooting spectacular.