Arcade Game Compilations- No tokens required

Arcades just aren't what they used to be are they? What once were rows of cabinets containing some of the most famous and iconic arcade games like Pacman, Space Invaders, Mortal Kombat etc. are now mostly games of chance, on-rail shooters and sport/racing sim games. However, recently, I had the pleasure of visiting a genuine retro game arcade, called Arcade Club.

Credit-Picture found through Arcade Club's official website

It had hundreds of machines across three floors and for a one-off entry fee you could play whichever ones you wanted for as long as the arcade was open. It was great seeing so many of the classics and the whole experience replicated an old-school arcade so well. After spending hours there it inspired me to talk about another way of experiencing some of those classic titles, arcade game compilations.

Now arcade compilations are obviously different to game series compilations. Arcade compilations will feature a variety of titles that were developed by the same company. Examples that I own are Midway Arcade Treasures, featuring some of the most popular titles made by Midway, and Taito Legends, games that were made by, yes, Taito.

Most of the time they're pretty much the exact same game as they would have been on the arcade machine, just emulated to run on whatever console it's on, so if you're playing a Capcom arcade title like Street Fighter on a compilation, you're playing the original, just with some smoother visuals and touch ups here and there.

The great thing about arcade compilations is that can play them as many times as you like. With a physical arcade machine, you'd need tokens or cash in order to continue playing, and given how the difficulty quickly builds on high-score titles, you'd either be spending a lot to keep playing, or not getting enough time for what you're paying for.

It's no wonder that game companies like re-releasing these titles, they're fun, short, high score based games, many of which you can play with a friend and having access to a full library of them is great even if it's just to kill a bit of time. They've made a lot of them too... There were a lot of arcade hits back when they had more mainstream appeal so it only made sense for these companies to re-sell them through compilations.

Namco, Capcom, Midway, Taito, Atari, they've all had decent success in the arcade game market and when Pacman is one of the most recognisable characters in the world, it only makes sense that Namco put him on everything they put they out.

So yeah, arcade games are cool and it's great that they're still widely available for people to enjoy. Also if you're looking for something a bit more authentic, you can even get arcade cabinets to own yourself via Arcade1-up. They're not the original models they're brand new but they're great if there's a specific game that you want in physical form.