Does anyone actually make new arcade machines/games anymore? Like real 80's/90's style arcade games, not the ticket dispensers.
https://sternpinball.com/ continues to make modern (awesome) pinball machines - I'm fortunate enough to work for a company that stocks a couple in breakrooms. They also usually have a big presence in the floor of California Extreme (https://caextreme.org/) which is totally worth checking out if you're in the Bay Area in August.
Edit: For a little bit more to search on in terms of Japanese stuff - https://arcadeheroes.com/2023/02/10/new-arcade-games-for-jap...
I was fortunate enough to go like 5 years ago, but I really fondly remember Taito Hey had a whole row of like 8 Super Sweet Fighter 2 Turbo machines which were basically continuously occupied, and then a floor down I watched somebody basically one credit perfect one of those Capcom Dungeons and Dragons side scrolling brawlers, and then on another floor was a widescreen Darius machine (which I'd never seen in the US).
In other locations there were floors of like card-based army formation strategy games, music games with circular screens, etc.
Pachinko is like its own thing, almost always in different buildings, usually like 3 times as loud as the arcades, and full of smoking. Strangely I don't recall seeing any western style pinball machines anywhere, though.
Basically, it was arcade nirvana for someone like me (born in the early 80's) I heard things got pretty bad during Covid, though, so I don't know how much it's regressed. I do have a friend who just got back from visiting the first time though, and he mentioned he could still find tons of competition in old fighting games and stuff. (Man I wanna go back, especially since the exchange rate is so good now)
Edit: typos
This is something that Michael Abrash hasn't really received proper credit for: he basically invented the model of using off-the-shelf PC components for videogames, which then spread to consoles and arcade games.
If it wasn't for Abrash's "mode x" we wouldn't have DirectX, then Direct3D, then XBox, then arcade games that are nothing more than personal computers.
At the time that Abrash came up with "mode x", there were basically two ways to play games on a PC. The first method was to use a PC that included a great graphics chip (like the Amiga), the second method was to add aftermarket cards. Neither method was ideal, because there weren't many Amigas in existence, and software developers couldn't maximize sales while selling software that required aftermarket hardware.
You could make the opposite argument back in the day. Arcade hardware was what home PCs, and consoles, tried to emulate. The truth is, these still use specialized hardware even if they end up targeting embedded Linux or embedded Windows (or a combination of the two). They are also incredibly efficient with their use of hardware
Another category I missed would be rhythm games. You can play those at home, but it's not as fun (unless you have a really nice setup).
a) standing b) in a group of 1 or 2
The cabinets don't have to look like this anymore. We don't need a CRT, we don't need the full size cabinets.
Seems like a real opportunity to design a more bar-friendly option, tables with multiple monitors that operate like the old desktop/seated machines or similarly.
Standing is fine but after awhile people don't want to smoosh next to each other and stand in front of a crappy screen. But most of these places are too attached to the retro aspect, imo.
I referenced them above (but gave them a different name, "old desktop/seated machines"). They're still archaic and don't fit well with modern bar seating nor gaming.
Playing on one screen split in half was sort of a necessity at the time but it never really worked that well.
Ahh, I thought you were referring to a different format. I forget what they're called (Cabaret?), but they're upright, short, and meant to be sat at.
You just need to find an arcade with some candy cabinets, those are seated. Also, most of them are set up for one player per cab with your opponent sitting on the other side of you