League of Extraordinary Bloggers: The Ultimate Arcade!

Oh, I have got this. I have Sooooo got this. In fact I have already started work on this (much to my Wife's chagrin!) About 3 years ago, I had some extra cash our new house and some time off coming up so I bought my first piece from ebay and had to drive to St. Louis to pick it up. Gave my wife a chance to visit the St. Louis Zoo, so it all worked out. My Neo Geo MVS. I chose this for a first arcade machine for one reason. If I never get another machine, it is able to change games by swaping out cartridges like a home console meaning that owning only one machine does not mean I am both incredible at and totally sick of Pac Man, or Frogger, or Street Fighter II.

This was it when I brought it home with a copy of Samurai Showdown II in the slot. I have since put in a 179 in one cart including all of the Samurai Showdown series, all the Metal Slug games, as well as Capcom Vs SNK, most of the King of Fighters games and a few more essoteric games like Captain Tomaday, Matrimelee, Far East of Eden, and even Bomberman. Not bad for $450.00. If You don't believe me just listen to Keith Apicary , he makes a decent case for it's awesomeness.

Here is a pic of me and my kid with my Neo Geo, 4 bright buttons and all

My next piece I am going to build into my Garage, I have a 2 car, and I think that while this is not a commercial arcade game installing it would be something I would do if I had the unlimited resources to build my own mega arcade.

This is a networked Live action party game using 6 pc's to simulate a bridge operation ala Star Trek, this video shows it off better than I can explain it and it's just damn cool!

I have 2 spare PCs and a university surplus store about 1/2 hour from my door, This will be one of those slow builds If I can get it up and running. My plan is to take over the garage with a customized bridge panels and use a projector to put up the main screen. I just need to reinstall XP media center on the desktop in my basement, the requirements for the game are decently low. Looks slick No?

As for the next thing I would put on the list, it is something no arcade worth it's salt would be without. A pinball Machine!

Unless you are like 12 years old, any trip to an arcade probably included one of these. And no matter how much they increase the processing power, polygons and gigaflops, you can't simulate the sheer joy of seeing that silver ball against the laquered playfield flying up ramps and hitting the flippers. Truly magical and one thing I want for my own.

Now from here on we get into the if money were no object items.  The first is Galaxy Force II by Sega, it was a game I only got to play a few times but it felt just like piloting a goddamn starfighter in a way Star Wars Arcade, and it's 2003 revamp never could. Thanks to the hydraulic lifts moving the cabin around like a flight sim and the amazing controls, this one would have to go in my dream collection.

Next the Retro Geek in me has to go for this one Computer Space one of the first Arcade machines developed, it made an appearance in Soylent Green, the classic look of this one and a Pong would be a perfect museum piece to show just how far video games have come.

Next I would like to get some Japanese games some of the oddball ones such as Sonic Fighter, and Parodius just because they have some fun and wacky designs!

As for the rest of the games, (PacMan, Donkey Kong, Q-Bert, Frogger, Gauntlet, and Spy Hunter etc. I would probably be a bit of a philistine and get a Mame Arcade cabinet, just to save on electricity, and space. while yeah if I had space I would certainly have a warehouse with classics, rarities and big names but the realist in me knows this will be easier and cheaper in the long run!

So what about the rest of the league? Let's see what they have going on!
Cold Slither Podcast
Branded in the 80s
Cavalcade of Awesomeness.
The Nerd Nook 
Cal's Canadian Cave of Cool