It kinda saddens me to know that my kids will never be able to experience a true arcade environment. Placing your quarter on the glass to make mark your spot on the list in preparation to challenge the winner of the current bout, the dirty looks from competitors and the shit talking after taking people down from their 7 win streak. Okay, maybe that part I wouldn’t want them to experience as people did get kinda pissed off sometimes but all the other stuff, cool! But another thing that I liked about the arcade were the sounds of all the machines singing in a melting pot of sounds. Luckily, those sounds have recently been recreated for old farts like myself to indulge in memories of yesteryear by the good folks over at the Arcade Ambiance Project. After the break, you can download MP3’s of what those ancient arcade’s sounded like, recreated by taking sounds from the classic machines and combining them to a single symphony of beauty. Broken down by year, the tracks include samples from games such as Asteroids, Centipede, Bump n Jump, Burgertime, Altered Beast, Street Fighter 2, Smash TV, TMNT and more. So load these up on your iPod, sit back and reminisce.
1983– This track samples from the following games: Bagman, Bump n Jump, Burgertime, Congo Bongo, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong 3, Donkey Kong Jr, Elevator Action, Food Fight, Galaga, Gyruss, Joust, Jungle Hunt, Kangaroo, Mappy, Mario Bros, Millipede, Moon Patrol, Mr Do, Ms Pacman, Pengo, Pleiads, Pole Position, QBert, Robotron, Sinistar, Stargate, Star Trek, Tapper, Time Pilot, Track & Field, Tron, Xevious, Zaxxon, Zoo Keeper
1986 – This track samples from the following games: Arkanoid, Bank Panic, Bubble Bobble, Commando, Excite Bike, Flicky, Galaga 3 (Gaplus), Galaga, Gauntlet, Ghosts N Goblins, Gunsmoke, Hat Trick, Hogan’s Alley, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Jail Break, Kid Niki, Mag Max, Marble Madness, Ms Pacman, Pacland, Paperboy, Punch Out, Rampage, Road Fighter, Russian Attack, Sky Kid, Spelunker, Super Sprint, Star Wars, Tiger Heli, Time Pilot 84, Two Tigers.
1992 – This track samples from the following games: Altered Beast, Arkanoid, Cyberball 2072, Galaga, Golden Axe, Klax, Neo Geo (Magician Lord, Baseball Stars Professional, Nam 1975), Mortal Kombat, Ms. Pacman, Raiden, Roadblasters, Street Fighter 2, Smash TV, Tetris, TMNT, Toobin, & Xybots. Pins: Black Knight 2000, Elvira, Fun House, Whirlwind.
Be sure to visit the official site for more tracks and more info on the project.
Its kooooo roq…. I mean Brodie, Mr Torrence is bound to keep his Nickle Arcades going, as personal nostalgia for himself.
One of the best jobs I ever had was working at an arcade.