My wife and I went to CAX (California Extreme) this year, a huge two-day gathering of classic and new pinball and video arcade cabinets and tables, all at the convention center at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, and we didn't need any quarters. I've written about it before, but I barely mentioned the video arcade cabinets. I do want to thank our hosts, Anthony Ruelas and Micaila Taylor, and especially Anthony for making our trips possible. Also, were it not for Anthony, we would not even know about the existence of California Extreme.
Pinball from all eras made an appearance, and the newer tables were almost all licensed properties, including Jaws, Labyrinth, Godzilla, Dungeons & Dragons, Weird Al, and Trogdor (though the latter seemed an unofficial effort).
Galactic Tank Force. One of the only non licensed properties of the new pinball tables.
Trogdor was an interesting table given how unfinished it was. The creator was on hand to answer questions, which was cool (and to make necessary adjustments or repairs).
We were also fascinated by the older tables, especially ones like Pioneer where the wires do the math. And there was more than just the Pioneer table. There was Doodle Bug, Hi-Deal, and Card Whiz, all of which were purely analog pinball devices. These were interesting because of the complexity of keeping track of the accumulated points and machine resets, and, in some cases, multiple players. I will say that the ball drains much more easily in these games, either through the gutter on the sides of the flippers or directly down into that space between where the flippers can't cover. It's always sad when that happens, but remember, these games are designed to keep the quarters flowing.
The newer tables did things like "ball saves" which returned a ball if you lost it while still early in play. I thought that was an acceptable concession.
The video arcade cabinets
Last time we visited we got to play Armadillo Racing from Namco, an open cabinet with two stations set up with large, heavy trackballs for controlling our armadillos. This was a lot of fun, though I found it difficult to stay on the track, a difficulty not shared by many other players of the cabinet. Keeping the armadillo moving was the result of keeping the trackball moving, both directionally and using the inertia of the trackball to keep the armadillo moving forward.
Krull, loosely based on the 1983 film, was a game I spent some time on. This and Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Joust, Gauntlet II, Sinistar, Star Wars (Atari), and a little Defender fulfilled my love of 8-bit era video arcade games. This was the era I feel the most nostalgia for, since the early 1980s was the last time I spent any quarters in arcades or stand-alone video arcade cabinets. Part of that nostalgia is invested in the sit-down cabinet of Star Wars by Atari (I've written about this before, at the link above).
The 16-bit era, in the home and arcades, passed me by completely. Nevertheless, we did book some time with Super Street Fighter II, whereat I mashed buttons to no avail. Still, it was fun. Somewhat less fun was Magician Lord for the Neo Geo MVS cabinet, which felt somewhat lackluster.
We also played a hand of Dragon's Lair, and though beautiful, this game really is as utterly unforgiving as I remember it being at 50¢ a play back in the day.
Space Ace was right next to it, though I have to confess I didn't play it. One of the 8-bit era video arcade cabinets I did play was Atari's Video Pinball, a fun and interesting game juxtaposed with all the real pinball games on the floor—and I'm not just saying that because I did well at it.
Propcycle. Fly around and pop balloons for points.
In a more kinetic vein, Namco had Propcycle — a flying game which required sitting on a bicycle-like controller and pedaling in order for the character onscreen to remain aloft and be propelled forward. Steering was handled in the form of a control yoke which controlled direction and altitude.
Console games
Steel Battalion made an appearance, with the entire three-panel control deck operational with pedals underneath the table. The game was complex enough to require a "Steel Battalion for Dummies" stapled manual to be necessary to pick up enough of the game to play. Not something I'd ever buy, considering how much room it would require to store, and the fact that there's only one kind of game (Steel Battalion games) that use the controller in the first place, but it was undeniably neat to see it in person.
We played some Mario Kart 64 on one of the many CRTs present, along with Bonk on the TurboGrafx-16. Pac-Man Versus for the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance was also set up and we had a pretty good time with that.
My wife made some time for the Rock Band/Guitar Hero (can't remember which) portion of the console area, with karaoke-style singing and console-controller instruments on stage. She sang quite well, even considering she did it through a mask.
Nostalgia, or lack thereof
Apart from Pac-Man (and Star Wars and Space Invaders), I have little nostalgia for most of these games, so I see them in a more educational mode. Shows like this present a lot of games I missed out on when I was younger, games both video and pinball. The games are made available in an environment which invites you to experience them as they were intended, which I appreciate.