Keystone II’s “Fight Club” And Other Home Arcades
GameTap continues it’s series of articles covering the last survivors of the arcade scene, this time focusing on San Jose’s Keystone II. Though the establishment isn’t so much an arcade in the classic sense, but rather a very private club. That being understandable since, it’s not you’re typical public venue, it’s in the owner’s house.
As more geeks come into money these days, we’ve been seeing many investing into bringing the arcade environments of their youth into their homes. Whether it be something as simple as building a custom MAME cabinet, to building your own private arcade room. This is rarely seen (at least done well) since one must not only have the passion and the funds to acquire the necessary hardware, but also enough craft to build and repair the cabinets themselves.
Another such room that’s been recently received spotlight is Peter Hirschberg’s Luna City Arcade, built in his home in Linden, VA. Unlike Keystone II (which focuses primarily on fighting games), Luna City Arcade hosts a collection of every classic title you’d expect from a 1980′s arcade. Hirschberg has gone to great lengths to not only maintain these vintage machines, but also to recreate the arcade-style atmosphere. The room is kept dark to help contrast with the machine’s video screens, but is illuminated with black lights and neon signs to bathe any who walks within it’s walls with token-popping nostalgia.
I’ve often fantasized about owning at least one arcade machine in my adulthood. At this moment, I’ve had a couple opportunities for some great deals, but so far I’ve passed on them. While I still plan to own one some day, it’s just not practical for me just yet. In the meantime, I do consider how I might configure my set up… Of course I’d prefer to obtain an original machine of my favorite games. Some (like the Capcom fighting games of the 1990′s) use JAMMA hardware, which allow you to swap out a cartridge inside a single cabinet. Though it might turn out to be more economical to convert an arcade cabinet into one that runs off of MAME.
In either case, which style of case do I choose? I suppose I’d be content with the classic boxy-looking cabinet that we’re all familiar with. Though the Japanese head-to-head “candy” style machines let you sit down and give you and your opponent plenty of elbow room. Multi-player games do tend to get crowded. In fact, someone recently designed a home-made version, using state-of-the-art audio/video equipment…which is super-sexy.
No, I don’t think I’d be satisfied with that arrangement. I prefer to stand side-by-side to my opponent so that we’re both viewing the game from the same screen. If for nothing else but to point to it after around and enthusiastically cry, “Did you see that?” So I think that I’d ideally set my sights on the sweet pedestal-style arcade cabinet. Only like the guys from the previous paragraph, I’d update it with the best possible A/V equipment. Including a 42″ LCD or plasma screen, stereo speakers with sub-woofer, and a couple drink-holders for a touch of class.
