Topic: The Switch Arcade Community Thread

@meppi64 If you remember a game called Ballblazer on the C64...I'm hoping Rocket League scratches that itch.

@GrailUK Can't say that I do.
Never had a C64 myself, but played a bunch of games at a friends house at the time. I think Batman was on there if I'm not mistaken, that one certainly left a big impression.
Looked up a couple of videos for Ballblazer and I have a bit of a hard time to see what's actually going on. hehe
But it certainly does look like Rocket League might have taken inspiration from that game, that's for sure.
Can't quite explain it, but the game feels really good to play.
It would be so easy to screw up the controls, not just of your RC but the ball control as well. But it really is spot on. Pleasantly surprised.

btw. I had an IBM compatible around 1988-1989 and played a ton of Kung Fu and a lot of other games I can't even remember.
Not sure if I had that before or after my NES come to think of it... :-/

My first gaming experience at home was a GrandStand all-in-one four sports thingy at my grand dad's house. Basically a Pong variant. Still have it somewhere.

My first gaming computer was a Commodore 16 and I bloody loved it. Way of the Burning Fist? Some single screen space invaders type game which I absolutely adored but can't remember the name of? Wish I could though. Would love to play that again.

Then onto the Spectrum and soon enough the Sega Master System and Amiga 500/600 and 1200. Never looked back. Had a GameBoy and a GameGear, Mega Drive, SNES and so on up until present day.

My biggest omissions - never owning a PC-Engine, Neo Geo AES (who did back then?), Sega Saturn, Dreamcast and not owning a PS1/PS2, GameCube or Xbox 360. Some big misses there. Must have been off doing other things 😉 Or skint.

@Lroy I somehow missed out on all of those micro systems that were so popular in the UK.
Played a bunch at a friends house before he got a NES, but never owned one myself.

As I told before, my first gaming experience was the black & white arcade Space Invaders game with the cellophane overlay on the screen to make it seem like it had colours.
My first very own system was a Popeye Game & Watch I got when I was 8 or so.
My sister had a Microvision earlier on that I played way more than her as she had very little interest in, but since I loved it, she barely let me play it. lol

Played Game & Watch games before, like Spitball Sparky and Donkey Kong and Mario Bros.
I was lucky though to buy a dozen or so brand new Game & Watch systems around 1992 I think, as a local store found a crate of unsold inventory. Still have them boxed up, never used.

Got the NES not long after launch from my mom (dad ran off 3 months before I was born and she never remarried) so she tried to make us happy any way she could, which in my case meant video games as she saw how infatuated I was with the arcade and pinball cabinets in the pub.
Saved up for a GameBoy once I saw it for the first time in that Club Nintendo magazine.

The pub was sold due to health reasons and I only ever played arcade games after that at carnivals and at the beach during vacation.
Got a MegaDrive perhaps the same year as it launched, not sure since there was no info on it here anywhere at the time, besides that one Tandy store that sold it.

Sold it for a SNES as it came out and pretended to be sick on launch day, so I was able to spend a whole week at home with Super Mario World instead of going to school.
Missed my Mega Drive so much after a couple of years that I bought a new one and basically never sold anything ever again, besides a box of junk SNES games that weren't any good.
Got a Game Gear because of Woody Pop and Wonderboy.
Got a PSone over a Saturn and a N64 on launch. Got the Saturn later on as I missed arcade games so much and there were so few being released here on PSone.
Fell in love with the little system and decided from that day forward to always get Sega systems on day one, just like the Nintendo ones. That didn't work out great since the Dreamcast ended up being their last one.

Got a Neo Geo pocket and loved it soo much as I never was able to buy a Neo Geo.
Of course it was discontinued really early on as well.
Got my GBA day one and loved it. Got a GameCube and never really fell in love with that one for some reason.
Loved Monkeyball and Beach Spikers though.

When I got a steady job which paid quite well, I started looking at the systems I was never able to afford.
Got a Neo Geo and a PC-Engine as well as an ATARI JAGUAR! lol (That last one just to play Tempest 2000)
Only got a PS2 long after the death of the DC and the Sega brought Virtua Fighter 4 to it. I couldn't resist any longer.
Bought an Xbox just for the Sega exclusives.
Imported a DS from Japan as I couldn't wait and fell in love with Meteos early on.
Imported a PSP for WipEout and Lumines and ended up not playing much else once the DS hit.
Loved my Wii from the first day and I don't care what anyone says today, it was a brilliant system with plenty of "hardcore" games and not just shovel ware or "waggle crap".
Again, bit sour on Sony and all their arrogant posturing and uncalled tactics (suing import shops into bankruptcy and such things), I held off on the PS3 till I really wanted WipEout in 2009 as well as Lumines and Crash Commando.
Month later I almost died due to a ruptured appendix, which was misdiagnosed as a tummy ache. Went 12 days untreated and shouldn't have made it out of that. Spent 2 weeks in the hospital and 3 months at home.
During that time the neighbours from hell started becoming unbearable.
That time probably took quite a couple of years off of my life and is the reason why I still suffer a bit with my health since. and why I've now been home with another burnout (we think) for the past 5 months and counting.

Got the Wii U and it felt a bit off from day one. Same with the 3DS.
That one only got going for me when Super Mario 3D Land released, but even then it wasn't anywhere near the DS. Love plenty of games on the Wii U, but I feel no affinity for the system itself.
The 3DS on the other end completely turned around for me and became an incredible system, especially for RPG games.

Got a 360 for Cave shoot em ups and it somehow ended up being my favourite system last gen, thanks to tons of XBLA arcade games and such.
Then MS screwed up and I didn't want to buy the new Xbox, still don't.
Bought a PS4 day one and the first year was dire. After that things started becoming a lot more interesting, but still something was missing.
Got a Vita for WipEout again, which ended up being my least favourite game in the series besides the PS2 one, which was even worse. But found a bunch of other games and discovered a ton of indie games alongside plenty of quirky and weird Japanese titles and ended up loving the system.
Then of course Sony killed it... Still upset over that, same as how they killed Studio Liverpool, Evolution and Cambridge (Killzone Mercenary creator).

Then the Switch released and I was kinda afraid of what might happen if it turned out to be another Wii U.
But I somehow got the same feeling when it was revealed as I got when I first opened up and played my DS, which was a bit weird.
Got the system and fell in love with it as you all know by now. So many arcade games, I can't keep up with.
So many indie games, old and new. Some of the best games Nintendo has put out in a very long time. And a bunch of Japanese support that I have a feeling is only the start of what's to come.
I always had a ton of systems, but for the first time I feel like I would be just fine with only a Switch as my current gen console.
Don't even care what comes out in the next couple of years when it comes to other consoles or handhelds actually, which is kinda strange for me.

Holy cow, am I still typing...I wasn't meaning to go on such a rant lol.
I guess that's about my life story up to now.

This was the first game machine I ever owned.

My first console was the Atari 2600 then I moved onto the

Spectrum 128k +2
Master System
Megadrive
Mega CD
Gameboy
Mega 32x
Saturn
N64
Dreamcast
GameCube
Gameboy Advance
Wii
DS
Wii U
Switch

The Gameboy I was given by some angry mother, who's son (supposedly) dropped my Megadrive Moonwalker in a sink full of water. It came with Tetris and Golf and served me well for a trip to France. The Gameboy Advance was my nephews, my sister gave me it as he never played it. That's where I first played the incredible Yoshi's Island which I bought with my salary when I worked in France, funnily enough. The DS I bought off Ebay a few years after it came out, my mate had gave me me one of those flash carts with tons of games on it yet I only really played Metroid Prime Pinball which I loved. I skipped the 3DS altogether,was never really interested in it. Even with those 3 handhelds, other than the games mentioned I never really played them that much. I think I bought a handful of games for each. It wasn't until Switch that I've really got into handheld gaming.

@OorWullie @Meppi64 Loving these trips down memory lane. Already seen a dozen or so early gaming systems in both your posts that I totally forgot I even owned, lol!

EDIT: Obviously, some serious stuff also shared and of course I wish you good health and a long and happy life 👍

It's been nice to read these stories, although some are tinged with sadness. Many of these stories mirror my own.

I basically started with the Speccy, went through C64, Master System, NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Amiga, then PS1, DC, PS2. The DC was the perfect machine for me with all the arcade ports. Also had GB, Game Gear and Lynx at various times, and PSP and Vita later. I do like handhelds a lot.

At the time, I thought the Amiga was miles better than the Mega Drive and SNES but I think with hindsight the consoles have aged better than a system with one fire button. I still play and love my Mega Drive - I've always loved Sega arcade games. And now here I am on a Nintendo forum with the Switch as my favourite system

I still have a DC (albeit it's not doing so well reading discs) Mega Drive, PS2 and Xbox One, but my favourite by far is the Switch, with all the arcade stuff. I have a 3hr commute each day and it's a godsend.

I really like this forum - it's great to be among likeminded people, and there isn't the sniping that comes with other forums

@OorWullie I remember those table tops!
Not sure if I had one myself, but I played either a Pacman or a Galaga one, that I remember.

Yoshi's Island was released at such a weird time.
Just got the PSone and was crazy about WipEout and Ridge Racer especially.
Then this one dropped not even a month later I think, and I was back to playing my SNES. Such a brilliant game.
A year later a similar thing happed with Tetris Attack. Everyone had forgotten about the SNES, yet CVG wrote a glowing review on the game, which came out of nowhere for me. Picked it up and played it to death.

They really got me to try a lot of games I wouldn't otherwise have played.

Metroid Prime Pinball was so good. Didn't expect it after the Mario Pinball games, but it was such a great surprise.
It's only during the last couple of years that I've started to realise how much I love portable gaming.
Always have really, but I somehow took it for granted for a long time.
I still play most of my hours on the TV, but that's just because of the convenience of being able to click the system in the dock and lay on the cough with a Pro Controller. Once summer comes around, that will certainly change a lot.

@Lroy I wouldn't worry too much about it.
In the end the most important thing is to find a way to be happy, and that's something that has been getting a little easier for me as time goes on.
The worst part about being home the way I am, is the exhaustion. I can wake up around noon and have no energy at all and that will last all day long and only get worse.
Can't really do much work around the house either as the more I exert myself, the quicker I hit that exhaustion level again.
Stress also plays a huge part I think.
Guess I'll be home for a bit longer. Oh well. I'm just hoping for some nice weather for a change.

@monkeyspasm
That's the thing eh, it's ups and downs for everyone. Sometimes a bit more downs than ups, but that's the way life goes.

Have to agree. The Dreamcast was pretty much a perfect system. It felt like it was created just for me at the time.
I would give anything to see what it would have looked like if it could have gotten a full 6 year run instead of a mere 2 year one.
All those games that made me buy other system on the Dreamcast? plus so many others. I'm sure it would have even eclipsed the Saturn as my favourite system ever...

Hehe, Guess us Sega fans have finally found our refuge in the open arms of Nintendo.
While I have always loved Nintendo myself, I have no problem stating that deep down I'm a Sega fanboy. They did so much great stuff. So sad to see what has become of them.
And yeah, my Dreamcast is still hooked up to the big TV, right next to my Saturn.

Just noticed that Gotcha Racing 2 has TATE mode and it looks fantastic.Strangely only the race screen rotates. It tells you to rotate the screen before race starts and then goes back to normal in the menus.That isn't ideal but everything else is really well presented. Great controls that can be customised,an extensive Grand Prix mode, various styles of races, online leaderboards for time attack, loads of multiplayer options, HD Rumble,tons of upgrades and of course TATE mode. It's definitely a good one.

Another shooter coming to Switch 'I Hate Running Backwards' from Devolver Digital. It seems to be a spin off from the Serious Sam series. Looks pretty good.

@OorWullie hmm. A crazy backwards Commando/Ikari Warriors kinda game?
Colour me interested!
Glad to see Devolver being excited about the platform.
They certainly are one of the big new publishers to keep an eye on.
Not afraid to take risks and let developers be themselves.

@OorWullie Yessss! Glad to hear it. I'll pick it up right now and start checking it out. I can't wait to start doing some time attacks.

@OorWullie Looks like it could be interesting!

@OorWullie

I second that suggestion! Moon Patrol!!

@Agent721 Well is nothing changes in the next 24 hours, Moon Patrol it is!

We’ve all played a ton of consoles and it’s a nice stroll down memory lane to read your guys musings. It’s interesting how we can remember some of these based on what’s going on in our lives...good or bad.

I’ll share my history:

Atari 2600
Octopus Game & Watch
80s Arcades
C64
NES
SNES
N64
Dreamcast
GCN
GBA
Xbox 360
Wii
DS lite
PS3
Wii U
3DS
Xbone
PS4
Xbone S
Switch

My favorite is the NES as it will always hold a very special place in my heart. That system transformed me into a dedicated gamer. In the US it was huge and for those who grew up here, it was impossible to miss.

My least favorite? The PS4. It basically collects dust under my TV. I now split my gaming between the Switch, 3DS & Xbone.

@meppi64

We’re going to blow up that leader board. I’ve only done the regular mode and the scores are not too high.

@Agent721 Ever played Power Blade by any chance?
I have no idea why I picked it up back in the day. Must have been a combination of the pictures on the back of the box and the big Taito logo on the front.

Loooooooooved that game. We never got the sequel in Europe as far as I'm aware and I'll never own it now since people want more than $1000 for it. :-/

@meppi64

Sure did and in fact I bought a nice copy of it on eBay just last year. This is a highly underrated game!!

I actually rented it in the 80s, multiple times and now have gone back as an adult to acquire it again.

20 minutes until Punch Out arrives.... hopefully. Japan got it at midnight so I think we will too. Usually for 1st party releases on a Friday once it hits 12 in the UK it becomes available in Europe. Maybe Tengai will appear along with it. Already added my funds.

@OorWullie

YES!!!! I hope the US gets it soon too. I played this game as a kid non stop! One of my all time favorites.