Missed Connections Gaming – An Ode to the Arcade Games of My Youth

My earliest gaming memories feature a TV in the living room of my family’s first house, with a Super Nintendo attached. But while I can sort of recall playing Duck Hunt with my dad, or booting up the PC to explore some educational spin on Jurassic Park, I’m not sure that’s the sum total of what made me a lifelong gamer. Those games lived at home, and so, while I liked them, they weren’t always exciting. What was exciting? The games I could only play on special occasions.

Growing up, my family went out to eat fairly often. It was one of the few family activities we could reliably all enjoy, along with watching Spider-Man (2002) on repeat. While the Cincinnati in us meant we spent a good amount of time at Cincinnati chili chain Skyline, we also frequented the local Buffalo Wild Wings. It still hurts my heart to recall that that specific location is, I’m pretty sure, no longer in business. But I digress.

It was at B-Dubs, or BW3s as we called it for reasons I’m still unsure about, that I first developed my lifelong affection for boneless buffalo wings. But that location brought something else to the table, too—a handful of arcade games, including the iconic waveracing game, Hyrdo Thunder.

A Tiny Arcade in Buffalo Wild Wings Led Me to a Lifetime of Gaming

Every time we went to Buffalo Wild Wings, I’d beg for quarters so I could experience the thrill of wave racing. I loved the haptic feedback of riding the waves as the arcade machine roared to life, along with my terrible driving skills. I can’t be positive, but I think that weird little corner at B-Dubs might have been my first arcade game experience. And friends, I was hooked.

Eventually, I found my way to the local Dave and Busters, where a whole new world of arcade games opened up. There, I fell deeply in love with the Jurassic Park game, which has since been replaced in most arcades with a newer model. It was one of the few games my mom would play, not being much of a gamer herself, and the two of us must have spent hours of my childhood shooting bad dinos and protecting the good ones. The crosshairs being replaced with a red X, of course, helped you know the difference.

Though I’ve been to many a Dave and Busters since those childhood days of Hydro Thunder, it never quite hits the same. Most locations have replaced the games I loved as a kid with new models. The old tiny guns from Jurassic Park got an upgrade, and the boats have given way to bikes as Hydro Thunder machines are swapped for Arctic Thunder. These new entries at Dave and Busters even include giant flat screens that replicate mobile games like Fruit Ninja, to my Millennial horror. So, while I still love a round on the Dance Dance Revolution machine or a go with the newer-fangled (but still pretty retro, to be fair) Jurassic Park, it’s not the same. I’ll always love those original games that formed my youth.

A Retro Arcade Let Me Relive My Childhood (Kind Of)

So, it was with incredible excitement that I stumbled upon a retro arcade a few months ago. My husband was in Lancaster, PA, for a farming trip and, since I can do my job from anywhere, I tagged along. Once we clocked out, we explored the city and wound up at a retro barcade. Bar/arcades are becoming more popular, but many of them seem to focus on pinball machines mostly. This place was different. This place had the old, glorious version of the Jurassic Park: The Lost World arcade game.

I might have spent the rest of the night there if it hadn’t been for those meddling other gamers who posted up after my husband and I got just one round on the thing. Even so, the nostalgia was unparalleled. It could only have been made better if, in some far-off corner tucked away behind a booth, there’d been a Hydro Thunder machine, too.

About the Author

Amanda Kay Oaks

Editor

Amanda Kay Oaks is a writer, book witch, and video game enthusiast based in Latrobe, PA. She writes about books, games, and more from an office packed with crystals and Pokemon plushies. When not engrossed in work or fictional worlds, Amanda can be found in the kitchen, on her yoga mat, or walking her dog, Azula.

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