I wanted to create this blog to share my traveling journey, and the different ways I continue to enjoy my favorite hobby which is gaming while on the move.
Almost a decade ago on my second vacation traveling out of the US, I went to visit Canada for the first time. Vancouver BC was the first place on my list to visit. I remember appreciating the urban layout of the city, from the beautiful waterfront area of English Bay, to the sprawling Stanley Park Seawall with it’s jogging and bike lanes. I was very taken in with the vibe and atmosphere of the city.
During my first day in the city I wanted to see what the night life had to offer. I went out during the evening and landed on Granville St which is full of bars, restaurants and night clubs. I was not hungry enough to go get anything to eat at a restaurant, and wasn’t in the mood to go to a nightclub, but I did see something which immediately caught my eye.
The eye catching place was called Movieland Arcade, and I was instantly reminded of the arcade’s I frequented in the late 80’s and 90’s that I would go spend all my money at as a kid. The place definitely had an old school atmosphere from the way the pinball machines all lined up with each other, to the red and black checkered floor design on the ground, I was instantly nostalgic in this familiar feeling place I’ve never been.
I started off with the action games, then spaceship shooting games and saving the fighting game cabinets for last. When I returned to the arcade the following nights I recall quite a few people there accepting a challenge on the Street Fighter titled cabinets, a really enjoyable time gaming there.
I recently heard the arcade closed a few years ago sadly, I’m hoping it somehow opens back up but the status of the property space it occupied is unknown to me. I wrote this to recount my memories there and hope anyone who also spent time having fun playing all the games there is enjoying reading this story.
If you find my writing enjoyable and would like to donate to support this blog, it is greatly appreciated!
- Fighting Game Gem in Seattle Downtown Arcade
First time casually walking into Gameworks in the downtown Seattle area, I was surprised to see a treasure trove of fighting game cabinets tucked away into a separate side room. Funny enough, most of the games in the arcade outside of the one’s in the room are kind of a blur to me even though I’ve been here a couple of times now. I vaguely picture these big re-imagined multiplayer versions of Space Invaders and Flappy Bird(?) that seem made to get the most attention possible with the huge screen displays and eye catching colors.
The treasure though is in the side room. This is where one can find the elusive arcade version of Tatsunoko vs Capcom, the beautifully animated King of the Figthers 13, Tekken 6, the classic Street Fighter 3 Third Strike and also Street Fighter 4. I was thrilled to finally play Tatsunoko vs Capcom since I never owned a Wii where it was ported. Playing as Casshan with his robot dog Fiender is so cool for me since I was a fan of the anime movie when I was younger. Another cool aspect about this arcade room is a lot ofthe games have small benches you can sit down while playing, which I rarely see outside of Japan.
To play these arcade games you have to purchase a Gameworks card and then you can load it up with a certain amount, which you can use to add credits to the games available. Now that I think about it, it’s been a long while since I last played an arcade game with the quarter slots, maybe the preloaded cards seem more modern for the customers and machine operators.
If you find my writing enjoyable and would like to donate to support this blog, it is greatly appreciated!