Arcade Gallery

[Mallory]

Hi, everyone!

Something I’ve enjoyed seeing in the Arcade over time is the games people come up with to play - be it DDR or claw machines, or something entirely new. This thread is a place where you can share those games and talk a little about them so other people can play into them, too!

As a suggested format, you could use some or all of these fields:

Name:
Players: (ie 1-4)
Play Modes: (Single, Vs, Co-Op)
Genre: (Beat ‘Em Up, Bullet Hell, Platformer, Fighting, Shooter)
Description: What would you like people to know about this game?
Special Features: (Cheat codes, hidden characters, quirks, other gimmicks)

Thanks to Morgan LaFey and Alasdair Galloway for their help on this!

[Mallory]

Name: Benson Boulevard Brawlers

Players: 2
Play Modes: Versus
Genre: Fighting Game

Description: This RhyDin classic cabinet is inspired by the high-stakes fashion scene of Benson Boulevard, in New Haven. Players will select their characters from a gallery of posh gentlemen. In the opening cutscene, your characters nearly walk into each other in the street and declare, "I SAY." Popular move combinations include huffing, disdainful sniffing, getting your opponent to drop their monocle, the glove slap, and polite disinterest. Enough successful "hits" will scandalize onlookers and shame your opponent into fleeing the scene.

The main characters are: Benethen Cutterpatch, Bendament Cutthroat-hat, Billamin Candyswatch, Benadryl Cumberbund, Benjamin Cabbagepatch, and Billybob Bandersnatch.

The unlockable characters are: Bandolier Cambercatch, Bendystraw Cannonflash, Blunderbuss Cuddlestache, Buffalo Custardbath, Bangarang Cupboardlatch, and Wimbledon Tennismatch.

Special Features: During character select, highlight Benethen Cutterpatch for three seconds, then Benadryl Cumberbund, then Benjamin Cabbagepatch, then tell the cabinet, "I SAY." This will unlock the special character, who is Benedict Cumberbatch but he's terrible.

(This game and its selectable characters were hashed out in the Lobby, the Green Room, and DMs. Based on the oldest conversation, I'm not 100% sure who came up with the idea, but I know Bailey Raptis, Tippletoe, and others were involved. Kudos to everyone who helped hash that out!)

[Alasdair Galloway]

Name: Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortoises
Players: 1-4
Play Modes: Co-op
Genre: Beat ‘Em Up
Description:

Take to the streets as four calzone-loving teenage tortoises raised by their human-turned-rat mentor Sliver as they defend the city against the evil Krung and Slicer! Play as Chaucer, Machiavelli, Cervantes, or Dante alone or with up to three other players! Other enemies include human elephant and human boar Rhythm and Blues, the mechanical ratters, and human mosquito Dexter Blockman.

Special Features:

Beat the game once to open up May O'Brien for selection! May is the blogger friend of the tortoises, most commonly dressed in a blue jumpsuit, and is never without her smart phone.

( The game seems remarkably similar to another existing game, but appears to have been slightly changed to avoid copyright and paying royalties. )

[Yuzuki Kuwabara]

Name: Monk Goes to the Mall

Players: 1-2
Game Modes: single player or head to head high score challenge
Genre: Action
Description:

Monk must traverse the Mall, avoiding panic inducing obstacles a la Paperboy while collecting clues. In the two player mode the second player controls Monk with a hat, competing with player one for the high score.

Special Features If the third floor level is reached, Stottlemeyer will appear as a dynamic obstacle and pursue the players irately.

[Strawberry]

Name: Mesozoic Park
Players: Up to 2
Play Modes: Single or Co-op
Genre: Dino-shooter
Description: Hop into the safari truck and rescue the dinosaurs! Venture through the park and rescue dinosaurs by popping them with a tranquilizer gun and restore order to the park.
Special Features: Catch 3 Ornithomimids in a row to unlock a special bonus round where you try to tranq as many dinos as you can in a 2 minute period. Don't get run over by the stampeding herd!

[Izumi Takamine]

Name: Salaryman Man Adventure

Players: 1
Game Modes: single-player
Genre: platformer
Description:
The future of the world is in the hands of Salaryman Man. Clear all the action levels to face the evil one, and save the company CEO. You'll face spike traps, tricky jumps and a multitude of evil warlords.

Special Features: Collect special power ups, such as business cards which Salaryman Man can use to generate air currents achieving flight, and the Salaryman Pistol, which is a pistol.

[Mallory]

Name: CyberBrawl: S.E. 20XX

Players: 1-2
Game Modes: Single-Player or Co-op
Genre: Beat-'em-up

Description: "IN THE YEAR TWO-ZERO-EX-EX, THE CYBORGS OF STARS END HAVE GONE INSANE..."

Thus begins CyberBrawl: S.E. 20XX, a game set to the thumping rhythm of electronic music, where a slicer in a motorcycle helmet with a beam-katana must cut her way through waves of mad cyborgs and epic boss battles. Notable bosses include Detective Mick Nickel (whose partner you allegedly betrayed), a laser-breathing werewolf biker named Red Red Ride, an attack helicopter, and the man behind it all - the CEO of HEMODYNE Inc. - the nefarious cyber-vampire V. L. Adracula. The game is partially, and poorly, voice acted, most notably in quips by the bosses and the narration at the beginning and end.

Those who make their way to the ending get the honor of hearing the following: "WITH HEMODYNE DECAPITATED, THE TWO-ZERO-EX-EX CYBORG RIOTS ARE OVER. BUT ON THE STREETS OF STARS END, OUR SLICER HAS TO ASK HERSELF - DOES THE CYBERBRAWL EVER REALLY END?"

Yes, narrator, it does really end. But it will take one silver noble (or Kabuki Street dollarydoo, or swipe of your credstick) per life, and roughly forty-five minutes of gameplay, to get there.

Special Features: If you beat the game, you can put in your initials so that your high score can be listed. It cycles your initials into random numbers before fading away. If you go to the high scores screen and tilt the joystick halfway to the right and fully left, then halfway to the left and fully right (the combo for the HOLD SAMURAI ROLL-THRUST), you open a screen with a hacking minigame. You must input the numbers in reverse, then in the original order. This takes you to UltraGamePlus mode...

...which gives you zero continues and replaces your hazy purple beam-katana with a hazy black beam-katana. Neat!

[Alasdair Galloway]

Name: Duel of Words
Players: 1-2
Play Modes: Single, Vs.
Genre: Fighting
Description:

In the Duel of Words, you can challenge the computer or another player in a fight in which words, not swords, are used. Create insults to belittle your opponent and come out on top! If your insult is better than your opponent's, you score! The fist to 5 points wins!

Choose your duelist! The roster includes: rogue, barbarian, wizard, dwarf, aristocrat, alien, high school bully, troll, inventor, businessman, politician, comedian, Tweeter User, and more!

Special Features:

Use the code up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start to unlock "Your Mom!" mode, where all the insults must be in the form of your mom jokes!

[Ebon Ilnaren]

Name: Gem Dream Fighters
Players: 1-2
Play Modes: Single, Vs
Genre: Fighting

Description: GDF, as it is commonly known, is a fairly standard fighting game in which players battle each other or the AI using movesets inspired by the Duel of Fists and its Opals. The available characters are thinly-veiled of renowned Opal wielders from the DoF histories (Pharaoh, Mitch Simmons, Carl Talbot, Big Blue, and Merle OIiver). There are 25 rounds in standard play, as players cycle through each of the characters, facing their own "gem wielder" every fifth round before switching to another one.

Special Features: When fighting against the AI, players who make it through all five opponents using all five characters face a final opponent, The Witch, based on Jesse and BioHazard.

During play, the characters will spout badly-worded dialogue that parodies who they're supposed to represent.

The machine in the Arcade is the only known copy of GDF available for public play, as all other GDF machines were smashed by various irate Duel of Fists legends. The game's makers have since gone into hiding.

[Hailey Winters]

Name: Skee-Lo™ brand Skee-ball
Players: 1-6 (six separate lanes)
Play modes: Classic (9-ball), Three-Ball, Speed, Target, Countdown, Team
Genre: physical skill, redemption

Description: No arcade is complete without this boardwalk classic. Roll nine balls (always Masonite, never plastic) down a 12-foot lane to try and land in one of seven bullseye rings on the slanted backboard at the end. A scoring throw can net 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 100 points, depending on the target hit. The higher your score, the more tickets you receive. The three lanes on the left are painted blue while the ones on the right are painted red, in order to allow for team games.

A certain blue-haired ex-thief has been known to play these for an hour or more at a time, zoning out while pinging 50s and 100s one after another.

[Julia Winters]

Name: GUN ABOUT
Players: 2
Play modes: cooperative, competitive
Genre: light gun

Description: GUN ABOUT (full name: "GUN ABOUT: THE SUPER REAL") is a two-player light-gun game that achieved significant popularity for several years in the major metropolitan city where it was created. Unlike the on-rails shooting galleries typical to the genre, the gameplay features one-on-one gun battles with either CPU or player-controlled opponents.

In its heyday, this game was known for its one-of-a-kind networked play feature, which allowed battles between players at different cabinets in different parts of the world. However, the feature fell out of favor due to rampant cheating from nasty gamers, who only the true kings of GUN ABOUT could overcome. The cabinet in the Arcade has had this feature removed.

During her time masquerading as tech billionaire Sanjay Gogna, Julia Winters would play this game to make a spectacle of "himself", achieving dominant victories with her marksmanship skills. Even with that mission long finished, Julia will still sometimes trek to this cabinet to keep her aim sharp.