So in the first two installments of Arcade Rewind, I covered two of the biggest, badest, rarest, most outrageous arcade machines ever created: Sega's R360 and Namco's Galaxian 3. This time I want to take a different route. I want to focus on a sleeper... a game that has nothing particularly special about it... a game that doesn't have a great deal of depth, one that didn't revolutionize anything, nor make tons of money. I'm looking for a game that showcases arcade festiveness, but could have been developed further.

I decided to pick Sega's GP Rider, a fun little motorcycle racing game released in 1990 that lacks depth, but delivers quality graphics (for the time) and an awesome soundtrack.

If you're like me, the things you appreciate most in life are the things that were once the coolest, most
advanced forms of entertainment in the world, but are now virtually unknown. Last time on Arcade Rewind
(which I must admit was too long ago) I recounted the glorious R360 arcade machine, Sega's full motion
simulator ride from the early 90's. Around the same time period, Sega's biggest competitor in the arcade
industry, Namco, released a game that equaled the R360 in all around impracticability - Galaxian 3.

We've got some game play footage of the new Donkey Kong for the Wii straight from Comic Con. Check it out below:

The crown for the holy grail of video game scores has been passed yet again. The Donkey Kong high score has been reclaimed by the former champion and star of the hit documentary, the King of Kong. That's right, Steve Wiebe has topped Billy Mitchell yet again.

Wiebe's score is an incredible 1,064,500, beating Billy Mitchell's world record score of 1,062,800. Hank Chien, whom we interviewed a few weeks ago remains in third place with a score of 1,061,700. The three individuals are the only recognized players to achieve over 1 million points in a game of Donkey Kong.

Wiebe has been attempting to reclaim his score over the last few years at live events. However, his world record was verified from a DVD sent to the Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard. It is safe to assume that Wiebe was playing in the comfort of his own home. Being that Donkey Kong has an actual end to the gameplay (ie; the kill screen), the only way to achieve a higher score is to find ways to get the necessary points faster (you get bonus points based on how fast you complete each level).

You can be sure that the battle over who truly is the King of Kong will continue, but for now, Steve Wiebe reigns supreme! Congratulations from Nerd Blerp!

Arcades in Japan are doing just fine. Arcades in America are disgustingly awful and sad. However, Capcom's latest incarnation of the arcade classic Street Fighter will be making the jump from console to arcade this fall, hopefully in an effort to get kids to climb out of their wretched basements and 'pwn some newbs' IN PERSON! Super Street Fighter 4 will showcase some new characters and features not available in the console version! Capcom has been very strategic in what they have made available to the fans and screenshots have revealed empty character slots in the select screen - that could only mean new fighters to choose from.

Is going out in public to play games instead of sitting at home just not your thing? Well, that's kind of sad. No matter how you look at it, beating your rival while he or she is standing right next to you with crowds of onlookers fighting to get a view of the screen is the only way to truly be a competitive gamer. Let's hope SSF4 brings back some of the glory days of the early 90's!

Let me ask you a question... what is your favorite talking board game from 1992? If you answered Board games couldn't talk in 1992! then clearly, you have not played the brilliance that is Milton Bradley's The Omega Virus.

For some reason, board games and pinball machines made a comeback in the early 90's, and seeing as though I already do enough yapping about pinball, I thought it would be fun to discuss what many consider to be the pinnacle of the 90's board game craze. The Omega Virus is no ordinary board game. I say this for one simple, yet elegant reason - it is trying to kill you. The game is played on a set timer and if somebody doesn't kill the Omega Virus before that timer expires, the game is over - FOR EVERYONE! That's right, there is a chance that when you play this game, the Omega Virus will win, killing everyone who's playing, and leaving you with a table of four losers with their jaws dropped in disbelief.

I don't like online games, but I have just been blown (away).

Seeing Dr. Light look terrified, seeing Mega Man nearly helpless, and seeing... MEGA MAN X4 CHARACTERS? All. in. one? Oh my. This teaser trailer is quite awesome.

What happens when Brendan gets a hold of a Flipcam? He goes to Pennsylvania to record arcade videos... that's what.

Arcades are pretty rare these days. Arcades with games that are worth playing are even rarer, but the Mine Town arcade in Hersheypark is certainly an exception. This is a special place from my childhood, and sadly, the number of games they have seems to be decreasing every year. I shot a bunch of videos in an effort to preserve what it felt like to be in this glorious room. I've never been in another arcade that felt quite like this place, but hopefully when I'm absurdly wealthy, I can pay to have it recreated in my backyard. Don't worry, you'll be invited (the games will be 25 cents a play though).

During our post broadcast discussion after last night's radio show, I somehow managed to bring up Sega's R360 mid conversation. After Huey made the accurate yet distasteful comparison between the design of the R360 to that of a particular plot device in a certain episode of South Park, I felt inspired to shed some light on this legendary piece of arcade equipment.

So what is a Sega R360? It's this. Behold.

The R360 is a motion simulator arcade cabinet that has the capability of sending players into full 360 degree rotations at any angle. Sega released the R360 in 1991 with a sticker price in the range of $90 to $100 thousand! While Sega and Nintendo were in a bitter fight to the death in the realm of home consoles, Sega was secretly dominating the arcade industry, which Nintendo had decided to abandon. As a leader in the arcade business, Sega had the luxury of experimenting with huge, cutting edge, and expensive technology that other manufacturers wouldn't even dream of developing...

The pinnacle of their innovation is without a doubt the R360.

In our continuing coverage of Stern's latest pinball machine, their Avatar machine has made its first appearance at the 2010 AAMA Gala (American Amusement Machine Association) in Chicago. The machine was set up courtsy of Stern Pinball and BMI Gaming, one of Stern's game distributors. Luckily for us, David Young, a BMI Gaming employee was nice enough to shoot this video: