Remembering Some Arcade Games Made Me Waste My Allowance In The 1990s

The 1990s can be full of fun and frustrating memories. Be it when Toei became responsible for the rise of Power Rangers or the time Saban released X-Men: The Animated Series. There's also the arcade and I want to reminisce on some games that made me waste my allowance. I had a spanking coming because  I often wasted my allowance in the arcade. 

I'll present them in NO PARTICULAR ORDER and according to my blurred memory...

Captain America and the Avengers by Data East

Before the rise of the MUCH BETTER X-Men arcade game - there was this love-it-or-hate-it game by Data East. Data East was the company that made that D*MN AWFUL F*CKER of a game called Conan on the NES. Now, I'd like to say that I had a guilty pleasure in playing this game. I didn't care if people said it was awful. For me, it was fun and I was able to play this game again on Retrogames. I usually used either Captain America or Iron Man. It was also that time I watched the 1960s Captain America cartoon and the Marvel Action Hour done by Saban Entertainment.

This game is notoriously hard. Oh, good thing I NEVER had the Super NES version which had very limited continues and a VERY POOR hitbox. There were a total of five stages where the Avengers must defeat the mind-controlled villains of the Red Skull. Oh, it's funny how the Red Skull was able to put them under mind control in this game. You know, strange supervillain logic there! There was also that first stage where you fought against Klaw and the Living Laser TOGETHER (both at half-health) and Whirlwind. There are also some autoscrolling sections such as fighting a giant Sentinel or the game-exclusive Mech Taco. Boss fights are ridiculous and meant to drain your quarter.

The fifth stage does put that, "It's too good to be true!" fight. Red Skull feels so easy until you realize that IT'S A TRAP. Yes, the Red Skull invokes the Doombot trope. I think the game could've made Red Skull don some power armor. The final battle against the Red Skull's giant robot can also be very hard. The game was clearly meant to suck your quarters.

X-Men (1992) by Konami 

Ah yes, the much better game. I remember abusing the mutant power button only to find out, "OH CR*P!" The game came out months before Saban Entertainment released the first episode of X-Men: The Animated Series. This game was freaking weird in many ways. The game's plot is loosely based on the forgotten pilot Pryde of the X-Men. Magneto leads his Brotherhood of Mutant Terrorists on a rampage. This game is a classic but also full of LOL moments. 

The series took place BEFORE the cartoon. However, we've got this LOL moment when Magneto is controlling Sentinels to terrorize the city. One can easily think of, "WTF KONAMI?!" However, we need to realize that Magneto is a mechanical genius and may have taken over Sentinel-making factories. Magneto may have planned to FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE when he took control of the Sentinel robots. Magneto could use his magnetism to bend the Sentinels to his will.

The Brotherhood itself also had other members that shouldn't be there. Why is Wendigo the boss instead of Sabertooth? I confess to calling Wendigo "Blastarr" at one point. Wendigo is a villain from the Incredible Hulk series. Juggernaut is written in as a mutant when he isn't. However, I like the idea of Juggernaut being a mutant and Magneto's lackey. One stage has a Nimrod Sentinel reprogrammed by Magneto. However, that Nimrod Sentinel looks like a REPAINTED Galactus instead. 

Levels can be tedious at times. Sure, not as tedious as Captain America and the Avengers. However, just think about the battle with the Living Monolith with two guards, the boss rush in Avalon (minus Pyro and Living Monolith for a reason), and Magneto's abusive use of his magnetic barrier. This game can be fun in multiplayer but single player games can be tedious. 

The Mortal Kombat arcade games from the first to the third installment

It's a smart move to pull Mortal Kombat out of the arcades due to how violent they are. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance may be a messy game but it did set a standard. The series went directly to console presumably because children can't be kept away from the arcades for too long. I'd admit that I never realized these games were RIGGED until I played Mortal Kombat II arcade perfect translation via Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks. 

I wasn't too much of a fan of the first game. However, if my memory serves me right, I saw someone lucky enough to beat Kintaro and was screaming in terror. Kintaro was certainly that legendary monster. Shao Kahn would even pummel you many times. I once thought you could use everyone like in Street Fighter series. However, it's fair enough some characters are NPCs because of how POWERFUL THEY ARE. I even tried to access Goro and Kintaro through crazy means. That's trying to select them with the Start button. Oh wow! It's really crazy, isn't it?

The first three games had really unfair AI. Who can remember Scorpion catching a character on a spear, uppercut, spear, and uppercut again loop? Who can remember those charge characters unleashing their moves so effortlessly? Who can remember that classic button reading? These are the reasons why I don't feel like playing the first three games anymore. I usually prefer to play Mortal Kombat (2011) while the first eight games DON'T MATTER ANYMORE. 

Over time, Liu Kang became my favorite character. I guess his calm and disciplined personality is what I aim to become. Liu Kang is pretty much the Chinese Ryu who started out as a Bruce Lee-inspired character.

The Street Fighter II series and the Street Fighter Alpha series

I never played the first Street Fighter game. I heard that game was a real token eater. Now, I'd like to talk about the Street Fighter craze. I even remember having childish quarrels with a Street Fighter-obsessed freak. Back then, my favorite would change from Ken to Guile to RYU. Ken became my second favorite but I preferred Ryu's calm approach. I'm not a calm person BUT I do love how Ryu is someone I can never be. However, I also enjoyed playing as Evil Ryu because of how I believe I have an Evil Hadou from within. 

The Street Fighter II series had a notoriously broken AI. For the Street Fighter Alpha series - not so much! I remember playing the Street Fighter II Collection on the PSX saying, "The game is broken AF!" Back then, I always wondered why there were SO MANY versions of Street Fighter II which included Super and Turbo. I guess that's Capcom's favorite way of milking out customers' hard-earned money. Mortal Kombat did the same thing with Mortal Kombat 3 with Ultimate and the console-exclusive (and best-forgotten) Mortal Kombat Trilogy. 

These games were the craze back then. I remember feeling left out because I never had a Super NES. However, the PSX filled in the blanks and filled me with rage over the unfair AI. Heck, even on the easiest difficulty, the games were EXCELLENT at button reading!

The Snow Bros. series (particularly the second game)

This game is a REAL TOKEN eater. The game featured you climbing up, clearing enemies, and then you faced off against a VERY HUGE BOSS. The first game's bosses had the bosses on the TENTH FLOOR. Fortunately, the second game cut it short by putting the bosses only on the SIXTH FLOOR. However, one can't deny that enemy placement and the like can be DAUNTINGLY CRAZY. It's something when someone finally reaches the boss at long last. Mostly, it's best done at a cooperative level.

I focused more on the second game. Nick returned but had three new elves. I'd admit that the game can be fun but also frustrating. I can't count how many quarters I wasted on this cute but incredible TOKEN EATER. 

Marvel Super Heroes

I wasn't the biggest fan of X-Men: Children of the Atom due to its awkward control scheme. Marvel Super Heroes rectified the mistakes by giving better controls and better gameplay. My favorites here were usually Psylocke (my top pick and she's VERY BEGINNER FRIENDLY), Wolverine, Ironman (who defines CHEESY), and Spiderman. The plot is loosely based on the Infinity Wars storyline in Marvel. That's back when the late Stan Lee still called the shots. 

The game has two infamous sub-bosses namely Doctor Doom and Thanos. Some can argue Doctor Doom is harder than Thanos. It's because Doctor Doom has excellent anti-air special moves and that irritating molecular shield works wonders. Thanos would recover the Infinity Gems. The Infinity Gems can only be yanked out of Thanos by doing SUPER MOVES. Yes, that's what makes Thanos a real beast in a way. Thanos' six Super Moves are downright devastating.

Fortunately, I was able to have this game on the PSX. I managed to play the game and view all the character endings WITHOUT spending an extra dime. Until today, I think Psylocke forever remains MY FAVORITE CHARACTER to play in this game.

The Marvel vs. Capcom crossover series

It's too bad that the PSX never could give us the full tag team experience. Sadly, Capcom never bothered to re-release the games from X-Men vs. Street Fighter up to Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes with complete coverage. It's because the sixth-generation consoles released Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The 3 vs. 3 mechanic was well-received and it became a source of constant mayhem. I'd say that the arcade versions had their fun tag-teaming. My mind changed about the 3 vs. 3 mechanics after I played Tekken Tag Tournament and Mortal Kombat (2011)'s broken tag mode. I'd like to say these games are still WAY MORE BROKEN than Mortal Kombat (2011)'s tag team mode.

The games went with Street Fighter characters battling Marvel characters. Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter became that direct sequel. Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes became the third installment. Oh yes, I could remember how irritating Apocalypse was. Apocalypse's drill hand attack has to be one of the WORST THINGS EVER. Cyber Akuma may be human-sized but he can even be more annoying than Apocalypse. I'd like to say Onslaught was a real nightmare too since he had TWO FORMS to battle instead of one. Making sure you made it to the next form with high health was a high priority with Onslaught. 

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was on the cheesy side. 3 vs. 3 allowed heavy-hitting team combos. The use of cheap assists like Cable, Cyclops, and Iceman can be very cheap. My favorite tag team was Megaman, Cable, and Iceman/Cyclops. Iceman's Ice Beam can be very easy to toy with. The strategy was hardly an option unless facing pro players. I'm no pro-player so I didn't mind about it. I usually allowed people to butt in and defeat me. It kinda was my cue my time was over. I had the PS2 version which I soon lost interest in because of how messy 3 vs. 3 can be. 

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That's all that my memory permits me for now. Heck, I'm even wondering what that arcade puzzle game was where one freed cage balls? XP