Old school players - Where did you play?

JohnyCageWins

JohnyCageWins

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Back before the internet serious MK 1-3 players had to travel from arcade to arcade seeking worthwhile opponents to play. My home base was Westbury, LI (Nathans) but I ranged as far east as Spaceplex in Suffolk County and Broadway Arcade in Times Square to find decent people to crush.

Any of you play in the NY area during the 90's? If not, where did you play? It should be wild to finally have a decent 2D MK that is playable online worldwide.
 
I played in columbus. I first played it on sega genesis when I was around 5 years old. My older brother had the game for his sega genesis, he was 10. I played MK1 alot on genesis, and then when mk2 came out my brother and I went to the arcade 2 blocks away to play. I played mk2 and 3 at the arcade up until I was in high school, then that arcade got closed and I had to start playing on consoles.
 
My local Pizza shop in town had MK1-MK3 and thats where I spent most of my time. Once and a while I would play at the mall in Henrietta, NY, just outside of Rochester, NY they had a pretty big arcade but there was always a ton of people around the game on the weekends, and it was 50 cents more to play there than at the pizza shop.
 
Back when Barton Creek Mall used to rule all, it was Aladdin's Castle in Austin, TX. That and the old school Westgate mall had a badass arcade from which I remember seeing mk2 there for the first time. It freaked me out quite a bit, and that cab was crowded with people. Damn good times. Also in San Antonio, I used to play at Diversions Game room, and Peter Piper Pizza. Both of which had Ultimate MK3.

Too bad I wasn't old enough to start any kind of tournament. Hell around that time, I don't even think 'tournament' was even in my vocabulary. lol Ah I miss those places, everything has truly gone to shit since the mid-90s. Somebody make me a time machine, please?
 
Im from Indy, and I played alot at Lafyette Square Mall. Then once the comp got lame I started going to other malls. Then for some reason all the top players started playing at a movie theater for MK2/UMK3. I was super competitive with MK2(MK3 never held my interest). I played mostly in Indy, but I went to Chicago, Vegas, and NY for Tourneys.
 
There was an arcade called Exhilarama in the Echelon mall in Voorhees, NJ where I first played MK 2 then later MK 3 and UMK3.
 
Grew up in Sterling, VA and there were 2 spots locally that we had, Lloyd's and Ultrazone. The best competition was at Tyson's Corner at Tilt, to mention it for the local people. Best part is running into other players from arcade to arcade at different malls, etc.
 
First time I played MK was at a friggin grocery store. Couldn't believe they had arcade games there.
 
My "homebase" was Malibu Grand Prix, I did work there and there were always people to pick on, from there I would go to the local mall and pick on people there and a movie theater where I again did the same. There were no shortage of players back in the day. It was great.
 
I'm from southern Cali. MK changed my whole view on video games. We used to have a arcade called Mr. Cee's. They had everything. It got shut down a few years ago. Its sad. When I lived in Oregon for a year I would play @van arcade called Tilt. My friends older brother worked there, so he would give us free plays on MK MKII & UMKIII also we would play Killer Instinct 1&2, Marvel vs CAPCOM, xmen vs street fighter, house of the dead, mace the dark ages, turtles in time, and even the Simpsons game lol

Ahhhh how I miss the arcade era. Sad that kids now have no clue what a true arcade is like
 
The first place I played MK was in an arcade in this mall in Brampton, Ontario, Canada called Shopper's World. I forgot what it was called, but they had MK1 & MK2. Then, there was this huge arcade in another mall in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada called Erin Mills Town Centre where I played MK2 & MK3. I also dont remember the name of the place. And finally, I played UMK3 and MK4 at this huge arcade in Mississauga called Playdium. Its similar to Dave & Busters with the prize games, parties, bar, etc. but back then (back when it was good) there was only arcade games. Those were my MK hot spots when i was a kid.

Since then, Playdium has no MK games and the two arcades in the malls closed down. As a matter of fact, there are barely any arcades in the Greater Toronto Area which is very disappointing because I really wanna relive that experience as a kid again without having to travel far.

And for the record, I wasnt no tournament player considering my age spanned from 4 - 11 years old when the games and arcades were around at that time.
 
^ This old man used to work at the Erin Mills arcade who had worked at the Meadowvale Town Center arcade before and he used to let my brother and I play UMK3 for free because we would be the first people there, waiting outside the doors until it opened, so he would let us in and use his key on the arcade for free games.

Wonder what happened to that guy....the arcade is gone, though. It's Tim Horton's now.
 
Jade said:
^ This old man used to work at the Erin Mills arcade who had worked at the Meadowvale Town Center arcade before and he used to let my brother and I play UMK3 for free because we would be the first people there, waiting outside the doors until it opened, so he would let us in and use his key on the arcade for free games.

Wonder what happened to that guy....the arcade is gone, though. It's Tim Horton's now.
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Thats awesome Jade! Goddamn we used to have so many arcades but now we only have... 3? LOL.
 
Discovered MK1 at a Chuck E Cheese in what was 92, then was in total awe to see they made a sequel the next year. First saw MK2 (like pre Lao dive kick MK2) at an arcade called The Silver Ball in this awesome place called the French Market (was THE spot to hang on many many years ago, since been demolished!). Also at various arcades around town, but primarily at Putt Putt Golf n Games (where i was also employed and later managed) and a bad ass place Malibu Grand Prix (huge racing tracks and cars, huge arcade too.) Malibu is the place i won many of MK2 tourneys for several hundred dollars, and also the first place i saw put monitors on top of the MK2 cabs so all the people behind could see the action. (this was the height of the MK "kraze")

Also later on, post-MK4 their was a place on Ohio St campus called the Pink Flamingo. played some MK there, but this is also the place i discovered they made a SF3, which thus had a HUGE influence on me.

In closing tho, had i known all these places were just literally 5-6-7 years away from being closed or turned into a pile of rubble....i would have spent A LOT more time and money at these places. These places shaped a lot of the person i was, and the player i turned out to be.

great times. great memories but so sad too. :/
 
My home arcade was in Carol Stream IL. Called Galaxy World, or Gala Lanes North. Midway did lots of testing there in the 90's. I can also recall the game Timekillers also being tested right next to the MK1 big screeen cabinet. Gala also had a UMK3 Wavenet cabinet as well. Wow.... Lots of good times in that place. Miss those days.
 
I never played mortal kombat in the arcade, mostly killer instinct and others. But I played mk2 quite often at my buddies house when I was like 5
 
Game Shock in Rego Park, Queens on 63rd Drive...played MK1-UMK3 at this wonderful place. I miss it greatly.

JohnyCageWins said:
Any of you play in the NY area during the 90's? If not, where did you play? It should be wild to finally have a decent 2D MK that is playable online worldwide.
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I played in NY and agree with you that it's great to finally have a new 2-D MK
 
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