Where I Played Arcades In Southampton

[RJAY63]

This is a special mention to the arcades centres, cafes, takeaways and funfairs that I used to visit during my youth. These location have either closed, removed their machines or replaced them with slots. Please note: I have only mentioned the games I remember playing.

The Variety Takeway, Swaythling, Southampton
Game: Blood Brothers
Year: 1992

Greentrees Cafe, London Road, Southampton (now a Subway)
Game: Ghosts 'N' Ghoblins
Year: 1992

Some video game shop, Eastleigh (now an Indian takeaway)
Games: Final Fight, ALIENS
Year: 1992

Munchies Cafe, Burgess Road, Southampton
Games: Street Fighter 2 World Warrior & Champion Edition
Year: 1992-1993

Burger King, High Street, Southampton
Game: Street Fighter 2 World Warrior
Year: 1992-1993

Big Georges Chip Shop, Portswood, Southampton
Games: Mortal Kombat, Fatal Fury 2
Year: 1993-1994

B.Cole & Sons Funfair, Southampton Common (still has video games like Crazy Taxi, Sega Rally & HOTD1 but charges £1 per play and machine condition isn't great)
Games: Final Fight, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, Shinobi, The Punisher, The Simpsons, World Heroes
Year: 1992-1999

Quasar, Ocean Village, Southampton (demolished years ago - still a building site)
Games: Mortal Kombat 1 & 2, Street Fighter 2 (CE, Hyper Fighting, Super & Super Turbo), Time Crisis, Mad Dog Mcree, Killer Instinct 2, Virtua Fighter, Ridge Racer, Daytona USA, NBA Jam, Primal Rage, Point Blank, Suzuki 24 hr
Year: 1994-1997

Eastleigh Arcade (a converted warehouse in the service area between Market Street & High Street)
Games: Crazy Taxi, House Of The Dead 2, Daytona USA, Killer Instinct 2.
Year: 1999 (very short lifespan)

E.Cole & Sons Funfair, Eastleigh Common (all games were replaced with slots after 2001)
Games: World Heroes 2, Cadillac & Dinosaurs, Metal Slug, Street Fighter 2 CE, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter Alpha
Year: 1993-2000

Way Out West, Ocean Village, Southampton (replaced with luxury flats)
Games: Silent Scope 1 & 2, Daytona USA, Scud Race, King Of Fighter' 96, Final Fight, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Mortal Kombat 3, House Of The Dead 1 & 2, The Last Bounty Hunter, Carnevil, Die Hard Arcade, Police Trainer, Prop Cycle, Crazy Taxi
Year: 1997-2000

Games Area, Red Funnel Terminal, Southampton (closed down)
Games: Planet Harriers, Daytona USA, Revolution X, Prop Cycle
Year: 2002-2006

Hotshots/Stardust/Reception area, Leisure World, Southampton (all closed early 2008 and now being replaced with a nightclub)
Games: Daytona USA 2: Power Edition, Outrun 2, Ferarri F355 Challenge, Time Crisis 2 & 3, House Of The Dead 3 & 4, 18 Wheeler, Silent Scope 2, Rolling Extreme, Need For Speed GT, LA Machine Gunners, Silent Scope Fortune Hunter
Year: 1997-2008

Also about 2 years ago, there was a shortlived retro arcade above Starbytes Internet Gaming Cafe in New Road, Southampton. Unfortunately it has closed by the time I visited.

[Shaggy]

Wow, that's pretty cool Rjay, I wish I had the opportunity to visit more arcades as a kid.

I can vaguely remember a couple that I visited:

49th Street Galleria - was an FEC, first arcade I remember visiting. The arcade floor at the time was dark, illuminated only by the games themselves and light from other areas of the FEC. I was only 5 or 6 at the time so I don't remember most of the games they had there, although I do remember seeing Discs of Tron. It was the late 80's so there were a lot of upright games. At one point down the road I remember that they got an R360 but I never had a chance to play it. They were sold and turned into the "Fun Dome" where the arcade was scaled back but had some decent games in the late 90's like Star Wars Trilogy Arcade, Rampage: World Tour, Area 51: Site 4, one unit of SF Rush 2049 and more. The Fun Dome closed down back in 2002 or 03 I think, now it's some school. Probably 1987.

Leatherby's - great ice cream parlor and restaurant, they've always had a couple of arcade games there for people to play and it was there that I first saw and played Street Fighter II. Today they have a vertical shmup (I forget the name, it might be Raiden Fighters Jet) and Demolish Fist.

The NickelCade - the first time I visited the Nickelcade I was in total awe - tons of games especially classics like BattleZone, Star Wars (Atari), T-Mek, Gauntlet II, Black Tiger, Asteroids, Centipede, Defender, Die Hard Arcade, Crusin' USA and World, The Simpsons, TMNT and more. Then they moved their location to where it's at presently and they have changed their line-up many times since getting rid of some of the games I played the most like Asteroids, BattleZone, T-Mek, TMNT and others. I did spend an entire day there once on the last day of one of my school years, played Gauntlet Legends quite a bit.

[sh1pwr3k]

Lol the arcade i remember first was an aladdins castle (namco arcade) which was around for about a decade before it closed its doors. My local arcade was called the family entertainment center which after a couple years was changed to the twilight zone. It had 4 WAR cabs, shinobi 2, point blank 1 & 2, House of the dead 1 & 2, Marvel vs Capcom 1 & 2, street fighter third strike, ddr and alot of other games that circulated off and on.

[teekay76]

I used to work in both the Quasar and Way Out West. Yes I had to wear the cowboy outfit!

The good thing was having the keys to the games and as many free credits as you wanted.

The Daytona we had was great cos we have the extended number of laps. Definitely got your money's worth.

Do you remember Radikal Biker? I did enjoy that. The snowboarding game they had was good too. I remember the cheat which meant your character became a penguin.

Oh the memories!!!!!!!!!

[Shaggy]

Welcome to the forums teekay :)

I didn't know about Way Out West, it's kind of funny that they made you dress up like that although I'm sure it wasn't very fun on your end. :)

I remember Radikal Bikers - at first I hated it as it was mercilessly difficult but I gave it a chance and learned the tracks and got pretty good at it. The arcade where I worked that had it only had one though, so no linked play. It was always one of the worst earning games they had there, it would fight Beast Busters Second Nightmare for that spot all the time.

[RJAY63]

Welcome to the forum teekay76.....Yeee-hah! :D I guess the cowboy outfit was part of the job at WOW. The kids at the birthday parties seemed to like it though!

I first began visiting Quasar in late '92 to play Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition & Mortal Kombat 1. I was also one of the younger Mortal Kombat 2 regulars that visited a year later.

Having 4 Player Daytona on 'Grand Prix' mode (ie 20 laps Beginner, 10 Laps Advanced & 5 laps Expert) was great for players and business. I remember playing the game in Quasar circa 1996 and there were always big crowds on Friday & Saturday night.

Free credits? I remember back in '99 one of the staff left service credits on Carnevil and me and my friend grabbed the lot, completing the game!

Radical Bikers, a Gaelco game where you played a pizza delivery boy. For me, the main standout feature was the song "I'm A Pizza Man". I wasn't very good at but it was fun to play. They actually made a PS1 version but it didn't fare too well.

One of the appeals of WOW and Quasar were their late opening hours. Sega Park would close around 6pm and at weekends, I would head on down to Ocean Village to carry on playing...mainly Final Fight, House Of The Dead 2 and Crazy Taxi. It was sad when they closed their doors...and I never did ride that rodeo cow! ;)