This year I was fortunate to be able to attend the California Extreme 2008 Classic Arcade Games Show. I was only able to attend the first day: Saturday 7/19, so I struggled to play all of the games I wanted to, even with 10+ hours at the show. This event is absolutely HUGE!! I had an excellent time.
The Show:
I was very impressed by the organization of the show. It’s put on with same level of professionalism as a convention held by a large corporation. Its hard to believe that this show is just put on by (and for) arcade game collectors. The organizers did a fantastic job.
The facility, Parkside Hall in San Jose, California, is a very clean, 30,000 square foot space in the heart of downtown San Jose. Show organizers contracted with the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which is adjacent to the Hall. It was literally a 30 second walk from the door at the hotel, to the game-room. One of the business class hotel’s meeting rooms was used for various seminars put on by the show, where everything from classic gaming strategy to pinball maintenance was covered.
The registration was very fast in the early morning, and pre-registrants could skip the line and enter the show early. I did notice a bit of a line develop at the registration desk in the early afternoon, but believe it was moving pretty fast. Attendees were given name badges and wrist bands, to allow access to the show. Raffle tickets were available for purchase, and items were raffled off throughout the two day show, culminating in the final raffle for choice of a brand new multi-game arcade game, or pinball machine. Inside the show a T-Shirt stand had shirts depicting many popular arcade games, as well as the official California Extreme custom designed shirts. My wife was very happy to get the pink Ms. Pacman ladies T-Shirt they offered. In the back corner of the show, a large area for tournament play was set up, complete with a large projected standings board on the wall.
The Games:
To a first timer like myself, the size of the show and selection of games is staggering. Before going to the show I had come up with a list of classic games I was hoping to play. The list was thrown out the window as it would have doubled and tripled on my first walkthrough of the facility. There were so many games that I played in my youth, and had since forgotten about. Plenty of “standard classics” were represented. Games like Pacman, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, Galaga, Centipede, Defender, etc. But it was the less common classics that really took me back. I was amazed how much fun I had playing Robotron for the first time in decades. I’m a longtime fan of Smash TV (also represented at the show) and really enjoyed Robotron’s similarities. I spent a lot of time on Quantum, a simple, elegant, and insanely addicting Atari vector favorite. I enjoyed Punch Out and Arm Wresting, which were appropriately grouped together. I played Joust 2, just to see if it was as bad as I remembered. It was, but the original was a blast. I tried Sinistar and was still as horrible as back in the day. I was very happy to see a Xybots present; that was one my Dad and I would play together in the late 80’s. There was an excellent laser disc section, with Dragon’s Lair 1 & 2, Space Ace, and several other favorites. A newer laser disc game called “The Act” always had a ton of people around it. I was always a big Street Fighter 2 fan, and was delighted to see a revamped (graphics not gameplay) Super Street Fighter 2: HD Remix game. It may have been a prototype, as only Ken & Ryu were playable.
Other favorites I was glad to try again: Toobin, Missle Command (cockpit), Donkey Kong Junior, Food Fight, Satan’s Hollow, Star Trek, Dig Dug, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Q*Bert, iRobot, Major Havoc, and so many more. Of course, I was somehow drawn back to playing the games I already own, all three of which were present. The 720 was working, albeit with a rough joystick and somewhat dark screen. As of Saturday night, I had the high score on that machine with 398K. I played Tron, and got a new personal best of 169K, which was also a high on that machine as of Saturday night. I also really enjoyed Star Wars Cockpit, of which there were 2 at the show.
I will add that while the game selection was extremely impressive, a few of my favorites were missing. I was really hoping to play Discs of Tron, Spy Hunter, Return of the Jedi and any Mortal Kombat game. I’ll keep those shelved as an excuse to attend next year!!!
My sincere thanks goes out to the organizers of this show, and all collectors who brought games to share.
