Hanging out inside the arcade at a mall in 1998

Video of people (mostly kids) playing arcade games at Planet Play in the Springfield Mall in Springfield, Virgina.
#planetplay

[@jaysmobilemechanicservices]

All the kids in this Arcade now all range from their mid 30's to mid 40's in age today. Wow, does time really fly by!

[@shadowsmith1386]

Yes sirrrrrr you know it

[@cancel.lgbtq.6892]

I'm in my mid 40's and I miss the days when you can go to arcade on the weekend and hang out with friends all day.

[@Melodie_Info3]

Im 32 now sad to see this back when I was kid, I didn't have console, only way to ggame is go to my cousin house or landry machine has arcade and sometime I got to go to casino neveda the place call, Nugget for kids.

[@blakebrenton120]

Just to put it into perspective for you. I've never been inside an arcade in real life yet even seen one from the outside and I'm almost 31.

[@jasoncrutchfield4848]

​@cancel.lgbtq.6892 Technically you still can. I'm at my local mall now and it's not nearly as busy as I remembered it. It doesn't even open till 11am. The other mall in town is always in the news because of shootings.

[@TheLockdownKidNYC]

Her: "So, what do you like to do for fun?" Me: "Scour KZbin for vintage footage from Video Arcades - preferably in the mid to late 90s."

[@micai.j8920]

I’m glad I’m part of the “last” generation that experienced Arcades during this era. They were already becoming a thing of the past by the early 00s..

[@TheBigExclusive]

Same here. Home consoles killed Arcades. That's why most of them closed down during the early 2000s. Unfortunately everyone was staying home and just playing on their console now. No need to go to an arcade to play Tekken.

[@joeswanson733]

@@TheBigExclusive if you crunched the numbers you actually saved money buying ahome console and playing games at home as every time you went to the arcade it was at least $0.50/game per play so id imagine it would rack up very fast. so lets just pretend here... you got a sega saturn new for $399 new back in 1998. and lets' say you bought your game for average of $65.00 considering how fast you die when playing in arcades you would need to play 130 times to recoup your value otu of that cartridge/game. now of course there were people that rented video games this was the more ecnomical option as the average rental was 5 bucks for a game for a week. unless your folks were rich and can get you a game whenever you felt like it the rental option was your only option if you didn't want to play the same game to death. so it was just all business.

[@tsurek]

Lol, they’re coming back. Many malls and bars have arcades now. My local arcade closed around 1995 (from the 80s). They’re slowly starting to reopen again!

[@yoda8192]

Probably had something to do with Gamecubes, Xboxes, and Ps2s which came out around ‘01.

[@Dan-di9jd]

Arcades, LAN parties, etc. They were all great. I mean normal people came out too and nothing odd ever happened. I did get a bit of nostalgia once in 2014 and decided to head to this gaming convention upstate from me. It was like a 4 hours drive but when I got there the people were like mid 20s and probably roughly same age group but man, they were some odd balls. I think people play at homes and seeing some of the mod community stuff, I kind of wonder what the heck is going on. lol

[@MarkMeadows90]

I loved playing Tekken 3 in the arcade many years ago. Childhood memories. We have a retro arcade here locally that has just about all of these games and much older cabinets from the early 80s. The place is called Rocket City Arcade & Classic Consoles.

[@ricardo77773]

I played those in the 90s when tekken 3 was brand new,alsoStreet Fighter 2,Mortal Kombat 1,2,ultimate,Killer instinct,Samurai Shodown and many more, the 90s what a great time to be alive.

[@morris4321]

I’m thankful for whoever recorded this I remember this time I was 13 in 1998 I’m glad I was part of the last generation to experience this born in 1985 definitely grew up in the last greatest generations I remember going to the arcades so much fun memories back in the day

[@ronbennett7885]

Arcades were still strong in the 90s with some resurgence. However, even then, many were struggling. Game consoles and computers were pretty advanced by then. Often the arcades still around by 1998 had a decent number of vintage games and usually some pinball machines. Commonly had some car racing, golf, dance, etc games that were more elaborate than just being a screen. Also, air hocky and/or pool tables. Peak arcade was the 70s and 80s. Still the 90s arcade era was decent.

[@cosmeticscameo8277]

the only reason people played at arcades is because the home ports weren't good enough. by the PS1 era home ports were on par with the arcades. well the SNES era was good enough but anything after the PS1 era was just pointless to go to the arcades unless the arcades had something that the home consoles didn't.

[@brianmeen2158]

Yep the arcade in My local mall stayed open until early 2000s. I have no idea how though because I’d go in there occasionally and I’d see maybe one guy in there playing a game . Odd .

[@Dan-di9jd]

I grew up in the 90s. I was like in the 10-16 age range during that era. I don't think we ever "compared" the games at the arcade with what we had at home. We just went there to play games and I guess some of them you couldn't really take home like the light rails and some of the ones that moved like racers. The only game I think that really blew my mind at the time was the N64 goldeneye game. I never seen something like that before that time frame and it was really exciting to do the multiplayer and would have many sleepovers playing it into the night. I don't think I ever went into an arcade and was "wowed" by any particular game even though technically many of them were graphically and functionally better than their home ports.

[@Dan-di9jd]

I do agree that the PS1/N64 era had some magic to it but I disagree its the sole reason of its decline. I do think that unless arcades were within walking distances of your house that most likely you'd go to the mall either with your parents and that the arcade trip was more of a happenstance rather than purposely going to the mall just for the arcade. So I feel like with the increase of online shopping that malls just weren't able to attract people to just come for the arcades. @@cosmeticscameo8277

[@shiftn2gear]

Man! I felt like I was a kid again watching this

[@vampirerobot]

Awesome 👍

[@aaronswitzer2423]

They were probably the best days of our lives in '98.

[@fakereality96]

The arcade at my local mall at the time also had laser tag. We'd ditch class and make the five mile walk to the mall. Sometimes it seemed like we were the only ones there aside from a handful of old birds. We'd watch a movie, make our way to the arcade, play some games and gear up for laser tag. Good times before I started taking high school a bit more seriously.

[@Gianne0923]

I remember these days. Good times in 98' at the arcades. I use to go the Ford City Mall in Chicago all the time back in these days and even since the early 90's as a kid. I miss these times but I am glad that I have the memories to last a lifetime.

[@daf15]

this was my local arcade. I was 8 at the time. I think of that jurassic park game once in awhile, it's mindblowing to actually see that exact machine and the whole arcade documented like this haha.

[@zepps88]

Why does it feel like more time passed between 1995 and 1999 than the past 20 years combined?

[@sergeantsnugglez3228]

Seriously. We went from SNES, to N64, to Sega Dreamcast within that time span.

[@alanalaurent6349]

This is the closest thing to time travel that we all have, we didn't realize how good we had it back then. Such a golden time in life.

[@adidas1984x]

This is fantastic. I miss these days

[@jackson5116]

I stopped going to the arcade circa 1993 after I was about 20, because I didn't really have time working two jobs, while taking college courses.

[@joeswanson733]

arcades was just another time killer / leisure time activity. you don't have leisure time hence... you can't go. simple as that.

[@avery6371]

I wish i was born around the times when the arcades were bombing. I know there still are arcades around, but it just doesn't have that same feeling. I wish the Arcades exploded again, i'd love to play with my little siblings.

[@nofooter4130]

I will still challenge anyone at Tekken 3! Forrest Law against everyone! I do miss this feeling of being a Mallrat ❤

[@shadowsmith1386]

You not ready

[@footloosefan26]

This takes me back to when we didn't have to buy cards to play.

[@Brancovtn65]

You’re doing humanity such a huge service by posting these vintage videos.

[@TaedarVulpine]

Arcades still live on as Bar Arcades thanks to Dave & Busters and Round 1 in the US. But, I still miss these standalone arcades due to their charm. I wish it was in the late 90's again so I can experience playing arcades like these again.

[@TheBigExclusive]

There are a few stand alone arcades. Look up retro arcades and arcade museums on Google. Every state in the USA has at least one. Galloping Ghost in Chicago is one of the more famous ones.

[@TheBigExclusive]

There are still a few stand alone arcades. Not nearly as much during the 1990s, but a few still exist. Look up retro arcades and arcade museums on the internet. Every state in the USA has at least one. Galloping Ghost in Chicago is one of the more famous ones.

[@cosmeticscameo8277]

dave and busters suks. the main attraction of round 1 is the food/alcohol and the bowling alley. they have a sad selection of arcade games.

[@brianmeen2158]

Dave & Busters for whatever reason never had a true arcade vibe to it though . It had a lot of trash games and it was more of a bar/gambling area if that makes any sense

[@Jpark.]

that lost world arcade cabinet hit me so hard with nostalgia.

[@TheBigExclusive]

Wow. Amazing. This is near HD quality video from 1998. How is this possible? It's like I'm back in the 90s.

[@ronbennett7885]

Resolution for this video is low compared to those shot on film, but quality optics and good camera work make up for it.

[@maxmt4325]

Brings back such memories. Me and my best friend would go to the mall in 1998 and want to go look for girls but we would always end up in the arcade lol. They ended up turning it into a Clothing store :(

[@blinksstayfresh2524]

The fighting games will always be the ones with the most people playing it or watching

[@Solowolfman3039]

I was born in 1991, and I am almost 33 years old, I remember more of the late 90s, this just makes me miss it all.

[@Mrhdigital3791]

These videos are awesome man. I love what your doing!

[@LazyPirate8]

This was America man.

[@RoundenBrown]

We used to be a country

[@PaladinLarec]

Most of my childhood was spent in the various arcades in my state. Was a regular who the employees would give free games to sometimes. So many good memories and people I met there. Wish they still had them around nowadays.

[@Konsker]

big fan of 90's arcade games

[@cancel.lgbtq.6892]

We used to ditch school after lunch then go to arcade inside our local mall all the time. Man, I miss 80's and 90's. Being adult sucks.

[@fakereality96]

Same

[@daniiel1495]

Thank you Vampire Robot. I cannot express how happy you have made me by uploading these videos and letting me catch a glimpse of my youth.

[@bluetarantulaproductions6179]

I really miss the golden day's of the shopping mall, especially the arcade. There was one arcade that used to be at West Edmonton Mall in the early 2000's that my buddies and I used to frequent every odd week called "Cicuit Circus" and we would spend so much money playing fighting games like Street Fighter Alpha 3, Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Guilty Gear XX Core, Marvel v.s. Capcom 2 and Street Fighter 3rd Strike. They also had pinball machines, light gun games, etc and a internet Cafe in the back.

[@holeeshietpyro4072]

i remember the days of playing against total strangers cramped up together on an arcade machine, plunking quarters in, and having people crowd around watching.. wow, now look.. you get cussed out by some 5yo on some massively overpriced online game requiring weekly subscriptions that has no campaign mode. we've strayed wayy off the path of real social interaction.

[@SpringBlossomGames]

Man I love Tekken 3 so much as my childhood good memories here 😄👍

[@Leidern]

A blast from the past! I had a couple of birthdays here! Laser tag was so much fun!

[@jqpacker34]

Omg I remember go to arcades my mom and dad used to take me there

[@jc4446]

You know the guy in white long sleeve at beginning of video was that one guy that beat everyone ass at the arcade … a legend of the arcade realms , never play against that guy ! Great footage btw

[@Anarchist86ed]

Pretty sure I can emulate all these games on my phone now.

[@figment1988]

If you have a powerful phone, given that by that time, game companies were beginning to use PC based hardware. One example was Maximum Force which used a Compressed Hard Disk drive

[@adewilson132]

Yea but who wants to play games on a tiny screen? Plus playing on original hardware is more fun. There's also the social aspect that you don't get playing on a phone.

[@vincently1995]

Ah, wonderful!

[@gamebozco]

Time when there are no DLC, lootbox, and actually hanging out with friends irl.

[@Dan-di9jd]

Disagree. A lot of these arcade games were designed to fail so that you kept putting quarters in them. The fighting games felt a bit fair to me because you could get two rounds with your friends in a versus game but otherwise it was set up to favor the arcade.

[@gamebozco]

@@Dan-di9jd Yes. But all that just make those arcade dwellers does their thing with 1 life so special. I saw people beat metal slug or bullet hell with one life. Mind you, in person hit different then seeing it in KZbin.

[@ari-dynamicarchive]

The fun part is knowing that 30 years later these kids hanging out at the arcade will probably grow up and do Twitch/KZbin streams of these games

[@Batben01]

I was around 8 when this video came out. Reminds me of the times i would go to Kahunaville, Jillian's or even Dave and Busters. Unfortunately this was a time when arcades were stating to die out from it glory days in the late 70s, 80s and early 90s. By 2002 with game consoles and computers became more affordable, arcades pretty much vanished, with those existing only have crane or redemption games. Talk about being born in the wrong decade.

[@Yoongiwifie]

I was 2 years old omg turning 3 that year in November, imagine being in your diaper days when this was filmed! Or not being born yet

[@RICKEYDD]

look how peaceful this was then...

[@WhateverHappenedToGaryCooper]

It’s funny how the games we choose reflect our personalities. Some people gravitate towards fighting or shooting games whereas others maybe to racing or sports or pinball machines. You could often find me in front of the token machine cause I was so damn terrible at all of them, I’d spend half the time feeding it dollar bills

[@ToeTag9899]

There was nothing like playing Mortal Kombat 2 at the arcade same with 3 in the mid 90's I miss that era so much. The smell of the popcorn the sounds of the machine and seeing a new fatality in MK for the first time and having your mind blow.

[@Smylex659]

SO NOSTALGIC!

[@BerySoda]

1997 This Is New Game Monster High Speedway In Planet Play

[@BerySoda]

Playing New Game Monster High Speedway Racing Games In Planet Play And Aladdin's Castle Arcades 1997 Appereance

[@904PinballZine]

ATACK FROM MARS!

[@Mart9]

Memories

[@SilverFan21k]

Good times :)

[@miaomiaochan]

A mall I once frequented had an arcade with a room especially for the DDR machine. Sadly, I moved away almost 20 years ago, and don't know what became of that mall, let alone that arcade.

[@oldradiosnphonographs]

Man those were the scary big kids. They remind me of my friends older siblings when I would go to my friends house and they would roast and make fun of us. 🙄I was probably around the same age as the kids at 9:15

[@edwinortiz3959]

I was 17 playing killer instinct

[@destinydarkness]

2:15 😂😂😂

[@bigdogdesi]

Does anyone remember Springfiel Elite? It was a group of Korean guys dominating Tekken Tag Tournament. I remember they had a website and everything back then. Please comment if you remember them. I was at Springfield Mall every Friday night in 1999-2000 waiting to play Tekken Tag.

[@bigdogdesi]

I remember this black dude who played with King too, man, if anyone remembers waiting around Tekken Tag in the downstairs Timeout please respond!

[@BingChilling-hr1hh]

We had Boomers and Kabooms in the south Broward county area. Boomers was insane it had everything, and 2 arcades in separate buildings. Sadly boomers is long gone and demolished

[@clarencegutsy7309]

Believe it or not those kids playing Tekken 3 are probably whooping your ass in Tekken 8 today.

[@theplasmatron3306]

I'm sure if we had an environment like this again, we would be less stressed....

[@alaminhussain5302]

What makes you say that?

[@theplasmatron3306]

@@alaminhussain5302 The standard of living has declined.

[@rgonzalo511]

​@@theplasmatron3306It hasn't. Poverty is at an all time low. Drug use is at an all time low. And violent crime is at an all time low. Standard of living is way higher now.

[@theplasmatron3306]

@@rgonzalo511 you’re crazy if you think that. I can give you an example: New York and Chicago, they’re hitting high records of theft and violence than in the 70s and 80s.

[@theplasmatron3306]

@@rgonzalo511 That seems like the exact opposite of what you said. No one goes out anymore.

[@ReiTheRabbit]

Tekken 3! Always pick Xiaoyu! 💕

[@z6nesensei]

im so jealous!!!!!

[@mazystarr]

Of course the first game they show is tekken 3. What a crazy coincidence for me

[@kitridge4301]

I can still smell it.

[@brickinterviewertv]

that was the year i was born

[@ZacWeathers]

Hey! Wondering if you could reply to me about potentially using a couple shots from your vid in my time crisis documentary? Thanks

[@Alvin67108]

I was born on 1998.

[@jimmylim5015]

This arcade life is very much alive in Japan

[@BrianBeeby]

Many people think the decline of arcades around the late '90s was due to 3D home consoles like the Playstation. I was there and I have a contrarian viewpoint which I consider the undocumented truth of why arcades really died. A big reason was the over-glut of Street Fighter II "fighting game" knockoffs like Tekken 3 here. Street Fighter II was a runaway success in 1991, largely due to a clever marketing gimmick of each of the 7+1 playable characters (Ryu and Ken were virtually identical) having 3 or so "hidden" special moves. They could be "unlocked" not by "figuring out" how to do them yourself, but by READING A MAGAZINE like Gamepro or Electronic Gaming Monthly - or by WORD-OF-MOUTH from one of your buddies who did. All well and good for a game with 7 or 8 playable characters with about 3 special moves each. It was great for making 13-year-olds feel cool at the arcade by one-upping their pals who hadn't "figured out" the "hidden secrets." But then - EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, started making me-too SFII clones. It was the story of early to mid '90s arcade gaming. The SFII wannabees had their own hidden Easter egg moves which you had to "figure out" all over again and most weren't nearly as popular as the Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat series. So if you missed the one issue of EGM which had the moves for Martial Champion or whatever, sucked to be you. Of course, "fighting games" kept getting "bigger and better," so more playable characters became available, along with more special moves for each. But the nail in the coffin for the genre, at least for me, were the "chain combos" like in the Tekken series, Mortal Kombat 3 and Killer Instinct. By the mid '90s, my local arcade in an affluent SoCal neighborhood was at least half-full of these fighting games. But I didn't see a lot of kids playing them, at least by then. I know because I was one of them. I would stare dumbfounded at Tekken 2 which unlocked a new character every so often and I would wonder "Who the fuck plays this game?" Oh, I'd sometimes see a Kool Kid play as the Jackie Chan guy. You had to be a real fucking nerd to have "figured out" how to play him! I got period strategy guides at the time on how to play many of those fighting games, but finally I threw up my hands and said "Ah, fuck this. I'll just play something else." And a lot of kids and gamers did just that, despite what the retro video game internet nerds may tell you otherwise. Of course, Tekken 2 was one of the Playstation launch titles, so you could have all the time in the world "figuring out" how to play every character like Jackie Chan dude. A home console is really where fighting games like Tekken belonged, with a MANUAL and maybe a strategy guide. Arcade owners were left with a bunch of several thousand dollar fighting game machines many kids didn't want to play. I always thought it was games like the ever-present Area 51 and driving games like Cruiz'n USA which helped keep arcades open longer.

[@rgonzalo511]

It could be both. We have to remember that 1994 was the year the PS1 showed up. Before that if you wanted the best quality gaming experience you needed an arcade machine to get it. Also home console started becoming more affordable as well around this time.

[@junkthefox]

Pretty sure that guy on the skateboarding game said "That Sucked" And he was right

[@jeffmarks1996]

what date was this got filmed in 1998?

[@cosmeticscameo8277]

well since everyone was wearing t-shirts and shorts im assuming it would have to be in the summer time.

[@PresenceToriyama]

Before my time!

[@truthteller8274]

Now, where's the abandoned mall video of this place?

[@SBN3vids]

Are you the guy who taped all this stuff? Or do you just find it off of archives?

[@Melodie_Info3]

back when you can play arcade game in the mall cause you didnt have ps2 ps1 now a day you have a phone ps3 ps4 ps5 xbox ipad iphone gaming lapotp that has all that game in the arcade room. I search this up call planet play, it look it died..

[@mostverticalproductions4808]

I wonder if any of these cabs still exist to this day, probably not. Hope they ended up in someone's garage.

[@Retsler54]

Is it the digitalisation that is ruining our malls? I loved visiting them in the 80s and 90s, especially in the 80s, the earlier the better. bove all I miss the toy stores and hifi stores back then. Arcades were great too....This are dark, dark medieval times.

[@flutebasket4294]

Everything began falling apart in '98, with the popularity of Tekken 3 signaling the end of Western Civilization

[@vampirerobot]

🤣🤣🤣

[@MarkMeadows90]

What have you been smokin'? lol

[@fawkkyutuu8851]

@@MarkMeadows90 lol

[@oldradiosnphonographs]

My parents Marriage…98 was a ROUGH year…

[@tsurek]

Everything started falling apart once the 80s ended.

[@dragonbutt]

8:55 this is a friend of a friend of mine who moved away later on that summer. Wild.

[@Crysisplaya]

Was that Ricegum?

[@There_is_No_Spoon_]

if you wanted to meet people and make friends these were places to go. Now 2023, if you don't make any friends in school or have relatives or good neighbors you are a lone wolf. Now everyone has a personal agenda to further their own interests. Dawm new world.........and to the Vampire Robot.. why do you have the U2 Pop MART TOUR icon as your profile picture?

[@raulsanchez9795]

I was really bad in arcade games location, we had one at this place called soriana, it was dark ,I had myopia, all the cool kids will hang around there, I was rather small and some most them were tall... So I would get elbow, push and kicked out the place until my parents rather keep out of that place. So I found a store with magazines in it next door... And the last alley there were naughty adult magazines ... I would always go to check them to see if they were still there... Until they were placed higher in the corner of the store... And the cashier told me " if you continue to come here without buying anything, I'll ban you" so the front door put a label that all children should come with an adult.

[@Dan-di9jd]

So you didn't have any friends and then you turned into a perv and the cashier noticed this and tried to help you out but now you're doing it all by yourself on the internet.

[@jayglenn82]

Times were better back then. Social media has destroyed society.

[@ZexeezTwitch]

Hope everyone in this video is doing ok. The world is a crazy place and I miss these simple fun times

[@howieg2019]

here's something i can't understand:😤😮‍💨. in the pre internet era when the arcade machines were in the corner stores and other places of business, most of us were broke but seemed to get along for the most part. in the beginning of the 00s when they began to take the machines out the stores, i began to be around more of the working crowd, i quickly saw that despite having money in their pockets they're some miserable people to be around and only seem happy when payday arrives for the purpose of medicating themselves for the weekend🚬🍾, and also i learned that you don't learn anything worth learning from the majority of them, and i'm always asking myself how is it that i was happier around people who had less than i am those who have a little more🤔, is it something wrong with me?

[@heyheysarah7782]

I had so many birthdays here as a kid! 🥹 Gosh I wish i could travel back in time to experience it again.