Hastings Arcades

Hi everyone, welcome to my first arcade write-up. As I live in Hastings, I thought it'd be best to start with the arcades I have at home!

If you know history well, you will be aware of my town's historical importance with the Battle Of Hastings. Besides that, there really isn't much else noteworthy about this place. It's your usual British seaside town if we're being honest.

But, of course, any UK seaside town should have arcades- and Hastings doesn't disappoint, with 3 arcades on the beach overall, and all but one aren't that bad. They have a good variety of games and are usually well maintained. First, we'll talk about Playland (the arcade I visit the most).

Playland

This arcade has a lot of redemption, but between the claw machines and coin pushers are a few gaming gems.

Games

Dance Dance Revolution A

Without a doubt, the best game in the entirety of Hastings. At the time of writing, this is one of only a few DDR A machines in the UK.

It is probably the best machine I've ever played on! It's incredibly loud and has no faults. The menu timer was set to 30 seconds but they let me change it to 90. You can actually hear this machine from the other side of the road. I hope it stays this loud!

Dance Dance Revolution X2

While this X2 was the best machine in Playland before, it has been declining in condition, and with the arrival of DDR A you shouldn't even bother. Before, it's only real problems were the speed mod glitch and the torn decals from being outside the arcade for a short period of time, but after being relocated, the sound was turned off.

Sadly, it has also replaced an old Euromix- to be fair, the machine wasn't perfect and had seen better days, but it's still a shame nonetheless. Playland were considering upgrading it to a Supernova or Euromix 2 before, and I would've preferred this than an even worse condition X2 staying.

Time Crisis 4

Sadly, this Time Crisis 4 looks to be on it's way out. Recently, the left side has been crashing. The right side is still working, but the plastic gun has been cracked at some point. I wouldn't recommend playing this if you want to get good at the game at all, but hopefully, it will be fixed. I would try and ask them to get Time Crisis 5 but they just got DDR A.

The House Of The Dead 4

This game was near unplayable last time I played, and to be honest, I don't want to risk losing a pound again. The player 1 gun has a very bad trigger, I haven't tried the other side so maybe that'll be better, but I would avoid this anyway. Don't get me wrong, the House Of The Dead games are good, it's just that I don't want to waste my money on a machine that potentially has several problems.

After Burner Climax

I haven't actually played this but I vaguely know what the game is. I keep intending to play but I always forget or put it off until later. My brother played the machine once and said it worked well though.

Other games at Playland:

Sega Rally 3

Transformers: Human Alliance

There is also Big Buck Safari, Super Alpine Racer, and Jurassic Park Arcade, though I haven't got a picture of these. Overall, Playland should be the arcade of choice for anyone that wants to play modern games, especially with DDR A.

Old Town Amusements

Old Town Amusements has more games overall than Playland, but they are all fairly old (the newest being Sega's Let's Go Jungle from 2006).

Games

Dancing Stage EuroMIX

This machine is very strange. It has an unofficial marquee, a random pole sticking out the back (might be for the power lead), unofficial decals on the back (didn't get a picture) and a bad LCD conversion. The player 2 side is playable at best and the player 1 side has seen better days.

Daytona USA 2

My first time playing Daytona USA was on this machine and let me tell you something, I suck at it! But it's still a really fun game to play. I'm too tall for the machine so it wasn't a very enjoyable experience for me, later I found out the seats are adjustable but it was too late. I'm planning to go back and play this game another time! The machines are possibly not linked as multiplayer didn't work when I tried it.

Other games at Old Town Amusements:

Sega Rally Championship 2

Ghost Squad

Jurassic Park: The Lost World

House Of The Dead 4

Let's Go Jungle

I haven't played any of these, but they are pretty noteworthy. There is also Ford Racing Full Blown, F355 Challenge, and After Burner Climax, but these all have issues (and you can play Climax at Playland instead). Old Town Amusements definitely has a lot of older games, which will especially appeal to Sega fans and retro gamers, but a few of them could be in better condition.

Flamingo Arcade

Lastly, we have Flamingo Arcade. Not only does this place have fewer games than Old Town Amusements and Playland, the overall condition isn't the best too.

Games

Dance Dance Revolution X

This is, by far, the worst DDR machine I have ever come across. The pads are just terrible- it takes incredible force for anything to register, the sound is turned down way low, and the player 1 sensors have been removed. This is to be expected for a European X, but even then this is bad.

Sega Rally 3

I haven't played this yet, but while my friend has (and said it played fine), I am aware that Sega Rally 3 machines were similar to DDR X in that shoddy parts were used- so I'd be wary of playing this anyway.

Flamingo Arcade does also have Razing Storm and a Star Wars pinball table, both are in okay condition but they just aren't enough to warrant a visit to this place in my opinion. Not only that, but I've been accused of wanting free credits before, so it's just not worth it going here at all.

Overall

Besides Flamingo Arcade, the Hastings arcades are pretty good. Both Playland and Old Town Amusements are pretty good in variety and usually quality. If you are interested in older games I'd go to Old Town Amusements. If you are interested in newer games and a small amount of redemption I'd recommend Playland.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. Apologies if the photos aren't the best, I've had little time to go to these places recently, but once I do get better pics I will update this. Special thanks to Ted, who helped out with editing some of the pictures and proofreading the post.

-Sam

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