“Where’d you learn to shoot like that…?”
“7-11.”
It recently occurred to me how the above joke would make little-to-no-sense to the vast majority of today’s younger gamers. Sure, it’s halfway explained to the viewer in the previous movie, but even still… I guess they could process the statement as meaning that there are lots of robberies at 7-11 and one would obviously need a good handle on their handgun to get out of said sticky situation(s).
When I was a kid, I could remember heading down to the local convenience store and be guaranteed that at least some variation on Street Fighter II was there. This was in addition to playing Fatal Fury Special at Ames, and World Heroes 2 Jet (and later Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3) at Wal-Mart. It was just an expected thing… arcade machines were everywhere. It was a carry-over from the Pac-Man days, when every store had some arcade machine to keep you around spending those quarters. Convenience stores, laundromats, grocery stores… all of them. These days, I pretty much only see the standard Cruisin’ U.S.A. at rest stops along the New Jersey Turnpike, or the broken-ass light gun game at the pizzeria up on Staten Island that the woman’s family has made a beloved destination.
Why is this? Aren’t classic arcade games cheap enough to grab one or two and throw them in somewhere for some guaranteed quarters? Obviously the newer machines are far too expensive, but there’s no excuse that I shouldn’t be able to play some Komani brawler from the early 90’s no matter which establishment I set foot into.
Besides, let’s not further date the Back to the Future movies. They’re too awesome to deserve that.