Over the week that my partner and I were out of town seeing family, we made more than one trip to Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade. The first trip was cut short because it was packed midday, and I’d never experienced quite so many people at that hour. And, as it is all-ages until 5pm, we decided to come back another time when I didn’t have to worry quite so much about using obscenities in front of children.

We went back on Saturday evening and, while it was packed, we had a splendid time. We took a good friend with us and the three of us beat not one, but two (two!) games in one night!

Yes friends, you, too can beat arcade games with enough quarters and patience.

(Look at all those things we saw!)

First up we beat the 4-player Turtles In Time (I was Donatello mainly because his controls were closest to me at the time we decided to play). I don’t think we set out to beat it, but after we had been dumping a heavy series of quarters into it, we decided to take it to the max and finish it.

MAX MAX MAX MAX!!!

Wheee! The game was a pretty standard brawler, and the enemies were hilarious enough to keep us entertained.

Honestly, there were bad guys on dinosaurs at one point. We also ate a lot of sewer pizza. And we looked pretty happy doing it.

Next up was the 6-player capable X Men. I ended up playing as Storm, again, because her controls were closest to where I stood when we started. This game played almost exactly like Turtles In Time (down to nearly identical enemy types), which prompted me to check out who made them.

Yup! Both Konami.

This one we finished a little faster than Turtles In Time, but I’d like to think it’s because we were in the groove (who am I kidding? It was all about the $10 in quarters we spent.).

The only other arcade game I had ever beat was last year: same time, same place. It was Carn-Evil, and my partner and I mowed it down in about thirty minutes. Again, it was more about the amount of quarters we had and less about finesse, but that was fine by me. I was glad to finally have a cabinet victory under my belt.

This year, having beat two, I’m starting to wonder if we have to up the ante to three next year. I hope we can make it happen.

I love that the three of us had many virtual (and actual) high-fives in the process. It just reminded me how much I love playing local co-op.

And with that, off I go to unpack and get settled back in. Next time: my top ten games of 2014, whether they released this year or not.

Cheers!