Nekkoru wrote:

ged1928 wrote: 1987 bitches. Kubo wrote: 1981. Not sure what happened that year. The birth of cool MTV? That's kind of sad now, knowing that it died around 1999. 1981 was, in my opinion, the second best year for video games. 1994 is the best, and if you don't know why then you don't actually like games. Saturn hits Japan, Playstation hits America. I didn't really like the first Playstation until like a year ago. Plus, I've gotten my one for free. Oh, and Super Metroid hit the market.

I didn't know PS came out in 1994, I thought it was 1995. Good to know. I was more thinking about it being "The Year of the Cartridge," with many of the greatest SNES games coming out, not least of all FF6. Knowing that the two major 32-bit consoles came out in that year only sweetens the deal. 1994 was arguably the last great year for arcade releases, too. When you look at overall game releases and the actually quality of the games (which I guess is arguable), 1994 was the last major year. Arcades have been closing at a near exponential rate in North America since then. Yet another reason why I want to vacation in Japan.

Nekkoru wrote:

You still can find great arcades in the US now. Screwattack proves it.

There are exceptions. Some games that get released in this country are pretty cool, and more importantly there are still arcades that focus on the golden age of gaming.
I just wish that we got the selection of games they did overseas, and that arcades were more popular. Arcades used to be a social place in the same way that malls are to some people now, and its a bummer that that has changed so much.