THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9508310268
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER CHRISTMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
WHEN WE WEREN'T terrorizing our placid suburban neighborhood with fake guns a la Charlie's Angels, my fellow 8-year-old homegirls and I dabbled in exorcism, intergalactic exploration and amphibian research.
We played Pac Man, Space Invaders and Frogger.
Once the first Atari 2600 hit our block, all thoughts of Strawberry Shortcake dolls and easy-bake ovens were chucked for joysticks and game cartridges. What girl wanted to sit quietly and braid Barbie's boring faux locks when there were enemy submarines to massacre, female-snatching monkeys to exterminate and electronic jungle pits to hurtle?
We did not simply play these games - we lived them. I used to host intense, daylong Pac Man marathons in my basement. We had teams and an intricate scoring system and everything.
After dropping coin after coin in Outer Banks arcades with my two best childhood friends who visited this past weekend, I got a new understanding for why we loved and still love arcade games so much.
Our first arcade stop was the Soundside Pavilion, which boasts several nooks where video games mingle with pool and air hockey tables.
The atmosphere was just the right amount of tacky: An Elvis documentary on a TV in the foyer made a perfect backdrop for the loud beeps and bangs screaming from the arcade games.
Of course, we all booked to the shooting games, and the Pavilion has a bunch of them. My favorite game was like a television show, where we shot bad guys in the Wild West. A grumpy old grandpa-type, complete with bandana and Stetson, reappeared on the screen after each bad shot to heckle us.
I felt very Juliette Lewis in ``Natural Born Killers'' while waving a plastic pink pistol to stop black-masked bank robbers in a different game.
As I played, I realized that the technology sure has changed since Combat - that tank vs. tank Atari game where the graphical interface was no more sophisticated than Morse code jotted on paper.
But one thing that has not changed is the sense of empowerment I feel from playing the games.
In a world full of craziness and chaos, a kid with a quarter can prevail as an instant superhero. It doesn't matter if you're male or female, weak or buff. All it takes is some foresight and some coordination.
The sounds of Salt-N-Pepa greeted us as we strolled into the jamming Foots-ball Palace. Full of teenagers with purple hair, electronic games, pinball machines, coin-operated rides, pool tables and a snack bar, the Palace on a Saturday night is a jumping joint.
It's even a place for ancient, nostalgic 22-year-olds to revel in their electronic days past, as the arcade has such relics as Ms. Pac Man, Space Invaders, Centipede and Galaga.
Even more enjoyable than playing some of the games is laughing at them. While playing Centipede, I laughed out loud as sections of the centipede I shot turned to mushrooms. No wonder I was such a pathetic science student!
I also enjoyed smashing smiley little worm creatures with a padded hammer in the whack-a-mole-esque Sweet Licks game.
For laughs on the way out, I wasted a quarter in this rotating hen game - the one where the hen spins, cackles and ``lays'' a plastic egg containing a prize.
And what a prize I got: a random glow-in-the-dark sticky hand. Whee!
Our last stop was Blackbeard's Golf & Arcade, another happening coin-operated mecca.
My feeling of power endured with every swing I took with a vacuum cleaner at daughter-snatchers as blue-beehived Marge in the Simpsons video game. As the character Storm in the X-Men game, I felt strong while wiping out the forces of evil with my torrential tornadoes and thunder. I even got to enter my initials in the game, as I earned the second-highest score.
And I truly felt like a superhero. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by VICKI CRONIS
Steve Flynn of Virginia Beach, Va. plays an ice hockey game at the
Foots-ball Palace in Nags Head.
ARCADES
Blackbeard's Miniature Golf Park & Arcade
Milepost 16 on the Bypass
441-4541
Foots-ball Palace
Milepost 12 on the Beach Road
441-6158
Games People Play
Outer Banks Mall, Milepost 14 1/2 on the Bypass
441-5620
Soundside Pavilion
Milepost 16 on the Bypass
441-2575
Village Playhouse
Milepost 14, on Mall Drive across from Outer Banks Mall
441-3277
by CNB