Comments on: Arcade Sounds

Arcade Sounds

rxrfrx — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 14:56:59 -0800

Arcade Sounds. We recorded video games from 1982 until 1988. Fortunately I managed to save all fourteen audio tapes of video game sounds and arcade ambience which were recorded from a variety of locations in the US. Most of the recordings are from Ithaca, NY, Albany, NY and Ocean City, MD.

By: dreamsign

dreamsign — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:00:39 -0800

I caught another site like this one awhile back, and downloaded a bunch of their stuff. Thought, at first listen, that it would before long be headache inducing, annoying stuff, but in fact, it was a strangely addictive, comforting background.

By: squared

squared — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:02:06 -0800

I'm suddenly in front of my TRS-80 playing Zaxxon again...

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:03:38 -0800

Now all I need is that ozone smell.

By: Heywood Mogroot

Heywood Mogroot — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:10:46 -0800

LOL. I spent ~3000hrs in an arcade 1986-1991. Easiest $20k I ever made.

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:15:45 -0800

I like the timewarp for the author via his youthful voiceover - remids me of the time span covered by the Raiders tribute.

By: freebird

freebird — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:22:03 -0800

TRS-80! That was a great machine. I'm so sick of this damn retro hip obsession with crap like the C-64. The Apples were nice, don't get me wrong, but nothing like the wonderful open invitation to programming and computing that the TRS-80s were. I still put ColorBasic on my resume, just to see if people are down.

By: atomicmedia

atomicmedia — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:23:54 -0800

here's some hour-long, year-specific samples, go to the download page for more info

By: numlok

numlok — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:24:53 -0800

"RUN COWARD!" Man, that scream from Sinistar still freaks me out. Totally radical post!

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:26:38 -0800

While playing Defender: Attendant: Are you recording this machine? Player: Yea, why? - not for reproductive purposes.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:28:29 -0800

These are terrific! Like dreamsign said, I find them quite comforting. I can't say I spent a ton of time in the arcade at the mall but we went to Ocean City every year and I was at Playland all the time. I can almost smell the ocean and french fries now.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:34:43 -0800

ahahahahaha not for reproductive purposes (2'12")

By: tomplus2

tomplus2 — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:45:48 -0800

There was a site that had CD's worth of ambient arcade sounds. It's v cool, but I can't seem to find it. Somewhat like this, but just audio.

By: michaelonfs

michaelonfs — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 15:49:57 -0800

TRS-80 -- That was my first machine! 32K of RAM! It really screamed. With lower case even. Ahh the 'good old days'. sigh...

By: anthill

anthill — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:00:34 -0800

numlok, if you miss your Sinistar, you might get a kick out of this cheesy (but kind of catchy) and very representative videogame remix: http://www.empire-of-the-claw.com/files/mp3s.htm Look for "sinistar", of course. Lots of screams and "Run, Coward!"s

By: arialblack

arialblack — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:09:19 -0800

One of these is the arcade from my hometown! I'm fighting the urge to call my mom and ask for quarters.

By: terrapin

terrapin — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:26:55 -0800

Another person whose first machine was a TRS-80. Could do everything. Program in BASIC or play games. *sigh*

By: terrapin

terrapin — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:30:03 -0800

I love how the list starts in roman numerals then suddenly switches to Arabic numerals aft 12.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:32:16 -0800

My first job was as an arcade attendant in about '83, so all these sounds mixed together send me back in time to when I was skinny with nearly no body hair and making $4.35 an hour. Whether that's good or bad, I have yet to decide.

By: moonbird

moonbird — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:51:21 -0800

Thank you for "Tempest." Hadn't heard that in 20 GD years. My gawd, how we age.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:54:53 -0800

Uh, correction. $3.35 an hour. My mistake.

By: mischief

mischief — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 17:34:14 -0800

"I still put ColorBasic on my resume" Hey, me too! My first serious homegrown programming project was a database manager on the CoCo.

By: es_de_bah

es_de_bah — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 17:37:56 -0800

Awesome, thanks!

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 17:45:43 -0800

While playing Defender: Attendant: Are you recording this machine? Player: Yea, why? - not for reproductive purposes. That's hilarious! A 10-year-old lawyer. There was a site that had CD's worth of ambient arcade sounds. It's v cool, but I can't seem to find it. Somewhat like this, but just audio. Are you talking about Andy Hofle? Arcade Ambience? Fun stuff (though indistinguishable from a modern casino).

By: fluffycreature

fluffycreature — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:05:13 -0800

Would it kill them to alphabetize this? Galaga is there but it is missing the other mainstay of my early life QIX! I miss that random noise that an arcade had - time to find one this weekend.

By: tpl1212

tpl1212 — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:12:05 -0800

Most of the recordings are from Ithaca, NY, Albany, NY and Ocean City, MD. I remember taking (hellishly long) bus-rides from home (boston) to school (ithaca)...the main bus terminal in Ithaca was this weird old time-capsule of a building...half of it was a weird mostly-brown ticket counter/waiting area, and the other half was a blocked off all dark wasteland of old dusty stand-up arcade games (Zaxxon, Warlord, Centipede, etc). That's the first thing I thought of when I read this. Who knows if that bus terminal is even still there.

By: tomplus2

tomplus2 — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:38:47 -0800

Yeah, mrgrimm, I think that's it. Thanks!

By: jefbla

jefbla — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:49:53 -0800

This is really wonderful. Thanks. I've always loved those old machines.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:04:29 -0800

"GET THE HUMANOID! GOT THE HUMANOID!" Berzerk was the best. Suck it, haters. (And I rocked the Atari XL, which could program in basic, play cartridge games (though not the bigger ones) and had a tape drive. In fact, I still have two of them chilling in my basement, though I'm not sure if they still work. And a 300 baud modem!)

By: yhbc

yhbc — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:07:13 -0800

To do: use "I hunger!" in everyday conversation. Breakfast?

By: 40 Watt

40 Watt — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:09:11 -0800

Are you talking about Andy Hofle? Arcade Ambience? Fun stuff (though indistinguishable from a modern casino). Not to toot my own horn(honk honk), but I posted about the very similar Arcade Ambience project a while back: http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/30195

By: shoepal

shoepal — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:20:50 -0800

Oh Man! I spent summers in the '80s playing video games in the arcades up and down the boardwalk in OC, MD. Hell, I still play a few whenever I'm "down the ocean." Thanks for the memories, rxrfrx.

By: HSWilson

HSWilson — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:23:51 -0800

My parents owned an arcade in the '80s, and I spent most of my childhood there. This brought back some of the best memories of my life, thank you rxrfrx.

By: metaculpa

metaculpa — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:30:31 -0800

That's the first thing I thought of when I read this. Who knows if that bus terminal is even still there. Yep. Still there, although half of it is a bank now. It's down by the river, right next to 6-mile creek? Still has games; I seem to remember a Ms. Pacman, but I think the oldoldold games are gone.

By: metaculpa

metaculpa — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:30:45 -0800

Too many spaces.

By: Remy

Remy — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:43:22 -0800

The Ithaca Bus Terminal now only has a very crappy Neo Geo 4-game machine. All of the games are from the mid-90s. Right side has busted controls, as I recall.

By: mr.curmudgeon

mr.curmudgeon — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 20:03:23 -0800

Uh...has this guy heard of MAME?

By: jscott

jscott — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 23:41:49 -0800

That took FOREVER to download manually. But it was worth it.

By: Hat Maui

Hat Maui — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 00:53:52 -0800

It's down by the river, right next to 6-mile creek? yeah, right next to my van, where i live. /m. foley

By: greycap

greycap — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 02:46:26 -0800

This zapped me straight back to spending hours in arcades in the summer holidays. The Gauntlet 2 one in particular brought on waves of nostalgia - "red wizard shot the food", "red valkyrie needs food badly". I like the cries of despair as the 2 people playing get killed... and then the organ-tastic game over music. *sighs wistfully in remembrance of a more innocent age*

By: Samizdata

Samizdata — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 03:49:51 -0800

Heh. First program I wrote was on a CoCo. Russian Roulette with character graphics and "animation." I was an odd child. My first spreadsheet (BasiCalc) was for an alien brothel...

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 04:17:15 -0800

Uh...has this guy heard of MAME? Did you listen to any of the recordings?

By: Otis

Otis — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 06:55:38 -0800

You could use these sounds in conjunction with 3D Arcade, set the time machine dial to 1982 and never come back again. You'll find me by the Crazy Climber machine.

By: Gamblor

Gamblor — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 07:33:29 -0800

...it was a strangely addictive, comforting background. It is strangely soothing. Spy Hunter, Dig-dug, Moon Patrol...Man these take me back.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 12:59:12 -0800

Not to toot my own horn(honk honk), but I posted about the very similar Arcade Ambience project a while back Which is where I likely heard of it. Thanks, 40 Watt.

By: krebby

krebby — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 15:27:02 -0800

Torrent?

By: Catch

Catch — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 14:32:09 -0800

thanks rxrfrx. Great post, especially the non-newsy link. I had these playing on repeat for hours yesterday at work. It was that sort of day yesterday. Now I think of it, it's that sort of day today....