3 Arcade Games that u should be playing...

The arcade scene (at least in SoCal) is still alive and well with places like Super Arcade at Walnut, Arcade Infinity at Rowland Heights (over at Diamond Plaza), and Family Fun Arcade at the San Fernando Valley. Only a handful of arcade games are pretty much worth your attention and here are 3 picks of what u should be playing next time you go to a place like the ones I mentioned.

Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 DX

The current #1 racer at arcades is the Maximum Tune series and a new expansion of sorts for 3 (hence the DX name) just came out recently at SoCal. It is basically more Maximum Tune 3 with the option to go 825 HP with your car along with a new course (Nagoya Speed Ring) and new music by Yuzo Koshiro. There are also other features involving ghost battle in which I forgot how it works now. This race is still as addictive as ever even though it is not the best looking racing game at arcades now, but people are still playing it like crazy customizing their cars and having numerous IC cards.

DJ Max Technika

I saw this at Arcade Infinity and it is something different even though I think it is already a franchise. It is a DJ game where you touch the screen to correspond with the beats compared to something like Beatmania. It is very Japanese with the whole anime look and song selection, so basically the DDR-like crowd will like this.

Street Fighter IV

The arcade version of SF IV has pretty much one more month till the console versions come out in which the scene will change, but it doesn't mean SF IV will be dead at arcades as tournaments at places like Arcade Infinity will keep it alive. The console SF IV is a good tool for practice as the arcade version is a different beast in terms of competition and tournament atmosphere. Anyway, I'm talking about this game too much.

So the next time you're at an arcade, especially in the Southern California area, play these games whether or not you're good at them and bring people along for the fun.