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Retro gaming in a seaside resort: Whitby's classic arcades

PLUS: After Burner Climax, Metro Siege, Super Mario and the Rainbow Stars

This weekend seems to have rushed by, and while I don’t have the review ready that I’d hoped to have for you, I have a look at retro arcade gaming in seaside towns, specifically Whitby.

Table of Contents

Whitby’s Funland Amusements

While there are several arcades in Whitby, the Funland Amusements is currently the only one to boast a floor of retro cabinets.

Recently, I drove down to Whitby, launch place of Captain Cook’s various voyages, birthplace of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (the story, not the character), and home to an increasingly impressive collection of restaurants.

On this occasion, however, the visit wasn’t for fish and chips. It wasn’t for the folk festival, either. We took the trip to finally check out the upstairs of the Funland arcade, which has been kitted out with a bunch of classic retro arcade cabinets.

After Burner Climax

The original (1987) from SEGA was a massive draw back in the late 80s and early 90s in my home town, Redcar. At least two arcades on the sea front had the motion cabinet, while another had the standing cab. More often than not, however, the motion cabs didn’t work correctly, often leaving you stuck midway through the game. If the cab didn’t work at all, you probably wouldn’t have parted with your 50p.

While the various home computer and console ports started appearing from 1988 onwards (starting with the SEGA Master System), After Burner in the arcades remained the version to play. From memory, the C64 version was terrible (checking on Wikipedia, I see it scored 17% in Zzap!64), so it made sense to save the pocket money and play the game “down the front” whenever my gran fancied a game of bingo.

So, it was a pleasurable surprise to stumble upon the 2006 game. Better still, the cabinet moved (as long as the seatbelt stayed plugged in!) and the machine was accepting coins. You can never tell if something is jammed up these days, and unless the arcade uses pre-paid cards it can be a gamble.

My daughter recorded the video above from the first minute of play, up to my first death (there were many). The graphics and sound were really good, a smart upgrade on the original. It was also very fast, adding to the thrill! On the other hand, there isn’t a lot of time to appreciate the context of the challenges and gauge who the enemy is (I’m still not 100% certain). Given the game’s release date, it seems unlikely that the enemy would be the Russians.

(Then again, after recent events, perhaps there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be.)

A few pound coins later and the rest of the family was ready to leave. My pocket slightly lighter and my mouth gasping for liquid refreshment, we went on our way. After Burner Climax was left vying with a decent fish and chip supper from The Magpie as the highlight of the trip.

After Burner Climax is a pretty rare unit. You won’t find it on eBay, for example, although you may find it swapping hands privately. But if you can find one, it’s worth sticking a few quid in.

The other retro arcade games

A few air hockey tables and pinball machines were also present, along with a handful of obligatory ticket machines. While there wasn’t time to play everything (it was pretty busy), the selection included Guitar Hero Arcade, Time Crisis 2 and 5, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Star Wars Trilogy, Galaxian, Defender, Virtua Fighter 2, a Space Invaders reissue, and several other machines.

My son and I enjoyed The Simpsons, Guitar Hero Arcade, and the Addams Family pinball, the air hockey was well used by our twins, and my wife spent a bit of time trying to beat Guitar Hero Arcade too. (We’re a bit addicted to this game – we spent hours on the original Xbox 360 version.)

Yes, there are other arcades in Whitby, and even some with vintage games; but this is – in my view – the best. You can find the Funland Amusements Casino Lounge and Retro Arcade at 24-30 Pier Road, Whitby, YO21 3PU, England. It overlooks the harbour, with plenty of places to eat nearby.

They’re also online, at www.funlandarcade.co.uk.

Retro news you might have missed

Since our midweek news-focused newsletter, a bunch of new retro gaming news has dropped.

The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reported that Jurassic World scriptwriter Derek Connolly is writing a movie version of SEGA’s Eternal Champions for Skydance.

A potential release date for Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection (November 22) appeared online before being pulled.

VitaDB Downloader 2.1 for homebrew-enabled PSVita consoles has been released.

Modders devise way to make SEGA Genesis perform SNES-style transparency effects.

Metro Siege, a side-scrolling beat-em-up for Amiga 500 (above), is coming from Bitbeam Cannon, and you can try it in your browser now - it’s a lot of fun!

X-Out Resurfaced, a reboot of the classic Amiga shooter, is set to be released through ININ Games (Time Extension)

A firmware update has been issued for THE400 Mini Atari 400 console.

And finally… original strategy game The Sumerian Game has been recreated and is now fully playable for the first ime in 60 years - and it’s free on Steam.

Grab Super Mario and the Rainbow Stars now

The website description for this game says it all: “Super Mario and the Rainbow Stars is a project that aims to bring the unique traits of the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series into a fun 2D platformer.”

The game is for Windows, but can be run on Linux and Mac with suitable tools (like Wine). Take a look:

I’m not saying this won’t still be available in a few days’ time, but grab the 611MB download quickly, yeah? It’s on GitHub.

Game Over

That’s it for this week. Please keep sharing the newsletter so we can bring as many retro gamers as possible into this little community.

Until next time, take it easy…

(This newsletter contains affiliate link(s) that help me to cover the costs of hosting, promotion, and distribution.)

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