The nostalgia is big time.
We weren’t around in the 80s, but that doesn’t stop us from being nostalgic for new wave-style synth pop, campy horror movies, fluorescent jackets, and an underground bustling arcade culture. If you want to wreck it like Ralph, grab your Walkman and head down to the National Video Game Museum in Frisco, home to their “Pixel Dreams” retro arcade. [Featured image: @chettripper]
Yeah, PS5s are cool, but have you ever gotten a high score on a community PAC-MAN gaming machine? Blast into the past of golden age arcade video games at the National Video Game Museum. Inside NVM’s neon-lit cyber cave is a myriad of arcade machines straight out of Toru Iwatani’s dreams. Street Fighter II Championship Edition, Joust, Star Wars (1983), Dragon’s Lair, Ms. PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Mortal Kombat II, and many more games await eager gamers inside the venue.
“If you lived through the years when you “got next” by placing a quarter on the cabinet, you’ll instantly remember the sights and sounds of our arcade. Attendees get four NVM tokens upon admission, but you could spend a whole day working on mastering our games.”
Billed as the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to the history of video games, NVM also offers a variety of educational opportunities and interactive exhibits for visitors. Present on display is their Timeline of Consoles exhibit, which details the history of game consoles through North America – there have been over 50 total – who knew?!
“The very first home console (Magnavox’ Odyssey) found its way into homes in 1972,” the museum writes on its website. “Our physical timeline of consoles places 50 of them all in one place! You can step up to a timeline control panel and direct it to tell you more about any of them: when was it popular? How many games were made for it? What was it competing with? What were some of its best and worst features? This area will serve as a central database that will connect all of the stories you’ll find in the museum.”
In regards to the present circumstances, NVM is taking extra precautionary measures to ensure the safety of staff and visitors, such as frequent sanitization of controllers and interactive areas. For a full list of those precautions, visit their website here.
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