TPG, in association with WXP Games, is giving giving away five (5) Steam codes for their arcade-style FPS, Xotic.  To enter this contest, use the comment section to tell us a story about a time when you achieved a high score while playing an arcade machine.  The winners will be picked by members of TPG and WXP Games based on their favorite responses and sent Steam keys via e-mail shortly after the contest is over.  You can also read our thoughts on Xotic from Mike A and Luke.

George Costanza need not apply.

The Rules:

  • No Profanity
  • One entry, per person, per e-mail address, per IP
  • 48 Hours Only
  • Post your first name and last initial
  • Post your greatest arcade high score achievement
  • Try to keep entries to a few paragraphs

This contest is now over.  Thanks to everyone who shared their stories.  The winners are Rikki, William C, Orcone, Huan and Louis P.

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  • http://orcone.wordpress.com orcone

    Gaétan D. here.

    Ha ha, you’re bringing back memories. My arcade high score was definitely when I finished Double Dragon 2 with a friend on a single coin. We actually took turns playing one character because we were so nervous to fail towards the end, and our palms would get all sweaty and slip on the controls.

    Unfortunately I haven’t memorized the exact number of the score, I was more excited about the achievement itself.

    • http://truepcgaming.com Adam Ames

      That takes a lot of skill. The furthest I got was into the mansion, but the enemy with the machine gun blew me away every time. I can also assure you it was not on one quarter. ;)

      • http://orcone.wordpress.com orcone

        Thanks! Looks like I won, haven’t got any email though, maybe because there’s not contact info on my (seldom used) wordpress account. I put my email there now, (and also in the below post as Gaétan D.), please contact me again!

        • http://truepcgaming.com Adam Ames

          Sent. Let me know if you get it.

    • Gaétan D.

      Oops, accidentally commented with my mostly unused WordPress account. This post has my email.

    • Russell S

      I don’t think I ever played DD2, but I remember the original DD and all my mates & myself used to be able to beat that on a single 20p piece. There was a simple trick to it though, and that was the holy elbow technique. If you just kept slightly moving vertically, all the enemies would home in on you on the diagonal, and when they got in range the elbow to the face would stagger them so they never managed to get an attack in. Win !

      After the final boss fight it looped back to the beginning. To think a single 20p piece would keep 5 teenage hooligans quiet for hours – now that’s value for money, not that the owner of the shop thought so as we never actually bought anything :)

  • Huan W. C

    How many could actually remember their arcade high scores numbers? I don’t for sure. My first arcade high score. It was most memorable, felt achieved perhaps but not in relative terms of comparing “scores”. It was galaga (namco) bootleg arcade machine (yes I know what you are thinking they have bootleg machines way back and I only realized it was bootleg years after when I grew older) I think I was around 7 or 8 years old that time I really don’t remember? I don’t even remember how to key in the scores but yes after finishing the game I can see “my score” on the attract screen after running out of coins to play. Come to think of it, they just power on the arcade machine when I play or else I don’t think I’ll ever get high score. Back then the high score resets to default every time the arcade machine is started. That score is the key turning point that got me gaming until now. I miss the arcade, in the town I am staying now there is hardly anymore arcade machines sadly. Its more fun when you have to queue to get a play, its more fun when you reach your turn and beat a high score. Its more fun when someone beating you high score and you are next in the queue to have your score revenge.

  • PooEater

    I don’t know if this is a high score or more of a accomplishmentbut when I was growing up in New York, my mother worked at a pizza place that had 2 arcade machines… One was Pacman and the other was Dragons Lair… There was another kid my age whose parent also worked there, his name was jimmy and he was an A-hole. he was older so he would pick on me or try to bully me but he always said I sucked at Dragon.s Lair and that I would never be able to beat it.. well for a month straight I would go there to play that game over and over always getting a little further each time until one weekend we were both there and he tried to tell me I couldn’t play cause he wanted to and he’s older blah blah blah so I told him just let me play it once… Then its His yhe rest

  • PooEater

    ….accodently hit send….
    I said play it once and its his the rest of the day… He said fine and probably called me a name and I sat there and beat that entire game right in front of his stupid face…. That is the best High Score story I could think of….

  • PooEater

    Crap… I didn’t read rules…. My name is William C…. There is no way I’m winning due to my multiple posts… But thanks for letting me share

  • Efe Cinar

    I don’t really remember the score but my biggest “coin-up” achievement was probably to beat up Super Street Fighter 2 with one coin when I was 9 or 10 years old. What I remember is the character was Chun Li and I beat up not only the arcade machine, but several people who were much older than me too. I wonder if any arcade saloon is still working where I live, probably not as Internet and PlayStation 3 cafes have eaten them so long ago. Anyway I guess I need to install MAME once again right now! Thanks for reminding me the arcades and of course for the giveaway TPG.

  • Victor A

    I can’t say i remember my greatest arcade high score, but my most memorable achieved has to be when I was a kid, me and my brother playing Final Fight and getting to stage 5, Bay Area with one coin.

  • Abhishek Mishra

    My greatest arcade high score is 5268 in Rapid Roll and I feel that is a big achievement.

  • Teemu T

    I was never good enough to beat the arcade high scores but my personal arcade high score is all the memories playing with my older brother in arcades when I was little. Ah, the good old times.

  • http://onelifenocontinues.wordpress.com Liam Brokas

    Virtua Cop co-op at the arcade.
    Spending over $50 on getting through the whole game from start to finish. Light guns clicking, foot-pedals clunking, and we gathered a crowd around to watch us play.
    We played so long at it, we memorised levels, and knew from where the enemies would pop out and when. I can’t remember my highest score, but we ended up with high rankings. We had people betting on us at one stage when we got to low health. It was lots of fun, and when they took the machine away and replaced it with a DDR machine, we never went back.

  • Seth N

    Star Wars Trilogy Arcade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Trilogy_Arcade) I love this game!!! It had probably the most epic recreation of the Battle of Hoth (Star Wars Battlefront II’s a close second). I can’t remember any of my high scores, but I’m pretty sure I beat all three episodes in the game. While it was mostly a vehicular rail shooter, they even had some on-foot rail shooting sequences like in the Time Crisis series. There were even some bonus rounds where you engaged in lightsaber fights from the film. In conclusion it was on of the best arcade games I’ve ever played!

  • Louis P

    When I was ten, I used to play Galaga while I waited to go to the dentist, I was fairly good, although I cannot recall my exact score, I do remember being #1. Until that day… One day I went to the Galaga machine as per norm, only to find the machine crowded, upon further investigation someone had not only beaten my score, but had played enough times to knock me out of the top ten… Part of me died that day…

  • Rikki B

    Back when I was a kid, around the age of 13-15, I used to play House of the Dead whenever I had a chance. One day I was at the Movies and had a good hour before it started, so I started playing House of the Dead, and I dont know why, but I was on a roll. Nothing had actually hit me until the 2nd boss, and a small crowd of people had gathered around to watch me. Never being past the 2nd boss, and having all those people watching me, I was becoming nervous, but excited.

    Eventually after dieing only once, and using my last $2 coin, I got to the last boss in the game, I was so excited, and a few people cheered me on, but I didn’t have any idea how to beat it. Sadly, I died, but a stranger walked up and put $4 into the game and said “lets beat him together” and with his help, I beat House of the Dead, and got top of the scoreboard to, which was there for at least a year before it was reset.

  • Warp

    The hardest thing I had to deal with while playing arcade games wasn’t to beat the games or the previous high scores… It was to manage how to write my name in those goddamn 3 only available character spaces on the board!

    Remember…

    54 123
    !HIGH SCORE!

    Enter your name:
    _ _ _

    A A A 45 000
    A A A 30 000
    A A A 10 000

  • A.Sam

    Oh you remembered me with a good days . when i was kid i used to play games on atari console . the old atari console . so there was no save option so i was keep it open all the day to finish the game :D