Lol... soooo true. I only go to the arcades to play games with my friends. "Conventional" games are better played at home I think...

"Also, these 'cabinets' don't store things really securely!"

Okay sorry I said I would just ignore these comics from now on, but this one just makes no sense. What video games today have more than one game in them, besides those things that are like collections of classic games? And there are actually a lot of arcades that have those. This comic is making a satirical observation of something that isn't true.

[Note the illustration is of an arcade, a place where large arcade cabinets exist but contain only 1 game each. This comic is making a satirical observation of arcades, not all video games. Contrast this to modern consoles and handheld game devices, and even entire arcade systems that today play many, many games each. Note also the age of the speaker, which is also important to the joke. -Jay]

Wow... does that ever bring back some fond memories of a trying to get a high score on Centipede :-)

I remember the first arcades that had more than one game. It was like "ZOMG THE FUTURE!!". Samurai Shodown and I are best friends because of the arcade. I miss those sticky, smelly buildings...

Also, LOL @ the sudoku cabinet. Best quarter-munching machine ever.

There are a lot of funnies in this comic. ^-^

Besides the main punchline, "Mortal Slapfight" and its "Slaptality", "Splosionthon!" and as John mentions, the "Sudoku" cabinet. Good stuff, James. :)

Haha, its funny because consoles are a TOTALLY NEW INVENTION and weren't around a few decades ago *coughcoughAtaricough*

[Modern day consoles have online downloadable content and don't require single-game cartridges. ;) And you should see a doctor about that nasty cough you have. :p -Jay]

Hahaha, "Great Scott" is awesome, especially the caricature of Doc to the right. If only there was an actual game where you could control a DeLorean...

I still prefer arcades. The control interfaces on the games are vastly superior to any of the flimsy plastic toys we bring into our homes. I also like the social atmosphere of arcades more than sitting alone at home playing a game. Its nice to see other people out playing games. Its also nice to go somewhere specifically for games--no distractions, just immersion. Its like the difference between watching a movie in a theater or at home.

All arcade machines could play more than one game. It just required to operator to swap out some of the innards. The neo-geo units were cartridge driven. Some of the older games required complete motherboard change to play another game.

Of course, this post was supposed to be a joke, not a critical statement about whether consoles are better than arcade machines. It is an interesting topic for discussion, though.

I spy a "Back to the future" reference in the illustration (not the title). Can you find it?

Spoiler:

Great joke reffering the diference between old arcades and new consoles.

You know, I can't speak for anyone else, but I would play the HECK out of Mortal Slapfight. Possibly several hecks. Mainly because it sounds like my "pound on the controls like a gibbon" approach to all arcade games would work wonders.

I would play Mortal Slapfight.

This comic actually has -two- Back to the Future References.

and

Muahahahaha... though I feel as if I'm not the only one who knows this D:

Funny thing is, with the upcoming release of Kinect (formerly Project Natal), the next generation of gamers may soon be using that exact Back to the Future line...

"Great Scott!" the video game. xD Genius.

I caught the baby toy back to the future thing as well. I laughed out loud at Great Scott! The Game as well

I would totally play "Great Scott".

Haha, the names of the games are awesome.

so true. reminds me of the modern society we live in. But im more of an "old-school" person. keep your fancy cellphones and game systems for youself, i just want something SIMPLE (nobody ever gets that right anymore.
just look at the instruction books for the big game systems. versus the 4 direction, 1 fire button classics.

*pulls a $20 out of his wallet* Dangit, where's the change machine?

Haha, it would've been awesome if the machine next to "Great Scott" was called "Heavy"

Also, a lot of you guys need to go back and re-watch Back to the Future 2, pronto. Yer embarrassing yerselves by not getting this :p

*wriggles fingers* Urgh. I never was very good at Mortal Slapfight.

zbeeblebrox, I never saw the sequel
*queues it up in netflix* :)

Hey McFly!!!

This is hilarious, as are all of Babylon Sticks comics. Skoodge80 is clearly a fool incapable of comprehending basic humour and must refrain from commenting on these comics. Probably explains why skoodges 1-79 were such failures. Next time you say you're going to "...just ignore these comics from now on..." then, um, do.

And as for Tal's Atari comment, I see what you were trying to get at, but ask the majority of kids under 14 what an Atari is and they'll look at you blankly. I get annoyed when people my own age (27) don't know what a Commodore 64 is. However you can still find arcade games in heaps of places.

Jeez, explaining jokes to people makes me pine for humanity. That's my rant for the day.

Thanks Doc!

PS. I love all the Back to the Future movies but the 2nd is by far the best. The wild west one was bizarre.

I would so play "Great Scott!: The Game".

I guess I'll just have to wait for Telltale's Back to the Future. :3

The actual punchline is not quite as good as the actual arcade - that devil's in the details, yes? Great Scott the game is pretty good, but the Sudoku one really amused me, just due to that Sudoku fever that seems to be everywhere these days.

Of course, nowadays arcade machines with multiple games within them are fairly common. Why, just a week or two ago I found one that contained, among its many offerings, Zero Wing. Now there's a game that has no place for your quaint notions of 'fairness' and 'mercy'. Still entertaining, though. It helped that all the machines were set to free play. God, I love free play machines.

Wow, look at how I rambled there. I'm old. ):