Coin-Opining 3: Ameristar's Hi-Vi Arcade

It's been awhile since I've been to Ameristar and it's Namco-based video hall. Even though it seemed to have the newest machines out of all the arcades, I still felt a bit ripped off at first.

Four-For-All
Almost every game I played at the Hi-Vi was a whopping four tokens. Granted, it was a bit of my own fault. The only attractions I partook of were the big ones like Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA and Mario Kart Arcade GP. Still it was no excuse, as it seemed you only get one race out of all the driving games there, regardless of how you place.

I guess Dave and Buster's is a bit smart, perhaps even nefarious in its way. Their proprietary credit system obscures the true cost of each game behind decimal points and Gold Status. You know I don't have time for math when all I wanna do is hurt someone.

No End to NOVA
I have this weird problem with DDR. It's weird in the sense that I'm totally aware of the situation, yet I'm powerless to do anything about it. You see, I tend to only play 8 or 9 foot songs throughout, and after the standard three songs, I'm usually quite tired. I say the standard three songs because the number of songs per round can be configured to more. Such is the case with the Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA machine at Ameristar. The slightly higher (four token) cost should have tipped me off, but I just assumed that they had overpriced the game along with all the others.

Three songs is the sweet spot for me, so you can imagine my enervation after the four stages of SuperNOVA. The extra stage I got afterwards didn't help matters either.

The Soul Ignites
Brent was playing the arcade version of Soul Calibur III when a girl with a PSP walks up. She couldn't have been out of elementary school since her stature put her eye level with the controls. The amusing part was her play-style. A fevered procession of joystick-twirling and button-mashing from the girl and Brent's generosity and lax play took him down to a fifth of his life. However, a few lucky hits brought him down to nearly the end of his health. It would have been funny to see him lose, but it was just as entertaining watching him win from his near-death situation. Truly that girl is a tournament player in the making.

The new games were a pleasant surprise for our third outing. It would be nice to hit the arcade after a film in the adjacent theater, or before hitting the $11 lunch buffet. Like Dave & Buster's Midway, Hi-Vi Arcade is another nice complement to an overall outing, just not the big show.