Come with me. Let us prance about at all hours and let us indulge in things not meant for polite society. Let us revel in exploitation, bask in the thick glow of trashy characters, ribald stories. Bring us busty, lusty babes and muscle-bound meatheads with pecks bigger than their brains and guns bigger still. Let these things be good. Let them be bad. Let us stay up all night.
It certainly has been awhile, hasn’t it, since we indulged in a bit of the ol’ UAN? Sure, but it’s been longer still since arcades ruled the land. It’s been even longer since Capcom was slinging quarter munchers at gamers across the world from their Japanese stronghold, slaving over 2D fighters, brawlers, and all kinds of licensed goodness. I’ve stayed up all night with Capcom many, many times: sharing a laugh over Aliens vs. Predator, political discourse over some 1942 (awkward!), and some serious bonding over Street Fighter. The good old days have come back, in a way, with Street Fighter IV and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom hitting arcades, but all the reminiscing has me looking backward at those final years we shared together and the serious lunacy they bore. Way back in 2000, two things led me to believe that Capcom had lost its mind. The first was that polygonal clown face background in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Seriously, look at this.
The second was Cannon Spike. Cannon Spike is a shooter in the Smash TV tradition, which entails you getting stuck in a closed arena and shooting a plethora of moving, most likely living, things as they surround you in eight directions. Sounds like standard, meat-and-potatoes game fare. Until you realize the cast is made up of Mega Man, Ghosts ‘N Goblins’ Arthur, Charlie and Cammy from Street Fighter, and B.B. Hood from Darkstalkers. They are all wearing roller skates. The things they are shooting range from giant robots (normal) to a zombified Vega from Street Fighter (WTSF.) It is beautiful and can be completed in much, much less than an hour. Everything happens so fast that you don’t even have time to wonder why Arthur looks like a tank or how Cammy can get shot that many times when she’s more or less naked. Cannon Spike and Capcom would not have answers for your silly questions even if you managed to ask them.
This is how arcades died: in an epic flash of strangeness and fan service. You can still experience this piece of history, provided you have a working Dreamcast and love in your heart. See you next time!
Previously on Up All Night:
Parasite Eve
Trojan
Dark Sector
Ex-Mutants
Nightmare Creatures
Bad Dudes
P.N. 03