Galloping Ghost Arcade: All You can Play for $25

If you had told me that I could play hundreds of arcade cabinets for a flat fee of $25, I’d say you were probably talking about Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, some 30ish minutes away from campus on the Metra BNSF line. And that would be correct.

Because, as I learned by visiting it this week, Galloping Ghost offers both modern and golden age arcade classics for you and your friends to enjoy as much as you’d like. This is no millennial arcade with a handful of Galaga and Ms. Pac-Man machines; Galloping Ghost has the hits, sure, but I honestly had more fun with the deep cuts and cult classics. Here are a couple of the games that stood out to me from the couple of hours I killed there this week. 

Credit: ErPr on Tripadvsior

• Really any Star Wars game

  

  Atari's 1983 Star Wars game set the tone for future spacefaring games. Credit: VG247

I don’t know what it is about Star Wars that got arcade developers to think creatively, but basically any Star Wars related cabinet at Galloping Ghost is gonna be a good time. Whether it’s the original 1983 Star Wars game with its early 80s Asteroid-like graphics and explosive gameplay, or the 1993 Sega cabinet with a co-op feature that lets you and a buddy take on the Empire. Both have you flying the series’ iconic X-Wing, pulling all sorts of maneuvers to defeat Tie fighters, Star Destroyers, and even the Death Star. In a time where there are endless reboots, prequels, and controversy surrounding the series, these cabinets do a good job of reminding you why this series was so fun.

• The Grid

  

  The design of "The Grid" cabinets reflects that cheesy Matrix vibe that every Y2K era cabinet should have a tinge of. Credit: Giant Bomb

Imagine a Doom-style 3D shooter with plenty of wild and wacky weapons to choose from. Now imagine it with the witty humor and wanton violence of Mortal Kombat. That’s “The Grid,” a 2000 multiplayer shooter arcade cabinet with capacity for up to 6 players. There's not much else to say about it; while it does have some lore, being a sick and twisted game show from a far-future America, it's honestly just a bonus to the incredible, high-paced gameplay. This is by far my favorite game at Galloping Ghost so far, though I won’t settle on a definitive one until I’ve tried them all. 

• Lucky and Wild

  

  CHiPS was apparently the biggest inspiration for the buddy-cop tone of "Lucky and Wild", with the game even being named after the show's titular characters in the Japanese release. Credit: Top Gear

This 1993 detective-based first-person shooter game was never a massive hit, but my friends and I found the two/or three-player system of “Lucky and Wild” highly unique. Basically, there’s one steering wheel and two guns; either you and a friend can share the guns, and one of you has to multitask between driving and shooting. Alternatively, one of you can shoot both guns at the same time, and the other can focus solely on driving. You could even have a third friend squeeze in, so every control has an individual handling it. This flexibility gives Lucky and Wild a huge amount of replay value compared to other co-op shooters (Looking at you, Jurassic Park). Plus, the cheesy Starsky-and-Hutch detective aspect of the game adds to the atmosphere.

• Space Harrier

  

  "Space Harrier" released in 1985, becoming one of the very first games to use 16-bit processing, something Sega would later capitalize on with their Genesis console. Source: Antiques for Geeks

To be frank, I think I just liked this one because I’m the only one who figured out where the button that activates free play mode is. I don’t think I would’ve gotten the high score otherwise, and while this particular cabinet does show its age, this Star Fox-style space shooter is a good time if you can figure out how it works. Sega overall made some pretty iconic cabinets with very specific ways to win, and this game, along with its compatriot, the racing game Out Run, are an absolute blast once you get the hang of them.

Those are not all of the machines and cabinets that made a strong impression on me during this recent visit to Galloping Ghost, nor will they be the last. Galloping Ghost, if nothing else, is an absolute treasure trove of arcade history.