Retro Bar Baking

I had a random start to my night of fun last Saturday. It began with a few calls from some friends about a quirky and cool sounding night at a bar in Central London organised by Hand Baked Arcade – the event of sorts comprised of a bar, DJs playing Drum & Bass and Dub Step, and the deal maker - RETRO GAMES ON FREEPLAY!!! So, it’s safe to say I was interested in going.

Upon my approach I would be lying if the scary image of a sweaty room filled to the brim with hygienically challenged men wearing HMV Retro games T-Shirts to “make a statement” did not come to mind, but to my (relief) delight the place resembled a chic London bar with artificial beams of pixels and fun looking people around the place – #Win.

Upon finding familiar faces the first thing I clocked onto was Street Fighter 2 Turbo running on the SNES projected onto a wall screen – done deal, I made my way over. After over 7 years of not playing this game I felt back at home with that (now competitively) tiny pad and began dragon punching people. I remembered how walking up to a random stranger playing Street Fighter in the arcade and challenging them with your 30>50p to try and kill their winning streak felt. Awesome.

Within minutes of looking around an overwhelming surge of nostalgia filled my mind. It wasn’t just that there were retro games there – no, I have almost every console made and too many games to even attempt playing. Thinking back, I think it was because of the genuine ambiance of the place – nice gamer people who were sociable and a venue that had a relaxed lock in feel to it (possibly helped by the random TV screens and consoles lying around).

It reminded me of being back at uni and ending a session at the student union with some gaming until today became tomorrow; I remembered being 15 and mastering Street Fighter again; I even remembered having to blow into cart to get them to work sometimes, and how I would happily pay full price for Street Fighter 2.1.1.1.1.1.1 Gamma edition; I remembered why I loved and still love games so much even though I no longer have the time to play them (bad times)! Oh and I like drinking too so the bar was nice.

Given that gaming (however much “mainstream” has changed it over the years) has become a bigger industry than film and music how about PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo made friendly and open up a bar somewhere together? A day time “Family zone” filled with Wiis and a bar with two rooms separated by riot doors to stop Xbox/PS fanboys from pulling each other’s hair with some dub step, DnB and Hip-Hop to chill to – be cool I think! How events such as these are niche (or otherwise non-existent) is beyond me! C’mon, even if you aren’t into games that much, admit it – when you see a retro arcade machine in a bar around Old Street or along Brighton beach, you know you turn your head and smile… even just a little… right?

So here is my hat tip to the boys and girls at Hand Baked Arcade for organising such a great night! More to follow right…? They had better make it a regular or I, quite frankly, may cry. You won’t like me when I cry.