By Robert Scucci | Published
Recently nostalgic for the video arcades of the 90s, I was seriously disappointed to discover that most of the arcades near me rely on cards not coins, serve beer but not Jolt Cola, and all seem to offer the same handful of titles. I just want to play Time Crisis II and down some Mountain Dew after a long week, and that reality has now been decades out of reach. Looking to scratch that itch, I was thrilled when I came across 1993. Arcadea visually ambitious B-movie about a video game with a mind of its own.
Call me old-fashioned, but I craved bad graphics, cheesy dialogue, and a familiar premise since I’ve yet to find an actual arcade that lets me regress and disassociate for a few hours like we did in the 90s. Arcade I’m hitting the nostalgia button, but I have to warn you that it’s also quite difficult to watch. Likewise, it’s still a lot of fun because in 1993 it was considered futuristic technology, and science fiction films have since played with similar plots.
A game with fatal consequences
Arcade talks about a cutting edge new arcade game called Arcade. It really is that simple. We meet Alex (Megan Ward), a teenager who is going through a difficult time after her mother’s suicide the previous year. Known for hanging out with her friends at Dante’s Inferno Arcade, the group of teenagers get the chance to try out the titular game. Difford (John de Lancie), the CEO overseeing the project, lets kids test the game for market research purposes and hands out console versions that they can beta test at home before its official release.
Soon it becomes clear that the game is luring players into its virtual world and causing them harm. Alex voices her concerns to Nick (Peter Billingsley), who initially puts it down to panic given the year she’s had. Nick, fully invested in the beta test, insists that the game’s artificial intelligence is designed to look real but poses no danger, and that there is a rational explanation for their friends’ disappearance. After a close call forces Alex to kick Nick from the game, he realizes she’s telling the truth. The two track down the game’s programmer, Albert (Norbert Weisser), in hopes that he can give them some advice so they can save their friends.
A painful watch, but still fun to watch
With gameplay that resembles the Windows 95 maze screensaver, Arcade is harsh on the senses but perfectly captures the spirit of early ’90s gaming. At the time, the idea of ​​a video game causing real-world damage was still relatively new territory, from a narrative standpoint, and remains a fun concept when used correctly. While I can’t fault the film’s ambitious attempt at world-building through primitive CGI, of which there is plenty, there are moments that took me right out of the film.
As someone who has repeatedly stated his hatred of exposure dumps, there are a lot of them here. When Nick and Alex confront Albert for a step-by-step solution, he unrolls the diagrams and explains every inch of the game for what seems like an eternity. I wanted to fast forward to the next scene. Given the film’s limited 85-minute running time, this seems like a way to complete the storyline without spending more money on graphics, which are dated by today’s standards but would have eaten up a notable portion of the 1993 budget.
Yet, despite all its rough edges, Arcade works if you’re nostalgic for the days when you went to the arcade with a cargo pocket full of coins and wasted an entire afternoon. As time passes faster each year and the days seem slower, Arcade offers a quick glimpse into ’90s escapism without requiring more than an hour and a time change. It won’t change your life, but it’s a small, sweet detour from the rat race and a fun visual artifact despite its flaws.
As of this writing, you can stream Arcade for free on Tubi.
