R-Rated 90 Sci-Fi Cult Classic Is A Visually Ambitious Deadly Game

By Robert Scucci
| Published 28 seconds ago

Recently feeling nostalgic about 90s video arcades, I was gravely disappointed to find out that most arcades near me rely on cards not quarters, serve beer but no Jolt Cola, and all seem to offer the same handful of titles. I just want to play Time Crisis II and slug down some Mountain Dew after a long week, and that reality is now decades out of reach. Looking to scratch that itch, I was thrilled when I stumbled upon 1993’s Arcade, a visually ambitious B-movie about a video game with a mind of its own.

Call me old-fashioned, but I was craving bad graphics, cheesy dialogue, and a familiar premise since I haven’t yet found a real-life arcade that lets me regress and disassociate for a few hours like we did back in the 90s. Arcade hits that nostalgia button, but I have to warn you that it’s also pretty rough to look at. By the same token, it’s still a whole lot of fun because back in 1993, this was considered futuristic technology, and sci-fi films have played with similar storylines ever since.

A Game With Fatal Consequences

Arcade is about a new, cutting-edge arcade game called Arcade. It really is that simple. We’re introduced to Alex (Megan Ward), a teenager going through a rough time after her mother’s suicide the year before. Known to hang out with her friends at Dante’s Inferno Arcade, the group of teenagers are given the chance to try out the titular game. Difford (John de Lancie), the CEO overseeing the project, lets the kids test the game for market research and hands out console versions they can beta test at home before its official release.

Before long, it becomes clear that the game is pulling players into its virtual world and harming them. Alex voices her concerns to Nick (Peter Billingsley), who initially chalks it up to panic given the year she’s had. Nick, fully invested in the beta test, insists the game’s artificial intelligence is designed to feel real but doesn’t actually pose any danger, and that there’s a rational explanation for their friends disappearing. After a close call requires Alex to eject Nick from the game, he realizes she’s telling the truth. The two track down the game’s programmer, Albert (Norbert Weisser), hoping he can give them a few pointers so they can save their friends.

A Painful Watch, But Still Fun To Look At

With gameplay that looks like the Windows 95 maze screensaver, Arcade is rough on the senses but captures the spirit of early 90s gaming perfectly. At the time, the idea of a video game causing real-life harm was still relatively fresh territory, narratively speaking, and it remains a fun concept when handled correctly. While I can’t fault the movie’s ambitious attempt at worldbuilding through primitive CGI, of which there is plenty, there are moments that took me straight out of the film.

As somebody who’s gone on record countless times about hating exposition dumps, there are plenty here. When Nick and Alex confront Albert for a walkthrough, he rolls out the schematics and explains every inch of the game for what feels like an eternity. I wanted to fast forward to the next scene. Given the movie’s tight 85-minute runtime, this reads like a way to pad the screenplay without spending more money on graphics, which are dated by today’s standards but would have eaten a noticeable chunk of the budget in 1993.

Still, for all its rough edges, Arcade works if you’re nostalgic for the days when you’d hit the arcade with a cargo pocket full of quarters and lose an entire afternoon. As time moves faster every year while days somehow feel slower, Arcade offers a quick shot of 90s escapism without demanding more than an hour and change of your time. It won’t change your life, but it’s a short and sweet detour from the rat race and a fun visual artifact despite its shortcomings.

As of this writing, you can stream Arcade for free on Tubi.