We’re finally, FINALLY at the of our journey through Denver’s arcades. Writing all of these has only taken a year and a half. Like in Chicago, I spent the last day hitting a barcade. I only had time for one. I was on the fence about visiting this one since it looked pretty standard from the images I could find. Well, let’s see if there’s anything interesting about it.
Well, it leaves a striking impression right off the bat.
This is 1Up arcade bar in Colfax. This is their second location, and it claims to be the biggest barcade in the country.
I have no idea whether they mean “biggest” in terms of game count or floor space because I could realistically see it being either. The bar is big enough two have TWO bar counters. It almost feels like there used to be two different bars in this building that broke down the wall and merged.
The whole arcade has a kind of rebellious feel to it. I’ve been to a few other places that try to go to for this kind of atmosphere, but this is easily the one that’s sold it most convincingly. The dingy building helps.
The big thing that separates this place from something like Up-Down is how stitched together it feels. Small touches like the broken-down slushie machine behind the counter sell that this isn’t a corporate place cashing in on the barcade craze. Whoever made it had fun putting it together.
Again, every single wall of the building has something interesting going on. Whether it be a lineup of arcade wall art…
…or this framed Mike Tyson poster sitting by the exit. As I was leaving, the guys working the bar told me to make sure to get a shot of Mike Tyson here. Every inch of their love was proudly displayed in every corner of the arcade.
The reason I put so much emphasis on this kind of thing isn’t just because it makes the arcade more memorable but because it gives a lot of insight into why the arcade exists. They could have just been satisfied with the games, but they went the extra mile because they really wanted people to share how much they love these games. (also, I had a hand injury at the time, so my thumb got in a few photos because of the awkward way I had to hold the camera)
As for the arcade itself, it’s one of those places that has a lot of different sections, so you can’t capture the whole thing in one shot. Let’s start here. As you can see, they hold a monthly pinball tournament on the 2nd Sunday of every month. I like it when arcades do these kinds of community events. Speaking of which, do you see the pinball machines along the wall? They wrap around the entire room.
The ENTIRE room. 1up Colfax boasts the second-largest pinball collection in the state. This isn’t a pinball blog, but even I’m pretty impressed by this lineup. These machines are probably what pushes the total count into “biggest barcade in the country” territory if their claim is true.
And they have Baby Pac-man. I legitimately haven’t run into one of these since I started writing this blog (they technically did have one in Kansas City, but I didn’t take a photo of it back then). For those who don’t know, the gimmick here is that the bottom half is a pinball machine, but shooting the ball into a certain hole will send it to the video screen, where you get to play a slimmed-down version of Pac-man. This machine is notorious for its novelty, even if it’s not particularly impressive asa pinball machine or a Pac-man machine. It sells itself entirely on the combination of the two.
I think this might be the first time I’ve run into an original Cruis’n USA machine in a decade, too. Cruis’n World is common as all hell, but the only time I’ve come across the original was back on the East Coast when it was jammed into another driving game’s cabinet. Look, this one even has the original marquee at the top!
It wasn’t a hard theme, but the arcade seemed to lean into grittier games than normal. I’m not sure if that was intentional to complement the atmosphere or if the owner is just into that sort of thing.
Of course, games like this aren’t uncommon at barcades, but it feels like it fits in here, you know?
This, on the other hand, felt super out of place. This is DariusBurst, a modern sequel/re-imagining of Darius. Despite how weird it felt sitting in the middle of a heavily 90s arcade, this game is amazing. It uses double widescreens to imitate the triple-screen setup of the original. This version even has a four-player mode!
So why was this game here, of all of places? Because the owner thought it was cool! I asked.
Next up we get into the more standard barcade stuff. You know, the Frogger, the Pac-man, ect.
They had all four of the original Pac-man games lined up side-by-side. I always point it out when an arcade decides to do something like this. I think now is a good to clarify that I don’t think having something like all four House of the Dead or Mortal Kombat games actually makes an arcade better. Still, it’s an interesting enough quirk to acknowledge whenever I see it.
They also had Castlevania VS, which I hadn’t seen before. Once again, it’s games like this that help reinforces the overall gritty feel of the arcade.
Speaking of games I hadn’t seen before, this is the original Batman arcade game, based on the 80s Tim Burton movie. It plays like Shinobi or Rolling Thunder: A 2D beat-em-up where you jump between two floors to fight enemies. It was much better than that other Batman movie beat-em-up if nothing else.
The fourth and final Xenophobe machine I ran into in Denver. They have FOUR of these things out there.
And since it’s a barcade, they had one of these. Every barcade has one of these.
This, on the other hand, is something else. They had a few other modern arcade games that you see everywhere, like Terminator Salvation, Flappy Bird, and the new Ninja Turtles game. I appreciate that they don’t stick to just retro games. I am sick of seeing these games, but it’s refreshing to see them in a different context. Flappy Bird is super unnecessary, though.
Contrary to what you might expect, I like seeing these games at retro barcades, assuming they have space. It’s nice to have something to break up the monotony of staring at screens while you’re drunk.
But I won’t try to explain or justify this. Why did they have this?
I always say you can tell a lot about an arcade from what they’re running on the NeoGeo MVS. This time, we have… Just Strikers 1945 Plus? Huh? I respect their assertion that THIS is the game they wanted in their NeoGeo and nothing else.
The sad truth is that Neogeo fighting games are all extremely niche. They’re meant to be multiplayer competitive games, but they don’t offer much if nobody else in the area knows how to play them. That’s why I have a lot of respect for this place for leaning away from fighting games. Don’t get me wrong, fighting games are fine, but they tend to turn into clutter when arcades have too many of them. Stripping it down to just the two we saw earlier was a good call. (although one of Capcom’s fighting games wouldn’t hurt)
There was another section of the arcade here around the corner.
I finally got to play Donkey Kong Remix for the first time. It’s okay.
Here’s an original Ghosts and Goblins machine tucked away in the corner. I’ve always wanted to play more of it but never had time.
What on earth is with that screen border? Was that something some versions of the original game had? Or maybe it was part of an upgrade kit? Or perhaps it’s just a custom? I have no idea. It’s cool-looking, though.
I’m not a fan of stand-up driving games, but Power Drift is fun. I found myself pretty absorbed in it.
Honestly, I unfortunately don’t have much to say about most of these games. But I wanted to include them just in case. You see, this location had a big fight with the local government about trying to reopen in 2020. When the governor approved reopenings, barcades fell into a weird grey area where they weren’t technically included in the locations that could reopen (while bars and arcades both were, individually). That means that they were forced to stay closed much longer than other businesses. I have no idea how much that hurt their bottom line, but I want to show off as much of the arcade as I can in this blog post. This is an arcade they obviously put a lot of love into. If worst comes to worst, I at least want to make sure their hard work is remembered.
I’m sure they’ll pull through, though. An arcade that works so hard to build up goodwill with its customers won’t die that easily.
EDIT: Yep, they’re fine.
Last but not least, tucked around the corner near the Skeeball machines is Namco’s Point Blank! This is one of my favorite games ever (much more the sequel, though). I’ve looked everywhere for an arcade with this, but nobody ever does. Why not? This is the perfect game for retro-style arcades to have! Hell, there’s an arcade here in the Twin Cities with Police Trainer, and people flock to it. If they had Point Blank, I’m sure it would be twice as popular. Hell, I even own a Japanese Point Blank arcade board. That’s how much I love this game.
(if you’ve never played it before, it’s a strange collection of short shooting minigames with colorful graphics and odd humor)
And so, I end my time in Denver, impressed by a barcade. I’ve been to so many bad ones that I’ve grown cynical toward them. The two I saw in Denver completely changed my mind about how much potential they have when they’re built with love. Sure, 1up Colfax’s game lineup wasn’t THAT impressive on its own (I’m not taking pinball into account here). Having a lot of machines doesn’t mean much if most of them are standard stuff you could find anywhere. But 1up had a great balance of different types of games. It had a little bit of everything without leaning too heavily into specific genres or trying too hard to feel like an authentic 80s arcade. But the atmosphere really pulled the whole thing together into something memorable.
It’s no S-class arcade by any stretch, but it at least deserves an honorable mention and an A-class. Remember, these aren’t ratings (even though they really sound like they are), just a note of acknowledgment I give to arcades that can truly impress someone who’s been to as many as I have.
And with that, we’re finally done in Denver. Once I finish my epilogue post, we’re FINALLY done with this long journey (that only took like five days).
