Back in October of 2010, a major fixture at the North Dartmouth Mall has closed its doors. This place was known as Dream Machine. Since 1979,Dream Machine was a hangout for teenagers throughout the years. I remember first going there back in the day. It had games like
Pac-Man,Ms. Pac-Man, and even
Baby Pac-Man. Heck, I even saw
Galaga &
Arkanoid there! When I started my first job at Ruby Tuesday in the North Dartmouth Mall back in 1995, I try to do frequent visits over there at Dream Machine! I played games like
Super Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 3, X-Men:Children Of The Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, Mortal Kombat 2, &
Martial Champion. But I never beat an arcade game even though I can beat games on consoles at home but I NEVER beat a game at the acrades until 1997 on an early work day at Ruby Tuesday. It was a slow day over there and my manager sent me home for the rest of the day since I came in early that day. The date was March 24,1997--the time --10:40 AM. After changing,I headed up to Dream Machine to take on the newest game from Capcom:
X-Men Vs. Street Fighter. I used the teams of Chun-Li & Gambit and Chun-Li & Wolverine. It tooks me a few tries but on March 24th, I have finally beat the game! I was happy and I will NEVER forget that day! I went on to beat that game for a total of 20 times! How awesome is that?!?! Then 2 more games invaded Dream Machine:
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 &
Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter. On
Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter, I beat that game as well. I did it 15 times! I used teams like Chun-Li & Wolverine, Spider-Man & Captain America, and the thunderous team of the Incredible Hulk & Zangief. But the challenge was the end-boss: Cyber-Akuma--he was a tough customer! Then when the North Dartmouth Mall Food Court was put in Dream Machine's place, Dream Machine was moved across from the Food Court. While there,I only played one game there:
Marvel Vs. Capcom. I wasn't able to beat it despite the fact that I used Chun-Li & Morrigan with fighters like Megaman,Gambit, & Wolverine. The end-boss, Onslaught, is the toughest boss yet in the game. But I managed to rank #1 in high scores,that was it. But once it was removed from Dream Machine,I never went back to play there again. Years later,I changed jobs to actually work for the North Dartmouth Mall and about 3 and a 1/2 months later I got the job at the North Dartmouth Mall doing exterior housekeeping,it was gone. After being the mall stalwart for 31 years, Dream Machine is no more. I will never forget Dream Machine,so many good times there. Farewell, Dream Machine---you will be missed. Now a new arcade has replaced Dream Machine and it is called Tilt and the arcade store is like the Dream Machine of old, featuring some of the old-school arcade games I played back in 1995,'96,and '97. It also included Marvel Vs Capcom 2.
To commemorate my time over at the Dream Machine at the North Dartmouth Mall, now called just the Dartmouth Mall, here are some of the games I have played there:
X-Men: Chidren Of The Atom.....my first fighter I used in this game was Silver Samurai.
Marvel Super Heroes....my first fighter I used in this game was Wolverine, which would help me in future Marvel/Capcom collaborated fighting games.
X-Men Vs. Street Fighter: Although, Marvel & Capcom did their first collaboration with the side-scrolling beat-'em-up game The Punisher, this was the first time that Marvel and Capcom did a collaboration for a crossover fighting game with new features that became a mainstay for future Marvel vs Capcom crossover fighting games. This was also the first arcade game that I beat at Dream Machine and I used the EGM2 magazine recommended team of Chun-Li & Gambit before I moved on with Chun-Li & Wolverine.
Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter: Once again, my main team was Chun-Li & Wolverine and this was the 2nd arcade game I have beaten!
Before this game moved to Dream Machine in its final years, I played this game when it was at the AMC Movie Theater at the Dartmouth Mall. I used Chun-Li with three different partners: Wolverine, Gambit, and the newest memeber of the Marvel/Capcom collaboration fighting franchise: Morrigan Aensland from the DarkStalkers series. Of all the Marvel/Capcom fighting collaboration series games, I did NOT beat this one but I DID score #1 ranked in this game.
Before this game came to the Dartmouth Mall via TILT, I played this game at the Millennium Arcade at the Harbor Mall in Fall River. I used the team of Cable & BB Hood (who were added to the game) along with Morrigan. I also used the team of Iron Man, War Machine & Mega Man and the team of Wolverine, Felicia (representing the DarkStalkers) and Sabretooth.
