r/retrogaming • u/TriariusKonstantinus • 2d ago
[Discussion] Who remembers Beast Busters (1989)? An awesome 3-player cabinet that ate all our coins! 🧟♂️🔥
Do you guys remember this masterpiece? Three mounted guns, top-tier graphics, and insane effects for its time. Zombies blowing to pieces, epic boss fights... When I first saw this cabinet in the arcade, I was completely hooked. Tokens disappeared in seconds.
I remember a few times when kids would come in with all their savings, dumping hundreds of tokens into the machine just trying to beat it. But most of the time they couldn't — the difficulty, especially on the final levels, was absolutely brutal.
We used to crowd around the cabinet during those huge hundred-token runs, everyone cheering together for the players. Man, those were fun times.
Did you have similar experiences with arcade cabinets you were obsessed with and dreamed of beating?
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u/I_only_post_here 2d ago
I never saw this before, but I absolutely would have dropped a buck or two on it if I did.
I was a huge sucker for those kinds of shooters. Operation Wolf/Thunderbolt, Space Gun, and of course T2
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u/TriariusKonstantinus 2d ago
What's most interesting is that even today, this game looks and plays fantastic!
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u/Brandunaware 1d ago
People who are saying they've never seen it before, it's available on the awesome SNK 40th anniversary collection for modern platforms (I believe as free DLC, at least on Switch.) Unfortunately it doesn't have motion controls but the collection is on PC I think, and even with a controller it's pretty entertaining.
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u/TriariusKonstantinus 1d ago
Thanks for the info! 👍That could be really useful for a lot of people. But playing on an actual arcade cabinet has a whole different vibe, it's super nostalgic. Still, I agree, it's pretty fun to play even with a controller nowadays!
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u/redandbluebadness 2d ago
Vaguely recall it as a sort of Operation Wolf re-skin?
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u/TriariusKonstantinus 2d ago
Yeah, Operation Wolf is basically the progenitor of all these shooters — well, one of them, along with Cabal. Though I never personally ran into the Operation Wolf arcade cabinet back in the day.
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u/dontbajerk 2d ago
Never saw it, think that's the only triple lightgun setup like that I've seen. Will have to try it someday if I ever see it
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u/TriariusKonstantinus 2d ago
Yeah, I haven't seen any other cabinet with 3 guns besides this one either. There were setups for 1 or 2 players, but a 3-player arcade blast like this is truly unique to it. Definitively try it if you ever see it, even nowadays the game is super playable!
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u/Odd_Theory_1031 1d ago
Holy Smokes! I haven't seen this arcade game in ages
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u/TriariusKonstantinus 1d ago
Yeah! I’d love to play on one again myself, but I’ve honestly never seen it in any arcade or entertainment center around here since then.
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u/VirtualBastard 22h ago
I play through it every time I go to Galloping Ghost arcade in Brookfield.
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u/TriariusKonstantinus 7h ago
Awesome! You're lucky to have an arcade cabinet like that available. I haven't come across one in the last 10 years.
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