In 1992, Konami debuted a groundbreaking new X-Men game. Using two screens, an unprecedented six-players could fight together as their favorite X-Men against Magneto.
It was a hit, one of the highest grossing arcade games of the year, but only around 500 of them were made and it’s been largely inaccessible on modern technology, leaving modern game fans with no way to play it — until now.
Continues is a new arcade set to open in the Braddock neighborhood this fall with a mission: to preserve and maintain games like Konami’s X-Men as an art form.
The arcade is founded by Allen Brooks and Doug Bauer. Brooks worked in games as education and games as art at the Kennedy Center before left to work as Chief Operating Officer for Building Momentum.
“Arcade games, pinball machines: they’re an art form being lost to time for no other reason than they’re physical objects that degrade,” said Brooks. “If we want to protect them, if we want them to be around for another generation to play, someone has to physically restore them.”
Brooks said the idea for the arcade started when Jeff Yates mentioned he had warehouse space in the Braddock area but didn’t know what to do with it. Brooks, who said he has always had a deep-rooted love of games going back to the Super Nintendo, knew exactly what should go there.
“It was a big empty room and he wanted to do something cool,” Brooks said.
Brooks is working on assembling the arcade, with notable features including a Ms. Pacman game with hand-painted side-art.
“A big part of what we’re trying to do at Continues is to get our hands on as many original, authentic machines as we can to restore them to be able to be played,” Brooks said.
Brooks called the X-Men game, though, was the dream get for the arcade.
“My white whale was the very rare, six-player, two-screen Konami X-Men,” Brooks said. “One day, it showed up on Facebook Marketplace. So now we have the six-player, two-screen X-men game and we’re in the process of restoring it.”
In addition to games, the arcade will have breakfast, lunch and dinner menus featuring burgers, flatbreads and tacos. The arcade will also serve cocktails, local beer, and wine.
Brooks said his goal is to open sometime in fall 2024, with the pair starting their applications to the city. In the meantime, Brooks said the company is starting to recruit staff and is on the lookout for a “rockstar general manager” to help lead the team.
When Continues does open: dibs on Nightcrawler.
