My Dad.
That's it. That's the whole memory.
Not good enough?
He was always supportive of having fun, of interesting hobbies, putting stuff together, taking stuff apart.
We've built computers together, went to the arcade together when I was a kid. And for some reason that's the ones that always stick out in my mind as the best memories.
Usually he didn't even play the machines with me, he'd just stand back and watch as I beat the crap out of the game. The Captain America and the Avengers machine and that awesome X-Men arcade machine with the dual screen were probably the best. I'm not sure I ever beat the Captain America machine, but I remember how smugly proud I was when I finally best Magneto at the end of the X-Men game.
He wasn't playing with me when I beat Magneto that first time, but we did get to beat the game together many years later at the Galloping Ghost arcade in Chicago. Great little venue.
...I can still hear that voice sample of the Blob taunting me in the game.
I love that X-Men arcade machine! I am trying to find a simple emulator to play that game.
It's a great machine. I assume MAME emulates it pretty well, but I don't know what getting MAME going entails.