Finish him! Me-style kick! Hadouken! Shoryuken! Thank you Mario but our princess is in another castle. If you’re familiar with these phrases, odds are that you’re a gamer, or at least played a video game or two in your life. While there was a time when gamers would spend countless hours (and quarters) in one of the many arcades in downtown Montreal, today arcades are virtually nonexistent. But if you’re feeling nostalgic for those days of sweating out on a cabinet fighting the boss while your friends surround you, there’s hope!  Like Mario, Arcade MTL is here to rescue you.

Located between the Sherbrooke and Berri metros on a section of Saint-Denis street with a variety of food and entertainment options for locals and tourists alike, Arcade MTL is both an arcade and a bar. And here’s a cheat code: show up before 7 pm on weekends and gameplay is free! So pick your poison and play to your heart’s content. From Pong and Pac-Man to Mortal Kombat and Tekken, if you love old-school games, they’ll be something there that takes you down memory lane. You can also choose from a variety of platforms and play on one of the three 65-inch tv screens. I was able to resist the Simpsons game (90s kids will know what I’m talking about) and only played a few rounds of Street Fighter 2, but Ninja Turtles kept me and my friends there until our thumbs were sore. Game over.