good Arcades in Tokyo

I was in Kyoto last week and I visited a few arcades. I m a bit disappointed about it. Mostly fighting games and a lot of Gambling and Pachinko games. Years ago I visited Sega World in London. It was really fantastic. I remember the Star Wars Pod Racer. Is there a similar Arcade in Tokyo ?

 

Sega World in Akihabara.

 

Nah, Sega World or Club Sega as it's called isn't that great but still not bad at all. There's also Sega Geo (if it's still there) just up the road. Basically any arcade is good as long as it's big enough. Down here the indie arcades are the dogs bollocks ! Shit loads of retro, brand new and shoot'em ups!! Sega and the rest such as Namco or Taito do have some hardcore games but mostly cater for the family

Yakumo

 

Most Sega arcades are crap... and most of the shitty ones are the big ones. Here's the rundown. I don't know what you're looking for. New stuff? Retro stuff?

Shinjuku:
Mikado
http://www.gamengai.com/bn_inf.php?type=article&id=1619
They have weekly tournaments, as well as over-sized cabs (2 & 3 screen Darius games, Warrior Blade, Outrun, etc.). This is my favorite arcade.

Taito Station: Game World (From the Southeast Exit of the station)
This is 5 floors of craziness. I've only been to B2 though, which has a wall dedicated to shooting games, some beat'em ups, as well as newer versus games (Gundam vs. Gundam, Arcana Heart 2, and that ugly Naomi game that just came out).

Note there is a Taito Station across the street from Kabukicho which is shit.

Shibuya:
Shibuya Kaikan on Center-gai has a nice range of everything on 5 floors. Retro, new stuff, oversized, music games. All games are 50 yen. The air is so stale in the afternoon and smokey at night, they rent out gas masks in the back.

Sega High Tech Land:
Back in the VF4 days, the competition here was pretty tough. Many famous players played there. I think w/ VF5, it has amazingly fizzled.

Akihabara
Hey! (Hirose Entertainment Yard). Shooter heaven. Unbelievable. They have the Cave library, most of the Raizing & Psikyo games, a few Gradius', Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun, some old shit as well. Other floors are dedicated to other styles (fighting, etc.) but I never go up there. On any given Sunday, you can see someone raping a shooting cab. Worth a look if you're into those games. Considering the traffic, it's not too smokey.

Club Sega: Not bad. They've got a couple of decent fighting floors, but ventilation sucks.

 

Mikado had a tabletop version of Japanese Donkey Kong and they still have Mahjong games too and lots of classic arcade games so they get my yennage.

 

I m mostly interested in Lightgun Shooters. I would also like to test some older stuff like the Space Harrier Cab, the Galaxy Cab or the Star Wars Pod Racer or something else which is moving.

 

The words "hell" "hope" "no" and "in" spring to mind...

 

Weirdly, the Taito Station in 'Big Box' next to my local station, Takadanobaba, has two or three weird lightgun shooters that I rarely see elsewhere.

 

Hey! Arcade Akiba. that's it! you won't go to other places anymore..you will b doomed!! hahaha!

 

I was at Sega Joypolis today. That was fantastic. House of the Dead 4 Special with moving seats, Initinal D Stage Special with real cars, Power Sled Multiplayer Gaming, a lot of virtual reality shows and other great attractions. Evening pass costs 2500 yen. A must see in my opinion.

http://sega.jp/joypolis/tokyo/

D Stage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbbcUjotfvw

Power Sled
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd9_5gmkb40

half pipe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tLGaqd-rJM

 

Mikado. They generally have a "moving cab" on a rotation (pun intended). Currently it's Thunder Hawk II or something like that. They had Outrun in not long ago. I think they've got an upright Afterburner in as well.

Mikado. It's much better on every front unless you really need every Cave game in one place.

 

I found a nice retro arcade in Shinjuku yesterday. They had a 3-screen Darius II cabinet, Super Mario Bros, Outrun, very old Tabletops, pinball machines and overall a lot of 2D shooters. But don t ask me where it is located, I just walked around the streets.

 

That's Mikado, that's the one that Me and Gaijinpunch rave about. You don't have to go anywhere else.

 

I'm going to Tokyo in July. Can you guys give some sort of direction on how to get there or maybe meet up?

Yakumo

 

It's across (and down a bit... away from Shinjuku station) from the Prince Hotel. Outskirts of Kabukicho. That's about the best directions you'll get. Remember, if you can't see the Prince Hotel, you're not even close. It is literally across the little street.

I may or may not be in town. Where are you staying? What are your dates?

 

meet up :nod:

 

Indeed, as I'll be back in Japan come late July.

 

That's for the direction, Gaijin Punch.

Well, I'll be going with the missus for 4 days (she wants to meet her friend who just got married you see) but I'll have quite a bit of free time. As for where we will be staying I couldn't really say. It's not final yet.

It's been 2 years since I last went to Tokyo and a whopping 10 since I lived there so I guess the train lines etc would have probably changed a bit by now. Time to start studying. Don't want to look like the tourist using the Yamanote line to get everywhere :lol:

When things are final I'll let you all know. It will be great to all meet up. can't say I've met any other person who actually lives in Japan who are on this board apart from Eric (Japan Gaming) and that's because he lives only 30 minutes away by car.

Yakumo

 

I believe at that distance from a major city, the resident white people are required by law to meet at least once.

 

yama(no)te-sen didn't change. not even for a bit. don't worry about that :lol: