Time blasts by. This is a 21st-century, networked, 3D, arena-based robo combat dreamboat by Capcom, playing on a cathode ray tube in a yellowing hulk of a Sega Blast City cabinet from the 1990s.
Game Spot 21 is a real-deal arcade. Finger-crossing that it comes back post-Covid – and dirtier than ever.
The 2D fighter: as a genre, perfect. Almost nothing pushes the edges of the concept: everything’s definitely a fighter or definitely not.
It tells you something about the purpose of Japanese arcades when you see multiple cabs on Tetris: you don’t always come here for the games.
While retro arcade gaming is a niche interest in the West, it’s hard for it to establish a comeback when only nerds will seek it out.
Anata No Warehouse in Kawasaki is themed to look like Kowloon’s walled city, the famous Hong Kong slum.
Out of the office, pop your umbrella. Hide your eyes and shuffle with the crowds: synthetic-mix suits are both the camouflage and the background.
Ask any gamer to name a mascot is a blue cardigan and they’ll say Sonic the Hedgehog.
Something I love about Tokyo is the prevalence of handmade signs. It’s totally normal even for high-end department stores to stand staff-constructed cardboard beside the till with laminated announcements and explanations. But this is just silly…
For all the fanboy fussing on Sanwa and Seimitsu, can either earnestly be faulted?
Tokyo arcades had been waiting for me since my schooldays. They sent me loveletters tucked into 90s gaming mags and little video missives on Games Master. They promised to save themselves for me. Finally, years later, I got on the plane.
The Sega Blast City cabinets in my imaginary home arcade are forever young in the belle époque of 2D, CRT, stick-and-six gaming.
Through Chinese Dragon Pretty Chance you will come to terms with your harrowing desires.
The classics of last century look set to live forever in Japan’s arcades.
How long will Japan’s fighter scene last?
There’s something about seeing a total classic from your childhood just sitting there.
How to clean an arcade cabinet (Game Spot 21 method):
