Japanese Arcade Scene Still Going Strong

Milktoast writes "An English teacher in Japan is writing about the thriving Japanese Arcade scene at Joystick101.org. He talks about new trends in a culture that hasn't abandoned the arcade as a venue." Maybe it's just me, but I've only been in a handful of domestic arcades that impressed me. I don't know if it's a cultural diffference to blame, but Japanese arcades also seem to look like there's something cooler going on, like the prizes for redemption games. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.

Comments

Only good arcade in Florida

[Draigon]

Only good arcade in Florida is Disney Quest. I usually find anything Disney to be boring as hell but you can't go wrong with a 5 floor arcade building. I'd be willing to bet if there were more of those around the country people would show more interest in arcades. Paying an entry fee somehow makes me feel more at ease than popping a quarter in every time.

Onscreen breast?

[DavidLeblond]

The old man playing had a cigarette in one hand and was pressing the button as fast as he could with the other, making the on screen breast flop around. As the score for his jiggling got tallied up our eyes met and we both smiled. Then he had to look back at the screen because the mini game had ended and the mahjong game he was playing had begun again.

What game is THAT? Wario Ware XXX?

Nickel Arcades

[Hadlock]

has anyone else seen these? I live in the dallas area, and there's been one in Garland called Nickel Rama for as long as anyone knows, and just recently there was another Nickle arcade put in Plano, called House of Nickles. How they work is it's like a normal arcade, generally with 2nd run to fairly primitive (pac man, early 90's racing games) arcade machines, toss in some skeeball and skill games with tickets, a DDR clone, airhockey, and a real live pinball machine, they all take nickles rather than quarters for credits, so you end up spending about 10 cents (2 credits) for most games. Nickle Rama even has the Ferarri Challenge 355 game (racing game with three screens, clutch, and 6 speed shifter, real classy). There's a $1.95 cover charge for the whole day (tax included, so you get a nickle back, nice.) Also, I think they crank down the difficulty settings (if there are any), as $2 will let you play for about 2 hours. For $7 total, you can spend a good part of the day there. The one in Garland is always packed, and I suspect House of Nickles will be seeing some serious buisness by the end of the summer, even if they are across the street from Game Wyze.