Roland Ingram

Roland Ingram

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Author Profile

Roland cut his gaming teeth on the BBC Micro, eventually graduating to the N64 via a Barcode Battler. He loves gaming with his kids, reminiscing about pre-pandemic Japanese arcades, and writing about himself in the third person. He has been contributing reviews and features to Nintendo Life since 2017.

I also ran the photo blog arcade.tokyo/ and contributed essays and photography to the wonderful book Supercade 2: A Visual History of the Videogame Age. I didn’t know it at the time, but my hundreds of photos of Japanese arcades captured the end of an era, just before COVID-19 changed the scene forever. Check them out!

Username
Robokku
Articles
101 (91 reviews)
First Article
Wed 7th, June 2017
Avg. Review Score
7.4
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  • Five Lessons From The Tokyo Game Show 2018

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    Feature Five Lessons From The Tokyo Game Show 2018

    Take note

    2018’s Tokyo Game Show wrapped up last weekend, and we were lucky enough to be in attendance. While PAX, E3, Gamescom and EGX have their own flavour, none of them quite match TGS for sheer uniqueness; perhaps that's a cultural thing - the Japanese do things very differently to the west - or maybe it's because the TGS lacks any kind of...

  • Diving Down The Rabbit Hole With Japan's Arcade-Based Trading Card Games

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    Feature Diving Down The Rabbit Hole With Japan's Arcade-Based Trading Card Games

    It's in the cards

    Tourists dropping in on Japan’s arcades are often surprised. Western arcades have stuck to a familiar trajectory, running last-decade machines form last-century franchises: OutRun 2, After Burner Climax, Time Crisis 4…. The games we’re used to are easygoing, fun and friendly, with a warm welcome and a wave goodbye. It’s not...

  • Exploring Japan's Undying Love For Arcade 'Candy' Cabinets

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    Feature Exploring Japan's Undying Love For Arcade 'Candy' Cabinets

    Sweet stuff

    Arcades may have all but died out in the west, but in Japan they remain big business. I write a website about arcades in Tokyo, and sometimes forget it’s not normal to live in an arcade daydream. I‘m prone to using obscure arcade terminology and I neglect readers who don’t click joysticks in the noise so often. I’m frequently...

  • Fulfilling A Lifelong Dream Of Attending The Tokyo Game Show

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    Feature Fulfilling A Lifelong Dream Of Attending The Tokyo Game Show

    Roland Ingram reports from TGS 2017

    Finally, I had made it to the Tokyo Game Show. Back when it started in 1996, I would have given anything to come here. Nowadays the gaming scene has changed. It's not all about a few big players revealing consoles destined to rule the living room. Now we have a nerfed, consoleless Sega and a catch-all Sony nodding...

  • Is Tokyo's Arcade Scene Really Dying?

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    Feature Is Tokyo's Arcade Scene Really Dying?

    Roland Ingram gives us a tour of Japan's coin-op underworld

    “I know Tokyo arcades are dying out, but are they easy to find?” I was asked this question recently by an author researching a Street Fighter book. Dying out?! Maybe – but there’s a long way to go.  Stand with me outside the Shinjuku Minami-guchi branch of the Taito Station...