Roland Ingram

Roland Ingram

Contributor

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
100 (90 reviews)
First Article
Wed 7th, June 2017
Avg. Review Score
7.4
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  • 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

    10

    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...