After Almost 30 Years, Another Iconic Sega Arcade Is Closing Down

It’s a shame but yeah, not the best time for arcades.

Yep, I remember the golden smoky days of arcades, but now you can have a fully operational arcade in the palm of your hand, so it's no surprise they are going extinct - palm size arcades are great, but they aren't a substitute for the real thing - soon all of them too will be lost to time, like tears in the rain...

To be fair, I guess you don't need a 9 story entertainment tower to pay for gatcha loot boxes on your mobile phone. The arcades didn't die. They just moved into your wallet rather than making you take it out. Especially in Japan.

The bigger question is what does Sammy and Konami do as casinos go the same way?

It's a shame, but I'm not surprised.
I always found arcades and their machines kinda gross, I doubt I'll be feeling different after a pandemic

I visited there in 2017 and this is a true loss. JPN arcades arent exactly what im looking for (i.e. retro classics) but i still adore the bladerunner vibe of a 6+floor arcade neon paradise.

I do miss arcades. So called 'Barcades' have been popping up in my region in recent years which is cool, but yeah, the pandemic has kinda thrown a wrench in that business model. Here's hoping they can make a comeback.

Wow, this is very sad. It’s somehow more disheartening that it’s not even pandemic related. Just regular life killing off more iconic arcades. I wonder if we’ll get a nice piece from Roland out of this.

Immediately recognised good old Ikebukuro's Sunshine City area in the photo there.

We visited Sega Akihabara in 2019 but found it a bit of a disappointment, so didn't stay long. Most floors were running empty except for the ever popular UFO catchers on the ground floor.

Racing games are all ways better on arcade even now

Having lived through the golden age of gaming in the 80s & 90s when the gap between home gaming and arcades was so massive it was beyond comprehension it’s sad that they will very soon be a thing of the past. Arcade machines were, still are, and always will be amazing.

While I never had the time or patience to be good in playing on arcade machines, it was always fun to go to one and see all the new games and hear the sounds kind of bouncing off the walls. I remember as a kid there being two arcades in Downtown Boston and my dad would take me whenever we happen to be downtown for anything or just for a day out. By the time I was a preteen in the early to mid 90s and was able to take the T (our public transportation) on my own, there was just the one. But again, I was never really good and only really would go to soak up the atmosphere and see what potential games were coming to consoles.

As for whether or not this was inevitable, I wonder if the industry could have done something or some things to adapt. I don't know off the top of my head what those things could have been. Or maybe the rise in home gaming just made their fate inescapable.

This is so sad because the liklihood of these big arcades coming back once they're close down is probably extremely small. I fear that one day there just won't be anymore arcades like this--and that will be a very sad day indeed, for all gamers.

Why can't Sega adapt the Dave & Buster's style business structure for their Sega Worlds facilities?

I've needed a big push to get myself to Japan and this might finally be it!

The really sad thing for me is the arcades were starting to make a comeback and I had a really nice Japanese-owned arcade open near me. It was relatively huge, certainly not 9 floor tower huge, but one big sprawling floor. It was a true resurgence of the good old days. Dark, neon, wonderful. It was a dream come true to have this blast from the past open new and return, and so close! I went there twice, only once did I get to spend much of the afternoon there, but I imagine at this point after the past year it's either gone, or soon going, and I only really got to enjoy it twice in that fleeting time. Sometimes the past comes back, and then goes away again before you even realize what you had.

@LaytonPuzzle27 It's not the same. Can't stand the Dave & Buster's structure even slightly. It's a bar. It's a restaurant. It also has some arcade equipment. Feels more like Chuck E. Cheese with booze than a "real" arcade. Just rowdy, drunk "adults" messing around with semi-arcade machines rather than the more focused atmosphere centered on the game machines of a real arcade. Honestly, I'd rather the arcades actually just die off and leave us with the memory of what was than mutating into that abomination and watering down the memory completely until we can't remember what we lost.

@Meteoroid Other than the fact that in their own way, all arcades are naturally Kowloon themed, I can't think of a reason that a specifically Kowloon themed anything would actually be desirable....?

@LaytonPuzzle27 They tried that before. GameWorks anyone?

Like many people commenting here the late 80s to mid 90s were a magical place for arcades, with the latest tech a bit of smoke a dark atmosphere was a thrill that has pretty much gone extinct. Console gaming back then was still excellent of course with so many classics xxx but if u want the fastest most exciting time it was a trip to the arcades, I used to go to them on summer holidays and couldn’t wait. I remember once walking 45 minutes just to play alien storm what a time xxxx also as well our first port of call was seeing images in magazines and imagining how the games looked in motion, so when we did, again what a magical wonderful feeling xxx memories xxx

@Lordplops It's true that as far as horsepower goes, there is pretty much parity between arcade and home hardware, and heck, some just run a variety of Windows on off-the-shelf Intel and Nvidia hardware.

But the arcade is where you can see experiments with control schemes go all over the place. You have light guns, dance floors, motion sensors, simplified musical instruments, actual (electric) musical instruments, touchscreens and more beyond just a handful of buttons and a stick. To see this all go away will really sadden me.

im planning to travel again to tokyo in december, i hope SOMETHING remains open by then. I know it's just a building, but i've been there, and that arcade really brings color to ikebukuro

Next Yakuza game the arcades will be gone from the game too! 😱😱😱

I was hoping to visit Japan last year. Bummer.

Absolutely Tragic.

The arcade scene is dead, we've known this for many years now but at least Southend on sea still has many machines and always seems to be packed

While living in Osaka I would visit the huge multi-floor SEGA arcade in Shinsaibashi similar to this Ikebukuro one. I wonder if it is still open? Really, most often I would stick to the smaller single-floor or 2-storey arcades anyway.

My favorite was a small Taito arcade in the Tenjinbashisuji shopping street because it was like the only place I found in the city that had a couple decent pinball machines.
Just get a pocketful of 100-yen dama and the day's stress would all melt away...

Back then (late 90s/early 00s) arcades were everywhere in Osaka, and in a way I'm glad I left before seeing them wither away like they have in the less-cool nations of the world.