Arcade made to look old and rundown in Japan

[BobA]

Here is a different twist on the bright shiny arcades in Japan.

Link to Kotaku

[Ginsu Victim]

I agree with the Silent Hill comparisons.

I want to move in!

[JeepMonkey]

I like it.

It reminds me a little bit of the Shredder hideout form the first TMNT movie.

[Benevolance]

Wow, that's awesome. I'm in Japan for a few weeks in February. We've got a few days downtime in the Tokyo area without much planned...I think a sidetrip is in order.

Oh, cool! It is actually a whole chain of arcades in this theme around the Tokyo area. On the website they have 13 amusement centres listed. I'm not that familiar with the districts around Tokyo, but the first three I randomly clicked on were all nearby, so I'm assuming most are around there.

Edit: Sweet! Haneda airport is fairly central to several of the amusement centres. I think an arcade crawl is in order!

[Mauzy]

Towels for the DDR players?!




Whens the next plane?

[danny_galaga]

8 stories and they only have 3 pics? Sheesh...

[Ginsu Victim]

8 stories and they only have 3 pics? Sheesh...

Yeah, I was let down. Wanted to see a lot more.

[Ginsu Victim]

I have a feeling the rest of the arcade looks like a normal one.

Despite the building looking like something out of Pyramid Head's nightmares?

[mccoy178]

8 stories and they only have 3 pics? Sheesh...

Yeah, I was let down. Wanted to see a lot more.

http://img42.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=091108174936.jpg

[Ginsu Victim]

Thanks. Those bathrooms are awesome!

[Aceldamor]

I have a feeling the rest of the arcade looks like a normal one.

Still kinda neat, though.  If you ever find one of the old mall arcades that was done up in the 89-93 style of black walls, neon painted ductwork, those things are taking on a real drab industrial look, too.

We had one in AZ called "Gold Mine" and they were literally designed to look like an old mine shaft, even with the fake rocks surrounding the entrance.

I dig the grimy old looking arcades. I wish arcades were as popular here in the US as they are over in Japan, would love to see something like that here.

[danny_galaga]

8 stories and they only have 3 pics? Sheesh...

Yeah, I was let down. Wanted to see a lot more.

http://img42.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=091108174936.jpg

Ah, that's more like it. So, in all that eight stories, it has 4 or 5 arcade machines, and a stack of vending machines 

I'd hate to be the one cleaning those toilets though. Because they are already clean (hygienically speaking) but how cold you tell when you'd finished? Then again, i'd just leave them for weeks at a time and just give them the occasional fire hosing for that added realism 

[mccoy178]

Thanks. Those bathrooms are awesome!

No problem!  The link was in the comments below the article.

[Epyx]

Awesome link!  Gotta love the gaming community penchant in Japan for "unique" love of things gaming.

[mimic]

Thanks. Those bathrooms are awesome!

Then all you have to do is visit a bathroom at a local gas station and you'll have that "awesome" look everyday! (minus the arcade cabinets of course)

[danny_galaga]

Thanks. Those bathrooms are awesome!

Then all you have to do is visit a bathroom at a local gas station and you'll have that "awesome" look everyday! (minus the arcade cabinets of course)

Hardly any arcade cabs in this building either, so maybe it's going for an authentic gas station look 

[Benevolance]

My wife and I have booked a couple nights at a hotel in Kawasaki, located about 2 blocks from the arcade. According to the official website, the Kawasaki Anata no Warehouse has an arcade, billiards, darts, ping pong, medal games and a game/movie rental library. I suspect that out of the 8 floors, only one floor is dedicated to actual arcade games. I'll be sure to snap a few pictures and play some games...purely for research purposes, of course.

I'm not entirely clear on what the medal games are, but from the pictures it looks like pachinko and other electronic gambling/ticket prize redemption games. Does anyone here know for sure?

[Avinitlarge]

Hmm, Remind me. Why does my daughter love Japan? That is awesome, I want it!!

[Benevolance]

Album here



Here is The Warehouse! Check out the link above for more photos. The first floor was just parking and an entry way tunnel. Arcade games were on the second floor, MEDAL (redemption games) on the third, and billiards and darts/lounge on the fourth. The first four floors were accessible by elevator and escalator.

The arcade was actually very, very cool. They kept the rundown aesthetic throughout the entire arcade. One end of the building was basically a set, depicting the shanty town. The escalators came up in this area, and the street-scape actually spanned two stories. The fourth floor had a greek gods theme in a giant fountain but we didn't get a picture. We snapped photos all the way up, but on the fourth floor one of the workers either finally noticed and/or worked up the nerve to ask us to stop.

Very cool place. Unfortunately, we weren't back in Tokyo long enough to hit up any of the other Anata No Warehouse locations. We hit up the Studio Ghibli museum instead and that was definitely worth the visit. Highly recommended.

Entry doors


Entrance hallway


Vending machine


Bill changer


Battlepods! These babies are hotlinked across Japan. Hop in and play someone, somewhere!


Random arcade games!




Men's bathroom


And the winner of the slick marketing is...the women's bathroom.


You'd never get the girls coming back if the washroom looked like the mens.

[Ginsu Victim]

As awesome as this is, you made me jealous with the Studio Ghibli mention. Did you get to see the short with Mai and the Cat Bus?

[SNAAKE]

I RIKE!

[RayB]

Who's up for a game of balliards?

[extendedplayarcade]

Those are some insane photos

My wife got a kick out of how the women's bathroom was mint.

[Benevolance]

Ginsu, there was no notice which movie you'd see until you were in the theatre, so we skipped the movie and kept the tickets as souvenirs. I had a three-panel reel of Okkoto from Princess Mononoke on my ticket that I was unwilling to surrender! Studio Ghibli is outstanding. If you are ever in Tokyo, hop over to see it - it's barely 15 minutes from Shinjuku to Mitaka, and it's about a 10 minute walk from the station. Just remember to buy your tickets in advance before you leave your country; on the first trip to Japan, I waited until I was in Japan to buy the tickets and they were already sold out.

Even leaving aside Studio Ghibli, Mitaka was probably one of the nicest districts of Tokyo I've ever seen. And in random Japanese fashion, the corner store near the Studio sells birds of prey. I couldn't figure out how to fit a raptor in my carry on, so I had to pass on the opportunity.

The arcade was definitely cool, but it's fairly expensive. We played some House of the Dead 4, and it was 100Y per credit, 2 credits per play. The Mario Kart racers were the same situation; 200Y per play. The taiko drum games were probably the most fun - basically, it's simplified rock band drumming - but still 100Y per game. If I were not on vacation, I'd probably balk at that price. As it was, my wife and I dropped about $40 on just an hour at the arcade.

An interesting feature was the apparent 'save' or 'continue' option at the end of some games. When you completed levels on the taiko drumming game, it flashed a barcode. You can apparently snap a photo of the barcode and continue from where you left off at some point in the future, and presumably at any arcade you visit. That was a neat feature.

[HaRuMaN]

*JEALOUS*

[Ginsu Victim]

You've only managed to make me greener with envy over Ghibli. Thanks.

[MonMotha]

Ginsu, there was no notice which movie you'd see until you were in the theatre, so we skipped the movie and kept the tickets as souvenirs. I had a three-panel reel of Okkoto from Princess Mononoke on my ticket that I was unwilling to surrender! Studio Ghibli is outstanding. If you are ever in Tokyo, hop over to see it - it's barely 15 minutes from Shinjuku to Mitaka, and it's about a 10 minute walk from the station. Just remember to buy your tickets in advance before you leave your country; on the first trip to Japan, I waited until I was in Japan to buy the tickets and they were already sold out.

Even leaving aside Studio Ghibli, Mitaka was probably one of the nicest districts of Tokyo I've ever seen. And in random Japanese fashion, the corner store near the Studio sells birds of prey. I couldn't figure out how to fit a raptor in my carry on, so I had to pass on the opportunity.

The arcade was definitely cool, but it's fairly expensive. We played some House of the Dead 4, and it was 100Y per credit, 2 credits per play. The Mario Kart racers were the same situation; 200Y per play. The taiko drum games were probably the most fun - basically, it's simplified rock band drumming - but still 100Y per game. If I were not on vacation, I'd probably balk at that price. As it was, my wife and I dropped about $40 on just an hour at the arcade.

An interesting feature was the apparent 'save' or 'continue' option at the end of some games. When you completed levels on the taiko drumming game, it flashed a barcode. You can apparently snap a photo of the barcode and continue from where you left off at some point in the future, and presumably at any arcade you visit. That was a neat feature.

That pricing is pretty common for arcades in Japan.  100 or 200 yen per "play" seemed to be the going rate when I was there.  New stuff was 200 or very occasionally 300, while aging stuff might get dropped to 100 or even 50 for some of the "quarter suckers".  I mostly played the Bemani games (I like 'em so much, I collect them - the machines, that is), and they were typically 100 yen per game for versions that were approaching 10 months old (and therefore due for an upgraded version soon).

The progress saving feature is also rather common.  Lots of games use memory cards or ID cards with internet linking.  It was rare to find a Bemani game in Japan not on Konami's "e-amuse" network.  I still have my cards from IIDX RED, Guitar Freaks V, and pop'n music 12.  They've apparently combined it all into one "e-amuse passcard" now, but the idea is the same.  It remembers all your preferences, high scores, etc., and you can set a "rival" that it will let you quickly compare scores with (including during gameplay).  You can also do live "battles" with people who are remote (including in other e-amuse enabled countries).  It's pretty darned cool.

Taiko no tatsujin (aka Taiko Drum Master) seemed a little dead when I was there several years ago, but I think it's made a comeback.  The Bemani games from Konami were certainly going strong and still seem to be.

And yes, you can easily drop lots of cash at a Japanese arcade in a short amount of time.  You could at American ones, too, if the prices were actually inflation adjusted back to their 1980s prices, people actually played the games, and arcades actually existed .

[danny_galaga]

Now that's more like it! pics of arcade machines! I'm now not sceptical