A very brief overview of Osaka arcades

[moozooh]

Information for future reference.

Basically there are ~4 notable arcades/game centers in this city, and I didn't bother with the fourth because it's rumored to be small and it's extremely unlikely to have any shmups. The other three are basically all next to each other in the center of the city. I'll add GPS coordinates when I get to a PC.

1. Taito Game Station Nipponbashi. Located on Sakaisuji road/subway line next to a SFBC toy store. There is a McDonald's across the street. Has something like four or five floors, shmups are at the top. Selection is pretty nice:

DDP Saidaioujou (nice Egret 3 cab)
Deathsmiles
Espgaluda
Soukyugurentai
Karous
Triggerheart Exelica
Mushihimesama 1.5*
Psyvariar*
R-Type Leo*
Sonic Wings*

(The last four require electronic card payment that I don't have much info about. They don't take coins nor credit cards, but rather smart cards like ICOCA and the like. Each credit costs merely 10 yen as opposed to the usual 50-100, which is super cheap.)

2. Sega Avion. Located across the road from Nankai-Namba train station and Namba City shopping mall a couple blocks to the north of the above arcade. Shmups are on the 2nd floor. Selection:

Battle Garegga
Tiger Heli
DDP Saidaioujou + Mushi Futari BL (double game cab)

Controls on Garegga and Futari BL feel very laggy (could be due to the double setup in the latter case). Bring a scarf or a sweater because air conditioning is crazy and will leave you with a cold if you stay at the SDOJ cab for more than a couple credits. There are some crazy rhythm games with a lot of Touhou-inspired tunes (Bad Apple, etc.) on the same floor with some good players on them (usually).

3. Taito Game Station Namba. Located about 50 m to the north of Sega Avion. Nothing to write home about. Selection:

Dariusburst AC EX
Space Invaders (freeplay)

That's it.

I haven't seen any good shmuppers here so far. Those I've seen are barely above my level, and my level isn't anything special. Rhythm gamers are pretty fun to watch though.

[nZero]

Not sure what they look like now but in Umeda it might be worth it to check out the Sega arcade in the B1(?) floor of Osaka ekimae dai-4-building and also Monte50.

[moozooh]

I'll try scouting Umeda area tomorrow before I leave, will write down everything I see there. I'm not having high hopes considering the state of other arcades here, though. I hear shooters aren't in trend anymore, who would have guessed?

[sikraiken]

Royal and Monte50 are the best places, in my opinion, for shooting games in Osaka. I haven't been to them in a few months, but their wiki pages were recently updated, so those game lists should be accurate. Some other places have games that no one else in Osaka has too, so I suppose it also depends on what you're looking for. Some WRs have been recently made at G-Pala Abeno. They have some recording equipment there. I didn't see anyone else playing. They had Sonic Wings, Kuhga (Vapor Trail), DonPachi, Gradius II, and Futari/Ketsui in that corner. They also had Dariusburst AC EX and Sexy Parodius in another section of the arcade. The wiki page hasn't been updated since last year. I don't know how often they rotate games. Someone playing at High-tech Land Sega Nishinakajima has been getting new Caladrius AC WRs recently as well. There are a few shooting games there.

Osaka doesn't compare to the Tokyo area for the number of game centers or game centers with shooting games, of course, but there still are some shooting games around Osaka, and there are plenty of game centers in Osaka if you're more interested in something like music games.

Where did you get the info that there are only ~4 notable game centers in Osaka?

The Sega game center that nZero mentioned (ハイテクランド セガミスト2) doesn't have the shooting games they used to have, unfortunately. It's also too bad Sega Avion keeps shrinking their shooting game area. I read that they used to have quite a few more a few years ago, but the first time I went last year they at least also had DOJ BL, Progear, Sexy Parodius, and Tatsujin.

Yeah, they changed how the cheap games at Taito Station Osaka Nihonbashi work. When I went there last July, you were able to just put a 10 yen coin in to play.

http://www19.atwiki.jp/karishooterwiki/
http://www5.atwiki.jp/gesen/

These two sites are decent resources for game center locations (the former having STG game lists and the latter just listing general game center locations). They aren't always kept up to date, but they're mostly accurate as far as at least still being open.

[zinger]

New Star, if it still exists? It had a small but very cool collection of shooting games when I visited in 2012 (Raiden Fighters, V-V, and Lost Worlds (!!!)).

I posted some photos of it here:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 94#p854894