Game Land Fantasy - Absolutely filthy inside, and permeated by the smell of old cigarette smoke and urine. There's usually a lone highschool boy behind the counter either browsing the internet on a laptop, or playing his PSP. About 1km from my house, so if I have a few hours free I'll ride my bike out there and throw a few 50 yen coins into a few games. Shmups inside include: Strikers 1945 II, Akai Katana, Raiden Fighters JET.
edit: January 29th, 2016 - Game Land Fantasy is closed for good.
Game Center Popeye - This one is run by an old lady who I think occupies the second floor. Very clean inside as it just opened at the beginning of this summer. Not exactly an arcade game lovers haven as it's 50% pachinko machines, 30% UFO Catchers, and 20% arcade games. Of the arcade games she has, 4-5 of them are mahjong titles. However, she does hold host to an impressive array of cabs including an Egret III, AC's, NAC's, BC's, a Windy, and a Neo-Candy 29". Only 2 proper shmups are here running on a Neo-Geo 4-slot (Blazing Star and Last Resort). There is a multi-ROM PCB thrown into a Blast City. The monitor is set to yoko, but it runs tate games like Battle Garegga with black bars on the sides making for an absolutely tiny play area. The emulation on this board is terrible, so I don't play it anymore. Literally 200m from my house, but I find it hard to built up the ambition to go here anymore.
edit: Game Center Popeye is now closed. While I was sad to see it go, I did manage to get a free Egret 2 cab from the old woman along with monitors, chassis', PCBs, and plenty of stools. As I was grabbing everything I could, and loading it up into my truck I was told that the arcade had been there for more than 30 years! Incredible! Sad to see you go Popeye, but you weren't exactly a destination these last few years.
Nakano TRF - The last of the arcades in the infamous Nakano Broadway mall. Nakano Broadway mall is one of the nastiest, geekiest, most interesting places in Tokyo. Akihabara is for tourists - Nakano is where the real otaku congregate! There used to be a total of 3 game centers in this mall, but I snapped this photo last weekend (Sept 15th) and this is the last one standing. All fighting games, so nothing of interest for me there, but still - MUCH RESPECT!
Shinagawa ???? - This place must be 100 years old. See that faded sign? I can't even read what this place is called. This is actually a candy shop that's across the street from a park. The kids go over there to get drinks and chocolate after a hard afternoon on the monkey bars. I never would have gone in here had my son not led me in by hand to look for gummy worms. No STGs here, but there are two cabs inside holding Metal Slug 6 and Final Fight.
Matsuzawa Stationery - This place can't decide what it wants to be. The sign says stationery. In the widow you can see hundreds of Famicom, Super Famicom, and Mega Drive titles so sun-faded that there isn't a speck of color left on plastic, cardboard, or paper. Inside is a collection of junky toys, old sewing machines, and cartons of cigarettes for sale. A lone, immobile old man who must be 90 years old sits behind the counter chain smoking and wondering WTF this gaijin is doing in his store. If you can make your way through the garbage stacked ceiling-high, you'll find THREE Konami Domy Jr. cabs running 19XX, Mr. Driller, and Puzzle Bobble.
Game Omoron - At Game Omoron the 80's never really died. The interior is decorated in pink neon lights, black walls, plenty of mirrors, and the employees all wear tuxedos! It's an interesting place, and much like the larger arcades from Sega and Taito, each floor has a theme. On the first floor you'll find young girls and lovers participating in either the photo booths or claw machines. The second floor is all senior citizens sitting in front of slot machines and video poker. The third floor is most likely what we're all interested in. It's completely filled with Sega cabs (AC's and NAC's) sporting what may be the oddest selection of games in Tokyo. Titles include Dynamite Deka 2, Lode Runner, Strikers 1945 II, Ketsui, a 300-in-1 multi cab, Metal Slug 5, several vs. fighting games and a selection of pornographic mahjong titles. Oh, and the first floor also has a claw game where you can grab live lobsters. (pic here).
edit: Aug 4th, 2015 - Game Omoron is now totally gone. The building has been demolished, and it's now an empty lot.
Game Gao - In Japan not only do the people speak an odd impenetrable moon language, but the animals say different words as well. Pigs say "boo-boo", dogs say "wan-wan", frogs say "kero-kero", and lions say "Gao!". I can only assume that's where the name Game Gao comes from, but oddly enough their mascot is a flying super-pig (See pic). Game Gao has to be one of the most happening arcades outside of downtown Tokyo. Every time I've been there, it's absolutely bursting with high school students playing and watching their friends play. I really don't have anything snarky or funny to say about this place. It's not dirty, it doesn't smell bad, all of the cabs are in tip-top condition, and the games are priced at only 50 yen per play! This is the place to go if you're into vs. fighting games as they seem to have most every current title made. There's not much else aside from some music/rhythm games, a few driving titles, Metal Slug 6, Tetris GM, and Futari BL.
Game - This is seemingly where old cabs go to die. I've made posts about this place before because it has to be the saddest arcade in Tokyo. Just look at it. Did you see the hidden CPS2 board? The garbage strewn about? Game packaging and spare parts occupy every nook and cranny of this tiny, dilapidated game center. Did you see the filthy PCBs stacked on shelves like body parts in a madmans shed? Boxes, pieces, CPs, most anything is for the taking here if one has the courage to do so. However, the owner is the scariest Japanese man I've seen in a while. A stout, unshaven being covered in the sheen of tobacco smoke and perspiration. More troll/goblin than human. I dare not attempt such foolishness while under his constant watchful gaze. I feel I've taken enough risk by simply taking photos and reporting this place to you. Enter at your own risk, for theres only one STG here - DDP DOJ BL.
edit: January 29th, 2016 - Game has closed up shop. Empty building now.
Game Inn First - A tiny arcade located under the tracks of the Yamanote line between Ueno and Akihabara. It's dark, it's grimy, and it smells like decades of cigarette smoke. There are some glass cases inside filled with old anime DVDs such as Patlabor, Gundam F-91, and Bubblegum crisis but alas it doesn't have much to offer me game-wise. Of the 15 or so Sega cabs, all titles are either fighting games, mahjong, or puzzles (Tetris and Columns). There is a 300-in-1 PCB here in one of the Blast City cabs with dozens of STGs, but I don't mess with that junk. A nice facade, but there's really no reason to waste your time here.
Amusement Adventure - Another arcade located in one of Tokyo's red light districts. This game center is surrounded by Philippine hostess clubs, massage parlors, and high school girls in loose socks smoking cigarettes. For the part of town that it's in (Takenotsuka) it was surprisingly clean and an older lady just happened to be cleaning the cabs as I walked through and snapped a few pics. Packed to the rafters with fighting games, this place held host to only one lonely shmup - Raiden Fighters JET. The ashtrays were clean, the floors were pristine, and the cabs sparkled. Nothing unsavory about this place at all despite the fact that it was across the street from a club offering "oral service".
edit: Aug 4th, 2015 - Amusement Adventure is now closed, and there is a sign in the window looking for new tenants. No news on the oral service bar.
Game Fuji - First of all I want to apologize for the odd perspective of the shot below. I literally had my back against the wall to take that picture because the street in front of Game Fuji is about 2 meters wide. No cars could fit on this road - It's like a Japanese version of Kowloon city. Game Fuji is a short 5 minute walk east from Funabashi station in Chiba, and is a mandatory stopover if you're in the area. I have no doubts that this is the largest independent arcade in Chiba, and it has a fantastic selection of both old and new titles. While the first floor is home to dozens of rhythm games, crane games, and photo booths, the second floor is where the real action is. Row upon row of Sega Blast City cabinets are here and these cabs hold host to some of the best games to be seen outside of Tokyo. In honest estimation, I would guess that there are no less than 55 or 60 cabs here. Everything from Super Mario Bros. to Virtua Tennis to Akai Katana to Final Fight can be played for only 50 yen! I've been here probably 10 times in my years living in Japan, and it's never NOT crowded. Even though the arcade is clean and the cabs are well kept, it is ridiculously smokey inside so bring some eye drops if you decide to visit. Shmups housed here include Raiden Fighters 2, Akai Katana, Deathsmiles II, Battle Garegga, Strikers 1999, Mad Shark, Ibara, Raystorm, and Batsugun.
edit: January 29th, 2016 - Game Fuji is closed!!
Game Lucky - Ok, I have to apologize - It seems I overestimated the size of the above "Game Fuji" when I described it as "no doubt the largest arcade in Chiba". A few days after posting that, a forum member PM'd me saying that the actual "largest game center" in Chiba title goes to an arcade outside of Chiba Station called "Game Lucky". Holy shit, were they right. This arcade is ridiculously huge! The only larger one I've ever been to is the old Neo Geo world arcade out on Odaiba island - The one that has it's own Ferris wheel. Lucky is two floors and features something for seemingly everyone's tastes - pool tables, UFO catchers, rhythm games, RPGs, retro games, sports games, full-sized driving games, gun games, pachinko, slots, and weird shit like this. The shot below doesn't really convey the overall size, because as you can see here, the building goes back about 40m, and then it takes an "L" bend going behind that white building on the right for another ~60m - and there's two floors like this! Interior shots are here and here. Not a dirty place by any means, this is a fantastic fun and safe place to take the entire family for a few hours of arcade gaming action. Lucky has an excellent STG collection featuring Ibara, Raiden II, MMP, Futari BL, Pink Sweets, DDP SDOJ, Triggerheart Exelica, Zero Gunner 2, Ikaruga, Trouble Witches AC, Akai Katana, and Raystorm.
JAL - There are several arcades here in Tokyo that I spent significant amounts of time in that are no longer with us. Most of these places today give no clue as to what the previous tenants were, but it appears that this time is an exception. This is the first one that I "just missed". JAL was everything that this project is about. Located in the red light district of Koiwa in Tokyo, JAL was surrounded by transvestite bars, hostess clubs, Russian hookers, and Nigerian-owned shot bars. When I had the idea to collect photos of arcades that were absolutely filthy, I really had this place in mind. I called this neighborhood home from 2005 to 2008, and I spent a lot of my down time in JAL. Home to about a dozen arcade cabs, this is the place that introduced me to the Raiden Fighters series. I threw dozens of coins into each of the Blast City cabs holding these PCBs. Part pachinko joint, part arcade, and part hangout for the neighborhood oldtimers playing shogi in the corner, JAL brought a sense of honest and clean legitimacy to an area saturated with the pleasures of alcohol and the flesh. RIP to this fallen soldier. More pics here, here, and here.
Sonic - I have to thank forum member PlanetHarriers for letting me know about this arcade. Well, not this arcade in particular - I still haven't found the one he told me about, but I did stumble upon this one in my search. This is another extremely large arcade located in Chiba (about 5 mins east of Matsudo station). Very well kept with an amazing variety of games in a sea of Blast City cabs. You can see a partial pic. here. I didn't stay here long enough to get a real feel for this place - I came in at about 11:00am on a Thursday and after taking a glance around left 10 minutes later. Their STG selection is nothing to shrug off, and there is this funny note attached to the DFK cab. It pretty much translates to "This is the pinnacle of shmup games - you will enter a hyper-bullet heaven that will make you squeal in ecstacy." STGs here include: DFK BL, Futari BL, Raiden III, Raiden IV, Shmups Skill Test, Progear, Gradius, Guwange, and Akai Katana. All games are Y50.
Tokyo Leisure Land - Another arcade located in the city of Koiwa, Tokyo Leisure land is one of the last men standing in a city that held well over 10 game centers in the mid-2000s. At last count there were only 3 left, and luckily Leisure Land remains with us today as it has always been one of the standouts. Pic below shows the front entrance, but you can see the rear entry here. Just as in many other instances when you try to enter through the rear, you may end up encountering something stinky. (I'm talking of course about night clubs and restaurants, you pervs.) The backdoor of Tokyo Leisure Land dumps you into an alley full of restaurant refuse bins and back-alley clubs where you gotta know the password to get in. Rows and rows of Blast City and New Versus City cabs populate this joint along with specialty cabs such as Gundam, Halflife, and a few slot machines as well. Tokyo Leisure land is located directly under the tracks of the Sobu line, approximately 1 min. walk north of Koiwa station. Interior shots are here and here. STGs here include: Raiden DX, DS MBL, Akai Katana, DDP, DOJ, DFK 1.5, SDOJ, Strikers 1945 II, Salamander, Gradius II, and The Great Ragtime Show (Boogie Wings). All games are Y50.
Natsuge Museum - Located in Akihabara far away from the hustle and bustle of the main drag, Natsuge Museum looks to be more of a hobby for it's owner than a money making venture and houses some of the oldest games and cabs to be found in Japan. Not only that, but everything is in fantastic condition! While the actual cabs inside only number about a dozen they actually have a large amount of PCBs that they will switch out for you if you ask nicely. Interior shot here, and website here. Also is a small store inside where you can buy superplay DVDs, candy, game soundtracks, and other odd game-related knick-knacks. They're open at really odd hours, so be sure to check the homepage before you head out there. STGs include: Moon Cresta, Dragon Spirits, Flak Attack, Final Star Force, Vs. Gradius, Scramble Formation, Gigandes, Eight Forces, and Salamander 2.
Ace Amusement - Finding this one was a total surprise. I was actually looking for somewhere to get a quick bite to eat while between meetings. I had found myself for the first time at Tsudanuma station in Chiba when I spotted a McDonalds across the street.. (I know, I know.. typical American - but they really can't be beat when you're in a hurry - time was not something I had a lot of.) Anyhow on my way to cross the street I happened to look down an alley and saw some familiar signage. If you ever do make it to Japan, and you see the word "ゲーム", you may have struck some gold. I walked down the alley at a quick pace, and completely forgot about my hunger pangs due to the potential of this discovery. I was greeted with the glorious site you see below. The first floor was a complete disappointment - medal games, rhythm games, crane games, pachinko, and some slot machines. I made my way to the second floor where I found retro and shooting game heaven! You can't see it in my pics, but the second floor is half-assedly done in an Incan theme, and is completely filled with various late-model Sega cabs. You can see some interior shots here, here and here. The most shocking part was seeing a dedicated STG corner! Aside from the typical NESICA titles (Raiden IV, Crimzon Clover, Akai Katana) this place had several cabs dedicated to just one game. Titles include: DDP DOJ, DDP SDOJ, DDP DFK 1.5, DDP DFK BL, Futari BL, Futari 1.5, DS MBL, Trouble Witches, RayForce, Darius Gaiden, G-Darius, Raiden, Raiden DX, Sonic Wings 2, Strikers 1945+, Radiant Silvergun, Darius Burst, and one of the Parodius titles. If you're in the area, check it out!
Nichigo Land - Every weekend I'm responsible for taking my son to his swimming class at Konami sports gym. During the time that he's there, I usually have about an hour to kill - and more than a few of those have been spent at Nichigo land which is directly across from the pool. While most of the games here seem to be geared towards the younger set, they still have some more complex games to keep us older kids entertained. One of my favorites to play is the rarely-seen Golgo 13 gun game by Raizing. I also sometimes put coins in Gunbullet as well as Densha de Go 2. If you get tired of playing games, they have plenty of toy dispensing machines you can try your luck on. For the super-oldschool players among us, there are even a few electromechanical games to test your luck on. These games are only Y30 per play, and usually dispense tickets that you can redeem for prizes. There are even a few titles to introduce the little ones to horse-racing and other forms of gambling.
Overall, Nichigoland is a great place to kill some time with the family. I wouldn't at all recommend taking a special trip out there unless you're wanting to play Golgo 13, or looking to teach your kids how to play roulette. Nichigoland is located in Tokyo at Nishiarai station on the 4th floor.
"game" - No name for this entry, and I'm not sure that this place has one. I had to drive out pretty far into the countryside today for a photoshoot, and on the way back driving slow on wet streets I caught a glimpse of what I thought to be cabs inside a shop. I parked the car in the nearest free parking I could find, and doubled back to check my suspicions. I was right! There were 3 Aero City cabs inside along with 2 other cabs I didn't recognize. You can see pics here. Before this place was an arcade / candy store, it apparently sold ice. Before that it sold boxed lunches. Before that it sold fabric. I guess that when each business failed they just crossed it off the sign, and wrote something new in. You can see "game" at the very bottom in white. Interesting place, and will no doubt be gone soon. The owner looked to be about 80 years old, and was thrilled that I stopped by to play some games and buy some candy. He didnt care too much that I was playing the arcade games, but he wanted to tell me everything he knew about the electro-mechanical games that he had in store. There were about 5-6, and they all looked to be at least 30 years old and in good working order. He kept saying "懐かし", which means "it brings back good memories.." I'm guessing he doesn't see much business these days, and is happy to talk to anyone that may stop by.
Partial interior shot here.
Tokyo Gulliver - A fantastic (huge!) arcade housing about a dozen shmups just outside of Matsudo station in Chiba. Up until 2005, this was the Chiba Bandai Museum, and judging from the interior they left a lot of the interior intact. This one is about 10 minutes from where I currently work, so it's mandatory that I stop in a few times a week. And since this is Chiba, the games are all Y50 each! This is a 3-story arcade, and the candy cabs are all on level B2. Many shmups here including SDOJ, Gunbird 2, Battle Garegga, Ibara, Futari BL, etc. Just take a while to marvel a these interior shots:
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Otopara Ageo - Name translates to "Boys Paradise". You'll see why soon enough. I stumbled upon this place in the deepest, darkest region of Saitama. It's either closing soon, or they only switch on the cabs at night. I was there in the morning, and the place was completely dead. There is a lounge area with vending machines, so I had a seat and read some reviews. Oddly enough, every reviewer sang the praises of the Ham and cheese toasted sandwiches that one of the machines dispensed. The machine was straight out of the 70s, and I wondered if the bread was too. Anyhow, the sandwich was nice as it had a dash of horseradish or wasabi to spice things up. I had a bottled Coca-Cola to wash it down, and continued exploring. Thats when I stumbled upon the panty machine. Used? New? Anyones guess. This looks like it would be a really great arcade to hang out in if anyone went, or the actual machines were turned on. I saw some nice cabs, as well as a lot of art for games that were apparently in the powered off cabs. Enjoy the pics below:
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... I will remember to take a pic if I ever see some of our pirated arcade machines again
| My games - 
