Posted on 07/10/2021 9:04:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Around 70 arcade experiences will be available for visitors to enjoy
While it might seem that some of Japan’s best arcades are already like museums, here is an officially branded one. Called The Game Center Museum, it opened this month in Nagoya.
According to FNN, the museum has around 70 amusement machines as part of its exhibition. This isn’t a hands off museum, and all the machines can be played after shelling out for the entrance fee.
Games available to play include iconic retro titles such as Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Xevious, as well as music games from the Beatmania and Pop’n Music series. Street Fighter II, Afterburner, and Taiko no Tatsujin all make appearances. (Of course!) There are also other interesting inclusions, such as older analog games like Sega pinball machines, as well as small trains people can ride on, the last of which are a favorite of little kids—at least, my kids when they were small.
You can even play The Keisatsukan (aka Police 911), a game I played the heck out of at the turn of the century while waiting for my wife, then girlfriend, to finish work at her company in central Osaka. Goodness, that game was fun.
While iterations of modern-day arcades go back before World War II, they started to come into their own during the 1960s and 1970s, with bowling allies, department store rooftops, and cafes all becoming places where people could go to game. (For more on the birth of Japanese arcades, check out Kotaku’s previous coverage. Or, if you like, you can snag and read the book I wrote on Japanese game centers. Or both!)
Arcades are struggling during the pandemic, with the face of Akihabara changing due to the shuttered game centers. After visiting the museum, I do hope people will also support their local arcade—or any game center, for that matter.
The Game Center Museum will run until August 29.
My initials were frequently in the number one slot on Space Invaders in 1977 I believe. You had to count your shots and hit the boss on multiples of 7.
The linked article, even after bot-translation, is better than the Kota one.
I have a couple of the classic game anthologies for console. Glad to see there’s interest somewhere. Used to be a person with a dream or a small team could cook up a classic; now they’re huge projects with the stifling risk that comes with them.
I had the Galaga top score on almost every machine I played on, but there was a trick to it 😏
No pachinko ?
There’s an awesome arcade at Ceder Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. It’s yuge! The front has modern games and the farther back you walk, the older the games get. The very back has pinball machines from the ‘60s.
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