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View Full Version : Hundreds of Japanese arcade-retro-gaming pics


Akihabara
10-18-2005, 08:29 PM
This is not a cheap way to promote my own site, but I just know there are a lot of people interested in Japanese arcade and gaming and the pics have been offline for a while because of layout change. If you have own experiences to share about your trip to Japan and the gaming life over here, please post them, I would love to read em.

Finally the Japanese arcade pictures, retro pics and Akihabara pics are all back online at www.nozomi.nl. Just go to the logo of photo's on the left and check out all the stuff. The Akihabara pics are in the Tokyo section at general Japan pics.

Of course also normal pics of Japan for all you Japan freaks out there and even some AOU movies. Also, check out the Specials page for AOU,E3 and TGS pics of this year. If someone else has pics of Japanese arcades or nice sites about Japanese gaming, please post them here.
DoctorAwesome
10-18-2005, 09:21 PM
Those are some really great pictures you have there. I especially like the ones of Super Potato. I want to go so bad!
NE146
10-18-2005, 11:33 PM
Nice pics :) But too bad there's no retro arcade pics.. that's what I was hoping for. I've been going to arcades in japan at least once a year since the early early 80's since the Space Invader craze. Have I ever taken any pics? No... :(
Akihabara
10-18-2005, 11:51 PM
If you are in Tokyo again and you want to find a little bit of that old feeling the TRY amusement tower is still the best, but even they have been putting in slotmachines over the years...
mezrabad
10-19-2005, 01:11 AM
本当にありがとう
GaijinPunch
10-19-2005, 01:34 AM
Nice pics :) But too bad there's no retro arcade pics.

Half the arcades are retro arcades. It's hard to find an aracde w/o some really old games in them.
Sosage
10-19-2005, 04:31 AM
Are those shelves with stacks of arcade boards in bubblewrap open to the public (to sell I'd imagine if so)? Or is that just footage from the arcade's back room? Kind of cool if they have that sort of set up.
poloplayr
10-19-2005, 04:53 AM
I LOVE YOUR WEBSITE!!!!!

Great work!!!!
Dimitri
10-19-2005, 05:30 AM
Are those shelves with stacks of arcade boards in bubblewrap open to the public (to sell I'd imagine if so)? Or is that just footage from the arcade's back room? Kind of cool if they have that sort of set up.
I do believe that's one of the PCB shops there, open to the piblic. ;)

This may also be of interest to some of you:
http://www.archive.org/details/RetroCore-Akihabara_Special2005

He doesn't go into Super Potato, but he does get kicked out of a bunch of places. ;) Some footage in a PCB shop, too...(a different one)

(Oh, and I recommend the guy's series as a whole, lots of bizarre British rambling about games...:D)
GaijinPunch
10-19-2005, 06:03 AM
Check out picks of G-Front. They've got thousands of PCBs, and yes, it's open to the public, although they tend to have stuff way too high priced.

Here's a thread at Assembler w/ some good info:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6332
Sosage
10-19-2005, 06:42 AM
Are those shelves with stacks of arcade boards in bubblewrap open to the public (to sell I'd imagine if so)? Or is that just footage from the arcade's back room? Kind of cool if they have that sort of set up.
I do believe that's one of the PCB shops there, open to the piblic. ;)


You mean I don't have to dig through an operator's dusty ass warehouse to find arcade boards? Japan just got a little bit cooler.
generalbusiness
10-19-2005, 09:55 AM
http://www.nozomi.nl./pics/2005/resized2005/arcade/DSCN0125.jpg

Sweet fuck Zoids just got a bit cooler.
NE146
10-19-2005, 01:27 PM
Nice pics :) But too bad there's no retro arcade pics.

Half the arcades are retro arcades. It's hard to find an aracde w/o some really old games in them.

I'm talking about pictures of the actual jap arcades in the 80's the way I remember them (As I was hoping it was due to the title of this thread). The pics are still cool though :)

But yeah they still have some 'old' games but you must mean stuff from the 90's. Because the last I checked there sure wasn't any Space Chaser, Space Invaders or stuff like Ali Baba and the 40 thieves (which seemed to be everywhere for a time I remember LOL). Anyway, it's been a while since I've been even to Akihabara. I'll be there in Tokyo in December for a week though to pick up some Christmas gifts. I'll get my arcade time in then :D
Akihabara
10-19-2005, 05:11 PM
There are 3 arcadeshops in Akihabara

G-Front is overpriced, worth visiting just to see the amount of cps2 and MVS they have, but the your games at either MAK!Japan or TRY-inc.

Websites:

www.gfront.com
www.mak-jp.com
www.try-inc.co.jp
Akihabara
10-20-2005, 07:22 PM
Which members have been in Japan by the way?
Dimitri
10-21-2005, 05:12 AM
Which members have been in Japan by the way?
I spent two weeks there at the beginning of this last summer, spent several hundred dollars in Akiba, the Chameleon Club in Musashi-Kosugi, and various Book-Offs around Tokyo and Mito. That reminds me, I never actually did that writeup I promised I'd post...

I want to go back. Oh, how I want to go back. The sights! The shops! But then, the plane fares and the being a college student. :(

(BTW, Chameleon Club is a chain game store over there, and what Gamestop/EB should be. They wrap used games, keep discs behind the counter, and let you inspect the discs before you pay for them. Classy!)
Yamazaki
10-21-2005, 12:08 PM
I'm living here at the moment.
ubersaurus
10-21-2005, 01:17 PM
All the arcades I went to in Japan didn't have anything older than early-nineties.

I only went to the ones in Kyoto and Okayama, to be fair, but yeah. That was it.
y-bot
10-21-2005, 02:39 PM
Which members have been in Japan by the way?

I was there in April/May of this year during Golden Week. I went to the Super Potato you have pics of. Did they give you permission to take those pics? Lots of stores have signs forbidding pictures. Mandarake especially. I just got a videotape of my friend and I on a Fuji TV program about Manga. Neither of us know much about Manga but I think they needed to film some Americans shopping at Mandarake. The film crew met us at Big Site (not sure if that spelling is correct) at a toy show and they drove us to Nakano Broadway (near where we were staying anyway). It was a lucky thing too because I had waaaay to much stuff to carry. They interviewed my friend for a long time but they barely used any of it.
y-bot
Akihabara
10-21-2005, 11:19 PM
Well I am a videogame editor for a magazine and I did an article about retro shopping, in that time I told the guy who is in charge there and they were cool with it.
Since then whenever I come in the let me do whatever I want really...Trader always bitches about filming and taking pics but I have a official press card which most of the times let me do whatever I want to because they are afraid I may have some superpower with that press card haha.
Especially in Club SEGA they are very strict, as you can see...plenty of pics from that place :)
Six Switch
10-21-2005, 11:26 PM
Which members have been in Japan by the way?

i was in japan for a little over a week this past summer.really cool,i hope to go back again one day.

and i went to a few different arcades,but i didn't see too much classic stuff other than stree fighter II,if that can be called classic.
delafro
10-23-2005, 08:53 AM
Which members have been in Japan by the way?

I studied abroad there from Sep '03 to July '04.

I NEED to go back ASAP...
Darren870
10-23-2005, 09:22 AM
I've been there a few times and just like I said on the neo-geo boards Ill say here. Super Potato is the most overpriced store in Akihabara, it does not live up to its hype.
y-bot
10-23-2005, 01:19 PM
I've been there a few times and just like I said on the neo-geo boards Ill say here. Super Potato is the most overpriced store in Akihabara, it does not live up to its hype.

I agree that some of the prices are pretty high but the selection is amazing. Do you have any recommendations for stores in Akihabara or anywhere in Tokyo that have alot of pre-1985 games other than Famicom?
Thanks, y-bot
Akihabara
10-24-2005, 07:40 AM
I am not familiar with games before Famicom, I don't think they should be considered videogames.

Haha bring it on...
GaijinPunch
10-24-2005, 11:06 PM
Super Pototate is not the most overpriced. Their prices are only over the top on the show-cased items. I think they like them there. You can consistently find much higher prices in all of the Liberty shops and MediaLand (the original uber rare shop).