Inside a Japanese Arcade

[flojocabron]

there are some sit down arcade machines down here in Mexicali.

There were some arcades with a similar style too. One looked a lot like the one up there, in a mall on the second floor. I think its gone now. That or it moved to a smaller place.

It had sitdown arcade machines, skiball and hockey games, some crane games and gun games. It had imports and lots of SNK fighters.

I still have memories of being a little kid and being inside one of these types of arcades when they were more common back in the day.

[CD AGES]

The game selection and style of this whole venture reminds me of Round 1 Bowling and Amusement located in SoCal! Gawd I love that place

[ExedExes]

I once found some arcade game at a Pizza Hut. It was some vertical shmup of some kinda, not sure at all what, but when I put my money in, I quickly discovered that the stick was screwed up and while you could go left no problem, you had to pretty much slam it hard to make the ship move to the right at all.
...that was fun.

That's how I seem to do it. I see a game I haven't played in *years*, start it up, ISSUE (usually with control)

[pierrot]

How did that extra "r" even get in there? I would think that the person making the sign would consult a dictionary before committing it to a permanent fixture. Maybe it's similar to how people in certain areas of the USA say "warsh" instead of "wash". "George Warshington"

In a nutshell, there aren't enough native english speakers around for them to really care whether they spell english words correctly.

then why not write it in japanese? i always wondered why there is so much english text in japanese culture especially in japanese games. Does it have to do with americans occupying japan for a while after WW2?

So, I'm going to inevitably make the Engrish less amusing, but the "r" working it's way in there is a hypercorrection. Many times when English words that have a vowel sound preceding an "r" are transliterated into Japanese they extend the vowel and drop the "r" in order to make it easier to say. An example would be, "apartment." (Although they also drop the last syllable for that one....)

As for why they love to put English on EVERYTHING, I wish I knew, but it's mostly that it's perceived as cool (as AppleQueso said) due to US/western culture becoming the gold standard for modern cultural significance in a great deal of the developed world. Western culture is admired in Japan, and the language that's associated with that admiration is English. So most marketing efforts include English in order to give the products/services a smart and cool image. I have no idea why they would label the smoking area in English, though.

The game selection and style of this whole venture reminds me of Round 1 Bowling and Amusement located in SoCal! Gawd I love that place

They have Round 1 in CA? I always thought it was a Japanese amusement chain.


On the topic of Arcades, I was in Mackinac Island not too long ago, and there was an arcade by the docks, that I threw some quarters into, and just about every cabinet had a faded screen (X-men vs SF) broken buttons (X-men vs SF again) or a broken coin slot, making them either entirely or almost entirely unplayable.

[CD AGES]

They have Round 1 in CA? I always thought it was a Japanese amusement chain.

Yup. The very same chain. 1st location in the US. Been in business for the past 2 years. Just about every arcade shown in these pictures can be found at this location

[hashiriya1]

Great pics, Hash!

I adore those Darius Burst cabs - put serious thought into importing one, but they are so damn massive. That elevator action game looks legit! Did you play it? Description please...???

Man, all hot and bothered now. I need a smork.

It is a light gun game. You stand there with a gun and when the elevator door opens, carnage ensues.

Found a video (not mine):

[Michi]

Screw these Japanese arcades and their actual good selection of games. Over here every arcade has Cruisin' USA. And maybe 1 or 2 other 15 year old cabs.

This is true. There is one pizza place around here though, that has a decent multi-cab. Lot of good classics in there, but not much else. It's also the same place with Crusin' USA.

However, I did happen to be in a bowling ally last week to take picture for work and found that they had a Metal Slug 5 machine in a darkened corner with about 4 other cabs (one of which was out of order). It was the first time I saw any Metal Slug cab anywhere. It made me smile....until I realized I had no quarters and their cash converter wasn't working

[pierrot]

They have Round 1 in CA? I always thought it was a Japanese amusement chain.

Yup. The very same chain. 1st location in the US. Been in business for the past 2 years. Just about every arcade shown in these pictures can be found at this location

Damn west coast and your significantly easier access to Japanese gaming related shiz.

All the arcade games are free-play too, right?

[hashiriya1]

Does it have to do with americans occupying japan for a while after WW2?

You're digging a bit too deep there. As AppleQueso said...English is simply 'cool'.
Just like how some Westerners think Chinese and Japanese characters are 'cool'.

[Hobie-wan]

Zero Gunner 2 and In the Hunt on cabs there? Rad.

The "SMORKING" area.

That totally sounds like a euphamism for a make out room.