Hong Kong and Tokyo November 2011 - Part 3

We've come to the third part of my report from game arcades in Hong Kong and Tokyo. It's been a long time dream of mine to visit Tokyo, and I was finally here! The name Akihabara is famous among gamers all over the world, and my expectations were rising as we were stepping out of Akihabara station. Much to my surprise, I didn't find the gamers' paradise I was expecting. We were on a quite ordinary street, and didn't see much else than ordinary shops. After walking around for some minutes we passed a tiny basement game arcade.

Google street view:


View Larger Map

If Google street map isn't acting up you can see a blue, yellow and red sign saying GAME. This was a dark and very small room, and the smell of cigarette smoke filled the air. I didn't stay long, but for a brief moment I was thinking: "is this really it?".

Luckily it wasn't. Apparently we had chosen the wrong exit from Akihabara station. We walked around somewhat confused for what seemed like an eternity, but suddenly we found some huge buildings with familiar words. First out was Big Apple, which my wife had heard about.

Google street view:


View Larger Map

We went through all the floors, but it was just pachinko. Everywhere! Extremely noisy, and absolutely not for me. Although it's an interesting part of Japanese culture, I was looking for better games than this.

Just across the street was an even better looking building, with the words Sega GIGO written all over it. It's an Akihabara landmark, and I had seen it on numerous pictures before getting here.

Google street view:


View Larger Map

I was a bit surprised after entering the building. After seeing the Sega name I kind of expected a lot of classics. Or at the very least some newer arcade games. But all I could see was cranes. I later learned that the ground floor of these game centers usually had cranes, and the games that interest me were higher up in the floors. Frankly, it was a bit disappointing. I went through all the departments, all the floors, but compared to the game centers I just left in Hong Kong, this was less than I had hoped for. Worst of all, a credit costs 100 yen, almost exactly ten times(!) the price of a credit in Hong Kong.

What an amazing sight!

More of the pod games

They look interesting, and I would have liked to test them, but..

..where are all the players?

I believe this is Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Force

I'm not very interested in this kind of games

Although the first impression wasn't very good, I tried to stay positive. We kept walking, and things soon looked brighter! That will be covered in the next post in the series.