When I was in Kyushu I didn’t find any interesting arcades in the rural areas (there was one shopping mall in Yatsushiro with the most banal Taito Station I’d ever set foot in) but there were a couple of interesting places of note in Fukuoka:
The retro store Culture Arts (that one in an apartment block I posted last month) had a bunch of arcade cabs around the back. 50 yen a go on all of them, I remember Gradius II, Twinkle Star Sprites and Esprade being there
The Sega Arcade that reopened in Tenjin after over a decade had some retro games on the top floor, but they were all scandalously priced except Virtual-On OT: 200 yen a go. But there was a good selection of stuff: Sky Target, Manx TT Super Bike, OutRun, OutRun 2, Daytona USA, Scud Race.
You sum it up perfectly. I had to keep bothering the owner asking if he had x or y game in stock and he was very helpful - he knew exactly where to look! He seemed impressed when I told him I had a Virtual Boy after seeing one on his shelf haha.
I was scoping out the boards in NJ this past weekend. There’s an arcade on the boardwalk in Wildwood that I’m not even going to mention by name as it looked awful. However, there are TWO solid spots at least in Ocean City, NJ.
One is JiLLy’s Arcade, which had a nice selection of both stand up machines and pins.
The other was Hollywood Arcade, which doesn’t have a web site, but had these two… the second of which I don’t think I have ever seen in person…
Super rare to see in the US. I think I may have played Sega Rally Championship 2 once before in arcade form. It’s so much fun and beats the odd handling Dreamcast version quite handily. This particular machine was in great condition with great sound including the headrest speakers! I only played on the P2 seat because it looked like the P1 side was a little less well cared for (or just more heavily used).
The sheer volume of cranes, redemption, and “casino” games at what used to be superb arcades at the shore is disappointing. People just seem to have to win something to take home now. It’s a bummer. Ocean City is still the place thanks to my previous post for real shore arcade fun.
I played this in an arcade in England summer of 98. My dad and i just stared at the machine for minutes when we spotted it. Never seen graphics this insane before. Would take years for anything to come close.
