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  • Only in Japan

  • Game centres or arcades are really exciting places; especially for me.

  • I grew up with that back in the 1980s.

  • Japan invented them, and the Japanese companies,

  • They were the industry leaders and believe it or not the game centers are still big today!

  • Akihabara is a hub for Japanese subculture meaning. It's a place loaded with game centres.

  • Game makers like Sega and Taito have game centres here.

  • The first floor is usually filled with crane games or UFO catchers.

  • Which we featured in a previous episode.

  • Many also have Purikura photo sticker booths.

  • But it's the games that attract me,

  • and we're going to a special game centre loaded with vintage arcade games.

  • I grew up with arcades back in the 1980s, but, by the middle of the decade they sort of died out.

  • But here in Japan, they still exist.

  • SHINGO: Well the kids in the 80s who actually enjoy these games in games centres, they still kept coming.

  • They still are here. Well we in the United States

  • Oh, we in the United State, just stopped once the game consoles came

  • But for us, this was not just the place where you can play games this was something very special

  • so with a little more money

  • People are still coming here. Think it, still coming here. So that means the average age of a gamer

  • when they were teenagers of the 1980s that means they're like thirties, forties

  • fifties

  • Pushing their 50s which is why retro game centers in Tokyo are a thing this still be behind us is, Mikado

  • They have some pretty interesting games that I've heard. Oh my goodness. You will be surprised yeah

  • But you said one other person was gonna be joining us. Oh Mickey, yeah, Mickey

  • We needed someone who wasn't born during the arcade boom of the 1980s and well

  • Here she is

  • From the mobile gaming generation she's no idea what she's getting into today, but she sure knows how to make an entrance

  • This is Mickey Igarashi, and she's known as a science girl for her love of well science

  • Today she'll get to try a vintage arcade game from before she was born

  • It really is like going back into time. Mikado is stocked with vintage arcade games like Daytona USA and Space Harrier

  • It's a mix of games from many generations

  • Back then they really made the games to last metal sticks buttons that you can pound

  • metal steering wheels and

  • solid game bodies

  • Let's play a few of these vintage arcade games

  • Shingo goes first picking this car racer game made by Sega. It's outrun

  • Where you get to drive a Ferrari Testarossa spider through what seems like, California USA?

  • Pole position in 1982 is the earliest racing game I can remember playing with a steering wheel

  • So an outrun came out with a gear shift

  • Realistic controls and car movements it was a dream come true

  • Kids lining up to play or should I say Drive?

  • Well this is one of the first games that I actually played on an arcade it's got some nice girls nice-looking girls, it's got the

  • full

  • Californian American law and this is all

  • something that you kind of dream about of about

  • United States once you're gonna get old you probably want to do this exactly the same thing

  • Well, you don't want to find the carpet, okay, but this is the full American

  • Experience what a long time yeah, and I still suck at it. I don't know why?

  • Three coins already it says 1986 money got it. It's been that long

  • This game came a decade after outrun

  • Tokyo Wars put you inside of a tent as war rages in either central Tokyo or the Bayside area

  • Players had a lot more control with pedals

  • The screens got bigger too to compete with the game consoles

  • The experience needed to be more interactive than what you could play at home each game lasting about 15 minutes

  • Speaking of game consoles they've become retro too and Super Potato at Akihabara has become headquarters to buy old game systems

  • But if you go to the top floor, they have an arcade with some retro games, too

  • On the lower floors you'll find old Nintendo games and equipment remember this thing

  • Japan had a lot of game consoles never seen in the West

  • But some are well-known like this one

  • Just walking around the store brings back memories from anyone who grew up between 1980 and 2000

  • Back in Mikado I found an old arcade game. I used to play in 1983 made by Atari

  • So back in the early 1980s Star Wars was the biggest movie like it still has these days and back

  • Then you would play all the arcade games standing up

  • This was the first game where you can sit down and enter new world and actually

  • destroy the Death Star yourself

  • Really, I don't know

  • It's my first time to see that game

  • Wait when were you born again?

  • I'll never mind never mind everyone

  • time to destroy the Death Star

  • This game is simply called Star Wars and uses 3D color vector graphics a game used to be 25 cents, but these days

  • It's 200 yen, and kind of worth it try finding this somewhere else

  • Starwars incorporated the music from the movie as well as real voices of Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi

  • So they really knew how to make games back then this one is made out of really good wood that controls made out of metal

  • Very solid and the gameplay today is still really awesome

  • I mean even it was 1983 so they made this game and it's still

  • Amazingly exciting to me and the best part is when you hear Obi-Wan Kenobi

  • Tell you to use the Force and you're inside

  • Getting ready to shoot the Death Star you really feel the passion of the movie come alive into this game

  • And that's what makes this like so special oh

  • The game brilngs back your memory

  • Yeah this brings back memories when I was 10 years old

  • That's really cool. If this thing actually exists this game actually exists here in Tokyo. This is really cool

  • Yeah

  • Thirty years later the Star Wars battle pod from Bandai-Namco games came out, and yeah, it's quite a step up from my childhood

  • It's Mickey's turn, and she's hankering to fly a helicopter

  • It felt like you are entering a real helicopter

  • A joystick like a cyclic and another handle like a collective and throttle just like helicopter controls for 100 yen

  • You could fly a multimillion-dollar helicopter

  • 1980s style

  • The helicopter stays in the center while the screen around you changes the game moves to simulate a real helicopter battle

  • Mickey seems a little too chipper after falling 400 meters to the sea below, but it's like

  • The game that I've just played is so realistic

  • but, in that Star Wars games, you could see the pixelation, I felt llike really nostalgic to me

  • You could see all the pixels, right?

  • Yes, I could see the pixels and fell like nostalgic to me

  • I was very surpried that they've established their view of world thoroughly

  • There's still a lot of game centers in Japan

  • But this retro arcade will always have a home as long as there are people still alive to play them

  • Visiting a game center is a must in Japan

  • And if you grew up during the arcade boom or you're just a fan of video game history

  • Savor those 8-bit graphics and nostalgia and bring a pocketful of quarters or in this case

  • 100 yen coins

  • Next time the only in Japan series continues as we travel Japan in search of food, culture and adventure

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  • Matane

Only in Japan

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