Why I Feel Sad About the State of the Arcades

Last Updated on October 22, 2022

Do you remember the time when people would compete for high scores on Donkey Kong? When you had to queue to play Street Fighter II The World Warriors, in a place where you could take the wheel of a car without a license?

If you remember those times, you remember the halcyon days of the arcades. I hope you enjoyed those times as much as I did.

To those who live in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, etc and especially Japan most importantly, to me you are the luckiest people in the world. Japan in particularly is the king of the arcade scenes. I often view pictures, YouTube videos, and even read books about the Japanese arcade gaming scene and I can’t help but feel envy over how wild and diverse the arcade scene is there.

I just want to go and sample it myself.

Sadly, thinks are very different in the west.

Here, the arcade scene is basically non-existent, largely replaced with machines that give spew tickets for cheap items we can buy easily in most shops. Then there are gambling machines, encouraging people to pump more money in hopes of winning money or tickets… it doesn’t take long for things to get out of hand.

Heck, some arcade games are based on console titles, a complete reversl of the old days, when the arcades sported the latest titles and you would waait months for a home console or computer port.

Those glory days are long since gone,

Even using the arcades as a place to hang out and compete against each other no longer has the same experience. By desiring the latest gear and games, we no longer see the old arcade cabinets that we used to enjoy.

Maybe it’s down to cultural differences. Perhaps we kinda got lazy, preferring to play games at home rather than going out and enjoying the experience. Whatever the causes and factors of the decline in arcade gaming in the west, at least it is still “big in Japan.”

Arcade bars

However, some places are attempting to revive the arcade scene in the west. The golden years may be long gone, but arcade bars are trying to change that.

Bars that offer a complete retro-to-modern day arcade experience are springing up across Australia, the USA, the UK, and Europe. These mix standard solo games with multiplayer group experiences, such as 2004’s Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune series, which offers a high-speed arcade driving experience through the Tokyo highways.

There is also another arcade centre that focuses on both retro and modern arcade scenes which is KOKO Amusement. Although the scene is still modern, there are arcade fighting game cabinets and arcade music cabinets which are mostly imported from Japan. The fact that such a place has even existed in Australia has really put a smile on my face. I really hope this arcade centre continues to exist for years to come.

But despite that, they cannot provide the experience that we had two or three decades ago, when the arcades were all the rage, a hub of social gathering for teens trying to show themselves that they are the best or that they just want to have fun. While we are all grown up now, I will never forget the memories that I had in the arcades in Bangladesh and Australia.

To close, here’s a video from my favourite YouTuber, Sega Lord X, regarding his feelings about the changing arcade experience.