SEGA sells arcade hall division over corona – Gaming – News

The T.net article is about absolute numbers of arcade halls that have become less, to link it to “better times” but in my eyes / insight the arcade halls have only gotten bigger, instead of 10 smaller ones by a neighborhood, replaced by 1 big of a chain. Taito big box in Takadanbaba (student section) is a good example of this. In my opinion, the popularity has not diminished over the years.

Anyway. To answer your question @gas gnome : There are specialized arcades.
That’s how HEY! known for a number of things, including that everything is kept in perfect condition. And because they have a very complete library of SHMUPs. So if you are a SHMUP fan you have to be there. And they like good audio. Any game that has a great soundtrack (whether old or new) has a good big over-the-ears headphone you can use, especially the games from TAITO themselves that use their in-house band “Zuntata” ( known for the Darius games and Ray series)

Is there a specialized Sega arcade that has 1 floor with only Starwing Paradox (24 units I believe) and if you want to play that game you have to be there. Because other arcades may only have 2-3 units on average. (read: You stand in line in the evening)

Yes the game culture is different there and that also has to do with things like housekeeping. Houses are small in the big cities, children stay longer with their parents. Space is limited. TV’s <40 inch is still in high demand as spaces are small. You just want a place outside to game. And is it "social". And you also learn a lot from other studies.

In addition, arcade games there have games that, precisely because of “it can be big”, have great aspects that you cannot replicate at home with a console, so it also offers a “different experience” than the competition with a PS4 or Switch. Games such as Starwing Paradox, Senjou no Kizuna and WACCA or Dancecrush stardom just to name a few.

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