There were a few arcade shops around my neck of the woods (ok, mostly liquor stores with a couple of games), but the best in arcade experiences were found in Japan. Thanks to NeoGAFFER keisuke999, we get a glimpse of what the heyday of arcade gaming looked like, as he inherited two floors of classic arcade games from his girlfriend’s grandma who purchased an abandoned building with dozens of arcade cabinets. I must say, the collection is simply beautiful.
There are a total of 55 arcade cabinets, with the majority being upright Aero Cities cabinets, and numerous gameboards that include Donkey Kong, Metal Slug X, Super Puzzle Fighters 2 X, Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition, Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Zero 2), Tetris, and many others.
Thanks to his girlfriend’s grandmother who wasn’t interested in keeping any of it, keisuke999 is selling off the goods and even willing to ship it off to those in the United States.
Take a look at a few images of the findings below:
It’s bizarre to think how things can be left untouched for a couple of decades, but you can’t deny how much you want to invest in Japanese real estate now.
For more images of the arcade cabinets and gameboards, you can check out the galleries here and here, which contain a total of over 200 pictures.
While I’d probably try to fix up the machines and run an arcade shop of my own, I’d like to know, what would you do if you stumbled onto a similar gaming haven? Let us know in the comments below.
Unfortunately arcades aren’t profitable enough to be sustainable. So I wouldn’t try to run one.
In a perfect world I would let my friends play them, like our own personal arcade, and I would rent them out to conventions in my area (assuming the building is near my house, or I could rent a building near my house and get all the machines there).
In reality I’d probably have to keep a few in my house (very few, as I have a small house), give a few to family and friends, and sell the rest. But first I’d fire em all up and let my kids loose, so that my kids got a real arcade experience.
I wouldn’t mind throwing a giant party with all of those arcades working out and stuff then just selling it all, but keeping a couple for my own personal collection!
There must be a Polybius machine in there somewhere.
and all of that now fits inside one’s pocket…kinda cool and sad at the same time.
Its not only a time warp, Its crazy to see them so clean! In the 80’s/early 90’s you could smoke indoors and in arcades, so my memories of this stuff always comes with nicotine stains and burn marks.
Wow! The way those things look, you wouldn’t have to work very hard to get them running again.
Truth! It’s like they just got preserved once the doors closed. Simply remarkable.
I’d sort out the 3-4 I really like to play & sell the rest to friends who also like to play.
Start playing!!
I would shed tears of joy.