Arcade Club - October 2018

During the October half term week we visited Arcade Club.  A special promotion was on allowing gamers of all ages access to both floors. 

My daughter had never been on Floor Two ‘Modern Arcade’ as it’s usually adults only, and I thought it would be nice for her to play the rhythm games and experience some of the quirky Japanese machines. 

She did enjoy them, but after a while she was keen to go to Floor One ‘Classic Arcade’ and play her current favourite, Pac-Land.  In fact my daughter developed a little bit of an addiction for the game, spending most of the afternoon on it!

There were lots of awesome new additions since our last visit.  Here are some of my gaming highlights.

Strider – Capcom – 1991

Awesome game, it was time I’ve seen the US dedicated cab.

The Ninja Warriors – Taito - 1987

I last played this in Mikado arcade, Japan, and was super happy to see it again. 

The game feels a little clunky, and despite the parallels with Shinobi, just isn’t as good. However for me at least there is just something special about this game.  Maybe it’s because of the awesome three-screen cabinet, and the fantastic visuals.

Maybe it has something to do with it being such an elusive title.  I played it once in the UK many years ago and in Mikado arcade, Japan years later.  I have the Mega CD conversion, but it just isn’t the same.

It could just be the super cool main characters, and the revelation which comes when they sustain damage.  When I first played this game, my thought process must have been something like this “What’s happening?  No way!  Robot ninjas!”

Cho Chabudai Gaeshi! 2 / Super Table-Flip! 2 – Taito – 2010

This is still a favourite on Floor Two and my daughter loved it.  My only gripe was that she wanted to flip the table and sometimes the wedding cake every time, even when it was my go!

Dariusburst: Another Chronicle EX – Taito – 2011

Dariusburst had an all too brief spell at the now closed Casino arcade in London.  It was fantastic to see this awesome game on these shores once again. 

The Dariusburst banners are a nice touch.

X-Men – Konami – 1992

Wow what a beast!  The only time I’ve ever seen one of these awesome duel-screen, six player cabinets was at the arcade in Gatwick airport back in the early nineties.  They had a few other seldom seen games, including Sega’s Wing War and Hologram Time Traveller.  It was awesome playing this version again after all these years.  Seriously impressive stuff!

The awesome Nintendo row.

I’ve had Tron on my radar for a while, but they rarely seem to come up for sale.  It was great to have a few credits.

The pinball room.

Behind the Scenes

Here are some pics of the workshop area, kindly taken with kind permission from the guy at the desk.

A Mr. Do! board on the test bench.

Some more pics from our afternoon.