Remember Arcades?

You know what one of the (many) great things about Tokyo is?  It seems to be one of the few places left on the planet where arcades are still a big deal.  Having spent an untold number of hours and quarters in various arcades as a kid, this is something I can get behind.

There are a surprising amount of arcades throughout the city — I visited the Sega arcade in Shinjuku, and yeah, I dropped a few 100 yen coins (which is about a buck Canadian).

They have a pretty extensive selection of games.  I played a Transformers game, a Mario Kart game (which was the highlight), and a Star Wars game where you actually open a door and step inside a cockpit where a giant wraparound screen fills your entire field of view.

There’s a special kind of energy you get from being in an arcade surrounded by so many games; it’s magical.  I’m glad that they still exist somewhere.