For a very long time, Sega’s big arcades were a mainstay of the Akihabara skyline, and some of the main attractions for anyone taking a gaming-related trip to the streets of Tokyo.
Unfortunately they either closed down or renamed to Gigo again in 2020part of Sega’s broader withdrawal from the arcade business, and for a while now what was once one of the most prominent gaming locations in the city – Sega Akihabara Arcade Building 4 – has remained empty. But no longer! After news broke last month, it’s now been confirmed that competitors Bandai Namco will be taking over a lot of the space instead, with arcades reopening next month.
It will be a brand new arcade game, of course, as it will be stocked with Bandai Namco games rather than Sega games, which means you can expect to see everything from Tekken to Mario Kart Arcade there. Besides the arcade, Bandai Namco will also open a number of stores, including one that specializes in the company’s trading card games, and one that will sell capsule games as well as a space dedicated to claw machines.
If you’ve ever visited, seen a group and wondered which lanes change just right – there are four in the area! – The Sega Akihabara Arcade 4 building was the big building in the corner with the exposed escalators that are so cool. Other notable arcades – like Sega Akihabara Arcade Building 1, which you’ll first see exiting the train station – are still there, though they now have the Gigo logo as part of their new 2020 branding, so they’re not the same thing anymore.
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Bandai Namco’s new arcade — a first for the company in Akihabara, in a way, where Sega sucked out all the oxygen for decades — opens March 1st.
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