When I visited Japan, I used to love to hit up Round1 locations. Being an arcade fag, that shit was incredible to me. All of these shiny rhythm games we had only read about or imported inferior console versions of… in person! When they started opening Round1 locations in the US a decade or so ago, great times. Except for all of the cosplay fags and furries.
I don’t know if I just went on a bad day last year, but the Round1 I visited in Ikebukuro was completely dead, save for a handful of cosplay tourists and families that were passing by. I passed by a Chunithm cabinet and ran my finger across the surface. It picked up a thin film of dust. I don’t keep up with the Japanese arcade scene anymore, but I do know that emulating the arcade games and their servers are increasingly common nowadays.
Most of these games were completely locked out from places outside of Japan because of the Internet connectivity requirement. Since there are so many groups actively cracking and emulating these games, they’re becoming more common (outside of places like Round1) in the US. It’s not impossible to get an old DDR or Chunithm machine in decent condition for less than 2,000 dollars, shipped.
I’m seeing tons of smaller anime arcade shops opening up all over the place. There is this little anime shop in a strip mall near me that seemed like it barely saw any traffic. Now, it’s chock full of old Japanese arcade cabinets - rhythm games and candy cabs - and it’s constantly busy. They’ve even expanded into a bar/cafe.
I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these types of shops opened up near Chibi and he’s taken a job as an assistant store manager or something. He’d be surrounded by games, gay anime, and cosplayers without having to risk complete failure.