Hot on the heels of the recent news that SEGA Japan was selling all its Japanese arcade venues to Genda Inc, SEGA Japan have committed to a new Joypolis venue that will open in March 2022 in Sendai, North Japan. The Joypolis chain of in-door theme parks continues to be owned and operated by SEGA Japan and this new venue will be entirely sports focused and called Joypolis Sports.
The aim of the Joypolis Sports venue is to offer far more physical amusements to play and the venue is promising patrons access to ping pong tables, basketball courts, climbing walls, trampolines and much, much more.
The Joypolis Sports venue is located at the 1st floor of the Aeon Sendai Nakayama Store, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture 981-3213 and will open in March 2022. Sendai is located 3+ hours away from Tokyo by train.
SEGA Japan have sold their remaining stocks in their Japanese arcade locations to Genda Inc and will stop operating arcades themselves going forward. While the company will continue to produce arcade games, these will simply be sold to any Japanese arcade operators and all SEGA-branded arcade locations will now be rebranded as GiGO arcades. SEGA had already sold the vast majority of their operations to Genda Inc back in November 2020 with the remaining stocks being sold only amounting to 15% of their total arcade business.
It’s another big loss to SEGA Japan’s arcade business which has been one of the country’s strongest up until the COVID-19 pandemic forced arcade operators to close their doors and limit indoor capacity. Back in September 2021, SEGA Japan closed its flagship Ikebukuro arcade which ran for an impressive 28 years.
A new version of the Astro City Mini has been revealed by SEGA Japan’s SEGA Toys division. Called the Astro City Mini V, this new version of the mini console features a vertically-orientated screen made for games that play in TATE mode. As a result, the system’s games library is specifically focused on TATE games, with a large amount being vertically-scrolling shoot-em-ups. Check out the reveal trailer below:
The Astro City Mini V will launch in Japan in 2022. There is no firm release date available at the time of writing. See below for a full list of included software:
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have revealed that long time leads Toshihiro Nagoshi and Daisuke Sato have left the company and the studio has undergone a restructure as a result. Masayoshi Yokoyama will now take over from Nagoshi as the studio’s Director and Executive Producer.
Toshihiro Nagoshi has been a SEGA mainstay since 1989, starting as a designer and director on games like Virtua Racing, Daytona USA and Shenmue before finding fame as the lead director of the Super Monkey Ball and Yakuza franchises.
Daisuke Sato is also a long-tenured SEGA employee starting his career on field map production for 1995’s Magic Knight Rayearth on the Saturn and having designer credits on games like SEGA Super GT, Virtua Fighter 3tb and Shenmue. Sato’s career highlights also include directing duties Yakuza 3 and Binary Domain.
You can read the full story on RGG Studio’s restructure by clicking this link.
As previously reported, on the 20th of September 2021, SEGA Japan closed the doors on one of its biggest arcades in the form of the SEGA GiGO located in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. While the arcade lives on through a virtual recreation that you can explore at home, the Tokyo Lens YouTube channel has created a short documentary about the arcade and why arcades are closing Japan with increasing frequency. It also contains interviews with the venue’s actual staff and managers and it offers some fascinating insight into the Japanese arcade industry in 2021.
Click the embed below to watch Tokyo Lens’s ‘Japan’s Arcades are DISAPPEARING’ documentary:
On the 20th of September 2021, SEGA Japan sadly shut the doors on the SEGA GiGO arcade in Ikebukuro, Tokyo after 28 years in business. It’s another major loss to SEGA Japan’s arcade business that has seen major casualties thanks to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Thankfully an explorable, 3D, virtual version of the arcade has been created and you can take a trip through this mammoth arcade via the comfort of your own home. This follows on from the previously released virtual version of SEGA’s Retro Game Floor in Akihabara.
SEGA streamed the events of the Ikebukuro SEGA GiGO’s final day of operation on YouTube, and the stream is archived and available to view by clicking here.
Tags: 3d, arcade, sega gigo, sega japan, virtual Posted in News | Comments Off on Explore a 3D Recreation of SEGA’s Recently Closed GiGO Arcade in Ikebukuro, Tokyo
We have just published a huge set of additions to our SEGA-Related Magazine Features section in our Merchandise Catalogue. Every addition is a Japan-exclusive SEGA publication. See below for the full list of additions:
– Great Saturn Z July 1997 issue complete with front and back cover scans added
– SEGA Jack issues 3, 4, 5 added. Cover scans added for every issue but inside shots are only available for issues 3 and 4
– 11 issues of SEGA Maga added. Cover scans added for every issue but inside shots are only available for the August/September 1998 issue
– SEGA Saturn Magazine (Japan) 6th of June 1998 issue complete with cover scan and inside shot added
Each magazine also has a brief description about what content is available in each publication, when it was published and who published it if the information is available online.
Ever wanted to explore one of Japan’s greatest retro arcades from the comfort of your own home? Now you can thanks to this wonderful virtual recreation of SEGA’s Retro Game Floor that is currently located in Akihabara Building 3 in Tokyo, Japan.
The arcade is host to a fantastic selection of SEGA arcade classics including Scud Race, Daytona USA 2, Thunder Blade, After Burner, Space Harrier, Rad Mobile, AB Cop, Wild Riders, LA Machineguns and many, many more. This virtual version of the Retro Game Floor is a fascinating look at a beautiful arcade that is keeping loads of classic games up and running for fans of arcade gaming.
When the arcade first opened in its current location, the grand unveiling also featured a recreation of a classic SEGA High-Tech Land archway – a lovely nod to SEGA’s original chain of arcades that operated through the 90s.
The Mega Drive Mini is getting another accessory in the form of the Mega Drive Tower Mini Zero. Releasing exclusively in Japan, this is a miniature Power Base Converter (or Mega Adapter as its known in Japan) that comes with two cartridges of Penguin Land and Alex Kidd in Miracle World. The accessory is entirely cosmetic and doesn’t allow you to play these games on a Mega Drive Mini.
The release of the Mega Drive Tower Mini Zero is actually to coincide with the release of Lost Judgment which also features an in-game Master System that allows you to play Alex Kidd in Miracle World within the actual game world of Lost Judgment.
The Mega Drive Tower Mini Zero will release in Japan on October 21st 2021 and will cost 4,950 yen which currently converts to around £31.93.
Our hardware section has been updated with 2 new console features and a stack of high quality photographs. The hardware section now has a new section at the bottom of the page that features Aftermarket/Mini Consoles, and with it comes 2 new console features on the Astro City Mini and the Game Gear Micro respectively. Click the links below to be taken to each console feature as well as the accompanying image galleries:
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