Since the closing of the Family Games Gallery 5 years ago, there was no place to have fun in Brussels any more. Things will change tomorrow with the opening of a new arcade! But beware, this time, this is not the place for a Sunday family day because versus fighting is the theme. This is not surprising when one considers that fighting game competitor Kenpachi is behind this initiative. There are no fewer than 7 Astro City and 4 cabinets with HD screens on which you can fight each others on Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Super Street Fighter II X, The King of Fighter XIII, The King of Fighter '98, Hokuto no Ken and Garou Mark of The Wolves. The price is 50 cents for 1 or 2 credits depending on the game. The arcade is located at Rue Haubrechtsstraat No. 8 in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean/Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, just steps away from the Compte de Flandre/Graaf van Vlaanderen subway station (lines 1 and 5). (18-11-2011 Arcadebelgium.be)
Fran, BillyKane, LUN, Harmonaz, Raju and a few others(sorry if I forgot to mention you!) are or have been prominent European players/posters in the 3S subforum. They’re either England, Italy or France, with the latter having a pretty dedicated 3S scene compared to other countries outside Japan.
I never thought I’d be jealous of European 3s players being from socal but you guys deserve it. Never met any Belgian players but I have nothing but love for all the Euro players I’ve met!
yeah i spent a while seeing how much it would cost. most older games and mobos are really cheap. it’s just a matter of getting good cabs stateside. say you spend 300-600 per cab, then need to ship them which will cost you basically more than the cabs themselves unless you can use a container. but the initial cost is huge unless you can pool orders and get other people (who want their own cabs) to contribute.
i do think there is a desire by a lot of the younger guys to have a local spot to play older games. i used to see kids just hanging out at the card/comic store all day not even really doing much, just because it was where they went to meet and play. community will keep you in business. plus, with newer games referencing older games, im sure the younger crowd would be really into trying out the games where those characters originally came from.
i don’t know what belgium’s economy is like or how well off the owner of this new place is but it is inspiring.
(Almost) no arcades left in Belgium. But since it’s aimed at fighting games, and real central in Belgium, maybe it can attract people from all over. I dunno, I have no real business sense.
Unless the community can go there every single day and pump a LOT of money in those games constantly, I kinda doubt it. There has to be something to attract the casual fans too, and just fighting games themselves aren’t going to do much. Not everyone likes SF4(and I’m not talking about the haters).
