Ok hypothetically, if I got my ideal choice location for an arcade, it would be in Sannomiya, Kobe. Kobe is the major city that I currently live closest to. It’s the 6th largest city in Japan, and “Sannomiya” is the main “cool” part of it. There’s already a few arcades here, but here’s a few reasons for my choice:
- Osaka arcades are already good enough, where I wouldn’t be doing it smart. If i was to compete in Osaka, I would need to make something better than what they already have.
- Even if I were to do that, it would require a massive massive amount of money that I’m not quite willing to put into it.
- I want to have an arcade that I personally like, as well as one that would do well.
So looking at the current arcades in Sannomiya, there’s a few main ones:
- Sannomiya Sanx - No crane games, fighters are 100 yen a credit, has plenty of card game machines, border break, quiz magical academy, etc.
- Magical Space - This arcade has a first floor of about 10-12 crane games, 2 jubeat machines, 4 border break machines, a couple pop-n-music, guitar freaks, drummannia, as well as some other stuff. 2nd floor is many fighters, shooters, gundam, misc stuff. 3rd floor is mahjong, card games, gundam pods. fighters are 100 yen a credit, and 2 credits for 100 yen on fridays.
- An arcade that has a floor of majhong at 2 credits for 100 yen, and then a floor of crane games, and a floor of just music games.
- An arcade in the “anime” area. Has gundam, melty blood, and tekken at 2 credits for 100 yen. Very grimy, closes at 9PM.
- game in coo, an arcade that gets all the games but only one cab and has nobody playing anything except gundam, vf, and tekken.
Ok so this would be the competition. If I was to open an arcade in this area (assuming I don’t have the budget of a millionare, nor a gigantic space), I would have to make everything count. Since I myself am a fighting game fan, I would definitely want this to be THE fighting game arcade. However, I know what makes money and what doesn’t, and when competition will go to a better place. Therefore, these are what I would end up doing if I was to run an arcade:
Ill assume i get 2 floors with so-so space, or one floor with a lot of space.
First, crane games are huge here. However, you need to have prizes that cater to your audience. If my location was somewhat centralized where many people pass by, I would definitely have things for couples in the arcade in the front as well as the anime things (because people who are big into anime tend to have a large amount of disposable income…or they have a small amount, but spend more than they can on anime things). Either way, those two things are the money makers of crane games. When a guy wants to win something for a girl, he’ll spend whatever. So having things like stuffed animals in one area would be good, and having another area for the bigger figures that are cheap, but look like you can win them. Thats where they catch you, when they make it look easy and it’s not.
Then, have a couple of the machines with little prizes (like an anime character on a memo pad) where you get a hook and have to pull them down little by little. You can even add bigger prizes in here. It always looks really easy, but it never is, and the stuff you win is NEVER worth the amount. It’s mainly because you’re not gonna give up if you’re 60% of the way there, but if you miss 3-4 times in a row, thats 3-4 dollars right there. Those are the traps, and those are necessary for just getting people who are walking by to play.
Jubeat is another game that I always see people playing. It’s cheaper than most at 100 yen a credit, and if i get 2 machines at 3 songs for 100 yen, i will have constant lines of people playing almost all the time. If I find people are going to the other places for 3 songs, I can make mine 4 songs for 100 yen. Sure people stay on the machine longer, BUT they’ll come to the arcade and stay there longer.
Pop-n-music does well, too. Have a machine of that set up on the first floor, and that’ll do well, also. Drummania and Guitar freaks are too big, so I’m not gonna deal with those monsters.
Now for the 2nd floor/2nd part - Fighters:
Since I want this to be the fighting game arcade, this is what I would have:
- Tekken 6 BR - 2 cabinets 3/5 rounds 50y a play.
- It will be the only 50 yen a play Tekken in Kobe, and even though it’s somewhat late into the lifespan of tekken, it’s still a REALLY popular game and will definitely make it’s money back.
- Street Fighter IV - 2 cabinets 3/5 rounds 50y a play.
- Expensive? Yes, but all the street fighter players go to the 100y a play arcade. If I sell cards and offer a free credit with the purchase of a card, then they have reason to not only buy a card, but to play at my arcade.
- Blazblue: Continuum Shift - 2 cabinets 3/5 rounds 50y a play
- Right now, the only place with 2 cabinets for blazblue is 100 yen for 2 rounds. If i have this setup, nobody will go to those other places, and all the players will obviously play here. Now that I have the blazblue players here, time to get the rest.
- Guilty Gear XX Accent Core - 2 cabinets 3/5 rounds 50y a play
- Game is still popular and still hype. No reason not to go for it.
- Arcana Heart 3 - 2 cabinets 3/5 rounds 50y a play
- This might be risky, but it’ll definitely be the best value around for the game, and I like the series, so I would probably spend the money on it for that reason, as well.
- Melty Blood Actress Again ver A - 2 cabinets 3/5 rounds 50y a play
- Magical space only has one machine for it, so it’s not getting the play it COULD be getting. And the anime arcade is grimy and closes at 9 anyways.
- KOF 98UM - 1 cabinet 50y a play
- KOF 2002UM - 1 cabinet 50y a play
- These two KOF games are popular.
- Whatever the newest gundam is x4 - 50y a credit
- The question is more about space. If there’s enough space, getting 8 machines isn’t a bad idea.
Games i would consider if they were cheap enough:
mvc2 - Some people still play it.
3S - Game is kind of dead, and I don’t know if people will even play it if I got it…
Hokuto no Ken - Game is lolz.
Games I would avoid
- Virtua fighter - Too expensive and not enough people play.
- Daemon Bride - Game flopped, sadly.
- Fate Unlimited Codes - Has a niche scene, but I don’t think that scene is where I’m gonna be
- TvC - New TvC is coming out anyways. Nobody plays it here. I would seriously be better off with MvC2
- KOFXII - Duh
Non-fighting games I would consider if I had space:
-Usagi Mahjong - One of the most popular mahjong games, Pretty cheap, but it would require a majhong setup. If I could get a back to back setup of this, I think that would be really cool, and I could have people playing it.
-Dunno the name but it’s a 4 in 1 game - Has Zookeeper, Uno, Daifugo, and one other game. Silly little game that anyone can just sit down and play very easily.
-Tetris the grandmaster 3 - Obvious reasons, tho its really hard to get
- Newest Puyo-puyo - Another awesome puzzle game
- Azumanga puzzle bobble - another great, cheap puzzle game.
After that, it would really just depend on what comes out, how things actually end up doing vs how well they’re expected to do, and how I’m feeling.
This is all super hypothetical, as the amount of money it would take to start this would be way more than what I would really be able to do. Cause renting a place is fine and good, but having to redecorate and renovate a place is a lot of money, too. It would be a fun simulation game, though. 
)
yeah need dat GGAC
