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Comment by tmm84 | Hacker News Reader

Having lived in Japan for the past decade I can say that game centers (arcades to those outside Japan) have changed. I remember playing rhythm based games (pop-n-music, taiko drum master, etc.) and some fighting/shooting games for a few years. But, within the last two years or so, the NFC card requirement for almost all games has come to fruition. Wanna play that racing game? Gonna need to "grind" a vehicle and save that progress with an NFC. Wanna play that rhythm game? Scan your NFC first. Wanna shoot at dinos? You know the drill. This is why I won't put a single yen in the machines. Arcade games were put your coin in the box and see how good you were at it. However, they have turned it into a scan your NFC and see how far you've "grind"-ed to mastery. Instead of "grind"-ing an arcade game at 100 yen per round I could actually use my money on other things that bring more pleasure.

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Reasons those arcade games requiring (or giving benefit) for NFC (like Paseli by Konami):

* Game company want to collect money more from arcade shop.

* Managing many coins aren't easy task.

* Consumption tax is raised from 5% to 10% in past decade, but coin (100 JPY) game can't apply the raised tax precisely.

* Flexible play options thanks to ability of flexible pricing

* Anyway most player want to save game progress

But coldly treating coin user is bad for newcomer. Maybe general credit card NFC payment solves some problem, but it's not well accessible for teenages in Japan.

It don't think OP was complaining about the payment method so much as the change in gameplay where before each play was equal where you just play as well as your skill dictates while now arcade games have become more like console games where starting out you are at a disadvantage and must level up while paying for the whole time.

I'm surprised you have that takeaway for NFC since you have played some rhythm games at least. For the most part I'd say on most rhythm games I've played (IIDX, SDVX, Groove Coaster) it's pretty much storing your song scores so you can see what you've played before and you can go to another arcade and have the same data there too. I feel it's less of a grinding thing and more of a player convenience there.

An interesting thing is that you don't have to buy their NFC card either, most of the Konami cabs (e-amusement) can accept a Suica/any IC transit card (a side effect of their card systems both using FeliCa).

I've played rhythm action games for decades (since circa 1999). While "grinding" has been generally increasing for years, in my experience their "grinding" had been mostly for time spent, not money spent. I think game companies are well aware that their grinding scheme is not as cost effective but can't make it more aggresive due to the dwindling arcade gamer population.

I remember back when you could store DDR scores on PlayStation memory cards.

I suggest trying to find a "retro arcade" which has older machines, often with discounted rates (eg, two credits for 100円 for a game which originally just gave you one). Obviously these will usually be in more out-of-the-way places than standard arcades; I fondly recall one from my days in Nagoya that was on the top floor of a shopping center that had to have been built in 1975 at the latest.

Granted, I'm sure some of them have also been hit by the troubles, but if you can find one, you can have the Japanese arcade experience without the newer gimmicks.

That said, I didn't mind the cards. I think I still have a Wangan Midnight in an envelope my "Japan Stuff" folder, patiently waiting for the day when I can finally get my butt back to Tokyo.

Here in Sweden, mainstream arcades disappeared in the late 90s. But you can still find some hidden away, ran by enthusiasts. Especially pinball, probably because the experience of real steel balls bouncing around is hard to replicate satisfyingly on a screen.

In my city of 80k, there is an arcade with at least 20 pinball machines. https://m.facebook.com/matchstickpinball/

A slightly smaller city 2 towns over has an arcade with over 80 pinball tables and several original classic arcade videogames, like Pacman, Missile defence, Mario Bros, Asteroids. I think there’s a Sega Rally machine too. https://www.pinballseye.se/

Brisbane Australia here. We have at least one venue in the city that is a pub dedicated to original gaming - and it is a very popular place. You can go in, choose from about 40 different craft drinks on top, order some excellent food, and play any of:

- About 20 pinball machines

- Original arcade games like Tron, Space Invaders, Galaga, Simpsons 4 player, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat.

- NES, SEGA Megadrive, SNES, N64 Goldeneye

Almost all those games are running on CRT TVs as well, and the arcade games are in their original cabinets as much as possible. When you go to the bar you can buy a bag of 20 $1 coins and each pinball and arcade game is $1. Consoles are free. Great atmosphere and great concept. People are friendly and its not uncommon to have a small crowd watching and shouting at goldeneye on the small TV in the corner as players get killed.

Not per se out of the way, you just need to know how to look for them.

ゲームセンター

Not Arcade, it means something different - architecture.

There you go. I was playing DDR for 50 JPY per 3 dances, one credit.

Yep. This and the fact that each arcade has maybe 5 flavor of the month games, none of them remotely appealing to me, with the rest being countless floors of crane games, makes it kind of hard to care.

Like, I get it, they’re going for the whales who’ll waste loads of cash on “games” that just swallow coins. But leave at least one floor with some variation and some games that average people will want to play.

> Like, I get it, they’re going for the whales who’ll waste loads of cash on “games” that just swallow coins

It's the "pachinkization" of videogames, which is ironic considering how pachinko machines try so hard to look like videogames.

These are not new developments. Plenty of arcade games (Midnight Maximum Tune, Jubeat, Ghost Squad to name a few) had these features well before the 2010s. They might have become more mainstream as of late because the casual audience have mostly dried up thanks to mobile games and arcade owners need to make their money back from the more dedicated players.

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