Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Traveling to Akihabara on the Tokyo Metro and then walking around one of the last arcades worth visiting in Akihabara, Taito HEY! (Hirose Entertainment Yard). The 1st floor (shown at the end) is quite small and only accessible from the side, but it's all crane games anyway).
The 2nd floor, up the escalator in the main entrance, leads to more crane games, but also the shoot em up (shmup) section, which has a great selection; Touhou, Cave games, Darius and a lot more. Has a decent amount of people actually playing too. There's also some rhythm games and driving games near the stairs to the 1st floor (the ubiquitous Mario Kart Arcade, Initial D, Wangan etc.)
3rd floor is my favourite; a lot of Gundam EX Versus, which is often the only actual game you'll find in crappier arcades because it's still incredibly popular. Also where all the fighting games are; there's a row of SF6 cabs which get moderate play, and 4 Super Turbo cabs where people are lining up to play, and it's only 30 yen a play! There are Nesica cabs which have a ton of games (SF4, Blazblue, etc.) 3rd Strike, Alpha 3, and then a lot of belt scroller beat 'em up like Final Fight, Alien Vs Predator, Knights of the Round, those Romance of the 3 Kingdoms games that Chinese people love to play and so on, a row of puzzle games like Tetris etc. over by Super Turbo, and more. There's even Virtual On and it actually gets some play!
There's more stuff on the 4th floor but I forgot to film up there and it's mostly purikura and Idolmaster type stuff anyway.
Arcades have been on the down and out for a while in Japan, they're now either specifically dedicated to the more hardcore crowd like Mikado, or they're just floors of crane games with some purikura and Gundam down in the basement or something. There's not many arcades left that are this big, in a busy location, and actually worth visiting. I hope it sticks around for a lot longer.
Excuse the flashing of the CRT games, it's a camera problem.
Filmed on an Insta360 Go Ultra with an Insta360 Mic Air for sound.
Traveling to Akihabara on the Tokyo Metro and then walking around one of the last arcades worth visiting in Akihabara, Taito HEY! (Hirose Entertainment Yard). The 1st floor (shown at the end) is quite small and only accessible from the side, but it's all crane games anyway).
The 2nd floor, up the escalator in the main entrance, leads to more crane games, but also the shoot em up (shmup) section, which has a great selection; Touhou, Cave games, Darius and a lot more. Has a decent amount of people actually playing too. There's also some rhythm games and driving games near the stairs to the 1st floor (the ubiquitous Mario Kart Arcade, Initial D, Wangan etc.)
3rd floor is my favourite; a lot of Gundam EX Versus, which is often the only actual game you'll find in crappier arcades because it's still incredibly popular. Also where all the fighting games are; there's a row of SF6 cabs which get moderate play, and 4 Super Turbo cabs where people are lining up to play, and it's only 30 yen a play! There are Nesica cabs which have a ton of games (SF4, Blazblue, etc.) 3rd Strike, Alpha 3, and then a lot of belt scroller beat 'em up like Final Fight, Alien Vs Predator, Knights of the Round, those Romance of the 3 Kingdoms games that Chinese people love to play and so on, a row of puzzle games like Tetris etc. over by Super Turbo, and more. There's even Virtual On and it actually gets some play!
There's more stuff on the 4th floor but I forgot to film up there and it's mostly purikura and Idolmaster type stuff anyway.
Arcades have been on the down and out for a while in Japan, they're now either specifically dedicated to the more hardcore crowd like Mikado, or they're just floors of crane games with some purikura and Gundam down in the basement or something. There's not many arcades left that are this big, in a busy location, and actually worth visiting. I hope it sticks around for a lot longer.
Excuse the flashing of the CRT games, it's a camera problem.
Filmed on an Insta360 Go Ultra with an Insta360 Mic Air for sound.
