Amusement Park Warehouse Kawasaki Store

by THE EMPORIUM RETROGAMES November 17, 2021

Cyber Kowloon Castle towering in Kawasaki "Amusement Park Warehouse Kawasaki Store" (*Closed November 17, 2019)

store information

10 minutes walk from the east exit of JR Kawasaki Station to the south, and when you come to the Nisshin-cho intersection, you will see a building that is clearly different from the surrounding area. The amusement park warehouse Kawasaki store has a unified exterior and interior design based on the concept of " Denno Kowloon Castle " .

▲The building looks more unique because it was a night interview.

There are 10 arcades, mainly in the Kanto area, called the warehouse, and the Kawasaki store is one of the largest stores in the group that opened in 2005.
The author was also worried about the strange atmosphere of the building from the beginning, and I was surprised that one day I entered the store without any prior knowledge and there was a game center inside.

Game arcades under 18 years old

The Kawasaki store operates in a wide range of formats, including prize machines and video games on the second floor, medal machines on the third floor, darts and billiards on the fourth floor, and an internet cafe on the fifth floor. There is also a car rental window on the 4th floor.
All floors under the age of 18 are forbidden to enter. On the second floor, you can only play " Mario Kart " and various data card das machines, but only 18 years old or older can play them. This is a business policy of the store side so that adult players can play calmly , and certainly there is a wide space between the cabinets in the store, sofas and tables are arranged in the aisle, and when playing games you can play There is an environment where you can relax even when you are not there.

▲From the entrance on the parking lot side, enter the store through the stepping stones of a small pond.

▲From the entrance on the parking lot side, enter the store through the stepping stones of a small pond.
Currently, each store in the warehouse is familiar with rental DVDs, etc., and is managed and operated by the Amuse management department of Geo Co., Ltd. In this interview, Mr. Masaya Nagaishi, who is the manager of the Kawasaki store in the same department, responded.
Mr. Nagaishi himself is also a game fan, and especially during the heyday of experience games , he was absorbed in playing various models during the late 1980s and early 1990s .

▲Mr. Nagaishi, the store manager, and the experience game case that has been playing since the time of operation

Retro game corner lineup and until it is decided

At the time of the interview, in a large store, experience games such as "Space Harrier" (1985) "Outrun" (1986), upright cabinets such as "Street Fighter" (1987) "Gauntlet" (1985), "Salamander" 2) (1996), "Ribble Rabble" (1983), "Heiankyo Alien" (1980), and many games of various ages/makers were running.

▲"Heiankyo Alien" is in operation!

At the time of opening the Kawasaki store, the people in charge at the time, including Mr. Nagaishi, had meetings, and as one of the concept of the whole store, a policy was decided to make the retro game operation a pillar. Against this background, there is an advantage that retro games do not require communication costs and can basically be operated only by electricity bills.
When the Kawasaki store opened, the warehouse didn't have so many enclosures, so some were bought for the new store.
Regarding retro games and experience games for a while, it was running at another warehouse group store, Mitsuhashi store (open) and Shinonome store (closed in 2012), but after that, considering matching with stores and customer base, It will be integrated into the Kawasaki store.

Behind the maintenance and maintenance of experience games

Although not limited to warehouses, maintaining and operating game cabinets manufactured more than 30 years ago requires a great deal of time and money.
Even here at the Kawasaki store, we are especially struggling to maintain the old experience game chassis.When the drive motor of " Space Harrier " (1985) fails, we contact the manufacturer and repair companies nationwide, He managed to get it repaired by a Hokkaido dealer. Although the repair cost at this time was not very affordable for the income, I decided to repair it in order to get it running as a face of the retro game corner.
However, even if I made inquiries here and there, there was a large housing that did not seem to be repairable, and it seems that he had to let go of " Hang On " (1985) and so on.
Also, at the Kawasaki store, we try to operate each game in the original state as much as possible, and the original Darius (1986) chassis still has the genuine button of that time. I happened to be able to operate it in the current form because I got the parts, but I do not have a spare anymore, so if it breaks down, I have to replace it with another button, and do not handle it roughly when playing I want

▲The old and new large housings are lined up in the retro game corner.

The surprising truth of the retro game lineup...?

If you're a long-time video game fan, you'll probably come to a game center with retro games, but wasn't something strange about the lineup on the second floor of the Kawasaki store here?

▲There is also a corner where all the series works are lined up (some have a recording environment)

The author also cannot give a concrete name, but "Why is this manufacturer not having a popular predecessor and a sequel that is not so popular?" "In the retro corner of another store, this board I've never seen it in operation...", but I felt a little strange bias, but I feel that the answer was found during this interview.
What 's more, some of the games in the line are brought in and run by private property of ordinary customers.
If you wish to bring in a board, we accept consultations at any time, but we cannot operate it unconditionally. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, the board owner must agree to the pledge of the warehouse regulation, and depending on the income, it may be replaced with another game, and the operation is not guaranteed. If anyone still wants to run their own games here, please contact the store.

▲There are many cabinets on the opposite side of the retro game corner.

Which of the running games is owned by the warehouse and which is the personal board? Unfortunately cannot be mentioned here as it contains personal information. If you look at the lineup of running games and wonder, "Why is this game running all the time?", it may be the board that someone somewhere asked to run.
Some individual board owners can play their own boards by themselves, but some evangelist owners want many people to play their favorite games. It's not uncommon to run a board for an evangelist-like regular customer in a game arcade run by an individual, but I was surprised to find that the board run by a personal in a geo-operated warehouse wasn't working.

Not only retro games but also the latest games!

Not only retro games but also the latest video games are available on the 2nd floor of the warehouse Kawasaki store. Among them, 6 units of " Wangan MIDNIGHT 5DX+ " (2016) are in operation, and it costs 50 yen per play!
In the Kawasaki-Yokohama area, there are many arcade arcades that are open on the roadside, as well as in front of the station. For this reason, each store is elaborate in various ways to avoid losing to competitors, and it is cutting down on ho, and the price setting of "Wangan" is one of them.
Also, video games are scattered not only on the second floor but also on other floors, so if you can't find the game you are looking for by looking at the "machine information" on the official website, go to the upper floor. let's watch.

Adults can play slowly in a calm atmosphere

▲You can look down from the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor retro game corner

There are many elderly players who play the medal game early in the morning, so the opening time is 7:00 am on weekends and holidays. Even so, there are days when there are queues waiting for customers to enter even before the store opens.
It's close to the station, and because it's equipped with a parking lot and is easily accessible, game fans of various ages come to enjoy the game.
The warehouse Kawasaki store is often covered with unique interior decorations, but that is only part of our concern for visitors to feel extraordinary.
It 's a popular store with high hospitality and loved by nearby players and fans of retro games . When you visit around Kawasaki Station, please stop by.

store information

*Unfortunately, the warehouse Kawasaki store closed on November 17, 2019.

Amusement Park Warehouse Kawasaki Store
Address: 3-7 Nisshincho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa
Phone: 044-246-2360 (Amuse Floor)
Business hours: Monday-Friday 9 am-23:45/Saturday/Sunday/Holiday 7 Hours to 23:45
Closed: None
Parking (free): 48 flats (1st floor of the store) / 102 multistory parking (back of flat parking)
Official website

*All photos in this article are taken with the permission of the store. (Photographer: Yuichi Toyama)

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Warehouse Kawasaki Store What is the "retroge club" that was behind the surge of retro games? (*Closed November 17, 2019)

Since its opening in 2005, the warehouse Kawasaki store has been operating as a large-scale amusement facility that offers a variety of play, as well as its unique exterior and interior, as "Denno Kyukyu Castle", near Kawasaki Station in Kanagawa Prefecture. However, on November 17, 2019, the 14-year history of the event was unfortunately ended.
This website covered the store in February 2018 and introduced it, so please refer to that for the store introduction.
* Cyber Kowloon Castle towering in Kawasaki "Amusement Park Warehouse Kawasaki Store"
You may have noticed that players who visited the warehouse Kawasaki store from 2018 to 2019, but the number of video game operating cabinets has increased significantly during this period. At the same time, a Twitter account called "WH Kawasaki Retroge Club" (hereinafter referred to as "Retroge Club") started its activities, and started muttering the video game operation status of the store.
Even before the appearance of the reggae club, many old video games such as "Space Harrier" (1985/SEGA) and other large-scale chassis were in operation, and many game fans were visiting. However, the number of cases is increasing unusually these days. Who is the reggae club? And what are they like for the Kawasaki store?
This time, we interviewed Mr. H, the representative of the reggae club.
The title image is the 3rd floor of the warehouse Kawasaki store. (Photo taken on October 27, 2019 )

*Unfortunately, the warehouse Kawasaki store closed on November 17, 2019.
[Interview and composition]
Yuichi Toyama

This site was started by "Game Culture Preservation Research Institute"?

Originally, Mr. H, who collected game boards and housings as a hobby, kept them in a certain place in a certain prefecture.
From around 2017, collection activities accelerated, and the number of housings owned increased to about 20.
Since the storage location is a detached house, the case was disassembled and put in the closet, but even if you own the case, there is no point unless you move it.
I also thought about forms such as a so-called "home game arcade" that operates the housing at home, or a warehouse arcade that borrows a warehouse and operates and plays with a friend, just before renting the warehouse. We proceeded with the examination.
At that time, Mr. H said that it was the above-mentioned article on this website.
There was a description that a game brought in by a person at the warehouse Kawasaki store was running, and that if you would like to bring it in, please contact the store.
Mr. H was surprised at "Is there a hand!", immediately contacted the store, had an interview with the store manager at the time, and at the beginning I did not think about leaving only the board, even the case, but when I talked about the case, There is also the possibility of bringing in.
In this way, Mr. H started working with his colleagues to operate these cases in the store. With the consent of the “Sanjo CUE Retroge Club” (*01) , which was originally exchanged, we decided to call it “WH Kawasaki Retroge Club. The warehouse Kawasaki store has 2F-4F game centers/darts, etc., and 5F is an internet cafe, but the reggae club has decided to use one of the backyards as a work place.

▲The state of the cabinet being maintained. (Photo provided by Mr. H)

"I wanted to line up all the Toa Plan shootings"

Regarding the activities of the reggae club, there were the following conditions and requests from the store side.
・I want you to keep the atmosphere of the store.
・50 yen for 1 play.
・I want a topic.
　In addition to this, there are also local rules before the establishment of the reggae club, and after taking all these into consideration, the retort club aims to realize it at the warehouse Kawasaki store with the following goals.
・Environment where you can concentrate on game play.
・Environment that facilitates substrate replacement and maintenance.
-Unique element unlike other stores.
・Display all Toa Plan shootings.
・Loosely sit on the sofa and watch the running game from a distance.
In order to achieve both the order from the store and its own goals, the reggae department started preparatory work.
The first thing I thought about was the spacing between housings.
If the cabinets are arranged side by side without any gaps and a pair bench is used to allow two people to play, the distance with the adjacent player will be inevitably short and play will be hindered.
However, I would like to run many titles in terms of area ratio... Therefore, I decided to increase the number of operating titles to nearly double while remodeling most of the cabinets to support 2in1 and ensuring the width between cabinets.
I needed a lot of 2in1 harnesses, but I made most of them.

▲A metal rack that has been subjected to stain processing is brought into the room. (Photo provided by Mr. H)

By securing the space between the cabinets, shelves of metal racks can be assembled on the cabinets and equipment can be placed.
Since this metal rack does not match the atmosphere of the store with the silver color as it is, it has been purposely subjected to a rusty image stain treatment.
It was dangerous to do this painting indoors, so it was done outdoors.
A dedicated PC was placed on each of these shelves so that play movies could be recorded/distributed.
The distribution line uses its own mobile router contracted by the Retoge Department and is independent of the store line.
The cabinets were washed, including washed with water, as opposed to the shelves being soiled.

▲The state of the cabinet being washed with water. Mr. H said that he enjoys cleaning as well as collecting housings. (Photo provided by Mr. H)

A headphone jack, a continuous shooting device, a continuous shooting speed switch, and speaker/headphone volume control knobs were added to each case.
Each game has a rate of fire that matches the title, and it also depends on the player's preference and capture style.Therefore, the rate of fire is left to the player to save the trouble of changing the setting of the cabinet each time the game is replaced. It is.
In order to attach these terminals, it was necessary to make a hole in the escutcheon (*02) of the housing, which was a big problem at first, but I decided to remodel it for the convenience of the player.

▲Such installation work was done at midnight after the store closed. (Photo provided by Mr. H)

The reggae department continued to work for several months to achieve its goals and shop orders.
Initially, it started from a part of the video game corner on the 2nd floor, but from June 30, 2019, the 1st floor of the 3rd floor can be used as a dedicated space, and chairs and sofas for breaks were provided by the store.
Since the reggae department did not own all of the Toa Plan's boards, some of the titles were borrowed from a friend, and in July 2019, all Toa Plan shooting titles were finally put into operation.
Because of the simultaneous operation, each title was put in a 2in1 chassis.
In this way, all the goals set by the Letoge Department were finally achieved.
The overall story of Mr. H seems to have been that he wanted to sit on the sofa and grin while watching the game image projected on the 15kHz cathode-ray tube.

▲Cabinet layout at peak time. (Image courtesy WH Kawasaki Retoge)

Starting from “Battle Garrega”, the future will become a scorer purveyor store………?

One time, when he met with T³-Kamui, who is the top player of "Battle Garregga" (1996 / Eating Development: Rising), Mr. H discussed the environment for the same player.
First, I brought in the "Battle Garrega" board of Mr. Kamui himself in order to do it almost in a reserved state. As a result, the same product can be operated at the same time.
In addition, we changed the lever and adjusted the continuous shooting device according to Kamui's play style.
Kamui started a score attack at the warehouse Kawasaki store in September 2019 in order to set a new personal best record in October 2014.
And on September 30th, less than a month later, he succeeded in rewriting all his scores.

Here is Kamui's Tweet on the same day.

▲Mr. Kamui who plays on his own battle garrega board, Mr. H who is working on the left back.

High Score Aggregation Some players have made requests regarding the installation of high score boards in stores that are often seen in stores.
Regarding this, the store side once gave permission, but it was not realized due to lack of personnel.
As mentioned earlier in another article "Game in Ebisen" on this website, if you can prepare an environment and operating titles that make the score attack culture exciting and the store that high scorers go to as regular customers, the warehouse Kawasaki ahead There may have been a future where the store was lively.
* Game in Ebisen, high score "Field of Dreams"!

What is the illusory "Darius II" self-made chassis operation plan?

Also, a collaborator of the reggae department was the owner of the dual-screen board of "Darius II" (1989/Taito).
I wanted to get it working, but it's difficult to reproduce a landscape game screen that connects two cathode ray tubes using a half mirror without a special case.
Although there is an example of large screen operation at Akihabara Hey, the reggae department was sticking to dual screen operation with a cathode ray tube, and was proceeding with the preparation of its own housing.
It was planned that the control panel part would be diverted from another game case, and a cathode ray tube and a half mirror would be placed as in the case of the genuine case to realize dual-screen play on a larger screen.
The equipment was on the mark, and although we had proceeded to manufacture the outer frame of the housing, it was decided to close the store during this work, and unfortunately I could not continue the work.
If this were to happen, it would be a great shame because it became a big topic.

▲The plan was to use two 29-inch CRTs. (Photo provided by Mr. H)

October 15, 2019, closing announcement

The activity is still in its second year, and we are considering further environment improvement for players (high scorers) and the introduction of a new chassis including "Darius Ⅱ". I was forced to make and implement a plan.
In addition, the sudden closure announcement became a big topic on the net, and many fans such as fans who regret closing the store and general customers who knew the warehouse Kawasaki store in the news crowded every day, and the store was crowded for a month. became.
Many customers who visited the Kawasaki store for the first time were taking pictures against the backdrop of the unique interior decoration, but there were also many people who enjoyed the retro games that they had never seen before.
Prior to the announcement, players were also overflowing in the reggae section where there were not many customers, and Mr. H spilled, "It's a complicated feeling."

▲3F reggae section corner full of many players who miss the closing. (Photographed on November 2, 2019)

Future warehouse and retoge department

As introduced in this article, the activity of the reggae club has been less than two years so far, but the warehouse Kawasaki store also has several regular customers who brought in boards and game enclosures from the beginning.
I enjoyed many valuable games at the same store because of the kindness of these people and their hard work and maintenance. I would like to thank you again here.
The game cabinet that was operating in the same store will have different destinations depending on the owner. Since the owner information of the case is not disclosed, it cannot be mentioned here.
Store-owned enclosures may run in other warehouse stores. However, as the person in charge of the store is busy with various work following the closure of the Kawasaki store, please refrain from making inquiries directly.
Operation titles are posted on the websites of each warehouse store, so it's a good idea to wait for updates.
Since the owners of individual cases are different from each other, it cannot be said unequivocally, but they are divided into the following three patterns.
・Move to another warehouse store.
・The owner is raised (removed).
・Move to another game center.
It is said that the destination of the housing of the reggae part is currently being adjusted.
Fans of each title are encouraged to follow the Twitter account of the Retoge Department and wait for future announcements.
There are also many other warehouses, especially the Mitsuhashi and Soka stores, which are large game arcades with the same exterior and interior as the Kawasaki store and the number of arcade games in operation.
Even after the Kawasaki store closes, we would like you to visit each warehouse store near you.

■ Store information (closed on November 17, 2019)
Amusement Park Warehouse Kawasaki store
Address: 3-7
Hishincho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Telephone: 044-246-2360 (Amuse floor)
Business hours: Monday to Friday 9 Hours to 23:45/Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays 7:00 to 23:45
Closed: None
Parking lot (free): 48 flats (1st floor of store) / 102 multilevel parking lots (inside flat parking lot)

footnote

01.↑Sanjo CUE Retoge Club
A Twitter account that sends information about the retro game corner on the 3rd floor of the game center "CUE Nara Sanjo Store" in Nara City, Nara Prefecture.

02.↑Escussion In
this case, the black cover that covers and protects the periphery of the cathode ray tube of the game case.