I didn’t understand the magic of arcades until I visited one in Japan

digitaltrends.com:

It took me visiting a Taito Station arcade in Japan to truly understand what makes arcades special.

I’ve always been infatuated with arcade-inspired games. I enjoy revisiting those classics and love learning about their history and importance to the game industry. By the time I was old enough to feel all that, though, arcades had died out in North America. I’m most familiar with arcades as part of larger establishments like Dave & Buster’s or bowling alleys rather than standalone entities. While I frequented Galloping Ghost Arcade when I lived in Chicago, that arcade put all of its games into free play and was more focused on preservation. That changed during my visit to Japan.

Last month, I was in Osaka to play the first five hours of Monster Hunter Wilds and tour Capcom’s headquarters. While I was busy with work for a lot of the trip, I knew I had to visit a Japanese arcade and did so before heading out for my flight back to the United States. I’m grateful that I took the time to do this because playing arcade games in their true, natural context gave me a deeper appreciation for their tactility and design philosophies than I ever have had before.

Prize games

The arcade I visited in Japan was Taito Station Osaka-nipponbashi. While Taito is an arcade brand that feels dead in the United States nowadays, several arcades bearing the Space Invaders creator’s name can be found around Japan. Like many buildings in Osaka, this Taito Game Station built into a space with more verticality than width. It squeezed right between two other storefronts but still stood out thanks to the arcade’s massive logo (which stuck out even behind some electrical wires) and many claw machines on the first floor.

I strolled into this Game Station and exchanged some of