Japanese Sega theme park pics

I've been to the old Shinjuku Joypolis, which Sega closed a while back. It was cool but it's really just a big arcade... which itself is a rarity in the States anymore. It was maybe a little bigger than some of Sega's other game centers in Tokyo, though... impressive for sure, but after a week or so touring Tokyo arcades, maybe not as much as I was expecting it to be.

I haven't been to Odaiba for a while but I wonder what they mean about it being "rejuvenated" - it's always been home to some funky stuff, and used to have a big SNK "theme park" as well (they're using that term pretty loosely). In fact, I wonder if the Sega Joypolis *is* the old SNK building. Anyone know?

whatever happened to the Sega World in London? is it still there? pretty much the same thing as Joypolis JPN.
i'd spend every other day during my month and half visit inside that place.... geekin' out every cell of my Sega fan body.
anything like that in the States? the GameWorks in Las Vegas? not even close.

Looks like SEGA's GameWorks arcades here in the States.

There was an accident on one of the rides, which had shut down Joypolis, I wanna say a year ago.

Hadn't realized it was back in operation.

Went to a couple of these a few years back. They had some pretty neat stuff there, like a 'virtual fighting' thing, where it was just a central post that rotated, and these foam pads would come at you and hit you, unless you hit these light up pads.

They also had standard arcade fair, as well as laser tag, and a version of the Jurrasic Park shooter that was built into one of those rollar coaster simulators, so it rocked around, and blew air in your face. It was pretty cool.

Wish they had something like that here in the states.

Man i wish America's arcades hadn't gone down the dumps... i think places like Dave & Busters and Jillians killed it, who knows. i just wish they'd bring them back somehow.

It broke my heart when i went to the movies last year paid for my ticket knowing the movie didn't start for another hour. Walked across the mall only to find the Acrade shut down.. this sucks.

There's also a Joyopolis in Yamagata-shi, about 2 hours north of Tokyo on the shinkansen. I make mention of it because it's weird having such a nice thing like that out in the middle of the country side. Yamagata may have a decent number of people living there, but it's nothing compared to Tokyo.

I only bothered to visit Club SEGA in Akihabara, and it was a tad underwhelming. Probably because I expected more out of a 4 story arcade, and it was just what it was. A 4 story arcade.

I've been to joypolis in odaiba... it is very similar to sega world in london (which i've also been to). This place is pretty cool... has the newest arcade games, and a roller coaster inside. It's pretty huge and has some cool attractions but the entrance price is steep if i remember correctly. Unfortunately, I went to this place a few years ago so it could be totally different. I'd say the Bandai museum is a million times cooler and much more worth the enterance than this place is. Go there when you're in tokyo.

I too have been to the Odiaba joypolis, its ok but it takes to long to get on the rides, the staff go through their safety speeches every time someone gets on and for a 3 minute ride you have 4 mins of listening to them, it gets very annoying.

Its quite good as a one off but not worth it I think it costs about £15-£20 for a day ticket but then you pay for the arcades.

Go to akiharbara instead! that place is cool if you like arcades and retro stuff.

I triple the comment on the Joypolis in Odaiba.
It's pretty fun (I've been twice in the past two years) and the half-pipe ride is pretty amazing. I do have to admit I was scared out of my pants on last years Grudge/Cellphone-based haunted house. It was definately a spectacle that many Japanese probably won't forget: a tall black man screaming like a bitch and running out at full speed. Needless to say, my girlfriend wasn't impressed. Also, if anyone does go, make sure you're not taller than 6' and try to ride the airplane, jeep or river boat rides. You will have your gonads crushed.

I have been to the Joypolis at Odaiba Beach, its in the Odaiba Banks buildings (2 large malls are connected to that complex) and was quite disappointed. The dayticket did not pay out in my eyes. The (very small) roller coaster was closed and the only other attraction really worth mentioning was the halfpipe which was a lot of fun. But the other rides are just the typical "hydraulic chair shakes you a bit while watching a movie for 5 minutes" type. Maybe I am just getting to old for these. The wild wings ride was still funny i must admit, gave you a bit the impression of sitting in a plane. But what really pissed me off was that the arcade games (Coin up) werent included in the day ticket, so spending a lot of 100 Yen coins is what you are doing. Well the games there werent much interesting anyways, only one really worth mentioning is Segas driving school as its a quite unique machine you wont find in many other arcades.

If you are really after the classic arcades then my tip would be Shinjuku, many of the classic 5-6 stories arcades with the usual machines. At Shibuya the "Shibuya Kaikan" is a tip, the only arcade where i still found a densha-de-go machine at top floor.

At Akihabara i was disappointed by "Club Sega" - dirty toilets, no really rare machines and as most modern japanese arcades 1st floor only the boring "UFO" grabber machines, and 2 floors with the boring "medal" games (where you try to make more medals, kinda gambling) and 1 floor wasted with the usual annoying Prikura machines (making photos there in the machine, do some editing and get some small stickers). I hate Ufo/Prikura/Medal, but these days such machines waste around half of the space or more from normal japanese arcades.

Stick to Shibuya and Shinjuku if you are looking for some rare/unusual machines, so many arcades there. Avoid Odaiba Banks Joypolis if you aren't into the hydraulic "short movie" rides, waste of time and money in my eyes.