New Arcade in NorCal (with a healthy Neo selection) (interest check)

Hello there. I have lurked these forums for a long time, and now I want to ask for your help. I am planning to open a new arcade in the San Francisco bay area. I have a majority of the financing lined up and I have a few locations in mind. But in order to really pull the trigger on this, I need data. A lot of it.

First, a little on the goals of the place I envision. I want to make this a player's arcade. That means no ticket games, no cheap trinkets, none of those thinly veiled versions of slot machines for children. I want to offer entertainment that will stick with people. Just like a good movie stays with you and makes you think about it throughout the week, I want to offer games that will "stay" in much the same fashion. That means the games have to be substantive and offer a unique experience for the people who come and play it. The list of games is as follows:

*Street Fighter 4 (4 linked hi res cabs)
*Blaz Blue (2 linked hi res cabs)
*Tekken 6 Bloodline Rebellion (2 linked hi res cabs)
*Gundam vs. Gundam (4 linked cabs)
*Marvel vs. Capcom 2
*Capcom vs. SNK 2
*Ikaruga
*DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu
*Super Puzzle Fighter Turbo
*Neo Geo multi (King of Fighters 98, Garou Mark of the Wolves, The *Last Blade 2, Metal Slug 3, all of these of course variable)
*Possibly 1 or 2 large dedicated cabinets like Dance Dance Revolution or Initial D or the like.

As I mentioned before, I want this to be a player's arcade. So this list will change with the wishes of the players. As well, for the players there will be weekly tournaments and prizes for things like single credit clearing the various scrolling shooters, posting videos online of tournaments, ect ect.

So in order to get an idea of what is important to you, I am asking for no more than 2 mintues of your time in filling out 6 questions in this survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=DJ3YYET1ZxvZB821cGNxTQ_3d_3d

But perhaps just as important as catering to the already established players, this place will only thrive if it can bring in NEW gamers, and show them that the arcade can offer unique things that the home experience cannot. Any ideas concerning that would be very helpful. Some ideas I have are:

1. Hold "clinics" for various games where a number of people could pay a set amount, the particular game would be turned to free play, and the people who signed up could play on it for a block of time (both winner and loser would have to get off, increasing rotaton and playtime for everyone).

2. Keep games updated and rotating, so that the same crowd doesn't just rule over the same set of games. Everyone will have to learn something new once in a while.

I am also considering secondary sources of income such as:

1. Snacks and drinks, really a given.
2. Offering a small showcase/shelf space for people who make custom sticks and the like
3. Offering arcade parts.

Please keep any ideas you might have coming along. And please circulate the survey to as many people as you know who might be interested. The more data I have, the better I can know if this can (or cannot) work.

Sincerely,
Myung Kim

New arcades are always a good thing.

I did the survey. If you have an arcade like this in the Sunnyvale/Cupertino/Mountainview Area or even San Jose and have some of the older Capcom games (like CVS2, MVC2 and Street Fighter 3 third strike etc) as well as SF4 you will literally shut down SVGL as they just got SF4 (they have Tekken 6 BR but they have not bothered with the serious 2D crowd and it's pissing us off. We all went to keystone ii in the past, but it is no longer running really, then we went back to SVGL, everyone would rather have an arcade with fighters and shmups that isnt SVGL.

You must have 3rd Strike, it draws on average 5-10 players every single day and more on weekends. In the past, as many as 20-25.

Do yourself a favor and post this at shoryuken.com in the pacific north thread. You will get all the data you need.

I wish you could open one in North Carolina. Seems like Cali is the only place they still open them. Good luck. I hope ou are successful.

Maybe u could get at least a couple of 6-slot Neo cabs. That way you could have at least 12 Neo games (and rotate them). Some of the games could be: KOF98, KOF2003, Metal Slug 1/X/3, Last Blade 1/2, Mark of the Wolves, Pulstar, Blazing Star, Shock Troopers, SVC Chaos, the Samurai Shodown series, and Last Hope (when it comes out on MVS).
Street Fighter 4 is a good one to get as it's not that common in America.
Also CPS1, CPS2, CPS3 games- SF2Turbo, SFA2, SFA3, SF3 3rd Strike.
One of the ways Japanese arcades use to keep players coming back is memory cards (that save scores, customized player characters etc- like the Neo card but more advanced). It's something that's never been properly implemented in Western arcades.
Maybe you could run it as a sort of club, where people join and feel part of the scene.

thchardcore said:

You must have 3rd Strike

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He isn't lying about that

Having one or two beat em ups isnt a bad idea either. Aliens Vs. Predator, Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow over Mystaria, or Final Fight might help you have a more rounded arcade.


If you have a Neo MVS, I highly recommend having Samurai Showdown 2 in one of those slots.

I have found that the true gamer arcades that keep popping up only get a decent crowd of fighters. Shmups, brawlers, puzzlers and classics don't bring the crowds in at all. All the music arcades (meaning DDR, GM, TDM, on and on) are usually pretty busy too. That guy that had that arcade in winchendon had a lot of fighters in there 'cause that's what was moving thge business, then the music setups and then the driving setups. There was a Galuda II or Galuda I in there and it rarely got any play at all.

I think you should start with the fighters and then go from there in a form of a concensus but not online, rather offer it to people that actually bother to go there, the customer in front of the door is always more valuable than any poyential customer outside of it. Maybe even do both, but keep your priorities in order to keep the business afloat. The Arcade business is hard, I used to run an arcade in the Orlando airport and man, it was rough times, even there were parents used to drop kids like it was a freaking kinder garden, the business wasn't that good, we had a lot of redemption games and skeeball to make up for the lack of business in tokens alone.

As electricgrave said, get ready for hell. The concept you have is solid, but you're going to need more backing it. Right now, I'm in a very similar process for the SC area (in the "need a building with sufficient electrical workings" phase).

One piece of advice I can give you is you're going to want something to appeal to everyone, not just one particular group.

Schmups and Fighters tend to net the most, but having a nice variety will do you well in the long run. I'd say get one or two beat-em-ups (gauntlet does quite well) and maybe one or two retro games. The occasional bemani title (dunno how it is on the west coast but dance cabs do pretty good here) might also serve you well.

You could also throw in some hella random games to shits n' giggles, not something insanely off the wall that no one will play, but something that people would play like Mr. Driller. Couple MVS cabs wouldn't be a bad idea, but just make sure that there's want to play them. Sadly, as much as I like it, no one plays Garou down here.

Lastly, make sure you have alot of financial backing before you do this, the first few months are going to be rough, especially in these times. Other than that, good luck!

BTW: You really do need a 3rd strike.

I've never gone to many arcades because I never lived near them. Now I live in Santa Cruz and the Santa Cruz Boardwalk arcade is practically walking distance (provided I want to walk through the shady neighborhood between me and the boardwalk).

Now that I'm into the whole arcade thing I really wish there were more, so a new one opening up sounds awesome.

I took the survey but here are a couple other things I just had to get off my chest.

People still like old games, especially when they are cheap. Santa Cruz has a Retro Corner, or two actually, and they actually get a fair bit of play. Nowhere near as much as the newer stuff but its nice to play stuff thats only 25cents a game, instead of the $1 for time crisis. Plus I see Santa Cruz mentioned in video-game news pretty often for having a good retro selection, it seems like good publicity. There is never a time where I'm not down for some Galaga, Marble Madness, Arkanoid with the proper wheel controller or some Vector Starwars.

Santa Cruz has a lot of music/rhythm games, I never play them and they are expensive, but tons of people do. I'll see people on DDR, Guitar Hero, and that drum game non stop and never see a single person on the Neo Geo 4 slot. As annoying as they may be to the true gamers here, Guitar Hero and DDR get a lot of people into arcades that would normally never go to one.

Repair your shit! I doubt I really need to mention this but its annoying as all hell. Santa Cruz has a good selection, but its not very well maintained sometimes. Having a busted up Rampage cab is one thing, but when the P1 joystick on the huge MvC2 at the center of the arcade is complete hit or miss it makes you not want to come back. Especially now that I know how cheap and easy it would be to replace one Happ joystick.

General arcade gripes aside, I'd totally drive over 17 to come to your arcade if its in the San Jose area. It sounds like you plan on having some sweet games (hell yes for do don pachi! ) which is a big problem in a lot of arcades. Santa Cruz has some boring soccer game and 8 man in their 4 slot.....8 man? seriously? At least the other two slots are MS3 and Last Resort!

electricgrave said:

I think you should start with the fighters and then go from there in a form of a concensus but not online,

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Ok, I know I just made a big post about what I'd like in your arcade, but electricgrave has a very good point. I love arcades but I'm 26, I don't go to them often and I want to play the games I grew up playing in arcades. It's those kids that'll drop by every day after school to dump any change they can find that will be much more valuable customers, find out what they want, because they will actually show up on a regular basis, I won't. If you open up an arcade near me I will be there no doubt, but I won't do it often enough to be a valuable customer, I just don't have the time.

Great idea! I've just finished filling out the survey.

A Neo Geo dedicated cab would be nice!
Good luck!

a bit off topic...

i was in SF a few weeks back to run the marathon... did some sight seeing. the metreon arcade? omg! it's like crane-game heaven! that is to say, it sucked. there was also an arcade museum on the wharf with shit from like the 19th century... and...



i forget the titles... we noted them somewhere... anyway, the cabs were in decent shape, had quality games, and they even had one of those neo photo booths!

that is a great picture, you look totally excited.

Never been to that arcade museum, where is it exactly? Peir 39? I remember they used to have an arcade.

I don't know anything.

My gut tells me that SF4 is like buying a new car (depreciating asset). I'd buy one or two... not 4... and test it out first... unless you got your numbers from other arcades in the area (but by the time you get this moving, things can change).

I filled out the survey. I'd try to check it out. Yeah you're gonna need 3rd strike. I'd like to see Super Turbo and maybe Alpha 3 as well. I'd try to make it get down on the cvs2 stuff. I'd also like to check out DKF.

That coin-op museum on the wharf is Museum Mechanique - one of my favorite places in the city. Everything for a quarter, too!

http://www.museemechanique.org/

Anyways, I'd love an arcade like this, but I'm not super hardcore at any fighters, so it really depends on the atmosphere of the play - if I show up and lose in 10 seconds to anyone in the joint, then I wouldn't be coming back.

I don't have any other game selections to advise, except its always awesome to see a classic multiplayer game like Guantlet or Rampart.

Having beer would be nice.

There are a number of bars in the city that use cocktail cabs as tables (Elbo Room being one of my favorites) and its friggin awesome seeing arcade machines blend in with the bar scene.

Finch said:

that is a great picture, you look totally excited.

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it was 100% pose. i was surprised at first, but not even excited enough to play them... i've got 'em at home :P

and somebody else told you where it is

To tell you the truth, ever since I started my arcade collection, I meet about 30 people who are into arcades. We all have over 15+ games each, and 1 person in the group have 50+ games. There may not be any arcade business anymore, but there are still a lot of personal arcades. What Im getting at is there are more arcades now than there were ever been.