Vintage Game Culture in Tokyo - A Bar Guide

25 Apr 2008 Category: Features, Japan, Technology

Vintage Game Culture in Tokyo - A Bar Guide

If you recognise these two sweet creatures instantly, you're part of the gang! Welcome to Tokyo's vintage game culture that gathers, for example, in several cosy bar spaces in Shinjuku. From 8bit cafe in Shinjuku 3-chome. Courtesy of Vicente Montelongo

Care for some classic Donkey Kong? How about a game in a little theme bar - in Tokyo! This megasprawl with its hundreds of cultural niches is, among so many other things, a little Mecca for vintage game lovers. For this time, PingMag walks with you through Shinjuku to a couple of lovingly decorated lounges and bars that all have one topic in common: vintage games - and you can play them! Especially for Famicom fans, this is heaven (and you can get beer too.)

Written by Verena


For you kids, this was called a “Famicom” for Family Computer. Have a look at the cassette slots back then… At the entrance of 8bit cafe.

You don’t necessarily have to be part of the generation of kids that grew up in the 80s - you can still cultivate a fond devotion to this time that brought us airbrushed T-shirts, Wham! including certain hairdos and also a certain game character named Mario…

Now, many folks are still ardent devotees to the early days of gaming. And some in Tokyo, made it their nostalgic lifestyle, opening their own small and homey spaces to adore vintage game culture. The handful we’ll be showing you today are all hidden in the tiny streets of Shinjuku’s 3-chome and 2-chome area. Even in the midst of the hundreds of tiny bars in the Golden Gai area of Kabukicho there is one retro game bar for sure. And don’t think their existence is only analogue: apart from their websites, each of those places displays their weekly events and the changing menu on mixi.

8bit cafe


A striking 8bit cafe’s logo you can’t miss outside…

… and the ‘burning panda-chan’ print inside. Lovely! Courtesy of Vicente Montelongo

The biggest, and the one with the greatest admiration for Famicom, is undoubtedly 8bit cafe in 3-chome. Right next to one of the many Shinjuku Station exit’s, this beloved little chiptune epicentre resides on the 5th floor on top of a Russian lingerie boutique. With attention to detail, this cafe/bar/play space is crammed with vintage vinyl toys, plastic models and other fan accessory, including the original packaging, displayed from a showcase. Don’t forget the consoles, the old Super Mario editions and Famicom cassettes in a vast array of colours that are here to be played!

The cosy 8bit cafe space in Shinjuku. Courtesy of Vicente Montelongo

Open from 7 p.m. to 2.30 a.m. or 5 a.m. on the week ends, you can also sit at the counter for some fine curry and listen to the 8bit tunes (when we dropped by, owner Nao put on some sweet YMCK pop for us.) It’s a spot for the regulars that love to play together: A group of boys come here every Wednesday evening, they said that they try to finish work earlier at a big ad agency, and head straight over to 8bit to hang out and play the DS or GameBoy - still all in suits, but with a creatively tousled hairdo.

Address:
8bit cafe, Q Build. 5F, Shinjuku 3-8-9. Map. Open week days from 7 p.m. to 2.30 a.m., weekends and pre-holidays until 5 a.m. Closed Tuesday. Phone: 03-3358 0407. Mixi site. Cover charge.

16shots


A sleek - and nostalgic - 16shots logo.

Walk three blocks over to 2-chome close by. There, squeeze yourself into the slot called 16shots to talk about good old video games, as the info on mixi states. So true! A bar consists basically of a long counter, elaborately decorated with games of the 80’s and other game memorabilia. It bears its name from the famous gamer, Takahashi Meijin, who was able to shoot 16 times per second in the Adventure Island game from the late 80s, as owner ‘Jyuroku’ explains in Jason DeGroot’s awesome Point videocast.

Also, a prominent video game table is waiting just for you. Practice your skills while you think of the 16 shots…

Address:
16shots, Shinjuku 2-3-8. Map. Open Mon to Thu from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., Fri and Sat from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Phone: 03-6379 4335. Mixi site. Cover charge.

Qunai Bros.


The Qunai Bros.’ lovely game screen resembling logo.

Hidden in the basement, next to an illustrious Dart place, this quite sympathetic and also very tiny bar is called Qunai Bros. On the wall, Famicom cassettes are literally piling up on the shelves and the very friendly owner lets you play, sometimes. However, to maintain its reclusivity, he didn’t want to let the place be exposed too much, so we can’t reveal you more details about its whereabouts in the Golden Gai jungle… Instead:

Bonus: Bar Plastic Model


Oh! A little Robo song! On our wish list at Bar Plastic Model.

Though this bar doesn’t fit in fully to the game theme, Bar Plastic Model is a treasure we have to let you know about. Stuffed in another small Golden Gai street, this bar is not so much about the actual plastic models but about their thematic appearance of pop/rock/metal songs, namely trashy late 70s and 80s!

Explained on their site, owner Sekine drew inspiration from the Japanese synth pop combo P-Model and their In a model room album. A lasting impression was left by The Plastics (watch their sweet video clip here) as well. Meaning, on the counter are stacks of 12” of all kinds of genres, but often somehow involved thematically with plastic. You can sift through all of them, choose one and the friendly folks will play it for you at once!

Guess which game! An accessory at Bar Plastic Model.

Address:
Bar Plastic Model, Kabukicho 1-1-10, Shinjuku. Map. Open daily from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., Sunday until 2 a.m. Phone: 03-5273 8441. Mixi site. Cover charge.


A unique 8bit cafe’s Tee for devotees. Wanna have that (sorry for the wrinkles.)

A note: all these spaces are tiny, and to be able to make a living, they all have a cover charge. Also, they spent a lot of time and effort in gathering all sorts of memorabilia, so please respect that. And if you’re a true game enthusiast, you’ll find the most welcoming, like-minded people!

Last but certainly not least, a HUGE thanks to Jason DeGroot and Jean Snow for their kind help! Watch Jason’s Point videocast with interviews about 8bit cafe and 16shots and other aspects of game culture in Japan, peoplz!

63 Comments

  1. Guess which game!
    聖飢魔II 悪魔の逆襲 (Seikima II: The Devil Strikes Back).

    Demon Kogure’s (the guy on the 16×16 tile) recent cover albums are great by the way.

    Posted by: ale/pepino on April 25th, 2008 at 7:46 pm

  2. Things like “Famicom” has been very popular in Poland in mid ‘90 (lol)

    Posted by: Tomek on April 25th, 2008 at 8:49 pm

  3. Cool post - I’m looking forward to going back to Japan even more now! Last time I went I spent ages in Super Potato; these look even more fun.

    Posted by: Alex on April 25th, 2008 at 10:24 pm

  4. amazing! one of the best concepts i’ve ever seen to a bar!

    Posted by: rodrigo on April 26th, 2008 at 4:09 am

  5. [...] guide to lounges and bars in Tokyo that have vintage games and let you play [...]

    Posted by: Blog Bites | katize.com - weblog of Kat and Lars on April 26th, 2008 at 5:57 am

  6. 8bit cafe is more of a saturday afternoon kick before you go onto something else, it was quite fun when I was there last beer was nice, and me and my friend challenged these guys to 4 player mario kart. :)

    Posted by: rich on April 26th, 2008 at 6:55 am

  7. I love how the japanese embrace their geek-dom without shame… If only americans would do the same. Next time I’m in Tokyo I’ll have to check some of these places out!

    Posted by: Chingwa on April 26th, 2008 at 10:46 pm

  8. Brooklyn, NYC has a bar with a similar idea… Barcade…

    Posted by: lotus on April 27th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

  9. Ironic how ‘designers’ or people in the creative industry are into video games.

    Back in the day peps in art college were saying that it was mind numbing and time consuming, geeky etc.

    Oh well it’s all part of a trend.

    Posted by: Anonymous on April 28th, 2008 at 3:11 am

  10. so cool, i love it!

    from china.

    Posted by: boplover on April 28th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

  11. [...] of Retro Games related news have recently caught our eye: while Ping Mag takes us out on a tour on vintage game culture in Tokyo, adidas have come up with a couple of nice games as part of their Originals campaign. Take a chance [...]

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  12. The 8bit cafe is so nice! And they have a big box of almost every Famicom game you can think of. Plus, Nao is such nice fellow, and he put on some of our favorite chiptunes while we had tea… orz

    Posted by: mexist on May 3rd, 2008 at 3:00 am

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