Denjin Arcade Joins Long List of Closed Fighting Game Hotspots

by Keits on August 4th, 2011 at 12:06 am

I can’t say that I’m surprised when I hear that another great arcade has closed shop, no matter where it is or how legendary it may seem to be. We have to face the fact that the arcade business model is difficult these days, and that the support of our local communities usually isn’t enough to keep these places going.

Haunts at iPlayWinner is reporting that Denjin Arcade (which played host to a ton of fighting game events over the last few years) is now closed permanently. No reason was given at this time, so all we can leave you with is sadness. It isn’t just an arcade that is dying, after all. It is part of our history and our culture.

MrSoada

Fuck man. I learned marvel here and learned to hate SFIV here
- Techits
  
  XD I love that one of your fond memories is learning to hate something.
Uno_Ken

If only the arcades here are half as popular as the Jap ones =(
- arstal
  
  Don’t worry, the Japanese arcades are going to die next. I’ll be surprised if arcade games are being made in 5 years.
  - evilben
    
    how is this a ‘dont worry’ seems more like a worry to me
  - Jul1an
    
    you’re an idiot. there wouldn’t be a chance of arcades over here closing, they’re so much more than just fighting games here. any night you go the arcades will be full of people.
BeastLeHulk

Profound sadness.
- PC Jona
  
  guy is dumb
muzras

teh sadz. :’(
SniperNightOwl

#3 beat me to it… but.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf-ANnjvrlA
Streye

Wow, we lost another great one this year. First AI and now Denjin. That’s bad times.
Gorehound

I remember the owner posting of how much he dreamt and saved to open his own arcade and it saddens me even more that it has to close down
AceKombat

What’s an arcade ?

The last time I even remembered playing a fighting game in my area at an arcade was like 9 years ago . Would of been nice to visit one of these popular arcade places everyone is talking about in the community , but sadly they are now closing .
defghui

what can we do to keep them open? WHAT CAN WE DOOOOOOOO?!
- k0rr1
  
  … ? Are you really asking this? Obviously play at the arcades more and socialize rather than stay at home. Our money keeps them open.
- Sleazoid
  
  Turn them all into Golflands.
  
  Works for MGL and SVGL.
- Expiriment Kow
  
  I think it’s more of an issue of the arcade business model being dated. No one (as in most people who wouldn’t take fighting games seriously) feels like going somewhere to spend money on games when they have them at home. In order for an arcade to thrive in this day and age, it has to latch itself on with something else, like bars, restaurants, perhaps a LAN center.
  
  It’s just a different time. Back when they truely thrived, you could walk into a damn 7-11 and see a SF2 cab. You just don’t see that anymore.
xYourMasterx

First they’re patching AE, now this. It really does suck to own a arcade in America right now, and to play fighting games. This is the best time to be a “viewer,” though….sigh
DevilJin 01

Shit only opened like 2 or 3 years ago right? Damn.
Mike_Z

R.I.P. working sticks in SoCal.
Denjin, you will be missed.
WickedElement

I played a few 3s and ST tournaments here…. Sad times….
Cillranchelllo

R.I.P. another bastion of our culture. To say this day is a sad one is an understatement without equal.
mousseduck

As someone who is old enough (I’m 33) to remember the boon of arcades and all of the fun to be had playing in them, this saddens me to no end. It’s even worse for those of us who don’t have access to many arcades to begin with, and have to make trips to go to decent ones. *Sigh* Another part of my childhood slips away…..
- rubixgroove
  
  I’m glad my older brother (around your age, Mousee) took me around to arcades when we lived in Houston & Indiana. Spent quite a bit of time on the SF2, Metal Slug and Raiden/1942 machines! My buddy and I actually made a list of all the arcades in San Antonio (TX) day before yesterday. We drove to them in hopes of playing… lets just say we didn’t get to play ANY games.
  
  Never went to Denjin but I’m still sad to see the doors close.
  Seems like the only way to save the arcade scene is to port ‘Call of Duty’ or ‘Halo’ or some equally meat-headed game and call it a day. Pathetic.
  - Foolinfection
    
    I’m using the last sentence in this comment as a sig from now on. lol
    - KowtowRobinson
      
      Even that won’t work, those “meatheaded” gamers aren’t gonna leave their homes and pump quarters into a machine.
      
      I agree with the above post that says turn them all into mini-golf/go-kart type places, an arcade on it’s own will never work again.
      - Gojira
        
        But what if you could go-kart and mini-golf at home with people online, then you wouldn’t have to go out and look for other people to go-kart and mini-golf with. Since you might live in an area with a lousy go-kart and mini-golf community.
- arstal
  
  It’s sad, but we know it has to happen. It’s an outdated business model.
N_paul

Damn, I’ve always wanted to visit this place if I was in the area. Guess I never will now.
Tactics

Crazy cause we have an Arcade in Chicago and its actually doing really well, just opened up last year too. Our scene though is blowing up for the first time though maybe that is part of the reason.
- Razing Phoenix
  
  Where is this arcade! Tell me now!
KaiSing

On the bright side, Super Arcade has been taken over by Mike Watson
pootnannies

sucks. i got to visit it once. was a very long trip for me and my friends but at least i got to play 3rd strike there for a couple hours
Duy Nguyen

Alex Arcade in the OC will live forever!!!

Believe!!!
At1as

Is Denjin a franchise or a single arcade only few people would know about?
Fran3S

evo used to be “arcade only” and then switched to consoles
yet,the very same people who “sold out” are “so very sad” about arcades closing down in america..such hypocrisy
of course,i’m sorry for the denjin guys i know..they’re nice people
- MrSoada
  
  Part of the reason Evo was able to expand was because of the switch to consoles. Cabinets are prohibitively expensive. Plus, most people were moving to consoles anyway. Arcades are dead, there isn’t much arguing that.
- Riot Guard
  
  Do you know how many cabs they would need for a1000 player tourney? Actually close to a 1000 in several games.
cryptesthesia

Denjin is still open…at FFA
deci

this arcade was gdlk.
CrownieCrown

Theres always FFA
- Broken yozeff
  
  If only it was half the arcade Denjin and AI were. Going off of the trend of arcades we don’t know there will always be an FFA.
MegamanXZero

Denjin, you will be missed
Gimpy

I think alot of it had to do with releasing games on console a month after they came out in the arcade. Over time people just got lazy and wanted to stay home rather than go to the arcade. Then came online play. The rest is history. Just one man’s humble opinion.
ukyo_rulz

I have many fond memories of playing games at the local arcade, but their time is past. Consoles just provide better value for most people.
F8 iS RiPPiN
LosCakes

Sadly, the only arcades I’ve seen able to stay open in my area are the ones in go cart and mini golf establishments.
Fenaris

I heard this mentioned during the AE pools stream on Friday. Any arcade shutting down is one more step away from history. :\
ArrogantBastard

I wish they would put SF in Chucky Cheese. That place is always busy and brings in a ton of money….It would give me something to do while my kids are running around.
- factory9
  
  I’ve seen a Chuckie Cheese with KOF Neowave in it.
orochi ryu

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Dpendleton

Come on people was not even doing the ranbats there any more from what I know.(Correct me if I am wrong) but I remember them having vids up of the tournament play and all that. Also the games you play at home are just as advanced or even better than the ones at the arcade. Technology caught up and arcades paid the price.
I hate to see that this happened as I know toms of people said it already grew up when arcades were huge. Even though I had donkey kong on the atari 2600 I still went and plopped in quarters at the arcade because it was a better experience than just sitting at home. I doubt we ever see and arcade boon again here in the states I also heard that the Japanese arcades are going through the same thing only time will tell.
Aoishi2AL

Arcades need liquor licenses if they want to stay open. A couple of poker, blackjack tables wouldn’t hurt either. Pizza, wings, hot dogs and burgers, would do so much for a business.

The prevalent thing happening now is a bar fight.

Where people bring consoles to a bar and the bar owner says: “sure, use my electricity, just pay a five dollar entree fee”, plus all the beer and liquor he sells.
freakin

The game companies stopped supporting arcades, that’s the major reason they are closing down. There’s only so long people can go to an arcade, see the exact same Raiden, Pac-Man, SF, racing, pinball games before the nostalgia factor wears off. Arcades just turned into a dirty cesspool of old games. Before anyone mentions it yes the graphical power in consoles is a big thing, but arcades don’t stand a chance when noone is making new arcade games anymore.
- Obanye
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqOIpc9D07E
Nando

Tucson will be the Fighting game Mecca soon….

but the thought of the other Arcade games going down hurts…

funny how the price of the machines never really went down…
fuck man… sad
SSJ_Sonikku

Arcades may have had there time in the sun, but those days are long gone. Even in Japan they are hanging by a thread. There is no point to arcades now a days, especially w/ console gaming now.
Zmoney2006

You know I never got to experience the whole arcade phase being a new FG in the community. I started off on consoles and while it can be fun, the whole social interaction that an arcade had the power of bringing people together was something that I truly wanted to experience. The closest thing I have to an arcade are the tourneys at the Break that I would attend on Tuesday nights with some of my more established FGC friends. I can say from those infrequent visits however that nothing touches that feeling of being surrounded by people who are just like yourself. No fear from being judged, no worries about having to look like the freshest thing on the street (still needed to be clean and hygienic of course, no one wants to smell you) but you didn’t have to be looking fresh to death as there was nobody to impress, and if you ever hit a roadblock or has a question about something there was ALWAYS someone there to tell you what you did wrong, a possible solution, and a demonstration. What console game can do that? Just saying I feel kind of gipped…
DaveTheRave

In London there used to be arcades everywhere, and most chip shops and news agents used to have street fighter. But think about it, Consoles are as good or better than arcade games now, You can buy the game for a fraction of the cost that you would end up putting into an arcade machine, and now with online gaming you can play against more variety than you would in an arcade. And lastly Shop owners don’t want thugs hanging around. My local arcade was where my lot used to be 24/7 we messed with the pool table and machines for free games and s=care doff any passers by who would spend reall money, they probaly thought they’d get robbed, so we more or less closed that place, which is sad.
ArcadeLegends

As an arcade owner (in Ohio no less), it is scary to see these places close. I knew going in that it was a dead market as all the arcades in my area had closed. I knew my place had to be more than just an arcade. I now have a media store inside, we do concerts, tournaments, comedy shows, LAN parties and anything else we can host. Without all of that, I’d probably just break even every month. As it stands, I am now two years in and am doing very well. A very big part of that is the fighting game community. No one has shown more support since the beginning, and now our scene is bigger and better than ever. I grew up in arcades and SFII:WW was what made me love fighting games. I’m so happy that all these years later, it’s FG players that keep my business alive and kicking.
donsanity

First AI now this. It has been truly a sad year for arcades. But it it true that most stand alone arcade won’t make it on it’s own nowadays. I remember back in the day arcades were everywhere from bowling alleys, 7-11s, even drug stores. Now its hard to find a good decent arcade spot.
Devon

Fuck, man I learned SSFIV here and learned to hate Marvel here.
J.Scogz

So what do we have left? Cen’s place in BK and FFA?
Ironreaver7

Man I met pretty much everyone there from Ed Ma to Combofiend. I remember the Triumvir Tournament and how packed it was….SBO Qual, SoCal Regionals and Devastation there. Anyone I kno from the FGC in SoCal I met at Denjin threw all the tournaments. I hate seeing arcades close. I was scared for Denjin the past few months…..even before I moved to Hawaii coz its not in the best location I think it would still be around if it was in an area with more of a FGC. I’m sure Bagrat will bounce back somehow. RIP Denjin Arcade 2008-2011
THEQUEENOFLOVEHD

Maybe if people stopped using the free credits trick at arcades…
Shinkada

tbh, by the time that arcades die out completely, there’ll be absolutely no excuse for lag-free online – through both better software and hardware – to be viable and reasonably priced.

It’s true that nothing will beat couch multi even when we have zero lag online, but that’s what casuals during events is for. Honestly I think everyone who doesn’t routinely see Top 8 will admit 90% of the reason they go to tournaments is for the casuals.
starkilled

Socal lost two arcades, Nor-cal gained two new arcades, plus the ones we have had for years are still open, thanks to other activities though. things are changing indeed.
Sucks, everytime I had business to attend to in the LA area I would go to Denjin after all was done. I am waiting to hear what reasons he had for going out of business.
- kampret
  
  norcal has 2 new arcades? where? someone tell me please?
  - starkilled
    
    Southtown arcade in SF and Gamecenter in San Mateo. Both use Japanese arcade cabs. Both are brand new. I am surprised and saddened at the same time that we can put up news of arcades closing down, but there’s no front page action of arcades opening up. It would also be a big help towards the businesses.
shadowcharlie

the console is the killer technology moves to fast now
CHomes

If arcades want to stay alive they need to Evolve. Coin Up is the future of arcade gaming scene I believe that to be true anyway. If more places like Coin Up existed in the UK the world would be a better place. Trocs which was a MASSIVE arcade in central london got shut down too big upset for me as I use to go there alot of times to play DDR and SF4 Vanilla back in the day. Good shit…Mean while Japs are happily paying for arcades and are in there leveling up on a daily basis.

Something about the Asian communities I wish we had stuff like that here too..
metaphist

Hows the business model for lan centers with consoles look? That’s really the only alternative to an Arcade as far as I see it. Event that would probably have to be piggy backed onto something more profitable. There’s a place near me that does laser tag combined with a lan center with consoles, and it’s been going for a long time.
- ArcadeLegends
  
  We had one of those open last year and it only lasted 3 months. It was really nice inside and they obviously sunk some money into it. It just didn’t catch on. There is another LAN place that is also a coffee shop and they are doing well it seems. So yes, you definitely need something more than just the games.
voltz

I’m really sorry for some of you who went to this place. I’m taking a guess that it has to do with either zoning, city ordinance or some other unnecessary crap we shouldn’t have to put up with.

Curious of this, how bad are gambling laws regarding vending entertainment these days?
ahdonye

The business model need to be tweaked. The games themselves cannot bring in enough cashflow. With so many people crying about haveing to pay $15-$40 each 9-12 months to keep a title updated, what makes you think they will pay $15-$40 a week at an arcade? Simply put, any arcade must be combined with another type of business. Best choice is to open more arcade/bars. If you go talk to the owner of clubs that have live music they will tell you they make nothing off the sales of tickets to see the bands. All the positive cashflow comes from the sale of booze. The earlier idea of Chucky Cheese and Jeepers type places is viable as well. Of course companies like Capcom need to make it easier to get these machines. Living in the mid Michigan area I have never seen a SF4 cabnet.
clue2025

I remember seeing the pictures and machines and everything being set up before he even opened the place. It feels like it was just a few months (a year?) ago
Riot Guard

Everything is expensive to run in Cali. I don’t know how they did it in the first place. 10 years ago maybe.
- ahdonye
  
  You have a valid point, California and New York are losing people at the highest rates. 1.6 million people left New York in the last 10 years.
Pertho

I both have to laugh and cry at some of the responses in this thread. All of us that grew up with Arcades loved them because of the game and because you got to meet people. That social part of playing fighting games is the one thing that online cannot replace. Guess I didn’t make it to cali quick enough, the two places I wanted to see have closed down.
- ahdonye
  
  True, I guess the closest u could get to a ragequitter in the arcade was someone who unpluged the machine in the middle of the match
  - Svenuser
    
    I saw a dude in Denjin get salty in the middle of a SF4 match, throw his monster energy drink at his opponent, and leave the arcade. Lol.
Beastfeast

Denjin was so dead when I was there in Feb. I knew when they didn’t have an AE cab, they were going to fall behind and something like this would happen.

It’s amazing that in August ’09, they were PACKED with people and energy over SF4 and now this.

Super bummer and RIP Denjin. Such a pretty drive from LA, too.
Preppy

That sucks. Sorry. =\
Svenuser

Damn, Denjin was right in my town, and now I don’t even know where the next nearest arcade is. I remember messing around on their Melty Blood cab, and trying out Blazblue and SF4 for the first time over there. Good times. Oh Denjin, I hardly knew ye ;_;
- Dezik
  
  FFA
  
  10363 Balboa Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
King Sky

Where I live Arcades are unfortunately a thing of the past, like Cowboys or television worth watching; so when I hear that these little pieces of yesterday have fallen victim to the sign of the times, it’s really a bummer.

Arcades are the place the community existed before the internet was around to facilitate it, so it is a true shame that Denjin Arcade and so many others have had to close their doors. Rest In Peace Denjin Arcade, here’s hoping you and your fallen comrades make a comeback.
mega_buster

well I grew up on consoles so I really didnt get into the arcade till about 08 an Ive only seen sf4 cab here in michigan till super came on consoles then I guess they sold the vanilla cabs since no one would play vanilla when super was out and I dont think we are gonna AE well at least we still have tekken 6 lol
melody

why not go the gym route and utilize a membership in an arcade? couple that with that konami cabinet where you can wirelessly download games and i think we might be able to salvage the arcade scene, though this idea is only sustainable in competitive hotspots for now
SweetJohnnyV

I had a lot of good times there. I’ll miss you Denjin…
suprez

Not surprising . I`m old enough to remember when the arcade was a popular place to hang out. Today people have and less and time . Most arcade in North America were filthy/stinky and invaded by druggies. Maybe not but most arcade had bad reputation in my local area.

Plus it’s was expensive . Today console are plugged to the internet so you can play vs other easily . I remember standing in line for hours and ended up playing for 1 minutes. You could poor hundred of bucks in a day
STAXXX

Been a while since i actually SAW an arcade out here in Nigeria, Africa, so yeah… this really aint news ’round ‘ere *wild west voice*
EA Megaman

Man we had good times there. I’m really sorry to hear it’s closing. I wish Bagrat the best… I’m really going to miss that place.
aznctguy00

ugh fuk, this place was the haven of high level 3s
PozerWolf

fuck man, this is always bad news to hear……
Spartan N30

man, sucks to hear that the classic arcades are dieing out. now a days, it seems like restaurant arcades are staying alive with no signs of stopping
http://www.facebook.com/AlexShen2011 Alex Shen

Blame it on the Simi Valley city council! Who knows whether Denjin closed or relocated somewhere?