Arcade Paradise

What a thing. Arcade Paradise made me think of Outrun and GTA and Mr Driller, and also my own working life in my teens as a dishwasher and a double-glazing salesperson, sure. But it also made me think of those mazes tiled on the walls of Warren Street tube. Warren Street! Get it? Little puzzles made to be solved between trains, but tricky enough to encourage you to miss your train in the first place. Then you solve the maze and you're off into a wider maze of the underground network. And maybe, who knows, there's a maze beyond that too.

Arcade Paradise not only looks cool, but the running of your business is fun and enjoyable, and the arcade games are wonderfully designed.

You’re just playing games, waiting for the quarters to pile up so you can buy the next upgrade. Even if Arcade Paradise instead tried to present an authentic representation of the arcade experience, I feel that would have added more value. Instead, it sits in an uncomfortable middle ground like a directionless teenager.

Arcade Paradise is a superb management sim that puts you in the shoes of both the arcade manager and the player. Whether you are an old arcade head like me or somebody who can only view things through a historic lens, there is so much to enjoy here. Once you get past the necessary grind of the opening hours the game opens up to become an almost encyclopaedic slice of arcade life. Even when you’ve upgraded the arcade, there are always high scores to chase too.

Arcade Paradise comes across as a little confused, sometimes: if the premise of the game is that you’re running an arcade in your father’s laundromat in secret, for instance, then why is your dad the one paying you bonuses for those daily gaming challenges? It has the feel of a game that changed shape a few times over the course of its development.

Arcade Paradise is a casual but satisfying management sim soaked in good feeling and ‘90s vibes, but it’s also a story about finding success in what you love in life. Though there are some missed opportunities and the customisation options are limited, the quality of the roster of playable arcade cabinets, the attention to detail, and the striking audiovisual presentation all go to make this one game worth cleaning up your act for.

I miss the days when I could still stumble across arcades. A few machines tucked away next to a food court or in a train station. They were the most impractical of ways to play games. They were expensive, noisy, and sometimes just plain broken. However,...