Original article hand written 26th February 2000.
Ahh, where to start. In the year 2000 as I write this, Funland has undergone a number of changes inside the Trocadero centre located in Piccadilly Circus. Its two main floors closed last summer and that is where most of the arcade action was found. Funland is gradually being assimilated into the multi-floor complex previously occupied by Sega World, which closed its doors not too long ago. So, when the ‘new’ Funland opens it will be a towering behemoth in comparison to the ‘old’ two floor Funland. And, judging by the posters advertising the new arcade, there will be a heavy slant towards other gaming activities such a bowling, pool and prize games. It would not surprise me if there was a watering down of the video games content which is something affecting the whole arcade scene with the advent of more powerful home console and computing hardware.
This review is therefore initially focused on the ‘old’ two floor Funland, once a arcade gaming palace hosting some defining moments in electronic entertainment. My original discovery of this massive leisure centre came through researching an article in ‘ACE’ gaming magazine around the spring or summer of 1989 or 1990. The magazine article had a section devoted to arcades where it mentioned this new gaming centre as ‘the largest of its kind in the UK’. I was hooked, very curious to seek it out. And so I ventured into the West End of London one Sunday morning, heading in the direction of the tourist haven that is Piccadilly Circus to find out if reality and magazine hype were on a par.
As I walked by the famous statue of Eros I recalled the description in ACE magazine but it was very vague with only Piccadilly Circus any location of note. So the search continued for another half hour or so walking into nearby streets and side alleys before finding myself back with Eros. Maybe it was a sign from the Greek god of love that guided me towards my heart’s desire, at that moment in time anyway, because as I looked across to a large ornate building with arched doorways leading to shop fronts, I noticed something as my gaze ascended to the first floor. There, through a window I could clearly make out a R-360simulator, a technical marvel created by Sega to provide the motion simulator aspect for their arial combat title ‘G-Loc’.
Wow, so that had to be Funland, right? I quickly set off towards this conspicuous looking building which I later found out was the famous Trocadero entertainment complex housing other leisure activities besides the arcade.
I think the first time I entered Trocadero was by an escalator to the side of the main entrance which incidentally was a shortcut to Funland. At the top there were a set of automatic doors and once you passed through one of four entrances to Funland was found immediately to the left.
At last, my quest was successful and I found myself in the biggest games arcade in London at the time. And Funland was big, it was very big, covering two vast floors. On this first visit I came across some the biggest and best games and cabinets of the era. Namco’s groundbreaking Winning Run was found on four deluxe simulator cabinets linked for competitive play. Appearing in 1989 it used polygons to run a formula one style racing game, the technology was ahead of its time. It was using lots of flat shaded polygon to create the visual feast and each machine reportedly cost in the region often thousand pounds, so finding four of them was very going to be rare and special. Namco had developed propriety hardware to render the graphics and called it the ‘System 21 Polygoniser’ you can read about, as I did back in the day, from Commodore User magazine, archived here. Winning run was a great example of new technology being ushered in by arcades and Sega, a key competitor to Namco through the 1990s, also delivered gaming delight that were visceral and technically accomplished. Their contribution at the time was none other than a simulation of formula one titled ‘Super Monaco GP’ and four deluxe linked cabinets could be found in another section of Funland.
Although it used bitmapped sprites rather than polygon to create the graphics, Sega had mastered their use to such a degree that the onscreen visuals were excellent and very detailed. The hardware used to realise Super Monaco GP was probably an evolution of their ‘Super Scaler’ technology that powered earlier classics like Space Harrier, Outrun and After Burner. Importantly, just like the aforementioned classics, Super Monaco GP had that special element of the player wanting just one more go after the game over screen appeared. Furthermore, whereas Winning Run did not appear to attract much attention from visitors inside the arcade, the four linked Super Monaco GP cabinets had a constant crowd around them as the next eager customer stepped into cabinets to take their turn when the previous player had finished. Super Monaco GP was not just an audio and visual treat, it had the all important factor that kept players coming back for more and that factor was gameplay.
From the moment you stepped inside the imposing cockpit cabinet, inserted your credit in the coin slot and pressed the start button, the bass on the sound system began booming together with the seat jerking you into position using Sega’s own patented ‘Air Drive’ system to simulate movement in tandem with the onscreen action, you were hooked. The deluxe cabinet was a thing of beauty in itself. A cuboid shape to represent the front-mid section of a formula one car, it was adorned with decals and logos to further highlight its F1 lineage. There was also a rather useful map of the Monaco circuit with key corners and hazards labelled.
Another notable racing game was Namco’s Final Lap, again, as a number of linked cabinets. This was the spiritual successor to their classic Pole Position games from the early 1980s. At Funland, I believe it was Final Lap 2 that was on display. Although there was a passing interest in the game from arcade goers, it Sega’s F1 gem that continually proved a winner with the crowd.
Away from racing games, Funland was a labyrinth of upright cabinets playing host to a wide variety of titles and gaming styles. This was the JAMMA cabinet era with new games appearing regularly from the likes of Sega, Namco, Capcom, Taito, SNK and many more. For example, Irem was a Japanese games developer that might not have been as big as Sega or Namco with their large extravagant cutting edge games, but that didn’t stop Irem from producing some memorable titles including the legendary R-Type series. A horizontal shoot-em-up with beautiful graphics and catchy music and sound effects, Funland had this running in one of its upright cabinets and it did not disappoint in the gameplay stakes either.
Another great horizontal shoot-em-up was Konami’s classic Gradius series.Whereas in R-Type the players spaceship would have the opportunity to upgrade its defences and firepower at pre-defined section of the game, Gradius let players choose the upgrades for their spaceship at will. Funland at some time or another featured the many sequels toGradius and R-Type because shoot-em-ups were big business in arcades with numerous other protagonists appearing to add a twist to the genre. And then there was the scrolling beat-em-up. Started with the likes of Taito’s Renegade and fine tuned t great effect with the revered Double Dragon from Technos. The latter gave you and a second player if they so desired to help you on a set of ‘missions’ to infiltrate the local street gang that had kidnapped you girlfriend. Cue a set of atmospheric and ever changing background scenery as you travel from the city streets into the forest and finally the enemy hideout where you eventually face your arch nemesis, the aptly named ‘Mr Big’ for the final showdown to decide if you get the girl or not. Double Dragon lay the foundation and set the key ingredients for beat-em-up titles from other developers for years to come, culminating in the 3D tour the force that only Sega could produce inits technically crafted multiplayer extravaganza called ‘SpikeOut’.
A special mention here must go to Capcom’s seminal Final Fight. Many a coin was slotted into this cabinet that went on to produce one of the best memories I have of playing at the old Funland in the summer of either 1989 or 1990. A friend and I decided to play through to the end as the game was running on a large Sega Mega Lo or similar cabinet with a 50 inch projection screen. As we played we were initially unaware that our efforts were attracting the attention or more than a handful of passers by. About halfway through the game I looked around and was amazed to find a crowd of 20-25 onlookers watching my friend and I proceed through the levels. This spurred us on even more as the kudos of having a large crowd appreciate our game playing prowess game us the extra push to see Final Fight through to the end. Wow, what a moment!
Now, most of the gaming activity was found on the first floor, however, a small escalator was one way to reach the second floor, the other being a wide staircase inside the main floorspace. This upper floor house other gaming activities, most notably a bowling alley. In the early days I rarely ventured to the top floor but do recall a handful of candy style cabinets showing off some video games.
As the years went by Funland was the place to be if you wanted to play the latest and greatest. When the Street Fighter 2 craze took off in the early 1990s, Funland had a favourable selection of cabinets of all sizes on which to enjoy the game. Memorably, because of it vast floorspace, Funland had several large screen sit down Mega Lo type cabinets running the game. So, if it was a tournament style atmosphere you were after and wanted to watch some of the best players face-off whilst showing of a range of strategies and tactics, then Funland was the place the be. I recall most of these large cabinets with Street Fighter 2 being placed near the main entrance of the first floor, hence and ideal spot the grad the attention of both casual visitors and hardcore players alike.
Of course bigger things were on the way, literally! With the advent of mainstream 3D gaming, Sega took centre stage first with the arrival of the marvellous Virtua Racing. Funland took pride in having four deluxe cabinet linked for competitive play. The cabinets themselves were a technical tour de force with unique large widescreen CRT displays and a simulation system that took the pioneering air drive system from their Super Monaco GP cabinets to the next level. Again, the cabinets were strategically placed near the main entrance and on almost every visit I noticed a fairly large crowd of onlookers wowed by the spectacular graphics as players took each other on racing around fictional racing circuits rendered in mesmerising an smooth 3D polygons.
And then along came Daytona USA, a classic example of Sega upstaging itself with a cutting edge combination of graphics, sound, cabinet design and of course all important gameplay. They took what they had learned from Virtua Racing and upped the stakes with the new Model 2 arcade hardware powering Daytona USA. Where the Model 1 used in Virtua Racing allowed flat shaded polygon to be pushed around at a smooth 30 frames a second, Model 2 added texture maps to the polygons and was now moving them at 60 frames a second. The result, a simulation of the Daytona GP, with more colourful and smoother graphics than Virtua Racing. Funland managed to connect not 4 but 8 deluxe sit in cabinets to spectacular effect, the crowds got bigger and the queue to play the game was constant. This is probably the greatest moment and memory for me from arcade gaming the the 1990s. Arcades were at the height of their popularity and the arrival of games like Daytona USA confirmed that 3D gaming was going to become the dominant entertainment standard.
Daytona also holds the record for the most plays in one visit for me at a staggering 20 credits at £1 a play! Yes, it was that good and I just could not get enough. Alongside Outrun, Daytona USA is one of the greatest arcade racing titles where, unlike Outrun until the arrival its sequels, you can play against other human opposition. The audio-visual spectacle was ahead of its time and the racing circuit designs, particularly the expert seaside circuit are masterful and technically very accomplished. Just the crowds of onlookers together with players queuing for a go was testament to Sega’s achievement. Daytona USA set the gold standard for a perfect marriage between its state of the art Model 2 generated graphics and fined tuned gameplay whether you were racing against the highly clever yet beautifully unpredictable artificial intelligence or the varied human players with their outrageous and just as erratic manoeuvres.
Just a few short months before the appearance of Daytona USA, Sega’s arch rival, Namco, stole the show with their 3D own crowd pleaser, the sensational Ridge Racer, running from their cutting edge System 22 arcade board. The texture mapped 3D generated graphics were the first of their kind but it’s debatable and probably a non-starter to begin arguing over who was first with this visual achievement because both Sega and Namco both contributed something valuable and defining to the gaming industry by ushering in three dimensional graphics.
Hence, System 22 would go onto produce the equally impressive, but I feel underrated multiplayer F1 racer, entitle Ace Driver in 1995. Funland got the full four player deluxe linked setup and it has to be said these motion cabinets were impressive in their design and quality and precision of movement. Personally, I think Ace Driver did not get the recognition it deserved as it was overshadowed by Daytona USA, that where the crowds and players amassed, Ace Driver received a modest reception from onlookers and participants. In all Ace Driver was removed barely a year later, a shame because I had plenty of fun playing it trying to master the intricacies of its sole racing circuit.
In the post Street Fighter 2 era, Capcom introduced a number of sequels and newer titles including Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo and the unusual and innovative Darkstalkers series. And then there was X-Men which started the ball rolling for the ‘versus’ series of games with character crossovers from their various fighters and later the Marvel comic book universe. Each title was successful in its own way, for example, Marvel vs Capcom 2 was looked upon as one of the better offerings.
Capcom was met with competition in the 2D space from companies like Midway with its Mortal Kombat series that was introduced in arcades during 1992. Like Atari’s old Pit Fighter game, Mortal Kombat used digitised graphics to produce its visual spectacle. But the similarities ended there with Pit Fighter because Mortal Kombat relied on blood and gore to sell itself to gamer bored with the cartoon style of Street Fighter. And, it worked. But it seemed that the actual gameplay mechanics, for me at least, lacked the depth and precision of Street Fighter and later SNK titles like its Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series. Anyhow, Funland had Mortal Kombat and each of its sequels all the way up to number four. Similarly, Midway published Killer Instinct, another title to use more advanced digitised graphics. The game was produced by legendary UK based software developer Ultimate Play the Game, renamed Rare in the 1990s who were acquired by Nintendo in 1995 and then Microsoft in 2002.
However, it was left to Sega in 1993 to take fighting games to their next logical step by making them three dimensional with the legendary Virtua Fighter. With a set of protagonists as recognisable as Ryu and Ken from the Street fighter series, Virtua Fighter based its fighting system on various real life martial arts disciplines with none of the fire ball, dragon punch or outrageous arial shenanigans of Capcom’s series. Needless to show it was a show stopper in Funland with crowds being wowed the same way Virtua Racing did a year previously.
Namco gave as good as got when it produced Tekken in 1994. The graphics and effects were flashier with a hint of the Capcom fantasy style to the fighting moves and systems. Crucially, Tekken would become more prominent in arcades like Funland by virtue of the fact its hardware was based off Sony Playstation technology, making it economical for arcades to own. Virtua Fighter used more expensive proprietary hardware as did its excellent sequel and ultimately I was more drawn it thanTekken. However, Tekken and its 1995 sequel appeared to win the crowds over more as it was just that bit more approachable and flashier with impressive combos available from a few well timed button presses, hence the phrase ‘dial a combo’ was born.
In the late 1990s Funland became a bit more conservative with its range of titles. Whereas once they always had the biggest and best titles first, the range diminished as time wore on. This might have had something to do with the simple fact that both Sega and Namco had now opened large arcade centres in the vicinity of Piccadilly Circus. In fact, Sega World itself was located inside the Trocadero centre to, occupying six floors, to me appeared strange that would sit inside the same building as Funland, you competitor. Add to this was the fact Sega World initially charged a fee to enter in order to play the games, which were then on free play, apart from the large centrepiece attractions and simulations. But, this is not a review of Sega World, that’s to come.
The other big arcade to give Funland some good competition was none other than Namco’s celebrated and later, much missed, Wonder Park. All the big Namco and even Sega title amongst other appeared here first. It was not unusual to find test versions of unreleased games such as Tekken 2 and 3 and later Soul Calibre and Capcom’s long forgotten novel twist on fighters called Power Stone appeared here first.
Now, as the 1990s draw to a close, Funland plays host to whatever video game manufacturers produce and by this stage the dominant styles are fighter and racers. I was noticing arcade attendance dwindling as the same styles of games appeared again and again, the public’s interest waned. More importantly, games technology was changing, with ironically enough Sega and its Dreamcast console offering arcades perfect copies of their recent titles.
The following thoughts were collected in the 2000s before Funland finally closed in 2011.
Funland initially closed but was undergoing refurbishment in the early 2000s after the closure of Sega World. The first floor entrances I used near the escalators and near Cineworld (on the left of the Trocadero)were open one Thursday afternoon but I was sad to discover the second floor where the bowling alley was had been shut. The dodgem arena had been completely uprooted on the first floor with only a small corner left open to a selection of games. Some of the machines had now been moved to the area on the opposite side of the Trocadero previously occupied by the Sega Shop and McDonalds.
Even as home consoles rapidly gained popularity and offered games matching and even exceeding the visual and sonic quality of those in arcades, large centres like Funland still managed to hold their own, particularly when it came to cabinets with unique controllers and input methods and not to mention the large super deluxe multi-player cabinets.
When it came to unique cabinets Konami had started to pioneer and present some very innovative and intriguing products. Beginning with them spearheading the disco game with the immensely popular Dance, DanceRevolution series. Yet, they went even further when in 1999 they took a playable section from the celebrated Metal Gear Solid forPlaystation console and produced a whole arcade game based on the escapades of a sniper, enter Silent Scope. The games interface consisted of a replica sniper rifle with scope housing a small LCD screen that magnified whichever portion of the screen the rifle was aimed at. It was a novel and innovative concept that instantly madeSilent Scope an instant hit and Konami went on to produce two arcade sequels with Funland featuring the final EX version on four deluxe cabinets. Although it was converted to home console, the control interface could not be replicated and so the only way to truly enjoy such games were to go to place like Funland and indulge yourself.
And when it came to the large multi-player cabinets, again, Funland did not disappoint. Sega came up with the goods with an update to its legendary Outrun arcade game from 1986. Now, in 2003 a sequel appeared on linked cabinets and the players loved it. So, Sega produced the SP sequel with its distinctive large yellow cabinets and the players kept coming and Funland had four cabinets placed strategically near one of its entrances to greet visitors upon arrival, the very same entrance I first entered Funland via an escalator up from the street. Great as Outrun 2 SP was, Sega took this and went not just one but many times better by producing probably the ultimate simulator ride for it in the form of a super deluxe edition. Each authentic replica Ferrari ‘car’ allowed two players, if they so desired, to control the onscreen action, and what a screen it was, a giant 62 inch screen to really immerse the player coupled to a based surround sound system. Really, you had to be there and Funland was the only place to have the full four cabinets in 2007.
