Original article handwritten in April 2000.
This is another of Sega’s ventures into the world of family entertainment centres in a similar vein to the Sega Dome in Colindale and Sega Park in Wood Green. I have been aware of its existence for some time but only visited in the summer of 1998 whilst in pursuit of the very new Sega release Daytona USA 2.
Sega Dome Queensway is just one of three remaining Sega branded arcades in or near Central London and is also slightly smaller than the other two if comparing the floorspace given to the games. The gaming space is complemented by an ice rink and bowling alley. It’s easy enough to find being located just a very short walk from Queensway tube station on the Central Line, just come out of the station entrance and turn left. The arcade is just two or three shop fronts from here.
When arriving at the entrance, there’s a staircase that leads to the basement area where all the fun begins. Once at the bottom of the stairs, turn right and you will find all the video games. Directly in front of you is the bowling alley with the ice rink to the left of this I believe. The floorspace is more than adequate for the games with around 25-30 cabinets. I am of course comparing this to the other Sega locations and in particular Sega Metropolis in the basement of Hamleys which I still feel is probably the best of the bunch.
However, back to Sega Dome, and it’s does have a fairly decent and up to date selection of games. More recent games running on Sega’s new Naomi hardware include Crazy Taxi and the very playable Virtua Tennis housed inside upright Naomi universal cabinets. These are quite nice and modern cabinets designed as being less boxy compared to conventional wooden cabinets. Additionally, they are a low cost alternative allowing games to be quickly changed. The screen is excellent, showing a clear and bright image on a 29 inch flat panel CRT. Control panels are great too with Japanese ball top joysticks and buttons which are probably from a manufacturer like Sanwa who are known for their quality spare parts. These control panels are also very similar to those found on previous Sega cabinets such as the larger screen Mega Lo range, so it appears Sega is continuing a worthy tradition. In fact, if you get hold of the arcade stick for the Sega Dreamcast then you will know what I’m talking about as the buttons and joystick on that closely resemble the controls on a Naomi Universal cabinet.
So, back to the games and there are a record five, yes five, Virtua Striker cabinets, four running on large Mega Lo sit down cabinets and version 2000 inside a Naomi cabinet. I guess this game must be very popular coming hot off the 1998 football world cup but the cabinets only appeared to attract a small playing audience when I visited.
Sega Dome also has a number of dedicated Naomi based games headlined by the wonderful three screen deluxe cabinet incarnation of F355 Ferrari Challenge, a racing simulator with realistic driving mechanics and excellent graphics. Additionally, there is a single screen version of Airline Pilots which is alleged to run faster than its three screen counterpart. It’s nice to see all Sega’s big racing titles on display too. There is a four player version of Daytona USA, running as two twin connected cabinets. Add to this, there are twin cabinets housing Daytona USA 2 and Sega Rally. Sega’s very first Model 3 based racing title Scud Race can also be found here and is playable on two deluxe linked cabinets. Another deluxe cabinet title is Ocean Hunter, a bit of a rare find, it's an under water shoot em up with excellent graphics.
