Original article handwritten on the 16th of January 2000.
It’s feels strange mentioning this as I only ever visited this arcade once and cannot even remember its name. However, it has a nostalgic place in my memory simply for its chance discovery and inner layout.
Dealing with the former aspect first, I came across this gaming abode quite by chance during the early 1990s. Myself and my good friend, who I shall refer to as Mr B, were on a ‘mission’ of my choosing. I had located a piece of much wanted gaming software and decided to get hold of it before it disappeared. The software in question was a conversion of Sega’s legendary Outrun arcade game for the PC Engine console. At the time I was trying to locate all manner of arcade inspired games for my newly acquired PC Engine.
Remember, this is long before console and computing technology would have the hardware strength necessary to replicate classic arcade games like Outrun. So, the only way to play such games at home was to try and find a remake for a console system. For me, Outrun was one of my all-time favourite arcade titles and I had heard and read much about the PC Engine version. Trying to find arcade based titles for the little white box was a bit hit and miss though and Outrun turned out to be a bit more difficult but luckily I tracked down a copy after scouring the sales adverts in the latest gaming magazines, probably a copy of Computer and Video Games.
It turned out the software I needed was available from a well know and established games shop in southeast London called ‘Raven Games’. I had noticed adverts for video games and consoles from this vendor before as they were a specialist in importing games from Japan. In the 1990s most of the latest and greatest games for consoles were released there first, so the only way to sample them was to try and buy them from an importer like Raven Games. The term ‘grey market’ was coined to explain such pieces of software and their related hardware which were not officially released in Europe or the US. Anyhow, Raven had a copy of Outrun and I called to confirm it was in stock before setting of on a long and convoluted journey by public transport to buy it. The journey itself was done by using multiple bus routes, starting in east London before arriving at our destination. Mr B and I first made our way to Woolwich ferry terminal as this was the only way to cross the river Thames from our side without heading towards the Blackwall tunnel. However, problems began on the other side of the river, bus routes were different because the travel maps we had used to research the journey were out of date, by six years! When we did eventually find the right bus it only took us part of the way, so more time was wasted finding another route to complete the journey.
In all, it took nearly three hours to get to Raven Games but it was worth it, for me anyway, as I bought the copy of Outrun. Unfortunately, it was not sealed and the box was slightly damaged but the shop owner was okay about swapping it with another one.
Well, what about the arcade? Well, it is almost certain that we stumbled across it on our way home. At Woolwich ferry terminal while we waited for the next ferry Mr B decided to take a walk around. This involved about twenty minutes or so browsing up and down the nearby streets looking at shop windows and generally passing time. It was about 4 or 5pm in the afternoon and I think it was Mr B who spotted the arcade before I joined him. The exact location, or at least near enough to it as I can remember, is the arcade was on A206 near the ferry terminal, possibly near the junction with Hare Street. According to an A to Z, it was a small section of road called the High Street leading to an even smaller section called Market Hill with the whole thing connected to Beresford Street eventually leading to Plumstead Road and Plumstead High Street. However, the arcade was close to the ferry terminal, so I think it was in the section called High Street.
What was it like then? Well, as it was the spring or summer of 1992, I clearly remember Street Fighter 2 machines in abundance. There were at least half a dozen upright cabinets with the game. I also recall a cockpit driving game, either Chase HQ or its sequel SCI but I’m inclined to think it was the former as its cockpit cabinet was enclosed.
Size wise it was a long rectangular room that reminded me of Ace Amusements in East Ham. The clientele mostly consisted of people of our age, in their mid to late teens, which made sense because of the time of day, schools and colleges would have finished. Also, the University of Greenwich was not too far away and a fair few of the games’ players were Asian or far eastern in appearance.
I cannot remember if I played anything, maybe a quick bout of Street Fighter 2. As for Mr B, well he was a Chase HQ fan so I imagine he was giving that a go. Also, most of the games seemed to be twenty pence a credit, as was normal for the era. Sadly, we didn’t stay for long as it was already late in the day for us and we still had a bit of a journey ahead of us to get home. In all, we probably only stayed for under half an hour before setting off to catch the ferry.
And that is all I can recall. So, if anyone reading this can remember anything about this particular arcade, please get in touch using the contact form and I can update the details giving credit to anyone providing the details. For example, the other games titles and types of cabinets to play on during and when did it close down. Of course, the big one is, what was it called? If you can recall anything, you know what to do.
