Namco Bandai Arcade ()
New arcade replacing the conic Sega #4 arcade
Since 2010, upon exiting Akihabara station via the famous Electric-Town exit, people where welcomed by the iconic red building of Sega Building 4. In March 2022, Sega sold their arcades to the company GiGo, that only changed the name on the building, but kept the iconic red color and blue sign, now with their company's name. However, the former Building 4 closed in September of the same year at the end of the lease.
On March 1st 2023, the building re-opened with a new tenant, Bandai Namco. And as you might guess, the giant video-game company also decided to open an arcade.
In total there is 6 floors including the basement, where you will find arcade, claw machines and capsule toys. You will obviously notice that most of the offering is either Bandai Namco IP like the popular Taiko no Tatsujin game, or goods manufactured by the company.
This is for sure not the biggest arcade in Akihabara, each floor is relatively small and there is just so much that can fit on each one. The space to walk between the row of machines can be quite narrow, but this is also to be expected in many stores around Akihabara, or even Japan in general. Despite all that there is no reason not to stop by as it is probably the first building you will see while getting out of the JR Akihabara station via the Electronic Town exit. If you want to visit more arcades in Akihabara, you will easily find GiGo Building 1 and Taito Station, both located nearby on the main street.
The neighboring store with the tube escalator also changed hands. The former Labi electronic store was later rebranded as a Tsukumo electronic store (both are part of Yamada Denki) and is now a Sofmap electronic store.
