INSIDE A NORTH KOREAN ARCADE
A man took these photos inside an amusement arcade in Pyongyang, capital of North Korea. They will make you very, very grateful that your local still has a functioning SEGA Rally and that you are not from or stuck in North Korea.
They will also stop you from complaining that one of the steering wheels on Daytona USA isn’t very responsive any more.
They will stop you complaining about having to wait five minutes for a go on Street Fighter IV.
They will also stop you complaining about having to pay £2 for a go on OutRun2.
They will stop you complaining about the fierce punch button being a bit temperamental.
They will stop you complaining about the state of the decor.
They will make you happy to not be in North Korea.
And then sad about the people in North Korea.
But then happy again about not being in North Korea.
Sent in by a man who we’d better not refer to by name. Thanks very much, Mr Mystery!
filed in Uncategorized on Sep.24, 2008
September 24th, 2008 on 12:46 pm
And I thought I was slumming it in the Ilfracombe arcades the other week playing a Daytona with no sound and stuck on the 4th viewpoint and a Sega Rally where all you could see was “Insert Coins” burned onto the screen…
September 24th, 2008 on 1:23 pm
Sit-down Monaco GP? Single to North Korea please, conductor!
September 24th, 2008 on 1:29 pm
Some nice Soviet arcade machines there.
Cue “In Soviet Russia, the games play you!” etc…
September 24th, 2008 on 1:31 pm
I wish I could go and play Yie Ar Kung Fu somewhere.
September 24th, 2008 on 2:48 pm
Wow! These are genuinely fascinating!
So Justin, was this on one of them government guided tours? Were they happy for you to take photos of the misery?
Just think, in about 10 years time Sonic 1 might have filtered through, and those lucky North Koreans will be playing it for the first time ever….
September 24th, 2008 on 2:59 pm
These classic machines could fund a nuclear weapons program if they wanted to sell them on ebay.
September 24th, 2008 on 4:12 pm
All North Koreans are fed up of dying of starvation while playing ancient broken video games… they’d love to go to the south so they could die of starvation playing Ragnarok Online in an internet cafe instead.
September 24th, 2008 on 5:17 pm
So the government pays for anything you want, education, housing, sports facilities, but they also tell you what to think, where you can go and who you can’t be seen with. We have massive freedom of choice, but what a price we pay. Goes to prove the old saying “You can’t have everything, it’s one or t’other.”
September 24th, 2008 on 6:14 pm
hmmmm this could get sensible (totally not UKR-like)…but that previous comment was utter bullshit, written by some student with no idea of the real world.
They (the NK government) work under such ideals but rarely does it become reality…and let me ask you what that “massive freedom of choice” really is in the UK?
god…fucking geeks who forget the real outside world because they only access “life” through forums….sorry, I am drunk but the above post is utter shit
September 24th, 2008 on 8:21 pm
@Purpletentacle
Yes, it was a tour with two government guides with us at all times. They didn’t seem embarrassed about the age of the machines in the arcade. They probably didn’t know any better. And most likely they didn’t give that much of a shit about arcade games. It was generally very hard to tell what they were thinking, or what they thought we were thinking. We did our best to be polite anyway.
@(last two anonymous posters)
You can’t really argue with the statement that they have very little freedom of choice compared to the UK. They have no access to foreign media or any source of information other than the official government line. They need permission to travel anywhere within the country (and travel outside of the country is only for very elite party members), and generally questioning the government in any way is punished harshly. As for the supposed advantages, well I would doubt that their education, housing, and social welfare services are more generous than in the UK. You are sure as hell not going to get the dole for doing nothing there.
September 24th, 2008 on 9:10 pm
You don’t get dole for nothing here. I had to apply for at least one job a week when I was claiming.
September 24th, 2008 on 9:20 pm
Its worse now, I need to apply for 3
September 24th, 2008 on 10:39 pm
Justin (if you’re still reading the comments), these pictures are fascinating! If you do have any other pictures of your trip to North Korea online then please do post the address, I know at least I would love to see ’em.
September 24th, 2008 on 11:22 pm
at least their cabinets have sanwa sticks. americans are still fucking around with that happ shit.
September 24th, 2008 on 11:31 pm
Don’t you have to approve the posting of these pictures with the travel agency before putting them up?
It’s the thing putting me off going. That you’re not supposed to write about it or put any photos up afterwards. That’s according to the travel companies site, anyway.
September 25th, 2008 on 8:06 am
who gives a shit about travel companies?
I await the day when NK falls so I can donate some street fighter III 3rd strike machines to their new arcades.
September 25th, 2008 on 8:10 am
요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱
September 25th, 2008 on 9:01 am
Oh shi… they are on to us!
September 25th, 2008 on 9:19 am
I wonder how they got their hands on those Japanese SEGA Aero City cabinets.
September 25th, 2008 on 9:21 am
Does anyone know what the above says. Google Translate gave me:
“These days, the latest jjeoleum gigiim fucking kingwangjjang”
WTF was that guy trying to say!!
September 25th, 2008 on 9:37 am
@Richard
And what the fuck are the travel agencies or the North Korean government going to do once you’re back in the free world? Sue you? lol.
September 25th, 2008 on 9:50 am
You mean King of Fighters XI machines! Capcom v. SNK just found a fresh market. (actually, I sure hope so…maybe MvC2 will get a revival)
September 25th, 2008 on 10:20 am
I bet they have modified versions that reminds you to praise their glorious leader, Kim Jung Ill every 5 minutes or so.
September 25th, 2008 on 10:21 am
I bet they have modified versions that reminds you to praise their glorious leader, Kim Jung Ill every 5 minutes or so.
September 25th, 2008 on 10:50 am
North Korean Children said… “These days, the latest jjeoleum gigiim fucking kingwangjjang”
Stupid google translator! How dare their translator only work for 75% of the words? I want my money back!
September 25th, 2008 on 10:51 am
Cheers Justin! Yeah, if you’ve got a URL with other pictures from N Korea I’d love to see ’em too.
It’s slightly odd using 20 year old arcade machines in bad nick though, what are the average PC specs like there? I’m assuming that every happy citizen doesn’t have a PC in every home, but there must be SOME computers surely, considering the quality of some of the Flash/Java games you can get through a browser on a 10 year old PC, no disrespect to Yie Ar Kung Fu, odd that this is the best they could manage? Still, if you’ve never used a computer before, this must be the tits. Oh yeah, and internet access is non-existent for the plebs as well. I suppose when your scientists are working on supernoodles that make your population starve to death a bit less quickly, developing the next Space Harrier gets put on the backburner.
It’s a bit like an evil version of the Dobuita arcade in Shenmue, only marginally less depressing.
September 25th, 2008 on 10:51 am
To be fair although scruffy the Sega Aero City cabs are actually pretty nice, better than what you get in most UK arcades. That said its a shame they are running Yie Ar Kung Fu and not something a decade later, like SS3 or DoDonPachi.
September 25th, 2008 on 11:19 am
Is that cowboy game Boot Hill? Circa 77?
September 25th, 2008 on 11:20 am
Is that cowboy game Boot Hill? I played that age 8 in Scotland. I’m 39 now.
September 25th, 2008 on 11:34 am
Beats my locale arcade – that’s just full of bingo machines!
September 25th, 2008 on 12:42 pm
UKR IRC Chat…fuckers
irc://dalnet/UKP
September 25th, 2008 on 3:28 pm
Very cool stuff. I’m a big nerd for DPRK stuff (what can I say, I luv Stalinist dictatorships), and had wondered about video games there for a while. Got any more?
September 25th, 2008 on 3:49 pm
According to Google, 요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱 translates to:
“These days, the latest jjeoleum gigiim fucking kingwangjjang”
September 25th, 2008 on 3:50 pm
According to Google, 요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱 translates to:
“These days, the latest jjeoleum gigiim fucking kingwangjjang”
September 25th, 2008 on 3:50 pm
According to Google, 요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱 translates to:
“These days, the latest jjeoleum gigiim fucking kingwangjjang”
September 25th, 2008 on 3:51 pm
According to Google, 요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱 translates to:
“These days, the latest jjeoleum gigiim fucking kingwangjjang”
September 25th, 2008 on 4:39 pm
This is fascinating, like being in a time warp. Sure, the arcade is old and horrible (although bright and sunny). Then again, we the last arcade here closed about 10-15 years ago!
September 25th, 2008 on 5:57 pm
To the last Anonymous: you’ll probably die before North Korea “falls”. :P
September 25th, 2008 on 6:28 pm
That’s Yie Ar Kung Fu in the picture! That’s a classic.
I’d much rather play that than street fighter.
September 25th, 2008 on 6:36 pm
uh oh
September 25th, 2008 on 7:20 pm
Oooook… What up with the last post? :)
From google translate: “These days, the latest jjeoleum gigiim fucking kingwangjjang” … Sorry but I don’t get it :)
September 25th, 2008 on 8:12 pm
Justin,
Did you get a chance to check out the countryside? I’m utterly fascinated with NK, really want to go there and would be willing to go through the motions with regard to the bullshit idolatry in order to get a glimpse at this weird enclave.
September 25th, 2008 on 8:48 pm
^^^^^^^^^^
” Being a recent up-to-date machinery and tools, dozes and puts out [ccel] the sound king king [ccang “
according to bablefish anyroad
September 25th, 2008 on 8:56 pm
what’s sad is that if “Justin” is ever caught for distributing those, he’ll likely be executed for disturbing the peace or some other bogus charge
September 25th, 2008 on 9:05 pm
Silly American me, I’m a little jealous of you Justin for having the opportunity to visit this place. Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s not exactly a choice vacation spot, but as a History major who’s focus is on East Asia, I would find it very fascinating to visit NK at least once.
Now all I have to do is convince them I’m Canadian so they don’t kill me on the spot for being evil American devil responsible for all their woes. Anyone know how to make good passports?
September 25th, 2008 on 10:52 pm
oppressive and tyrant regimes will never last
September 26th, 2008 on 4:30 am
fuck, we are done for!
hold on..I’ll use my best Korean on them…
Kakkajyuseyo!
September 26th, 2008 on 4:55 am
Awesome pictures!
Annoying commentary!
September 26th, 2008 on 6:10 am
Wow, and I thought American Arcades were slummy nowadays.
September 26th, 2008 on 6:18 am
I wonder what would happen if we donated them a ghost squad machine?
September 26th, 2008 on 8:34 am
I’m not convinced the one with the periscope is a game.
September 26th, 2008 on 8:39 am
Actually these are Soviet arcade machines from the 70s-80s. A much nicer collection:
http://www.15kop.ru/index_en.htm
September 26th, 2008 on 9:39 am
a
September 26th, 2008 on 9:40 am
Some nice Soviet arcade machines there.
September 26th, 2008 on 12:24 pm
Looks like the machines they have on the cross channel ferry from Dover.
September 26th, 2008 on 12:30 pm
Those games are the suck. Is that cowboy one the game where he wins by raping the squaw? FilthyRichmond.com
September 26th, 2008 on 12:53 pm
The photos are kinda interesting, but the blahblah is annoying… “This will make you stop writing comments”
September 26th, 2008 on 2:14 pm
The periscope one looks like of Sea Wolf.
September 26th, 2008 on 3:18 pm
TETЯIS
September 26th, 2008 on 4:49 pm
I used to have an Aero City cabinet. They’re not bad. They’re from Japan.
September 26th, 2008 on 6:18 pm
ROSS
I wish I could go and play Yie Ar Kung Fu somewhere.
Google it, there is a free flash version out there without any sound. Not the same, I know, but you can relive the memories.
September 26th, 2008 on 8:15 pm
Those are not Soviet arcade machines, they are all Japanese, with some new names slapped on.
The 3rd picture is a 1977 Taito Flying Fortress, which was sold in the US by two different & mostly unknown companies.
The 4th picture down is 1977 Taito GunMan, known as Midway Gunfight in the states (though it was slightly different). The periscope game is called Submarine, It was sold in the US by Midway around 1979, Taito might have made it originally but I've never seen one before.
There is Sega Monaco GP, and 2 Namco Shoot-Away projection light-gun rifle games.. and of course the Sega JAMMA cabs.
September 27th, 2008 on 2:00 am
Fake fake fake fake! You’re all gullible morons! The North Koreans have no food and electricity, let alone old arcade machines. This is obviously a set of close up shots of old arcade machines somewhere in Asia, but there is nothing here which is unusual for rural parts of Asia. And explain to me how “Justin” managed to trudge into a police state and snap away ?
September 27th, 2008 on 5:58 am
the horror. *hisssss* it burrns uss.
September 27th, 2008 on 9:01 am
that is historical…
when DKRP falls, someone need to get there quickly and get those machines to preserve
their history in games and slowly changes it
to some 16 bit games so they can actually not
receive the craziness of the last gen videogames, and play the entire generation in the process.
it is fun to know that at least they have some contact with the videogame world, and to us, a way to understand the differences of ourselves in this crazy world.
September 27th, 2008 on 12:57 pm
I’ll have you all know,that north wales,still proudly uses vintage arcade machines in their arcades,exactly like the one’s above.the entire north wales coast,is festooned with such delights.Personally,i hate them all and think they should be scrapped,along with the dweebs who own them all.
September 27th, 2008 on 7:44 pm
babelfish is so much better….
요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱
Being a recent up-to-date machinery and tools, dozes and puts out [ccel] the sound king king [ccang
September 27th, 2008 on 9:06 pm
It’s not an arcade, it’s a museum!
Most of it is a bit too old for my taste, and the Aero City cabinets are a bit too modern.
I’d like to see who manages that Korean arcade. They have to have *some* technical skills to keep the old machines running.
September 28th, 2008 on 12:04 am
Give those guys some bullet hell shooters from Cave…live in hell, play in hell !
September 28th, 2008 on 12:47 am
This is remarkable footage! The condition of the machines is horrible, but the people still use them for their entertainment. Look at those young men all still interested in outdated and overused toys. It makes me happy to see that the people are still full of life even though their world is crumbling; this discovery gives me hope.
September 28th, 2008 on 6:06 am
북한어린이 (North Korean child) said…
요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱
These days the latest machines are really fecking awesome!
Heavy on slang so auto-translate doesn’t work.
September 28th, 2008 on 6:16 am
“요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱”
I speak Korean. Above says ,”These are the lastest ones here”
I’m pretty sure the guy who wrote this comment is a 12-year-old South Korean pretending to be a North Korean. I can tell by his language.
September 29th, 2008 on 10:02 am
凄いゲームだ・・・。朝鮮の人はこんなもので遊んでるのか。
September 29th, 2008 on 3:14 pm
ПАШЛИ ВСЕ НАХУЙ!!!!
September 29th, 2008 on 5:52 pm
Oh, it’s a real time machine..
So, How much are these games per one play?
September 29th, 2008 on 6:04 pm
Oh, it’s a real time machine..
So, How much are these games per one play?
September 29th, 2008 on 6:50 pm
So the Korean comment was…textshopped? It’s ‘shopped. I can tell by the pix…err, grammar.
September 29th, 2008 on 6:55 pm
http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1438428757
September 29th, 2008 on 6:56 pm
http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1438428757
September 30th, 2008 on 2:30 am
Gullible fucks.. North Korean kids don’t know South Korean slangs. That kid who posted earlier in Korean was south korean kid posing.
He said:
“[These are] Recent, up-to-date machines Funny as fuck. Cool shit.”
They also do have electricity, etc. Their technology is comparable to American 70s, Korean early 80s’ level.
October 1st, 2008 on 1:01 am
no wonder thier good at ping pong
October 1st, 2008 on 7:55 pm
@Anon:
“‘요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱’
I speak Korean. Above says ,’These are the lastest ones here’
I’m pretty sure the guy who wrote this comment is a 12-year-old South Korean pretending to be a North Korean. I can tell by his language.”
I’d say ‘These are the lastest arcade machines. F*cking, freak’n awesome.’
This post is awesome. I’m surprised at myself for not wondering how NK’s state of gaming was like, until after I saw the photos.
Glad I’m not there…
October 2nd, 2008 on 12:59 pm
요즘 최신 기기임 존내 쩔음 킹왕짱
Translates to
“You mock my Glorious Country at your peril, imperialist lap dogs. I am despatching trained mudget assassins as we speak to come to your door and kick you in your fascist capitalist gonads”
Honest.
October 3rd, 2008 on 10:57 pm
At least they’re better than anything you would find in Wales. And they shag dogs, not sheep, so that’s another plus.
October 4th, 2008 on 3:56 am
So what? is this a purpose in life??? The western world is complaining that kids are gettin’ screwed up because of spending most of their freakin time at the computer and computer games, that most of them have mental and physical disorders. Well, that’s not a problem in North Korea…
October 7th, 2008 on 12:25 am
So you know..There’s an arcade down here in the states similar to what you see above..
The games are there for nostalgic purposes.
Anyone consider that this arcade in Korea could be serving the same purpose?
October 14th, 2008 on 1:24 pm
are u totally stupid? people were working till death in Nazi camps and you are using “Spiel Macht Frei” as title… very clever, the game topic :/
October 17th, 2008 on 4:53 am
Nazi Death Camp, thats the third game down. It’s been through the Holocaust.
October 21st, 2008 on 4:03 am
internet in thailand http://2poto.com/html/component/option,com_ponygallery/Itemid,52/func,viewcategory/catid,51/
November 18th, 2008 on 5:13 am
lol north korea, what a bunch of faggots.
March 11th, 2009 on 5:36 am
You know what would suck, putting in your last Won or what ever counts as a quarter into one of those machines (prob a months wage), only to have the rolling blackout hit.
Game Over now, looks like its time to go back to Political Prisoner Camp and eat some Tree Bark :( Praise the dear leader
June 12th, 2009 on 2:24 am
Ryan, Americans are allowed to go to North Korea. However, just like tourists from any country, you have government minders who take you to specific places you are allowed to see. You cannot leave the hotel by yourself, you cannot wander around Pyongyang, and there is almost no opportunity to communicate with locals. So… you don't really get to see where people live, work, etc.
Of course, from the car/bus window you will see things like people clipping grass to try and make soup (there is a lot of starvation), people working fields by hand (forget tractors, many farms have no animals!), empty streets (there are almost no cars), and the entire country goes dark at night.
As of today (June 11 2009) people from the UK are no longer permitted in the DPRK. I would suspect that the ban will also extend to the USA and probably every other nation as well.
Scott
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July 16th, 2009 on 4:46 am
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September 28th, 2009 on 10:17 pm
i think this is pretty sad actually… not sad as in "pathetic" but generally sad that modern technology hasn't flourished in other parts of the world. wish the north korean government decide to open up all borders so we can share our knowledge to the north koreans.
March 17th, 2010 on 9:14 am
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I think you’re right…