Namco Station – London
In the first of, hopefully many, reviews of arcades that I get the chance to visit, I checked out the Namco Station in County Hall on the South Bank in London. This quite possibly has to be one of the coolest locations I’ve seen an arcade in, what with it being right next to the London Eye and over the river from Big Ben. Also the decors of the place is still quite new and modern, unfortunately the range of video games on offer is a little dated. Granted they have large selection of old favourites like Rally, Street Fighter, Daytona, Dance Stage, Silent Scope and Tekken, but there was a general lack of newer titles. Now you may argue that there has not exactly been a flood of new games, but I would expect an arcade in such a prime location to be right up to date with the industries latest offerings. One of the nicest features of this arcade is that downstairs there is a funky bar which also has a selection of probably the better machines like; Time Crisis 4, Outrun 2 and my drunken favourite Final Furlong. The other features of this arcade are; multiple bowling lanes and a bumper car track which is always a good laugh.
Game Range - 7/10 [Could do with some newer machines, Love & Berry and Dinosaur King don’t count for me, large selection overall]
Game Condition – 9/10 [Only one machine out of order]
Additional Facilities - 8/10 [Bowling Alley, Bumper Cars, Pool Tables, Bar & a McDonald’s concession]
November 9, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Thanks alot for this review, it seems somewhat difficult to find information on arcades in London, whenever I fancy a game on a shoot-em-up, I always find myself in places where there are loads of slot machines but no actual games!
I am gonna try this place out tonight!
May 15, 2008 at 5:54 am
do they have dinosaur king
November 14, 2008 at 12:28 am
Excellent post, looks like a phenomenal location for a arcade. The namco arcades around here fell under =( i used to have 2 aladdins castles in the area that pretty much jumped ship. Great arcades, might have been more successful if they would have paid attention to the market in michigan its a shame they not longer exist.
March 2, 2009 at 3:44 am
On ATEI 2009 i made two visits to Namco Station. And here´s the update:
Konami Silent Hill
NfS Carbon
Global VR Blazing Angels
Wartran Troopers 4 plyr
and some other newer titles
May 16, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I’ve been looking for love and berry arcades ever since 2007 thankyou so much! now I can go there whenever i want and get new cards
July 19, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I don’t believe it. I went pass there 5 years ago when I was on a college trip to london. was namco station there when I went in april 2004 anyone?
July 19, 2009 at 11:21 pm
yep
August 23, 2009 at 6:54 pm
have they got tekken 6?
August 25, 2009 at 10:30 pm
yes
November 29, 2009 at 12:40 pm
what street fighter titles do they have?
November 29, 2009 at 3:09 pm
none – they have a Tekken6