There's a few game hubs in Tokyo, but Akihabara is the classic techy gamer paradise. Plenty of new and used game stores, arcades and curious little shops. In particular:

- **Super Potato**, on the upper floors of a back alley building off the main strip. A veritable treasure trove of vintage video games (Nintendo, Sega, Sony plus weird and wonderful platforms you've never heard of). Lots of rare machines and games too (including a working Virtual Boy). See [their website][1] for more info.

- The **Sega Arcades** (8 floor one in Akiba) - 8 floors of UFO catchers, fighting machines, shooters, the works). Take the Electric Town exit from JR Akihabara station and you can't miss it

- The **[TRADER][2]** chain of shops - 5 in all in Akiba, with lots of rare / used games going back to PS1 days. TRADER 4 is probably the best one, but they're all full of interesting odds and sods.

- **Yodobashi Akiba** - a mammoth electronics department store with a massive floor dedicated to recent platforms / hardware / software. A giant version of your usual Gamestops / GAMEs. It's on the other side of Akihabara station from Electric Town, and is [so large you'd struggle to miss it][3].

For more stores see this [great Guardian article][4].

If you are over 20 there are also lots of cool video game bars to try out. There's a good few in this [GamesRadar][5] article.

Of these, I've visited **8 Bit Cafe in Shinjuku** - suitable for nerds and non-nerds alike, with a comically large cocktail menu, each entry based on some video game (the Dr Mario one in a beaker with gel pills is excellent). See [their website (in Japanese)][6] for more details. They're based at Shinjuku 3-8-9, Shinjuku Q Building 5F (it's a bit of a nightmare to find, but the linked article has some good images to find the exact stairwell to traverse).

I should add, for the bars, some of them are video game themed, but not necessarily what we would consider 'gaming cafes' (i.e. you can drink but it's not a place for playing games).

If you fancy a futuristic theme park experience, try the incredible **Joyopolis** in Odaiba. A massive indoor theme park made by Sega with incredible rides (real rally cars playing Sega Rally, a House of the Dead roller coaster), a big arcade, Sega-franchise exclusive arcade machines, and a general all-round "this is insane" vibe. See http://tokyo-joypolis.com/language/english/. It's at DECKS Tokyo Beach, 1−6−1 Odaiba, Minato, postcode 135-0091.

Of course, if you're a real pilgrim you could get pictures outside the **Square Enix office** in [east Shinjuku][7] and the **Nintendo office** in [Asakusabashi][8] (5-21-5 Asakusabashi, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0053).

If you've anything specific in mind though leave a note in the comments and I can have a think.

**Update** - If you have an international drivers license you can also do real life **Mario Kart** around the streets of Tokyo, which is probably about as gamer-cool as it gets. Find out more at [the booking page][9]











  [1]: http://www.superpotato.com
  [2]: http://aki-on.com/eng/hobby/h-allinone/977/
  [3]: http://www.yodobashi.com/ec/store/0018/index.html
  [4]: http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/feb/01/top-10-video-games-shops-tokyo
  [5]: http://www.gamesradar.com/tokyos-underground-game-bars/
  [6]: http://8bitcafe.net/index.html
  [7]: http://www.jp.square-enix.com/company/en/access/index2.html
  [8]: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/offices/index.html
  [9]: https://www.govoyagin.com/activities/japan-tokyo-rent-go-karts-and-ride-around-akihabara/2534