NeoGeo World, the theme park introduction.

 

For all the NeoGeo fans, gamers, collectors, and comic/character enthusiasts, the opening of NeoGeoWorld seemed like a dream come true....especially for all the NeoGeo gamers and collectors. Imagine having a gaming theme park devoted entirely to your favorite game system!! Imagine having all NeoGeo games available right in front of you to play. Imagine being able to play against other NeoGeo fans and hard-core "NeoGeoFreaks!!" Imagine all of this good gaming stuff, and still having more things to do...like rides, bowling, karaoke, restaurants, shopping, seeing IMAX movies, and still having more types of redemptions games to win prizes on!! It was all great, but there was only one little problem..... NeoGeoWorld was in Tokyo, Japan.

If you were lucky enough to live in Tokyo, or even in another city in Japan, then your chances were probably very good that you would have gone to NGW a few times. If you lived in the USA or another country, then you would have to be prepared and willing to spend the $1000.00 for airfare, and the extra money it would cost you for hotel, travel, food, etc... just to get to Tokyo to have the opportunity to experience that which was NeoGeoWorld.

 

Fortunately, we had the opportunity to go to NeoGeo World several times. The thing that really blew our minds was the fact that we were at NeoGeoWorld for the grand opening day party and the grand final closing party. If you think about it carefully you will see the significance in that. NGF staff were present on the 2 most important days of NGW's history. We were there to be part of it all both times!!! The mood on the last weekend and last final day party was actually an upbeat one. Everyone seemed happy to be together celebrating the success of the NeoGeo and just living up the atmosphere on a "NeoGeo-esque" theme park. It was a lot of fun and we wish more of the NeoGeo fans and NeoGeoFreaks could have gone to, seen, and experienced the fun of NeoGeoWorld.

Dion Dakis pictured in full staff uniform for the grand opening day at NeoGeo World - Tokyo bayside 1999.

Back in early February of 1999, NGF staff was invited to attend the grand opening of the new NeoGeo World theme park in Tokyo, Japan. At that point, we had no idea how big the place would be or all the hype surrounding the new theme park. Once we got our invites, we KNEW we would be making the trip. At that point, we made it a priority to be there for the grand opening. And we were there to speak to some of the bigger NeoGeo supporters from around the world. It was an extremely gala event.

 

     

         Here is a sky high view of NeoGeoWorld them park at the famous 
            Tokyo Bayside. See the NeoGeo logo  on top of the building??  

The massive NeoGeo World Ferris wheel.

Upon arriving at Aomi Station, you will walk to Palette Town, where NeoGeoWorld was located, one of the first things you would see was the massive NeoGeoWorld Ferris wheel. You could actually see the NGW Ferris wheel from miles away. 

The first time we went to NGW, we didn't know much about Japan or the train system. Once we saw the Ferris wheel we knew were were going in the right direction. During our train rides over to NGW, we were amazed to see a Ferris wheel of that magnitude. The Ferris wheel ride takes over 30 minutes for a single go-round. Definitely worth the money. From atop the high points, you can see all of Tokyo Bay, and it pretty much seems like you can see all of Tokyo city. During the night time, the Ferris wheel is illuminated in neon colors and is almost hypnotic.

 

The NGW Ferries wheel is much bigger than it looks in the picture.
                              

Chris Ray stands outside the main entrance of NeoGeo World for the special closing party that was held for invited company guests. The party was amazing.

Upon arriving at Palette Town (where NeoGeo World is (was) located) you are greeted by an assortment of views. There are many shopping stores, fast foods, restaurants, and even an area where people do live performances. Also, inside Palette Town there is a massive car parking lot and automobile display section. Here they show off some of the new concept cars to the general public. The entire place is a very unique place to see. It's a long trip, but it's worth it. We made it a point to visit NGW at least one day every time we were in Japan. It was always part of our "Japan itinerary." Each time in Japan, we would make it a point to get to NGW the next day, or even that same night we arrived. All NeoGeo fans should have seen the place or tried to go there. Now that it is gone, it makes our Japan trips a little less enjoyable. Since we knew this would be  our last trip to NGW we took plenty of pictures to chronicle it and to share with everyone. 

    

         Here is what all the hype and commotion was about. 
          Look at all the NeoGeo machines begging to be  played. 

             
        
         A picture of tons of NeoGeo players going crazy on the 
            NeoGeo systems. And look at the middle - KoF96!!!

    
             Here you see some of the NeoGeo mini prize units.

       
           Here are the NeoGeo Carnival "crane" machines.

Check out some of the many redemption machines that were at NGW. Here's where you could show your skills to your girlfriends by winning them some prizes. If you make it fun for them, they will let you come back to NGW more often. And maybe they will even win some prizes for you!!  This can keep them busy while you play some NeoGeo.

 

Chris and Dion stand in front of the final display showing the lowered admission price. This is the spot where the NGW Pocket booth stood.

A fun place to go 

 

With the eminent closing of NeoGeoWorld, the corporate levels felt it was in their best interest to do a last blitz effort to bring in more people to the theme park. They had drastically dropped the admission price by 1000 YEN, down from the original 3,200 YEN to 2,200 YEN. For some strange reason, SNK said, the last 2 months the NGW theme park had actually tripled in the amount of tickets sales and inside business revenues. Had those types of figures been going on all the time, the NGW theme park would have been left running because the profits would have justified it. We actually saw many posters and advertisements in the subways stations and upper level train stations (such as the poster pictured). We started to wonder if the increase in ticket sales was from the result of the lowered admission price, the increased advertising, or because the fact that people knew NGW would soon be closing, and they all wanted to jump in now before it was too late. We think it was the last part. More people probably flocked to NGW just so they could say they were there "when it was still open."  It really was an incredible place to go to if you were a NeoGeo fan. It was also a great place to go to if you were just going out with your family as a weekend thing to do, or with your friends and dates as a nighttime fun place to go. With so many rides, attractions, bowling, redemption and prize games, as well as all sorts of video arcade games, the place was fun for everyone.

 
 
               
        Nothing but a room filled with Neo Candy MVS units.		    
A friendly Japanese voice character poses for the camera sitting in front of a Neo Candy 50 unit. She most known for Nakaruru's voice.

Chris with two of the NGW girls during the grand opening day  - 1999. 

During the grand opening we had the chance of meeting many of the higher SNK officials. The amount of intensity that was shown that day was tremendous. Everyone was in the best possible mood, as huge corporate parties tend to be. There was a full NGW staff on hand to help everyone present with ride information, machine operation, and customer service and relations. Chris was in charge of video-taping the event for the NGF archives. The footage we have of the place is amazing. First event day openings are always a blast, but add to it that it was a "private" for invited guests only, add to it that we were in Japan (we love being in Japan), add to it that it was the grand opening party, but most importantly add to it that we were 2 NeoGeoFreaks and that we were at the new NeoGeoWorld... all that just made the entire feeling surreal. Being present at NGW was fantastic!

Continue to see the RIDES and more pics (coming soon)