Real Life Game: Metro City Mall and Castles and Coasters
If you hadn’t noticed I lived near the Metro City Mall. It was actually an amazing geeky place to be. This is not a joke, they had a skatepark in the middle of the mall. There was about four board game shops, an anime store, and a few videogame stores. It was actually a place that most people in the Phoenix Valley hated. The mall didn’t fit the Sim City feel that so many other places had. I got to see it the other day, and was so sadly disappointed.
The stores are pretty much gone, and the only place that remains is an arcade with half the machines not working, and a really neat car Museum.
Oh, and the anime store is still there.
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| No, that guy isn't dressed up. The camera just made him look like Ichigo. |
What I just showed you is pretty much all of the stores still open in the mall. It had the same feeling of other malls I have been too when they were about to go under. I was honestly pretty sad about it, and know where this mall will end up. If things continue, this mall will be another brown patch of dirt where a mall once was.
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| Yes, this used to be a mall. |
Now imagine my surprise when I heard the amusement park next door was probably the best arcade in the entire Phoenix valley. Castles and Coasters was a place I passed by all the time, and not once did I wonder what was inside. I really should have, I really really should have.
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| Google Street View for the Win! |
The inside of this amazing castle is one of the most amazing sights a gamer can behold.
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| Really hard to get a picture that takes it all in. |
It’s hard to give a good picture with my camera, and the design of the building. It is a multilayered circle with different types of games in each one. The very bottom has the giant arcade games you would find at newer arcades like Dave & Busters. There are old fighting games, new fighting games, old shooters, and all sorts of racing games. Everything was in tip top condition, and ready to play.
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| So tempting. |
Because arcades have started into the ‘game card’ idea, you can pay an amount and have unlimited play time. That was so tempting. They had Strider. I think with unlimited play, and three hours I could actually -finally- beat the game.
The facade is quite amazing as well.
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| It really is that bright. |
The area is nicely lit, and has a orientalism middle eastern feel to it. The walls are painted with various comic characters that look nothing like what they are actually based on. Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of the cartoon characters.
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| A shot of the multilayered goodness. |
The best part about the design of the building is that you always know where you are. Unlike the other places that take on a Casino feel to their game placement Castles and Coasters makes orientation very simple. You can see most games from just a quick look out, and also know where everything is. At the same time, if you want to know where all of the games are, you need to explore. You are not going to catch everything from just one angle of the place. If you look at it from the bottom floor, you will miss things on the far walls. If you look at it from the bottom floor, you will not see the games directly below you.
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| The center of the spacesh- I mean arcade |
Because of the roundness of the room, and the feeling of the arcade, it feels like a spaceship. If they added a TARDIS moving thingy in the middle, it would feel completely natural. The feel of the old with the new makes a great design for the area. I will try to get an interview with the owners of the arcade.
The Metro City Mall is sadly closing down. The reasons why are because of the economic slump that hit the entire valley. There was also problems since the mall was not the cookie cutter mall that fit the description of most people who live in Phoenix. Imagine my surprise that right next door is one of the best arcades in the entire valley. The layered effect makes it easy to orient around the area, but also feel like you are exploring. If I could travel through time and space with that arcade, I would not be surprised. Well ok, I could, I would pay $10 and end up three hours later not knowing what happened.
