Somehow, we’ve managed to make it to the end of 2022, so with that in mind, we’re celebrating some of the best games to have launched in the past 12 months. Today, we’re highlighting Arcade Paradise.
If movies like Tron and Wreck-it Ralph have taught us anything, it’s that arcades are the coolest places ever. Of course, you didn’t need a movie to tell you that — you probably already have tons of great memories spent in arcades racing with your friends on Cruis’n Blast, or breaking a sweat with them on Dance Dance Revolution. But what if you could take the arcade home with you — and not just a game or two, but the entire arcade?
Enter Arcade Paradise, a business management simulator set in the 90s where you try to turn the family laundromat into a profitable video game arcade. Really, you’re running two businesses: the laundromat in the front where people want their laundry done and fast, and the arcade at the back that’s constantly growing the more money you put into it.
Yes, that means doing a lot of menial tasks like keeping the two places clean, throwing garbage bags into the dumpster, and (blech) doing laundry, but Arcade Paradise is one of the most fun grinding games you’ll play. For starters, every task earns you money, and the thought of being able to use this money to buy more arcade games and further grow your arcade is seriously strong motivation.
But more than that, every task is a mini-game of its own. Throwing garbage bags into the dumpster becomes a game of timing and precision. Doing laundry becomes a game of speed and time management. Arcade Paradise isn’t just content with giving you arcade games — it wants to make building an arcade business feel like a game itself, turning the incredibly mundane and tedious into exciting fun.
Speaking of the arcade games, well, how are they? They’re worth every penny.
For its price, Arcade Paradise feels like a steal with 35 fully playable and seriously great games. You’re not going to love every one of them, of course, but nearly every entry has something different to offer, and if the game works right with you, something addictive as well.
Arcade Paradise takes its liberties, often adding features to the games that couldn’t exist in a real arcade like save files and upgrades, but many of its games do what great arcade games are supposed to do: take simple gameplay and create addictive experiences out of them. I frequently found myself going “just one more game!” with a lot of the arcade titles, even when my watch was beeping and I should’ve been taking the clothes out of the dryer.
Better still, a good number of these games support local multiplayer, with some going up to four players. It really is a blast, especially when you’ve managed to unlock all the multiplayer games. You could spend an entire night with a friend playing nothing but Arcade Paradise and the night would end with the two of you making plans for another night playing nothing but Arcade Paradise.
Even when you’ve unlocked all the titles and “finished” the game, Arcade Paradise will still remain one you’ll find yourself constantly revisiting. It’s just nice to have this large collection of retro-inspired arcade games that you can open and play whenever you feel like it — not to mention that this game seems just ripe for an endless amount of DLCs. If you’re like me and arcades were a huge part of your childhood (and still continue to be a significant part of your life), Arcade Paradise was made for you.
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