A Day at Sega Joypolis

It's Summer break, meaning the high school and students have come pouring out of the floodgates and into the theme parks. What with the Tokyo heat, waiting in a long line under the beating sun couldn't be any harder at the moment. But thankfully, there is a decent alternative to those who want a theme park experience away from crowds and the heat.
 Joypolis, in Odaiba, is an indoor theme park run by the video game manufacturer, Sega. Now, indoor theme parks in general are decidedly a lot less thrilling that their outdoor competitors, but after reading a few good reviews about the place, I decided to make the trip and have a look at it for myself.

These guys were a big part of my college days!

Granted, Sega doesn't have a brand as powerful as Disney's, but they do have a few recognizable characters, so at least they aren't starting from ground zero. Though Joypolis is far from being meant for gamers like myself, quite a few of their iconic franchises do have an attraction or two based on them. Fans of Sonic the Hedgehog, House of the Dead, and Ace Attorney, for example, might be happy to find such attractions, and merchandise geared to their fans.

 Although the Sega brand doesn't leverage as much power as it used to back in the days, in Japan, they still run arcades, which makes them a pretty penny. As such, though, many of the attractions and rides at Joypolis are very arcade-game like, and no doubt some of them are simply improved versions of existing games. Fortunately, this actually happens to work quite well for them.

A racing game in Joypolis

For example, rather than giving you nothing but a steering wheel and a pedal, one of the racing games at Joypolis gives you the whole damn car. So as you're looking into the screen and racing opponents, you actually feel the impact of every crash, and are jolted by sharp turns and sudden stops. It makes for quite an immersive experience. This is actually Joypolis's bread and butter: seeing as the theme park is all indoor, these rides are actually really clever in their usage of space. There are other variants to this formula of course: one similar racing game put me behind the controls of a flying vehicle. Every time I did a barrel roll, the actual machine I was sitting in would rotate and spin me upside down. Let's just say I wouldn't recommend eating heavy meals prior to testing such rides.

Not that all of the rides in Joypolis are a rehash of this formula though. One of the rides I walked into had a similar premise at first, having me sit down in a cart with gun-controls and shoot through hordes of zombies, but with an unexpected twist. Imagine my surprise when the cart was launched out of its tunnel and went barreling through the inside of the theme park, corkscrewing across a set of rails. Somehow, I didn't even notice when I had walked in that the ride was a miniature roller coaster.
 Another of Joypolis's stronger attractions is Half-Pipe Tokyo, where riders are placed on a platform that moves back and forth on a set of U-shaped railings. There's a surprisingly good combination of height and speed, but on top of all that, the riders have a pedal underfoot which allows them to make their platform spin in circles if pressed at the right time. The amount of spins is tallied up and counted and measured against other riders, so there's a little bit of competition and challenge involved in the experience as well.

All in all, I think where Joypolis lacked in gigantic roller coasters and enormous haunted houses, it made up for by allowing visitors a unique experience where they chose how much they were spun or thrown around or flipped upside down. And though the concept of pressing a button and having something happen is very familiar for someone who plays video games, I felt like the theme park did a good job of making such attractions approachable and friendly for just about everyone, from hardcore gamer to average high school girl.

 You'll be pleased to know that the admission price is just a little above half that of one of the bigger theme parks like Tokyo Disney or Fuji-Q Highland, so hey, it's an easy recipe for a good time.

Plus, Odaiba's a pretty cool place to hang out in general!