Umeda Joypolis
From Sega Retro
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| Umeda Joypolis |
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| Location: Umeda, Osaka, Japan |
| Opened: 1998-11-28[1] |
| Closed: 2018-05-06[2] |
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Umeda Joypolis (梅田 ジョイポリス) in Osaka was a Joypolis indoor amusement theme park. Located on the 8th and 9th floors of the HEP FIVE shopping centre in Osaka, it was the eighth and final Joypolis venue to be opened in the 1990s, later closing in May 2018.
Contents
History
Umeda Joypolis opened on 28 November 1998. Originally planned to be the debut location of Dennou Senki Virtual-On Special, as well as an unreleased upgraded version of the AS-1 known as AS-MAX[1], plans for these were scrapped back in the months leading up to its launch, with it instead housing a standard AS-1 unit and new attractions such as Drift Cart[3] and Fortune Cave[4]; Virtual-On Special would later be debuted at Shinjuku Joypolis in April the following year.[5]
Alongside Tokyo Joypolis and Okayama Joypolis, the venue survived the wide-scale closures of many game centres by Sega during the early 2000s that included several Joypolis parks. It received less frequent updates than the flagship Tokyo branch, becoming the only venue other than it in Japan to house attractions developed by Sega after the removal of Okayama's in 2008, and would later be largely targeted towards young women, containing what was at one stage the largest Purikura photo booth facilities in Japan, P+ Closet.[6]
Later attractions installed included the hang-gliding simulator Sky Cruising and VR horror simulator Enigma Sphere. The venue was included in the majority stake acquisition of Sega Live Creation by China Animations Character Co in 2016, operating as normal after it was completed. The lease on its space expired just under 20 years after opening, and the park closed permanently on 6 May 2018, leaving Tokyo Joypolis as the final original Joypolis indoor theme park besides the downsized Okayama site, which closed shortly afterwards in September 2018.[2] Its space is now largely occupied by a VR Zone venue managed by Namco.
Attractions
Gallery
Magazine articles
- Main article: Umeda Joypolis/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://segaretro.org/Press_release:_1998-09-24:_Osaka_ni_Umeda_Joypolis_Toujou
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://umeda-joypolis.sega.jp/close.html (Wayback Machine: 2018-02-12 00:14)
- ↑ http://www.sega.co.jp/sega/atp/atc/driftc.html (Wayback Machine: 1999-10-09 08:42)
- ↑ http://www.sega.co.jp/sega/atp/atc/fortunec.html (Wayback Machine: 2000-08-20 14:37)
- ↑ http://www.sega.co.jp/sega/atp/atc/virtualon.html (Wayback Machine: 1999-10-11 02:57)
- ↑ https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/pcloset
| Joypolis venues |
|---|
| Current |
| Tokyo Joypolis (1996) | Shanghai Joypolis (2014) | Qingdao Joypolis (2015) |
| Former |
| Shinjuku Joypolis (1996-2000) | Niigata Joypolis (1995-2001) | Yokohama Joypolis (1994-2001) | Fukuoka Joypolis (1996-2001) | Kyoto Joypolis (1997-2002) | Umeda Joypolis (1998-2018) | Okayama Joypolis (1998-2018) | Joypolis VR Shibuya (2018-2020) |