Image: Nakano TRF
The owners of the legendary Tokyo game center Nakano TRF (Nakano Tokyo Ranking Fighters) announced yesterday that it will be closing its doors for good later this year, in yet another blow to Japan’s struggling arcade scene.
Nakano TRF first started operating in 2004, and over the decades since has become a pillar of Tokyo’s fighting game community, thanks to its wealth of 2D fighting cabinets, hosting tournaments for games like Samurai Shodown and serving as a hangout for fans of Psychic Force 2012, Aquapazza, and Cyberbots.
However, since 2020, the business has found itself struggling, thanks to the impact of COVID-19 (and declining profit margins), forcing its owners to turn to the Japanese crowdfunding site Camp-Fire on multiple occasions to ask for donations to help it weather the increasingly difficult climate.
NakanoTRF is closing down on May 18th.
Along with staples like 3rd Strike, it was the heart of the competitive scene for games like Samurai Shodown V Special, Cyberbots, Aquapazza, Psychic Force 2012…
It’s a terrible loss.
— PolarBair (@polarbair.bsky.social) 2025-04-03T03:58:57.735Z
These funds allowed the owners to continue operating for a short period of time, but seem to have only prolonged the inevitable, with the proprietor recently posting a blog on the Nakano TRF website announcing its upcoming closure.
In this brief statement, the owner thanked visitors for their patronage “over the last 20 years” and announced that Nakano TRF’s last day of operation will be on May 18th.
This sad piece of news follows the closure of the Kyoto-based arcade A-Cho earlier this year on January 31st — another event that was considered a tragic loss for Japan’s fighting game community.
[source nakano-trf.com, via bsky.app]
Hailing from Manchester, Jack has a particular fondness for point-and-click adventure games. In the past, he’s written about lost games from studios like Sony Manchester, Genepool Software, and DMA Design, and has made a habit of debunking video game rumours.
AloJapan.com