Arcade Paradise Is A Management Sim That Banks On Nostalgia

Arcade Paradise follows a young teen trying to prove they can handle responsibility. Her father “gifts” her with a run down laundry mat. That’s right. Players will have to put up with the mind-numbing tasks of washing other people’s clothing.  Until finding the key to the backdoor to discover abandoned arcade cabinets. These will be the key to building an empire, if you can keep the place popular enough. This is fairly easy to do. The most difficult thing will be stopping your mind from wandering while waiting for a load of laundry to finish.

This is achieved by keeping the place clean, taking out the trash, beating the toilet boss mini game, and getting laundry done in a timely manner. Nearly every task is a mini game though and it begins to feel like a chore just a few hours into gameplay. The trash mini game is the most frustrating one. Getting the timing wrong means trash lands outside the dumpster. This lowers your popularity rating and therefore how many customers you get. Trash spawns randomly at the beginning of each day but is dealt with quickly. It doesn’t give you a lot to do besides obsessively check the machines or stand around.

Playing Arcade Paradise is a test of personal endurance without a desire to see what arcade games will be unlocked next. There’s no real development otherwise. Players do have incentive to spend countless hours playing their own machines. Get high scores and place machines in the best spots so the popularity of one can increase the others’ earnings. This will also improve the arcade’s rating. Each day has a limited amount of time to generate money however. Once the day ends, players have a short amount of time to wrap things up before passing out.

Arcade Paradise has a dash of nostalgia, while also existing outside of one time period. Despite the neon lights reminiscent of the 80s and 90s. Games are mostly re-created classics with some new stuff thrown in from time to time. This may capture the feeling of being in an arcade the most accurately. Arcade Paradise is a game that’s good to pick up if you like management sims that are light on stress, and just need something to wind down. Otherwise, it’s, unfortunately, not very fun to play.