DAVID BOWIE

official. The idea is that if the customer can’t
afford to buy into the system wholesale, they
can pick up the guide, still experience everything
the game has to offer, and then come
back next month to explore a whole different
game, as intended, on the original hardware.
Beyond the obscurities of the computer
world—FM Towns, anyone?—the store also
gets to grips with the extremities of the arcade
world, taking turns to push the output of different
game makers that people might not be
quite familiar with. Currently, they’re tackling
the rarer entries in Data East’s back catalog,
ready to be enjoyed on Beep’s own cabinets.
But if you want to build your own arcade
cab at home, then you’re more than welcome
to do so. Beep offers their own range of
custom boards to get you started for a pretty
minimal buy-in, including setups mindful of the
constraints smaller homes might present, that
allow you to directly hook up Jamma arcade
boards to a standard TV and use console
controllers instead of arcade sticks.
However, the serious collectors will head
straight to the showcases, where Beep proves
they’re capable of going a step beyond the
average retro game shop. Whereas their Akihabara
rivals might have a copy of the holy
grail of any PC engine collection, Darius Alpha,
on the shelves, Beep has it sealed with a letter
from the producer. Their shelves are positively
heaving with items that aren’t just about the
game, but also the culture that goes with it.
Some of the games’ creators themselves have
visited the store to leave signed messages
of astonishment that such items have been
located after all these years.
But don’t worry: even if the rarities sell,
the shop continues its duty as a museum by
cataloguing the items for its own in-house
publication, having already produced guides
to the history of Japanese PC gaming, and
even foreign consoles that never made it to
the Japanese market.
Beep. 3-9-8 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku. Due to
store policy, customers under 18 are prohibited.
www.akihabara-beep.com
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