Original article handwritten on the 20th of June 2000.
This was a chance find and in no way connected to the unknown arcade located nearby at a section of the A206 near the junction with Hare Street in Woolwich. Incidentally, with regard to the unknown arcade, once source has claimed passing by the approximate vicinity of the location last summer and witnessing a shop front with rows of standup arcade machines but that has yet to be confirmed.
Sega MegaLo 50 arcade cabinet from the early 1990s, image credit: Sega Retro
However, back to the review in hand. There is lots to say about Sega Zone, it might lack the sparkle of more contemporary or larger venues in the West End but this is made up for with an okay selection of gaming titles. It must be said that on first the appearance, shabby as it is, does not provide much hope for what awaits inside. The neon sign advertising ‘Sega Zone’ seems to be falling apart and is the only indication that it's an arcade. Sadly, the shabby and slightly dilapidated feel continues inside the arcade. Although quite large when inside, games wise there appears to be a bit of a drought. The limited number on display allows for some generous spacing between the mostly large cabinets even if you do get an initial sinking feeling. I counted ten games in total which I suppose is mostly okay for this size of arcade. The list includes Street Fighter 3 Alpha playing on a classic Sega Mega Lo 50 sit down cabinet, also, Tekken Tag Tournament, Zombie Zone and Virtua Striker 2 version 98, all housed inside sit down cabinets with 50 inch screens. This is complemented by Sega’s House of the Dead, Jurassic Park Lost World in a standard upright cabinet and Daytona USA, two twin cabinets, allowing four player linked player although one of the twins was switched off and did not seem to be functioning. Finally, there’s a Marvel vs Capcom, a Time Crisis and an unknown side scrolling shooter.
And that’s it. It’s just that with the amount of floor space surely a few more title could easily have been positioned here or here. But it must be said that overall the games themselves are not in the best of shape. Two of the Daytona cabinets are out of order, the screen for Tekken Tag is a bit on the dim side and the light gun for player one on Jurassic Park is off target. On the flip side the pricing is reasonable with 50 pence a credit being the norm.
It must be said that the arcade is actually partitioned with the back half given to fruit machines and access therefore restricted to the over eighteens only. I guess that once upon a time that area was also occupied by video games but as times have changed so have the contents possibly in order to keep showing a respectable income. This is just an observation that can perhaps be given some credence by taking a closer look at the centre in general and its décor. The walls display character art printed and painted to showcase some of Sega’s most famous franchises including Sonic the hedgehog and Akira from Virtua Fighter in his costume from the second game in the series.
Akira Yuki character art for Virtua Fighter 2, image credit: Fighter's Generation
Another curious discovery can be made next to the change machine where you will find the so called ‘secret move list’ from Virtua Fighter 2. A good dozen or so moves for each of the ten characters are listed column by column in a style not too dissimilar to that from the old arcade cabinets housing the title. It’s then natural to assume that at some time or another Virtua Fighter 2 was playable at Sega Zone but that time is now long gone. Perhaps some one reading this can shed some further light on this scenario?
My feeling is that Sega zone was probably set up around the early to mid-1990s when Sega was on its mission to open up arcade entertainment centres fit for this new era of gaming where 3D was becoming the order of the day. The ghost of games from Sega’s back catalogue such as the Virtua Fighter series still seem to haunt this place and it could certainly do with more contemporary titles such as some from Sega’s newer Naomi hardware based games including Virtua Tennis, Ferrari Challenge or Virtua NBA. Perhaps even my current favourite, the not too old SpikeOut could put in an appearance just to keep things interesting. It’s also worth considering popular games from other manufacturers, logical choices include Capcom’s very playable Street Fighter 3 Third Strike and SNK games such as the very popular King of Fighter 98 or even 99.
So, in summary Sega Zone could do with a bit of TLC, perhaps not a fully fledged refurbishment, but a bit of a paint job would not go amiss whilst keeping the wonderful art murals of the aforementioned Sega characters intact. On top of this a rethink about the games catalogue is definitely in order with some of the titles mentioned above prime candidates for taking over some of the vacant floorspace. Sega Zone is also nice located being as it is just a few minutes walk to Woolwich Arsenal train station. But here we are in the summer of 1999 and the only newest game is Tekken Tag Tournament.In essence it boils down to management and finances, and if it ain’t broke then they probably aren’t going to bother fixing it.
Curiously, I found out that Sega Zone might be an independently managed venture although it is probably still connected in some way to the Sega Park and World franchising. Recently I chanced across a list of Sega Parks and Zones in London with a further two as yet undiscovered locations, funnily enough also located in south London. However, due to the age of said list, circa 1997-98?, their current existence and contents is yet to be independently verified.
UPDATE: March 2022
Well, obviously this place shut down eons ago! A quick browse of the web using ‘Sega Zone Powis Street’ for the search reveals that the building was previously occupied by the William Shakespeare pub. Its most recent tenant was Quicksilver amusements, now however, the whole building located at 12 Powis Street is proposed for demolishing due to plans being submitted to refurbish the site with hundreds of homes.
