Manage profits, pick up gum, do the laundry and get coin to unlock arcade units and flip the family laundromat business to become an Arcade Paradise!
Arcade Paradise is a Retraux style business management simulator developed by Nosebleed Interactive and published by Wired Productions and released on August 22, 2022 on PC and consoles.You have just gotten a new job in the family business: running a corner laundromat! Since you think cleaning other peoples' rags is a boring way to make a living, you decide to change your path and the path of the business by converting it into an arcade paradise! Doing so won't be easy. You need to earn the proper money to buy new games and still pay the business's bills, all while getting your family and regular customers of the laundromat to accept the new changes.
Tropes found in the game:
- Abusive Parents:
- Your father Gerald isn't very fond of the idea of you dropping out of college, and later abandoning the laundromat business for an arcade. He calls regularly during the game's campaign to berate your changes, but isn't afraid to give advice on how to run the business better.
- Later on however, he takes the laundromat away from you after he discovers that you (or rather Lesley, who you decide to take the blame for) paid bribes for business permits, suspects that you are lying to him about other things, and auctions off the entire business. You're then sent to work packing boxes for his meat factory as his way of teaching you about the "real world", while Flashback voices reveal that you're The Un-Favourite of the family, with your father disapproving of your college degree and other life choices.
- Always Someone Better: Once you set a high score in the Woodgal Jr cabinet, you'll get an email from Sam, stating that they beat your high score. If you manage to beat their high score, you'll get an email about them coming in higher again. This will continue for multiple iterations, and Sam will also tell you what's going on in their life as you go. The same happens with Attack Vector with C4PT41N, though they tap out after you get a score over 50.
- Ambiguous Gender: Ashley is a name suitable for any gender, and the game almost goes out of its way to avoid gendering the protagonist. Some characters that are only interacted with via email are also ambiguously gendered.
- An Entrepreneur Is You: As new owner of the laundromat, you must make all of the business's money and pay its bills. In addition, as you shift the business more towards being an arcade, you also need to keep a steady base of customers. With that said, there is no real penalty for neglecting the laundry duties.
- Anachronism Stew: While the game is set in 1993, according to a poster, it is more of a mish-mash of typical 90s culture and technology and includes several things introduced a few years later, such as Windows 95 and the internet, as well as homages of DanceDanceRevolution (1998) and Mr. Driller (1999).
- Big Damn Heroes: When Gerald threatens to sell off the arcade, Dylan manages to return the invested money in his company to Ashley, allowing them to buy the building back.
- Bland-Name Product: The washers and dryers are of fictional brands such as Jackrabbit and Speedwagon. In addition, the computer runs an operating system very reminiscent of Windows 95. The trash items in the game are also based on the early 90s logos of actual food, snack, candy, and beverage products.
- Chekhov's Gun: While upgrading the arcade, one of your friends propositions you to invest in his video game company. Later on the investment pays off when the return saves your arcade from being auctioned off.
- Cool Big Sis: Your sister Lesley is very supportive of your endeavor and is the one who came up with the idea of converting the laundromat into an arcade. She works for the local council which provides you easy access to business permits, and confesses that despite being the white sheep of the family, she ended up giving up her dreams for a respectable career.. Later on, when she reveals to you that she actually got caught bribing for permits without your knowledge, your character Ashley decides to take the blame rather than risk your father finding out.
- Expy: Every single one of the games is modeled after another game. Vostok 2083 is a Galaga game with some elements of Raiden as well; Racer Chaser is Pac-Man with theming from Grand Theft Auto. Zombat 2 is Smash TV. And so on. They are all playable, however, and feature unique elements not seen in their inspirations (such as upgrades in Vostok 2083, and a turbo boost in Racer Chaser).
- Featureless Protagonist: Your player character is always seen from a first person perspective. The intro cutscene implies that Ashley is male, but nothing in the game otherwise points to it.
- Gross Gum Gag: There are usually three wads of gum stick somewhere per day. You get money for pulling them out, but it is no less gross.
- Guest Fighter: The video game adaptation of Kung Fury is available as a DLC cabinet.
- Heel Realisation: Once the player completely converts the laundromat into an arcade, their dad calls and confesses that he was being too money focused and neglected their relationship.
- It Will Never Catch On:
- Ashley is dumbfounded about emoticons like :) during text chats, and says that it will never catch on.
- In the epilogue, after you fully convert the laundromat to an arcade, you'll talk with Dylan about the new gaming consoles coming on the market, but express disbelief that they could ever overtake the arcade market.
- Konami Code: When you enter it on the menu screen, a golden washing machine appears. When you start the game, you get the best washing machines and dryers possible along with an achievement.
- Literal Metaphor: Occasionally, you'll be tasked with "debugging" an arcade cabinet... by flicking away actual bugs from its motherboard.
- Minigame Game: Along with playing arcade games, the earlier parts of the game feature a lot of doing laundry, cleaning the laundromat, and picking up garbage, all of which are also done by playing a minigame.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Menial chores such as doing the laundry and cleaning the laundromat are done in the form of fast-paced and action-oriented minigames. Fixing broken arcade machines simply involve flicking cockroaches off the arcade board. It's implied that Ashley, the protagonist, is projecting their love of games into their chores to make them less onerous.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The advertising implies that your father will constantly be a thorn in your side. The only reference to this is that, halfway through the game, no matter what you do, a scripted event sees you lose the arcade. Otherwise, he doesn't interfere at all, and you can take as long as you like.
- Popularity Power: Completing goals in each cabinet will increase its Popularity points, attracting more people to put money in. Playing the game yourself will also provide a popularity bonus, which slowly fades the longer you go before playing it. Placing other cabinets next to one with high popularity will help those attract people as well.
- Retraux: The game is set in the mid 90s, 1993 specifically accord to a poster. This not only has you using a mid 90s computer and accessing the Internet via dial-up to access primitive and simple websites, but also has you playing arcade games that, at newest-quality, hail from the 32-bit era.
- Riches to Rags: Halfway through the game, you receive an ominous text message from your sister Lesley that she forgot to pay the operating fees, and soon after, your father gives you an angry phone call about it. He decides that you're lying to him behind his back and auctions off the arcade you've spent so much time and energy building, and you are forced to find a job packing boxes at a local factory. It does get better though.
- Shout-Out:
- Communists from Mars is one to Communist Mutants from Space, but plays more like Missile Command.
- The DLC game Empathy is based on the empathy boxes from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- Fury, one of the player characters in Knuckles & Knees, is pretty much a clone of Terry Bogard, complete with red-and-white baseball cap.
- Sidequest: Laundry. The token machine will fill up relatively consistently over time (faster with more popularity), and all you have to do is empty it every so often. The laundry that you can do is considered a special service, and while it's useful at the beginning to get some money, you will quickly learn to ignore it as it takes away from completing goals and the To Do List every day. You're not penalized for this at all, and the only time you'll actually pick up the laundry again is when the task comes up on the To Do List.
- Stylistic Suck: The arcade's customers are deliberately presented in low resolution models that pixelate and disappear when you approach them.
- Video Arcade: The game has you gradually create one from the laundromat you work in.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Ashley and Leslie had been trying to earn their profit-obsessed father's praise. Ashley ends up giving up on it, once they realize that they don't care anymore. Leslie made that decision long ago, but not before she gave up on her dreams to appease her father. When Ashley finally does get praise in the finale, they don't react to it at all.
