Timezone | Nostalgia on the Arcade Games

09.21.2019 – Usually the day is packed with so many things to do, but back then there were simple things that what used to be a place to hang out and relax. Now, these days it is just about staying at home before the weekend of watch some movies with friends and family either in the cinema or the confines of Netflix. But a decade ago it was with fellow enthusiasts and some friends who share a common interest. And then there’s the arcades which is for some a bygone era where it has sort of become obsolete for most who have the game consoles or most of their time spend their free hours on their phones as technology has changed all that.

A couple of days ago I just so happen to pass by Glorietta 4 cinemas and just across the ticketing booth is an arcade, not just some gaming arcade it is Timezone. It was originally from Australia and it has opened other places in Southeast Asia including the Philippines in the mid-1990s.

Although Timezone has been known from down under there are places in the region that doesn’t have it. In Adelaide South Australia, the popula arcade in Westfield Marion is Infinity, that’s where I played the last Dance Dance Revolution sometime in February 2017 and even though I left the same arcade same machine there.

Speaking of DDR, I got hooked playing that dancing game way back in 1999 and that’s two decades ago. It put Timezone in the Philippines on the map when they had the very first gaming machine. It was popular that other arcade centers had their own machines even imitations from Korea. Those were the days that arcade machine has got me spending all the work outs despite having bought a dance mat for the original Playstation console that got me buying all the iterations of the game.











These days Timezone has expanded its reach in the Philippines. In Glorietta Mall there are about three Timezone branches. But recently going to the old stomping ground and entering the place there’s not one DDR machine. But there are other interesting arcade games genres that they have there like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game that can let four players go through the adventure. There are some pinball machines from Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars.

While outside they have the HALO shoot `em up game and the old Transformers Arcade Game that has been set aside. Unfortunately, the DDR machine must have been moved to another branch due to the declining appeal.

It is twenty years and I still think that machine still holds attention it might not be in this branch in Glorietta 4, but in another place. It never gets old from what I see as something I still truly appreciate and maybe someday Timezone would still bring there as there’s a current machine in Japan.

For now, if you happen to have nothing planned over the weekend and if you’re a parent or just still into the nostalgia of playing arcade games this may be the place to hang out or spend the day just enjoy the games.