Nakano TRF first started operating in 2004, and over the decades since has become a pillar of Tokyo's fighting game community, thanks to its wealth of 2D fighting cabinets, hosting tournaments for games like Samurai Shodown and serving as a hangout for fans of Psychic Force 2012, Aquapazza, and Cyberbots.
However, since 2020, the business has found itself struggling, thanks to the impact of COVID-19 (and declining profit margins), forcing its owners to turn to the Japanese crowdfunding site Camp-Fire on multiple occasions to ask for donations to help it weather the increasingly difficult climate.
These funds allowed the owners to continue operating for a short period of time, but seem to have only prolonged the inevitable, with the proprietor recently posting a blog on the Nakano TRF website announcing its upcoming closure.
In this brief statement, the owner thanked visitors for their patronage "over the last 20 years" and announced that Nakano TRF's last day of operation will be on May 18th.
This sad piece of news follows the closure of the Kyoto-based arcade A-Cho earlier this year on January 31st — another event that was considered a tragic loss for Japan's fighting game community.
