SegaWorld

SegaWorld is a name referring to one of a number of theme parks and arcades worldwide, including installations in the United Kingdom, China and Australia. The parks sought to promote Sega games while providing entertainment based on its licenses, while the Japanese Sonictown (sometimes otherwise known as 'SegaWorld') created an entire world based on Sonic the Hedgehog alone.

SegaWorld London

London's SEGA theme park kicked off at the height of its mascot Sonic the Hedgehog's popularity on September 7th, 1996. Housed in the Piccadilly Trocadero, it featured a number of indoor rides, coin-op arcade machines and a SEGA merchandise shop. It was heavily promoted in the UK's Sonic the Comic, where competitions were run to win items from the SegaWorld shop, and out on the streets where tokens could often be found for discounted or free entry, and free t-shirts were distributed. The loss-making venture eventually closed and was taken over by new management who closed several floors and renamed the establishment "FunLand".

The name SegaWorld later referred to the basement arcade in Hamleys' Regent Street branch, featuring none of the rides and entertainment of its Trocadero predecessor, as a SEGA-dedicated coin-op den since stripped and replaced with a franchised 'Game' outlet.

ega World Sydney

egaWorld Shanghai

Little is known of Shanghai's SEGA arcade, other than the rumour that it only recently closed. According to reports sent into Sonic cultist site UK Resistance [http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2006/08/all-of-photos-we-got-sent-on-august-16.html] , the basement arcade in Xu Jia Hui Shanghai still operated a series of UFO Catcher machines and SEGA arcade machines long after the demise of its Western equivalents. The arcade was adorned with artworks and fascias dating back to Sonic's heyday, on top of a largely Dreamcast-era look in meeting with some of the newer machines. Games featured in the arcade, identified by photographic records, included OutRun, Time Crisis, House of the Dead and an installation of the cult oddity Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car for younger patrons.

As of September 2007, the arcade still operates on the 8th floor of the Metro City shopping mall, despite the recent revamping of the adjacent food court. There are no indications anywhere outside pointing to the arcade, possibly in tune with government regulations on internet cafés and gaming spaces. It is now known as Players Arena.