Kyoto Joypolis

Kyoto Joypolis (Japanese: 京都ジョイポリス) was a Joypolis branded amusement park that was situated on the tenth floor of the JR Kyoto ISETAN department store in Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.

Owned and operated by Sega Corporation, the park operated from 1997 until 2002.

History

Kyoto Joypolis opened with JR Kyoto ISETAN on 11 September 1997.^[1] It was much smaller than other Joypolis venues and due to this, the park did not charge an admission fee. The theme and slogan, Touch & Feel; It's Cute, heavily targeted the park towards couples and a young female demographic.^[2] The park opened with ten attractions; seven of which were newly created for the park, one of which being Lost Cemetery.^[3]

Over the years, the park suffered from low attendance similar to other Joypolis parks. Café Mint was closed down and the newly-debuted attractions had relocated to other Joypolis venues, namely Aquarena and Bike-Athlon. The only new attraction added to the park throughout its entire existence (aside from temporary 3D horror houses in the Murder Lodge space) was a Wild River installment.

In September 2001, all of the remaining attractions, except for Wild River and opening day attraction Sega Touring Car Championship Special were removed from the site due to restructuring at Sega.^[4]

The park closed on 22 August 2002^[1] after Sega and ISETAN's contract to operate the park was not renewed.

Currently, the floor space where the park once sat is home to an Itoya store.

Layout

As stated above, Kyoto Joypolis was smaller than other Joypolis parks and was only situated within a single floor. It did however retain the themed layouts seen at Tokyo and Shinjuku.

Sports

Sports was home to two new attractions - "Sega Touring Car Championship Special", and "Bike-Athlon", alongside previous Joypolis mainstay "Power Sled".

"Sega Touring Car Championship Special" was the successor to "Sega Rally Special Stage" at Shinjuku Joypolis sharing similar technology of having riders ride on two real-life cars; namely Mercedes and Fiat cars. The attraction was later duplicated for the Tokyo and Okayama parks, which added an extra player car. "Bike-Athlon" was a similar racing game-attraction hybrid where two guests rode on real bikes, and would have to pedal together to win the race.

Bike-Athlon relocated to Shinjuku Joypolis the following year in 1998, while Power Sled was removed in September 2001, leaving only "Sega Touring Car Championship Special" as the only attraction on the floor which closed with the rest of the venue in August 2002.

Mysterious

Mysterious housed one new attraction - Lost Cemetry, a tracked simulator ride. Previously Joypolis mainstrays Murder Lodge and Fortune Museum shared a single attraction room due to the lack of space. All the attractions in this section were removed in September 2001.

Relax & Memories

Relax & Memories housed four Walk-Through attractions - "Aquarena", a virtual aquarium; "Mystery Walk", where guests solved a murder case by finding six heads throughout the park; "Cartoon Street", a stamp-collecting search where guests find over forty stamps throughout the park; and "5 Senses Garden", an attraction that tested the love connection for a couple. The floor also housed "Cafe Mint", a quick-service restaurant.

"Mystery Walk" and "Cartoon Street" were removed in April 1998, the former also having been moved to Shinjuku Joypolis. 5 Senses Garden was removed at the end of 1998, while "Aquarena" was removed in April 1999 and relocated to Tokyo Joypolis. "Café Mint" also closed within this time frame.

Former Attractions

Name	Manufacturer	Type	Opened	Closed	Fate
5 Senses Garden	Unknown	Walk-Through	September 11, 1997	December 1998	Unknown
Aquarena	Sega AM5	Walk-Through	September 11, 1997	April 1999	Relocated to Tokyo Joypolis
Cartoon Street	Unknown	Walk-Through	September 11, 1997	April 1998	Unknown
Fortune Museum	Sega AM5	Walk-Through	September 11, 1997	September 2001	Unknown
Lost Cemetery	Sega AM5	Simulator	September 11, 1997	September 2001	Scrapped
Murder Lodge	Sega AM5	Walk-Through	September 11, 1997	September 2001	Scrapped
Mystery Walk	Unknown	Walk-Through	September 11, 1997	April 1998	Relocated to Shinjuku Joypolis
Wild River	Sega AM5	Simulator	2000	August 22, 2002	Scrapped

^[5]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 "Kyoto Joypolis". Archived from the original on 2003-04-11.
↑ "Kyoto Joypolis Details". Archived from the original on 2002-06-20.
↑ Sega Magazine (PDF). 1997. p. 13.
↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20011031200446/http://sega.jp/joypolis/kyoto.html
↑ "Kyoto Joypolis". Sega. Archived from the original on 1999-04-18.

This box: view edit Amusement Parks and Game Centers operated by Sega
Joypolis	Fukuoka Kyoto Niigata Okayama Shinjuku Tokyo Umeda Yokohama
Galbo	Ichikawa Osaka ATC Yokkaichi
Overseas Parks	Player's Arena Sega Republic Sega World Sydney SegaWorld London
Game Centers with Attractions	Club Sega Canal City Club Sega Chatan Club Sega Yokohama Sega Arena Hamaotsu Sega Arena Nakama Sega Arena Padou Sega Arena Toyohashi Sega World Cospal Sega World Hakkeijima Carnival House Sega World Rinku Sega World Utsunomiya
Overseas Arcades with Attractions	GameWorks Rio de Janeiro Sega Arena Taichung Sega's Time Out On the Court Sega VirtuaLand Sega World Bournemouth Sega World Oe

[:0-1] 1.0 ^1.1 "Kyoto Joypolis". Archived from the original on 2003-04-11.

[2] "Kyoto Joypolis Details". Archived from the original on 2002-06-20.

[3] Sega Magazine (PDF). 1997. p. 13.

[4] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20011031200446/http://sega.jp/joypolis/kyoto.html

[5] "Kyoto Joypolis". Sega. Archived from the original on 1999-04-18.

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