Sega World - SegaWorld London

SegaWorld London

Downward view from within Rocket entrance escalator

London's SEGA theme park kicked off at the height of its mascot Sonic the Hedgehog's popularity on September 7, 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 a new management and renamed the whole establishment "Funland". Funland was originally the arcade in the basement floor next to the Pepsi Max drop, which shared the same building as SegaWorld.

After taking over SegaWorld, Funland shut their basement arcade and the top floors remained open, along with McDonalds on the 3rd floor until autumn 2002 when the main entrance known as the Rocket Escalator, was shut. At that time the dodgems were moved from the 3rd to the 1st floor and a new lower ground floor was re-opened. The arcade was arguably the largest and most popular in England with games in 2011 including DJMax Technika, Pump It Up Fiesta, Pump It Up Pro, Street Fighter IV, and Initial D Arcade Stage 4. As of 2010, the basement section leading from the London Underground is now an area for b-boys and streetdancers to practice.

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, which then became the Game Zone arcade, and finally stripped and replaced with a franchised 'Game' outlet at the end of 2003. In May 2011, the Rocket Escalator was completely removed during building works for the hotel that will use the top 2 floors of the building.

On 3 July 2011, Funland was shut down. This was due to a long running dispute with the landlord over rent. This has been ongoing since 2004 and landlord may well open another arcade directly owned by himself, rather than a third party in the future. The manager of Funland confirmed the dancegame cabinets, including Pump Fiesta EX and Para Para Paradise 2nd Mix are moving to Las Vegas Arcade, in Soho. This was also announced on Coin-Op Community. More than just an arcade to many, a players testimonial was also published. A handful of arcade machines were kept and as of 2012 are scattered around the building, though the main Funland area remains locked and closed.