I'm looking ideally for some gaming shops but also anything really iconic in the area since I'll be there with my family (the rest of which don't like gaming).
Okay, real talk. If you're going with family, especially non-gamer family, note that Akihabara is packed and overflowing with anime titty. Like, even on the streets. It's not a great look. You also do not want to do to any of the Trader stores, they have porn upstairs and lots of ads for it. Also, obviously, stay away from places like Toranoana or Melonbooks. The used figure displays in Radio Kaikan and Akiba Cultures Zone are mostly safe, but also take a ton of time to look through and 90% of it will be One Piece, Dragon Ball or generic anime girls.
Many of the places are mostly for browsing for that rare item (which will inevitably be overpriced) and not that "iconic". I guess Super Potato is one, but, meh. If I were to pick out notable places worth visiting:
* Taito HEY (Hirose Entertainment Yard), huge arcade with tons of classics, unlike the Taito Game Stations and Sega arcades that litter Japan. Fairly clean and not TOO noisy either. On the main street.
* Kotobukiya, merch store that focuses on huge brands like Final Fantasy, Ghibli, Marvel, Star Wars etc. Quite safe to visit. On the side street to the west.
* If you're not going to Super Potato, check out one of these:
- Friends (on the 2nd and 3rd floor of a fairly nondescript building to the north at the first major intersection. All kinds of retro stuff and better deals than SP.
- Retro Game Camp (at least two locations on the main street, one in a basement). Retro stuff, decent prices.
- Beep (basement store on the west side street). Really, REALLY obscure retro stuff and a cool, scruffy location.
These are all fairly gaming focused and have little to no anime otaku stuff.
It might be a good idea to drop the family off at Yodobashi (near the station), it's a huge department store with electronics and toys and stuff if you're going to spend any amount of time in Akihabara. There's probably more for them to do there.