Japan sure ain't what it used to be...

I went on a little summer trip to Japan recently. Heck what am I saying, I'm still in my apartment room as I type this out! Seeing that this forum is all about videogames and listens to a lot of Japan related stuff, I'd figure I'd post how my exploration of Japan's gaming world was going.

When I went into what was arguably the biggest electronics shop in Toyko's Akibahara district, the Yodabashi Camera building, I was thinking that the videogame section would take up an entire floor and look like some sort of encyclopedic collection of games going from the Current gen to the PS 1 / N64 era, maybe even some old gems from the older systems too. Well... let's just say that totally wrong does not even begin to describe the error of my assumption.

The entirely of the videogame section took less than a quarter of the 6th floor. The other sections was anime figurines and model kits, DV Ds of all sorts (including the X-rated kind), girls toys, children's bikes, skateboards and other Japanese outdoor stuffs, and etc. At no point did I see a retro games section, a PC game section (but I found a big one for Hentai-games of all things!), some fancy display for the Final Fantasy games or any of the latest releases, or even a demo booth!

Well, correction: there were several demo booth for some Gundam game. The gist of the game is that it looks like your typical fighting game, only in space and with mecha. You choose a Gundamn to play as, and then which enemy you'll face off against (or let the comp choose a balanced one for you). However, you can purchase a certain access card which will let you save your stats and unlocked mechs and take them with you from one game station to another. It all sounds decent... until you see what the "gameplay" is like - if you can even call it that.

Once the battle begins you only have FOUR color-coded choices on what moves to make, and there's no indication of what exactly they'll do: one might say "Strong!" while another might say "Fast Strike!" but the moves your character does don't seem to be related to what you choose as an attack plan. Instead, as soon as you choose yours the comp's choice is also revealed: the same choice cancels each other out, the wrong choice results in damage, whereas the right choice either parries the attack or damages the enemy. It plays more like a mix between rock-paper-scissors and a quick-time-event cutscene than anything else... and it's popular. If a forumite like Thorn were to ever see how ridiculously scripted, rigged and cash-oriented that sucker was he'd go into cardiac arrest!

Now I've heard that Japan is rather homogenized and the audience doesn't like many of the games made in the West or other countries, which would explain some of what I saw. I figured "maybe I'm just looking in the wrong area?" So I decided to start looking around exclusively for what the Yodabashi building lacked. Instead what I found in the other stores were a lot of dating sims, H-games, bizarre JRPG dating hybrids and the like: only ONE store actually sold actual PC games and included the likes of Dawn of War and Command & Conquer Generals in their libraries. Actual, innovative titles were nowhere to found on the consoles or PC.

Now the arcade gaming scene... BIG difference and improvement. I only found two arcades, one in the SEGA building and another in the Taito building. First thing that caught my eye was Metal Gear Solid Arcade. It's basically a rehash of the multiplayer component from MGS 4, but it's what they use the cabinet and it's tools for that impressed me. They give you a gun shaped similar to the P90 with a joystick attached under the grip and several other buttons. You would use those buttons to guide your character around and perform actions while you booth aimed and looked around by waving your gun at the screen, similar to both a light-gun game and the mouse setup used for most PC FPS games. It played surprisingly well, though much like the Gundam game it is reliant upon you investing cash into getting better guns and equipment for your "profile".

The other games that caught my interest were three other mech games for the arcade. On one looked similar to the previous Gundam game but better in that '''you can actually control your Gundamn, choose your pilot and face off against people online from your arcade station, as well as save stats!" The others? Well....

I'll add more to this thread as my trip continues tomorrow... tired now. I'll see your responses tomorrow!

EDIT: Come to think of it, perhaps that game was meant for the Pachinko Parlors? I noticed some of them have a similar setup with their games, and the game is so simple that it could easily be played on any of those machines.

edited 16th Jun '12 9:56:44 AM by SgtRicko

The Gundam game reminds me of one I played on Cartoon Network's site back when I was a kid. Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if there was a connection...

The Japanese are stealing American Flash games! This means war!

x3

You might be looking at the wrong places. Try your hand at Super Potato. It's a fairly notorious retro game shop near Akihabara Station.

Super Potato huh? If I end up heading back in the direction of Akibahara again before I leave, I'll check them out.

Anyways, yesterday I said that I found a few fun looking gems at the arcade, and now I have a chance to elaborate some more on them.

The first interesting one was this game called Steel Chronicle. The plot was basic enough for me to gather: sometime in the future some species of large alien bugs invade earth, and as a result we start building prototype mechs to combat them, and which your chosen character pilots. The anime character designs and mechs look inspired by Eureka Seven or Code Geass, and the bugs remind me of the ones from the Earth Defense Force games.

It's not the plot or design that caught my eye here though: it was the gameplay. You can choose the guns or blades to fight with, use various upgrades, including rocket boosters, and then mix-and match the upgrades with the three mech types. It's not Armored Core deep, but that's a LOT more in depth than your usual flashy arcade game gets. The game pits you in areas infested with the bugs and gives you a mission briefing, but normally it's just "wipe em all out". Most of the players in the arcade seemed to be doing some mission similar to the "Mercenaries" styled ones from the Resident Evil Series, killing the monsters for time bonuses and points as well as avoiding the bigger mobs. Like I said, pretty fun looking, overall.

The final mech game had me first thinking that I was looking at an Armored Core arcade game... until I realized that the players were on teams, dashing around a multiplayer map with frigging capturable territories, turrets, supply stations, player classes, and team objectivies. Yes, Japan finally went ahead and made their own-fast paced TPS shooter! Upon seeing more of the gameplay itself and even trying it out, it reminded me more of Conker: Live and Reloaded" due to how one of the classes relies upon getting up close and slashing you to death, another moves slowly and uses a minigun and rocket launcher to do damage, another carries a slow-firing sniper cannon, and another uses a light machine gun and can drop protective shields. Sadly, I couldn't remember the name for this one...

There is a catch to those two games I mentioned: again, they rely upon you having a sort of pass card to save your stats and progress. It makes sense since they rely heavily upon you either unlocking or paying to unlock items.

More to come tomorrow...

EDIT: I took a look at that Super Potato store... no wonder I couldn't find it, it's pretty far off from the main shopping area. Even more concerning is the fact the last photo taken of it from the ground was in 2008.

EDIT #2: Bah, I actually came pretty close to it's location! Dammit, how come I just kept finding all the Maido Cafes and repetitive shops and not that little gold nugget?!

edited 16th Jun '12 7:50:37 PM by SgtRicko