A pictorial analysis of the latest, craziest Japanese arcade games (56k unfriendly)

I had an hour to kill in Kyoto yesterday. As is the way in many Japanese shopping centres, the Kyoto centre I ended up in had one floor dedicated to an arcade. Now, shopping centre arcades tend to be relatively modest affairs compared to the best in Akihabara, usually just a Taiko no Tatsujin machine and a handful of outdated cabinets, as well as the ever present crane games that consistently prove distressingly popular. However, despite my failure to find anything resembling a retro / schmup section (Hey arcade in Akihabara remains the most glorious celebration of all things Cave and Treasure, photos of which you can find here), I did find a wonderful selection of the most popular current Japanese cabs, once I ignored the Pachinko (Pachinko is the devil) parlour that occupied half the building. Armed with far fewer 100 yen coins than would usually be the case, I gave some of these odd yet strangely compelling games a whirl. What follows is a brief description of some of my findings.

CRANE GAMES:



A quick word on the layout of a Japanese arcade. Contrary to what you may believe, 'proper' games tend to only occupy a relatively modest percentage of the typical Japanese arcade. You are usually greeted by a crane game section and the popular teenage girl and couple orientated photo booths. In multi-storey arcades, you are usually met with floors of extremely popular collectible card games. I do not understand a single word of these games, and they're best ignored, although their popularity far surpasses the more traditionally 'gamey' genres like shooters or fighting games, which are still relatively niche experiences in Japanese arcades - popular, but not that popular.

Anyway, a brief mention on crane games. They are usually filled with popular anime figurines and collectibles. Some are aimed at girls and young kids (such as Rilakumma toys) but the vast majority seem to cater to the fan fiction dreams of Japanese males. The above Evangelion machine, for example, was filled with suggestively posed Rei, Askua and Mari (the new female character introduced in Eva 2.0) figurines. This is pretty par for the course. Crane game sections are always worth a wander out of curiosity, but unless you're willing to spend a lot of money on getting these items, you can safely move along after a quick gander. Occasionally you get the odd gems, like the Earthbound figures in a number of Akihbara arcades. However, for the anime fans you might find a reference or figure that makes you knowingly grin. Like the awesome prize slot on the EVA machines:



ELEVATOR ACTION DEATH PARADE



Perhaps the most visually appealing lightgun game of the moment, for three reasons. First is the name, which I hope you'll agree is probably the best thing ever. Secondly, is the absolutely gorgeous vertical High-Def screen, which tends to be a welcome development in most contemporary arcade games. But most appealing of all is the main gimmick of the game: a huge pair of elevator doors that open and close in front of the screen. It has to be seen in action to appreciate how brilliantly random it is.

The game itself is fairly typical lightgun, but they use their gimmick well. Action when the door is closed plays on a small CCTV esque monitor above the main screen. The door is used brilliantly during actual play, though, if completely gimmicky. Of course, you can choose to go up or down between levels (choosing difficulty in the process). More inventively, O
one boss battle sees a huge monster (why a huge monster? Hell if I know) grabbing the doors, as you desperately aim for his head while hitting the big green 'close door' button as many times as you can. It's intense, random but a lot of fun. In terms of longevity, probably not much, but my 200 yen spent with the game was money well spent.

Odds of it coming westwards? Unlikely. Perhaps a console port will exist some day, but without an actual physical closing door it will lose most of its appeal. And a massive metal door is probably a peripheral too far, even for Activision.

COMPLEX SHOOTER WHOSE NAME I FORGOT TO NOTE:



This is a strange one. Unusually for Japanese shooters, this one comes with two sticks, each loaded with mouse wheels and buttons. It also has foot pedals for crouching and jumping. It's the Japanese arcade take on a PC FPS. Gameplay wise, it's a class based shooter along the lines of Team Fortress 2. You pick a class like scout (or others), and then do battle online. Too scared to play online, I tried a bots match. The bots were ludicrously stupid, even by bot standards, but I got the general point. Basically, what you think a Japanese FPS would be like. It's nicely polished, and it controls well once you get used to it, but the shooting is strange and unengaging: you have to destroy the armour of opponents before you can kill them. It plays like a JRPG mixed with TF2: in other words, a pretty damn uncomfortable mix. Get used to the gameplay quirks, class system and online play, though, and I'm sure there's a lot of depth to be found. A quick 100 yen test, though, isn't favourable.

PIRATE GAME WHOSE JAPANESE TITLE I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND:



This one's pretty cool. If anyone has played Let's Go Jungle (which is fairly common in Irish arcades that are left), you'll be familiar with the basic idea: you sit in a cab with two guns, each on a fully rotateble hinge, giving you fast and engaging shooting and aiming abilities. The gun itself is a machine gun, and the gameplay - while typical light gun fare, with added pirates and **** - is fast and fun. The one twist this game has though, is a pirate wheel. The level I played with has you frantically spinning the wheel as the level starts to avoid crashing with a ghost ship that has suddenly appeared. It's yet another gimmick, but it's one that adds an extra layer of intensity and fun.



It may be Let's go Jungle with pirates, but this is worthy of your 100 yen coin.

OK, that's all the typing time I have for the moment, but shall update this thread over the next day or two with more photos and descriptions. Next time: fighting games and the brilliant & varied world of Japanese arcade music games.