Game Over Desu

Sobering up between bar hops Friday night, Andy and I decided to warp a few parsecs over to Shibuya Kaikan, but the once-legendary top floor, formerly filled corner to corner with retro arcade games priced cheaper than anywhere else in Neo-Tokyo, real classics competing for attention in all their polyphonic bitpoppy glory, the place I spent I think half of my off-hours and most of my weekly food allowance during college, the place I actually was (and this will date me) when I heard Kurt Kobain died, while playing Time Pilot as it so happens, me not him I mean, a shadow of its former self, filled not with Dig Dug and Elevator Action and the rest but rather rows of several-year-old head-to-head Gundam Versus Whatever cabinets instead, tended by a clone-like army of chain-smoking college kids and first-year hires in moptops and cheap suits and thick-framed glasses, who quickly scanned us for the dinosaurs we were, and after a desultory round or six of Time Crisis 2, at which Andy kicked my ass, we traveled floor to floor, a two-man lost tribe from an eight-bit era, bearing gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and fifty-yen coins, eventually landing amidst a paltry handful of vintage games in the manger-like basement, upon one of which which Andy proceeded to kick my ass again. Then the drinking.

Comments

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Ahh yes, the Shibuya Kaikan. So awesome. My heart was broken when they removed the Daytona machine that was set to "Gran Prix" mode -- you could literally play a half-hour on 100 yen...

[Jean Snow]

Yeah, I was in absolute shock when I discovered the change (maybe a few months ago). I'm glad we still got to cover it in Arcade Mania. But sad indeed.

[MattAlt]

There's still a couple of those multi-game cabinets down in the basement, but it was really disappointing in comparison to its glory days.

The thing I am still trying to find is a Cyber Sled cabinet. I must have spent thousands on that thing in 1994, but they have since totally disappeared from the face of the Earth. I heard it got released as a Virtual Console title on the Wii, but I suspect it just isn't the same without the cabinet's double joysticks.

[Andy]

I still think the battle tank game is a great example of streamlined game design - rules that anyone can grasp in a millisecond (shoot the enemies, walls providing cover can be destroyed) and a great tension-builder element (get the enemies before they get to us).
Unfortunately Matt did not realize that our home base needed to be protected until it was too late (hence GAME OVER です).
Wat he didn't tell you is that he consistently out-scored me in points. What a daring, daring man.

[MattAlt]

It's all due to me ignoring the rules and carrying alcohol into the shop. Fortunately I hid it all in my liver.

[Jordan]

As a Star Wars fan I must vehemently protest your mixing of the words "parsecs" and "warp." All of us know that it was the great Han Solo who ran the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs. Neither Captain Picard nor Kirk have ever even attempted such a feat!

Too sad. Those Gundam games aren't really that fun.

Anyways, that was the most amazing run-on sentence ever. I'll just leave the frankincense, gold and myrrh on the table here. All your grammars are belong to us!

[Steve Harrison]

Time Pilot....*sigh*

You probably were hot for 1942 and Boskone and Gyruss...JUST LIKE ME!

But I wager you don't know the insane joy (and sore finger!) of Pengo! I normally hate that sort of game but man, ice bees? why not?

[MattAlt]

>> I must vehemently protest your mixing of the words "parsecs" and "warp."

Ah ha ha! I am enough of a nerd that I was expecting this. Alas, Lucas had it wrong. A parsec is a measure of length, not time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsec

I played my share of Pengo as a kid. Now you want obscure? I've also played my share of Rock-Ola's "Eyes."

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7742

[Benjamin Boas]

I just noticed this a few days ago myself. Sad stuff :(

[Jordan]

I am well aware of Lucas's gaffe. He has shamed us all, but that's not Han Solo's fault! He still made the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs, mainly by going in closer to the black holes around the Maw. Han also shot first! Hehehe.

[hillsy]

Wow. Just....wow

[MattAlt]

For years, Shibuya Kaikan was pretty much my de-facto spot for killing time whenever I had to meet someone in the area. Now I guess I'll have to descend into the aromatic bowels of Mandarake instead, though it kinda defeats the purpose because the cell reception is so crappy down there.

(And I'm not kidding about the aroma -- the staircase, which leads three flights beneath street level, must share a wall with a sewer or something.)

[Jordan]

Shibuya's Mandarake always creeps me out for some reason. I do like that they have girls singing anime theme songs though.

[MattAlt]

Do they still do the karaoke? I'd thought they stopped doing that. Back when it first opened on "love hotel hill," before it moved to the current location, the employees HAD to cosplay. Now they all seem to wear regular clothing and aprons.

[hillsy]

>aromatic bowels of Mandarake

Hah....that's right! Still, of all the Mandarakes, I've found the best deals. It's worth a little waft of Tokyo's backside. Besides, you were in the damn Tokyo sewers...you should immune to all that now.