Game Centered

Much ink has been spilled over the decline of the Japanese video game arcade, a.k.a. "game center." So what are Japanese gamers playing when they go to the arcades? This 2ch post actually asks, and finds out:

-"Games that even beginners can easily start playing have really been on the decline recently."

-"Tetris or PuyoPuyo."

-"I was super into Time Crisis for a while."

-"UFO Catchers."

-"Music games."

-"Medal games."

-"QMA with a friend." (Quiz Magic Academy)

-"Damn you otakki bastards who play QMA alone while taking notes! It's a game for couples!"

-"Fighting games or QMA."

-"Ones where you kill zombies."

-"The Bonds of the Battlefield."

-(Absurdly detailed thesis about PuyoPuyo)

And for the win:

-"Whenever my friends and I go to the game center we basically stand around for a while and leave because there isn't anything a beginner can just start playing."

Comments

[Aaron Schnuth]

I for one would love to read that absurdly detailed thesis about PuyoPuyo. :)

[Leonardo Boiko]

I second the motion for the thesis.

And come on, arcade is dying everywhere. I live in São Paulo, a city with 11 million habitants, and I can’t find a single arcade with Guilty Gear.

[Carpetbomberz]

Going back to the first wave of Game Centers in the U.S. (when they were smaller and privately owned), you had all the historic firsts like Space Invaders, Missile Command, Asteroids, Pac-Man and the like. Then the transition to Donkey Kong occurred and I kind of dropped out after that. I agree when I go to Game Centers today in the U.S. if you don't watch someone else for a while and try to step up and play you're flushing your tokens down the toilet. Not worth it given the prices.

[wah]

>>"Whenever my friends and I go to the game center we basically stand around for a while and leave because there isn't anything a beginner can just start playing."

This was me in every Japanese arcade.

[MattAlt]

I think this is really a case of "video killed the radio star," or more to the point, "home consoles killed the arcade game star." Unless you invest a small fortune in equipment no home user can hope to have (like the Gundam "Bonds of the Battlefield" pods), you're facing an uphill battle against people who can just download an app or whatever for the same price as a gameplay.

And don't get me started on the cigarette smoke -- the air inside the average Tokyo arcade is so thick you can cut it with a knife.

[Steve Harrison]

Well, but that's always the battle of home entertainment Vs. 'external structured controlled delivery' (or theater/arcade), the key being the external venue must provide an experience that you can't get at home. I recall the big thing end of '80s-ish was motion environment games, things that tilted or moved and I wish to hell I could recall any of the names of the things, but they were usually 4 token wallet busters.

And of course the graphics. Until they got to Original Playstation and that generation (not counting Neo Geo, that thing was insane expensive), home gaming always suffered compared to the Arcade.

but I'm WAY out of the loop, there's I think one place that has ANY games anymore (aside from the sad handful at a couple of theaters), there's not a single Arcade in my city, and besides, I preferred Time Pilot, Galiga, Boscone, Gyruss... :)

[Sean]

I certainly hope more arcade games will take the idea of Bonds of the Battlefield, that is a unique video game experience that you cant reproduce at home, and run with it. For the year and a half I lived in Japan it was the arcade game I played the most, without question.

It also had a fairly easy learning curve, unlike the similar Gundam Vs. games which no newcomer can ever hope to play competitively.

[MattAlt]

>> the similar Gundam Vs. games which no newcomer can ever hope to play competitively.<<

The young dudes I always see hanging out at those machines have always stuck me as something like the Yankii of the digital generation. Only riding mobile suits instead of deco-chari.

[Gilles Poitras]

Ditto on the smoke, A severe tobacco allergy keeps me out of arcades, pachinko parlors (the noise does also) and bars when I visit Tokyo.

Only sad about the bars part.

[MattAlt]

People often ask me if what if anything I DISLIKE about living in Japan, and without hesitation I can tell you it's the smoking. Bars don't bother me so much, but smoking in restaurants (especially expensive ones) drives me up a wall, and arcades & pachinko parlors are like little lung cancer factories.

[JonRiddick]

In the US, I see the biggest remaining true arcades, with a decent selection, in bigger places like Dave&Busters. No awsome Gundam games though. I'd love to see that.
The biggest draw here are the US Gundam equivalent, "NASCAR" heheh. And the huge screened shooty game that bills itself as "The Ultimate-Total-Destruction-Machine-Gun-Blowing-Stuff-UP Game" or some such. Always a crowd around that.