Throwback - Gaming in Japan: April 2014

Game Cafe - CapBar

Awesome set up and always popular, CapBar is an absolute must.

Recent years have seen a lot of game themed cafés come and go (still waiting on a Sega cafe..), CapBar on the other hand made the decision to collaborate with the well established, specialist restaurant "Pasela Resorts".

Pasela's food and service are both pretty decent. Good portions made the prices easier to swallow.

Although this is likely to be a very Monster Hunter centric experience, the passion from the staff and variety on the menu will make even no gamers pretty pleased overall.

In recent months the amount of English speaking staff has increased a bunch load, with menus and instructions on how to handle the shouty moments (for example any time you order Phoenix Wright onion rings..) also made available. The menu and stuff might be a little bit of a struggle first time but Guile's theme will get you through all that.

Game artist - Dreams Come True

Might not recognize the band, but bassist Masato Nakamura will probably ring a bell with Sonic fans.

Celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year, DCT has been one of the biggest Jpop bands in Japanese history. Hardcore fans have followed them the whole way but very few Jpop fans know about the bands involvement in the gaming community.

Back in '90 their tour bus debuted SEGA's "Sonic The Hedgehog" character to the world (as "Alex the Kid" was phased out) due to Nakamura's involvement as music composer for both Sonic 1 & 2.

Unfortunately collaboration negotiations broke down due to financial disagreements between Nakamura and Sega when Sonic 3 was on the table.
The disagreement subsided though as Nakamura gave Sega rights to use his work in Sonic Generations a coupla years back.

More deets on one of the most influential game music composers -http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masato_Nakamura

Arcade "St. Tropez" - Ikebukuro

As close as you'll get to the Carnival Night Zone.

Awesome place, hella spacious, well kept and essentially maintained by the huge casino on the 3rd floor and a mega pachinko place on B1.

All the biggest and best arcade titles of the moment, small FGC community selection but well worth visiting - SEGA GIGO is next door but the vibe is pretty dark. Definitely worth hitting this place once and a while to see the climate of gaming in Tokyo.

Arcade Release - Ultra Street Fighter IV

Promotion hype!

Game merch - Ultra Street Fighter IV

Oh hell yeah.

Campaign - "Taiko no Tasujin"

Itsawesome.

To celebrate the release of MarioKart DX in the arcades this month, the Don bro's are taking on the Mario Bro's.

Left side players Mario, right side Luigi.

Arcade "Game Safari" - Ikebukuro

Just follow the Zebra's ass.

Ikebukuro in recent years has become known as a student town, with major department stores closing down makin way for used and second hand shops - and possibly the reason for such a strong arcade scene.

Game Safari is an old school joint, indie, just one floor, but represents the more aggressive FGC community. A couple of years ago Safari was THE Tekken scene in Tokyo, attracting some of the most hard core gamers. Nowadays it has just 2 cabs and represents the only "Pair Play" cabinets in the Tokyo region.