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Japanese Arcade Scene Still Going Strong
Milktoast writes "An English teacher in Japan is writing about the thriving Japanese Arcade scene at Joystick101.org. He talks about new trends in a culture that hasn't abandoned the arcade as a venue." Maybe it's just me, but I've only been in a handful of domestic arcades that impressed me. I don't know if it's a cultural diffference to blame, but Japanese arcades also seem to look like there's something cooler going on, like the prizes for redemption games. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.
Maybe Japanese arcades have games that let you keep playing if you're good, rather than charging you two dollars for half a minute of crappy racing.
I stopped playing pinball games once they went up to $0.50 per play, and many arcade games are $1 to play... that's just way too much, considering that you're usually killed off after a few minutes once you miss a checkpoint or get to the third character who uses every cheap tactic the AI can muster. I used to love arcades back in the day where I could play Moon Patrol for a good half hour on a quarter, but I simply can't afford to spend enough to learn all the moves in a fighting game, or where to sit to avoid the bosses bullets in the latest shoot 'em up... especially when I can play games that are just as good at home.
-"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH
The old man playing had a cigarette in one hand and was pressing the button as fast as he could with the other, making the on screen breast flop around. As the score for his jiggling got tallied up our eyes met and we both smiled.
Right out of a Meg Ryan movie I tell ya
I was in Japan through 97-98 and noticed two things that would explain why their arcade scene isnâ(TM)t dieing. The first is that the Japanese people like to do things in groups and going to an arcade is a fun activity that can be done with a lot of your friends. So why havenâ(TM)t home console system killed the arcade places like they have in the states? Well, that brings up my second point which is that they tend to keep visits to other peopleâ(TM)s houses down to a minimum. Every time you go to someoneâ(TM)s place you have to bring a gift (omochi, green tea, etc) and it gets to be a pain. Group gaming activities at home seem to be rare in Japan which keeps the arcades thriving. Of course I could be wrong :)