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Japanese Arcades and Why I need an intervention...


Brushfire
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Wasting the company's valuable time today, I was rearranging my wallet. Then I had a thought. A profound thought. An "outlook on life" altering thought. I found that I am not addicted to video games. I am addicted to video games that give you little cards that track your stats and bonus crap on them. I counted that I have 8 cards in my wallet. I then coupled that with the 4 I have on my fridge that I "retired" and it hit me. I have 2 Mobile Suit Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield cards, 2 Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 cards, 1 Mario Kart GP 2 card, 1 Konami E-Amusement Pass (which can be used on multiple games so I could count that as 8 cards), 1 Initail D: 4th Stage card, and 1 Aquarian Age Alternative card (this does not count the fact that you have to have actual playing cards in addition to the stat tracker card). On the retired bench I have 1 Mario Kart GP card, 1 Wangan Minight 2 card, 1 Initial D: 3rd Stage, and 1 MSG: BotB card that I royally screwed up on. So I pose the questions: Do I have a problem and are there more like me?

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I don't think so. Maybe you just like the idea of having tangible "cred" of some sort to take around the game center.

Maybe you are right. When I first found out that OCRemix gave rank based off of posts I was all like "Freakin Awesome" but then I realized I had nothing interesting to say. It was kinda a sad day for me. Right now I'm all about Halo 3 Achievements. I got 815/1000 and I am 40 points away from 6000 Gamerscore. I know it amounts to nothing but still....

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Arcades exist?

In Japan arcades are more than just a place were you can play video games. Japanese arcades are a way of life. They are full even on days when there is school. I went on a Thursday at like 9 in the morning. There was about 40 people in there just doing their thing. I was quite taken aback by it.

Here are my cards:

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E-Amusement Pass

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MSG: BotB card #1

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MSG: BotB card #2

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Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3

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In Japan arcades are more than just a place were you can play video games. Japanese arcades are a way of life. They are full even on days when there is school. I went on a Thursday at like 9 in the morning. There was about 40 people in there just doing their thing. I was quite taken aback by it.

How many of them are college students? While I was there, I was pretty surprised at, comparatively, how little work Japanese colleges required compared to their US counterparts (and compared to high school, at that).

Not that I was terribly complaining, mind you. It gave me plenty of time off to travel a bit.

...and time to spend at arcades. KF

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mvc2av3jf3.gif

The appropriate reaction to any mention of MvC2.

I would love love love to go to a Japanese arcade. It's on my list of things to do before I die, being a subtopic of "Go to Japan & Cry In Akihabara". As for the whole cards thing, I went apeshit when I found out that the Tekken 5 machines in the arcade in the mall did the whole stat-card thing. I don't care if I'd wasted 6 bucks, I love that kind of stuff. It's pure gamer cred, chummer. Sadly I threw out the card when I was cleaning my wallet. I'd like to do that up again, actually - the Tekken 5 card. Bring in my PS2 controller so that I'm actually capable at the game, or otherwise learn my way across an arcade stick. After all, the machine's no longer a goddamn dollar to play.

EDIT: After looking up stuff on some of the games that were mentioned (Aquarian Age and Gundam, specifically), my desire is increased tenfold. A TCG arcade machine and a wicked mecha simulator? Somebody send me to Japan! D:

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EDIT: After looking up stuff on some of the games that were mentioned (Aquarian Age and Gundam, specifically), my desire is increased tenfold. A TCG arcade machine and a wicked mecha simulator? Somebody send me to Japan! D:

I really love the Gundam game. My friends and me routinely go and stay at the arcade all day just to play this game. We win some, we lose some, but after the day is done, a Captain, two 1st Lieutenants, and two 2nd Lieutenants are wiser and more pissed off than ever on how many more people have better Robots than us. I myself pilot the MS-06F-2 Zaku II (F2) (Earth Side) and am really close to unlocking the RX-78-2 Gundam. My wingman Devon flys the RGM-79G GM Command, Neil flys the RGM-79D GM Cold Climate Type and is trying to unlock the RX-79[G] Ez8 Gundam Ez8, and Jake flys the RGM-79[E] GM Type E. I tried using a Mid-Range type but I don't like them too much. I will stick with the short range and keep one fighting.

As for Aquarian Age Alternative, I have seen people play that game with all of the precision of a nuerosurgeon. It was quite a site to behold. Unfortunatly I can't read the cards so I am not so good.

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During the first weekend of my 4 1/2 month stay in Japan another international student in the same study abroad program as me was playing against someone in Tekken 5 at the arcade. It was pretty exhilarating. I wanted to go around the machine to the guy he was facing and be like "Ooooh! In Yo' face!" everytime my friend won a round, but I held it in. My friend ended up losing the match.

I didn't have much trouble not being addicted to arcades just because I figured there were better ways to spend money. But whatever's "the best way to spend money" is gonna be a lil different from person to person.

I did go to arcades from time to time, but I was always got disappointed when I'd find out they had neither the Simpsons nor X-men.

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During the first weekend of my 4 1/2 month stay in Japan another international student in the same study abroad program as me was playing against someone in Tekken 5 at the arcade. It was pretty exhilarating. I wanted to go around the machine to the guy he was facing and be like "Ooooh! In Yo' face!" everytime my friend won a round, but I held it in. My friend ended up losing the match.

I didn't have much trouble not being addicted to arcades just because I figured there were better ways to spend money. But whatever's "the best way to spend money" is gonna be a lil different from person to person.

I did go to arcades from time to time, but I was always got disappointed when I'd find out they had neither the Simpsons nor X-men.

I have been here in Japan for almost 2 years and I have to say that the arcade lifestyle, while bank account and time draining, is fun and you meet alot of interesting people. They range from the robot devil hands Beatmania player to the neurosurgeon style strip mahjhong player. It is really interesting to say the least. As for Simpsons and X-men, I did see a Simpsons game in Tokyo once.

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Brushfire, steal me a pop'n music machine.

But they are heavy and I'm lacking the upper body strength and motivation to do so.

On a lighter (no pun intended) note, I will be goin to the mall and trying to get ya'll a video of the Gundam game complete with a tour of the mall that surrounds the arcade.

I will put it on Youtube or somethin.

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