Scorers in Japan

adverse · September 03, 2008, 01:52:58 AM

So where do the best scorers in Japan play?

Obviously HEY is a big hotspot, as well as alpha station. I don't know much more about Tokyo though.
Mikado had a lot of awesome DVDs/goods on sale but didn't have much of a game selection at all.

Osaka's hotspots tend to be 50 monte in Umeda, SCOT arcade in Nipponbashi and Sega Avion in Nipponbashi at least from what I know. I'm still exploring.

EOJ · September 03, 2008, 01:54:39 AM

Goody 21 in Tokyo. That's where SWY and WIZ hang out.

Also Gamebox-Q2 in Nagoya. Home of Galford and other top players. Website here.

Ast-Kot · September 03, 2008, 02:10:59 AM

Another palace is the Game in Ebisen:

www.ebi-cen.com

A very little place, 20cabs but if you go there you can meet Ktn-nal, Iso and other player

MatMouse for Ketsui Player

adverse · September 03, 2008, 03:09:58 AM

Nice ones, thanks guys.

I'm also curious if there's some mean shooter arcades out in the inaka that nonetheless submit impressive scores. That'd be pretty interesting.

jpj · September 03, 2008, 01:20:54 PM

Quote from: Ast-Kot on September 03, 2008, 02:10:59 AM
Another palace is the Game in Ebisen:

www.ebi-cen.com

A very little place, 20cabs but if you go there you can meet Ktn-nal, Iso and other player

MatMouse for Ketsui Player

awesome

i remember sven666 saying he visited this arcade in his last trip to japan and saying it was beyond a doubt the best arcade in japan

i woulda also said daytona III in saitama, which was where ISO DAB.S SOF-WTN and HAMU-HAMU set a whole bunch of world records, and also had the fabled dodonpachi campaign version for awhile, but i gather it's closed down (?).

and if you like street fighter 2 at all, a place called UFO is where players like umehara, ani-ken, and otochun, etc hang out

Pointman · September 03, 2008, 05:58:34 PM

Hey there, been a long time lurker but have finally decided to break my silence

I'm headed to Tokyo in October and was hoping to frequent a few of the better arcades. I know of the usual suspects; Hey, Try Amusement Tower, S@Y, so I'd like to try and locate a few more of the more obscure places. Is it true that Mikado has closed down? I heard that is was moving to a more respectable area. That is the kind of 'cade that I'd like to try but knowing my luck it'll have disappeared.

adverse · September 03, 2008, 10:03:57 PM

Quote from: jpj on September 03, 2008, 05:58:34 PMawesome grin i remember sven666 saying he visited this arcade in his last trip to japan and saying it was beyond a doubt the best arcade in japan cool

i woulda also said daytona III in saitama, which was where ISO DAB.S SOF-WTN and HAMU-HAMU set a whole bunch of world records, and also had the fabled dodonpachi campaign version for awhile, but i gather it's closed down (?).

and if you like street fighter 2 at all, a place called UFO is where players like umehara, ani-ken, and otochun, etc hang out Smiley

This site lists Daytona III as still being open, with a lot of STG games too? http://www6.atwiki.jp/saitama_gesen/pages/13.html Seems recently updated too...

And as for Street Fighter and other fighting games, man I'm all over that stuff. When I was in Japan in 2002 I spent a lot of time at MORE, an arcade in Shinjuku where some of the most brutal players in the country hung out. Haven't been out to UFO yet, but Game Inn Sakura seems to be the hottest spot in the city for SF4.

Quote from: Pointman on September 03, 2008, 05:58:34 PM
Hey there, been a long time lurker but have finally decided to break my silence

I'm headed to Tokyo in October and was hoping to frequent a few of the better arcades. I know of the usual suspects; Hey, Try Amusement Tower, S@Y, so I'd like to try and locate a few more of the more obscure places. Is it true that Mikado has closed down? I heard that is was moving to a more respectable area. That is the kind of 'cade that I'd like to try but knowing my luck it'll have disappeared.

Hey there. Mikado has not closed down, I was there in mid-August when I went to Tokyo for the CAVE matsuri/Tougeki. Whether it's moving or not I couldn't tell you though...Doesn't say anything about it on their site either...

http://mi-ka-do.net/

Kaneda · September 13, 2008, 09:24:26 AM

I went to Game in Ebisen today but unfortunately no one was there. I guess I'll try again tomorrow.

It's the smallest arcade I think I've ever been to, but it's definitely geared for the top players. Recording equipment, lots of games, the option to rent a cabinet for an hour or two to experiment (I saw one guy repeat the first 30 seconds of Futari BL for an entire hour), plus it's only 50 yen a play. I liked seeing the walls covered in world record high scores as well as the trophies. Pretty neat place.

EOJ · August 04, 2009, 11:18:41 PM

I checked out A-cho in Kyoto yesterday. Pretty big arcade, for shooters they had Ketsui, DDPDOJBL, Galuda 2, DDPDFK1.5 and two DS2 machines. All 50yen. Pretty nice overall, but the amount of smoke in there is a killer. I couldn't stand it after 20min. One guy was tearing up Daifukkatsu, but I couldn't last long enough to see him through the second loop.

adverse · August 05, 2009, 06:43:50 AM

Solid line-up. Just missing a Mushi Futari. $:-\$ But I guess you've played that one to death.

I wonder if there aren't any other little hideaways in Kyoto that have a great shooter line-up. One thing that's really nice about Ebi-sen is that there's basically no smoke in the place.

adverse · August 05, 2009, 11:26:18 PM

Think I'm gonna have to quit Alpha Channel. Yo that place's roach problem is out of hand...

Kaneda · August 06, 2009, 07:43:02 PM

Quote from: jpj
i woulda also said daytona III in saitama, which was where ISO DAB.S SOF-WTN and HAMU-HAMU set a whole bunch of world records, and also had the fabled dodonpachi campaign version for awhile, but i gather it's closed down (?).

I went to Daytona III yesterday and its pretty good. Recent games are 50 yen and older stuff is 3 credits for 100 yen, so its a good deal. The selection is decent and the place is surprisingly spacious and clean. I was most disappointed by the lack of superplay videos for sale which is something they supposedly did at one time but not anymore (although the recording equipment is still available for use).

EOJ · August 07, 2009, 01:08:18 AM

Quote from: adverse on August 05, 2009, 06:43:50 AM
I wonder if there aren't any other little hideaways in Kyoto that have a great shooter line-up. One thing that's really nice about Ebi-sen is that there's basically no smoke in the place.

I found Namco tower yesterday - they have DDP, Progear, and Espgaluda. Bleh. Nothing I'm going to put yen into to play in an arcade. At least half of their floors are smoke free though, which is nice.

I also found a little dive arcade with about 10 cabs, but no shooters (I forget the name of it). Both Namco Tower and A-cho are less than a 10min bus ride from my house in Kyoto, so that's nice. I'd like to find a place nearby with a Futari (1.5, BL, whatever), Deathsmiles, or Muchi Muchi Pork though.

GaijinPunch · August 10, 2009, 01:18:48 AM

QuoteAt least half of their floors are smoke free though, which is nice.

That's shocking. Were you there at night?

QuoteBoth Namco Tower and A-cho are less than a 10min bus ride from my house in Kyoto

Namco isn't really well-known for their arcades... at least the Tokyo ones are far more on the Amusement side than the games side. At least the ones that have stayed open.

Quoteso that's nice. I'd like to find a place nearby with a Futari (1.5, BL, whatever), Deathsmiles, or Muchi Muchi Pork though.

Pretty sure you'd have to mosey down to Osaka. But hey, Osaka's a great fucking city! Better than Tokyo in many ways... unfortunatley, not the gaijin job market.

EOJ · August 10, 2009, 01:20:29 AM

I went to A-cho again yesterday. They DO have a Futari 1.5, it's actually a 2-in-1 with Ketsui, I just didn't notice it the first time. Awesome. I was rocking Maniac mode and had a crowd behind me for awhile. They had a big crowd in the arcade that day and thankfully much less smoke than last time. So I guess I'll be going there about once a week.

I went to Osaka the other day and couldn't find a decent Arcade for the life of me. I went to like 4 or 5 and either they had no shooters, or they had Strikers 1999 or RFJ. Bizarre. From what I saw, Osaka pales compared to Kyoto (in every way), so I don't think I'll be heading back there any time soon.

adverse · August 10, 2009, 03:33:39 AM

Damn, pretty quick to hate on Osaka. I feel the exact opposite way.

There are only two arcades worth going to in Osaka though, namely Monte Carlo in Umeda and Game SCOT in Nipponbashi. SCOT is particularly deceptive because it looks like there are only two floors to it, but if you go to the third floor it's full of CAVE games. There were 9 the last time I was there. Some good scorers hang out there as well. As far as Monte Carlo, you'll see some good guys there sometimes, but there's only like 3 or 4 machines.

EOJ · August 10, 2009, 09:35:16 PM

Thanks for the Osaka tips. I didn't know about either of those, so I'll check them out next time I go. Is the one in Umeda right outside the Umeda station, or somewhere further out?

adverse · August 10, 2009, 10:30:23 PM

50 Monte is a bit hard to find, as is everything in Umeda. This is the spot, looks like their current line-up is solid:

http://www19.atwiki.jp/karishooterwiki/pages/752.html

Here's Amusement SCOT:

http://www19.atwiki.jp/karishooterwiki/pages/294.html

Actually there are a few other gems around Osaka including the Taito station just south of Namba which has Muchi Muchi Pork and Pink Sweets.

http://www19.atwiki.jp/karishooterwiki/pages/399.html

One problem though is at least the last time I was there, they had their machines on whack settings, like 5 lives starting or something... Not sure if it's every game, but next time you're in Namba it's worth stopping by IMO.

Ko-hatsu and アテナ and Sega Avion (both in Nipponbashi) also have good comp for fighters like Senko and BlazBlue, and Sega Avion occasionally has some good shooters.