Fighting games in SE Japan

These are my observations after being here for the last 10 days and I thought it might interest people. Arcades are ubiquitous here, I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like during the industry's peak.

Extremely popular fighters (many cabinets constantly occupied):

Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution ver.B
Guilty Gear XX
Soul Calibur 2

Very popular fighters (many cabinets constantly occupied, just a slight notch below the above 3):

Super Street Fighter 2X
Capcom vs SNK 2
King of Fighters 2002
Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike
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Street Fighter Zero 3 [a lot rarer than the above 4 and doesn't get as much play but still easy to find]

Most unpopular fighter:

Tekken 4 [everyone realises that it's complete shit]

More notes: Neo Geo fighters apart from KOF2002 are not at all popular. Garou MOTW is usually nowhere to be found (because it sucks) and same goes for the Samurai Spirits games. Nobody plays Tekken and i'm yet to see a MVC2 cabinet. VO4 and Gundam Federation vs Zeon are very popular games, way more so than I expected. Competition here is very high standard to such an extent that it's almost pointless playing VF4 Evoultion or GGXX in Akihabara unless you're tournament standard.

Feel free to ask any questions, I have a very funny photo of 5 Tekken 4 cabinets taken at 6pm on a friday whilst about 50 people were crowded round the VF4 Evolution cabinets. Tekken haters will love it.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sidez
I have a very funny photo of 5 Tekken 4 cabinets taken at 6pm on a friday whilst about 50 people were crowded round the VF4 Evolution cabinets. Tekken haters will love it.

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I'll take one please! :D

Intresting Observations there. God I would love to be there. Unfortunatly my skills at any of those games are so weaksauce its pointless for me to play most places around here let alone there. My dream is to goto Japan and become a vagrant. Drifting fom town to town, honing my skills at VF4Evo till I am known as the "White Lighting". I will be feared and reveard everywhere.


Yeah.....


Z-roe

1.) Who seems to be the most used character in GGXX?

2.) Send the photo!

I'll get SF to upload the photo tommorow morning, he's asleep right now.

There isn't a most popular character in GGXX, i've seen people play extremely well with just about everyone. There are some sick Venom and Faust players though.

I believe you about the Faust and Venom. Faust is arguably the top character in the game, even though Eddie is thought to be it most of the time. In GGXX, anyone has a chance of winning :)

Can you send the photo to me through AIM now?

Sure: SidezJPN

so nice to see SSF2TX still popular and being played

SNK games not very popular? Wow, that's slightly disheartening. Nobody plays them at all? You sure?

Sidez: Garou never being played in arcades is like..a worldwide thing =D For the very good reason that you listed.

It's nice to know that the Japanese are playing Soul Calibur...for once. Maybe they'll actually get good at it this time (From my experience and what I've seen, US SC players are leagues ahead. Then of course, it's the same for all Namco fighters).

Capcom OWN SNK here as they make by far the better games. KOF2002 is doing extremely well everywhere but you'll only see the old SNK stuff in big arcades and they'll get given just one cabinet. I'm yet to see a single cabinet running ROTD. Yes I am sure the SNK stuff doesn't much play at all. The Last Blade 2 [1] and Garou MOTW [1] cabinets are constantly vacant at Sega Park Akihabara. I'm sure there's a few arcades in Japan that have a sizable SNK following but in general Capcom truly dwarf them everywhere you go.

http://www.boomspeed.com/unknown99/DSCF0012.JPG

Photo taken on a friday evening at Akihabara Sega Park (peak time). To the right is a huge row of VF4 Evolution cabinets and a crowd of about 40-50 people.

Tekken 4 is comedy. Even the ashtrays are prestine.