Japan! Volume 2
I love video games, but I've never been able to enjoy myself at an arcade. Well, that's not entirely true; I enjoy being in an arcade, and wandering around, and watching other people do those crazy DDR moves where you hold yourself up by metal rails. I just never put money into the machines.
This is probably for the same reason that I don't like gambling, or even playing fantasy sports for money. When I put money into a video game at an arcade, all I can think about is the money leaving my pocket for no substantial return.* When I buy a video game, I can keep that video game forever and play it any time I like. I got something for my money. That's why I still have Madden 2004, even though I haven't played it since, um, 2004.
*However, when those games give you tickets, and those tickets can be exchanged for spider rings, it's TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Japan, however, does not feel this way. Japan loves arcades. While U.S. arcades are going out of business left and right, Japanese arcades are... well, okay, I have no idea how they're doing. I don't know anything about Japan. Maybe they're struggling, maybe they're flourishing. All I know is that there are arcades all over the place over there, and there are people in them at 11 pm on a Saturday night.
On that first night in Japan, after we left the gay district, we went into an arcade. The most common arcades over there** are Taito Game Stations, which often have awesome giant space invaders on their facades. Although we went in several Taito Game Stations over the course of the trip, I don't think that first arcade was one of them. Regardless, the most distinguishing feature of any Japanese arcade is the noise. As Paul said, every time you're on the street and the door to an arcade opens, it's like you get hit by a wall of sound (as opposed to a two-by-four of sound, which is a local effect but packs more punch).
**I determined this very scientifically -- they were the arcades I noticed the most.
Inside, the arcades are similar to American arcades, except with more crane games. In the U.S., an arcade might have two or three crane games, usually with ugly stuffed animals and occasionally with ugly jewelry. In Japan, you can win ANYTHING from a crane game. That night, we saw a crane game where you could buy jumbo boxes of Kit-Kats. In Osaka, we saw a crane game where you could win statues of naked women. I'm pretty sure you could win a Toyota in one of those things.*** My favorite was a crane game where you could buy a large canister of Ritz crackers.
***But once you start trying to win a Toyota, YOU CAN'T STOP! HAR-HAR!
In one section of the arcade, we saw a crane game where you could buy plush beans with faces on them. On an attached TV screen, a cartoon showed these beans dispensing advice and getting eaten. But, across the aisle, Ferris had his heart set on a plush cat head. We spent about 10 minutes, and maybe 500 of Ferris's yen, all working on that stupid machine. Alas, no cat head.
Which just goes to show, no matter what country you're in, or what random crap they shove inside, nobody ever wins on those stupid crane games.
This is probably for the same reason that I don't like gambling, or even playing fantasy sports for money. When I put money into a video game at an arcade, all I can think about is the money leaving my pocket for no substantial return.* When I buy a video game, I can keep that video game forever and play it any time I like. I got something for my money. That's why I still have Madden 2004, even though I haven't played it since, um, 2004.
*However, when those games give you tickets, and those tickets can be exchanged for spider rings, it's TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Japan, however, does not feel this way. Japan loves arcades. While U.S. arcades are going out of business left and right, Japanese arcades are... well, okay, I have no idea how they're doing. I don't know anything about Japan. Maybe they're struggling, maybe they're flourishing. All I know is that there are arcades all over the place over there, and there are people in them at 11 pm on a Saturday night.
On that first night in Japan, after we left the gay district, we went into an arcade. The most common arcades over there** are Taito Game Stations, which often have awesome giant space invaders on their facades. Although we went in several Taito Game Stations over the course of the trip, I don't think that first arcade was one of them. Regardless, the most distinguishing feature of any Japanese arcade is the noise. As Paul said, every time you're on the street and the door to an arcade opens, it's like you get hit by a wall of sound (as opposed to a two-by-four of sound, which is a local effect but packs more punch).
**I determined this very scientifically -- they were the arcades I noticed the most.
Inside, the arcades are similar to American arcades, except with more crane games. In the U.S., an arcade might have two or three crane games, usually with ugly stuffed animals and occasionally with ugly jewelry. In Japan, you can win ANYTHING from a crane game. That night, we saw a crane game where you could buy jumbo boxes of Kit-Kats. In Osaka, we saw a crane game where you could win statues of naked women. I'm pretty sure you could win a Toyota in one of those things.*** My favorite was a crane game where you could buy a large canister of Ritz crackers.
***But once you start trying to win a Toyota, YOU CAN'T STOP! HAR-HAR!
In one section of the arcade, we saw a crane game where you could buy plush beans with faces on them. On an attached TV screen, a cartoon showed these beans dispensing advice and getting eaten. But, across the aisle, Ferris had his heart set on a plush cat head. We spent about 10 minutes, and maybe 500 of Ferris's yen, all working on that stupid machine. Alas, no cat head.
Which just goes to show, no matter what country you're in, or what random crap they shove inside, nobody ever wins on those stupid crane games.