Category: Uncategorized

Fudd’s Journey to Japan Part II

By kuroppi | January 14, 2014 | Posted in: Japan, Uncategorized, USA

Click here to read Fudd’s Journey to Japan: Part I

Day 2 â€“ December 30, 2013

I forgot to mention in that I only won one game when I went to Versus, a casual game against Tomoza (Dic/DJ). Before I left Versus the previous night, I made sure to ask Shu how I could find HEY and Mikado. He drew a map to help explain HEY’s location, but his best hints were to follow signs that pointed me towards â€œElectric Townâ€ and that it’s near a SEGA arcade. He reassured me that I would have no problem finding either arcade since Versus is the hardest one to find. I had heard many times before that Akihabara is the world capitol for all types of electronic goods. But I can also aptly sum up Akihabara in one word:

NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRDS.

Needless to say, I spent a majority of my time in Japan at Akihabara.

I decided to start using my 2-day rail pass (once you activate it, you must continue to use it on the consecutive day) since I would be doing a lot of exploring trying to find the other major arcades I planned on seeing. Today would really be my day to see, for the first time, what the Tokyo area had to offer (at least, as much as I could with hardly any command of Japanese). I had actually set my alarm for 11 or so, but it went off at 9:59, I think because the hotelâ€™s checkout time is 10AM and they want to get people in and out. I hopped on the metro and transferred from Tozai line to Hibiya (gray) line at Otemachi station and rode up to Akihabara. I really enjoyed not having to futz around with coins for fare (ranging from Â¥120 to Â¥290 or so) and as I got to read the subway maps more, I slowly made my peace with the previous dayâ€™s frustrations about public transit.

I arrived at Akihabara and found some English directing me towards the â€œElectricâ€ part everyone knows and loves. Shu told me that HEY opens at 10, so Iâ€™d be able to walk in as soon as I found it. And I feel it was about here when I felt a major reintroduction to cityscapes. Thatâ€™s not to say Busan didnâ€™t have a cityscape, but I guess a reminder of how cities, though they are meant to be designed for convenience and density, are different. Also, seeing a big city for the first time always has that introductory charm to it before you grow accustomed to its quirks. And as a quick aside, traffic flowing on the left side is indeed a bit strange (and counter-intuitive to me) at first, but fairly easy to get used to.

I think just about everything in Akihabara opens at 10, so by the time I got there (by the time I even woke up) everyone was going about their business as usual. Maids trying to get peoplesâ€™ attention with high, cutesy voices and passing out flyers. Other foreigners taking in the sights of tall buildings packed with media, hobbies, and just about any niche interest you can think of. I saw it all there: video games, trading/collectible cards, models, computers, cameras, cosplay, and nerds.

So many nerds.

But I had my own quest to walk, so I looked throughout the main, crowded streets for SEGA signs and got closer to them.

Holy site #2: HEY:

Shu-san told me this arcade would be easy to find since itâ€™s right next to a SEGA arcade. There were quite a few big SEGA signs around, but I knew to look for the orange HEY sign since I saw a picture similar to this before.

An impressive arcade with several floors dedicated to specific genres. Fighting games are two floors up with the ST cabs right in your face as you step off the escalator.

10JPY for one credit (winner stays, obviously)!

This is one of the best ST stomping grounds around when youâ€™ve got idle time during the week.

I instantly smiled when I saw the orange Hey sign and knew that Iâ€™d be spending a lot of time here. And even though my time in Japan was finite, I was fine with being taken in by whimsical wandering. I mean, I was finally here and looking at all these games with my own four eyes. I really let myself be who I am. Thatâ€™s a strange thing to say, but when weâ€™re at work or around other people who we donâ€™t think would be able to handle our true selves, then we just wear the mask of public acceptance. But I felt like I could act more freely â€” not just because I was traveling alone â€” since Japan has different ideas about what is socially strange. All of those nerds indulging in their hobbies is the norm and it was great to join them and see that other people get as hype about manga and/or anime as I do with Super Turbo.

The four 10JPY ST cabs at HEY arenâ€™t exactly side-by-side. You can see the 1/2P signs above the cabs.

I snapped this picture after I already toured all of Heyâ€™s floors and looked at all of the popular, new, and obscure games they had. Even the obscure games were in cabinets where the Insert Coin sticker said Â¥100. Iâ€™m not sure if that accurately reflects the actual price to play, but really? A dollar to play? Thatâ€™s pretty ruthless, but it would definitely make you hone your skills quick and take the game seriously (as well as keep Hey operating). The level of smoke wasnâ€™t too bad, nor was it in Versus. In fact, I got a bit of a secondhand high a few times. Or was it just a feeling of slight lightheadedness? In any case, if you look at the picture, the player in the winter hat who is second from the left is â€œSako Diamond Laneâ€ or the N. Hawk who defeated me in the Versus East-West battle. I got to play him a bit more, but after he left I never saw him again. The guy in the red sweater on the far right was at Versus, Isaji Cammy.

First, I observed for a bit to see how things worked. There were a few other people watching and once in a while, theyâ€™d jump on, too. It should be noted that when you lose a game, you should stand up and step aside so someone else can play. Even if thereâ€™s no one around (or it doesnâ€™t seem like there is), you should at least stand up and make it obvious that thereâ€™s an open spot. Itâ€™s a little weird, but itâ€™s Japanâ€™s courtesy culture. If no one claims your spot, you can recoin and rejoin. Sometimes there will be other people watching, but no one makes a move to join â€” my guess is that no one wishes to challenge the champion opponent. I spelunked in my pocket to fish out some Â¥10 coins.

About a dime per game. Sugoi!

I spent a couple of hours changing out some Â¥100 coins into Â¥10 coins (the change machine specifically assigned for this purpose is very close). Back in Northern California, the best place to play arcade ST was an arcade in San Mateo named Gamecenter. I think the owner intentionally must have designed it to be like Hey since ST games only cost a dime (on a card system, though) and there was a vending machine for drinks nearby. It was about a 90 minute drive for me (and two bridge tolls about $5 each), but it was always fantastic to play there. Unfortunately, Gamecenter closed down a couple months back, but visiting Japan gave me more memories of playing ST on a dime. And the competition was quite varied, too. Throughout the day, I would see some familiar faces from Versus. I got to play against Isaji Cammy a lot while putting in the time to grind. I picked Dhalsim a lot since I donâ€™t get to practice that match often at all and I lost to Mike Creque at EVO last year. I had to learn how to block Cammyâ€™s cross-up short the hard way â€” getting knocked down, stunned by the combo, and then finished off over and over again. I admire the consistency in which Isaji landed it (even into a safe blockstring when I blocked properly), but it was clear to see that he practiced it a lot. And he was always, always moving forward to get in my face and would often react to my cr. Mk xx yoga fire with a super whenever he was within range and had meter. I had actually expected the matchup to be something like having to guess jump-in mixups (would Cammy do strong or roundhouse?). But he walked in or hooliganâ€™d most of the time. I certainly learned a lot. I also played a lot of Dee Jay that day against appropriate characters (not Honda â€” I need Sim practice there).

There was one guy who I found to be particularly strange. He stood around and watched for a long time. He was tall, with carefully gelled hair and circular glasses lenses. He carried a sort of smaller duffel bag and stood in such a way that his feet pointed inward a bit (intentional or not, I do not know). I wondered if he would ever sit down to play and which character he might use. When he finally did, it was against a Dictator player that I saw at Versus. The other guy was also tall with glasses who would take tiny, playful steps whenever he walked over to play, jiggling his leg a lot when he did, clearly never hiding his excitement for ST). It was funny to me since these guys seemed like they had really opposite demeanors: one very calm and thoughtful, the other always moving and doing something. The guy with the duffel bag picked fierce Claw and immediately started doing repeated backward jump jab/strong til he was in the corner. My first thought was â€œWtf, does this guy even play ST?â€ and being really confused. Claw won that game and stayed on for a long time. I took a few licks at him with Dee Jay and suddenly this guyâ€™s personality became clear to me (or at least, how I decided to perceive him). He played the matchup â€œcaged birdâ€ style and quickly learned when I like to hit buttons, stuffing or trading most of my attacks to keep me in the corner. He was particularly annoying with the timing of his slide and just really annoying overall. It made me think that this guy wants to control the situation at all times (thus studying opponents for a long time). When someone finally did knock him off, I think it was a Boxer, I donâ€™t think he got back very often (it was a long streak). And he never elected to play against the Boxer. I never did find out who the Claw was, if he even has an alias.

A vending machine with tasty drinks is never too far away. You can also see the escalator leading up to the third floor and a screen for watching one of the games if thereâ€™s too big of a crowd. The TV lagged a bit behind the cabs 🙂

When I had a chance to play against Dhalsim that day, I used Dee Jay. And I recall fighting one Dhalsim (in India) and having a relatively easy time neutral jumping over yoga fires from a little less than full-screen. It was weird â€” I felt like afro legends or something. It was the joy of playing offline and getting immediate response from the joystick. I think it must have been around 2PM when I decided to grab lunch and explore Akiba more. I bought a new backpack with camouflage design for Â¥980, but kept it in its plastic wrapping and folded up until I got back to Korea. I didn’t explore too much since I thought it wise to head over to Takadanobaba (luckily, also a station on the Tozai line) and search for Mikado. I wanted to know where it was during my downtime so I’d have no trouble finding it again the next day for the NYE/Shougatsu event. Plus the rail pass would allow me the luxury to go back and forth as I liked.

I hit Takadanobaba and took the same approach as I did with Nishi-nippori: I picked a direction and started walking. I walked for a few blocks and noticed the scenery was really comfy and homely compared to the constant action of Akiba. I only realized on my last day that there’s a giant shopping mall and a lot more restaurants in the other direction, but never had to go there since Mikado was actually really close to the station. I walked back towards the station after buying a pack of lemon-lime Stride gum from 7-11 and saw a smaller gamecenter. The first time I passed it, there was no one inside and no one to ask. This time I asked the employee where I could find Mikado and he pointed me down a small road just outside. Was Mikado really that close this whole time?

Holy site #3: Mi-Ka-Do:

Itâ€™s only two left turns right out of the Tokyo Metro station exit 1. Mikadoâ€™s selection of games is somewhat obscure, but nonetheless impressive. On Wednesdays they have freeplay nights starting at 7PM for 500JPY. Mattsun works at this arcade so you can always count on him being there.

Yes, it was. And it was still early in the day, as the sun was out. I had found all my goals within two days using only the help of gamecenter employees. I got a bit emotional â€” a bit verklempt â€” when I took that picture, knowing this journey has been years in the making. I went inside to have a look at the two floors of this legendary arcade. When you go upstairs to can see this on the right side:

Tougeki accolades. Hmm, getting warmerâ€¦

The ST cabs are on the second floor and there wasnâ€™t really anyone there. I didnâ€™t even see Mattsun. I saw some people playing HSF2: Anniversary Edition and thought to immediately pay my arcade respects. One of them was defeated and I walked around a bit before putting in my Â¥50. I played WW Guile and knocked the other guy off only to lose to CPU Ryu a little later. I guess itâ€™s only right that Ryu defends his turf, heh. Satisfied, I walked out and hopped back on the Tokyo Metro to get my moneyâ€™s worth out of the rail pass. I looked at the map to see where I could go and which of the familiar names I should visit. I went to Roppongi to have a glance, but I think it was still too early to see people getting wild and partying. However, I studied a subway exit map and found that there is a Philippine embassy in Roppongi. This gave me a good laugh and just seemed to make sense for me. It was as if Japan had officially labeled Filipinos as party animals.

I think it was around that time I decided to go to Tokyo proper. As I got closer to the subway stop, I noticed the train was getting more crowded and people appeared very rich and nicely dressed. When I got off the subway, I must have picked the wrong exit or something since there werenâ€™t too many people around and I seemed to be in a sort of ritzy, business district. There were a lot of high-class shops and very clean streets (saw the street cleaners myself) as the day became night. I did a lot of walking until I came across an area that was a bit more lively, which turned out to be Ginza, a different subway stop I passed on the way.

It was nice to see more of the normal people again, going about their lives in a culture that is still a mystery to me. But I have to admit I missed being around the other freaks so I went back to Akiba and decided it was the place to be. I spent a little too much time wandering aimlessly, though I had an event to train for the next day. I believe that night I ate some delicious Japanese-style katsu curry (after waiting outside in line for a bit) and returned to Hey to play as much as I could before catching the train back to Kiba. Judging from all the children I saw at Kiba, I would say that itâ€™s a residential area, so sadly there wasnâ€™t much for me to do at night. I even wandered around Kiba at night just to confirm that there was nothing around. Iâ€™m the kind of person that considers midnight to be early. Iâ€™m sure if I had been born a different person I could have easily been a businessman or a Yakuza. With all of the hygienic face masks around, I actually wondered at how many Yakuza and JAV idols I might have passed by. A fun thing to think about, though you canâ€™t go wrong with the things you already know. As fun as this day was, the next day would show me what Mikado is like when there is ST going on.

Tune in next time for Day 3, the final day of 2013 and the NYE/Shougatsu event!

Fudd’s Journey to Japan Part I

By kuroppi | January 10, 2014 | Posted in: Japan, Uncategorized, USA

[Caution: Long post ahead. This has actually become so long I have to break it into separate parts.]

Ever since I was a kid obsessed with video games, I’ve wanted to visit Japan. In the days before internet, my brother would tell me about things he read from his magazine subscriptions like EGM–Games that are only released in Japan or the latest technology. In my mind, for years, there would be a mystical hype about Japan bubbling all the way up to these few days. Would the real thing deliver?

I’ve been living in South Korea as an English teacher in an after-school program. Originally, I wanted to spend my vacation time traveling around Japan with some American friends in the penultimate week of January, but my school basically made me take my vacation during the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s. Things don’t always go as we plan them to, but I was more focused on the fact that I’d finally be achieving a lifelong dream.

I’ve always wanted to go to Japan, but my motive seems to have changed from video games to overall culture, finally narrowed down to Super Turbo. With the recent closing of Nakano Royal and even Super Arcade being on the ropes (again), there is no better time than now to pay homage to what is left of the global arcade scene.

Since my work told me at the last minute about my vacation, I had to make arrangements in the same fashion. Luckily, this didn’t affect ticket prices at all, but I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to find a hotel. I had to search for a long time, but I finally made a reservation to stay in a capsule hotel for four days. Another factor that added to my stress was that my December paycheck hadn’t come in yet (though it should have) and I was running on fumes of only about $300 cash (Â¥250 after changing currency from KRW to JPY at the airport, yuck) since I could charge the flight and hotel.

Everything worked out, though: New Year’s happened to be a great time to visit Japan and I would heartily recommend it to anyone else in the future. I was just so juiced at the idea of finally being the wandering world warrior and seeing how I stack up against the gods of Super Turbo. I see myself as a rather stoic person. Normal things tend to not excite me very much. But when it comes to Super Turbo, a game I can actually say I’ve given years of my life to along with a number of others, such a deep satisfaction overcomes me and everything else in my life is just child’s play.

I used to write excessively long blog entries detailing everything I could remember about tournaments and events I attended. I’ve been to EVO plenty of times, and to be completely honest, the rush of hype it is expected to cause wears off quite quickly these days. Now that I’ve seen what the ST â€œholy landâ€ has to offer firsthand, I can make a comparison with the competition back home. I feel it’s personally important for me to document my first time in Japan.

Before I went to Japan, I had no understanding of how their currency was arranged. The biggest shock for me was that their $1 and $5 counterparts (Â¥100 and Â¥500, respectively) arecoins. The other coins available are at Â¥1 (not as common), Â¥5, Â¥10, and Â¥50. I just wanted to get this explanation out of the way since it helped me better understand how arcade culture has survived in Japan and I hope the reader can piece it together as I recount my tale.

I’ll try to do this as chronologically as I can since that seems to be the easiest way to express my experience with some sort of structure. It was only four short days, but everyone always remembers their first time.

Day 1 â€“ December 29, 2013:

I was originally going to bring my laptop bag and my bookbag (mostly clothes) since my actual luggage suitcases are enormous and I don’t have any mid-ranged sized bags. But right before I left, I decided I would truly travel light and just take my bookbag. I never really regretted it since I was able to manage stuffing everything in there (including a new backpack that I bought since the old one has a zipper jam). Ryu only carries one bag, right?

The flight from Busan to Narita is about 100 minutes. Really not bad at all and the round trip ticket only cost me around $200. Sleeping in a box for four days ran me about $137. While I was at the airport, I made sure to buy the 2-day Tokyo Metro rail pass for Â¥980 (there is also a 1-day pass for I think Â¥580). It was a smart decision since I’ve grown to love exploring cities and I would be hopping around various arcades. I had scheduled my check-in time at the hotel to be 1500 since that’s the default and it sounded reasonable as I landed at 1300. But I got really confused by all the options of getting out of the airport with my measly budget of Â¥250 cash.

By the time I figured all of that out and called the hotel to tell them I’d be late (a long, confusing conversation in itself), it was around 1730 when I checked in. The hotel was in Kiba, which was a stop on the Tokyo Metro Tozai (teal) line. I decided the best route was to get to Funabashi, a stop I saw on the railway out of the airport and then transfer over to the Nishi-funabashi Tokyo Metro station, one end of the Tozai line (the closer end to Kiba). Getting lost is part of the fun. When I got to Kiba, I dropped off my stuff in my locker (they give you a locker to go with your capsule) and found an immediate answer to a question that boggled me ever since I booked my room.

My question was: is there a housekeeping service offered at capsule hotels?

The answer was on an English sign in the locker area: if you don’t want your capsule to be cleaned, please pull the curtain down when you leave. So yeah, the â€œdoorâ€ to the â€œroomâ€ is basically just a curtain. New experience for me, but I’m just happy I found a warm place to sleep.

The winter weather in Tokyo is very mild compared to Korea. I didn’t have to wear long underwear layers beneath my street clothes. Another immediate difference was the lack of swift and ubiquitous internet I’m used to in Korea. Considering these things made me think of how my experience in Japan would have differed if I had not lived in Korea beforehand. The two countries share a lot of similar cultural customs and even their languages are often both classified in the Altaic language family. Initially, I kept wanting to speak Korean since that’s usually the foreign language that is floating around in my head (I have terrible command of any language but Englishâ€”an American stereotype I live up to, but want to change). But since there’s a great deal of history and rivalry between Korea and Japan, there is also a lot of enmity. Perhaps it’s best I don’t get too deep into this subject and carry on.

Anyway, I wanted to hurry to the Tokyo area since I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be to find Versus. I had wanted to get there around 1800~1900 since that’s when the casuals start up for the weekly East-West battle. Right as I was walking to the subway station, I felt like I forgot something. I went back to the hotel and asked them for their business card or something with their address in case I got lost and needed to taxi it back. When I went down to the subway, I decided not to use my Tokyo Metro pass yet since I started the day in the Tokyo area so late and it would be a good opportunity to spend some time learning how to use the subway instead of just swiping a magic card everywhere. I took the train to Nishi-nippori and night had already fallen. How was I going to find Versus? I just picked a direction and started walking.

Holy site #1: Versus.

This arcade was the hardest one to find since the sign is so tiny and it’s really tucked away in a back alley. I had asked two pachinko places if they could point me to a gamecenter, but they didn’t know. Finally, I asked some guys working at a smaller gamecenter and one of them pointed me to the alley in between a Yoshinoya and a KFC.
I was only here on Sunday for the big East-West battle (the last one for 2013!).

It’s Â¥50 to play a 2/3 set. The first ST â€œcelebrityâ€ I recognized was Pony.

I was considering asking at a small police outpost where I could find a gamecenter since they were so close to the subway station, but by the time I walked back a woman was in there talking with the officer. I kept going in the same direction after I turned around and everytime I heard electronic sound effects, as if from a video game I was fooled by the call of a pachinko hall! I could have sworn I heard Ryu’s hadouuuken or some of the other CPS2 sfx I know so well. But I was determined. I had gone this far and I was going to find it. Asking around, I relied on a small phrase I crafted using only one semester’s worth of Japanese I took five years ago.

â€œBaasus-no gamecentaa-wa doko desuka?â€ [Where is the Versus gamecenter?]

It wasn’t much, but it was enough. I snapped that picture and climbed the narrow stairs up to the third floor and by the time I saw a danisen ranking board propped up on the floor with the character portraits and player names, I was just about on the verge of tears. I really made it. The journey of a lifetime leading all the way to a smokey den of cramped cabinets. There weren’t too many people around on the ST machines yet, so I felt I deserved some dinner.

My journal entry for that day has my first meal in Japan (McDonalds) clocked at 1910. I took my time, savoring every fry and sip. Some lines from after that meal:

[Tonight, let’s prove that even gods can bleed. And if it bleeds, we can kill it.]
[I love traveling alone, lonely as it is at times. I determine my own limits.]
[Sleeping in a $30 box for a couple nights, but I don’t even give a ffffuuuuuuuu..!]

My first meal in Japan. The small text at the bottom gives the definition for “lattice,” ha.

I walked back and there were more people, though it wasn’t quite packed yet. I didn’t really see any players that I recognized from videos or pictures, so I just watched people warm up since I didn’t understand what was going on yet. There was an older gentleman in a hat, coat, and scarf who I decided I would introduce myself to since he seemed like a nice fellow. Again, I fell back on the little Japanese I rememberedâ€”the stock introduction.

â€œHajimemashite. Nasanieru desu. Doozo yoroshiku.â€ [This is the first time we have met. I am Nathaniel. Please be nice to me.]

Additionally, I threw in: â€œAmerikajin desu. Watashi-no Nihongo-ga heta desu.â€ [I am an American. My Japanese is poor.]

My intuition was correct and this man was very welcoming towards me. I didn’t really know much of what he was saying and I think my silence helped to convey that. I watched one of his games and sat down at the cab after he got up. The prompt in the corner said PUSH START instead of INSERT COIN, so I thought maybe the cabs were on freeplay. After I lost and stood up, the man in the hat held up two fingers, implying I should play a 2/3 set. I decided I would ask around later to see how much I owed for the freeplay. I did this for a little while at other machines until I saw that people were indeed putting in coins. The next time I sat down, I wasn’t sure what coin to insert, so I put all the various types of coins I had in my hand and Kawasim pointed to the Â¥50 piece. And then it made sense to me that Â¥50 pays for two credits (about 25cents/game) and you play a 2/3 set.

I actually identified Kawasim from his roundhouse red Dhalsim and asked him â€œKawasim desuka?â€ as well as giving the stock introduction. I was very lucky to find that he speaks a little English. He asked if I watched the Versus battles on YouTube and helped point out some of the players for me, though, to be honest, I only really knew of Mu, Tsu, and Hanashi (I usually only watch Sim and DJ matches or really big names these days). By this time, the killers started rolling in and I introduced myself to the likes of Pony, VIPER, Nakamura, and Shogatsu. Pony’s reaction to my bottled introduction was rather Japanese (polite) as he reassured me that my Japanese didn’t suck and Shogatsu was also very welcoming. As soon as I said â€œAmericaâ€ to VIPER he dropped the name riz0ne.

There was a clipboard near the TV/stream station with a list of names and characters and I signed in using my first name in Katakana since I thought it might be difficult for Japanese people to say Fuddulous or Fudd properly. I asked Kawasim how much to enter and he said Â¥50. He walked around carrying the collection plate to get more coins. I think the turnout was around 57 players. By this time, I had asked Kawasim if any other Japanese players speak English and I was introduced to Shu. Damdai told me Shu speaks the best English, so I knew I was in a good place. However, Shu was a bit busy helping to organize the event so I tried not to disturb him too much.

The East-West battle started and I was on the 2P side, playing at the tenth slot. Also on my team was the man with the hat who played his fierce blue Guile. The English YouTube re-up of the event has his name as Torisugari, but earlier that evening I had written down the letters â€œTZWâ€ and pointed to him, asking if it was him (since I couldn’t recall his picture from STR). He waved his hands and shook his head. In Japan, there is definitely more character variety, more characters like Ken and Guile as you may have heard and it was pretty nice to not have to fight Boxer/Claw/O. Sagat every other game. I took off my coat and bag, resting it in the gap between the tip of a row of cabinets as Kawasim instructed. â€œDon’t forget it.â€

A Chun player on 1P was tearing up the 2P team and my turn was coming up soon. I told Shu that I didn’t want to have to fight Chun. He (accurately) predicted that Azelea Guile would defeat the Chun. But then a N. Hawk player beat Aze and suddenly it was my turn. Terrible flashbacks of fighting Papercut and damdai briefly came up, but I just sat down and decided I’d play as clean as I could. After it was done, Shu said that hardly anyone knows who the Hawk player is since he lives far away. All that was left was to sit back, enjoy the show, and root for 2P. It boiled down to heavy-hitters and then Numa appeared for the 2P team and F’ed up everybody. When I saw Numa sneak on to the cab, I got a Willy Wonka vibe from him and I have no idea why. But after the 1P team was eliminated, the exhibition matches ran and all the remaining players fought each other.

After it was over, Shu said to me, “Now you can drink.” This stressed me out a bit since I thought it meant everyone was going out for drinks or something (I’m a super lightweight when it comes to alcohol). But instead, he handed me Â¥120â€”the winning team is awarded some moneyâ€”and said I could get a drink from the vending machine. I was relieved and walked over to see the selection. Most of the drinks cost Â¥120, but I saw Nakamura drinking something called Wilkinson, which costs Â¥150 (the equivalent of three 2/3 sets!). I remember thinking that maybe if I drink it, too, then maybe I’ll have cleaner footsies. The drink’s label said Grapefruit, herbs, honey and had a nice, spritzy taste to it. Additionally, the humble Nikaiten (he works at Versus and organizes the events) was going around offering everyone a Japanese rice cake. A New Year treat, maybe?

During the event, I kept looking at my watch to make sure I didn’t overstay since the last train was around midnight or so. I left a little before midnight and ran down to the subway, seeing that I would catch the last train listed. But the last train would only take me to Kabayacho, the transfer station for Chiyoda (green) line. When I tried to get on the Tozai line, subway personnel denied me. I would have to cab it back to Kiba. Good thing I remembered to get that hotel business card. And just so you know, cab rides in the Tokyo area start at Â¥710 and this one came out to Â¥2000. Hell of an end for a hell of a first day, I guess.

I remember commenting to Shu:

“Man, you guys do this every week?!”

“Every week.”

If I could play against Sashishi and Sasori every week for a couple of years, I think I might just learn a thing or two about Super Turbo. A different conversation I had with Shu was about another playerâ€”I forget who, maybe Tonegawa or Kawasimâ€”and his age. I definitely felt like the youngest person there (though I’m not sure how young Tsu is), but I’ll touch on this topic again later when I reveal more of my trip.

PS: Don’t whiff anything against Hanashi if he’s within midrange. Otherwise, you’re dead 🙂

Tune in next time for Day 2: Exploration!

IIX 20th Anniversary Tournament hosted by GrandmasterChallenge

By kuroppi | January 7, 2014 | Posted in: Europe, Japan, Uncategorized

The hard working guys over at grandmasterchallenge.com have announced a big weekend of Super Turbo events to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Super Turbo on February 22nd-23rd!

Here are some of the highlights from the announcement.

Click here for the full announcement fromÂ grandmasterchallenge.com.

It’s Super Turbo’s birthday and you’re all invited and yes, there will be cake!

It is with great pleasure that we can announce a 2 day tournament at the Heart of Gaming dedicated to Super Turbo in celebration of the game’s 20th anniversary. The event will run from 12:00 Saturday through to 22:00 Sunday on the 22nd and 23rd of February, with Sunday being the day of the 20th anniversary!

Join us for a weekend of Super Turbo on six Versus City head to head cabinets (pictured below) as players from all over the UK visit London’s Heart of Gaming to show their love and support for the game that defined a genre, has given us many memorable moments and has also made us many new friends along the way.

The IIX 20th Anniversary weekend is shaping up to be one of the biggest Super Turbo events in the UK with players coming from all over the country and even from Ireland, France and Germany! It goes to show just how dedicated Super Turbo players are, and it is why we love running these events.

We will be holding five different tournaments over the weekend with three of them in the style of X-Mania, Gamespot Versus and Tougeki SBO as an homage to some of the greatest Japanese Super Turbo/2X tournaments; a special 3 VS 3 England Vs Germany event for our international players and of course not forgetting our usual double elimination tournament to mark Super Turbo Sunday VI and the end of the second season.Â Check out the line up below!

Saturday 22nd February 2014
14:00 – Solo 3 on 3 (X-Mania style)
18:00 – HOG VS GMC â€“ (Gamespot Versus style)
19:00 – 3 VS 3 England VS Germany

Sunday 23rd February 2014
14:00 – Solo Double Elimination (Super Turbo Sunday VI)
18:00 – 2 VS 2 Single Elimination (Tougeki Super Battle Opera style)
19:00 – First to five exhibition (Top 3 rematches)

Click here to view the rules and full explanation of the tournament formats

EVENT SUMMARY

Date: 12:00 Saturday 22nd February to 22:00 Sunday 23rd February 2014
Location: The Heart of Gaming, 10A Cullen Way, North Acton, London, NW10 6JZ
Venue Entry Fee: £10 per day or £15 for the weekend

SATURDAY
Main tournament – Solo 3 on 3 (X-Mania Style)
Start time: 14:00 (expected finish 17:00-18:00)
Tournament Fee: £5
Prize: 1st place trophy, 2nd & 3rd place medals. Pot split, 60% 1st place, 30% 2nd place, 10% 3rd place
Format: Solo single elimination
Rules: Players pick three characters. Duplicate characters are allowed, and the order the characters are used does not matter. The player must stick with the three elected characters for the whole tournament.
JP Turbo 3 (same as US Turbo 2). 99 seconds, 2 rounds. Akuma banned. Players decide 1p/2p side on mutual agreement and where mutual agreement cannot be reached, rock paper scissors decides. Sides cannot be switched during a match. Winner of the last match sticks with the current character, loser is able to pick.

Side tournament – HOG VS GMC (Gamespot Versus Style)
Start time: 18:00 (expected finish 19:00)
Tournament Fee: Free
Prize: Bragging rights only!
Format: Last team standing
Rules: Members of the Heart of Gaming and Grand Master Challenge will act as team captains and form two large teams. Team members are to be selected randomly. The team captains decide the player order.
JP Turbo 3 (same as US Turbo 2). 99 seconds, 2 rounds. Akuma banned. Players decide 1p/2p side on mutual agreement and where mutual agreement cannot be reached, rock paper scissors decides. Sides cannot be switched during a match.

Side tournament – 3 VS 3 England VS Germany
Start time: 19:00 (expected finish 20:00)
Tournament Fee: Free
Prize: The Super Turbo World Cup!
Format: Teams best of 3
Rules: 3 players will be selected randomly to represent England and face off against our German friends, Wand Feurer, Steve from da East and Planet RV in a classic East VS West battle. Best of 3 decides the winner.
JP Turbo 3 (same as US Turbo 2). 99 seconds, 2 rounds. Akuma banned. Players decide 1p/2p side on mutual agreement and where mutual agreement cannot be reached, rock paper scissors decides. Sides cannot be switched during a match. Winner of the last match sticks with the current character, loser is able to pick.

SUNDAY
Main tournament – Solo Double Elimination (Super Turbo Sunday VI)
Start time: 14:00 (expected finish 17:00-18:00)
Tournament Fee: £5
Prize: 1st place trophy, 2nd & 3rd place medals.Â Pot split, 60% 1st place, 30% 2nd place, 10% 3rd place
Format: Double elimination, best of 5 for all stages of the tournament with best of 7 for grand finals
Rules: JP Turbo 3 (same as US Turbo 2). 99 seconds, 2 rounds. Akuma banned. Players decide 1p/2p side on mutual agreement and where mutual agreement cannot be reached, rock paper scissors decides. Sides cannot be switched during a match. Winner of the last match sticks with the current character, loser is able to pick.

Side tournament – 2vs2 Single Elimination (Tougeki Super Battle Opera Style)
Start time: 18:00 (expected finish 19:00)
Tournament Fee: Free
Prize: Bragging rights only!
Format: Single elimination, Waseda style
Rules: A1 fights B1, A2 fights B2, in the case of a draw, the winners of each match play eachother. Players may use duplicate characters. Player order can be changed. Players must stick with one character for the whole tournament
JP Turbo 3 (same as US Turbo 2). 99 seconds, 2 rounds. Akuma banned. Players decide 1p/2p side on mutual agreement and where mutual agreement cannot be reached, rock paper scissors decides. Sides cannot be switched during a match.

Side event – Top 3 First to Five Exhibition
Start time: 19:00 (expected finish 19:00)
Tournament Fee: Free
Prize: Bragging rights only!
Format: Solo exhibition matches, first to five
Rules: Players who places top 3 during the weekend may challenge each other to a first to five set which will be streamed. If there are no takers, then the stream will be available for free play.
JP Turbo 3 (same as US Turbo 2). 99 seconds, 2 rounds. Akuma banned. Players decide 1p/2p side on mutual agreement and where mutual agreement cannot be reached, rock paper scissors decides. Sides cannot be switched during a match.

Sign ups: On the day. Please aim to arrive for 13:00 to allow time to take payment and organise brackets!
Venue Information: https://www.facebook.com/TheHeartOfGaming/info
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/thewonderpark
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/185080231691568/?source=1

MAGFest ’14 Super Turbo Results

By kuroppi | January 5, 2014 | Posted in: Uncategorized, USA

Name:	MAGFest ’14 Super Turbo Tournament
Date:	January 4, 2014
Location:	National Harbor, MD
Entries:	34
Video:	Coming Soon
Brackets:	N/A
Â

1st	damdai	Â
2nd	Marsgatti	Â
3rd	Mikeidge	Â
4th	RyRy	Â

MAGFest Super Turbo Tournament

By kuroppi | January 4, 2014 | Posted in: Uncategorized, USA

There is a Super Turbo tournament happening this weekend at MAGFest in National Harbor, MD. Â The tournament will be held on an arcade Head-to-Head cabinet and the cab will be open all weekend for 24 hour casuals.

damdai, Marsgatti, Mikeidge, Krost, Rekkaken, Klimax, Sentient Program, Corrosion are among the players that are scheduled to be there for the tournament.

XSPR’s Visit to Versus Gamespot for Xmas Eve East-vs-West

By kuroppi | January 3, 2014 | Posted in: Japan, Uncategorized

XSPR asked me about a write-up of his recent trip to Versus for the Xmas Eve East vs West Team Battle and I happily accepted as I know many players love to read about any experiences in Japan.

(Note: For those of you who don’t know, XSPR lives in Japan but not in Tokyo so it’s always a nice treat for him to get some ST in with the Tokyo players when he visits.)

Thanks to XSPR for taking the time to write this up and share it with all of us!

XSPR’s match with Choshu starts @Â 15:28

Last week I went to Versus arcade for an east-west battle, the second to last one of 2013. I managed to win my match against Choshu, the strong Ken player I almost always lose to.Â

I hadn’t seen any of the other players there since X-Mania, andÂ hadn’t even played much recently- even at home on the Xbox, I’d beenÂ playing more Forza 2. In Forza 2’s real world track of TsukubaÂ Circuit, S-Class, I am in the top 0.00718 percentile, so I also droveÂ to Tsukuba earlier that same day to see if I could get on the trackÂ and see it in person. Actually, let me back up a bit.

Before all this, I had heard from Fudd that he would be travelling toÂ Japan and likely attend the event at Versus too. Well, nothing wasÂ written in stone, but I’m always happy to help out fellow ST playersÂ and was looking forward to meeting an active player Stateside. VersusÂ was the most convenient event I could get out to so close to theÂ holidays, but I also made it out to an event the night before, afterÂ checking ST Revival’s awesome Tournament Calendar if anything wasÂ going on that night. There was a freeplay to be held up north ofÂ Tokyo near Omiya at the Minami Urawa Big One 2nd arcade, so I decidedÂ to go to that too. I met Kawa@Sim and a few other players. ThereÂ were a lot of good matches. Freeplay definitely seems to helpÂ encourage people to “just play” regardless of particular unfavorableÂ match-ups. There was a good Zangief player and dictator player too.Â A new Ryu player seemed to know his mirror match well, and I couldn’tÂ get any wins without going to Dhalsim. He was more familiar with 3rdÂ Strike and Guilty Gear though, likely new to the ST scene. After theÂ arcade closed down we all stood outside talking. Kawa-sim was talkingÂ about some frame disadvantage, and when someone asked him about aÂ situation, he took out his smart phone to bring up scans of frame dataÂ he’d taken from Yoga Bible. That’s dedication and being prepared!

The next day, I drove up to Tsukuba Circuit. The weather was perfect-Â a nice brisk sunny day with only a few clouds, almost exactly likeÂ they have it in Forza 2. Unfortunately, the track was closed that dayÂ for yearly maintenance. It was a Tuesday, and normally they areÂ closed Mondays but it was a three day weekend. Most days, if it’s notÂ a big race event, you can enter the track for free just to watch theÂ various member clubs drive on it. I talked with the security guardÂ for a little bit, and it seems to actually drive on the track, I’dÂ have to get their license and become a member, which costs about $170Â USD and includes the first year. I wanted to explain to him that allÂ of that wasn’t really necessary, as I am the best driver in the worldÂ and have top times in B, A and S classes. But I just took a fewÂ brochures he had at the window and strolled around the outside. It isÂ surrounded by a fence with barbed wire on the top, and you can’t seeÂ much at all. Pff like THAT’s gonna stop me– but then I thought aboutÂ it for a second, and I had the Versus thing that evening, so decidedÂ to put off risking getting arrested for the time being.

I got to Versus a little early and Kawasim was one of the first players. Soon we were playing withÂ Choshu.

As usual, I got beat soundly by Choshu. It wasn’t even close. HeÂ would often nail combos, both for big damage and the one with highÂ dizzy potential. So I just asked him after a few games, like ok youÂ got me, I have no idea how to deal with this to stand a chance. HeÂ explained I was using the chop wrong at key jump ins. He said to useÂ mid punch instead. So I tried a few more times and realized just howÂ ingrained my bad habit of doing that was. But there is always theÂ guessing game of figuring out when ken will jump in or not- because ifÂ it’s from a safe distance, there’s the guess of walk up DP or justÂ throw and, to state it bluntly, he was very good at getting me toÂ guess the wrong thing. He also said to throw fires (fb) to keep KenÂ at far range, but that was a lot easier said than done- one read on aÂ yoga fire, he jumps in and it’s round over. I am pretty sure at leastÂ once or twice I got beat with single combo basically. I’ve mentionedÂ it before, how playing a high level, consistent Ken just transformsÂ the match more into a kind of Zangief match, where once he gets inÂ after rolling with the punches, it’s all over. Kawasim had moreÂ experience with all this and was showing me too from his side of theÂ cabs.

When the east-west battle got underway, I was supposed to play 3rdÂ from our side, going very early since I really wasn’t in shape so toÂ speak. But when the lists were finalized I went later for someÂ reason.

Now, at tournaments, it is rarely the case that you play the same guysÂ you played during the warm-up games. But that’s what happened thisÂ time, and I was up against Choshu. I really didn’t expect to get evenÂ one round, and you can tell by the video footage I get lucky a fewÂ times there @ 15:28. Â Things started out good for Choshu, winning the first round withÂ little problem. I got swept around 15:40, then at 15:42 I got baitedÂ into a DP, thinking a throw was coming instead. Then I DID get thrownÂ (knee bashed), then thrown again. I lost lots of ground and steadilyÂ got worked into the corner, feeling at a loss for any conservativeÂ play to run to.

Look at the start of Round 2- I openned with a fireball, and he walkedÂ up and did standing jab to somehow trade- a messed up DP attempt? IsÂ he just screwing around with me?? This is where your mind does notÂ want to be, second guessing your own guesses as to when you should beÂ guessing to do what move. Also, you might be looking at the footageÂ and seeing him do things like two DP’s in a row and I don’t punishÂ either one, but that’s just the fear factor in full force. So heÂ continues the onslaught. But this time, as I got pushed into theÂ corner, after one of the knee bashes, he jumped a little too far andÂ wound up going over me- putting HIM in the corner. I hit withÂ standing strong (Kawasim calls this the “Hai Sensei!!” move, i.e. likeÂ a zealous student impatient to be called on raising his handÂ impatiently with the correct answer etc). ha HA! A chance!! That’sÂ where the tables started to turn. I didn’t get everything right, butÂ managed to pull off a round. He got out of the corner, but wound upÂ back in it, with Nikaiten on the mic commentating not even his DP willÂ save him.

The third round, I think I got pretty lucky because at least once jumpÂ in attempt was off, and another he tried using jumping jab (once tooÂ many times). And somehow I win for a big upset (and you can tell it’sÂ a big upset because you can faintly hear the loud crowd reaction itÂ the background). Choshu went into the game likely feeling fine,Â having won so many times before, but probably got ahead of himself. IÂ don’t think he’ll just let that happen again so easily the next time.

I also saw Hiroyan@Hawk. That night, he decided to play Ryu though.Â I asked him why and he said he was just playing around. I mentionedÂ there still needs to be more Ryu Only tournaments from time to time.

Next I faced a claw player named Hustler, some explaining to me theÂ name was a reference to Paul Newman’s movie/billiards. And someoneÂ told me about this guy, years ago, but I don’t think I had everÂ actually come across him. He wore this big black cape, and lookedÂ like Dracula. I mean the sheer size on the collar on his cape was outÂ of the 70’s fashion era. Anyway, I thought I did fine in this matchÂ but just got walldived to death.

After it was all over, I bought Choshu a softdrink from the vendingÂ machine. I don’t think that was always the rule for east-west battlesÂ but maybe it’s the winning side’s choice to get a drink or smallÂ change for some more games.

I also got a few Ryu-Ryu games in with Hiroyan. I think I lost theÂ first one or two, but started to get back in my groove for some wins.Â We headed out at the same time, and offered to drop him off near hisÂ station.

After that, I headed to a restaurant. I found a place with a saladÂ bar and ate there. A lot. I headed home, but stopped off at a restÂ area. I woke up Christmas morning feeling sick, and openned the carÂ door to vomit. By the time I felt better to drive the rest of the wayÂ home, two crows had gathered, and started picking at the pile ofÂ throw-up. I threw up three more times that day and was effectivelyÂ out of commission for a few days. I felt bad also that I didn’t getÂ to meet Fudd, but I hear he made it out to the Shougatsu tournament,Â which should have been awesome. Also, I never got on the real lifeÂ Tsukuba Circuit track, but that’s ok. Forza 2 is infinitely safer,Â way less expensive, more environmentally friendly, and has a muchÂ bigger pool of competition than real life racing anyway.

Shogatsu Happy New Year Tournament Videos & Results

By kuroppi | December 31, 2013 | Posted in: Japan, Uncategorized

	Shogatsu Happy New Year Tournament		ç”°æ£æœˆã‚ã‘ã¾ã—ã¦ãŠã‚ã§ã¨ã†ã‚¹ãƒšã‚·ãƒ£ãƒ«
Date:	December 31, 2013 @ Mikado	æ—¥æ™‚	2013å¹´13æœˆ31æ—¥
Location:	Tokyo, JAPAN	åœ°åŒº	æ±äº¬
Entries:	21 Teams / 41 players	å‚åŠ è€…	21ãƒãƒ¼ãƒ / 41äºº
Video:	UStream Part 1 – Part 2	ãƒ“ãƒ‡ã‚ª	UStream Part 1Â -Â Part 2
Brackets:	N/A	ãƒˆãƒ¼ãƒŠãƒ¡ãƒ³ãƒˆè¡¨	N/A

Name

Character

1st	Hanayama	Ryu
	HaruKING	E. Honda
2nd	Shogatsu	O. Honda
	Â	N. Honda

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Video streaming by Ustream

The Superstar Cup Gaiden Announced for February 23rd

By kuroppi | December 30, 2013 | Posted in: Japan, Uncategorized

The Superstar Cup Gaiden has been announced and will take place on Sunday, February 23rd at Space Shuttle Shiogamaguchi Game Center in Nagoya. Â The tournament will have Star Cup format (solo 3 on 3). Â No word of a stream as of yet.

Also, according to the announcement, the tournament is taking place exactly on the 20th Anniversary of the release of Super Turbo, which is February 23rd 1993.

Gamespot Versus – 12.29.13

By kuroppi | December 29, 2013 | Posted in: Japan, Uncategorized

The latest GameSpot Versus East vs West battle is a special Sunday version from December 29th, courtesy of supersf2turbo.Â This week includes STR’s own Fudd (Nathaniel), Mayamura, PECO, Shu, VIPER, Munari, Gucchi, Yakitori, Kikai, Tojo, Isaji, Nakamura, Aoki Cyclone, Hiroyan, Kawasim, Hanayama, Hanashi, Kotaka Shoten, Numa, Sashishi, Sasori, Pony, Shogatsu (Shiwasu) and more!

So Cal Regionals Super Turbo Tournament!

By kuroppi | December 28, 2013 | Posted in: Uncategorized, USA

So Cal Regionals presented by Level|Up will take place February 28 – March 2nd 2013.

Friday night, Alex Valle announced the lineup for So Cal Regionals 2014 and ST is part of the official lineup! Â STR will be running the Super Turbo tournament and it will take place Saturday, March 1st. With players coming from all over the US (damdai, Hadouken69, ultracombo and more), we are planning on holding a special pre-tournament event at Super Arcade prior to SCR (Thursday or Friday night), featuring money matches and a special team tournament. More details to come as they are finalized. Â We will also have some more surprises announced for the SCR tournament in the near future!

SCR SUPER TURBO TOURNAMENT:

Venue:

University of California, Irvine

Student Center – Ballroom C & D

Irvine, CA 92687

Rules/Hardware:

– Singles Tournament

– 3/5 games

– Double Elimination

– Akuma is banned.

-Â Undamned UD-CPS2 Supergun + CRT monitors

Registration/Entry Fees: