During my summer trip in Tokyo, I played SF6 in Akihabara. There was a Honda player who I kept queuing up against. He was 1700 MR. He was whooping me. After about 7 games (I lost 6) I get up and look at who I was playing since I was out of 100 yen coins. It was a man in his late 40's with blonde hair. I fist bumped him and he seemed very nice. Loved the in-person experience, it's very cool seeing who you are actually playing.
I grew up playing like that and have always disliked the non-personal feel of online gaming. It’s infinitely better when you can chat with someone while playing them.
@@DarkSalmonz I also miss having all my friends over and doing round robins with each other. Fun times. I prefer friends over strangers because not everyone is cool.
It is weird for me to read someone talk about that experience like it is something weird because that was so normal to me back in the day haha. KoF, Street Fighter, Metal Slug and so on were able to make a lot of friendships.
My first day using Adon on SF4 was in a Yokohama Staton area arcade in 2011 (my first time playing stick in about 11 years). The guy people queue up against had 86 wins, and I kept matching up against him on a local machine. I played him and lost for his 87th to 89th win, but I beat him after that. He was on his way to 100 and I stopped him. We shook hands and he went home. ^_^
I'm old enough to remember a time when street fighter 2 didn't exist. There was a "before" and then there was an "after". I remember the quarter on the machine... the cigarette burns... the "no throws" rules... everything. Man, how far we've come.
Same, it was late 1990 and I was still playing Splatterhouse, Smash TV, Pit Fighter, Ghouls n' Ghosts, WWF Superstars, Double Dragon, Toki, etc, etc etc. By the end of 1991 it was all SF2
7:30 As a lifelong Guitar Hero (now Clone Hero) player, this pain is too real. All arcade controllers are a trap. No one will believe you when you tell them you're actually nice at the game but the cabinet is borderline nonfunctional.
happened to me sometime ago at a con. there was this rude dude hogging a Tekken 7 cabinet that me and my friend wanted to play on so I challenged him to get him out. My controls were ALL reversed. Left punch was Right kick, Right punch was left kick etc. Shit was so ass.
Yeah if you wanted to experience Taito Station Shinjuku back when you had to wait just to get onto a machine to play someone, sitting in a thick layer of smoke with salary men fresh out of work ready to game, you needed to go there 10 years ago. Even 2019-2020 pre-covid the scene was really winding down and not very active, sad day when Anatawa no Warehouse in Kawasaki closed down, made sure I went on that final weekend because it would be lost to time.
Literally I went last year planning to hit the warehouse. The dismay I felt when it had already been shut down. Arcades have something special that isn't captured playing at home. Locals do come close
@ it’s incredibly sad, there will never be an arcade built like that, the cost alone to make something similar would prohibit it from being built in the modern age.
Well, I only experienced the arcade scene in it's twilight years in the early to mid 00's, but I miss that shit... So many quarters wasted on Soul Calibur 2, Tekken 5 dark resurrection, PIU and DDRMAX 2 at the local arcade at my mall. It's a country western store now... 😢
@@Clos93Dude same I’m so glad I was just old enough to remember the twilight days of the Arcade fighting games in the early/mid 00s. My nearest mall had an arcade with SC2 and later SC3 Arcade Edition, an MvC2 cabinet, and even an OG Vanilla Tekken 5 cabinet. I’ll never forget when the new Tekken 5 cab just appeared one day in the arcade. It was such a cool experience playing the same game in the arcade for weeks/months then walking down to the GameStop to buy the PS2 port when it finally released. The 00s were this crazy era for fighting games where you could play offline on console OR arcade AND was could play online depending on the title. Just this weird awesome transitional phase that wasn’t like anything before or after its time.
@@impulse_xs yeah, being able to play arcade perfect ports was awesome, or with the case of Tekken Tag tournament and SC2, even better than the arcade ports. Been wanting to make my way to Brookfield IL, and go to Galloping Ghost arcade. $15 to play 2500+ cabs, all set to free play.
I was stationed in yokosuka Japan from 2002 to 2008. Your vid brought back back crazy memories cause when I wasn’t working, I would go hunt down random arcades with my fellow fighting game heads on board the USS Kittyhawk. Salute to you my friend, thank you for this
Hugely appreciate the detailed breakdown of your experience. I'm actually really surprised how well thought out the SF6 Type Arcade online infrastructure is. I can definetly see how that would create more interconnected relations between regions and specific players which is awesome to see in the current online era. Nice video, thanks again!
Man, just the section on trying to get your Nescia card registered to play gave me 'Nam flashbacks. While I was in the USAF, stationed in Japan for 4 years in Aomori, I remember going through this WHOLE process to get everything registered so I can play USFIV. After that nightmare, I told myself that I should just learn Japanese at this point, and I did just that. This elongated process helped me to get a degree in Japanese, but hey, now I can rock my Bunny Sakura fit on SFIV now lol
I was raised in TAKE Yen a local Arcade in my town in the 1990s I remember playing all my games there cause Atari and Nintendo had released but arcade was just better the sound the fun was so amazing. I'm 49 yrs old and back then you didn't have move lists or anything to find out how moves worked you looked at side of the cabinets the pics of the gameplay was how I found moves and from other players. When you would place your Quarter on the screen to place up next. What a great time. Awesome video.
When i traveled to Japan a couple of years ago, I went to the same arcades! Had a similar experience of being a little disappointed in the taito game centers, but Shinjuku sportsland was great. Spent a couple evenings there. Nice vid.
I love how what we had here at the second half of the video was essentially the equivalent of Brian’s family vacation slideshow - and WE ALL WATCHED IT WILLINGLY.
Sportsland is where Ojsanboi found me back in SF4. In the beginning I was on top the leaderboards but I didn’t know any of those guys. They were able to search up the arcade I was playing at, completely demolished me, and that is how I got introduced to the location of the best players, which was Ikebukuro at the time. Man that photo brings back so many memories. Literally had to team up with Bonchan and Mago just to beat Daigo. He was a such a beast in vanilla 4
Not-so-Fun facts: The cube-of-shame in arcades and many restaurants became a norm around 2019, when new cigarette laws were introduced to accommodate the Tokyo Olympics. This law made many of the stores in Tokyo, even bars and taverns, ban smoking, and remove ashtray from in front of their doors. Many of public smoking areas near the stations, parks were removed as a result of it as well. While I agree the cube of shame as a smoker, strong smoking ban encouraged people to smoke on the street instead, which are more annoying.
Expanding on the section about how the cabinets feel and the sound effects and such, I SWEAR that the colors on these cabinets pop more. I distinctly remember looking at the loading screens and thinking, “Oh, the purple’s looking kinda royal today!”
The modern games do, but yes that's 100% a feature that comes directly out of the paradigm shift to home console takeover that really arguably was cemented in ~2009.
Going in an arcade, and starting to beat people up on the machine...and then having a row of people and you stay there on the machine for hours. That feeling cannot be replicated. The hype of the moment with many people watching the game and reacting...its not the same as online matches. I miss the arcades. Also, we all had the same controller and therefore handicap. I am not for mixing controller, stick and hitbox.
My closest local arcade is about a 30min drive away. It's pretty small, and the only fighting game cabinet they have now is Street Fighter 2 World Warrior (they used to have more but have gradually phased out the old arcade machines for newer games). It's tucked away in a corner in the very back of the arcade; all the new machines have those things that make you pay with electronic credits that you put on a game card or whatever. Funny thing is, since that World Warrior cabinet is so old, they had to graft one onto it in post, and they've since taped up the coin slots. They still work, they just want you to pay with a card. I don't visit often anymore, but when I do I just peel back the tape and put in a quarter lol.
In the SF2 scene. You can be at an arcades, with the best known tournament players. Someone will show up, beat the asses of the best tournament players WITH EASE. and when you go ask the tournament players, "who is that"? The answer is "We don't know, He just shows up sometimes around rush hour. He only plays here for a bit and never shows up to any tournaments.
SF2 changed the arcade scene late 80's onwards, no argument there. Good point about the shop fronts in Japan 99% are pachinko, finding arcades was a challenge
Beating a young couple that were on a date and feeling bad about it is Sakurai's origin story for making Smash, except he didn't realise until afterwards so he couldn't let them win. I wonder if Brian might have gone on to revolutionise a genre if he didn't notice he was up against kids and go easy?
what I like about the arcade era when I was growing up is that ppl didn't rage quit cause you paid money to sit there you were in that match regardless. The other thing was ppl would not complain about the game being too hard or that the character was broken. you came in and studied all the characters and found moves and approaches and frames that were good against that specific character and you countered them. What was a common problem was the button or joy stick were either loose or broken or jammed in some way from the heavy use and sometimes sticky from mystery candy/soda from little kids playing with them. by the time you were 13-14 you had a fanny pack with wipes and quarters and some gloves for grip. I would mow lawns for $30 each and during the weekend spend around 6hr in the arcade and then buy magazine or games at the store to learn tips and tricks or play at home. What I love about the modern arcades is being able to bring your own arcade stick or fight box and play other players sadly my city only has a limited selection of places to play arcades. In japan tho I had the time of my life playing other players in the arcade and talking and learning from them and even trying out their controllers or letting them try out mine. I wish we did have a more active arcade scene in the US.
There's more than one Taito Station in Shinjuku. The South Exit Taito Station Game World is where the fighting games are. I played there in April, and November this year.
Knew a family friend who was stationed in Kanagawa Yokosuka Japan at the time right when SF4 came out in Japan. He would tell me of times whenever he had liberty, he would make his way to gamecenters in Yokohama to play SF4 in arcades. Whenever he visited stateside like once or twice a year on holiday, he would absolutely demolish our circle of friends in SF4 (around 2009-2010). We practiced here but it was nothing compared to the practice and experience our overseas naval friend stationed in yokosuka was getting just by virtue of having immediate access to arcades in his environment. Also shoutouts to plaza bonita
Yup, there's nothing like playing shoulder to shoulder. You guys remember putting a quarter up on the cabinet to signify you had next match? There'd be a friggin row of quarters
6:59 There is online support as long the arcade is connected to the Nesica Network, and you have a Nesica or any compatibe Amusement IC card (including the Konami eAmusement cards, for which I own one and use for SF6 and Dance Dance Revolution).
I wish this video was uploaded earlier 😭. I would have loved to have found a proper arcade there. I went to Japan last month. Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka and Miyazaki. I went to every arcade I could find. I found ONE SF6 machine. ONE! When I lived in Fukuoka in 2001 and all the way up to around 2005/2006, fighting games were EVERYWHERE! It was the best time to be alive (apart from when SF2 and Fatal Fury hit arcades in the early nineties, of course 😊). I played Capcom vs SNK 2 when it was brand new in arcades and there was no shortage of challengers. Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Guilty Gear, KOF, SF3, Alpha... you name it, they were all there. We smoked while playing, ashing cigarettes in Taito adhtrays and I had a beer sitting on the machine. I cant express what kind of heavenly scenario it was. To say I was disappointed when I returned recently is the understatement of the century. Still love the place, of course. ❤
Correction Brian the first Head to Head fighting game that I played was karate champ... I have a 30-year win streak, last time I played versus it was against Alex Jebailey at player one Video Game Bar in Orlando. I was actually surprised he did so well.. came down to the wire but I got him.
Arcades in Japan have changed drastically in several phases, fall of fighting games, imergence (and somewhat fall) of those photo booths, imergence (and fall) of large machines (DDR, beat mania), and online crane games. Not to forget wide spread of fighting and other games being able to be played online and smartphone game which really impacted the number of arcades. It's sad to see places where they used to have 3-4 arcades have now only have one or even none. Even if there is one arcade, it may just have crane games.
As a fighting game fan since the 90s, I remember too well how inconsistent every single stick is from place to place. I do miss just playing local games at the arcade... way less toxic than online ranked.
cool to see sf6 make its way to the states via Round 1. Love seeing fighting games get a machine and hope it comes back more like pinball has. Haven't been to round 1 in a while but there are now 2 OC locations here in california.
My local round one has an imported sfv cab that is connected for online play, but you have to purchase a nesica card, register an account, and navigate the Japanese language menus to engage with it.
Trocadero in West end of London had vanilla SF4 cabs. Had Tekken 6 BR cabs around the same time, neither game was out on console at the time. They were the best days out
Hay Brian I'm not sure if I mistaken but I think you said no online play which isn't true. I was there in the summer and you need to get the card from the machine nearby. 'Not all locations has the machine' then you can start playing online.
Loved this vid. I feel like what we hear about other countries and cultures is often so surface-level and genaral it becomes hard for me to actually "take in" just how and in which ways our cultures differ and resemble eachother, but a proper thorough deep-dive into one specific topic like this helps "ground" my perspective in some way. To expand ones perceptions beyond what we see from stereotypical imagery.
It always takes me by surprise when I realise that important figures in the scene like Brian actually started playing these games like 15 years after I did. But have done a lot more with the time they've been playing!
Brian, you went to the wrong Taito. There’s one at east Shinjuku exit. There’s another at the south east exit. And another at the west exit. Top tier players frequent only one or two locations. Shinjuku (SF4 era) and Takadanobaba station. After COVID-19 players stopped going to the main arcades. They started up their own Internet cafe style game rooms. One in particular is in Akihabara. Daigo started it several years ago. The spot is called “e-sports square” in Akihabara. At these locations you bring your own stick or rent one out. People usually buy 2/4/6 hour passes. You’re too late buddy things have changed.
I also spent a bit of time searching the Tokyo arcades for fighting games. I eventually found Hone in Akihabara (may have been Hey) that had a corner dedicated to Street Fighter, 2-6. It even had the game based on the movie, as well as several other fighting games on that floor, like Groove on Fight and Breakers.
This isn't just a Japan thing! Street Fighter 6 Type Arcade is also available in the USA, at Round1 locations. It functions exactly the same way. You can use the NESiCA cards too!
Man, I miss the good old days... Sure we have online today with friends but nothing beats playing arcade with friends in person, and seeing your opponents' salty faces as they leave their sits.
There are two Taito Stations in Shinjuku; Taito Station East Exit and Taito Station Gameworld. The latter had 5 SF6 arcade cabinets when I was there October 2024.
I remember when i lived in japan. There was ghis multi floor arcade that i went to. The fighters were on the 4th floor. When that elevator door opened. The smoke would just rush in, and there was a literal cloud of smoke that lingered in the room. But if you were sitting down, it wasnt terrible. I remember playing next to this one guy and he was just puffing away.😅 But when i use to go to taito station back in 07' it was full of fighting machines.
Just got back from japan. Those sf6 cabinets have to be ps4 version. Graphics and input lag is bad. Seen a couple stuck on the headshot screen before match having a facial war for 3mins straight
I just came back from Tokyo and this video helped a lot in hunting down SF6 arcades! I remember going last year and was a little disappointed with the lack of SF6 (since the Type Arcade version came out a bit later) so I was excited to try it out. Turned out it was a blast! And I'm glad I knew to get the Nesica card from the vending machine and so on to get started. Also, unless you are really high in MR like Brian F Mr. Tryhard, I think you would have no problem finding challenging matchups who can completely whoop your ass (at least, that's what happened to me…). It was definitely much cooler than just grinding at home. Only issue was that I was too used to leverless controllers at this point, so using the stick was a little odd to me and that was *definitely* the cause for me losing all the matches rather than my skills.
Round 1 isn't an arcade chain that models that japanese archetype .... IT IS a Japanese arcade chain. they just branched out to U.S. just that Round 1s in Japan are 8 floors and have bowling alleys, karaoke rooms, bull riding, and more.. hahaha
7:05 yep this is usually the arcade cabinet experience, you havent even sat down yet, and theres already a 50/50 mixup whether or not the cabinet you chose has functioning controls or not.
All Europeans should visit Japan, it's a great learning experience. Europeans will be shocked to realise you can actually live with your own people and keep your cities.
Hey Arcade in Akiba has a ton of old school fighting games. Including, Street Fighter The Movie fighting game. Yes, you can play as Van Damme Guile or even Kylie Minogue Cammy.
Wait, I've been to Shinjuku Taito station many times and it was always a great place to play IV. I haven't been there in a few years, though. IV was always in the basement floor.
Also, it seems there are no hidden bosses upon reaching certain VS win streaks. If such feature got implemented, it would feel like the grim reaper would be hunting down on you, and if you want to keep playing you have to defeat it or else your win streak will stop. The boss' AI would be way too hard to a point that a winning chance would be slim to none.
I was in the same area in October, I stayed at the Apa hotel near the Godzilla Head. I played Street Fighter 6 at the arcade near it, second floor. The disappointing thing about Japanese arcades is there are few traditional games we commonly see in the US and they generally have the same games. And I went to a bunch of arcades in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.
Man, was there that very same weekend in Japan, but as a trip with friends. Crazy to think I could have come get my ass beat by the man himself. Played a bunch of random japanese players in Akihabara arcades, did pretty well, it's a fun time.
what you re talking about at 7:14 was the issue with arcades back in the early 00s for me the sticks were never consistent , always had some issues never perfect
Brine making excuses for getting dropped by a teenaged Japanese girl. Jus' take the L!!
We Boomers be stubborn like that.
He was so mortified that he set his rank to platinum.
If this is true i want full context and story lmao
Fucking Brine 😂
Didnt he say they were gaijin? Not japanese?
During my summer trip in Tokyo, I played SF6 in Akihabara. There was a Honda player who I kept queuing up against. He was 1700 MR. He was whooping me. After about 7 games (I lost 6) I get up and look at who I was playing since I was out of 100 yen coins. It was a man in his late 40's with blonde hair. I fist bumped him and he seemed very nice. Loved the in-person experience, it's very cool seeing who you are actually playing.
I grew up playing like that and have always disliked the non-personal feel of online gaming. It’s infinitely better when you can chat with someone while playing them.
@@DarkSalmonz I also miss having all my friends over and doing round robins with each other. Fun times. I prefer friends over strangers because not everyone is cool.
It is weird for me to read someone talk about that experience like it is something weird because that was so normal to me back in the day haha.
KoF, Street Fighter, Metal Slug and so on were able to make a lot of friendships.
My first day using Adon on SF4 was in a Yokohama Staton area arcade in 2011 (my first time playing stick in about 11 years). The guy people queue up against had 86 wins, and I kept matching up against him on a local machine. I played him and lost for his 87th to 89th win, but I beat him after that. He was on his way to 100 and I stopped him. We shook hands and he went home. ^_^
I am pretty sure I played that exact guy in 3rd strike in the same arcade 6 years ago
I'm old enough to remember a time when street fighter 2 didn't exist. There was a "before" and then there was an "after".
I remember the quarter on the machine... the cigarette burns... the "no throws" rules... everything.
Man, how far we've come.
considering how busted some throws are in SF2 that restriction was quite reasonable
we called crouching light kicks toe jams...like the throws, they were not allowed... lol great times!
Same, it was late 1990 and I was still playing Splatterhouse, Smash TV, Pit Fighter, Ghouls n' Ghosts, WWF Superstars, Double Dragon, Toki, etc, etc etc. By the end of 1991 it was all SF2
What was the quarter on the machine for? If I had to guess it would be to let others know ur open to duel? 🧐
Ah, the "no throws rule" always gets me in trouble (physically) Lol! 🤣🤣🤣
As a 46 year old. I MISS the arcade era. No movelist, frame data, etc. You WERE on your own in 91
There were move lists, but not all machines had them in the earlier years.
that sounds miserable lol
It was great cause it was free of body pillow owning basement dwellers
Japan had a lot more info back then than we did. Gamest Mooks, etc.
It was miserable. @@michaelmcgee8189
I wish the best for FartBoner and LadyTaco.
hey thanks!
I hear they are welcoming baby BonerTaco
43:00 Yo there I am! Thanks for playing Brian even if the machine was jank it was super cool to meet you
Brian: It's just 66 cents, enjoy the rest of your date :)
Justin: WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD
That girl sitting at the end was definitely thinking “this bum ass Ed trash”
I gotta respect that!?
7:30 As a lifelong Guitar Hero (now Clone Hero) player, this pain is too real. All arcade controllers are a trap. No one will believe you when you tell them you're actually nice at the game but the cabinet is borderline nonfunctional.
happened to me sometime ago at a con. there was this rude dude hogging a Tekken 7 cabinet that me and my friend wanted to play on so I challenged him to get him out. My controls were ALL reversed. Left punch was Right kick, Right punch was left kick etc. Shit was so ass.
Yea thats US. Jap people take abit more care with stuff. Probably less bad over there.
@@ilypoit's always the tekken cabinets lok
The guitar hero machines have so much delay its criminal. Youd think they could get something so basic right
Yeah if you wanted to experience Taito Station Shinjuku back when you had to wait just to get onto a machine to play someone, sitting in a thick layer of smoke with salary men fresh out of work ready to game, you needed to go there 10 years ago. Even 2019-2020 pre-covid the scene was really winding down and not very active, sad day when Anatawa no Warehouse in Kawasaki closed down, made sure I went on that final weekend because it would be lost to time.
Literally I went last year planning to hit the warehouse. The dismay I felt when it had already been shut down.
Arcades have something special that isn't captured playing at home.
Locals do come close
@ it’s incredibly sad, there will never be an arcade built like that, the cost alone to make something similar would prohibit it from being built in the modern age.
I didn't even know about street fighter 6 type arcade until my daughter told me about it during her vacation in japan
Dang this makes me nostalgic for something I never actually personally experienced. I wish arcades could come back in a big way
Well, I only experienced the arcade scene in it's twilight years in the early to mid 00's, but I miss that shit... So many quarters wasted on Soul Calibur 2, Tekken 5 dark resurrection, PIU and DDRMAX 2 at the local arcade at my mall. It's a country western store now... 😢
@@Clos93Dude same I’m so glad I was just old enough to remember the twilight days of the Arcade fighting games in the early/mid 00s. My nearest mall had an arcade with SC2 and later SC3 Arcade Edition, an MvC2 cabinet, and even an OG Vanilla Tekken 5 cabinet. I’ll never forget when the new Tekken 5 cab just appeared one day in the arcade.
It was such a cool experience playing the same game in the arcade for weeks/months then walking down to the GameStop to buy the PS2 port when it finally released. The 00s were this crazy era for fighting games where you could play offline on console OR arcade AND was could play online depending on the title. Just this weird awesome transitional phase that wasn’t like anything before or after its time.
@@impulse_xs yeah, being able to play arcade perfect ports was awesome, or with the case of Tekken Tag tournament and SC2, even better than the arcade ports. Been wanting to make my way to Brookfield IL, and go to Galloping Ghost arcade. $15 to play 2500+ cabs, all set to free play.
I was stationed in yokosuka Japan from 2002 to 2008. Your vid brought back back crazy memories cause when I wasn’t working, I would go hunt down random arcades with my fellow fighting game heads on board the USS Kittyhawk. Salute to you my friend, thank you for this
Yakosska? That's where my little brother works!
SF6 in Japan arcades was so freakin' fun I wanna go back. I got swamped by some diamond rank white collar worker after work AND it was glorious
Hugely appreciate the detailed breakdown of your experience.
I'm actually really surprised how well thought out the SF6 Type Arcade online infrastructure is. I can definetly see how that would create more interconnected relations between regions and specific players which is awesome to see in the current online era.
Nice video, thanks again!
Man, just the section on trying to get your Nescia card registered to play gave me 'Nam flashbacks. While I was in the USAF, stationed in Japan for 4 years in Aomori, I remember going through this WHOLE process to get everything registered so I can play USFIV. After that nightmare, I told myself that I should just learn Japanese at this point, and I did just that. This elongated process helped me to get a degree in Japanese, but hey, now I can rock my Bunny Sakura fit on SFIV now lol
all the community building functionality of SF6 arcade sounds so awesome
I was raised in TAKE Yen a local Arcade in my town in the 1990s I remember playing all my games there cause Atari and Nintendo had released but arcade was just better the sound the fun was so amazing. I'm 49 yrs old and back then you didn't have move lists or anything to find out how moves worked you looked at side of the cabinets the pics of the gameplay was how I found moves and from other players. When you would place your Quarter on the screen to place up next. What a great time. Awesome video.
When i traveled to Japan a couple of years ago, I went to the same arcades! Had a similar experience of being a little disappointed in the taito game centers, but Shinjuku sportsland was great. Spent a couple evenings there. Nice vid.
So much valueable info, planning to return to japan soon, thank you !
Im going to Japan in December and this video is exactly what I need it. Thank you.
BRIAN! THANK YOU FOR FIXING THE PODCAST PLAYLIST! :D
Great job giving us the tour Brian!
Brine almost did a Masahiro Sakurai and guilt tripped himself into 20 years of corporate enslavement
Im flying to tokyo in april for the first time so this is real helpful, thanks Brine
I love how what we had here at the second half of the video was essentially the equivalent of Brian’s family vacation slideshow - and WE ALL WATCHED IT WILLINGLY.
20 seconds in Great vid looking good Brian
We need more videos like these.
Good job brian
shout out to family fun arcade in Cali for having sf4 early, some of my best memories of arcades
The arcade version of street fighter 4 was out for PC thru various torrents. Came out months before it actually hit PC on Xbox Live
Wait until he realizes you can link your home profile with the arcade profile.
Sportsland is where Ojsanboi found me back in SF4. In the beginning I was on top the leaderboards but I didn’t know any of those guys. They were able to search up the arcade I was playing at, completely demolished me, and that is how I got introduced to the location of the best players, which was Ikebukuro at the time. Man that photo brings back so many memories. Literally had to team up with Bonchan and Mago just to beat Daigo. He was a such a beast in vanilla 4
Very dope piece of content thank you for the insite!
The 3rd strike scene is good there too. Was crazy playing in the arcades, one of my best experiences I’ve had
Not-so-Fun facts: The cube-of-shame in arcades and many restaurants became a norm around 2019, when new cigarette laws were introduced to accommodate the Tokyo Olympics.
This law made many of the stores in Tokyo, even bars and taverns, ban smoking, and remove ashtray from in front of their doors.
Many of public smoking areas near the stations, parks were removed as a result of it as well.
While I agree the cube of shame as a smoker, strong smoking ban encouraged people to smoke on the street instead, which are more annoying.
Expanding on the section about how the cabinets feel and the sound effects and such, I SWEAR that the colors on these cabinets pop more. I distinctly remember looking at the loading screens and thinking, “Oh, the purple’s looking kinda royal today!”
So PSA bring my own stick if i ever get a chance to go to a round 1
18:30 Lol Brine had a Sakurai moment 😂
Damn exactly my thoughts haha
future game dev
it's crazy those cabs didn't even have the eight button layout. Imagine all the 2 button combos you'd be rawdogging.
The modern games do, but yes that's 100% a feature that comes directly out of the paradigm shift to home console takeover that really arguably was cemented in ~2009.
Brian F discovering purikura is... really really funny
Going in an arcade, and starting to beat people up on the machine...and then having a row of people and you stay there on the machine for hours. That feeling cannot be replicated. The hype of the moment with many people watching the game and reacting...its not the same as online matches. I miss the arcades. Also, we all had the same controller and therefore handicap. I am not for mixing controller, stick and hitbox.
@1e0isfdkorblpg ewwww no. All controllers! Lolol j/k
My closest local arcade is about a 30min drive away. It's pretty small, and the only fighting game cabinet they have now is Street Fighter 2 World Warrior (they used to have more but have gradually phased out the old arcade machines for newer games).
It's tucked away in a corner in the very back of the arcade; all the new machines have those things that make you pay with electronic credits that you put on a game card or whatever.
Funny thing is, since that World Warrior cabinet is so old, they had to graft one onto it in post, and they've since taped up the coin slots. They still work, they just want you to pay with a card. I don't visit often anymore, but when I do I just peel back the tape and put in a quarter lol.
I just recently moved to Tokyo and am so happy you made this video! I was trying to figure out where to play but it’s so hard to find in English.
Yo search Red Bull Nakano. Every Thursday evening. It's free
The 3rd floor at HEY Taito in Akihabara is pretty active. Get ready to get rocked by some 50 year olds though.
In the SF2 scene. You can be at an arcades, with the best known tournament players. Someone will show up, beat the asses of the best tournament players WITH EASE. and when you go ask the tournament players, "who is that"? The answer is "We don't know, He just shows up sometimes around rush hour. He only plays here for a bit and never shows up to any tournaments.
Awesome video man, very entertaining! I hope other video from your trip in Japan will show up!
SF2 changed the arcade scene late 80's onwards, no argument there.
Good point about the shop fronts in Japan 99% are pachinko, finding arcades was a challenge
Beating a young couple that were on a date and feeling bad about it is Sakurai's origin story for making Smash, except he didn't realise until afterwards so he couldn't let them win. I wonder if Brian might have gone on to revolutionise a genre if he didn't notice he was up against kids and go easy?
I would love to see more content like this.
Planning a trip to japan next may. This will be useful
Watched this live. It was very interesting when you talked about the... Masturbation Theatre that you and your significant stumbled upon LMAO
That better make the clips channel.
Incredible video. Thank you !
Stern Insider is almost an identical system for pinball in the US, but I'm switching back to fighting games- so this is encouraging to see.
As someone who goes to arcades largely for rhythm game stuff I second your opinion on crane games.
Cranes and other money suckers are a worldwide arcade virus
what I like about the arcade era when I was growing up is that ppl didn't rage quit cause you paid money to sit there you were in that match regardless.
The other thing was ppl would not complain about the game being too hard or that the character was broken.
you came in and studied all the characters and found moves and approaches and frames that were good against that specific character and you countered them.
What was a common problem was the button or joy stick were either loose or broken or jammed in some way from the heavy use and sometimes sticky from mystery candy/soda from little kids playing with them. by the time you were 13-14 you had a fanny pack with wipes and quarters and some gloves for grip.
I would mow lawns for $30 each and during the weekend spend around 6hr in the arcade and then buy magazine or games at the store to learn tips and tricks or play at home.
What I love about the modern arcades is being able to bring your own arcade stick or fight box and play other players sadly my city only has a limited selection of places to play arcades. In japan tho I had the time of my life playing other players in the arcade and talking and learning from them and even trying out their controllers or letting them try out mine.
I wish we did have a more active arcade scene in the US.
Learning something new during my morning workout. Lets get it boys. 🏃🏻
Very well explained, throughly enjoyed video. Thanx
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There's more than one Taito Station in Shinjuku. The South Exit Taito Station Game World is where the fighting games are. I played there in April, and November this year.
This is like an reporter going undercover and debuting like an expose lol. Nice work Brian!
Several.decades ago. Wow! Thanks for making me feel old AF
"Killing Esports here" - killed me LOL
Knew a family friend who was stationed in Kanagawa Yokosuka Japan at the time right when SF4 came out in Japan. He would tell me of times whenever he had liberty, he would make his way to gamecenters in Yokohama to play SF4 in arcades.
Whenever he visited stateside like once or twice a year on holiday, he would absolutely demolish our circle of friends in SF4 (around 2009-2010). We practiced here but it was nothing compared to the practice and experience our overseas naval friend stationed in yokosuka was getting just by virtue of having immediate access to arcades in his environment.
Also shoutouts to plaza bonita
4:02
That Taito machine reminds me that I own two VLX sticks
To have legitimate arcade hardware is awesome. I use it for every fighting game I play.
Thanks Brian! Very cool!
The arcades in Japan are so amazing
Only the video games thank you, if the crane doesn't have a rubber layer, no thanks😂
Yup, there's nothing like playing shoulder to shoulder. You guys remember putting a quarter up on the cabinet to signify you had next match? There'd be a friggin row of quarters
6:59 There is online support as long the arcade is connected to the Nesica Network, and you have a Nesica or any compatibe Amusement IC card (including the Konami eAmusement cards, for which I own one and use for SF6 and Dance Dance Revolution).
I wish this video was uploaded earlier 😭. I would have loved to have found a proper arcade there. I went to Japan last month. Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka and Miyazaki. I went to every arcade I could find. I found ONE SF6 machine. ONE! When I lived in Fukuoka in 2001 and all the way up to around 2005/2006, fighting games were EVERYWHERE! It was the best time to be alive (apart from when SF2 and Fatal Fury hit arcades in the early nineties, of course 😊). I played Capcom vs SNK 2 when it was brand new in arcades and there was no shortage of challengers. Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Guilty Gear, KOF, SF3, Alpha... you name it, they were all there. We smoked while playing, ashing cigarettes in Taito adhtrays and I had a beer sitting on the machine. I cant express what kind of heavenly scenario it was. To say I was disappointed when I returned recently is the understatement of the century. Still love the place, of course. ❤
Street Fighter 6 Type Arcade at Round 1 USA are set up for online play. You can play other players at Round 1 locations throughout the US.
Correction Brian the first Head to Head fighting game that I played was karate champ... I have a 30-year win streak, last time I played versus it was against Alex Jebailey at player one Video Game Bar in Orlando. I was actually surprised he did so well.. came down to the wire but I got him.
Arcades in Japan have changed drastically in several phases, fall of fighting games, imergence (and somewhat fall) of those photo booths, imergence (and fall) of large machines (DDR, beat mania), and online crane games. Not to forget wide spread of fighting and other games being able to be played online and smartphone game which really impacted the number of arcades.
It's sad to see places where they used to have 3-4 arcades have now only have one or even none. Even if there is one arcade, it may just have crane games.
As a fighting game fan since the 90s, I remember too well how inconsistent every single stick is from place to place. I do miss just playing local games at the arcade... way less toxic than online ranked.
cool to see sf6 make its way to the states via Round 1. Love seeing fighting games get a machine and hope it comes back more like pinball has. Haven't been to round 1 in a while but there are now 2 OC locations here in california.
My local round one has an imported sfv cab that is connected for online play, but you have to purchase a nesica card, register an account, and navigate the Japanese language menus to engage with it.
Trocadero in West end of London had vanilla SF4 cabs. Had Tekken 6 BR cabs around the same time, neither game was out on console at the time. They were the best days out
Hay Brian I'm not sure if I mistaken but I think you said no online play which isn't true. I was there in the summer and you need to get the card from the machine nearby. 'Not all locations has the machine' then you can start playing online.
Loved this vid. I feel like what we hear about other countries and cultures is often so surface-level and genaral it becomes hard for me to actually "take in" just how and in which ways our cultures differ and resemble eachother, but a proper thorough deep-dive into one specific topic like this helps "ground" my perspective in some way. To expand ones perceptions beyond what we see from stereotypical imagery.
>go to arcades in tokyo and osaka
>sf6 has some players, maybe half cabs in use
>sf4, however, full cabs and people getting hype
It always takes me by surprise when I realise that important figures in the scene like Brian actually started playing these games like 15 years after I did. But have done a lot more with the time they've been playing!
The best Kind of Brian F Video
Brian, you went to the wrong Taito. There’s one at east Shinjuku exit. There’s another at the south east exit. And another at the west exit. Top tier players frequent only one or two locations. Shinjuku (SF4 era) and Takadanobaba station. After COVID-19 players stopped going to the main arcades. They started up their own Internet cafe style game rooms. One in particular is in Akihabara. Daigo started it several years ago. The spot is called “e-sports square” in Akihabara. At these locations you bring your own stick or rent one out. People usually buy 2/4/6 hour passes. You’re too late buddy things have changed.
I also spent a bit of time searching the Tokyo arcades for fighting games. I eventually found Hone in Akihabara (may have been Hey) that had a corner dedicated to Street Fighter, 2-6. It even had the game based on the movie, as well as several other fighting games on that floor, like Groove on Fight and Breakers.
Yeah that's Hey. Really great place.
This isn't just a Japan thing! Street Fighter 6 Type Arcade is also available in the USA, at Round1 locations. It functions exactly the same way. You can use the NESiCA cards too!
Man, I miss the good old days... Sure we have online today with friends but nothing beats playing arcade with friends in person, and seeing your opponents' salty faces as they leave their sits.
There are two Taito Stations in Shinjuku; Taito Station East Exit and Taito Station Gameworld. The latter had 5 SF6 arcade cabinets when I was there October 2024.
I remember when i lived in japan. There was ghis multi floor arcade that i went to. The fighters were on the 4th floor. When that elevator door opened. The smoke would just rush in, and there was a literal cloud of smoke that lingered in the room.
But if you were sitting down, it wasnt terrible. I remember playing next to this one guy and he was just puffing away.😅
But when i use to go to taito station back in 07' it was full of fighting machines.
Just got back from japan. Those sf6 cabinets have to be ps4 version. Graphics and input lag is bad. Seen a couple stuck on the headshot screen before match having a facial war for 3mins straight
I just came back from Tokyo and this video helped a lot in hunting down SF6 arcades! I remember going last year and was a little disappointed with the lack of SF6 (since the Type Arcade version came out a bit later) so I was excited to try it out.
Turned out it was a blast! And I'm glad I knew to get the Nesica card from the vending machine and so on to get started. Also, unless you are really high in MR like Brian F Mr. Tryhard, I think you would have no problem finding challenging matchups who can completely whoop your ass (at least, that's what happened to me…). It was definitely much cooler than just grinding at home.
Only issue was that I was too used to leverless controllers at this point, so using the stick was a little odd to me and that was *definitely* the cause for me losing all the matches rather than my skills.
Glad you had fun and the video helped! Sounds like a good time
Bryan I've heard the kids over there are such geniuses that they learn japanese at a VERY young age. Is this true?
Thats how learning languages work...
"Japan is living in 2050" ahh comment
@@justanotherparasite6941 also how jokes work 🤡
Round 1 isn't an arcade chain that models that japanese archetype .... IT IS a Japanese arcade chain.
they just branched out to U.S.
just that Round 1s in Japan are 8 floors and have bowling alleys, karaoke rooms, bull riding, and more.. hahaha
7:05 yep this is usually the arcade cabinet experience, you havent even sat down yet, and theres already a 50/50 mixup whether or not the cabinet you chose has functioning controls or not.
All Europeans should visit Japan, it's a great learning experience. Europeans will be shocked to realise you can actually live with your own people and keep your cities.
Hey Arcade in Akiba has a ton of old school fighting games. Including, Street Fighter The Movie fighting game. Yes, you can play as Van Damme Guile or even Kylie Minogue Cammy.
Only thing about HEY in Akihabara is that a lot of their machines are fitted with Seimitsu parts instead of Sanwa parts.
Wait, I've been to Shinjuku Taito station many times and it was always a great place to play IV. I haven't been there in a few years, though. IV was always in the basement floor.
love that they have these at round 1 arcades here in the US
unleash your inner DSP and advertise yourself as the Japanese Arcade Champion wherever you go
Also, it seems there are no hidden bosses upon reaching certain VS win streaks. If such feature got implemented, it would feel like the grim reaper would be hunting down on you, and if you want to keep playing you have to defeat it or else your win streak will stop. The boss' AI would be way too hard to a point that a winning chance would be slim to none.
I was in the same area in October, I stayed at the Apa hotel near the Godzilla Head. I played Street Fighter 6 at the arcade near it, second floor.
The disappointing thing about Japanese arcades is there are few traditional games we commonly see in the US and they generally have the same games. And I went to a bunch of arcades in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.
Man, was there that very same weekend in Japan, but as a trip with friends. Crazy to think I could have come get my ass beat by the man himself. Played a bunch of random japanese players in Akihabara arcades, did pretty well, it's a fun time.
what you re talking about at 7:14 was the issue with arcades back in the early 00s for me the sticks were never consistent , always had some issues never perfect
nice vid!