Japan Uncut: Taito HEY

The next arcade on my list of places to see in Akihabara, we inadvertently came across Taito HEY (Hirose Entertainment Yard) about a minute after leaving Club SEGA. HEY occupies floors two through four of the 5-level Hirose Honsya building. Hirose's basement level, like Asobit City and other places in the district, was dedicated to various manga including hentai, lolicon, and dojinshi (self-published works) in the form of a store called Melonbooks. The first floor, like GiGO and Club SEGA, was dedicated to claw games and featured a sign advertising a Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition playtest.

The second floor is where the good stuff started, and it was here that I had what was probably my favorite arcade experience of the trip. After browsing a floor dominated by dozens upon dozens of shoot 'em ups (and playing a bit of Dogyuun myself), I noticed a small crowd of people gathered around a Japanese guy playing Terminator Salvation. A light-gun shooter, the player is armed with a customized M4A1 carbine that features force feedback, a mechanic where the player hits the bottom of the carbine's magazine to reload, and a button on the side used to shoot grenades. I watched him and the crowd for a minute or so, wondering why no one joined him on the second gun. Was it a cultural thing? Would it be considered rude for me to walk up and join him? I figured one of the benefits of being a white guy in Japan is that I can get away with such behavior, so when he died I walked up to the second gun. As he inserted another 100-yen coin, I gestured toward the weapon, my way of asking if I could join him, and he gave a nod of approval. I jumped in somewhere on the first mission (out of two total), and we ended up beating the whole game together. The game was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the metagame of us trying to beat each other's scores. With the exception of one time, he consistently had a slightly higher score than myself. One of my favorite things to do in the game was pressing the carbine into my shoulder so I could steady it with my right hand when getting low on ammo, allowing me to immediately hit the bottom of the magazine to reload with my left. It was also a useful technique when digging through my pockets for some bills to give to my brother in exchange for more coins. It felt cool, and we must have looked as such, as the crowd around us grew to around 12 to 15 people by the time we reached the endgame (my brother was counting). I've never had a bunch of people watch me play a game like that in person before, and it made it all the more exciting.

The stranger and I made a good team, with our final scores fairly close to each other, and we parted ways after entering our initials. It's extremely doubtful, but I wonder if "CAR" is still written on the scoreboard.

I can't remember if that was the last thing I did at Taito HEY or not, but my notes end after that.

Here's a list of everything I saw at the arcade:

Taito HEY/Hirose Honsya Bldg.

Melonbooks - manga, hentai, lolicon, dojinshi, etc.

Claw Games

Claw Games
Aliens Extermination
Battle Gear 4 Tuned
beatmania IIDX
Bubble Symphony
Dance Dance Revolution X2
Dogyuun
DrumMania
Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
Elevator Action: Death Parade
Gaia Attack 4
Galaxy Force
GuitarFreaks
Music GunGun!
Razing Storm
Runark (Growl)
Something I wrote that I can't read (Midnight ???? game. Might be Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX. Can't confirm.)
Space Harrier
Sunset Riders
Taiko no Tatsujin
Terminator Salvation
Tetris The Grand Master 3: Terror Instinct
Thunder Dragon 2
Top Landing
And a TON of shoot 'em ups (almost entirely on Egret II cabinets)

Arcana Heart 3
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory
Guilty Gear XX Λ Core
Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next
A bunch of other Gundam games with weird titles
Street Fighter IV
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition location testing
Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion
The King of Fighters '95
The King of Fighters '98
The King of Fighters 2002
The King of Fighters XIII
Vampire Savior: The Lord of Vampire

Capsule Machines
Border Break
Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road II Legends
Eternal Wheel
Football (I think it was World Club Champion Football)
Lord of Vermilion II
Kamen Rider Battle: Ganbaride
Kidō Senshi Gundam: Senjō no Kizuna
Kidou Senshi Gundam 0083 Card Builder
Sangokushi Taisen 3 War Begins
Shining Force Cross
The iDOLM@STER
World Soccer: Winning Eleven 2010 - Arcade Championship

A Day in Akihabara (Episode 03 - Coming Someday)
Club SEGA
Super Potato - Coming Someday
List of Episodes
Introduction to the Series

StreetPass 3: Smithsonian Edition

Last month, on our way to visit our mom in Kansas for Christmas, my brother and I spent a few days visiting Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, and Gettysburg. Having not had a StreetPass encounter since the ones with the Whiskey Media staff in June of 2011, I was eager for more. Luckily for me, at least three other people had the same idea on December 17th at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. My Mii got to meet Max from Virginia, sarah from Virginia (I'm thinking they're from the same family since both of their Most Recent Software titles were nintendogs + cats), and nick from Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico. Max and sarah helped me finish my Pikmin and Metroid: Other M puzzles, respectively. I took more steps that day than ever before with a total of 7,545.

The Miis I met, along with some of the new features Nintendo added recently.

The next morning, on the 18th, I was excited for more SteetPass opportunities. If I got three in just one museum, how many would I get today? Though I crushed my previous record of 7,545 steps with a new, and current, record of 17,396, I got nothing. At first I was sad, but then annoyed because I realized the wireless functionality of my 3DS has been turned off somehow. I wondered how many encounters I missed as I turned StreetPass back on.

I encountered another person, Aggan, on the 22nd while in Kansas, but only via Super Street Fighter IV. Much like my fights with Jeff and Matt, I got my ass kicked.

Fast-forward almost two weeks later and we pass by someone on a road near our home, will rhein from North Carolina, who happened to have their 3DS on as well. On the 13th, at the Genghis Khan exhibit in Raleigh, North Carolina, I encountered Fupo, also from North Carolina. Supposedly it was their birthday!

I think that price drop is working!

StreetPass 2: Giant Bomb Staff Edition

I haven't had a lot of luck with StreetPass encounters. Shortly after the aforementioned post, I met two other Miis in the form of Gamessa and Clif, making for a total of three people I've come across since the launch of the 3DS in March. My experience with this feature has been disappointing, especially since receiving duplicate puzzle pieces in Puzzle Swap is common when purchased with Play Coins, as opposed to being guaranteed a new piece when encountering a fellow player. Having never been to a convention where it's common for people to pack their 3DS, I was excited to see what would happen when I visited the Whiskey Media office on June 24th. Arriving back at my hotel later that night, I had completely forgotten that my 3DS was still on and in my pocket. I excitedly took it out and booted up StreetPass Mii Plaza to be greeted with this:

As you can see from the second pic, I totally had the inside scoop on Matt Kessler's first review.

I then loaded up Puzzle Swap to reap my rewards.

Patrick helped me finally complete my Mario and Bowser puzzle.

Encountering Matt Kessler's Mii in Puzzle Swap.

Getting a new piece for the Metroid: Other M panel in Puzzle Swap.

Though I've technically finished Find Mii, I still have a few more hats to collect. Here's what the guys look like when pissed off at ghosts.

I also had the StreetPass functionality for Super Street Fighter IV turned on, and was surprised when I saw that Jeff was one of my opponents since I didn't encounter his Mii.

And those are probably the last StreetPass encounters I'm going to have for a very long time.

Oh, and if there was still any doubt as to the identity of the man in the following photo (from this thread), I think Ryan's Mii is enough evidence to lay this mystery to rest:

Taito HEY/Hirose Honsya Bldg.

A Day in Akihabara (Episode 03 - Coming Someday)Club SEGASuper Potato - Coming SomedayList of EpisodesIntroduction to the Series

A Day in Akihabara (Episode 03 - Coming Someday)
Club SEGA
Super Potato - Coming Someday
List of Episodes
Introduction to the Series