What Game Spot 21 Did

If you say the machines don’t need to be cleaned on the parts people don’t touch then that’s your thing, I guess. If you think it’s OK to laminate a “Watch it! Bagsnatchers!” Sign over the urinal instead of creating an establishment where it doesn’t happen, your call.

But…

What Game Spot 21 Did

Staring Down the Brown Tube

The lights in Hey are famously blue. First foot off the IN escalator is *that* row of a dozen or so Egrets on either side. They actually have a Kodak PhotoPoint(TM) standee there now, yellow greyed by the blue light, with a cutout for where experts say to point your camera. That’s actually true!

Staring Down the Brown Tube

Restart Mission?

I’m hearing bad things about the independents. Even Sega is shutting shops. Akiba 2-kan – iconic! – is gone. Photos of staff bowing outside in thanks for years of patronage from also-bowing, clapping crowds.

Restart Mission?

My Place, My Rules

The guy running P&P lives fussy, at his desk with his daily paper, ice tea just so. Everything’s covered in handwritten instructions: the Label Crazy Blast City I’ve posted before, the tiny washiki toilet with its triangular basin/cistern, and this old Astro, who’s been told what to do its whole life.

My Place, My Rules

Why Arcades Matter

In times gone by, when Sega made consoles, it felt like there was a clear path from arcade to home release. Back then, Gunslinger Stratos would have been ported to Saturn or Dreamcast and come with dedicated controllers.

Why Arcades Matter

Fight, Sing

Teeth bared; talons out. But look at the posture of their right hands. Claws, but relaxed claws, ready to swoop at the attack buttons with quite a travel. Wouldn’t your response be quicker if you started nearer the buttons? It’s not that kind of reflexes. You play with rhythm, where the travel helps. Reflexes are to quickly change rhythm. If fighters were music games they’d be jazz duo jam sessions.

Fight, Sing

Splashguards

Gentlemen reading this will know that sometimes there are splashguards and sometimes there aren't. In either case you just look straight ahead and mind nothing but your own business. But don't mind it too closely or you will raise questions.

Splashguards