Today I went to the magical and mystical
Tokyo Game Show.
It was held in
Makuhari Messe, also known as the
Nippon Convention Center.
Right when I walk into the main doors, my senses are bombarded. My eyes are filled the
bright lights and intimidating presence of the
Microsoft booth. My ears are filled with the
phat beats from the
Yamaha booth, where they are letting people sample their
DJ remixing equipment. And my nose detects the scent of
curry. I remember that I have not eaten
breakfast and that I am hungry.
I quickly scan the area for my favorite companies. Unfortunately, the only thing I can see is the
Microsoft X-Box booth. I curse the company in my mind and started what would turn out to be a long day filled with a lot of walking.
The place is crowded. Not as crowded as
Comiket was, but there were still lots of people around. Fans,
industry, booth girls, and
cosplayers were all there.
After more walking around, I see nothing that interests me. There are a lot of booths selling
video game merchandise here, but I'm not interested in that stuff yet. The
Sammy booth is also here, and there appears to be a
Guilty Gear X competition going on. The line was a bit too long, and I didn't think my skills were up to par, so I decide to pass for now. I tell myself to come back later and head into the
second building.
Here I see the things that interest me.
Namco,
Konami,
Squaresoft, and Capcom logos are plastered everywhere. I make a beeline for the
Squaresoft booth to see what they have. The
Final Fantasy XI character designs look interesting, but there's nothing too special. I meander into the
Capcom booth and find nothing special there either. I feel vaguely disappointed and ripped off...
Tokyo Game Show was supposed to be a paradise for a
console gamer like me.
But my redemption comes from the
Konami booth. Sweet sweet
Konami. I see the fantastic new
Metal Gear Solid 2 trailer and my brain turns to jello. It is filled with giant robots, guns, soldiers in gas masks with katanas facing off with
Snake who is holding a
Colt M4A1. There is a character that looks like a less frail version of
Darth Vader without the helmet, twirling a
Fabrique Nationale P90 like it was a cowboy revolver. The giant robot turns towards the screen and opens its mechanical maw, snarling like a
dinosaur. Add that to the fact that the audio was coming from a pair of speakers about twice as tall as I am, and I was in
heaven.
Not only did the
Konami booth have
Metal Gear Solid 2, but it also had the
Suikoden 3 preview. I watched that three times before wandering around some more.
At this point, I'm a bit disoriented by all the bright
flashing lights. I look up and see a giant
Pac-man, so I assume I'm in the
Namco booth. I look for information regarding
Soul Calibur 2 and unfortunately find
nothing. Shame on you
Namco. Shame.
My
stomach calls to me again, and I return to the place where I smelled
curry. There is a set of stands selling things like
yakisoba (Japanese stir-fried noodles),
hot dogs, and
takoyaki (sort of like grilled octopus dumplings]. I grab the
yakisoba and hot dog set and settle down for the most
surreal experience of the day,
lunch.
I am standing at a table, because the tables have no
chairs. The table in front of me is being occupied by two groups, one cosplaying as characters from
Suikoden (wee!) and another from the
fighting game Guilty Gear X. There is also another
Suikoden group on the table to the left of me. As I eat, the people next to me leave, and are replaced by a
Heat from
Bust a Groove and a girl in a sort of futuristic red
battle armor. I remember I looked up the name of this series at one point because I saw a lot of costumes from it, but unfortunately I have forgotten the name again. Stupid brain. I continue
enjoying my noodles and my hot dog when a group of industry people walk by. They want to take a picture with the
girl in the armor. I sort of lean back because I don't like cameras. They
steal your soul, you know.
I see two exceptionally good
cosplayers walk by as I am eating, a
Locke and a
Relm from
Final Fantasy 6. I finish up my food and decide to get a drink, getting in line behind a
Milia from
Guilty Gear X. I realize they are just looking at the menu and I walk around her to get a bottle of
tea. I see the face and realize that she is actually a he. A bit surprised, but not really, I continue on with the rest of my
explorations.
The rest of the day continues on in much the same manner.