Shifting focus to an older game this week, the Shining Force series has been around in Arcades over in Japan for quite some time, even though this release is over 4 years old and is it self an update to an Arcade game released in 2009. Which is terms of Japanese arcade games is ancient, with very few having the staying power to still exist after that amount of time.

The first thing to notice about Shining Force is the general cheapness of the game itself. As the typical 100 yen coin here counts as double, and with just 300 yen you can play for well over an hour, which is a bargain by any standard.

To get into more detail about the game itself though, its first and foremost an Action RPG, similar in style to Phantasy Star Online or Monster Hunter, and features online coop for quests as well as various events that the game features over time. Though being as old as it is it can be difficult to find machines in the various arcades, both Sega Gigo and Club Sega Akihabara Shinkan offer several within Akihabara itself.

Using an IC card system that predates either Aime or Banapass to save character data, when a new player first starts they are taken to the character creation screen and given the choice of 5 different races with different stats, they are pretty standard choices such as Humans and Elves and even the demons who are just named “Dark Race”.. maybe there’s an in-world explanation for it in the Shining Force series… or they just thought that it sounded cool.

After settling on a character and class for them, both of which can be changed at any time, from the menu, your given the option to pay for GP which is essentially the points you have to spend to go on quests and participate in events and those familiar with other Sega titles such as Kantai Collection or Code of Joker will be more than at home with how the gp system works, but in simple it slowly counts down while your browsing the menus and then you spend a large chunk to go on a quest or mission. In this case about 300 for a quest which can last up to 10 minutes. and for 300 yen you can buy more than 2500 gp allowing for a very long play session.

The game does strongly recommend that new players go into the tutorial at the start, and its well worth it as it does a good job explaining how the command system works. as it uses a hybrid between a Joystick and 5 button layout as well as a touch screen. When entering the game it does show its age graphically as it looks about something you would see on a Playstation 2, but it does play very quick and fluidly which is what matters most.

There are quite a few commands available for use from the limited amount of buttons, as different combinations enact differing attacks. For basics there’s a Jump button, an attack, a force button, which sadly is just a stronger attack and no Jedi powers, and a camera button. The largest button is the item use and skill use button which is controlled via the touch screen.   By using buttons together you can do things just as a dodge roll, a dashing attack and various other attacks that the game does a solid job of introducing.

The quests themselves offer some fairly high paced dungeon crawling and multiple pathways which can lead into enemy trap rooms such as the one pictured above… they are usually easy to spot with the large blue altars that inhabit them. By moving through and clearing there’s rooms in the dungeon various chests and items can drop and offer gear and restorative items as their prizes.

After completing a quest your taken to the customization screen where you can view the loot that you acquired as well as skill settings, all of which can be changed to the players liking or to suit the situation that calls for it. The equipment menu is pretty self explanatory and functions through drag and drop as well as it will show you stat previews beforehand as well, though the amount of time you have to spend in here is limited, and you should watch your time. Although you do get the opportunity to change your load-out when you start a quest as well.

While I didn’t have the opportunity to try the game out where I think it would really shine in co op multiplayer quests, the general game play still holds up very well even if graphically its a bit dated. It is interesting to see though what is probably a precursor to the standard Aime Touch Screen cabinet that most of the popular Sega titles use these days and just how far they have come. If something along these lines could have been made 7 years ago, I wonder how a modern version would fare.

The game center scene in Shibuya is rather sparse, which is surprisingly given the sheer amount of young people that pass through the area every minute. Located roughly a 5 minute walk from the Hachiko exit at Shibuya station tucked in a building is a rather unassuming Sega location. It’s easy to miss and more than possible to walk past without realizing that it even exists.

This location is spread out over two floors, but more on that in a short while, the first of which is fairly well sized. With the standard assortment of crane games and other assorted games to play, though unlike other sega locations, this floor is devoted to more than just crane games as there is a rather large section of fighting games and Gundam Ex to cover the bases. The main floor also covers rhythm games as well.

One thing that I noticed was… how empty this location was, it was very devoid of people with few exception and it easily takes the crown for the quietest game center that I have been in while in Tokyo. There was a decent gathering of couples playing crane games by the exit and maybe a small scattering of players on the various fighting games. It did make it easy to navigate and play games that might other wise be crowded.

One tricky thing that threw me for a small loop is that the game center occupies two floors of this nine floor building… the first and the seventh. Deciding that I owed it to the location to visit it in its entirety I slogged up the elevator. Upon arrival on the seventh floor I was greeted with more of the same.

A rather empty extremely quiet area. The seventh floor offers titles you would usually encounter crowded or with lines at them in more popular locations. As was made apparent when the locations four Kantai Collection machines were unoccupied. Moving through the rest of the seventh floor the locations most popular game was noticeably Wonderland Wars as it was well represented as well as well played, Border Break had a small contingent as well.

Playing a couple of rounds of Wonderland Wars, and full credit play of Kantai Collection, the reason for the general lack of sound became all too apparent. The machines are set to what must be their lowest volume settings. I have never really needed to use the headphone jacks that many games offer these days, but it was almost necessary here.

If you find your self in Shibuya looking for a game center, there are not many and it may be better served to hop on the Yamanote line to Shinjuku about 7 minutes away though as none of the game centers in Shibuya are all that impressive. Though this location could work well if you want to try out a game you haven’t before, the general atmosphere of this place could be be described as sticky.

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Deciding to head to a bit of a different area of Tokyo this time, I ventured up to Takadanobaba which is a station on the JR Yamanote line, its 2 stops from Shinjuku and 2 stops from Ikebukuro by train, leaving this as a much more quaint area since many people would head to either of those two destinations over this one.

Its location however does not prevent it from having a pair of quality game centers, a Taito Game Station, and a local place simply called Mikado.

Taito Station Takadanobaba is located on the 6th floor of a large department store called Big Box that’s attached to the station. Though the entrance can be a bit tricky to find as the easiest way is via elevator, once inside though your greeted with a rather spacious arcade which is fairly rare for a game center outside of Odaiba. This Taito Station offers several benefits to playing at a more centralized area such as Akihabara or Shinjuku. For starters it is a fairly quiet arcade, both in terms of noise and player base, it also has a solid selection of Medal Games for players looking to try those out as well. Many of the game machines have USB charging ports added to them so if your concerned over the battery life of your phone or other device you can charge right up while playing.

Though this arcade does offer some disadvantages as well, It is large and spacious, though it lacks somewhat in personality. The arcade it self does not have any major specialties in games, though it does have a solid mix, the number of machines available for even popular titles is usually about 4-6, where as in Akihabara for example the more popular games can see 16-20 cabinets without much issue. One thing to note is that while there is no smoking at the game machines themselves, the smoking areas were often congested and overwhelmed by a plume of smoke, so if heavy smoke is a concern be sure to avoid those areas.

For Takadanobaba, while Taito station caters to the modern gamer with the popular titles like Gundam EX, Wangan 5 DX, Wonderland Wars and so forth, the best game center in this area has none of those games.

Situated along side the train tracks, lies Mikado, an excellent little nook game center that is not easily found as it rests along a rather dim street that does not see much traffic.

Mikado is rather rare for Tokyo in that it caters to fans of Retro games of all types, from Sports games to Fighting Games to Shmups, just about all kinds are represented here. The first floor contains some awesome titles like Power Drift and Metal Hawk, as well as others like Tank Force and Star Blade. These titles may not sound familiar for those that grew up outside of Japan, as I don’t remember seeing any of these in any Arcades back home. But they offer a blast of what Game Centers offered some 25 years ago.

While the first floor offers all sorts of experiences, the second floor is home to some serious fighting games. The walls littered with tournament brackets and tournament sign ups, I lost count of how many fighting games were offered up here. Everything from the latest BlazBlue title, to Street Fighter II and pretty much everything in-between could be found up here.

I was half tempted to go down the line trying all the different titles here, but time would not permit it, so that will have to wait for another day. Mikado is absolutely worth the trip for fans of late 80’s-90’s. Will very well have a more detailed look at Mikado sometime in the future as the it was shortly before closing time when I arrived.

Takadanobaba station is a good choice to visit if looking for a more quaint experience outside of the major stations. Whether its new or old you can most likely find the place to play at here, though try to look up where Mikado is ahead of time as it is a tricky place to find.

Gallery – Taito and Mikado

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