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2020 March and April fighting game events in Tokyo

Previous: 2020 January and February Tokyo FGC Events | 2020 July and on Tokyo FGC Events

Seems like I've gotten into the habit of tracking FGC offline events in the Tokyo area. This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything. You also should try TopTier.gg which tracks fighting game locals around the world.

Very generally:

• On Tuesdays there is a DBFZ, Tekken7, and Soul Calibur event run by Jiyuna and MajinObama at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map. It is actually officially sponsored as well!
• On Wednesdays SFV (Fighter's Crossover Akihabara – FCA is the event name) at Akihabara ESports Square (the place, Map) starting from 7pm. There are usually around 20 setups, all with sticks. The place has a bar with food too.
• On Thursdays there is usually a SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map or sometimes BeasTV's Jikoken TV with Fuudo.
• Also on some Thursdays there is a DBFZ event orgaqnized by Kagecchi at Akihabara eSports Square.
• Studio Sky (Map) announced on 2018-09-14 that they will be an open esports space, and as part of that I'm not yet sure of their schedule, but I add information about their events when I see it.
• Shot Bar Lucy has different events on different days, and usually on Friday night is an all-night event featuring various games (Map), Calendar.
• The Plaza Capcom at Kichijoji (Map) has the Capcom eSPORTS Club which has free SFV setups, and often runs events.
• Game Bar Cross-up in Umeda, Osaka (Map) usually does SFV on Tuesday, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue on Wednesday, and KOF14 on Thursday.
• Game Bar Bridge, in Tachikawa, usually runs some fighting game stuff. Their schedule is pinned to the gbb_tachikawa profile.
• Check Gaijin Gaming Brothers for information about Smash related events in Japan. I add Tokyo based events to my list, but they track events all over Japan with English information.
• Syogepi-events has a Google Calendar of his events. He often runs platinum and under begginer friendly events. They have an English based guide to participating in their events.

I don't really track free play events or tournaments at arcades - there are lots of them.

• maple_jpca tells me that there is a free play UNIST every Friday night from 8pm to 10pm at Sega Nishi Shinjuku.
• Gamrah tells me that Game Spot Versus (Map) has hosted Tuesday night SSF2X tournaments from 9pm for the past 10 years. They also recommend following @game_versus and @newton_ooyama for more up-to-the-minute coverage of retro games.

The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

• Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
• Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
• Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
• Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
• Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
• Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.
• Your Warehouse, Map Kawasaki (For the crazy design) Oh no, this iconic arcade has shut down as of Nov. 7th.

If you are comfortable with Japanese, Kakuge-checker.com has a comprehensive list of offline, online, and other events going around all over Japan. I don't know how he/they/she does it.

Due to concerns around COVID-19, most large recurring events have been cancelled until further notice. Be careful out there.

Kakuge-checker.com has a list of online events, if you are interested in those.

"Camping" at the deepest underground station in Japan: Doai

2020-02-29

We took the Tanigawa Max Shinkansen from Tokyo to Jyomokougen (上毛高原). The trip was about an hour from Tokyo station. Our seats were on the second floor of the Tanigawa Max Shinkansen. I don’t think they are making more of the two story trains, so getting to ride one is pretty nice. The station we stopped at is only for the Shinkansen, the area itself is called Minakami-Machi (みなかみ町) and there is a separate station (Minakami station) for the local trains.

Then we took a bus about 20 to the nearby Norn Ski Resort where we played at the Kid’s sledding slope for about two hours.

A bit before 1pm we headed inside for lunch.

Took the 3pm shuttle bus to Minakami Station.

Then a 15 minute walk to the Octone Brewery. The town was small and the Main Street bear the station was full of abandoned shops. It reminded me of small country towns in rural Washington state. Walking for a while we started to come across some run down hotels, and what was obviously 30 years ago a very nice hot springs resort but now only just holding on as the star of a dying town. The brewery was really live and we filled up our growler after trying 2 tasting flights. We filled it up (1.9 liters of beer) and went back to the station. There was a 3:40pm train or a 4:40pm train. That was it.

We made it to the station with about 5 minutes to spare. We were headed to Doai station, two stops away.

2020 January and February Fighting Game Events in Tokyo

Previous: 2019 September, November, and December Fighting Game Events in Tokyo | Next

Seems like I've gotten into the habit of tracking FGC offline events in the Tokyo area. This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything. You also should try TopTier.gg which tracks fighting game locals around the world.

Very generally:

• On Tuesdays there is a DBFZ, Tekken7, and Soul Calibur event run by Jiyuna and MajinObama at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map. It is actually officially sponsored as well!
• On Wednesdays SFV (Fighter's Crossover Akihabara – FCA is the event name) at Akihabara ESports Square (the place, Map) starting from 7pm. There are usually around 20 setups, all with sticks. The place has a bar with food too.
• On Thursdays there is usually a SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map or sometimes BeasTV's Jikoken TV with Fuudo.
• Also on some Thursdays there is a DBFZ event orgaqnized by Kagecchi at Akihabara eSports Square.
• Studio Sky (Map) announced on 2018-09-14 that they will be an open esports space, and as part of that I'm not yet sure of their schedule, but I add information about their events when I see it.
• Shot Bar Lucy has different events on different days, and usually on Friday night is an all-night event featuring various games (Map), Calendar.
• The Plaza Capcom at Kichijoji (Map) has the Capcom eSPORTS Club which has free SFV setups, and often runs events.
• Game Bar Cross-up in Umeda, Osaka (Map) usually does SFV on Tuesday, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue on Wednesday, and KOF14 on Thursday.
• Game Bar Bridge, in Tachikawa, usually runs some fighting game stuff. Their schedule is pinned to the gbb_tachikawa profile.
• Check Gaijin Gaming Brothers for information about Smash related events in Japan. I add Tokyo based events to my list, but they track events all over Japan with English information.
• Syogepi-events has a Google Calendar of his events. He often runs platinum and under begginer friendly events. They have an English based guide to participating in their events.

I don't really track free play events or tournaments at arcades - there are lots of them.

• maple_jpca tells me that there is a free play UNIST every Friday night from 8pm to 10pm at Sega Nishi Shinjuku.
• Gamrah tells me that Game Spot Versus (Map) has hosted Tuesday night SSF2X tournaments from 9pm for the past 10 years. They also recommend following @game_versus and @newton_ooyama for more up-to-the-minute coverage of retro games.

The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

• Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
• Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
• Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
• Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
• Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
• Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.
• Your Warehouse, Map Kawasaki (For the crazy design) Oh no, this iconic arcade has shut down as of Nov. 7th.

If you are comfortable with Japanese, Kakuge-checker.com has a comprehensive list of offline, online, and other events going around all over Japan. I don't know how he/they/she does it.

Street Fighter League: Pro-JP powered by RAGE Summaries

This is essentially the third run of a Japan based team 3-3 league. The first was in May 2018, the RAGE Street Fighter V All Star League powered by Capcom. Then, in January 2019 was the Japan Capcom Street Fighter League powered by RAGE, and now we have the Street Fighter League: Pro-JP Operated by RAGE. All three of these had different rule sets and different processes for qualifying the teams.

JeSU Presentation at TGS 2019 Summary

I'm summarizing this Game Watch article because it was the first that I came across that explained things clearly, but JeSU has their own press release with links to the No Action Letter they sent to Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the response they got.

2019 September, November, and December Fighting Game Events in Tokyo

Previous: 2019 July and August Fighting Game Events in Tokyo | 2020 January and February Fighting Game Events in Tokyo

Seems like I've gotten into the habit of tracking FGC offline events in the Tokyo area. This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything. You also should try TopTier.gg which tracks fighting game locals around the world.

Very generally:

• On Tuesdays there is a DBFZ, Tekken7, and Soul Calibur event run by Jiyuna and MajinObama at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map. It is actually officially sponsored as well!
• On Wednesdays SFV (Fighter's Crossover Akihabara – FCA is the event name) at Akihabara ESports Square (the place, Map) starting from 7pm. There are usually around 20 setups, all with sticks. The place has a bar with food too.
• On Thursdays there is usually a SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map or sometimes BeasTV's Jikoken TV with Fuudo.
• Also on some Thursdays there is a DBFZ event orgaqnized by Kagecchi at Akihabara eSports Square.
• Studio Sky (Map) announced on 2018-09-14 that they will be an open esports space, and as part of that I'm not yet sure of their schedule, but I add information about their events when I see it.
• Shot Bar Lucy has different events on different days, and usually on Friday night is an all-night event featuring various games (Map), Calendar.
• The Plaza Capcom at Kichijoji (Map) has the Capcom eSPORTS Club which has free SFV setups, and often runs events.
• Game Bar Cross-up in Umeda, Osaka (Map) usually does SFV on Tuesday, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue on Wednesday, and KOF14 on Thursday.
• Game Bar Bridge, in Tachikawa, usually runs some fighting game stuff. Their schedule is pinned to the gbb_tachikawa profile.
• Check Gaijin Gaming Brothers for information about Smash related events in Japan. I add Tokyo based events to my list, but they track events all over Japan with English information.
• Syogepi-events has a Google Calendar of his events. He often runs platinum and under begginer friendly events. They have an English based guide to participating in their events.

I don't really track free play events or tournaments at arcades - there are lots of them.

• maple_jpca tells me that there is a free play UNIST every Friday night from 8pm to 10pm at Sega Nishi Shinjuku.
• Gamrah tells me that Game Spot Versus (Map) has hosted Tuesday night SSF2X tournaments from 9pm for the past 10 years. They also recommend following @game_versus and @newton_ooyama for more up-to-the-minute coverage of retro games.

The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

• Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
• Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
• Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
• Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
• Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
• Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.
• Your Warehouse, Map Kawasaki (For the crazy design) Oh no, this iconic arcade has shut down as of Nov. 7th.

If you are comfortable with Japanese, Kakuge-checker.com has a comprehensive list of offline, online, and other events going around all over Japan. I don't know how he/they/she does it.

2019 July and August Fighting Game Events in Tokyo

Previous: 2019 July and August Fighting Game Events in Tokyo | Next

Seems like I've gotten into the habit of tracking FGC offline events in the Tokyo area. This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything. You also should try TopTier.gg which tracks fighting game locals around the world.

Very generally:

• On Tuesdays there is a DBFZ, Tekken7, and Soul Calibur event run by Jiyuna and MajinObama at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map. It is actually officially sponsored as well!
• On Wednesdays SFV (Fighter's Crossover Akihabara – FCA is the event name) at Akihabara ESports Square (the place, Map) starting from 7pm. There are usually around 20 setups, all with sticks. The place has a bar with food too.
• On Thursdays there is usually a SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map or sometimes BeasTV's Jikoken TV with Fuudo.
• Also on some Thursdays there is a DBFZ event orgaqnized by Kagecchi at Akihabara eSports Square.
• Studio Sky (Map) announced on 2018-09-14 that they will be an open esports space, and as part of that I'm not yet sure of their schedule, but I add information about their events when I see it.
• Shot Bar Lucy has different events on different days, and usually on Friday night is an all-night event featuring various games (Map), Calendar.
• The Plaza Capcom at Kichijoji (Map) has the Capcom eSPORTS Club which has free SFV setups, and often runs events.
• Game Bar Cross-up in Umeda, Osaka (Map) usually does SFV on Tuesday, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue on Wednesday, and KOF14 on Thursday.
• Game Bar Bridge, in Tachikawa, usually runs some fighting game stuff. Their schedule is pinned to the gbb_tachikawa profile.
• Check Gaijin Gaming Brothers for information about Smash related events in Japan. I add Tokyo based events to my list, but they track events all over Japan with English information.
• Syogepi-events has a Google Calendar of his events. He often runs platinum and under begginer friendly events. They have an English based guide to participating in their events.

I don't really track free play events or tournaments at arcades - there are lots of them. maple_jpca tells me that there is a free play UNIST every Friday night from 8pm to 10pm at Sega Nishi Shinjuku. The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

• Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
• Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
• Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
• Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
• Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
• Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.
• Your Warehouse, Map Kawasaki (For the crazy design)

If you are comfortable with Japanese, Kakuge-checker.com has a comprehensive list of offline, online, and other events going around all over Japan. I don't know how he/they/she does it.

The 200th Fighter's Crossover -Akiba- SFV local

The weekly SFV local at Akihabara eSports Square, called Fighter's Crossover Akihabara, had its 200th anniversary last week. There was a special event for it, with pizza, games, and giveaways. I wrote a bit about it.

A variety of interesting FGC events in June in Japan 2019

Over the weekend there were many interesting FGC things going on. As a Street Fighter fan, that is what I'm primarily interested in.

I'm not even talking about Thaiger Uppercut, or The Fight.

Two tournaments took place that will send the winner to EVO in Las Vegas, Grapht's GGGCup and the Fukushima Gaming Day SFV tournament. One of those was held at a traditional Japanese Hot Springs resort. The College representative team for the JP Street Fighter League was decided, and a few more Arcade qualifiers happened. WE-R1 held a tournament at Round1 on Arcade Hardware, and we got to see some high level Alex play, and SNK had another one of their Samurai Shodown streams, this time with a tournament featuring some well-know pro players.

JP 2019 Fall Street Fighter League: Pro-JP

On Thursday, 2019-05-09 (as far as I can tell) Capcom released details about the upcoming Fall 2019 JP Street Fighter League.

This is all a bit confusing, but I believe the proper name for this is now "Street Fighter League: Pro-JP", as it says on the main streetfighterleague.capcom-s.com site.

It has some changes from the Japan Capcom Street Fighter League Powered by RAGE that ran from January 26th to March 21st in 2019 (or from December 4th, 2018, if you include the Beginner Class Auditions). If you hadn't heard of these events, I wrote extensively about them on my personal blog, which as a personal blog for a random dude just writing about hobby stuff, rightly should not be read by many people. It was a really interesting and fun series that followed on in the footsteps of the 2018 RAGE All Star League Powered by Capcom (note the intentionally different naming) and was a pre-cursor to the currently running Capcom Street Fighter League currently running in America. I couldn't find an official link for that, which shocks me, but read this cool article about Toi by Ginni Lou.

The Japan Capcom Street Fighter League powered by RAGE

1 What is the Japan Street Fighter League powered by RAGE?

Back at Tokyo Game Show 2018, one of the announcements was a Street Fighter V team three on three league. The Japanese version has three classes of members, one on each team. I wrote about the team composition in a post about the Beginner Class selection, and also mentioned the High Class member selection process in another blog post. Here is the basic information though.

Each team will have one of:

• An Extreme Class member, basically the team leader. The teams are led by Itabashi Zanfief, Tokido, Fuudo, Mago, Daigo, and Nemo.
• A High Class member, who is under 22 years old as of 2019 March 31st, and selected on a series of TV shows in the High Class member selection process. The people who were candidates for that series of TV shows went through a try-out process that you can watch in two episodes on Abema.tv if you like.
• A Beginner Class member, described in this blog post.

The team play will take place in January and February of 2019. The team captains drafted team members in the Team Draft show streamed on OpenRec.tv on January 26th. I haven't seen too much about this - except for some HiFightTH clips that were likely hard to understand without more context. I don't mean to throw shade on HiFightTH - the guy is amazing and you should support him on Patreon if you have the ability.

How does the tournament work? The teams accumulate points during round robin League play. The three teams with the highest point total advance on to the Grand Finals. Players in each respective class play each other, and point values differ based on that. Each set is a first to two.

• Beginner Class FT2 winner scores their team 1 point
• High Class FT2 winner scores their team 2 points
• Extreme Class FT2 winner scores their team 3 points

Note that because of this, there really is a balance between teaching the team members, and just trying to coast by on the individual performance of the team captain. It is likely that the win rate (well, I guess I should talk to The Game Twok or finish reading Fighting With Numbers 2019 first) for the team captains will be around 50%, so if they can focus and teach their team members to consistently win, that is a probably an easier path to points than trying to train to beat the other pros more consistently. There is relative strength in the different captains, but I'm convinced this structure makes the Beginner and High class members important as well.

read more (49110 words)

Blog · Japan · Street Fighter II • 4 Comments

January 27, 2019

Zangief Festival

On the first public day of the JAEPO (Japan Amusements Expo and part of Tokaigi 2019 Game Party Japan out in Makuhari Messe exhibition center, there were lots of video game, and more importantly to me, fighting game related events. One of those was the "Zangief Festival" set up by the TV Show Ariyoshieeeee (broadcasts Sunday nights at 10pm on TV Tokyo) and Detonation Gaming on the AU Stage. It was streamed on Youtube (see below for links to the video), but was essentially a festival of all things Zangief. I took a few notes below.

Interesting points in the video:

• 1:10 General introduction to the Zangief Festival from the Ariyoshiiii show. After that are some clips from the show when they were playing SFV, and a trailer for their Jan. 27th episode where they will be playing SFV.
• 30:00 Aru introduces Itabashi Zangief and Tanaka
• 45:30 Itabashi Zangief vs. Tanaka Zangief match
• 54:00 People from the crowd (Zangief only) come up to play against Tanaka
  • 9 year old 3rd grader
  • Kuma
  • Honoka Hatsuya
  • Shika
  • Shuu
  • Kuromayo
• Shuu vs ItaZan
• 1:34:00 Ends.

read more (1341 words)

Blog · Japan · Street Fighter II • 0 Comments

January 4, 2019

A grab bag of Japan SFV news: super interesting pre-Capcom Cup Gachi-kun vs. Tokido FT5

Table of Contents

• 1. JeSU Activity
• 2. Yomiuri News article about a Capcom Pro League in 2020
• 3. Street Fighter League High Class team member selection process
• 4. Shinobism announces sponsorship by Takeya Chemicals
• 5. Bloomberg News Japan posts a video about NLBC
• 6. Also, Abema / OpenRec are doing a lot of SFV content: super interesting pre-Capcom Cup Gachi-kun vs. Tokido FT5

There has been a bunch of random news out of Japan that I've wanted to talk about, but I haven't had the time. I try to tweet something every once in a while when I see something interesting on twitter, but I can't always keep up.

So here is a post with a smattering of interesting news I've seen about SFV in Japan lately.

read more (1414 words)

Blog · Japan · Street Fighter II • 0 Comments

Capcom Street Fighter League Powered by Rage Beginners Class Auditions

Table of Contents

• 1. What is the the Capcom Street Fighter League Powered by Rage?
• 2. Episode One
• 3. Episode Two
• 4. Episode Three
• 5. Episode 4
• 6. Closing thoughts

1 What is the the Capcom Street Fighter League Powered by Rage?

This is the new three on three team league battle that Capcom Announced at the 2018 Tokyo Game Show / Japan Premiere. It will use SFV's team battle mode, and each team will consist of three members: an Extreme class member, a high class member, and a Beginner member. OpenRec and Abema.tv (which really are the same thing, just using two different interfaces to present the content) have been broadcasting an audition series for the beginner members. I thought I would take some notes about them.

Who are the extreme class players? If you guessed it might be similar to the captains from the RAGE Street Fighter All Star League Powered by Capcom, you're right! Here are the Extreme Class members:

• Itabashi Zangief (Capcom Pro Tour 2018 #2 finisher)
• Tokido (Capcom Pro Tour 2018 #13 finisher)
• Fuudo (Capcom Pro Tour 2018 #17 finisher)
• Mago (Capcom Pro Tour 2018 #17 finisher)
• Daigo Umehara (Capcom Pro Tour 2018 #25 finisher)
• Nemo (Capcom Pro Tour 2018 #25 finisher)

The High Class players haven't been announced yet, but it says that they "are under 22 years old as of 2019 March 31st, and will be selected with a strong emphasis on their ability". So that should be interesting - making sure they are under 22 years old injects some younger players into the mix.

What about the beginner class? They are "People who have started to practice recently, and will play seriously from now". There were interviews November 13th, 2018 that reduced the pool from 30 people down to 18 people. They are all models, actors, idols, or comedians who have not ever played, or only just played a little bit of Street Fighter. So now they are entering into a series of auditions / competitions to reduce their number down further to the final six selected.

Episode #	Broadcast Date	Link	Challenge
1	2018-12-04	OpenRec.tv	N/A. Just pass the interview to get in.
2	2018-12-09	OpenRec.tv	Perform 3 CAs in a row in training mode.
3	2018-12-16	OpenRec.tv	Clear 10 trials in Challenge Mode.
4	2018-12-23	OpenRec.tv	Play 100 matches.

This series of shows will select the seven players for the draft that will be used for the six teams.

read more (4228 words)

Blog · Japan · Street Fighter II • 0 Comments

December 25, 2018

2019 January and February Fighting Game Events in Tokyo and Fukuoka

Previous: 2018 October, November, and December Fighting Game Events in Tokyo | 2019 January and February Fighting Game Events in Tokyo

Seems like I've gotten into the habit of tracking FGC offline events in the Tokyo area. This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything.

Very generally:

• On Tuesdays there is a DBFZ, Tekken7, and Soul Caliber event run by Jiyuna and MajinObama at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map. It is actually officially sponsored as well!
• On Wednesdays SFV (Fighter's Crossover Akihabara – FCA is the event name) at Akihabara ESports Square (the place, Map) starting from 7pm. There are usually around 20 setups, all with sticks. The place has a bar with food too.
• On Thursdays there is usually a SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map or sometimes BeasTV's Jikoken TV with Fuudo.
• Also on some Thursdays there is a DBFZ event orgaqnized by Kagecchi at Akihabara eSports Square.
• Studio Sky (Map) announced on 2018-09-14 that they will be an open esports space, and as part of that I'm not yet sure of their schedule, but I add information about their events when I see it.
• Shot Bar Lucy has different events on different days, and usually on Friday night is an all-night event featuring various games (Map), Calendar.
• The Plaza Capcom at Kichijoji (Map) has the Capcom eSPORTS Club which has free SFV setups, and often runs events.
• Game Bar Cross-up in Umeda, Osaka (Map) usually does SFV on Tuesday, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue on Wednesday, and KOF14 on Thursday.
• Check Gaijin Gaming Brothers for information about Smash related events in Japan. I add Tokyo based events to my list, but they track events all over Japan with English information.
• Syogepi-events has a Google Calendar of his events. He often runs platinum and under begginer friendly events. They have an English based guide to participating in their events.

I don't really track free play events or tournaments at arcades - there are lots of them. maple_jpca tells me that there is a free play UNIST every Friday night from 8pm to 10pm at Sega Nishi Shinjuku. The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

• Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
• Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
• Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
• Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
• Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
• Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.
• Your Warehouse, Map Kawasaki (For the crazy design)

If you are comfortable with Japanese, Kakuge-checker.com has a comprehensive list of offline, online, and other events going around all over Japan. I don't know how he/they/she does it.

I will also track events in Fukuoka in January and February for people who might be headed to EVO Japan.

read more (6284 words)

Blog · Japan · Street Fighter II • 3 Comments

September 27, 2018

What might the Capcom SFV Arcade Cabinet mean for SFV in Japan?

Table of Contents

• 1. Fighter's Crossover -Akiba-
• 2. Studio Sky
• 3. Red Bull Nakano Gaming Sphere
• 4. Shot Bar Lucy
• 5. What new audiences will arcades open up?
• 6. Non-arcade spaces are appealing to a different demographic as well
• 7. Final thoughts and a bit on the hardware

Capcom announced that they would release an Arcade Cabinet Version of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition at the Japan Premiere. The audience was super excited about it. I've been living in Japan for the past 12 years or so, and had some thoughts on the announcement. I've been a big fan of street fighter since I first ran into it at a local Pizza Shop in West Windsor, New Jersey, and played a lot of Champion Edition, Super, and Super Turbo through college. Then I went off to grad school, and doing a PhD took up a lot of time, so I didn't get to play much. I kind of missed SF3 more or less. I did have a summer internship in Japan where I played a bunch of Zero2 in the arcades, but I would only occasionally go down to China Town Faire in New York, and when I did I usually played Super Turbo. So I was out of the scene for a while.

When I moved to Japan, that was just when CapCom was running location tests for Street Fighter 4, and I went to one of those. It was great. I played a whole bunch online for years. I never knew about the scene there though because it isn't obvious how you are supposed to learn where all the action is at. I would just go to my local arcade after work, and play there. When Street Fighter V came out, I got that and played online. In the past two years though, I heard on the Jump In Podcast about the Akihabara eSports Square offline local, and I realized that I wish someone had gathered up information about locals and arcades in English. So I started to do that. I also started to write blog posts about offline events happening in Tokyo, hopefully to help others find out what is going on. As a Street Fighter fan living in Japan, I'd like speculate a bit about what this announcement might mean.

read more (2530 words)

Blog · Japan · Street Fighter II • 0 Comments

September 26, 2018

2018 October and November Fighting Game Events in Tokyo

Previous: 2018 August and September Fighting Game Events in Tokyo | 2019 January and February Fighting Game Events in Tokyo and Fukuoka

Seems like I've gotten into the habit of tracking FGC offline events in the Tokyo area. This isn't a comprehensive list, but feel free to contact me if you want me to add anything.

Very generally:

• On Tuesdays there is a DBFZ, Tekken7, and Soul Caliber event run by Jiyuna and MajinObama at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map. It is actually officially sponsored as well!
• On Wednesdays SFV (Fighter's Crossover Akihabara – FCA is the event name) at Akihabara ESports Square (the place, Map) starting from 7pm.
• On Thursdays there is usually a SFV event at Red Bull Gaming Sphere, Map
• Studio Sky (Map) announced on 2018-09-14 that they will be an open esports space, and as part of that I'm not yet sure of their schedule.
• Shot Bar Lucy has different events on different days, and usually on Friday night is an all-night event featuring various games (Map), Calendar.
• The Plaza Capcom at Kichijoji (Map) has the Capcom eSPORTS Club which has free SFV setups, and often runs events.
• Game Bar Cross-up in Umeda, Osaka (Map) usually does SFV on Tuesday, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue on Wednesday, and KOF14 on Thursday.
• Check Gaijin Gaming Brothers for information about Smash related events in Japan. I add Tokyo based events to my list, but they track events all over Japan with English information.

I don't really track free play events or tournaments at arcades - there are lots of them. maple_jpca tells me that there is a free play UNIST every Friday night from 8pm to 10pm at Sega Nishi Shinjuku. The arcade scene is vibrant, and you are likely to find competition at any arcade, but some are more well known than others. You might want to check out

• Mikado Arcade, Map Takadanobaba
• Taito Station Shinjuku East Exit, Map
• Various arcades in Akihabara, Club Sega, Hey!
• Various shops in Akihabara like the retro game store Super Potato, Map
• Play Spot Big One 2nd, Map. Out in Chiba, but good place for 3rd Strike or Melty Blood. (Thanks Arlieth!)
• Game Newton, Map. Lots of ST setups.
• Your Warehouse, Map Kawasaki (For the crazy design)

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Blog · Street Fighter II • 0 Comments

September 24, 2018

My comments on the 2018 Japan Premiere and Tokyo Game Show

I was a volunteer for the 2018 Japan Premiere, which was held at the Tokyo Game Show. I took a few pictures, and thought I would write up me experience here.

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Blog · Japan · Street Fighter II • 0 Comments

September 23, 2018

A series of Momochi Tweets about the 2018 Japan Premiere

At this year’s Japan Premiere 2018 Momochi tweeted a bunch of interesting tweets. I’ve collected and translated them here. English after the embedded tweets.

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Blog · Street Fighter II • 0 Comments

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