![8bit fiesta more than 4 people 8bit fiesta more than 4 people](https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/382260/ss_fb42f5f361cf0abf562cbbd623747a456ca9473f.1920x1080.jpg)
Regardless of the game, everything costs 100 yen. As long as you can make your way through the menu screens, there’s plenty of fun to be had.ĭave found this cool blast game from Square Enix, but poor menu choices led him to follow a ten minute tutorial. I saw some cards in English, just with some words like “skip a turn” or something you might see on a Monopoly card, and they were over £40,000 yen (£200).īefore the intense shopping started, we had to try some of these arcade machines and wow! One problem, everything is in Kanji. Did you have any idea what it was? In the least! Some of these cards, individually, retail for close to £100. When you say “Japanese trading cards” in the UK, what do you immediately think of? Pokemon right? Wrong! I counted more than ten stores on one street in Akiba dedicated to selling all kinds of trading cards. There’s a shop at the train station, for God’s sake! The stores are all five-story wonders. The first thing that struck me about Akiba (except for the lights, so many lights…) was how accessible it was and how much there is, everything within easy reach. The Lonely Planet guide has suggested an afternoon there…ĭave and I spent an entire day there, and if time hadn’t been a factor, I could have spent many more days immersed in its awesomeness. Tokyo is everything you’d hope it would be, with hidden treasures around every corner, it’s impossible not to walk around, mouth agape, muttering “Oh my God.” The place considered to be the center of Tokyo’s geek culture is Akhibara (basically known as Akiba to Tokyoites). To a nine year old, this place seemed like heaven.įinally, twenty-three years later, I was able to visit my good friend Dave. The articles featured a blur of neon lights, hundreds upon hundreds of arcade machines, and thousands of young Japanese playing games we barely recognized. Growing up, he was an avid reader of Sega Power despite his preference for the Mega Drive (which I didn’t get until I was 15) and would occasionally feature an article or report about Tokyo, considered by many to be the birthplace of video games. I wondered, even at a young age, where the hell all this came from. The green mist from Safari Hunt in the Master System is the only thing that keeps me company on many lonely nights. I, as I’m sure most of you, grew up with computer games.