Nerd Mentality

BOOK REVIEW: Arcade Mania: The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers

Posted April 25th 2009 by Jacob Barnes.

Most arcades in the U.S. today are dead, or slowly dying. The closest thing I have to an arcade in my city is a smoke-filled pool hall with old games in the back that nobody plays anymore. With the current popularity of home consoles and more core gamers seeking to play videogames in the privacy of their own homes, I think the concept of an arcade in the future will be a crowd of people playing some Golden Tee machines in a Buffalo Wild Wings bar. But in Japan however, these massive game centers are still alive and well. Osaka-based Kotaku.com writer, Brian Ashcraft, gives us a tour of these arcades in his book Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan's Game Centers.

This book comes in a neat little 191-page package, and flipping through it, you'll notice every page is full of pictures that alternate between color and black and white. These aren't just pictures of the games being described, but also classic arcade location photos and pictures of prominent figures in the industry. The layout of the book is also convenient because it starts off with types of games you would find at the front of an arcade center and ends with ones deep inside the facility.

At most arcade centers, even in America, you see the crane games first. I think some readers may be turned off reading about crane games in the first chapter after seeing a picture of a Street Fighter character on the cover. And the book doesn't get to the hardcore arcade games until about halfway through with shoot ‘em ups. However, the first few chapters go into fine detail about these less popular games.

I don't know if there's enough information about crane games to write an entire book on the subject, but the 15 or so page summary presented in this book covers most of the history and rules of the game. The next chapter on sticker-picture machines also gives an adequate amount of information on the popular Japanese novelty. Again, this chapter probably caters to a smaller audience but it's fun to read how these picture booths differ from the kinds Americans are used to. Aside from the device itself, the book describes the history of the machine for school kids in the 90's and how it evolved.

About halfway through is where we see some more interesting chapters. These include specialty cabinet games, shoot ‘em ups and fighting games. While these chapters would seem to be the most interesting, there are just not enough pages to cram an entire genre into one chapter. Instead we're left with more of a summary instead of detailed original content. If a reader is already an expert on fighting or retro games, then some parts may leave them disappointed.

To counteract some of the dull summaries, each chapter has a skilled player or game developer talk about their experiences growing up around the games. I have to say that I'm really pleased with each figure that was chosen for each chapter. For example, the chapter on retro games features Goichi Suda talking about his experience of spending his childhood in an arcade center in Nagano. Yu Suzuki talks about his early involvement with Sega and the framework for arcades after World War II. Professional video game player Daigo Umehara also gives his take on fighting games. People unfamiliar with his name should recognize his famous Street Fighter III tournament video featuring a 15-hit parry and epic comeback in the final round. These bits of information from big-name players are where the book stands out.

I have some mixed reactions of Brian Ashcraft's actual writing. I get a good feel of what a Japanese arcade is like with one description of a heavy Japanese businessman playing through a shoot ‘em up game in a dark section of an arcade center in the Akihabara district of Tokyo. He has a clear sense of personality and seems to be familiar with certain areas of Japan. At other times he seems to make up for lack of humor with silly words like "'splosions" and unnecessary exclamation marks tacked on to the end of a short phrase. Like this! This isn't to say it is bad writing, but he uses some inconsistent humor crutches in a book that was not designed for that style.

Arcade Mania has a nice blend of style and content. It's not a terribly long book, but the pictures and gaming facts should hold the casual reader's attention. As a result, it's difficult to recommend to any one person. Native Japanese arcade-goers will find some of the material repetitive, while others wanting to know specifics of their favorite genre will feel let down by the summarization of what they already know. For someone wanting a general overview of what a Japanese arcade is like, this book should give him or her a fun read-through with some allegories from the pros.

Tags: book, mania, arcade

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