100 Yen: The Japanese Arcade Experience Page #3

turned out to be DDR.

Rather than using your fingers,

this game is all about feet,

and I thought... Oh this is great!

That's when I decided

that this was the game for me.

The first time that I got

to try music games was

when I went to the

Tokyo Game Show in 1999.

The console version of DDR

has just been released,

so I got a chance to try that out,

and when I did

I realized how fun and

new this experience was.

That's how this all began.

By now there have been

tons of versions of DDR released

on Xbox and Playstation, however,

when you think about

the situation in Japan...

It's really difficult to invite

people over to your residence

and replicate this kind of experience.

It's just completely different

playing these games

at home versus in the arcade.

If you want to play in front of a crowd

you head to the arcades.

If you keep going to

the same arcade to play these games

and continually play with

the same group of people,

you can't help but become

close friends with everyone there.

It was this way that I made a ton of friends

and got heavily involved with the community.

It was a great experience.

The same can be said for almost anything.

In Japanese we say "koriyakuho" which means,

for example, if you're attempting

to get a marvelous [the best score]

there is no instruction manual

which tells you exactly

how to hit each note at the

exact "marvelous" timing.

Depending on the song,

the timing for a marvelous

will usually be slightly different.

Actually, there will usually

be at least one "feint"

where the marvelous timing

will be just slightly off

in an attempt to confuse

even the best players.

Having said all that, there is

no way to learn these things

except for trying it out yourself.

After that, it's all repetition and practice,

until it becomes second nature

or muscle memory.

I'm not sure about others,

but I think that DDR

is similar to sports,

such as Skiing or Badminton,

in the sense that you

can continue doing them

even as you get older.

Even in America

we saw DDR appear

in schools to help combat child obesity.

While I am fourty-four years old

I know people who are

over fifty who are playing DDR.

There is also a well known couple

in Japan who play DDR

and I believe the husband

is over seventy years old.

That couple uses DDR regularly

as an exercise tool.

It's the fact that you need

to use your legs

and really your whole body

when playing DDR...

In terms of a sport or activity

DDR is an excellent

exercise tool in my opinion.

When chasing highscores in DDR,

of course you'll compete a

gainst many different players

and have some great battles,

while developing friendly rivalries

but the truth is, even though

I've been trying to get highscores

for quite a while, I've made lots

of good friends along the way.

The reason I play these games now

is less about getting a highscore

and more about making friends.

The environment of the arcade is one where

background music is constantly playing.

With so many games strewn throughout

this creates a major noise pollution problem.

From the inception of arcades

this has been a major issue

and the kind of devices

that would solve these problems

would be small speakers

placed near the ears of the player

or directional speakers built

into arcade cabinets

allowing only you to hear

the sounds from the machine.

When trying to not overly pollute

the arcade with noise,

it is critical to decide when a game

should or should not emit

sound effects or music

if all the games were constantly

throwing out sounds

no one would know what to listen to.

Deciding to play a sound

or not to play a sound

and either loudly

or softly

is the designers best tool

for shaping the users experience.

The quality of service is the

main concern for arcades in Japan.

With arcades covering the country

they are always trying to appeal to passerby

- "Hey, you look a little low,

why not play a few games?" -

always reaching out to potential customers...

...it is this spirit built

on a service culture

that enables all of the small

mom & pop arcades to survive.

In America, if you go to an arcade,

the owner is probably just

standing in some corner

saying "yeah, sure...

play some games or something... "

In Japan, the employees

don't make any extra money

but their desire to provide excellent service

will have them asking

"How is everything? Are you having fun?"

This Japanese cultural difference

makes arcades more about

customer satisfaction and less about money.

While I was working at the arcade,

it was always a lot of fun.

Being able to watch games while at work

is the best.

We would always get customers coming in

who genuinely love games

and we would really hit it off.

It was great having a job

where you could have a

positive influence on the clientele.

Near the entrance, you'll find UFO catchers

that's usually where

you'll see the most customers...

So that's why there are always

UFO catchers near the entrance.

After that you'll see...

Music games...

Beatmania

and Taiko no Tatsujin

and well, those other games

that are for people

who maybe don't come to arcades as often.

Those games are all located

near the entrance of the arcade.

And then near those games

you'll find large cabinet games,

Horse Racing games or Soccer games...

There's definitely a lot of

these types of games nearby.

Then, as you head higher into the arcade,

you'll find the Medal games

[coin based games]

and finally, on the top floor

you'll find the 'intense' video games.

So I think that maybe,

the people who love games,

head to the higher floors.

Whereas the people who

don't necessarily play as much

will be on the first floor.

If you like gaming, you'll find yourself

heading higher and higher into the arcade.

That's really how these places are designed.

Arcades like Round 1,

for example, are becoming

more and more accessible to casual gamers.

At first I really thought that's

where all arcades were headed

but even the folks at SEGA thought

it would be beneficial to build arcades

that cater to the more casual players

or elderly gamers.

So I think current arcades are working hard

to appeal to a wider audience.

Console games have recently become

extremely well made

and higher in quality.

For arcades...

From this point on,

it will become difficult to build new ones.

This is a tough era

for arcades to survive in.

Well I think that everyone was saying,

with the release of the Wii

the whole point of arcades

has been replaced

and I have to admit that they are right.

For example, if you get

together with your friends

to go bowling, instead you can

just stay home and play Wii.

So I think the original purpose of the arcade

is essentially losing to today's consoles...

If you go to the arcade,

you'll quickly understand,

business has become mostly

about Purikura on the first floor

and the card games on the second floor.

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