Gamers like to develop their skills, and some relish the opportunity to show those skills in public whether through online multiplayer or in official competition. There’s the personal satisfaction of knowing that you’re becoming faster, more accurate, better, but it also feels good when there are people to witness the results of your hard work. Don’t deny it!
Where this comes into particular ‘play’ is at that coin-operated hub, the arcade. London’s Trocadero is the frequent home of casual competition and showcase from the fighting game corner to the dance machines dotted around the building. Certain arcade games have such rare opportunities for practice outside of the arcade, so inside there’s a crossover between practice and public display. People who go to the arcade frequently end up doing both, especially if you have a favourite machine.
As a rhythm action gamer with easy access to central London, the Trocadero was one of the best places for me. Since rhythm action games often involve large and/or unwieldy peripherals, the biggest arcade in London was always going to be a suitable home for them, a way for me to play my favourite genre and best of all, improve at it. But this all changed after I spent a summer in Japan.
Japan spoils the arcade gamer with its range of places. There are the multi-floored delights of Taito Station or Adores, the small alley arcade packed with chain smokers and even game corners on the top floors of megamalls. Japan also spoils the rhythm action gamer with its wealth of titles: Taiko no Tatsujin, Jubeat/Ubeat, and Pop’n Music to name but a few. Add to this the challenge factor fired by people’s public displays of awesome and I was hooked like a blubberingly happy gamer fish.
Unfortunately, the dream ended upon returning home. None of the Japanese games had a decent UK equivalent available at the Trocadero. Don’t get me started on how awful Beat’n Groovy on Xbox Live Arcade is. A whole summer of perfecting beats and honing hand-eye co-ordination was rendered useless. I’m not fast enough for DDR or a good enough dancer for Pump It Up. Guitar Mania sucks with its poor selection of songs, and if I want to play Guitar Hero I can do so at home. ParaParaParadise will always be my first love, but there’s no challenge there anymore. Besides, I have other ways of getting a ParaPara fix. (Cough)
Luckily, a new arcade addition saved the day!
DJ Max Technika is a rhythm action game from South Korea. There are two screens: one touch-screen for the player, one shiny high-mounted screen for spectators. If the top-notch sound isn’t enough, there’s a headphone socket although using it doesn’t interrupt the sound for spectators. This set up is the perfect example of practice/showcase at the arcade, after all people can see and hear your mad skills or not as the case may be. For the dedicated, there’s a slot in the machine for an ID card. For the easily pleased, the whole cabinet is very, very shiny.
The screen is divided into two halves and an unrelenting line of light travels across each half. The object is simple: touch the targets on the screen as the line crosses them to make sweet music. Basic music plays in the background but you are the DJ and you’ll find your movements dictating the synths and the more complicated beats. Continually miss the targets, the song falls apart and you fail the stage, leaving you to either vacate with your head hung in shame or dig in your pockets to fund another go. The gameplay reminds me of Daigasso Band Brothers or even Elite Beat Agents and for anyone who has played rhythm action before, the varying targets will be familiar. The ‘one-touch’, the ‘multi-touch’, the ‘slide-along’ and the ‘Hold It!’ are certainly becoming familiar to me. If those aren’t their technical names, they should be.
At home, I can sit comfortably and curse at waves of veteran soldiers, or a biker with a penchant for broken bones. At the arcade however, I have a new challenge to fulfil that thirst for self-improvement and bragging rights. My pound coins have purpose, my rhythm has action and DJ Max Technika is quickly laying claim to my heart and index fingers. An unforgiving army of poke-able symbols awaits!
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