It was a Giant Robot sort of day

This Friday I did what is quickly becoming my ritual. Friday night Akihabara. A little Border Break here, a little Tekken 6 there, all is right with the world. Not to mention the Cosplaying arcade attendants.

Before I delve into how awesome the night was, I guess I should talk a little about my nerdself. You see, I have this other side I like to call “Nerd Zach.”

Nerd Zach, meet Blog Audience,

Blog Audience, meet Nerd Zach. (Be nice, he doesn't pick up on social cues)

Nerd Zach likes to geek out, A LOT. Every five seconds he is tearing at me wanting to freak out over some little Kingdom Hearts figure or Evangelion Chopsticks he'd found. He's like a little kid in a candy store. You smack him on the head and tell him to be quiet, but nothing shuts him up. To a certain extent, I sort of refuse to keep him quiet anymore. I go to Akihabara as a way to decompress Nerd Zach so that, throughout the week I can function relatively normally. Nerd Zach has this thing where he likes to add “In Japan,” as often as one adds “in bed” to a fortune cookie.

I'm riding the train, IN JAPAN!

I'm Grocery Shopping, IN JAPAN!

I'm in an arcade, IN JAPAN!

I'm at a noodle shop, IN JAPAN!

Seriously, it never gets old with this guy, I'm hoping that by mid February he'll get over himself and we can just get on with our lives.... IN JAPA- err, sorry... Point is, I'm here, here smack dab in the middle of many of my hobbies and obsessions, I may as well geek it up. It's cathartic and to some extent, necessary. If I suppressed his impulses eventually he'd boil over. I'd wake up one morning with ripped purple pants and Eva T-shirt, Covered in Miyazaki Merchandise, horrible self-insertion fanfictions and Pocky. That's a sight no-one wants to see....

So anyway, I went to Akihabara again. We got there after class and went into an arcade. I was on a quest to find the legendary Gundam POD (Panoramic Optical Display) I always knew that arcades were fun, but that day I got to see the real draw of a Japanese arcade. There are several reasons that arcades haven't died out over here. Back home, we don't have a single arcade machine (Aside from possibly Time Crisis 4 and DDR) that was made after 1995. Racing titles and and the railed Light gun shooters are kind of flashy, but if we popped a home version into our 360 or PS3, we'd laugh at the graphics. They're terrible. Here, games are being released and immediately being made into arcade machines. The graphics are fresh, new, and crisp. Another reason is the competitive nature of gaming. Sure in some places in the states, they have machines that have two control consoles, so you can face off against your friends, but here they do things in a genius way. The game machines are not linked side by side, but back to back, meaning there are two rows of machines, and machines from one row connect to the opposite facing other. Benji was playing a little game of Tekken, when he sees, “A NEW CHALLENGER APPEARS!” He looks around, puzzled. Who could it be? I start snooping around, and dart into the other row. Sitting there, with three of his friends watching, is a young Japanese boy. The fight was close, but Benji won, we cheered, and then he moved on to his next matchup. Suddenly, the kid enters another coin, and challenges Benji to a rematch. This time the kid is no-longer underestimating his Gaijin Competitor. He wins. Benji goes over and through rough body language is able to articulate “You got me you brat!” They laugh, and then I see Ben go right back around, and re-challenge the boy! I'm cheering, his friends are cheering, and suddenly I begin to see what makes arcades so popular. It makes gaming into a spectacle of sorts. After blowing 5 dollars, Benji admits defeat, he and the boy shake hands, and we were on our way. Benji hadn't yet eaten, and I knew of only one place I had to check out. There where many oddities I'd heard about in Akihabara, and among them, the infamous Gundam Cafe.

I didn't take this, sadly my camera died while we where inside, but this is what it looks like It's pretty cool. I ordered some ice cream and a latte. They gave me a Haro Latte!

It was as awesome as it was adorable!

We hung out for a bit, and then went searching. Arcade after arcade was fruitless. With each floor I'd get my hopes up, and then they would be crushed into defeat. We went to one or two more and then Benji called it quits and went home, but I trudged on. I checked one more big arcade to no avail, then upon perusing the streets I saw a small two story arcade on top of a Don Quixhote. I Search the first floor and didn't expect much from the second. As I made my way towards the back, I saw a glint of white. I raced to the end and THE GUNDAM POD was there, in all it's glory. There was a bay of about 8 of them set up. After the enlistment of some help from the arcade manager, I was ready to play.

Gundam POD has a 180 degree screen that totally swallows your field of vision. It was loads of fun. I'm going to play it again next week, and try to figure out why my field of vision was restricted.

My next post will probably be about THE GHIBLI MUSEUM. I'm going there this weekend. Will post pics if I'm allowed to take them. Sayonara readers.

~Zach