100 Yen: The Japanese Arcade Experience Page #2

Within the first three minutes...

At about the three minute mark

the player needs to understand

this is how the gameplay works,

these are the game's mechanics.

So the game needs to have

a sudden and exciting climax

and then from there, once

the player has reached this climax,

if they are like "I'm done,

I get it, I'm finished playing".

The game has failed.

"I want to do that again!"

Even though they've experienced the climax

they should want to get to that climax again

without feeling they've

experienced the entire game.

There's still so much more to do!

These principles must be present

for an arcade game

to be successful.

It is these principles we consider

when designing a game.

Up until now, arcade games

had always been a business model

that in an interesting way,

has been about purchasing time.

We'll take your 100 yen and

give you three minutes of entertainment

and that was our hobby at the time.

But then this is where

things started to shift.

You and the person beside you

each pay 100 yen to fight

if you lose we take your money!

That's frustrating isn't it?

Better out in some more money.

Until now this type of hobby didn't exist.

Once you tried it,

you realized how fun it was.

This new game-type caused

arcade business to surge.

So when you look at Street Fighter 2

in the grand scheme of arcade game history.

Fighting games would be

like the proverbial meteor

that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Street Fighter 2 would act as

the catalyst that would overthrow

my favorite genre: shooting games

as the number one draw to arcades...

This would represent the first major

paradigm shift for arcades.

The reason I like fighting games,

is it's such a fresh concept.

it's not simply a physical challenge,

the mental aspects

known as Yomi, which involves

"reading" your opponent

didn't exist in games before this.

I thought, hmm... This is

a thinking mans game

and that's what really

attracted me to fighting games.

That and I thought if I could

make some friends when

playing these games, it would

become even more interesting.

Basically, if you think about Fighting Games

as a communication tool

you won't be far off.

I've been playing games for so long...

I don't know if you can call it

a hobby anymore.

The first time I played games

was at a video rental store.

It was there, when I went

with my sister to rent a movie

that I had my first experience

with arcade games.

From the age of fourteen until twenty...

About twenty-two, I was playing

pretty much non-stop.

From twenty-three through to

twenty-seven, I ddin't really play much.

With the release of Street Fighter 4

I returned to playing very frequently.

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