The Mikado Chronicles: Part 1

When I first went to Mikado, it was a lazy Sunday morning. I had nothing but free time, so I figured it was as good a time as any to make my first trip up to Takadanobaba. I wasn't necessarily expecting the best competition, seeing as it was a Sunday, but I didn't care. I was going to pay my first visit to the greatest arcade on the planet, because, well, what else was I going to do?

I arrived at Takadanobaba Station at around 9:30 AM. Having already checked Google Maps for the location, I was feeling confident I would be able to find Mikado within minutes, seeing as it's right next to the train station. This was when I learned my first hard lesson about Japan: everything is next to the train station. I wandered around for roughly an hour before I finally found it.

You can tell just by looking at Mikado that it's no ordinary establishment. Most arcades in Japan are as visually loud as possible; Mikado, on the other hand, is relatively understated. It's not in a particularly busy part of town, and there's really not much else to the exterior other than the sign in front. Instead of trying to catch your attention with UFO catchers, neon signs and advertisements, Mikado dares you to walk through its doors.

Some people have the love for games Mikado requires; for everyone else, there's plenty of other arcades to choose from.

The first floor of Mikado doesn't have any fighting games at all; rather, it boasts a large collection of classic shooting games, with the Space Harrier cabinet catching my eye as soon as I walked in. In a small section to the right are the rhythm games, followed by the staircase that leads to the promised land.

Once you make your way up said staircase, you're greeted by rows upon rows of head to head cabinets. This floor is substantially larger than the first floor, which obviously means there's a hell of a lot more games. To your immediate right are yet more shooting games, though these are more modern titles (most of the Cave games are up here). In front of you is a row of mostly SNK fighters; to your right are doujin fighters and to your left are the Capcom fighters.

In the far right corner of the room, lies the main attraction: six head to head +R cabinets.

After purchasing my Aime card from the machine next to the +R cabs, I sit down and play +R for the first time. Against the computer. For about an hour.

I know it's a Sunday morning, but come on!

I decided to take a break and grab lunch at this amazing ramen shop down the street. It'd have to be busier after noon, right?

Sure enough, it was busier when I returned. What used to be empty rows between the cabinets were now filled with people. They were all playing Enein, a new 2D fighter made by the same developer that gave us Akatsuki Blitzkampf. Among them was a German exchange student, who ended up becoming my interpreter later on that day. We talked for a bit; about fighting games, being a foreigner in Japan, the works. Turns out, he used to play Guilty Gear in Germany! After becoming acquainted with each other, I excuse myself to the +R cabs, hoping that I'd be able to finally play someone.

It didn't take long for someone to show up.

This guy wearing sunglasses sits down at the cab in front of me and scans his Aime card. His name read "ヒ　ロ　P". Never heard of him. Of course, all that means is that this guy doesn't get his matches recorded. For all I knew, I was about to face one of the best players in the area.

I then notice that his cursor is hovering over Anji. I'd figured that every Anji player had fallen off the face of the planet by now.

Heaven or hell, let's rock.

Or get rocked, rather. I don't remember the first match, but it sure did end quickly. Determined to play against this guy as much as possible, I insert my 100 yen and play him again.

One thing I noticed immediately was that this guy plays super respectfully. After he scores a knockdown, he doesn't immediately go for a mixup. Most of the time, he places a meaty over you and waits for you to self destruct. That, and he has a really, really strong neutral game. He can anti-air any jump arc from anywhere on screen, and he definitely autoguarded more of my 5K/2S than I should care to admit.

This may sound like a troll playstyle (and it kind of is), but he makes it work because he's patient. I'd wager most Anji players would tire of this playstyle quickly and resort to a Fuujin based neutral game.

After the sixth or so game, I decided to take a break and play against this Venom player that just showed up. I beat him six times, then he left. I still didn't feel quite ready to face the Anji player again, so I waited for a bit and finished arcade mode. Feeling like I had enough time to reflect on what I did wrong, I go up to the cabinet he's playing on and try again.

I do considerably better this time around, managing to win some rounds. He's starting to use Fuujin against me now, though he's awfully specific about when he likes to use it; usually, he tries to bait a coin and then Fuujin on reaction. I catch on to this quickly and stop throwing coins, which ended up being a good decision (go figure). We now start playing a more complete neutral game, though I still end up coming short.

After our third match, this guy comes up and I get off to let him play. This guy plays Axl, and he's pretty damn good. Yet, he's losing to the Anji player, too. He hasn't changed his playstyle much, either.

That's when it hits me: this guy is nuts.

Needing another break, I went over to talk with my German contact. After 20 minutes or so, the Anji player walks towards us. Using my rather basic Japanese vocabulary, I get his attention by saying: "闇慈が上手”.

This is where the fun starts.

We start talking about Guilty Gear, though it's mostly him asking the questions: how long I've been playing, how I knew about Mikado, etc. When I mention that I learned a lot by watching videos on Nico and Youtube, he asks what players I know of. Naturally, I start listing Johnny players first. Satou, Suzume, DC, etc. He misheard DC as Dizzy, then starts asking about what Dizzy players I know. I then correct him (rather garishly): "No, DC".

He laughs, and says in English: "He's crazy".

We step outside to talk more (and so he can smoke), when he compliments me by saying I'm a strong player, and that I play similarly to DC. My sense of pride and ~10% win ratio both say otherwise, but I accept the compliment graciously.

Once he finished smoking, we went in to play a few more games before I left. We had all agreed to enter the team tournament that upcoming Saturday, so I had already set up my second visit to Mikado.

When I arrived at Mikado for the tournament, the environment was much different than before. The Guilty Gear corner was absolutely packed, and each cabinet had its own killer assigned to it. Satou was on the third cabinet, so I decided to play against him, seeing as nobody else seemed up to the task.

I honestly don't even remember the first match, lol.

We only played a few games before the tournament started, but the impression was already left on me; Satou is that good.

Our first match of the tournament actually got recorded, so you can watch that here. I'll say I did alright (I later found out that Slayer player is En), but I did end up losing, which left Hiro to carry the team.

The second match, though, was really the highlight of the night. We ended up picking up a strong I-no player, as the team we were up against had four players. Our German friend went first against an Eddie player, losing pretty quickly. When my turn was up, I was slightly nervous, but also confident that I'd do well.

The first round went quickly, but that was just me remembering how to block against Eddie, which is much easier in +R, anyways. Now I was ready, and I wasn't going to disappoint.

I absolutely dominated the second round, blocking all of his nonsense and hitting him with the highest damage combos I could. The third round went to him, though it was much closer than the first.

The fourth round. Oh, the fourth round.

I was able to hit him, but I had started to drop combos. I was still able to win by pulling all the cards out of my sleeve (including my patented safejump after Divine Blade, which ended the round), but that was dumb luck as far as I was concerned.

Still, it was pretty awesome to hear (and feel) everyone getting hype at the match.

By now, we had both reached the point where we felt like we were in each others' heads; I could tell he was nervous because he was starting to run away.

So now we were playing the tick-tack neutral game, where I can only hit him with anti-airs and he can only hit me with far jump ins. Neither of us really had an opportunity to score a lot of damage until the end of the round, where I managed to fish out a counter hit f.S. This was it!

And then, I blew it. Completely, utterly, blew it. I landed Dash Jackhound, confirmed into low Level 2, and then blew it. I got air thrown, knocked down, then lost.

Damn. It was so close, too. I could taste the disappointment in the room.

I was still recovering from my match when Hiro and the I-no player went up, so I didn't pay much attention, but they ended up losing against him, too. しょうがない。

I stayed for a bit after to get some matches in, including a vicious beating at the hands of FAB. As I left Takadanobaba station at around 10PM, I had an odd mixture of emotions stirring in my head. The excitement of the tournament was still fresh, but I left slightly unsatisfied. I had only played a few matches and I didn't feel like I had learned much.

Naturally, that just meant I had to make my way up there next week.

My third visit to Mikado was when I decided I'd start talking with more of the players, since I had only really spoken with Hiro at that point.

The thing is, a Japanese arcade isn't an environment that's exactly conductive to discussion. Language barrier aside, it's hot, dry, smells like cigarette smoke (you really have no idea until you actually go yourself just how bad it is), and loud as hell.

Still, I figured I'd finally break the ice with whoever was there.

Today, Satou was there.

I approached him a little after we played our matches. My shoddy Japanese was really showing through today, as he was going way over my head. Worse yet, my interpreter had already left for Germany.

After a few minutes, we decide to speak English. Wait, what?

Yes. Satou speaks English. Very well, in fact. He lived in Iowa (of all places) his senior year of high school.

Well then. Where do we begin?

He started by asking how I played Guilty Gear in the US. I told him stories of playing in garages, bowling alleys, various colleges, in parking lots outside of restaurants (true story); pretty much anywhere we could fit a small CRT and a PS2. I told him about how I spent over $200 on an HRAP 2 SA (that got a laugh). I told him everything. I'd like to think that I painted the perfect picture of what Norcal Guilty Gear was like back when I started playing.

This is when I realize two things: 2008 really was awhile ago now, and I've been at this for way too long.

We kept talking for the rest of the time I was there, about all sorts of things; what moves/techniques in the game are called in English, what other games I play, etc.

Before I left, he mentioned that there's an arcade in Yokohama I should visit. He said that I was a strong player, but the level at Mikado is just too high for me, and that this arcade was more appropriate for me.

Can't argue with that.

Frankly, the level at Mikado is too high for just about anyone who isn't a regular there (aside from A-cho's best, of course). I've gone to all sorts of arcades already, and, sure enough, none of them even begin to approach the level at Mikado. Hell, I can actually get a streak going at lesser arcades.

So there we have it. My first three visits to Mikado, now in post form. Where do we go from here?

I've already been back to Mikado since I've returned to Japan. I can't say I've improved too much from my last visit, but I have started to pick up other characters now in an effort to better understand the game. I've also gone to Akihabara Hey, which isn't the best arcade for Guilty Gear, but it's something. I've yet to make the trip to Yokohama Freedom, but I will be going there very soon (much like when I first visited Mikado, I got lost; only this time, I got so lost that I had to give up, lol).

No matter what, I will keep going to Mikado. It's just too valuable of a resource and too good of an experience to pass up. I don't care if I lose 29 out of 30 games (which is exactly what happened last time I went, lol), because I know that, eventually, I'll be better than I am now. Which is already better than I was a year ago, and the year before that, etc.

From here on out, I live life 100 yen at a time.