The sad state of VF4 in Japan

I just got back from a trip to Japan (somewhat business orientented) and am rather disappointed in the ethics involved at the arcade. I played VF3 a lot, both in the States and when I was stationed in Japan, so I'm not completely foriegn to VF4. In VF3 I was mainly a Jacky player, although I was also good with Wolf and played a little Akira. My first day at the arcade with Jacky was rather dismal, I finished 7-21. By the third day, I had managed to pull my win percentage up to a respectable 56%, albeit against competition that isn't 1st tier. It was at this point when I noticed a lot of the stuff that goes on. Opponents pull their cards out (I'm assuming to avoid a loss), they'll get their friends to grab your arms and mess you up, they'll even try stealing your card! No wonder Chibita had what looked like a posse around him, he needs protection.

 

What was the name of the arcade this happened in?
It couldn't happen in all of them, one would guess.
Someone actually grabbed your arm to try to mess you up eh?

The Clips Daioh Doesn't Put Up: on the next... A Current Affair.

 

I am sure these things don't pertain to VF4 and Japan alone. People get into fights in the arcade all the time. Pulling card out is something like disconnecting in online games. When competition gets rough some people will try to find shortcuts, Japanese, American or whoever. But you seemed to got singled out for picking, probably has to do with some white guy beating Japanese players in a Japanese game in Japan. =/

 

we have the card thing in the US? and man that blows.....it would suck if i was playin and someone stole my card........

 

No VF.net is Japan only unfortuantely...

 

apparently, shaking the machine violently vs a kage player who has just TFT'ed you is common in some places in japan (from dirk tebben and others).

/me looks over at yupa..

 

I've been VF4ing in Japan for about 8 months now. jAKUMA -- where the **** were you playing that this happened? You're hanging out in the wrong places, to say the least, if not just BSing the board.

In fact, after smacking the hell out of someone, you usually go and TALK to them, and in some cases, they wind up joining your team. I lost two 2-dan points w/ my Aoi the other day to a Jeffry, then I gained one on him w/ my Vanessa, then lost again to his Lei Fei. Did I punch him? No, I bummed a smoke, and we talked VF4.

Pulling the cards out -- that does happen sometimes. Sometimes b/c people want to change their items, but still play, other times b/c they want to try out some other character.

 

can someone explain to me the card thing....can you customize your characterlike the ps2 home version? and if so how? man that is so cool.....i wish i was in japan.....

 

But I do notice the 10,000 games they played.... What is the price over there for playing VF4?

Do they look like freaks after playing 10,000 games??? /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif

 

yes, you can customize your characters in the arcade, just like the PS2 home version. Rare items seem to track attention -- especially genkyuu items. The way you do this, is register your card at VF.net via iMode or J-Sky enabled mobile phone (initially, it was only iMode, which pissed me off, b/c I'm J-Sky). Anyways, you can change your color, items, blah, blah, leave feedback against people you've fought, but screens for your mobile phone, buy some items for your character, check nation-wide team & personal rankings, find a game center in your area, and so on and so forth.

There's also Battle Arena -- where you 'raise' a character. Very similar to Tamagochi. You go through training, build up their stats, fight other people. Some of the items you can ONLY get by raising your level in Battle Arena. Aoi's Hachimaki (bandana thingy) and fan come to mind.

 

Damn, that IS pretty sad, but it's not exclusive to Japan. There are people over here in the US who actually start fights over video games. Trash talk, other nonsense, it's all the same.

 

Don't believe it. I've been to many arcades in Japan over the years, and never seen anything of the such happen.

 

Same here for me.
Never seen if before.
Never heard of it before.

BTW, I was lucky enough to find a place that charges only 30 yen to play one game.

LUCKY!

 

Although I don't doubt "stuff" can happen, there's no way that what the original poster said can be described as a "sad state of VF4 in Japan". I've played in Japan since the days of Street Fighter 2 and before and have never come across anything as extreme as that.

However, I have had people give me and my friends some unfriendly looks sometimes, but once they realize that we can at least speak and understand a little Japanese, they'll socialize with you. Most of the time if you're on a win streak someone will call the local master to come and defeat you. That happened to me in VF2, and then later on that awesome player taught me how to improve my game.

 

Yeah, when I go to a new place for the first time, I generally get some laughs, b/c of my name -- same as here, but written in Japanese. I had the whole place in stitches... He was a Ha-oh Akira... his friends laughed even harder when I bitch-slapped him w/ my 3-dan Shun. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

 

<blush> I don't think I've ever apologized for that... You had already won the match. You were by far the better player that day. You know I miss those sit down VF2 cabinets that were all over Mass at one point in time...

Vs. City cabinets are surprisingly light. If you have long legs you can wedge your knee under them and bounce them up and down.