#taito hey

[thedakku]

Pictures from Taito Hey when I visited in March 2024

[arcadebroke]

[posthumanwanderings]

Taito Hey (Floor 2) @ Akiba, Tokyo Japan (2023)

[aaronkraten]

Taito Hey - Akihabara

[emaadsidiki]

Anime streets of Akihabara 🎎

HEY 💎 💻 ⌨️ 🎮🔌 Akihabara Hirose Entertainment Yard 😊

[windfighter]

Do(n't) touch me

Prompt: Touch-starved

-----

There had been a lot lately. School, the band… school. School was bad enough to be counted thrice if Yamato was honest. Exams, homework and lessons piled up. He’d gotten grounded after missing one tiny essay because he’d been too focused on studying for math. More time for school, less time to hang with his friends.

Point was, a lot had been going on lately and Yamato’s body was tense. Sleep eluded him, both because he had to study and because he just… couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t fall asleep and couldn’t stay asleep. He’d blame stress, but… yeah, maybe it was stress. He put his elbows on the desk and leaned his head into his hands. His head hurt.

”Hey”, Taichi whispered and sat down next to him. ”You okay, man?”

”What are you doing in my class?” Yamato asked.

”I have a game this weekend. I was going to ask if you wanted to come, but you look… yeah.”

”I’m looking great”, Yamato answered, but didn’t look at Taichi. ”I’m still grounded.”

”How long are you gonna be grounded? It’s been forever.”

Yamato snorted and rubbed his eyes. He leaned against the back of the chair instead, arms in his lap.

”End of the month.”

”Yeah, okay.”

Taichi sounded disappointed. He stood up and Yamato glanced at him.

”Maybe next game then”, Taichi said with a smile.

He lifted a hand. There was a weird kind of ache in Yamato’s stomach at the movement. Taichi grabbed his backpack and Yamato’s shoulders fell.

”Maybe”, he said.

”See you around”, Taichi said. ”Gotta head to my own class.”

”Yeah, sure. See you.”

Taichi threw the backpack on his back and turned around. Yamato’s body got tenser, his brain screamed at him to reach out and grab Taichi’s hand. He didn’t and Taichi left the room. Yamato took a shaky breath and turned towards the whiteboard.

----

Yamato hadn’t been a very touchy person when he grew up. He had kept people at arm’s lenght at all time. It changed after the digital world, but it was hard to express that change.

His skin crawled, felt like it was about to catch on fire. A month of being grounded was almost over and he was ready to explode. He had pushed himself away from people, barely talked to anyone in school. He didn’t dare. Everytime he was next to someone he had to fight against the impulse to reach out and touch them. Hold their hands. He just wanted someone to hug him, pat his shoulder.

Was this what puberty was? Was he horny? It was terrifying and made him feel like a child at the same time. Constantly looking for comfort that he wouldn’t, couldn’t, be given.

He leaned back, pulled his hands over his face and took a shaky breath. Stared at the ceiling for a couple minutes before returning to his homework.

----

Friday. School was out. Yamato stopped as he walked out of the school. He didn’t need to go home. He wasn’t grounded any longer. He hadn’t made any plans because he’d been too busy trying to act normal. Maybe he should go home anyway. Try to sleep.

He still had trouble sleeping. He was ontop of school, had a bunch of songs ready for the band. He wasn’t sure it was stress any longer.

”Hey!”

Yamato didn’t have time to react before Taichi threw a hand over his shoulders. Yamato’s skin crawled, felt like electricity. His knees felt weak. He knew he should pull away, but his body wasn’t listening to reason. Instead it leaned against Taichi. Yamato’s brain was on fire. Yelled. Tried to force him to move. To behave normally. Laugh and push Taichi away. Instead a strangled noise left him.

”You okay there?” Taichi asked.

”Y-yeah”, Yamato said.

It came out way too insecure. Taichi seemed satisfied.

”Finally out of juvie, eh?” Taichi said. ”What are we doing to celebrate?”

”It wasn’t juvie”, Yamato said and hoped none of the people walking by had heard it.

”Might as well have been.”

Taichi started walking, pulling Yamato along with the arm still across Yamato’s shoulders. Yamato stumbled over his feet, but didn’t pull away. It felt… nice. His shoulders felt less tense.

”Anyway, celebration?” Taichi continued.

”I was just gonna go home and sleep”, Yamato admitted.

Taichi laughed. It made Yamato finally push away and start walking on his own.

”It’s not fun, I haven’t been able to sleep for a month.”

”Okay, so nothing too demanding for celebration”, Taichi smiled and he sounded so casual about it Yamato wanted to scream. ”Let’s order pizza and watch a movie.”

Pizza and movie sounded nice, Yamato could admit to that. Taichi hooked Yamato’s arm with his own and forced him to move towards Taichi’s home instead of his own. Yamato knew he should protest, but the words didn’t come over his mouth. How was Taichi so casual about holding him like this? Yamato sighed. There was no getting out of it.

”Yeah, sure. Pizza and movie. Sounds great.”

----

Taichi was so close. Yamato’s body was still tense. Two empty pizza-boxes covered the table. They had already finished one movie and had started a second one. Taichi looked so relaxed, slightly leaned against the arm-rest, arm casually slung over the back of the couch. Yamato was leaned forwards, elbows on his knees, hands gripping his arms. Closed off.

”You’re like a plank”, Taichi said with a laugh.

”I’m fine.”

Even his voice was tense. Taichi laughed again.

”Still tired?”

Yamato rolled his eyes, but didn’t answer. Taichi gripped his shirt and pulled him back against the couch.

”You need to relax, man.”

”I’m. Fine.”

”Uh-huh.”

Taichi patted his shoulder and Yamato felt like he was about to melt.

”Absolutely fine”, Taichi agreed. ”Nothing wrong what so ever.”

Taichi put his arm on the back of the couch again. Yamato swallowed. The couch was soft. Taichi was so close.

The door to the apartment opened and closed. Yamato straightened his back and Taichi turned his head towards the hallway.

”I’m home!” Hikari called into the apartment.

”Welcome home!” Taichi called back. ”How was your date?”

”It wasn’t a date!” Hikari protested.

She arrived into the living room and leaned over the couch, eyes on the television.

”What are we watching?”

”A movie”, Taichi answered.

Hikari rolled her eyes.

”What movie, smartass.”

”Howl’s moving castle”, Taichi said. ”It seemed easy enough for a lazy evening.”

Hikari patted Yamato’s shoulder. Yamato let out the same strangled noise as he had earlier in the afternoon and leaned into her touch. Hikari raised an eyebrow and looked at Taichi, who shrugged. Yamato’s cheeks felt hot.

”Can I sit here?”

Hikari didn’t wait for an answer before climbing over the back of the couch and sitting down next to Yamato. Yamato absolutely no idea what to do with himself. Hikari grabbed the bowl of popcorns on the table and gave Yamato a shove. He slid against Taichi, melted against him.

”Someone needs a hug”, Hikari said and laughed.

”I’m not a child”, Yamato said.

He didn’t move away. Taichi put his arm over Yamato’s shoulders again. Yamato had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation.

”Everyone needs hugs”, Hikari answered.

She turned her back towards Yamato and leaned against him, settled in to watch the movie. Yamato felt his body relax between the two of them. He decided to pretend everything was normal and just watch the movie again.

-----

He slept the whole night for the first time in a month.

[thepinkbambii]

🕹

[mikufigureoftheday]

Hey cousin! Any skateboarding Mikus?

-@throckmorton-the-skater

Interesting tactic there, signing an anonymous ask

Unfortunately, I can't think of/find any skateboarding Mikus but it looks like Hobby Stock released some official Miku skateboards further proving they'll put her on basically anything and it'll go super hard

and there are a couple of her roller-skating which, I know doesn't fit your gimmick blog, but still is worth noting for my gimmick blogs compilation tag lmao

and the Taito Maid cafe trio

🛹🛼

[pretty-idol-hell]

A visit to Hey by Taito in the PriMagi era.

This unassuming arcade in Akihabara is one of the best places in the country to play Pretty Series games. I've come here for PriPara, I've come here for PriChan, I came here today for PriMagi, and I hope that someday I will get the opportunity to come here for AiPri.

They had something like nine PriMagi machines with recorders and audio hookups that will allow you to listen with headphones (PriMagi doesn't have a headphone jack like some PriPara/PriChan machines did).

I left just one PriMagi friend card of Luna here. So there is a small chance that maybe, just maybe, she will live on...

[iavulture]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I actually don't mind the abscesses in Vengeance not obscuring parts of the map. The reason why I say this is because after having gone through multiple runs, I just learned to ignore them (save for the mandatory abscess that's part of the tutorial in Minato since you can't avoid it), with my train of thought being "I already have all of the Miracles from my first run, do I really need to do the abscesses all over again just for the sake of 100%ing the map?" Additionally, had I been on the original game, I would've found it tedious to eliminate abscesses on every run even if I have all of the Miracles just so I don't have the fog covering up parts of the map.

(IMO, I think it's imperative that you thoroughly explore the maps in the first run, that way you get as much resources and other benefits from the get-go and, if you plan on doing subsequent runs, make things easier for you. Unless, of course, you prefer speedrunning or want to challenge yourself, but those are other matters entirely.)

tl;dr Ignoring the abscesses saves time, especially if you already destroyed all of them on your first run and got the Miracles and really don't want to do them again.

Now, IF I really wanted to have a compromise of vanilla and Vengeance's abscesses, I think having an abscess in a lategame map (maybe in Chiyoda/Shinjuku or Taito) granting a Miracle that makes the fog disappear when viewing the map could work.

-----

Hypothetical Miracle + description:

Defog of War: Eliminates the miasmic fog created by Abscesses on the map. (Toggleable)

-----

But hey, these are just my opinions and ideas on a game mechanic. Others may think the opposite, that the abscesses were "better" in vanilla V, but I think the abscess fog being gone in Vengeance was fine and not that big of an issue.

[thedakku]

The candy cabs of Taito Hey in Akihabara

[arcadebroke]

[posthumanwanderings]

Taito Hey (Floor 3) @ Akiba, Tokyo Japan (2023)

[aaronkraten]

Taito Hey in Akihabara

[postgamecontent]

Nintendo Switch Weekly Round-Up for the Week Ending September 21, 2024

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the Nintendo Switch Weekly Round-Up for the week ending September 21, 2024. Quite a few new and notable releases to check out this time around, so it's another large article. I've decided I'd rather do reviews as separate articles, so look for those when and if I opt to do them. My resources for such things are considerably more limited now, but I'll do what I can. Let's check out this week in the world of Switch!

Select New Releases

The Plucky Squire ($29.99)

After a storybook hero is kicked out his book, his story's ending is changed to a much bleaker one. In order to set things right, he'll have to explore both 2D and 3D worlds, solving puzzles and completing challenges. This game got some immediate attention due to James Turner, formerly of Game Freak, working on it. The game certainly looks to be intriguing, so let's hope it can deliver on its considerable promise.

Loddlenaut ($19.99)

You play as an interstellar custodian in this relaxed open-world adventure about cleaning up an alien planet. Collect trash and recycle it to craft items and upgrades, raise aquatic creatures, and use your bubble gun to make things nice and neat again. Looks like some good times if you're just trying to chill out with something this week.

I Got Isekai'd into a Shmup ($12.99)

You don't see a ton of shoot 'em ups with four-player multiplayer support, let alone ones with great titles like this. The story about the main character getting transported into the world of a shooter serves as a framing device for the vertically-scrolling bullet hell action. Eight stages, four ships, multiple difficulty modes, and even a bestiary to fill out. You almost want to reward it for the name alone.

Japanese Rail Sim: Hakone Town of Natural Beauty and Hot Springs ($49.99)

Hey, it's one of these. Hakone's a really nice place, so taking a train ride through its scenery is a solid idea. You're driving the train, and this is a mountainous route, so don't relax too much. As you play, you'll be able to view tourism info about Hakone and the Hakone Tozan Railway. Cool. Like the other games in this series, it relies on real video footage. As such, it can feel a little artificial when starting and stopping, but the effect in motion is decent enough.

Touhou Genso Wanderer -Foresight- ($37.99)

Another Touhou roguelike RPG, and these have all been of substantial enough quality that I am not sad to see one more. This is fairly similar to the Mystery Dungeon games, but the progression is a bit kinder. I'm going to be doing a review of this game on the site soon, so look forward to that. It'll be a little bit since I just got my hands on the game today.

Arcade Archives Crime City ($7.99)

Probably not the Chase HQ Universe game that people have been waiting for, but I have a real soft spot for Taito's Crime City. It's a Rolling Thunder-esque run-and-gun action game for up to two players whose playable characters are definitely not based on any particular cop movie duo of the era, no sir. There are also little sections where you move into the screen, like in Contra. Good goofy fun, which might be just what some of you are looking for today.

EGGCONSOLE Star Cruiser PC-8801mkIISR ($6.49)

Oh, this is a big one. This 1988 release offers polygonal 3D visuals, which was quite a sight to see at the time. You're exploring space and planet surfaces, engaging in action-based combat, and following a decent little story. There are some RPG elements here as well. Unfortunately, this game suffers from the usual issue of only having Japanese in-game text, and quite a lot of it. You might want to venture in anyway, just to experience it. Be forewarned that this is a very flashy game, so photosensitive people should probably give it a pass.

Keylocker | Turn Based Cyberpunk Action ($19.99)

A stylish turn-based RPG that incorporates rhythm game mechanics into its combat. In a messed-up future where music is banned, you are a rebellious singer. Seems nifty, and I've been given a review copy so I will be taking a deeper look at it soon.

Pixel Game Maker Series NYANxTECH ($5.99)

I suppose we're back on regular releases for the Pixel Game Maker line, which suits me just fine. This looks like a puzzle-platformer of sorts where you use different buttons to turn platforms on and off. Sure, that seems fine enough for this price point.

The Karate Kid: Street Rumble ($39.99)

There are a lot of people chasing that Shredder's Revenge success right now, and I think it is somewhat ominous that one of the first out of the gate is Game Mill's Karate Kid-flavored take. Play as Daniel, Miyagi, Ali Mills, or Kumiko as you punch and kick your way through locations and battles inspired by the first three Karate Kid movies. The Cobra Kai brawlers from this publisher weren't very good at all, and that makes it difficult for me to expect much here.

Byte The Bullet ($19.99)

Travel through the various systems of a computer to cleanse them of the virus infecting the system in this run-and-gun platformer. You can poke around each of the levels to find interesting secrets, and the game parodies a few popular classics in the genre. This is one of those games that could go either way, and I'm not going to be able to say which side it falls on until I put my hands on it.

Cricket: Jae's Really Peculiar Game ($24.99)

Another interesting turn-based RPG to look into. The main character in this one is trying to fix a past gone wrong to make a better future. Hm, sounds familiar. Battles use Mario RPG-style timing-based commands, so if that's a thing you have strong feelings about one way or the other, make sure to take it into account.

Get in the Car, Loser! ($29.99)

This game describes itself as a "rowdy hot-blooded lesbian road trip RPG" and I feel like you're going to know just from that brief whether you're in or not. It comes from one of the co-creators of Ladykiller in a Bind, and it's been out for a while on other platforms. Generally seems to have gone over well with most. This release includes both extra DLC story chapters, so you get it all in one go.

Home Safety Hotline ($19.99)

One for the horror fans, I suppose. At least the set-up is interesting. You play as an operator at a home safety line, and people will call in with some very unusual problems. You'll need to try to help them with those issues, but you can count on things getting very weird in a hurry. This release also includes the Christmas-themed DLC. Not my thing, but maybe yours.

Matchbox Driving Adventures ($39.99)

You know, I think Outright Games is doing decent enough work in the licensed game area. Like, I'm not going to say the output is always great, but of all the publishers aimed at making games based on popular kids' properties, Outright seems to deliver the most agreeable results. And that's how this game looks, really. Agreeable. If you have a kid who loves Matchbox cars, they'll probably have fun with this.

Booom-Slang! ($14.99)

A quirky twin-stick shooter that offers up both a single-player campaign and a fairly interesting multiplayer mode. Up to four players can compete, but they'll do so with multiple targets in mind. There's more than one way to win, in other words. The aesthetic of this game is something else, and I suppose it could be best summarized as 3DO-ish. I can see some people being into it.

They Came From the Sky 2 ($9.99)

Be an alien invader… again. This is an entertaining action game where you play as an alien craft and need to wreak havoc on the planet. You can stomp things, shoot them, and cause all kinds of general mayhem. This advances nicely on the original game, I'd say. If you're looking for some mindless amusement, this does the job well enough.

Seasonspree ($11.99)

In this game, you play as a tanuki that can travel through time just by walking forwards and backwards. You have to use this ability to help out your friends in this relaxing adventure.

The Town of Nie ($43.22)

A "boys love" visual novel about a human who wanders into a supernatural world. He'll be interacting with some very unusual characters while searching for a way to return home, and perhaps finding love? That will depend on your choices, of course. There's a demo available for this game if you want a taste.

GINKA ($20.00)

This visual novel is about a guy whose childhood friend, Ginka, disappeared five years ago during a summer festival. When he returns to his hometown after a long absence, Ginka is still gone. But wait, here's a girl who looks just like Ginka did five years ago! She has no memories but she knows she loves the main character. What's going on here? You'll have to play to find out.

Aura of Worlds ($14.99)

A very cool roguelite platformer, and I'm not saying that because it has a grappling move. Okay, I'm not just saying that because it has a grappling move. That sure doesn't hurt, though. Really though, this is a game that gives you a lot of options about how you want to handle navigating its obstacles. If you've burned out on Dead Cells, check this out.

BZZZT ($14.99)

A precision platformer where you play as a tiny robot who has to save the world from an evil scientist. A tale as old as time, isn't it? While we have a whole lot of this kind of game on the Switch already, I must regrettably inform you that this one is very good. It's tough, as you would expect. It's even tougher if you're going for all the collectibles. But the controls are excellent, the level designs are clever, and it's very rewarding to play.

No Case Should Remain Unsolved ($9.99)

This is a short detective mystery game where you need to solve a twelve-year old case of a missing child. Examine the clues, connect memory fragments, and try to determine the truth behind this case and why it was abandoned for so long.

Sacabambaspis Chronicle ($2.99)

An odd little game where you play as a fish-thing, eating plankton to grow up while avoiding predators. Somehow there's an online multiplayer mode for up to ten players. If you want something unusual to spend a few bucks on, here you go.

pureya ($5.99)

This is a mini-game collection with more than thirty in total to play. All of them are played with a maximum of two buttons, so they're pretty simple to pick up. And that's a good thing, because you'll only be playing for ten seconds before it changes to the next game. That's the gimmick here. Of course, if you just want to play one game and see how high of a score you can get, that's an option too. Not bad for what it is.

Tamagoneko ($5.99)

A kaizo-style platformer, which is to say a game designed to make you scream in agony at the unfair difficulty of it all. There are one hundred and sixty levels to play, and your task is to rescue all of the kitten eggs in each. Wait, kitten eggs? I don't think that's how that works. Well, not really any of my business.

The Last Shot ($9.99)

Hmm, I don't know what to do with this one. It has a lot of style going for it, and I think having you play as an engineer who has to use their skills to solve puzzles is an interesting set-up in a platformer. But it just doesn't play well, which makes the platforming not so fun, and the puzzles aren't really good enough to make up for it. You might like it better than I did, though. It seems to have decent reviews on other platforms.

That's all for this week, friends. We'll be back next Saturday with another Round-Up, this time featuring a whole new Legend of Zelda game! As ever, I will plug both my Patreon (where you can find lots of cool exclusive articles) and my Ko-Fi (tips help me run this blog). There, plugged. I hope you have a super Saturday, and as always, thanks for reading!

[a-student-out-of-time]

Right, you guys are gonna have kids fairly soon, right? That's gonna take a lot of planning

I actually have been planning things with that in mind.

Hajime, do you remember when Taito-kun will be born?

He said November 2014, right?

Yes. November 5th, specifically. You know what means?

What?

He's probably a valentine baby~

Ah...s-so...

Mikan...I-I know that gives us a year, but...are you sure about this?

I know, it's a big deal and I don't want to pressure you...

I just...I wanted to know if you'd maybe okay with this. Considering you want to start working, I still have my job as a nurse, and the others can all contribute too...I want to believe it's doable.

And it's just...I know Iroha-chan still has her son, he's just younger now. Maybe that means that Taito would still be around if we decided to wait...

But...she's also got Divine Luck. Kn-knowing how bad my luck is, I...don't know if it's worth the risk...I'm sorry if I'm being really selfish right now, I j-just...

Mikan? Look at me please?

Y-Yes?

I know how important this is to you. I've always had that in mind, ever since I came back.

The thing about being an Ultimate Despair is that you...you inflict despair on yourself in whatever hurts the worst. You crush whatever dreams you had, you...do horrible things to yourself in the most ironic ways possible...out of that twisted sense of...ugh, you get it.

Yeah...

We used to talk about it a lot on Jabberwock too. I understand how important this is, and I never want you to feel uncomfortable about talking about it with me.

Thank you...

And I know this is going to take a lot of planning, a lot of work and there's gonna be a lot of commentary from people who have no idea what's going on.

But hey, we're already working toward making a better future, right? This is our part of that.

*Mikan rests her head on his shoulder*

You guys are so adorbs, I can't even describe it!