ARCADE WATCH
Keeping an eye on the coin-op gaming scene
Japan’s penchant for celebrating videogame milestones in off-kilter real-world ways continues. Hot on the heels of Namco’s pop-up liveaction Pac-Man game comes Space Invaders Room, a temporary installation on the ground floor of the Yodobashi building in Osaka’s Umeda district. As the style guide dictates, a gift shop offers up Space Invaders merchandise ranging from the predictable (t-shirts, tote bags) to the, err, esoteric (water bottles shaped like baubles). Yet elsewhere are attractions that celebrate a true arcade classic in, credit where it’s due, a series of fun, creative ways.
There’s Space Invaders Gigamax, an eight-player installation piece played on a huge screen; it won’t quite match its appearance at a resort in Gamagori earlier this year, where it was projected onto the side of a building and players were able to partner up with Space Invaders creator Tomohiro Nishikado, but it’s still quite the spectacle. Elsewhere, Arkinvaders, as the name suggests, splices the game together with another Taito classic, Arkanoid. The action plays out on the floor in an AR game where players must kick an LED ball at the advancing alien hordes.
Noborinvaders, meanwhile, is set on a climbing wall, and tasks you with clambering about whacking AR targets in a sort of vertical Whac-AMole. Rounding out the line-up is Bahamut Disco: Space Invaders, a ‘VR disco’ that doesn’t require a headset and was originally dreamed up by Square Enix for Final Fantasy’s anniversary celebrations last year. Essentially, you dance around in a dark room waving a Vive controller in time to the music while thematically appropriate visuals play out. Mad stuff, all told, even if it has got us wishing we’d pushed the boat out a little bit more for our own anniversary celebrations last month. If you’re in the area, Space Invaders Room is open until January 27.