Yujin has just announced a new gatchapon toys series inspired by the Hundson Shooting Watch. There will be 5 different models: Normal (like the original Shooting Watch), Takahashi Meijin vs Adventure Island, Bomberman, Star Soldier and Famicom (this was supposed to be a secret but our spies stole the photo from Hudson Headquarters).
I'm really curious if someone will be able to beat Hudson's Takahashi Meijin the man who can press buttons  16 times per second!

On December 30 Cave hold the second annual year-end Cave Festival at my favourite Japanese game center : Akihabara's HEY arcade. I visited the event before going to Comiket (the second day of Comic Market is always Yaoii oriented so there is no need to rush) and at 10.10am the place was already full with a waiting line of 6 hours. I picked a DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou T-shirt and a (not so popular among japanese players) Muchi Muchi Pork! soundtrack (with a bonus DVD).


Inoue (DeathSmiles) during the authgraph session.


At the  Cave Festival there were just 3 games to be played: all the action was at the second floor of  HEY were are present near ALL Cave shooting games.


At the second floor of HEY the most popular game was DeathSmiles. If you love shooting games this  Game Center is a must visit during your next Akiba pilgrimage.  All the arcade cabinets are set at high volume so the sound generated by dozens of games together is something unique that reminds me the sonic waves of  gabber/speed core raves!  Ruuush!!!



Before leaving for Comiket I took the Cave's anquette (feedback form)  handed out in front of Hey.

Soldnder X is an horizontal shooting game produced by the famous online import game shop Play Asia. Seems that  the game quality is pretty high. Actually at the beginning I feared that this game would have been just a doujin game translated in english and professionally packaged. Instead the project turned out to be the first "must have" game for shooting lovers since the last Dreamcast shooters released last year...

Main features of this game:

• 720p at 60 fps
  
• 2-Player Co-Op Play (simultaneously)
• Classic design, yet state-of-the-art shooter technology
• Unique upgrade weapon system with five standard weapon types
• Never before seen tactical elements such as chaining, effectiveness system, 'berserker' mode and much more
• More than 20 extras (with both positive and negative effects!)
• Addictive collection quests
• Over-the-top boss fights
• Features a superb soundtrack and sound effects
• Bi-lingual story mode (English/Japanese)
• Online high score ranking
• Constant frame rate (60fps)

This is a You Tube video preview  ( this is the original NicoNico version).