TGS 2022 - Day One Round-up
I'm attending Tokyo Game Show on September 15th and 16th and covering the show here, on Twitter and my podcast
I’ll be there again tomorrow, but probably not over the weekend. Probably.
It was a productive day and I’m shattered. I was reminded that there are few things more exhausting than walking around Makuhari Messe all day, dodging thousands of other people who are in no way looking where they’re going.
Before I crash, here are some musings on the first day. In-depth, hands-on impressions will follow over the next week.
The State of TGS
The show was bustling, but well short of full capacity. The fourth hall isn’t being used this year, and the indie booths and shops have been moved into the main area. Playstation was very much missed, as their booth always used to dominate the show. There was much less foot traffic from the station to the convention centre.
All that being said, it still felt lively, positive and, most importantly, relevant.
As for what was on-show, I didn’t notice as many mobile games as there have been in the recent past. I was surprised by how many of the cross-platform, headline demos were running on PCs - perhaps a result of the continued shortage of next-gen consoles, even for exhibitors? Along the same lines, headline games were running on Switch as much as they were PS5 or Series X. A fair proportion of the Crisis Core and Sonic Frontier sections were dedicated to the Switch version. Capcom and Sega had lively booths, as did Konami, Koei Tecmo and, more surprisingly, THQ Nordic and their partners.
To be fair, for the most part he was much happier than this. I just caught him at a bad moment.
He’d probably just tried his demo.
The Games
I made it through four very different games today. I had decided that, once the doors had opened, I’d make a beeline for Square Enix or Capcom, whichever I saw first. It was the former that caught my eye, so I settled in for fifteen minutes of Criss Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion on Switch. It was good and I’ll tell you why in a few days time.
Next up was Street Fighter 6, which left me buzzing. It felt like a next-gen SF4, or at least that’s how it felt to this very ill-informed, casual street fighter. I got paired up with a Japanese journalist and we split our vs. battles 2-2, which was a good result for me. Next was Exoprimal, the dinosaur-infested squad shooter, with a demo that clocked in at an hour! That’s not a typo - you had to commit to remaining with your squad for sixty minutes. Anyway, it was worth the time investment. Unfortunately that positive run of demos was broken by Sonic Frontiers, which was just as strange as it appears in the trailers. An uncomfortable mix of elements that in no way come together.
Tomorrow, I’ll try to grab a ticket for the PSVR 2, Resident Evil Village demo at 10:00. Then I’ll move swiftly to Square Enix and join the line for Forspoken. Once those are out of the way, I’ll take it a little easier and see what’s available with minimal lines. The Yakuza Ishin! remake is a priority, Alone in The Dark looked intriguing, and I’m hearing positive buzz around Wo Long Fallen Dynasty. I’ll do a circuit of the indie area too, most likely in the afternoon, and don’t be surprised if I head back to Capcom for another go at SF6.
The Lines
I didn’t queue for more than 45 minutes for anything today, which I consider a massive success. Around lunchtime, I noticed that both Forspoken and Sonic Frontiers had waits approaching 90 minutes, but I didn’t see anything above that. Some booths, in particular Capcom, were utilizing a ticketing system, so you’d join the line at your allotted time. That didn’t prevent the PSVR 2 demo for RE Village being closed within 30 minutes of opening, as they’d already handed out all the allotted tickets.
A Very Expensive Statue
Next up was Street Fighter 6, which left me buzzing. It felt like a next-gen SF4, or at least that’s how it felt to this very ill-informed, casual street fighter. I got paired up with a Japanese journalist and we split our vs. battles 2-2, which was a good result for me. Next was Exoprimal, the dinosaur-infested squad shooter, with a demo that clocked in at an hour! That’s not a typo - you had to commit to remaining with your squad for sixty minutes. Anyway, it was worth the time investment. Unfortunately that positive run of demos was broken by Sonic Frontiers, which was just as strange as it appears in the trailers. An uncomfortable mix of elements that in no way come together.
Tomorrow, I’ll try to grab a ticket for the PSVR 2, Resident Evil Village demo at 10:00. Then I’ll move swiftly to Square Enix and join the line for Forspoken. Once those are out of the way, I’ll take it a little easier and see what’s available with minimal lines. The Yakuza Ishin! remake is a priority, Alone in The Dark looked intriguing, and I’m hearing positive buzz around Wo Long Fallen Dynasty. I’ll do a circuit of the indie area too, most likely in the afternoon, and don’t be surprised if I head back to Capcom for another go at SF6.
The Lines
I didn’t queue for more than 45 minutes for anything today, which I consider a massive success. Around lunchtime, I noticed that both Forspoken and Sonic Frontiers had waits approaching 90 minutes, but I didn’t see anything above that. Some booths, in particular Capcom, were utilizing a ticketing system, so you’d join the line at your allotted time. That didn’t prevent the PSVR 2 demo for RE Village being closed within 30 minutes of opening, as they’d already handed out all the allotted tickets.
This is the statue that was doing the rounds on social media a few months back. Produced in very limited numbers, it costs a cool 1,485,000 yen ($10,353). It did look very pretty, but I’d given myself a 5000 yen budget and therefore had to pass.
Steam Decks and a Skyrim-less TGS Averted
Steam had a massive lounge area with tables and bean bags where you could just spread out and play games on a Steam Deck. A wonderful idea, for lazy people. I was far too busy lining up for a weird Sonic game to disappear into a bean bag, but I would very much like to collapse there tomorrow and see if I need to buy yet another gaming console.
I have no segue here, but we were all very happy to hear that Skyrim Anniversary Edition is now available on Xbox in Japan. Congratulations everyone, Skyrim has now appeared at every TGS since 2010 in some form or another, probably.
Catch you tomorrow?
Steam Decks and a Skyrim-less TGS Averted
Steam had a massive lounge area with tables and bean bags where you could just spread out and play games on a Steam Deck. A wonderful idea, for lazy people. I was far too busy lining up for a weird Sonic game to disappear into a bean bag, but I would very much like to collapse there tomorrow and see if I need to buy yet another gaming console.
I have no segue here, but we were all very happy to hear that Skyrim Anniversary Edition is now available on Xbox in Japan. Congratulations everyone, Skyrim has now appeared at every TGS since 2010 in some form or another, probably.
Catch you tomorrow?
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