Tokyo Game Show 2023: Day One Round-up

I'm attending Tokyo Game Show on September 21st and 22nd, covering it here and on Twitter

Day One of Tokyo Game Show 2023 is over, and it was a good one.

It's late, but let's bang out some words.

1. Games

TGS was back to it's four-hall sprawl, following a smaller event last year. I queued, I sweated, I played games, and I barely even left the main area. Too many games, and nowhere near enough time to get to all of them.

I got through both Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demos - a mixed bag, but a positive overall - and I also played Like a Dragon Gaiden and Infinite Wealth, both of which were delightful. I was surprised to learn that Gaiden will be a day-one Game Pass release, which was announced during the Xbox TGS stream. Congrats to Xbox, congrats to me, and commiserations to Amazon who'll be losing my PS5 pre-order. I also got to Sonic Superstars (good), Dragon's Dogma 2 (good) and The Metal Gear Solid Collection (great games, half-arsed update?).

Speaking of Metal Gear Solid......

2. Metal Gear Solid

The wait for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 maxed out at a massive 300 minutes, at which point the line was closed. In my two decades of attending TGS, I've never seen anything like that. It came way down later in the day, probably because they ran out of free t-shirts, which is when I gave it a go.

Honestly, the game was the least interesting part of the demo set-up. There was MGS branding all over the show floor, familiar soundbites playing through the hall, a mini MGS exhibition, and exclamation mark hats being handed out to attendees. I've missed Metal Gear Solid, and it was wonderful having it back at TGS. Back where it belongs.

3. Final Fantasy 100 

The word is that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth had 100 demo stations. I didn't count them, but I absolutely believe it. There were a shitload of available demo set-ups, and the wait time didn't seem to go much above an hour, despite the high level of interest. Fast approaching thirty years, and VII is still pulling in the punters. Here are some new toys for your eyes:

4. Red XIII's Growl

His mid-battle growl sounds like Alan Partridge being a little scary monster. If you don't know what that sounds like, the link may help you. It was very funny to me, and maybe five other people at TGS today.

5. A Sonic T-shirt

While I queued for the Sonic Superstars demo, I noticed that the booth attendees were wearing a very snazzy Sonic t-shirt. Some of them wore it a little baggy and over-sized - sack-like over jeans. Far from flattering, but the vibrant colours of the graphic jumped out, in contrast to the muted cream of the rest of the shirt. More daring staff members wore it as a tantalizing crop top, hiked up to their chest, rolled up like something Rocky and Apollo might wear while doing sprints on the beach; navel bared for all to see. I wondered if I, Matt, could get that t-shirt, and if I could wear it rolled up to my tits.

Turns out that yes, I could. If you showed a receipt proving that you'd pre-ordered Sonic Superstars, you could claim said t-shirt for free. I dutifully pre-ordered it on Amazon - I may keep it, I may cancel it - and got my beautiful t-shirt. I then told friends, who did the same. Now we all have the shirt, and it basically made our day.

Because who doesn't like a free t-shirt?

6. Don't Worry, Be Happy

This was the first year that I used his blog as my main justification for my press pass application. I'm not doing any freelance work for larger websites or magazines this time around. This blog is well established (thirteen-mother-fucking-years), well-liked by those in the know, and well-curated, but it's never pulled in many visitors, so I was a little worried that I might get rejected at the door. I should've had more faith. A cursory glance was all the door-staff gave my business cards and ticket - another year, another press pass OK'd. 

Good. I sometimes question my presence at TGS, but I and all the other people who toil away at their blogs, newsletters, podcasts, social media etc. deserve to be there. We might not have the reach of the big sites, or even the small sites for that matter, but our words do carry weight to the people who are listening.

Also, some of us have excellent Sonic t-shirts that we might roll up to our tits, so we 100% need to be at TGS

7. Tomorrow

More games, obviously. I'll head straight for the MGS Collection demo when the doors open, assuming the free t-shirts are available again. Fifteen minutes of Snake Eater is a glorious way to start any day. I might seek out a couple of other demos in the main hall, but I expect I'll spend most of the day in the indie and merchandise area, which I didn't visit today. Say hello if you see me, yeah?

In-depth, hands-on impressions will follow in the coming days. I'll continue to post on-the-spot impressions on Twitter.