Tokyo Game Show 2025: Day Two+ Round-up

Tokyo Game Show continues into the weekend, but for me it's been over since Friday evening. On the industry days, I walked and I played until my feet hurt and my brain turned to mush. By Friday afternoon, if a demo required me to do more than move and attack, I was going to struggle!

I started Friday off with Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties, and then spent the rest of the day moving between demos with far less urgency. I'll be writing up several previews next week, so be sure to check back then.

For now, here are some random thoughts on day two and the show in general. You can find my day one round-up here. 

Out of the Loop

My grasp of what is or isn't popular in the world of video games lessens with each passing year, and TGS always hammers this home. Each year, I'm confused by vast booths and huge lines for games that I've never heard of, brought to you by developers and publishers I'm learning about for the first time. The number of mystery games and publishers increases year by year and I'm forced to accept that my areas of interest aren't representative of the public-at-large. One of this year's biggest stars was the "Chinese GTA", Ananta, which I was entirely ignorant of until this week. It had a considerable presence on the show floor and some of the longest lines across the industry days. Embarrassed by our lack of knowledge, I and many other attendees of a certain age sought comfort in familiar treats, such as the one we'll look at next.

Street Fighter 6 Continues to Dominate

Street Fighter 6 might be over two years old, but it was front and centre at TGS 2025. Capcom continues to demo the DLC updates, and I was able to spend time sampling C. Viper as well as the Switch 2 version and its gyro controls - C. Viper was great fun but I was far less convinced by the gyro mode. But it was the appearances away from the Capcom booth that ensured that SF6 rarely escaped your gaze. Several hardware companies were utilising it to show off their tech, with Samsung in particular running regular competitive games on their big screen. Tie-ins were everywhere, from furniture company Nitori to vehicle manufacturer Suzuki, who were showing off a very purple and very fast looking sports bike in the main foyer. And you couldn't take two steps in the merchandise hall without stumbling upon something Street Fighter related, usually SF2 or SF6. As a fan, albeit a casual one, I'm very happy about SF6's prolonged success and I hope I'll have reason to play it again at next year's show.

A Fat Chocobo

This is a fat Chocobo, and it was one of the most popular photo spots this year.  

A Nioh 3 T-shirt

Koei Tecmo's Nioh 3 demo came with two options. The first was a representative slice of gameplay, mixing story, run of the mill fights, and a boss battle. The second was focused on a single, challenging boss encounter. The second demo came with added incentive: if you could beat the boss within the 15-minute time limit you won an exclusive Nioh 3 t-shirt. Despite having never played a Nioh game outside of TGS demos, and being only a day removed from my shameful display of ineptitude on Ninja Gaiden 4, I was brimming with confidence and decided to go for the t-shirt! Utter hubris and a decision I instantly regretted! I dodged, I parried, I burned through every item in my possession, switched stances and weapons but I failed to last even 30 seconds in any of my attempts. I was obliterated. In my defence, I didn't see anyone else do better. I wonder how many t-shirts they'll get through across the four days? I wonder if they even bothered printing any?!

A Broken Brain and the Need to Sit

It was around 3 p.m. on day two when I hit my limit. I was tired, physically and mentally, dehydrated and overstimulated, and I just could not handle the basic inputs that DenshaAttack required of me. Jump, jump, drift; clear the debris twice with my train, then get around a tight corner. The jumps were easy enough, but the drift was beyond me. At first, my timing was off. Then, I started pressing the wrong buttons. Restart, restart, restart. By my last few attempts, I wasn't even clearing the rubble, just colliding into it, failing to register even an attempted jump. I ended up walking away, long before my allotted time ended. I took a break, grabbed a coffee, and spent the last ninety minutes of Friday playing more familiar games. I also instituted a seated-demo-only rule, to save my legs and avoid craning my neck to view screens situated on low tables. It's a good rule.

The Games 

As I've already mentioned, on Friday, I tried demos for Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties, Nioh 3, Street Fighter 6 and DenshaAttack. I also played and enjoyed Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road for the second year running. It was a different demo to 2024, but my main motivation was the very yellow rubber bracelet Level 5 was giving away to punters. I got a good way through Virtua Figher 5 Revo arcade at Samsung, playing the only way I know how: spamming buttons, slowly, as Shun Di. Also at Samsung, I tried Sonic Racing: Crossworlds. It's already out, but I was curious how it compares to the PS3 games and was encouraged by the zero-minute wait. I selected Kasuga Ichiban, obviously, and mostly enjoyed it, though there's a bit too much going on and I wasn't always sure what I was or wasn't in control of in regard to how the course layout unfolds. A little too hectic for its own good, perhaps? I played Once Upon a Katamari for a second time, in the hope that there was more to the demo than what I experienced on Thursday. Unfortunately, there wasn't, and I was done in less than five minutes - a poor demo for a game that I'm still very excited for. I tried Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, largely because the demo was seated, and then, near the very end of the day, I stumbled upon the Panzer Dragoon Zwei remake. I played it for five minutes and then headed straight for Capcom and one more go on Street Fighter 6, as I didn't want to end the day on such a massive downer.

My Filing Game is Strong

Everyone loves a plastic file! The Metal Gear Solid ones are prizes from the Delta lottery that started during TGS, but the others are from the show. It's nice to get something useful, and I still use a Dead Rising 2 file from TGS 2010 to store my Japanese study materials. Let's get organised!

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Hands-on previews for Pragmata, Yakuza Kiwami 3, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls and more will follow next week. As always, thanks for reading.