Tokyo Game Show 2026 - Day Two

TGS Day One

My Tokyo Game Show is done. As for attendees on the public days, their show is about to be cut short.

Monday, day five, has been cancelled, due to a typhoon that'll bring heavy rain and will likely cause extensive delays to public transport. I'm afraid Mother Nature doesn't respect our right to play a Monster Hunter demo in September.

There was no danger of me going on Monday, or Saturday-Sunday for that matter. I have had my fill of the TGS hustle and bustle and desperately need to put my feet up and eat some vegetables. I made the most of my two days in attendance, and on Friday was able to fit in most of what I missed on day one. That included Crazy Taxi World Tour, Ace Combat 8, Professor Layton & The World of Steam, Cybernetic Attack Final Mission and Star Wars Galactic Racer, which is made by ex-Criterion devs. Can't go wrong with that Burnout pedigree!

Day two was just as crowded as opening day, and I was shocked by how many lines were essentially shut down within the opening hour, once all tickets had been allocated; demos with old-fashioned queuing systems quickly broke out the "Restricted Entry" signs. 

Crazy Taxi World Tour

My fifteen minutes with Crazy Taxi World Tour flew by. During my hands-on, I was given free roam of one very European-looking city, and was encouraged to not only pick up fares, but also explore and take on special missions. These included catapulting a wing-suited daredevil out of my car and showing an alien how to drive dangerously. There were also special events littered across the map, including Slalom, which tasks you with drifting through gates, and Getaway, where you have limited time to drive as far away as possible.

World Tour feels like a continuation of Sega's late-90s to early-2000s brand of arcade excellence. It looks the part, with its bright colours and striking visual design; it sounds the part too, with at least some of the original soundtrack being retained. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah etc. On top of that, it controls just right - the taxi is agile, but not too agile, and it bounces off the scenery in just the way you'd want it to. Boosting and drifting is a requirement, if you want to get your passengers to their destination on time, and the sense of speed is convincing. However, it can feel slow when you're stuck between boosts, especially on straight roads that don't present opportunities to drift.

 

World Tour retains the spirit of the original Crazy Taxi, and my interest is now guaranteed.

Clouds

The best Cloud at TGS 2026 was not to be found at Square Enix, starring in the Final Fantasy VII Revelation demo. No, the best clouds were the ones you fly through in Ace Combat 8. I'm only being slightly hyperbolic when I say they were probably the most impressive things I saw on either day! They are perfectly cotton-wool-like and they glisten lustrously - as you fly through them, dew builds up on the screen and momentarily hinders your view. Beautiful clouds! This was my first time playing an AC of any description, and I was pretty impressed.  And I did myself proud, easily outdoing the other attendees whose demo started at the same time as mine. Perhaps I missed my calling as a fighter ace? Anyway, 10/10 clouds.

Professor Layton & The World of Making Me Look Thick

I absolutely sucked at this demo. Within ten seconds of the first puzzle beginning, I realised I was not in the right frame of mind and that my brain had been fried from two days of audio and visual overload. The first task required little more than counting shapes, but it almost had me in tears. I burned through the hints, the first of which was essentially "just count the fucking shapes, you moron" though it was phrased in a slightly more formal manner and probably didn't say "fuck". My brain continued to misfire during the second puzzle, which was just matching shapes, and I think I blacked out during the third task. I struggled to understand the set-up, as the wording was very odd. I know Level 5 loves to use AI, but I would hope they aren't relying on it for scripting instructions! I was eventually provided with the solution, and it turns out that it was a trick question, and I was approaching it incorrectly. I was furious as the demo came to a close, though I quickly cheered up when I was handed a Layton-branded, faux-leather mouse mat. All forgiven, maybe?

Stuff I Don't Need but Was Very Happy to Receive

I scanned some QR codes and feigned interest in a Suzuki truck and motorbike so that I could take home the delightful Blanka cushion pictured above. I wanted a sheet of Konami stickers, which I thought were a gift for visitors to a mini-exhibition, but it turns out you had to earn your prize by solving a puzzle, the clues to which were hidden among the exhibits. Upon learning this, I angrily screwed up my answer sheet and stormed off like a big baby! The aforementioned Layton mouse mat improved my mood, and I can't wait to pay in my Crazy Taxi dollars at the bank.

Apparently, it's not just me who enjoys free merch. Despite a demo having been available on the PS Store for over a week, the lines for Final Fantasy Resonance were among the longest on the show floor, largely because SE was handing out a smart looking Famicom-style game box and a trading card to anyone who played the demo. If you want to pull in the crowds, make sure they are going to leave with something nice!

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I'm going to put my feet up now and probably play a video game. But don't worry, I will be posting more on TGS 2026 in the coming days, including my hands-on impressions of Final Fantasy VII Revelation and Stranger Than Heaven. Speak soon.