Arcade Station Episode 2 (English Version)

Episode 02: First Gathering!! -Night of Knights-

Ward became speechless once he stared at community members who gathered in the hub, talking any random topics, such as rhythm games, other games from Japan, anime and movie spoilers.

Ward took his phone and opened LINE app, having no idea which topic should he talk about as he waited for his turn playing Maimai. Unfortunately, only few were online and typed chat messages recently.

“Damn, I don’t know what to do…,” Ward said.

“Hi.” Toshi patted Ward’s shoulder, surprising him.

“Eh?!” Ward exclaimed.

“You came here few days ago, right? I’m Toshi,” Toshi introduced himself.

“Ward. Nice to meet you,” Ward replied.

“Luckily I remembered I saw you playing Maimai with Onii-chan!”

“Onii-chan? So Dave is your brother?”

“Not, he’s not.”

“Not? Then why you’re calling him Onii-chan?”

Toshi answered, “Because I want to. I asked Dave few months ago, whether he wanted to be my Onii-chan, finally he said yes. Since then, I called him Onii-chan.” He stared at BlazBlue cabinets. “Oh yeah, you play BlazBlue too, don’t you?”

“Sure. By the way, BlazBlue cabinets are empty, right?” Ward asked.

Ward immediately walked to one of the Blazblue cabinets. He sat down in front of the cabinet after taking out his game card and Nesica ID Card (ID Card for games using NESYS system) from his wallet. Those BlazBlue cabinets had been updated to the latest version, BlazBlue: Central Fiction.

Once the game started, Ward decided to use Ragna the Bloodedge character, the red robed and white haired guy who was also BlazBlue’s main character. He chose Act 3 to begin the gameplay. His first opponent was Arakune.

“The Wheel of Fate is Turning! Rebel one, Action!” It was the signature line before beginning every stage in BlazBlue.

Ward quickly pressed every single button to attack using Ragna the Bloodedge’s signature skills. He immediately beat his first opponent, Arakune, easily. Toshi was impressed seeing Ward beating Arakune easily using Ragna the Bloodedge.

“Awesome!!” Toshi exclaimed.

“Eh, he’s playing BlazBlue,” Aishiro greeted after meeting them.

“Yes,” Ward replied.

“Wow!” Aishiro watched Ward beating his second opponent, Platinum the Trinity.

Minute by minute, some other members of Movement Rhythm Community also watched Ward playing BlazBlue: Central Fiction, Ward quickly won every single stage before finally reaching the eighth and final stage.

In the eighth and final stage, Ward was facing the boss of Act 3 which he had chosen using Ragna the Bloodedge, Amane Nishiki. Few members of Movement Rhythm Community who were watching Ward facing the boss stage became anxious whether he successfully completed Ragna the Bloodedge’s Act 3.

 “The Wheel of Fate is Turning! Rebel one, ACTION!”

Ward started the batlle slowly, his opponent had given his character damage in the beginning. He immediately pushed every single button to use Ragna the Bloodedge’s skills.

Despite slow start, Ward used his character’s Astral to beat his opponent, he finally finished the stage with “ASTRAL FINISH”. All memebrs of Movement Rhythm Community who watched him finally cheered.

A short hair boy who wore glasses told all the members, “Gather round in front of Maimai! Immediately!”

“That was awesome! You beat every single opponent in no time!” Toshi praised.

Ward was shy receiving the praise. “Not really. I just use my skill that I learned from playing BlazBlue. Oh, Dave hasn’t come, has he?”

“Not yet,” Aishiro answered. “We better gather in front of Maimai.”

“C’mon!” Ward agreed after seeing his data was saved on BlazBlue cabinet’s screen.

***

All members of Movement Rhythm Community who had gathered sat down whether in the white floor or yellow bench facing Maimai cabinet, talking about random stuffs since there were two players who played the final stage of the game. In that stage, the song that was played was Night of Knights, one of “Touhou Project” category songs.

Ward asked Toshi, “You know what this song’s title is? It’s pretty catchy.”

“Night of Knights.” Toshi read the song title that was shown from the Maimai cabinet’s top screen. “I don’t really know, Onii-chan knows.”

“Touhou is anime, isn’t it? Why every single music video and the artwork is almost always animation?” Ward concluded.

“I have no idea either,” Aishiro answered.

“You’re that new member, right? May I introduce myself?” asked the Chinese faced guy.

“Ward.”

“Hans.” The guy asked, “Since when you play Maimai?”

“About four months, after I got bored with Dance Dance Revolution and GuitarFreaks. Too bad those games were dropped by Arcade Station.”

Hans nodded, “The lack of players contributed to the factor why they’re dropped. The regular players want the latest version of the games, too bad the latest version is required to get online, if not, the game will not run.”

“What else you play, Hans?” Ward asked again.

“A lot, mostly rhythm games. In here, I play Maimai and Groove Coaster, I also play DJMAX Technika 3, but it’s rarely.”

Ward guessed, “Its’ server was discontinued so you’re rarely playing that?”

“Yes. It’s my favorite game though.”

“That’s a bummer. DJMAX Technika 3 is already offline?” asked Aishiro.

Ward replied, “Actually DJMAX Technika 3 here is connected to the private server.”

In fact, DJMAX Technika 3’s server was closed down in 2013 due to internal conflicts between the developers which caused the disbandment. Due to lack of final update to unlock all online-only playable songs, almost all previously loyal players as if thought DJMAX Technika 3 was never released.

However, because of Arcade Station’s effort, they were able to connect the game to the private server in order to stay online. Slowly, few loyal players still played that game despite just once.

Most of the players who previously played DJMAX Technika 3 had drifted to the other rhythm games such as Maimai and Groove Coaster. Obviously updated contents, like J-Pop, anime, Vocaloid, Touhou Project, and other game crossover songs kept the players playing.

“So, you’re playing Technika 3 too?” asked Aishiro.

“Yeah, but I don’t have the ID card,” Ward answered.

Toshi also replied, “It’s already gone.”

“I borrowed from my friend,” Hans replied. “Speaking about Dance Dance Revolution, maybe Arcade Station employees don’t understand the online system for Konami’s rhythm games. By the way, Konami’s rhythm games collection is also known as BEMANI franchise. Here’s the deal, the game center who offered Konami’s games actually didn’t buy them from the distributor, instead, they rent.”

“Eh? So, the game center that has DDR is actually renting the cabinets?” Ward repeated.

Toshi shook his head. “I don’t understand. In that case, Dance Evolution Arcade is also included on BEMANI, right? But, why they don’t drop it too?”

“There you go, players’ demand,” Hans replied. “Actually. it was Dance Evolution Arcade who came out years before Danz Base. But since Danz Base filled with K-Pop and English songs, the players chose Danz Base more instead of Dance Evolution.”

Ward nodded. “It’s true recently Korean culture is getting more popular than Japanese, it’s shown from PIU (Pump it Up) and Danz Base’s popularity here.”

“Hi, sorry I’m late.” Dave finally arrived greeting them.

“Dave, where have you been?” Aishiro asked.

“Group assignment. Luckily I’m not late for the gathering.”

Toshi laughed. “Haha, Onii-chan.”

“May I have your attention, please!” A short hair boy who wore glasses faced all members who sat in front of him.

Dave introduced, “It’s Ian, the leader.”

“Oh yeah, I saw his profile picture on Facebook,” Ward added.

“Everyone, I’m truly happy you came here for the gathering, even though only 60 of 101 members who come. Clap your hands for yourself please!” Ian greeted.

“He also plays Maimai well?” asked Ward.

“Not only Maimai, but also Groove Coaster,” Dave replied.

In that gathering, nothing much to talk, just speaking about the latest music and updates from the rhythm games, and most importantly, the group’s cash money. For most members, it was not necessary to speak about the group’s cash.

Hans later invited after Ian ended the gathering of the day, “Ward, you want to eat some sushi downstairs? The others want to get to know you too”

“Alright, sure. Dave, Aishiro, and Toshi also come?”

“Sushi! Obviously, I come too!”

“Darn you, haha,” Aishiro told.

“By the way, the sushi restaurant downstairs has a great price,” Dave added.

“Eh?! Really?” Ward exclaimed.

“We only pay for the sushi that we wanted.”

“Okay.” Ward nodded.

***

“Looks delicious!” Toshi and Ward got excited seeing good looking sushi available in the restaurant.

“Remember, pay for your meal by yourself,” Hans reminded.

“Eh?!” Toshi got disappointed. “Onii-chan, pay for me.”

Dave refused, “No.”

“Ah…,” Toshi complained.

“Hans!” A curly haired guy with thick beard greeted.

“Who, he looked…,” Ward told.

“Eh, don’t say that!!” the guy warned. “I’m still going to college.”

Hans introduced the man to Ward, “Ward, this is Don, he’s also play rhythm games fairly well, so far only Maimai and Groove Coaster. He also likes anything related to Touhou Project.”

Toshi added, “No wonder I often see him playing Touhou songs in Maimai and Groove Coaster.”

“You eat sushi here too?” asked a fairly chubby guy who arrived.

“Absolutely,” Dave answered after taking his sushi that he wanted to eat.

“Onii-chan, please, pay for brother’s meal,” Toshi requested.

“Toshi….” Aishiro laughed.

“Oh yeah, Hans, I would like to ask. You also made a campaign to Arcade Station. So, they could offer BEMANI games to the players, right? I remember you told in LINE group about the campaign,” Ward told.

Hans replied after picking the sushi, “It’s true. But I also got helped by the other rhythm game communities, especially from the fans of the games itself. If the campaign got successful, we could enjoy all BEMANI games in Arcade Station, especially the latest version of DDR and GitaDora (GuitarFreaks and DrumMania). But we also want Beatmania IIDX and Sound Voltex.”

“Whoa, if the campaign success, Arcade Station can have those games, especially the latest version of DDR,” Ward repeated.

“Ward, you’re really great playing BlazBlue,” the chubby guy praised in Southern-like accent.

“Not ready, um….”

 “Ed.”

“Hi, Ed, it’s really nice to meet you,” Ward greeted.

“You’re done picking the sushi, Ward?” Hans asked.

“Yeah. We just pay for them, right?”

“Let’s eat!” Toshi got excited after he, Dave, and Aishiro each put a sushi platter of their choice on the table facing a womenswear outlet.

“It’s cheap, we only pay per one sushi,” added Aishiro.

Dave laughed, “I told you.”

Hans asked to Ward after sitting next to them, “There’s a BlazBlue: Central Fiction competition soon. You’re registering?”

Ward nodded. “Already, I registered when you were all not coming the day before gathering. I saw the announcement through the social media after playing BlazBlue. So I asked the cashier to register.”

“Good luck for the competition, Bro! We’re rooting for you!” Dave said.

“Okay! Thank you!” Ward replied.

***

MOVEMENT RHYTHM COMMUNITY (101)

Ian Hunter

TFT all! (7:43 PM)

Xephyr

TFT for who came to Arcade Station earlier! (7:44 PM)

Toshiyuki Ryuzaki

Oh ya, Ward is entering BlazBlue Central Fiction competition soon. (7:45 PM)

Amy Kavanagh

Eh? Really? (7:45 PM)

Already saw Ward playing the game, hehe. (7:45 PM)

Eh, I’m entering the dance competition this Wednesday in the City Hall. (7:46 PM)

Toshiyuki Ryuzaki

Awesome, Amy! (7:46 PM)

Xephyr

Woo!! Good luck, Amy! (7:46 PM)

Toshiyuki Ryuzaki

We’re rooting for you, Amy!! (7:47 PM)

Dave Scott

I’m retiring from Danz Base. (7:48 PM)

The updates are getting absurd. (7:48 PM)

Aishiro Daichi

You mean, you’re quiting playing Danz Base, Dave? (7:49 PM)

Don Parrish

Lucky, I haven’t played Danz Base. (7:49 PM)

There’s no Touhou songs. (7:49 PM)

Dave Scott

No more J-Pop and anime songs on Danz Base. (7:50 PM)

Would rather focus on Maimai, Groove Coaster, and Dance Evolution. (7:50 PM)

Hopefully Dance Evolution get online soon. (7:51 PM)