Well frienders, made it back from my longest session at the Seattle Gameworks. About 3 hours spent in there, and it wasn't enough to get through about 120 credits on my card (I originally planned for 100 for 20 bucks, but paid an extra 2 dollars for an additional 20). Left the place with about 40 credits remaining, which will be nice when I start my monthly Bemani regiment at that place.
Played way more arcade games than usual, including ones I had not gotten to in previous visits. Tried the Ghost Squad cabinet, but for some reason the sensitivity on the sensors of one of the guns was fucked up and bouncing all over the place. Still managed to get through one of the levels fine, but it was rather annoying. Too Spicy was still hell of fun, despite remaining terrible at it, and HOTD 4, Hydro Thunder, and Daytona 2 were good times.
For rhythm games, I ended up playing the usual ones at least two or three times. I'm still not good enough to get through a Nonstop playlist in DDR Extreme (that's four songs in a row with no breaks in between), though I kept practicing on Drummania and Pop'n Music. Also more DJMax Technika Tune and I even tried some Taiko Drum Master. Although for that game, I don't know if it was me or the player 2 side, but the right sensor on the drum wasn't being super responsive. Still a good time as always, even though most of the other games I tried I found some control issues with which were unfortunate. I'll just be doubling down harder on the rhythm games from now on.
Pop'n and Taiko actually gave me a couple instances to talk with some people while playing. There was one guy that was frequently playing Pop'n Music during the time I was there and he was good enough to unlock Extra Stage during challenge mode. Talked briefly with him about the game and tips for getting better (as well as how fucking nuts IIDX is by comparison for beginners). One of my Taiko sessions had us playing the Legend of Zelda theme, which a girl nearby wearing a Wind Waker Link shirt got super excited when she heard it.
Fun fact, both Pop'n Music 14 Fever and Taiko Drum Master 9 have a Super Mario Bros music arrangement that is the exact same in both games. Starts with the overworld music, then underworld, then starman theme, back to underworld, followed by sped up overworld theme and ending with the level clear music. It was kinda surreal.
Seattle Gameworks continues to be good fun, especially when there's a crowd going in the evening, since there's at least one cabinet of interest that is available to play if one is currently occupied. It's the good kind of crowded, compared to other places like a restaurant. Speaking of which, I discovered that there was a Cheesecake Factory right across the street from the arcade, and I considered going there for a slice of cheesecake. But then I saw the crowds inside and was like "fuck that shit" and that was about the time I decided to catch the bus back to Redmond.
Anyway, that's my big excursion for the last day of 2014 out of the way, tell me what I missed in the last ten pages you nerds.
