About 20 years ago BandaiNamco released the first arcade game in the Idolmaster series. These games are about raising ‘idols’ (cute pop stars) and have become their own industry, with more than 20 games in this series alone. This is the latest one:
This was released about two months ago, and it has a strong presence in Japanese arcades right now. The place I took the above photo (Namco arcade in Nakano) had about ten machines. Here’s a closeup of the controls:
Six buttons, four sliders and three switches! The game has two modes: a rhythm game and an idol-producing game. It costs ¥200 a go, which is expensive, but from what I’ve seen in arcades the cabs seem popular.
I’ll add that this series is all but unknown outside of Japan, and I don’t believe any of the arcade installments have ever been translated into English. Perhaps this is due to the theme, or perhaps it’s because they use IC cards, which is a technology that American arcades (which have mostly devolved into ticket redemption rooms) never embraced.
This game looks extremely complex, and I haven’t yet played it. In addition to the price, the two game types and the intimidating controls it even has a card collection system! Instruction leaflets are available near the cabs in the arcade, and inside we can see there are 94 different cards available:
These are IC cards and you can see the scanner in the photo of the controls above. When scanned, the cards do things like change the idols outfits or their phrases when they perform. Note also that this game has some male idols too, so everyone can enjoy it 🙂
If you get a card you don’t need or already have, the arcades have these little boxes you can use for trade. The idea is put yours in and take one out that another player has left. It’s an honour system, which of course still works here. These sorts of trading boxes are common for all IC-card games, and arcades usually have a half-dozen or more.
As I said this series is a phenomenon, and in one of the arcades I visited yesterday I found a binder containing…
‘Producer cards’! These are faux business cards created by players. The cards contain social media contact info and which idols they usually use in the game. The idea is that you make these as if the idols are real and you’re their real-life producer. Then you exchange these with other players to build community. The binder was full of these – hundreds of them! – and it’s obvious the ‘Vol 1’ on the cover was not optimistic.
Recently KLS and I were talking about aspects of Japanese culture I’d be more into if we lived here, and arcade culture probably tops that list. I’d love to get ‘into’ one of these game series heavily – although probably not this one – to the extent I interacted with all this periphery in the arcades. A man can dream 🙂