Properly, that’s one other Tokyo Recreation Present within the books. The 2023 present was my ninth time attending the Tokyo Recreation Present, and my eighth masking it for TouchArcade. I’m beginning to really feel the years, my associates. Fortunately, my son has been attending the present with me for the previous couple of years as TouchArcade’s stalwart cameraman. Having him with me retains me from slacking off an excessive amount of, regardless of how drained I’d get. Anyway, as I normally do, I’m ending off my protection for this yr with a few of my common ideas on the present and what attending it was like.
I usually say there are solely two kinds of climate for Tokyo Recreation Present: very extremely popular, or very very hurricane. This yr, it appeared just like the climate couldn’t determine. It was fairly scorching, and it additionally rained a bit all through the day I used to be there. The trains had been additionally working late, which meant that for the primary time ever in my historical past of masking the Tokyo Recreation Present, I wasn’t there for the opening. Properly, I suppose issues occur. We didn’t are available in too late, at the least. On-time sufficient to attain some restricted objects on the merch space for a sure pal, which was the necessary factor. Upon arriving at Makuhari Messe, the large venue that Tokyo Recreation Present makes use of every year, it was simple to see issues had modified quite a bit from the earlier yr.
Japan took just a little bit longer to get again to regular after the peak of the COVID pandemic when in comparison with most Western international locations. Because of this, final yr’s Tokyo Recreation Present was quite a bit smaller than ordinary. It didn’t fill out the total house of Makuhari Messe, not by a protracted shot. The indie space was small and had a variety of areas put aside with indicators apologizing that the developer couldn’t find yourself attending. The crowds had been quite a bit sparser, and you can truly line up for a giant recreation and never spend half the day within the queue. Everybody was masked up, and there was a bottle of sanitizer on nearly each flat floor across the present.
This yr? For higher or worse, it was enterprise as ordinary. Makuhari Messe was stuffed to the bursting level, with among the meals distributors pressured to arrange exterior as a result of there simply wasn’t a lot room left in the principle halls. There have been tons of individuals round, and it was simple to see that the lifting of journey restrictions was a part of the rejuvenation of the crowds. The Tokyo Recreation Present was in tough form the primary time I got here again in 2009, and it’s wonderful to see simply how vibrant it’s these days.
As for the video games themselves? It was fascinating to see cell gaming making a little bit of a comeback with the large exhibitors. Lately I’ve discovered extra of curiosity within the indie space than the among the many large corporations, however this yr it was the other. Not many cell video games in any respect within the indie space, however there was rather a lot to see in the principle areas. All in all, it felt like there was a very good stability of the totally different gaming markets on the present. Numerous console video games, numerous laptop video games, and many cell video games. The combination is a bit totally different yearly, and it’s uncommon to see issues as balanced as they had been this yr.
It’s turn out to be a little bit of a working joke every year that after I end the present I swear up and down that it will likely be my final. I get older, I’m getting extra exhausted extra rapidly, and I don’t suppose it’s any secret to common readers that my well being has been in a bizarre place for some time. There’ll come a day after I can’t deal with masking the Tokyo Recreation Present, and I do know it. However I’ve determined that so long as I can cowl it, I’ll. So I’ll say with some certainty, and hopefully this isn’t a flag of some form, that I will likely be on the 2024 Tokyo Recreation Present. I simply knocked on a lot wooden. Overlaying this present every September has turn out to be a part of my routine for the yr, and as a lot as I pay the value for going, I feel I ought to wish to stick with it.
In abstract, the 2023 Tokyo Recreation Present was a stellar return to type after a couple of uncommon years. There have been a variety of nice video games to see, numerous fascinating sights to soak up, and many methods to blow your money and time for those who had been trying to. Overlaying it was a variety of work, however it was immensely satisfying to be doing it once more for all of you. I ponder what we’ll see at subsequent yr’s present? I’ll begin marking the times on the calendar, associates.
Take a look at all of our protection from this yr’s Tokyo Recreation Present:
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