Today was a great day. I entered the streets of Manhattan's China Town, a place full of hidden gems. Woe and behold, I encountered an old fashioned arcade, fully featured with blaring DDR machines, crowds of spectators, the smell of cigarettes, four Street Fighter IV machines, one Tekken 6 machine, and Japanese-style Arcade Sticks.



Street Fighter IV was well worth the money, and it wasn't cheap. One dollar per play, with single-player machines linked together for multiplayer. While the arcade version lacked Sakura, Cammy, Fei Long, and Dan, I was still extremely impressed. Lacking the parry system of SF3, I was afraid this game would be too simple. Capcom has graced the game with surprisingly deep gameplay, packed with reversals, counters, and very nice looking super moves. I may have lost all three matches I had played, but I had a really good time, and I was vsing the local champion.



Tekken 6 is a very gorgeous game, even on arcades. It's definitely got the next-gen look, without the jaggies that usually come from arcade ports. The gameplay is spot on, pretty much the same as Tekken 5, except it seems like they took out the cheap dropkicking from 5. It feels a lot more balanced and technical, which should make for some excellent competitive play.

I'm pretty sure I'll be preordering both games for my 360, along with a couple of Japanese arcade sticks. They're both very good fighting games, and should allow me to show off my awesome skills on Xbox Live. Soul Calibur IV has nothing on these two.

If you guys would like to visit the arcade I went to, it's called Chinatown Fair, and the address is:

Chinatown Fair
8 Mott St
(between Chatham Sq & Mosco St)
New York, NY 10013

Alucard out.