Encountering the STG Masters : Game Center Tales

Family Japan holiday by day, Gēmusentā shmup life dissident by night. October 2024. Embarking out into the unseasonably hot evening air and city glow, descending into steamy twisting subway labyrinths to find lasting bastions of ancient technology hidden in the corners of the metropolis night. Here are the stories.

On my first night in Osaka I saw a master. Tatsujin Oh unraveled before him, a string of extra ships hung at the top of the screen, more than I had ever seen. His movements so practiced, such quiet skill as he made his way unerringly through this gauntlet of deadly Toaplan booby traps.

Seeing someone like this you can’t help but fall into a position like that of the young samurai Katsushirō from Kirosawa’s Seven Samurai, reduced to boyish adoration and the desperate desire to become apprenticed to them. They exude such unassuming control, to be so humble while having such capability.

At one point he simply set up his ship in a safespot, set it to auto fire, stood up, left the arcade to answer some messages on his phone. He returned later and merely settled back into the flow - returning like master swordsman Kyūzō, simply wrapping himself up to sleep after engaging in a covert mission and capturing two of the enemy's firearms.

All the while you sit at the next machine along try to pay attention to the credit you sunk on Mushihimesama, hoping that he doesn’t get disturbed by the waves of awe emanating off you.

On my final night in Japan I met one more. I arrived at the arcade to find someone using the Dodonpachi machine, small framed, still in business suit from the day. At first I was a bit annoyed - I had been using DDP as a warmup and had it in my head that that was what I was going to do first, now I had to change my plan. But then I stopped. It was clear that he was a master. I and another who came upstairs stood back and watched as he made his way through the first and second loops.

It was beautiful to see - I couldn’t help but smile at each nuanced tactic (some of which I have tried at home and of course failed to recreate due to not understanding in full the technique required).

This time he got caught up at Hibachi and sunk a another credit to get a bit further, to merely have the experience, the training - it felt very humble. Unsuccessful overall, he inscribed his name as simply AAA.

Turning he was abashed to find the two of us had been watching him. In my remembering he reaches up to rub the back of his head in that embarrassed pose that is often seen in anime. He was so in the zone I don't think he realised anyone was in the room at all. Language barrier and awe meant I only managed to garble a ‘subarashi - arigato’ before digging through my pocket for a ¥100 that would in no way be as well spent.

I can’t help but project these individuals as like the Twilight Samurai, during the day with their bureaucratic persona, but in the evening their true skill quietly becomes visible. Their reserved demeanor, their diligent attention to their work being a mask for their ability to deftly control a blade that can cut through the demons that awake on the electric screens of the floating world.

One day I hope to meet another master in the flesh.

Please teach me, I still have so much to learn.

_DYR