Tekken 6 does not have an official U.S. arcade release as it has in the past (truly, a sign of the dying arcade scene in this country if even TEKKEN of all things, can't get a release here).
However, there is an arcade in Houston that imported the international version of the game. Hurray for the arcade players in Houston. Since I have been greatly anticipating this game for a loooong time, and since there is very little info on when the PS3 release will be, and since I live 3 hours away from Houston, I decided to make the trip to see the game in action. I really, really wanted to see T6 Jin (see, he's evil now, making him uber hot).
Quite a trip just to see a game, I know, but I still wanted to do it. Plus, Andrew was up for a road trip and willing to go with me.
So, a plot was hatched.
The arcade is called Planet Zero, and their website is mashharder.com. Their forums indicated that for their regular hours, on Fridays, they open at 12pm. There's another topic for summer hours, but since it's not summer, I decided to believe the first topic. You'll see that did not work out.
To Houston we went. I accidentally took an exit once we were on I-10, and that set us back about 10 minutes. Then we drove on I-10 smoothly for the next three hours. When we came closer to the exit in Houston, we were met with construction and traffic. From what I have heard from others, Houston's traffic is terrible. We missed the exit, but thanks to Andrew, we were able to find a way to get to the right streets to lead us to the arcade. Thankfully, the arcade is not too far into Houston at all.
When we drove up, all the lights were out, and I was saddened to see that the sign on their window said they opened at 1pm (not 12pm) on Fridays. Well, what's another hour, right? Plus, it gave us time to have lunch. We came back at 1, and they were still closed. I peaked inside and saw a light on the back, so I called and asked what their hours were. I was told 3pm. Oh, I was so mad! Why post info on hours if it's not even true!?! And on your own frickin' sign!? Grrrr!
We killed time by driving around the area and eventually found a Barnes & Noble to hang out at for a bit.
We arrived back at the arcade at 2:45pm. I could see some lights were on though it was still very dark inside. We mistakenly assumed that they were still closed. However, while waiting, two people walked out of the arcade. Still, I thought perhaps they worked there, and we took a stroll around the building to kill some time. When we came back, we opened the door and realized that they had actually been open the entire time. So...despite every piece of information given, NONE of it was true. Blah.
Finally, we got to see Tekken 6. I was a little disappointed since it was just one two-sided cabinet in standard def. No HD. No widescreen. And I had seen in pics and videos that this place has a large projector screen (with Tekken playing on it!), but no Tekken was on it then.
Awww.
Still, I wanted to enjoy what I could so took a seat to observe for a bit. I was eventually asked if I wanted to play and I declined, saying not yet, since I was honestly not sure. One of the reasons I had wanted to arrive early and before it opened was in the small off-chance, I could try the single-player mode. On an arcade stick, I might be able to get a win on the first match or two, but against other people...probably not. Since I still really wanted to see Jin, normal Jin (there was a Devil Jin player there dominating, w00t), I paid for a $10 card. The game cost 16 points per play, which came out to roughly over a dollar.
I was a giddy fangirl when on my first match, I saw one of Jin's new intro poses. I had to fight the Devil Jin player, and seeing how good he was against the others, I contented myself with a landed combo and some damage against him even though I lost horribly. I loaned the card to Andrew to play a couple of other games. He played KOF11 and Guilty Gear XX Accent Core. For my second match, I tried out Devil Jin and actually won a round or two, w00t (it was 3-out-of-5). Andrew and I would switch back and forth for using the card. He tried out Baek and then three of the four new characters (Miguel, Bob, and Leo, no Zafina). He said he really liked Miguel and Bob, Leo would take some getting used to. I accidentally selected Dragunov once, and that sucked. Feh! I wanted to play as Jin!
I actually got to see an intro pose all new to me that I hadn't seen on YouTube and hadn't heard about on TZ. The camera pans in on Jin's face, and he smirks without a word. I love his new suit for his 2P outfit and can tell I am going to play as him a lot more now. Hee hee!
We left around 5, which I really was weary of doing since that could mean terrible traffic, but we made it out okay.
I don't know what time it was, but it was after dark (and we were near Seguin), and when I was looking forward to dinner that the check engine light came on. I immediately panicked. We stopped so that I could try restarting and Andrew could at least look at the engine if there was any terribly obvious problem. There wasn't.
So, I nervously drove straight back home, putting dinner on hold and feeling generally stressed the whole way. We made it safely, much to my relief.
Andrew drove us somewhere for a late dinner, but unfortunately, we found a new dent on the side, towards the back, of his car.
We played a tiny bit of Tekken when we came back (only five matches) from dinner, and I went to bed not long after.
I took care of my car this morning, and thankfully, for now, things are in working order once again. Whew!
Too bad Houston's so far away, and just plain playing the game is so expensive...if it were at least closer, I would totally play more.
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