Arcade UFO

We had a lot of fun with our first Pop’n Music Tournament! 11 Contestants entered for a heated Bemani battle, and the Top 3 were:

1) Ikki
2) JonZ
3) Rico

Ikki won a Beatmania IIDX figure which he gracefully returned to Arcade UFO to give away for the next Pop’n Music Tournament. JonZ and Rico both took home Pop’n Music character plushies! Thanks to everyone who joined us!

Full results can be downloaded in Excel format right here!:

Pop’n Music Full Results (XLS)

I think we were due for something like this . . . big thanks to Ikki, our Japanese Bemani prodigy, for putting the rules together!  He will be co-hosting the event with UFO!

See the FULL rule set along with Ikki’s Youtube Walkthrough after the jump!

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Next Saturday, June 12th, we discover who is currently the best Super Street Fighter in Texas.  Making its re-debut in our tournament circuit is Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, and regular titles Blazblue: Continuum Shift and Gundam vs Gundam Next.

Thanks to Pozerwolf again for the cool banner!

Oh, and just to clarify for anyone that hasn’t had a chance to make it out lately:  you don’t need to bring any pads or joysticks from home.  Super Street Fighter 4 is installed in high-definition arcade cabinets.

Someone posted a gallery on a forum recently featuring excellent picture collections of  Tokyo’s most famous arcades, many of which have been visited personally by UFO’s owners and a staff member.  These kinds of places were inspiration for Arcade UFO, so check it out and see how amazing (and large!) some of these places really are.  We’re a little smaller (OK, a lot smaller) but thankful that we can replicate even a little bit of this!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcharlie/collections/72157624007899446/

Source: arcadeotaku.com

The long-anticipated sequel to Street Fighter 4 is finally out, and fighting game fans have surely sacrificed countless hours of sleep this week just to get in that one last game.  Unfortunately, the net-code is still wonky like its vanilla cousin and the Internet has a long ways to go before catching up with our perfectionist needs.  Come play it at UFO now and face the strongest competition in the region offline with no lag, no excuses.  Get feedback on how to improve from our knowledgeable staff and clientele, and enjoy Street Fighter the way it was meant to be played:  in the arcade.

Come one, come all . . . don’t miss the last important event at Arcade UFO for Street Fighter 4 and more before Super Street Fighter 4 drops everywhere on April 27th!

SXSW has officially been unleashed in Austin, and between all the madness, it’s time for some updates.  Oh, and if you’re visiting, you should probably swing by since we’re the only Japanese Arcade you might ever see in your life.  We’re only 2 miles from downtown, so no excuses!

First of all, we’re running our big shebang Street Fighter 4 event on Saturday, April 17th.  Check out the thread on shoryuken.com now!  The main tournament will be 3v3, and will also feature a special 5v5 exhibition to determine just which city in the Southwest is the hardest of core.  This is going to be the last tournament before Super Street Fighter 4 drops on April 27th, so anybody who’s anybody will be here.  Don’t be a stranger.

The latest gossip has been about the new arcade games gracing the aUFO floor pretty soon, so allow me to share that scoop as well.  We’re bringing over another crate from Japan via boat which is going to include two titles, one of which has been very heavily requested.  The shipment should be touching home base in about six weeks, so our goal is to have them on the floor by early May.

Pop’n Music 17 – The Movie

Pop’n Music is another long-running series from Bemani, Konami’s music game division focusing on titles like Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania IIDX.  Pop’n Music 17 – The Movie features over 60 songs including tracks from Japanese TV and Anime, record labels and Konami originals!  Every new Pop’n Music title features a theme for the eccentric on-screen characters, and this one sports a movie theme!  Fitting for a city with such a strong independent film community, no?

Obligatory video below of some guy who is way better at the game than you (don’t worry, it’s not always this crazy–but it can be):

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Wangan Midnight: Maximum Tune 3 DX Plus

Wangan Midnight: Maximum Tune 3DX Plus (henceforth: WMMT) is the brand new update to Namco’s Japanese car based versus-style racer.  Those of you who have been around for a while might remember when Einstein’s Arcade brought the first Wangan Midnight to Austin in 2003.  The series has definitely come a long way since then, now featuring car customization out the wazoo via an optional data card and an insane line-up of import cars.  As you may have guessed, the focus of WMMT is on drifting which is a must for racing on Japan’s narrow and curvy roads!

This new “Plus” update adds two cars to the line-up: Nissan GT-R (R35) 2007 and Nissan Skyline GT-R (KPGC10) 1970

For the full vehicle line-up, check the Wiki here and visit the Wangan Midnight Expressway forums to learn more about the game!

Next month is going to be so rad, but we live in the present.  This week, more Spring Break & SXSW craziness is a definite.  Don’t stop practicing . . .

There’s no doubt about it–Gundam vs Gundam: Next is the most intricate iteration yet of the long-running arcade series.  Arcade UFO is the only arcade in the United States with this insanely popular Japanese title.  Not only do we run it in its 2-versus-2 player glory with four full game cabinets, but it’s now also the most valuable play-per-credit in the entire world.

Most Japanese arcades operate this title at 100 yen ($1.11) per play, with select arcades running it at 50 yen (56 cents) per play.  We have lowered the price on Gundam vs Gundam: Next to 50 cents, which means you’re paying over 50% less on average than those chumps in the Far East.

What are you waiting for?  Get over here and see why this title has consistently remained within the Top 2 most popular arcade titles of Japan since its release!