Mario is Missing

A toy booth outside the supermarket has this picture on display. The Chinese writing, from what I understand, is saying something like I’m teasing you or making fun of you. Maybe this jest is aimed at Mario, whose severed head is nowhere to be found. And while we’re on the topic of video games, here’s a picture of the arcade I frequent, where the games are six cents a pop:

Well, this section is a traditional Chinese arcade (wow, the words traditional and arcade sure seem odd together) where it’s just line after line of shoulder-to-shoulder cabinets. Most of the games are fighting games, and most of the fighting games are King of Fighters. I’m surprised how popular this game is. There was an arcade in Wuwei where every game was King of Fighters; that’s all they had. This arcade did have enough sense to install two Bust-A-Move cabinets, though, so while all the cool guys fight, I match colored marbles.

The rest of the arcade is a little more modern and has a lot of light gun, racing, ticket, and rhythm games, including my favorite, Percussion Master. You better believe I’m dominating the high scores! They have another drum-based rhythm game that’s hooked up to a real drum set. It’s so tempting to play, but whoever plays it draws a huge crowd. If I play it, everybody is going to watch, and if I suck (which is likely to happen the first few times), I’ll never be able to show my face in that arcade again.

20 October 2008 | China, Video Games | Comments | Home

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