Chris Kohler

I Wrote A Book About Final Fantasy And It’s Available Now

Is Final Fantasy V the best of the series? Whether you agree or disagree, if you love old-school Final Fantasy games you might want to read my new book Final Fantasy V, which is available now from Boss Fight Books. Each book in the Boss Fight series examines a single game that’s particularly important in…

The Rarest Stuff We Found In Akihabara’s Game Shops

You can blow a lot of money in Akihabara, the Tokyo district that houses the world’s densest cluster of nerd-related storefronts. And if you have far more cash than sense, you can throw it down on some of these very rare and highly desired vintage games and related items. Here’s a look at the highest…

One final curry before I blast out of Japan, this one from Curry wa Nomimono (“Curry Is A Drink”). They’ll add three free toppings to your plate. I got potato salad, fried onions, and, because this is Japan, corn with mayonnaise. The result is like the garbage plate of curry, but incredibly good.

The Most Amazing Things You Can Buy At Tokyo Game Show

Tokyo Game Show is as much about going shopping as it is playing games. Most of the major game publishers have two booths at TGS: One with game demos, and one selling merch. Some of it’s available elsewhere in Japan, some of it’s only available here. And most of it is really cool. Above: A…

If you’ve ever dreamed a Japanese schoolgirl would impale you with a sword, you can have your wish in the next episode of the PlayStation VR game Summer Lesson. The girl you are tutoring this time is a magician, and she puts you into a magic box and runs you through with weapons. Actual feature:…

Goin’ Fishing With A Crossbow In Final Fantasy XV VR

Monster of the Deep, the VR fishing game based on Final Fantasy XV, is a fairly standard video game fishing experience, right up until the moment you have to bust out the crossbow. The initial PlayStation VR demo that Square Enix showed off at E3 last year was pretty much terrible, involving shooting at Bahamut…

Autographed Nier Blu-Ray Sells Out Lightning-Fast At TGS

There’s a limited-edition Nier Blu-ray disc for sale here only at Tokyo Game Show, and it’s selling out in minutes every morning. The disc itself, a recording of a live concert of music from Nier and Nier: Automata, is something you can buy anywhere, but at TGS you can get one that’s been signed by…

Japan’s latest baked good fad is “salty bread.” It’s like a dinner roll but with a layer of butter and salt on top that makes it taste like movie popcorn. It’s in every bakery I’ve gone into, and it’s addictive. I may need to be physically removed from the country.

A Video Tour Of The Tokyo Game Show Floor

Let us take you on a magical tour of the Tokyo Game Show floor! Brian Ashcraft and I show you what’s hot at the Capcom, Sega, Square Enix, and Sony booths, plus more. We discover the secret Secret of Mana area as well as delicious plastic meat. Enjoy!

The Tokyo Game Show food court is, as you might imagine, fairly incredible. I got some amazing steak curry to make up for that Pac-Man abomination from yesterday.

Bomberman just walked right by me and pretended to not even know who I was. Dude has a Switch game now and he’s too cool to even say hi.

Here’s the Japanese special edition for Secret of Mana As you can see, it is pretty hot shit. You got your game, your soundtrack, figurines of the three characters, and then a freaking pop-up book with the Mana tree, so you can set the figures next to the tree and recreate the game’s iconic cover…

Of course, PUBG is at Tokyo Game Show too. If you finish the match in the Top 5 you win a T-shirt. Already full of players!

You can cuddle up with a giant plush Rabite from Secret of Mana at the Square Enix booth. If I don’t file any other stories today it’s because I am still here.

As you get off the train for Tokyo Game Show, you’re greeted by the main characters of every Final Fantasy. It’s an ad for a 30th anniversary art exhibition starting in January here in Tokyo. I went up and down stairs until I found Terra and Bartz. (Well, Tina and Butz.)

This is a real giant gyoza. Well, no, sorry, this is a plastic giant gyoza but the shop in question really does sell this impossibly humongous pan-fried dumpling, which serves 20 people and costs 9,600 yen, or just about a hundred bucks. It says if you eat it in an hour, it’s free. I would…

Pac-Man 3D Cookies are the most popular exclusive product in the Shinjuku VR Zone gift shop. The images of Pac-Man and Blinky on the cookies are printed in red-blue 3D, so when you pop on the included goggles, your food jumps out at you. Guaranteed to be better than that curry

Never, Ever Eat The Pac-Man Curry

While trying out Mario Kart VR et cetera at Bandai Namco’s VR Zone Shinjuku yesterday, I visited the cafe inside the virtual reality arcade. I was about to make a mistake. The cafe was called Glampers. As in glamping, as in “glamorous camping.” They served some appetizing-looking food such as a burger covered in melty…

I Played Mario Kart VR And It Was Pretty Okay

Mario Kart Arcade GP VR isn’t a game that you can buy, but a virtual reality installation in Bandai Namco’s VR Zone attraction in Shinjuku, Tokyo. It promises to put you in the driver’s seat for a Mario Kart race, and that it does. It’s pretty fun, but you’re not really missing out on much…

Cat-collecting game Neko Atsume is coming to PlayStation VR, Sony said today. So now you can surround yourself with infinite cats without all the health hazards that usually entails.