So who's in Beijing...?

[Carmen]

Will be surprised to find shmuppers here. Theres only a few good cabs I've found (Raiden IV, ESP 2, and... thats pretty much it), I'm guessing the shooting scene may not be very strong here.

[EPS21]

Hey, thats more than anything we have here in the states. I'm going to be there on a trip this summer, what are some good arcades around there (shmups or otherwise)?

[Carmen]

I recommend learning KOF or Tekken while you're in the States the make the most of your time here, lol. Tekken 6 is really really big now, and its always easy to get a match in KOF. SF4 is also here, and to some extent VF5 and 3S. The community is really strong here too and players are really nice.

Theres several arcades around, even the "bad" ones tend to have something worth going for. One of the larger ones has a lot of Cave stuff (MM Pork, ESP2, Mushi I think, a lot of others) and a few others. When you come over just send me a PM and I'll show you around.

[iatneH]

Wow, I did not know we had a member from Beijing. I thought the shooting scene should be very healthy all over Asia. Perhaps the players do not post on this message board though. I know a Hong Kong-based forum at hk-stg which might be worth checking out for you, though naturally it will not be easy for you to meet any of them.

I had a short tour in Beijing last summer. Amazing city, I would love to come spend much more time there again.

[Carmen]

I was talking with a player here who said theres maybe 6 or 7 ppl in the shooting scene. Thats... already much better then where I used to live, so it depends on the standards. I'll be searching for that forum right now... while Beijing's arcade scene is really big, I think Hong Kong (and Shanghai for that matter) are even bigger, which helps the stg community there~

[Subterranean Sun]

I thought the shooting scene should be very healthy all over Asia

Not as healthy as you thought it was.

[EPS21]

Well I visited the Xidan Coolhoo arcade, which apparently is the only one that has shmups (but quite a healthy selection!), like DDPDFK, futari BL and MMP, Raiden4, Ikaruga, Shiki no shiro 3, and a bunch of the Strikers series'. The newer hardware games like Raiden 4 and Ikaruga are being played on tated viewlix imitation cabs that have widescreen monitors so the screen stretch is weird. They don't take very good care of their stuff though, MMP and DFK don't even have sound, and one button on the 1P side of DFK didn't work. It's so cheap per credit here so it almost makes up for lack of quality compared to Japanese arcades.

When I went there were a bunch of dudes rocking BL original modes getting some sick scores, and some guy who 2-ALL'd tsuujou loop of DFK, so I gather there's a good scene here. And these guys are much more vocal, talking to each other while playing and such, despite the fact that shmups are much more solo game compared to the rest of the arcade. Quite a far cry from what I experienced seeing Japanese shmuppers are like.

[Subterranean Sun]

It's not the only shmup arcade in Beijing. There's another arcade which has a DFK and a MFBL (both in somewhat good condition IIRC). I can't point you there in english though. Ask some shmup veteran there, maybe they can help you.

[Carmen]

Regardless Xidan is still the biggest arcade for shmups. But yea, the machines in the corner are pretty bad shape, the Last blade doesn't even have a working D on the 2p side. But then again, as far as I know no one ever "asks" the staff to fix any of those games, so there you go

I'm not in China anymore, but will be back at the end of this year, maybe we can get some... Tekken matches in

[CHY]

Well I visited the Xidan Coolhoo arcade, which apparently is the only one that has shmups (but quite a healthy selection!), like DDPDFK, futari BL and MMP, Raiden4, Ikaruga, Shiki no shiro 3, and a bunch of the Strikers series'. The newer hardware games like Raiden 4 and Ikaruga are being played on tated viewlix imitation cabs that have widescreen monitors so the screen stretch is weird. They don't take very good care of their stuff though, MMP and DFK don't even have sound, and one button on the 1P side of DFK didn't work. It's so cheap per credit here so it almost makes up for lack of quality compared to Japanese arcades.

When I went there were a bunch of dudes rocking BL original modes getting some sick scores, and some guy who 2-ALL'd tsuujou loop of DFK, so I gather there's a good scene here. And these guys are much more vocal, talking to each other while playing and such, despite the fact that shmups are much more solo game compared to the rest of the arcade. Quite a far cry from what I experienced seeing Japanese shmuppers are like.

I thouht you were Carmen that time- -!When you played the DFK,I was playing the MBL.But when I finish that coin,you were disappeared.

We have 7-8STGERs here,meeting every Saturday.Some are veteran,almost play shumps more than 6-7years;Some are doujin stg fans,go to the arcade center few.

Well,the machines there are so bad,because the boss of the arcade was change.So,the boss and the stuff there all sucks...they don't care about that.And the worst thing is the machines are all second hand from Japan...The best arcade game center for shumps in China is in Shanghai,named liehuo...

[Carmen]

Yea liehuo is amazing, the ftg section alone is bigger then xidan

[EPS21]

Liehuo was so awesome, and I was surprised how cheap it was too, since Shanghai is a bit more expensive in nearly every other area compared to Beijing from my experience. Nice to see a legit IIDX empress cab to get my fix too. If I were to nitpick, I didn't like the cheap office chairs they used, and some of the balltops on the sticks (on the shmup cabs at least) felt like a small dog went chewing on them, but overall it was still amazing. I must have gone at least half a dozen times while I was there for 2 weeks. The cats everywhere were a nice touch too