Star-crossed Paradox
20200315 - Starwing Paradox - Player sitting in cabinet seat in row of cabs - Byking - 2018 - Shinjuku Sportsland Honkan - Shinjuku - Resized.jpeg

Looks like the modern Space Harrier. Fit for an old-school one-coin-stand. But the JP arcades don’t go for that these days.

Starwing Paradox is looking for commitment. Drop your coin anonymously and don’t call? You can get to know for a hundred-yen hello, but then you need to be clear where this is going.

Here’s the only way it’s going to work out: a proper smartcard introduction and exchange data. The game’s always with you in your pocket and you let it know when you’re playing somewhere else.

And play in public games only – no secret meet-ups under the stairs in Sam’s Town.

If you’re really into it, you’ll share videos, tell the world.

Not ready for that? Then goodbye at the tutorial.

Photographer and writer covering Tokyo arcade life – the videogames, the metropolis and the people