Monster Hunter Spirits is housed in a really cool arcade cabinet

With premium 1000 yen lockets

One of the biggest reasons for wanting to visit Japan as a kid was the prospect of setting foot into a Japanese arcade. The flashing lights, the sounds emanating throughout the street, the cavalcade of new games fresh on the scene — it sounds pretty amazing.

I…haven’t gone to an arcade yet since I’ve been here for TGS (haha), but I did get the chance to experience part of the sensation with Monster Hunter Spirits.

Although the cabinet itself is a simplistic enough design, the devil is in the details. Monster Hunter Spirits uses these locket-like accessories, which can be plugged into the left side of the machine (more on that later), giving it a bit of flair right off the bat. The other thing I immediately noticed was the HUD, which is displayed with four circular screens, with rotating symbols around them. It’s all very cool looking, especially in person.

Spirits is played primarily through QTE presses, which are triggered by a single button on the right of the machine, and a circular plunger of sorts that can be moved in any direction. Various directional cues pop up on screen for the former, and the latter is occasionally mashed for certain dramatic combat moments. It’s easy to pick up, and the prompts are fast enough where there’s some tension involved.

Midway through the fight, the game gave me to the opportunity open up my locket (very Bakugan-like) and summon the power of a new monster, upgrading my cute little dino into a monstrosity. I assume it would get old after doing it in an arcade all day long, but during my testing session, it was a pretty awesome little gimmick. So was the bonus physical card that popped out at the bottom of the machine after my playthrough.

While I don’t think it’s going to set the world on fire, Monster Hunter Spirits is a fun enough distraction, and if I saw it in an arcade (which I hope to get to this weekend!), I would play it. Spirits has technically been out in Japan for a while, but version 2.0 (sampled here) will be out later this month. The cabinet itself runs roughly 100 yen per play (approximately $1 USD).