Tokyo Game Show 2024, one of the world’s largest gaming exhibitions, started its first business day at Makuhari Messe, welcoming game developers, journalists, influencers, and special guests worldwide. Anime Corner has the honor of attending the first two days on September 26th and 27th, which are designated for business and press.
The following two days, Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th will welcome general public ticket holders. Here’s what we saw on a passionate first day at Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2024 during the opening hours of 10 am to 5 pm.
One of the most popular booths at this year’s TGS was the combined massive Sega and Atlus exhibit. These two monsters in gaming decorated their exhibit to market their biggest games such as Sonic Rumble, Sonic X Shadow Generations, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and Persona 5 Phantom X. Lines for Sonic Rumble weren’t as long as I anticipated, as the demo required 16 participants at one time for a Sonic themed battle royal.
I was thrilled that Sega’s staff were handing out demo phones to gamers waiting in line so that they could get used to the game before playing against each other. After playing game demos, fans can receive keychains, towels, and more featuring the game’s characters. Sega and Atlus always bring spectacular stage events to TGS with cosplay performances and dancers that brought thousands to snap photos of their booth.
Bandai Namco has a stunning display featuring a towering Goku to advertise the newest Dragon Ball fighting game, DRAGON BALL: Sparking Zero. Since today was a business day, I was able to immediately walk up and play the game demo, but due to the massive Dragon Ball fanbase, I expect lines to be long during the public days.
Capcom has released outstanding IP after outstanding IP over the last few years as they’ve found success in Street Fighter 6 and Resident Evil remakes – this time they’ve brought the highly anticipated Monster Hunter Wilds, slated for a 2025 release, for gamers to try. Not only could you play the game at the Capcom booth, but also at Sony’s massive PlayStation booth along with dozens of other titles such as Square Enix’s Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Popular games that are expected to create long lines at their respective publisher’s booths are also available to be played throughout the event hall such as at the PlayStation and Samsung booth. This is a great feature of Tokyo Game Show as players can flock to a booth that has their platform of choice.
Tokyo Game Show also has many attractions this year for hardcore anime fans, including an exhibit in the VR Space that features the anime Shangri-la Frontier. The newest game in the Sword Art Online franchise, SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream, was available for demo. The game is an online co-op action game where you and 19 other players team up to take on raid-style fights, so the line went by quickly.
My goal for day one of Tokyo Game Show 2024 was to get many of the bigger developer’s booths and demos out of the way before the event opens to the public later in the weekend. Fortunately, I was able to squeeze in several smaller games (or smaller lines at least) such as Tomba!, Doraemon Dorayaki Shop Story, and My Sims Cozy Bundle.
Tokyo Game Show 2024 has only just begun! Anime Corner will be there all weekend to keep you updated on the event. For now, check out our most anticipated anime of the Fall 2024 season, which officially starts today with the premiere of Loner Life in Another World.
All the photos were taken by Anime Corner at Tokyo Game Show 2024.