Capcom - The Bar

Though it may or may not surprise you at all, it turns out that video game companies in Japan get to have their own bar. If you're savvy at all about video game company names, Square-Enix has one, and Capcom has one. Though it would bewilder me any where else in the world, this is Japan, after all. For once in a rare while, though, I was the one dragged along, by Millo and a few of his friends. I gladly partook in the outing to the Capcom Bar.
 Again, this will mean very little to people who aren't at all video game aficionados, but for the initiated yet uninformed, Capcom is the company behind some of gaming's most iconic franchises, including, but not limited to, Street Fighter, Resident Evil (or Biohazard locally), Ace Attorney and Monster Hunter - a lot of which have their own movies (Hollywood or not.) It's one of the leading powerhouses when it comes to releasing high profile games, and has been for over two decades now.

 Does the bar itself measure up to the standard of the video games it draws customers from?
 Well, the short answer is, that depends how much you like Capcom.

Our drinks, and Millo's awkwardly placed face.

 Like many a themed food establishment I have been to before it, the Capcom Bar relies mostly on decoration props and menu items vaguely similar to the theme it's trying to sell. It's amusing, for example, to have a drink based on Dante, the two-gun-wielding demon-hunter, come with gun-shaped ice cubes inside. Some of the items on the menu are very clever, whereas others are a little, well, dumb. We scratched our head at the Devil May Cry based pizza, which, by all means was nothing but an ordinary pizza with the letters DMC on it. What was pretty cool, though, was that some menu items came delivered in special ways when ordered. A short fanfare music would play audibly in the whole venue when anyone would order a Monster Hunter food item, and the waiters would quote the game out loud. On that though, I also thought it was pretty cool that the staff all seemed like they genuinely enjoyed video games and knew a thing or two.

There are quite a few video game references hidden inside this picture here.

That aside, the other appealing point of the Capcom Bar was that each table came with its own television, console, and a single game. Our table happened to be the Sengoku Basara table - a game I knew nothing about. Still, it's pretty legitimate to be to able to just come in, get your food, and play your favorite game at your table with your friends. Provided that you get the table you want, of course. I guess you can't be too picky.
 Now apparently, the bar also does to small shows, though we didn't get to see any. I can't imagine they'd be anything elaborate, given the relatively small size of the place. But we did get to stick around until closing time, and it appeared that the bar ritually gives out free merchandise to one lucky customer a day, with a random draw. None of us happened to be that lucky customer, but the prize appeared to be just a handful of small things - key chains, stickers, and the like. Winner or not, though, you do get a video game character-themed coaster upon leaving, which I guess is pretty cool.
 That pretty much summed up my visit! So really, go if you're a fan of the brand, and don't if you aren't. Not that you would've in that case, but that's pretty much the extent to which I can recommend the Capcom Bar, which by no means was a bad experience either.