We recently attended the Tokyo Game Show (TGS), and it was hands down the best video game convention we’ve ever experienced!
The scale, the energy, and the thoughtful approach to crowd management gave us an unforgettable window into Japan and Asia’s thriving gaming scene.

The Massive Scale
The booths at TGS are in a league of their own. Major companies command enormous floor spaces that make it obvious they’re investing heavily in the show.
What really struck us was seeing how many publishers who dominate in Asia—particularly from China and Korea—are using TGS as their launchpad to Western markets. We discovered brands that we’d never heard of with sprawling, polished booths showcasing games like Crimson Desert. These companies are clearly serious about establishing their flagship titles on the global stage.

Focus on Player Engagement
The biggest difference from other conventions, like Pax West which happened recently, is that we noticed at TGS was how exhibitors thought about attendees.
Rather than treating demos as one-and-done experiences, booths built activities around their games—scavenger hunts, social media challenges, photo opportunities.

This approach was really clever. By getting players to participate beyond just picking up a controller, exhibitors were converting casual interest into social media follows and word-of-mouth buzz.
Fair warning though – booth staff can be pretty assertive about pulling you in to check out their games. They’re not shy about pitching!

 Smart Crowd Management
A favorite innovation at the show was how TGS solved the line problem. For popular demos, they used a ticketing system where you’d reserve a spot and get a return time—no standing around for an hour. Kind of like Disneyland’s old Fast Pass System. This completely transformed the convention experience. Instead of being stuck in queue hell, you could wander the floor, check out other games, and come back when your slot was ready. It’s such a visitor-friendly system that we were surprised more conventions haven’t adopted it. You end up seeing far more of the show!

Standout Games and What’s Coming
TGS offered a solid preview of where gaming is headed:

AAA Showcases: Battlefield 6 had a massive, tournament-style setup that felt like an esports arena—it was impressive to see that level of commitment to a single game.
The Genshin Impact Influence: There’s a clear trend of games borrowing Genshin’s anime-inspired art style and open-world formula, especially from Chinese developers. Some are adding interesting twists, like mixing melee combat with gunplay in creative ways.

Indie Gems: A favorite discovery was an indie that mashed up roguelike RPG mechanics with blackjack—you literally use your card hand to determine your attacks. It sounds wild, but it worked surprisingly well.

If you’re serious about gaming and want to understand where the industry is moving—especially with Asia’s explosive growth—TGS should be on your radar.

The energy is infectious, the crowd management is brilliant, and the quality of games on display makes it worth the trip!

Here’s the photo dump for your viewing pleasure:

—with Assistant PM Justin J, Associate Producer Andrew S, and Project Manager Mace T.
 

Remember when we’d type in those magic button combinations or discover that perfect glitch that would turn our game upside down? Sometimes a friend whispered the code to us at school, sometimes we found it buried in a game magazine, and sometimes we stumbled onto it by pure luck. Cheat codes and exploits were like secret knowledge that transformed us from ordinary players into unstoppable forces with unlimited everything.

Here are some of our favorites. How many of these do you remember?
 

1. Metal Slug 2 – Boss Freeze Glitch

With precise timing on certain bosses, you could lock them into inaction. One of the most famous examples is the stage 1 camel tank boss, which could be frozen at the right moment, turning a normally dangerous fight into easy target practice. Pure satisfaction.

2. Tengai (Sengoku Blade) – Secret Character Unlock

Hidden characters were gaming gold, and Tengai delivered with characters that actually played differently. Finding these unlock methods felt like discovering buried treasure.

3. King of Fighters Series – Secret Character Methods

Every KOF game had its own crazy unlock sequence. KOF ’95, 2002, NeoWaves – each one made you jump through different hoops to get the secret fighters. Worth every complicated input.

4. Super Street Fighter II Turbo – Playing as Akuma

Hover over Ryu for 3 seconds, then T. Hawk, Guile, Cammy, back to Ryu (3 seconds each), then pick anyone while hitting Start + all punch buttons. That dark silhouette meant you’d unlocked the ultimate boss character.

5. Pokémon Red/Blue – Rare Candy Exploit

The MissingNo. glitch was a game-changer. Hit up Cinnabar Island’s coast after talking to the old man in Viridian, and boom – infinite rare candies. Your Pokémon would be level 100 in no time.

6. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – Chaos Codes

HESOYAM for health and money. AEZAKMI to stop wanted levels from ever appearing. JUMPJET for instant fighter jet. GTA codes didn’t just help you win – they let you play god.

7. Minecraft – Creative Commands

/gamemode creative was basically becoming a digital god. /give @p diamond 64 and you’re rich. /tp and you’re anywhere instantly. Built right into the game but still felt like cheating.

8. StarCraft – “show me the money”

Blizzard made their cheats memorable. “show me the money” gave you 10,000 minerals and gas. “power overwhelming” made you invincible. Even the cheat codes were fun to type.

9. The Sims 2 – “motherlode”

Nine letters that solved all your virtual financial problems. 50,000 Simoleons instantly appeared, making your Sim richer than you’d ever be in real life.

10. Super Mario Bros. – Infinite Lives

World 3-1, jump on that Koopa shell at just the right spot near the stairs, and watch those 1-UPs pile up. The sound of gaining life after life never got old.

Honorable Mentions

Growlancer let you duplicate equipment, turning hours of grinding into minutes of button pressing.

Mortal Kombat on Genesis had the blood code: A, B, A, C, A, B, B. Nintendo players were stuck with the kid-friendly version while Genesis owners got the real deal.

SimCity (SNES) had the famous secret “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” cheat, activated by holding X, Y, B, A on the title screen to unlock special disaster options, adding chaos or unlimited money for creative city building.

Contra’s iconic Konami Code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start) gave players 30 extra lives in the original NES version, making the brutally tough game much more manageable.

Cheat codes were more than shortcuts – they were rebellion against the rules. They created communities where players shared secrets and turned games into personal playgrounds. Sure, modern games have DLC and microtransactions instead, but nothing beat the thrill of entering that special code and watching everything change in an instant.

Those codes made us feel like hackers who had cracked the system and were finally in control of the game. Sometimes the best fun did come from cheating.
Don’t tell Mom…

Thanks for visiting us and reading about some of our favorites!
See you next time!!

We’re back after a short break!
As you may have guessed from the blog title… we were at PAX West 2025!

Wow, what a weekend! It was a amazing.
PAX 2025 was an absolute whirlwind. It was so much fun to be a part of it all. The energy was incredible and seeing so many people excited about games was the best part. Honestly, our booth was buzzing non-stop, and it was awesome to see all of you checking out what our teams have been working on.

At PAX, the indie scene was alive and well. Sure, the big booths for Borderlands 4, Crimson Desert, and Path of Exile II were packed but so many eager attendees spent time checking out what turned out to be a good numbers of indie titles. Very encouraging!

We also had a lot fun showing off our indie titles this year, as well. It was gratifying to see how many of you came by to play Aeruta, a charming Metroidvania with a cool twist. And the reception for WiZman’s World: Re;Try, Twilight Monk, and Light Odyssey was amazing!

Many visitors were excited by the dark and moody card battler, Shambles: Sons of Apocalypse, and the quirky guild attendant game Galvatein: Adventurer’s Guild. Lines also formed at Snow Bros 2 Special for some co-op arcade fun as well as a few other indie gems.

 

Gravity Titles at PAX 

Light Odyssey
The Good Old Days
Final Knight
Snow Bros. 2 Special
Aeruta
Twilight Monk
WiZMans World Re;Try
Shambles: Sons of Apocalypse
Galvatein: Adventurer’s Guild

 

 
Beyond our own booth, we spent some time walking the show floor and found some truly fantastic games. It was wild to see the scale of the booths from the big guys like Larian who demo’d their TTRPG from the Divinity series, and Nintendo, who were showing off Hollow Knight: Silksong and Pokemon Legends: Z-A, as well as Bandai Namco, with demos for Digimon Story Time Stranger and Little Nightmares III.

Even though Square Enix didn’t have the typical booth presence, they still had a huge turn-out with panels and a community night for their upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. (already pre-ordered!!)
 

The creativity and passion from other developers was inspiring.

Getting to talk with so many of you face-to-face, getting your feedback, and just sharing our love for games made all the hard work worth it. We can’t thank you enough for visiting our booth and for taking the time to read this.

We’re already counting down the days until next year!

So we headed out to check out the Square Enix pop-up shop in Little Tokyo this weekend, but first things first – had to fuel up! We swung by Hachioji Craft Ramen because, let’s be real, you can’t do proper shopping on an empty stomach. Plus, it’s one of our go-to spots when we’re in the area. This time I switched it up and went with their Hachioji Bun Burgers and gyoza instead of my usual ramen – sometimes you just need something different, you know?

Bellies happy, we made our way over to Little Tokyo Mall where the pop-up is set up. Honestly? There was already a decent line forming, but it moved way faster than expected – maybe 15 minutes tops. The vibe was pretty chill too, everyone seemed genuinely excited to be there.

Walking in was like stepping into a collector’s dream. They had everything spread out beautifully – from those crazy detailed Final Fantasy statues with some serious price tags, to the cutest little plushies that you just want to squeeze. What really got me was seeing stuff from Final Fantasy Tactics right next to the newest FFXVI merchandise, plus they had Dragon Quest and NieR:Automata items too. It’s wild how they manage to keep both the nostalgia and the fresh releases flowing.

Sure, you can browse most of this stuff online at the Square Enix store, but there’s something different about seeing it all in person. The craftsmanship on some of these pieces is insane – details you’d totally miss in photos. And the staff? Super laid back. No hovering, no pressure, just let you wander around and take it all in. They even let us snap photos, which was awesome.

Whether you’re a hardcore collector or just someone who appreciates good design and craftsmanship, this pop-up is definitely worth the trip. Even if you’re just window shopping (no judgment here), it’s cool to see all this stuff up close. Don’t worry, there’s much more to see than in these photos, so enjoy yourself if you can make it there.

Just don’t wait too long – they’re wrapping up on September 7th, 2025. So if you’re thinking about it, now’s the time!