Last weekend I visited the SEGA Festival 2019 which took place on March 30 and 31 at Bellesalle Akihabara in Tokyo, Japan. The event was free to enter and open to the public.
The SEGA arcades in Akihabara also took part and was kitted out with SEGA Festival 2019 displays and merchandise to buy. There were also various events going on and one of them required you to visit each one to get a flyer stamped to get limited merchandise.
Once you approached the Bellesalle Akihabara you were greeted by a giant sign of the popular video game company, SEGA!
Upon entering you are greeted by a UFO Catcher which requires a real person to function as the claw. You can volunteer yourself to be the claw or the person who controls the claw. It was a rather bizarre situation to witness.
This crane game was something else. #SEGAfes2019 #セガフェス2019 pic.twitter.com/wHJsP6adry
— Swaps4 (@Swaps4) March 31, 2019
At the side of the UFO Catcher was an area which looked like it was used to record or broadcast the event.
If you think that was insane, what about a giant Sega Saturn controller made for a giant? The controller actually worked and you could use it to play the fighting game that was displayed on the TV!
They also had the SEGA Mega Drive and the upcoming Sega Mega Drive Mini retro console. Various old school controllers and consoles were on display.
I’m sure you’ve all heard of the renowned Phantasy Star Online 2, well, it had its own area dedicated to playing the game. I’m unsure if an event was on-going or not, I can only assume so.
There was an area dedicated to food which was catered for by Soft & White. Coppe-pan was also featured at the event where you could buy a Sonic chili dog or the popular SEGA taiyaki, which was sold out almost instantly. The SEGA taiyaki was so popular I didn’t even get a chance to see them being sold.
https://twitter.com/SEGA_OFFICIAL/status/1112225514867974144
Of course, I was really curious and wanted to try the Sonic chili dog which was literally a hot dog with lots of hot sauce on it. It was still rather tasty and I got a free pin badge with it.
https://twitter.com/Swaps4/status/1112021241106296832
What is an event without exclusive merchandise being sold? There was a wide range of merchandise from various series to choose from!
I honestly couldn’t find anything I desperately wanted so I settled for a sakura-themed Sonic coaster, to remember the event by. It even represents the current season of spring!
My new coaster! pic.twitter.com/lzvno0N63T
— Swaps4 (@Swaps4) April 1, 2019
There were also gacha machines with limited edition pin badges.
These are cool! #セガフェス2019 pic.twitter.com/l0ALc4JLRd
— Swaps4 (@Swaps4) March 30, 2019
At the entrance where the SEGA sign was located, Sonic along with a cosplayer would often turn up to pose and take pictures with fans.
Overall, the SEGA Festival 2019 event was really fun and I would highly recommend checking it out if you ever get the opportunity while you’re in Japan. For a free event, you really can’t complain. Also, you have the chance to receive free merchandise if you take part in the on-going game events.
