One of my favorite parts of the Tokyo Game Show is the cosplay “alley.” Every year, the outdoor walkway area between two of the main halls is overtaken by more Aeriths, Soras, Morrigans and random girls in maid costumes than should rightfully be assembled in sticky Tokyo September weather. This year, camera in hand, I went in search of intrepid Capcom fans, expressing their love of our titles by spending literally weeks designing their costumes.

These two young ladies were, hands down, my favorites, and not just because I’m such a sucker for the Mega Man X games. It takes a lot of dedication to a series to spend the time required to manufacture these costumes. That they rolled in tandem made it all the better. Keep in mind that on the Saturday of TGS, it was about 85 degrees outside and about 1000% humidity. These two were total troopers, stomping around the Capcom booth (they came in to watch Mega Man producer Horiken’s presentation) and then heading outside to pose for more pictures.

This guy not only had an awesome costume (note the glowing blue lights inside the sleeves!), but had the Bison/Vega attitude down to a science. I took the picture on the left first, then asked him for another — part of the cosplay etiquette is to always ask permission before snapping a photo — which he immediately agreed to. He took off his cape, set it on the ground — out of the frame of the photo! — and struck the pose on the right. What a pro!

Monster Hunter is an absolute phenomenon in Japan, almost single-handedly responsible for keeping the PSP market going in that country. These two young ladies just about flipped out when I asked them for a picture and they saw that my show badge said “Capcom.”And that was the closest I’ve come to a groupie moment since returning to Capcom…

There were one or two groups of people dressed as the Ace Attorney cast.

I noticed several Dantes running around the show. This guy was notable because about 45 minutes after I took his picture, I saw him standing in line to play the DMC 4 demo. The devil will definitely cry when forced to wait in line for an hour to play his own game…

The DarkStalkers/Vampire Hunter series continues to live on in Japan in a phenomenal amount of merchandising (including ever-more risque statues of Morrigan and Felicia) and cosplay. I managed to grab these photos in less than an hour on the first public day of TGS. There were tons of other Capcom characters parading around through the show, but I was constrained both by time and by the desire to not look like a total weirdo taking pictures of Japanese kids in wacky outfits. Two cosplayers I really wish I had captured: * a fantastic Chun Li in a really high quality costume who was not posing when I was out. * the Japanese dude who dresses like Cammy every year. With makeup. And exposed cheeks. It’s as horrible as you’d imagine. Eek!