Last month we discovered Bandai Namco’s plan to open a VR arcade in Tokyo where attendees could pilot a giant robot in battle or even save a kitty from a skyscraper ledge. It looked wild and it seems like the the trend for virtual reality attractions in Japan only continues to grow.
Now a new VR attraction, or what the company is calling a “Sky Circus,” has opened its doors in the city of Tokyo, this time located 60-stories up in a skyscraper.
One of Tokyo’s first high-rise buildings, Sunshine 60, has renovated its top floor and turned the space into a panoramic observation deck complete with art installations and attractions. The “Sky Circus” is open to the public with the purchase of a ticket and has two VR “rides” that may make the cost of entry totally worth it.
Considering you are some 700 feet up in the air for this top floor circus, the developers decided to create two VR rides that give you an experience of flying over Tokyo. If you’re into a more relaxing VR flight, “Swing Coaster” let’s you sit on a swing, a gentle breeze blowing in your face, while you virtually float over the city.
But for the more adventurous Sky Circus attendees, “Tokyo Bullet Flight” may just be the thrill and surprise you were looking for. The VR experience has you actually loaded up in a human-size cannon, don a HTC Vive headset, and blast your way out over the city like a cannon ball. The ride acts more like a VR rollercoaster, having you lay flat facing down, while you dive, climb and soar over the city like a bird.
For both the Bandai Namco VR arcade and Sky Circus, HTC Vive systems seem to be the popular choice, making use of full room-scale VR and hand-tracked controllers. If you look closely enough in the image below, you can see the developers attached a Vive controller to the canon, possibly to more accurately track tilt positioning, separate from the user’s head motion.
Sky Circus opened on April 21st with entry tickets costing around $16. You will also need to purchase additional tickets if you want to ride either “Swing Coaster” or “Tokyo Bullet Flight”. Tickets are limited for the VR experiences, so if you do plan on attending, make sure you order in advance.
Image Credit: Sky Circus
