As of today, we are exactly one month out from when IAAPA 2024 opens the show floor and we get to see all of the new games that are coming to the scene in 2025. In the run-up to that, we tend to hear of games on test out there, as they fine tune things in the run-up to this event. Let’s take a look at two of them, a new VR game from Sega Amusements and 3MindWave, then one I definitely didn’t expect to see from Konami.
Disclaimer: The games discussed in this article are both prototypes, which have been seen on location (beta) test. Final production models might vary greatly from what is seen below, or one or both could not even be released, if they fail the tests. As such, reserve your final judgments for later.
Alpha Ops VR Strike (Sega Amusements/3MindWave)
Sega Amusements has not leaned hard into Virtual Reality, but they have worked with it to a degree of late, as shown by their promo this week about their VR Agent game. That was also co-developed by 3MindWave out of Hong Kong, who worked with SAI on the non-VR piece Apex Rebels released earlier this year, along with some other arcade racers like ATV Slam and the Wahlap racer sequel Storm Rider 2.
While it wasn’t clear if they might do more VR, this latest original piece called Alpha Ops VR Strike straightens that out. However, there is only so much that we can glean from this single shot – expect it to incite more questions than answers. Thanks to Ted who sent this in from a brief Instagram reel (which was also how we got a glimpse at Apex Rebels) at Gravity Max in Stratford, London:
When I first saw this, I thought that it might be a racing game, since it uses the same kind of seats that SAI have used for years on racing games. But that doesn’t fit with the theme, and from the angle here it doesn’t appear to have a control panel. That said, I can’t tell if there are attached VR headsets to the frame either, though perhaps they are just blended in with the screens or blocked by the seats.
Given the theme, it seems likely that it is a shoot’em up game along the lines of VR Agent. Whether or not they’ve developed a new kind of gun + headset, we’ll just have to wait and see. My assumption for the seats is to make it easier to manage and increase safety for players, since standing can come with problems. I also would assume that this has a motion base, but that is hard to tell for now.
Contra Burst (Konami)
While we weren’t expecting to see another VR game from Sega Amusements, that wasn’t as big a surprise as what I found out is testing at the Round1USA – Puente Hills Mall location. While Konami has been testing out a few concepts in the States through R1USA as of late, this is the first non-BEMANI or medal game piece I have seen them do in quite a long time – Contra Burst.
This is being made with a view to converting out existing Bomberman Arcade cabinets, although I would guess from this photo that it was snapped while the machine was being set up and is not the final-final way that it appears. If anyone comes across a photo of the completed version, we’ll swap this out; it was floating around the internet so I am not sure who the OP was in this case:
While Contra got its start in arcades, it is one of those IPs that has become more of a console experience, starting with the NES port that everyone seemed to own back in the ’80s. There was the oddball Contra Evolution that was released just in China about a decade ago, but otherwise, Konami has not given it any further arcade love. For this test, Contra Burst is focused on redemption play, and instead of joysticks, we have two mounted guns. Those factors considered, I would assume that the game is very simple. I don’t know if they will be testing out a non-redemption version or not, although I would hope so.
Could this one show up at IAAPA like Alpha Ops VR Strike probably will? Most likely not. Konami has no official arcade presence out here and I can’t recall any of their other R1USA exclusives going to the show, as it wouldn’t make any sense to promote a game there that no one will be allowed to buy. It would be nice to see Konami get back and try to cater to all locations, whether by themselves or with a distribution partner, but who knows what the strategy is there at this point.
Until we get more on them, what do you think of these two new games? Would you like to see Alpha Ops VR Strike or Contra Burst at a location near you soon?
The post New On Test: Alpha Ops VR Strike (Sega Amusements); Contra Burst (Konami) appeared first on Arcade Heroes.
Go on.... treat yourself to a new game.
