Welcome to another edition of Newsbytes, the series of posts at AH that brings together the latest news from around the arcade and pinball worlds. It’s been a little quiet this month, with the IAAPA buzz dying down and a lot of people in the industry seemingly either too busy behind the scenes or on their holidays already (still trying to get confirmation on shipping/pricing for a lot of things in IAAPA coverage). That said, there are still things to talk about as we approach the end of the year (e.g. the big Virtua Fighter news), so let’s take a look at what might be the last Newsbytes of 2024. Stay tuned for a Year-In-Review and a final 2024 Location Watch.
New Virtua Fighter
This should be fairly old news by now to anyone reading this (and is more of a console story), but the franchise famously started off at arcades and does still have a few ties to them in Japan, so here it is. Among the biggest reveals made at The Game Awards 2024 was the announcement of a new Virtua Fighter game by Sega, marking the first fully-fledged entry in their seminal 3D fighter series since 2006’s Virtua Fighter 5. VF5 didn’t do as well as the other games, especially out West (where VF never was so successful as in Asia anyway), which would seem to explain why they’ve left it for so long… but that big dry spell apparently created enough demand for Sega to finally return to one of their most influential series:
The announcement has been met with some hype, so perhaps this will indeed finally break the series out West – just in the home instead. But in terms of arcades, the announcement of this at an event like TGA and Sega’s current development strategy in Japan (the Yakuza developers Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio are heading this, though a few legacy AM2 members who now work under them will still be playing a part) seems to suggest this game will be following the lead of Tekken 8 and receive a console/PC-first release.
Now that’s not to say there won’t be any arcade version down the line – Sega have notably kept supporting the series in that space, at least for a few Japanese arcades, via their APM3 digital distribution platform. This houses a recent exclusive remaster of Virtua Fighter 3tb with online multiplayer functions, and an arcade edition of Virtua Fighter eSports, their 2021 update to VF5 that released worldwide for the PlayStation 4. The latter has in fact just received a new 2.0 revision, with balancing adjustments and more online content. A further update to add a location tournament support service in February is also mentioned.
Having said all of that, if this new Virtua Fighter game does end up getting an arcade outing, don’t expect it to ever happen outside of Japan (or Round1USA’s locations, if they like the look of it particularly) – fighters are only really pushed outside of Japan in this industry by exA-Arcadia now.
Other noteworthy announcements made at TGA included a fantastic looking new Ninja Gaiden by Dotemu, and Sega also revealed Sonic Racing Crossworlds, their latest kart racing title for the blue blur. Would be neat to see the latter get an arcade version like Sonic & Sega Allstars Racing once did via Sega Amusements… that would certainly have more chance of releasing over here.
Jitsu Squad & Cambria Sword AC Are Now Available
One problem with IAAPA is that there is so much arcade news that drops at around the same time, that it is difficult to keep track of it all. So in case you missed it here is an update on what has launched for the exA-Arcadia platform since. Right before the show, FixEight EXA Label became available, but there are two other games that you might have missed hearing about. You can order these from your preferred exA distributor.
First up is the long awaited Jitsu Squad Feat. Samurai Pizza Cats. While the exA has had plenty of fighters to play, this marks the first time that a beat ’em up (i.e., like Double Dragon or TMNT) has graced the platform. Such games have been rare to find in the modern age, Raw Thrills’ 2017 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game being the most prominent of those released in the genre. The exA version of Jitsu Squad is easily the superior version of the game that is out there, including many tweaks/changes/fixes to the game flow plus the bonus of exclusive content like the Samurai Pizza Cats.
Next up is a game that comes with a very unique look, and plenty of content to keep shoot ’em up fans engaged: Cambria Sword Another Cry. This was at Amusement Expo 2024, but the game missed IAAPA. This has six playable characters, 72 different weapons, 80 bosses, and 1 frame of input lag, which should make for a shooting game fan’s dream.
Stern Pinball Cup
Just over a week ago, Stern began the first in a new series of competitive events for their games that they are calling the Stern Pinball Cup. This involves six points-based races that players can participate in using the Stern Insider connected app and those supported games. On top of this going on for the next six weeks, players will be sorted by their skill-level too, so they are competing with those within their same range, as opposed to having to sweat it out against the top pin players in the world (which would make a lot of people not even try).
For some more Stern fun, check out this recent video out of them covering the huge “Silverball” installation at their HQ:
New StepManiaX Website, SD Model
In addition to launching a brand new website, as recently mentioned in our show coverage Step Revolution had a new model of their smash hit dance game StepManiaX on hand at IAAPA 2024. I shot a little footage of it, but still need to edit that into something useful; until then, here’s the new cabinet:
35 Years Of Wahlap
2024 has been a year of anniversaries for the bigger Chinese companies on the scene; we’ve mentioned before how UNIS celebrated their 30th year in business, but beating them by five is AH site advertiser Wahlap. They were one of the first in their industry to make a proper splash outside of China, with much higher quality titles (e.g. Storm Racer G) than others out of the country, and are becoming a real heavyweight with lots of high-profile partners. They haven’t posted anything about this yet, however; InterGame do have a short but sweet piece about it (though it does erroneously cite Maimai DX as one of their own titles – they only market the Chinese version for Sega) and there is this new corporate video.
Of course, at IAAPA 2024 last month we saw two of Wahlap’s latest works, both made with stalwart Taiwanese arcade game developer IGS; their Monster Eye series is getting its biggest Western representation yet by LAI Games as Kaiju Rampage, and LAI are also selling the most recent addition to their successful Asphalt arcade range collaboration with Gameloft – Asphalt Moto Blitz DX. This is probably one of their best efforts yet; if you have one, which is your favorite Wahlap release?
GoldStorm Pirates Fully Arrives In Japan
We’ve mentioned this a few times on AH already, but seeing as it’s official now it can’t hurt to bring it up properly. GoldStorm Pirates has finally reached the start of its full worldwide release, naturally beginning in Japan this month. Cabinets began to quietly appear at flagship Namco locations in October, but this month marks the full arrival of the game’s nationwide operation, with other places such as Taito HEY in Akihabara and Silk Hat Kawasaki Mores receiving theirs. Some have said it is the best arcade shooter since House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn, and this Namco location in Matsudo has fittingly placed it next to that game.
Hold tight for news on its Western release during the first quarter of 2025 – it might come sooner than you think… for now, check out this extra footage of the game’s second level on the AH YouTube channel:
About A New Georgia Amusement Law
Kevin Williams sent me a story about some changes to “coin-operated amusement games” in the US state of Georgia, and was asking about the implications. At first I thought it was a new development, but turns out that it was signed into law this past May.
I’m not a lawyer, and the amusement industry has organizations like the AAMA which are supposed to be on top of things like this, although I cannot find out much, if any, efforts that were made by any industry organization to provide input on the bill.
From what I can tell, this law did not affect actual amusement (i.e., play for fun, no tickets or prizes in the equation), it was just about the golden cash cow of merchandizers. Those have been under increased scrutiny in recent times as more and more FECs open up with an increasing number of such redemption machines around. As more and more states clamp down on those types of games, manufacturers respond by making skill-based prize machines – which are naturally going to come with low value prizes.
It seems like it should be self-evident to me that if a PS5 Pro is sitting in a machine, then it’s not going to be something that someone can win based purely on skill. Economically, there’s no way to make that work for the operator who has to not only buy the prize, but also cover the cost of the machine, the electricity, any revenue splits with the location, then from the sounds of it, splits with the state.
Although what is weird to me from this story is that the main fallout from the law has been Georgia gas stations starting to operate a bunch of slot machines… which are decidedly the exact opposite of amusement. I suppose it would be ironic, although it’s clear that it just boils down to revenues into the state – slots have to pay out more in said revenues than merchandizers, per Georgia law.
Do we have any Georgia operators around? Have you seen things work for the better or the worse after this law?
Headlines
The New Wangan Midnight Project Is Taking Inspiration From Namco’s Cancelled 2010s Racer Real Drive – This is cool to hear, was always a shame that got canned
Pac-Man’s 45th Anniversary Pop-Up Event In Japan Had A Special Drum-Shaped Guest – Also Sonic, some original cabinets, and a World’s Largest Pac-Man setup
Idolm@ster Tours Gets A Preview At The Idolm@ster Expo, Ahead Of Its Spring 2025 Arcade Release
More New Bike Dash Delivery Footage From Last Month’s Amusement Expo In Japan
ICE Posts A Quick Recap of Their IAAPA 2024
Chaos Code Nemesis Experiment On ExA Has Been Delayed, But Is Still Progressing
Initial D The Arcade Gets Another MF Ghost Collaboration; New Cars, Course
Sega Says Response To Kids Card Game Anniversary Exceeded Expectations
Composer Legend Hiro (OutRun, Space Harrier) Makes… A Photo Booth Theme
Sega’s UFO Catcher Crane Series Wins Best Product Naming Award In Japan
Former Atari Games President Dan Van Elderen Has Sadly Passed Away
Mortal Kombat Co-Creator And Artist Josh Tobais Visits Insert Coin Exhibition
Ace Amusement’s Wave Riders X-Treme Trailer Has Some Suspiciously Power Rangers-Sounding Music
Incredible Technologies Want To Broaden Golden Tee’s Competitive Horizons
Someone’s Made A Darius Gigamax
Interesting To See Another VR Company Pivot Towards A Non-VR Pro Simulator
New Trailer For Zero Latency’s Space Marines VR
[Console Headlines]
Ssga CEO Rules Out More Mini Consoles, Says They’re Not A Retro Company – The latter part may be true, but making mini consoles doesn’t mean they are one…
The Ocean Hunter Comes Home With Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii
Elevator Action Quarter Sized Arcade Cabinet Toy Released – cute stuff
Fanboys, Put Hard Hats On For Digital Foundry’s Saturn/PSX Comparison
More On Tetris The Grandmaster 4: Absolute Eye For Steam
Dodonpachi True Death Finally Comes To The Switch In Japan
Nintendo Switch 2 ‘Leaks’ Flying Around, Who Knows If Accurate
The Sonic 3 Movie Outperforms Disney’s Mufasa On Opening Weekend – As long as a video game film adaptation is good, it can make money.
This might be the last Newsbytes of 2024, but stay tuned for more stories over the next week and a half, from your friends at Arcade Heroes! Which of today’s news (the Virtua Fighter revival, Stern Pinball Cup, Wahlap anniversary) interested you most?
The post Newsbytes: New Virtua Fighter, Stern Pinball Cup, 35 Years Of Wahlap, More appeared first on Arcade Heroes.
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