This is a bit last minute, but as we write this, it is December 3rd. This means that it’s time to celebrate a milestone for the site, as Arcade Heroes has entered its eighteenth year of operation. The site was created to share news from the niche world of arcades at a time where almost no mainstream gaming publication nor gaming news site was sharing such information; it was mostly limited to trade publications like Play Meter and RePlay Magazine and collectors forums. Today, even that dynamic has shifted, with Play Meter long gone and social media platforms occupying the place that forums once did – but we’re still here to report and cover all the arcade news that otherwise goes largely unnoticed.
Our YouTube channel is now instrumental too, with it edging closer and closer to 20k subscribers (thank you!), and many videos even earning better view rates than those on the site. But with it now being a continually vast archive of 21st century arcade news pieces, we have no intentions of abandoning where the AH story started any time soon… and to show that, here is a rundown of the most viewed news stories from most years so far. Plenty cover the big names and games that you’d expect, but there are a few surprises in here, so read on to find out just what those are…
Arcade Heroes – Big Stories Of The Past
2006 – OutRun 2 Super Deluxe
Since the site only got going at the back end of 2006 there isn’t exactly much competition here, but one of the earliest news pieces had to come out on top, and this is it. It’s certainly a good one to start off with though; OutRun 2 SP SDX happens to be one of the biggest arcade favorites of AH co-contributor Ted, and it’s easy to see why. You’d be hardpressed to find someone who doesn’t find it not only the ultimate form of an incredible racer, but one of the greatest deluxe pieces of this century (if not all time).
2007 – Gone Fishing From Tsunami
This may strike some as a very random piece to be among the most viewed, but there is some significance behind this one – it is my (Arcadehero/Shaggy) first ever post written for the site 🙂 You would be right in thinking of it as a very indistinctive beginning, given that Gone Fishing was never really a hit and Tsunami haven’t been around for many years now. But everyone has to start somewhere, and it’s nice that my entrance had some impact…
2008 – Sega Rally 3: Hands-On Impressions
While posts made to generate discussion on the age old CRTs vs LCD, a guide to running a location, and a link to an arcade finder site got more clicks in total over time, those hardly count as stories here, so this is the news piece from that year with the most views. Written by HeavyElectricity, one of the first writers on the site, he had the pleasure of visiting Sega Amusements UK and getting an early hands-on preview of what was Sega’s return to form with the fantastic Sega Rally 3. Oddly enough, it feels like more people talk about 2008’s Race TV now, probably because that was technically Yu Suzuki’s last arcade game. But I coveted SR3 at the time, and was only unable to grab it for my arcade as I was strapped for funds (I couldn’t even afford a proper dedicated F&F Tokyo Drift and opted for the kits – it was too bad that Sega never went through with the SR3 kits that they teased once).
2009 – New boat racing game by Raw Thrills’ and the Hydro Thunder team to be at ATEI
Here’s a story that is one to be proud of; we were the first to break the news that H2Overdrive was coming to arcades. This game is still among Raw Thrills’ best releases, and it remains a shame that Specular Interactive only made Dirty Drivin’ and Batman for them afterward before being sold to Take Two and falling straight off the radar, cancelling their Project Hades made with Simuline (another name you don’t see around anymore) in the process. The last time I saw them around at IAAPA, there was also talk of them collaborating with Sega next… wonder how that would’ve turned out.
2010 – ‘Round 1’ rocks SoCal with bowling, food, pool, arcades and more
Now for one that has only got more significant with time, as it marks the first ever coverage given to Japanese chain Round1’s USA expansion. This was their first ever opening in the country, and as the years have gone by it has been mentioned numerous more times since thanks to plenty of location tests. Round1 as a whole have gone on to become a worthy challenger to Dave & Buster’s supremacy as the main US FEC business, something that will hopefully continue…
2011 – Namco’s Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 Coming In December To Japan
One of the biggest views generators over the years has always been the Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune series, and while it’s easy to see why in some ways, it is one of the quirks of this site. Coverage of Japanese titles which haven’t always released out West often results in their vocal fanbases flocking to here, which used to be even more pronounced with dedicated forums back in the day. Fortunately, in the case of the US that helped WMMT eventually release here again after this instalment did not, although there’s always some discontent with how we remain not fully up to speed with the Japanese releases… maybe that could still change though.
2012 – 40 Years Of Arcade Games – Part 1 (1972-1989) / Part 2 (1990-2012)
Made to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Pong, both of these have to be mentioned as they still stand as the most viewed Arcade Heroes stories of all time, with Part 2 only just edging out the first by 1k and a bit. Goes to show that arcade history often draws in more interest than the news of the now. We didn’t cover the 50 years in quite the same way during 2021, since it felt like the 40 year pieces already served that pretty well – but there were still posts like this.
2013 – Namco Formally Announces Mario Kart Arcade Grand Prix DX
Although posts going over the history of first person shooters in arcades and Sega’s simulators have now come out on top overall for 2013, Namco’s Mario Kart Arcade Grand Prix DX announcement is actually the best performing news story of this year. Hardly a surprise when it is still in production over a decade on, which is almost a record among arcades (Aliens Extermination by Global VR just edges over it).
2014 – Capcom Has Tested Luigi’s Mansion Arcade In Japan
Almost making for a second big Mario arcade story in a row, here his brother has his time to shine instead. This eventually was tested and released out West too via Sega, and though it’s probably not anyone’s favorite game it definitely stood out thanks to those big vacuum gun controllers. Wonder when the next Mario arcade game will happen…
2015 – Q&A On Jurassic Park Arcade With Eugene Jarvis
It’s always a pleasure to sit with Eugene and talk shop, and it’s no surprise that this post did so well. Jurassic Park Arcade remains one of the biggest video earners in the business, regularly jostling with Maximum Tune 5DX+ over at Arcade Galactic for the #1 spot – but of course in the wider industry, you can find a JPA at pretty much any arcade out there and it’s still doing great no matter which venue it’s at.
2016 – Unknown NEO GEO MVS Fighting Game Discovered & Dumped
Whilst the two 40 years posts continue to reign supreme in the site’s most viewed, this got the most views in one single day. It’s a slight shame that the stories topping these out are more about arcade history than anything current we’ve reported on, but it’s to be expected really. It’s also too bad that we haven’t had as many lost prototype stories to share in recent years like we used to see.
2017 – Dave & Busters Launches Injustice Arcade With Exclusive Cabinet; Sales Open For General Release
At the time, 2017’s most viewed piece was the reveal of Raw Thrills’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but this one on fellow 2017 RT release Injustice Arcade has oddly since leapfrogged it by a huge amount (making it #3 in our most viewed posts of all time). That seems to represent how interest unfortunately dropped off in TMNT more than anything else – it’s to be expected with the recent home conversion, but even at the time its subsequent level of success didn’t quite live up to the initial hype. That might sadly be down to beat ’em ups getting not nearly as much enough love in arcades as they once did…
2018 – Taito Testing Head-To-Head “Space Invaders Pinball Jam” In Japan
2018 is another strange year, with a lot of major releases like House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn and the early days of the exA-Arcadia platform – and yet, above everything else, this late post on a Space Invaders battle pinball piece that didn’t even receive a full release anywhere in the end (!) still comes out on top in views here. The brief boom in battle pinball that happened around this time was a strange one in general, with Pac-Man Panic similarly not getting a proper launch out West except at some Round1USA locations.
2019 – Dave & Busters Officially Unveils Marvel: Contest Of Champions Arcade
Proving once again that a major license (particularly a superhero one) can do a lot for a game, this release had the most interest out of everything on AH in 2019, despite being a D&B exclusive at the time. It of course isn’t anymore now, but other, newer titles have been taking the limelight a lot more than this one in recent months, even with RT putting out a small update to accommodate the full release.
2020 – ICE Launches New Home-Focused Arcade Product Line, ARCADE PRO
Unsurprisingly, the biggest post from the ‘lost year’ of 2020 remains one for consumer arcade products and not something you can find on location. Now that some dust has settled on this period, it’s interesting to consider what could’ve been different (or what would’ve still gone down anyway) for arcades if the whole COVID mess hadn’t happened – but perhaps that’s something for another post in the distant future…
2021 – Dave & Busters Debuts Minecraft Dungeons Arcade At All Locations
Yet another big licensed card game from Raw Thrills is #1 here, latterly replacing the post by Kevin Williams that first broke news of Namco’s flagship London arcade closing. Over time, our media about these titles does seem to be getting more consistent views than nearly anything else – which again probably speaks to the power of their major IPs. Along those same lines, it’s a direct capture from Minecraft Dungeons Arcade that may well end up being the first ever AH YouTube video to break 1M views…
2022 – Adrenaline Amusements Debuting NFS Heat Takedown At IAAPA 2022
2022/23 saw many new arcade racers hit the market all at once, but interest was highest for one in particular on AH. This and F&F Arcade currently seem to be doing the best out of that recent driver crop; there are several other solid releases made as part of it which deserve to do just as well, however some always end up losing out a little with these rushes of new product…
2023 – Bandai Namco’s Taiko No Tatsujin Goes On Test In The USA
Given the hype that we just had during IAAPA 2024 in regards to Taiko No Tatsujin, this one isn’t much of a surprise, although any time an arcade location test is announced, especially for a Japanese-made release in the West, it’s always good to keep your expectations in check. A test does not guarantee that a game will actually launch somewhere in the end. That being said…
2024 – Confirmed: Taiko No Tatsujin Is Launching In US Arcades This November
The testing did do well enough to warrant a release, so now the game is out there in the US to enjoy. Unfortunately, that release is still quite limited, but hey, it being out there is still a victory in our book. This post could end up getting overtaken by something else before the month is out, but for now, it’s 2024’s champion and very much the new US arcade game release of the moment.
Thanks for reading this rundown, and a special thank you to everyone who has kept on supporting the site over these almost two decades. It’s been a fun ride; long shall it continue 🙂
Also, a personal thanks to my AH co-contributors such as Ted, Oga-Shi and Kevin Williams for all of their additional help this year in particular, it’s really saved my bacon in some cases.
If you happen to have an arcade nearby you, be sure to go out and support them – that’s the only way the industry continues to thrive! Which of our coverage of the arcade scene over the years sticks out the most?
