Castlevania Arcade - Video & Photos

Posted November 7, 2008 by twistedsupreme
Categories: Arcade Games, CastleVania, Hollywood Bowl, Konami, Location Test, New games
Tags: , , ,

As promised, above the video I got of Castlevania Arcade and below the pictures that I took of Konami’s new game as well as the rest of the Hollywood Bowl arcade, which is a pretty good arcade as they go. They have lots of new games like Mario Kart GP 2, Sega Rally 3 and Silent Hill Arcade (although that been there for a while now. Other games on site where Deal or No Deal, Time Crisis 3, Outrun 2, Superbikes and Let’s Go Jungle. Definitely worth a visit as there is also a VUE cinema, Pizza Hut, Nando’s and a Chimchanga in the same complex.

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Castlevania Arcade - UK Location Test

Posted November 6, 2008 by twistedsupreme
Categories: Arcade Games, CastleVania, Hollywood Bowl, Konami, Location Test, New games
Tags: , , ,

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I doesn’t get any better than this I tell you. I thought I’d swing by the Finchley Hollywood Bowl to play a few games and was extremely pleased to see Castlevania Arcade on test there! I’ve now played it, photographed it and videoed it, but what do I think of it?

As we know Konami have gone for an enclosed type cabinet, much like thier Silent Hill cabinet but on a grander scale. You step in to the the play area, insert a credit and pick up your wand. You are immediately reminded of the Wii, which I guess is unavoidable. You are then prompted to place you feet in the correct position, which I presume is to keep 2 players at a safe distance from each other. The usual opening game cut scene begins, not really sure what it’s trying to tell me, pretty standard then for a video game and I don’t really care anyway because I just want to play.

Enemies consisted of skelton dudes, bats and zombie type creatures and were relatively creepy looking. Like a light gun shooter you move around the various locations on rails and must defeat the enemies, but instead of shooting you are either whipping or pointing and firing blades at them. I found the whipping a little inaccurate at times, perhaps I was doing something wrong, but I found myself relying on the blades to bail me out when an enemy was about to strike.

Graphically the game looks good and there’s a nice atmosphere to it all. I quite like the way the game sets up scenes by looking around quickly at all the surrounding enemies and then taking them out one group at a time. By doing this it allows the player to roughly know what to expect. Hopefully this is an early game mechanic and gets a bit trickier later (not that I breezed through the first level myself!)

In summary the game felt a lot more polished than Silent Hill did and is definitely better than that katana game Muzan, even with it’s minor inaccuracies.

I’ve got more pictures on the way and a video but currently am working off a very slow connection. Should have it all up by tomorrow. Stay tuned!

And in case you were wondering, this was where Konami tested Silent Hill, and yes it’s still here, in the very same spot!

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Konami testing GuitarFreaks V6 & DrumMania V6 “Blazing” in Japan

Posted November 6, 2008 by Shaggy
Categories: Arcade Software, DrumMania, Guitar Freaks, Konami, Location Test, New games
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gfv6dmv6

Konami is location testing the next version of their GuitarFreaks and DrumMania games in Japan (the original use-a-music-instrument-as-a-controller games) and it seems like it wasn’t long ago that they were doing the same with GFV5 and DMV5. We don’t have any details on what is different about these games yet from V5 or previous versions of the game but with Raw Thrills’ beginning to make a move into the music game arena with American Idol and possibly Guitar Hero Arcade, I wonder if Konami as well as other arcade companies are going to start making a stronger push towards music titles. With games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero makes boatloads of cash on the consoles, I think it’s a given that the video music genre will be one to be reckoned with, even in arcades. If you ask me, I think that these sort of games are the kind of game that can be even more fun in arcades, in part because you don’t need to spend all that money to buy instrument controllers in addition to the game and mostly because of the social aspect where people will have fun showing off their skills in public.

[Konami's GuitarFreaks & DrumMania V6 Blazing test page] [Discuss on the Forum]

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Poll Time - Your Favourites?

Posted November 4, 2008 by twistedsupreme
Categories: Arcade Games, poll
Tags:

This weeks question is…

On to the last poll results. Nothing particularly radical revealed, but nice to know all same what our readers get up to;

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I’ll try and make this a weekly thing, feel free to remind me and/or put any suggestions forward.

[Discuss on the Forum]

Comments: 2 Comments

Mini Football Table

Posted November 4, 2008 by twistedsupreme
Categories: Fussball, Home Arcade
Tags:

Oh my god, I may have said this before but this is by far the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

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Your partner won’t let you have a football table in the house because they take up so much room huh? Well here’s the answer to your dilemma. High price tag, but how can you resist? The frame work for the glass even look like a stadium structure, awesome!

[Offside Football Table]    [via Arcade Lounge]

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Namco demonstrates a modded version of MaxiTune 3 that lets users play in a wheelchair

Posted November 4, 2008 by Shaggy
Categories: Arcade Fun, Maximum Tune, Namco, New games
Tags: , , ,

wheelchairrace

Now this is really cool - we’ve discussed how arcades have been made to be user-friendly for someone with a physical disability, and at least since SF Rush 2049 a lot of racers in arcades will automatically press the gas for the user at one point.  But I have not seen a racer modified like what Namco has tested in Japan with Wangan Midnight MaxiTune 3 - a user can approach the game in a wheelchair and racer. The technology that Namco is using for this is still in it’s prototype stage, but at present it includes a ramp for the wheelchair to go upon and it goes from there. If proven successful, I imagine that we could see more of these devices for racers in the future.

[Via MSN Japan] [Discuss on the Forum]

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Location Review: Funland Trocadero, London

Posted November 4, 2008 by twistedsupreme
Categories: Arcade Games, Arcade Gaming, Arcade Location, Location Review, Retro Arcade Gaming, Trocadero
Tags: , , ,

funland

Finally! This is something I’ve been meaning to do for longer than i care to mention.

Hit the jump at the bottom of this post for my Funland picture overload!

Funland Trocadero is a big place, so big it’s hard to describe the layout of the place, but essentially there are 5 main floors (I think!). The first floor you come across, after travelling up the main escalator, has mostly new games which include the following; UFO Catchers, DDR, Afterburner Climax, Manic Panic Ghost, TSUmo, Sega Rally 3, Fast and the Furious Super Bikes, Battle Gear 4, Need for Speed Underground, Ford Racing, Primeval Hunt, Wartran Troopers, Rambo, Time Crisis 4, Let’s Go Jungle, House of the Dead 4, Panzer Elite, Lethal Enforcers 3, Big Buck Pro and multiple pushers.

A row of back to back fighters can be found on the floor below as well as a Tekken 6. Every time I’ve been to Funland there has always been a crowd of guys down here gauranteed. Also on this floor are some fruit machines as well as Mario Kart GP, Gaelco Football, Virtua Striker 4, a 2 car Outrun 2 Super Deluxe and another Time Crisis 4. Oh and also a game called Percussion Master, which i don’t think I’ve seen before.

If you head back up and follow the pathway around you walk past the bowling alley and a pool bar as well as a bunch of cranes, a Guitar Freaks and a Pump it Up. Head down half a dozen steps and you are in probably what is the biggest floor which is mainly made up of a lot of redemption pieces, pool tables, an 8 player Daytona, a 4 player WCCF, an 8 player Derby Owners Club, deluxe 4 player Outrun 2’s & Ford Racing’s and a twin Mario Kart GP 2. The rest of the games that make up this floor includes Beat Mania 3rd Mix, Virtua Fighter 4 Evo, Hyper Bishi Bashi Champ, another Pump It Up and an Airline Pilots.

(Sorry if this is just sounding like a long list of games, but it’s very rare that I’ll ever get so many pics and remember all the games there, so I figured it would a good idea to write them all down.)

Moving on swiftly then, and on to the floor below this. Apart from the bumper cars in the middle, this floor is packed full of new and old videos. Starting with the new there is an Alien Extermination, a Paradise Lost, Maximum Tune 3, Initial D 4, Blazing Angels, Virtua Tennis 3, Ghost Squad Evo and NASCAR to sink some coins into. For those looking for something a little more aged and perhaps different there are games like Point Blank, Virtua Striker 2, Virtua NBA, some more old skool fighters (sorry can’t remember what they were), Star Wars Racer, Star Wars Trilogy, House of the Dead, another 8 player Daytona, F355 Challenge and Land High Japan?!?

Just few steps down from here is the final piece of the maze that is Funland. This floor does not disappoint either, with a 4 car Outrun 2 Super Deluxe, Silent Hill Arcade, a range of Dancing games as well as some rarer pieces like Manx TT,  MTV Drumscape, Muzan and Ninja Assault.

So that’s what is there, but how does it rate as an arcade? Well obviously it up there with the best in terms of variety of games and it’s very rare to see any of these machine out of order. I think my only complaint about Funland is that if you haven’t been there before it’s very easy to get lost in the multiple floors and the one way escalator system. But hey, I can’t think of a better place to get lost!

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Hit the jump for my Funland picture overload!   

 

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Cool arcade badges

Posted November 2, 2008 by Shaggy
Categories: Arcade Games
Tags: ,

When it comes to fashionable wear and design that involves something arcade related, usually you get something based upon iconic arcade characters like Space Invaders or Pac-Man. But that’s not the only place where arcades can inspire something wearable, as is evidenced with these handmade badges based upon more classic arcade controls. Of course I have never seen an arcade button say Punch, Kick or Fire on itbut I understand why they made them this way. I wouldn’t mind getting a few to throw on my uniforms for my arcade. ;)

[Supermandolini - Arcade Badges] [Discuss on the Forum]

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Stern releases CSI pinball image; also faces downsizing

Posted November 2, 2008 by Shaggy
Categories: New games, Pinball, Stern
Tags: , , , ,

We’ve known about the next game to come along in Stern’s line-up of pins for sometime now and finally we have a prototype image of the cabinet. While at first I personally wondered how relevant CSI is today (I don’t watch TV often and I’ve never seen an episode of CSI), I saw some ratings for TV shows in the US last week and I think CSI showed up three times in the top 20 so it obviously carries with it a bit of popularity. As expected with the prototype image, we do not know how the entire playfield layout is going to be but Pinball News also has a picture taken of one corner of the playfield during the game’s development.

In other Stern pinball related news, Pinball News reports that Stern is going to be laying off a few employees in the face of the economic turmoil that is bubbling out there. According to the site:

Accordingly, some of the well-known names at the company were told their positions would be disappearing. Game designers Dennis Nordman and John Borg, software designers Keith Johnson and Dwight Sullivan and Director of Technical Support Joe Blackwell were believed to be among those leaving the company.

Despite the lay-offs, Stern is remaining committed to sticking to it’s goal of releasing four titles a year, obviously with CSI being next and 24 coming soon.

[Pinball News] [Discuss on the Forum]

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Sequel to Sea Wolf at IAAPA - Sea Wolf: The Next Mission

Posted November 1, 2008 by Shaggy
Categories: Arcade Coverage, Arcade Software, IAAPA, New games, Sea Wolf
Tags: , , ,

When I was at ASI earlier this year, there wasn’t a lot of new content around but there were a few pleasant surprises. The video/redemption game Sea Wolf was one of them as it’s old school gameplay with new graphics was a lot of fun and both my brother and I ended up playing this title several times during our short stay in Vegas. In case you are not familiar with Sea Wolf, it was originally a Midway title from 1976 where you torpedoed passing enemy ships and you used a periscope to view the action; the remake held some changes in the cabinet design but gameplay wise it was essentially the same. While fun, it did have the problem of not containing a lot of depth for those accustomed to such things these days but the new version promises to address that with 7 missions to play (instead of no ‘missions’ at all). To describe it further, Coastal Amusements said the following:

As the player advances, each mission becomes increasing more difficult.  Enemy ships lay mines and return fire and enemy planes drop torpedoes, all in an effort to sink the Sea Wolf.

The new Sea Wolf requires more strategy from the player, and has much more depth to hold the players’ interest.

They also will be releasing the game in three different configurations this time around - the standard sitdown (which the release earlier this year used) and two upright designs with 26″ or 32″ LCD screens. The controller appears to be the same on each design and it’s good to see artwork plastered over most of the cabinet. Now we’ll just have to see what the prices are for each unit; last time it seemed like they priced it in the same field as redemption titles (it can work as video only, which is why we’re covering it). In case you’re going to make it to IAAPA, you can catch the new Sea Wolf at booth 1624.

[Coastal Amusements] [Discuss on the Forum]

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