Today I decided to do a little research on some companies that generally go under our radar, not because we have no interest in covering the games they produce but because they aren’t very vocal about releases outside of China or Taiwan unless you stumble across their booth at a show. We last saw Chinese companies Belrare and Tecway Developments(they team up often on projects) at IAAPA 2009, showing off some interesting concepts, from a snowboarding game, to a DJ Max Technika clone called Magic DJ to a Super Monkey Ball-clone called Happy Balance Ball. So what have they been up to since IAAPA?
First is Belrare/Tecway’s take on on the arcade motorcycle racing genre. This genre has been getting a boost over the past couple of years, from Super Bikes to Nirin to Speed Rider 2. Tecway’s is called either Pop Moto or Dogfight Moto (Tecway’s site calls it ‘Pop’, Belrare’s ‘Dogfight’). The game features 5 selectable characters, 5 “settings” (perhaps they mean modes or levels?) some sort of selectable item system and 32″ screens. I can’t find any video of the game in action, nor any decent pictures beyond what you see above but the game should be available now. [Tecway game listings]
Next is another large tabletop coin-op game, which we are seeing more of these days. Called Tropical Ocean III, it is unclear what the actual objective of the game is as the Belrare site doesn’t really describe that part but my best guess is that it involves catching different sea animals with varied mini-games, sort of like Butterfly Garden by UNIS. The site says that there are “4 different game scenes and 45 species of animals with 8 play styles!” and the cabinet is designed for four players.
For our music fans out there, Belrare does happen to have a page up about Magic DJ now. There aren’t any significant details listed there but in case you wanted to see a little more on this one beyond what I filmed at IAAPA then this is the place to go.
Unfortunately there are few details other than that regarding these games that I can find but assuming that Tecway is at IAAPA again this November, we should expect to see these and more at the booth.
While not produced by Belrare or Tecway here is another game I stumbled across while looking for info on the above games. It’s called Bloody Taierzhuang, a light-gun game which features an attractive cabinet that sports a 47″ LCD screen and realistic looking guns. Destroy oncoming invaders, try and get head shots for quick kills and compete for the high score. There aren’t any direct screenshots of this one but from a couple of the thumbnails it appears to have nice graphics. It’s impossible to the judge the game on that however so I will have to keep digging for more. It was at a recent tradeshow in Asia somewhere but I haven’t been able to figure out which one yet. The game is also listed on Dragon World’s site as being available now but no price is listed. [Dragon World English site]
The English side of Dragon World also happens to list 3D Group’s stereoscopic 3D game, Galaxy Puzzle. The cabinet shown here is different from what was seen on Coinopexpress’s website but it is the same game. This is supposed to be another title that doesn’t require any special glasses to see a 3D effect.
