As we approach the IAAPA trade show, it is normal for details of new arcade games to leak out beforehand since they tend to be out there on location test. I have heard rumblings that Sega had a new driver game in the works but what it was exactly I could only guess as that description of being a driver is a broad one.
Today thanks to Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report, we have the first pictures of that game which Kevin came across while visiting “a local Sega arcade”. The title: Showdown.
(Click on any of the images to slightly engorge them for a larger view)
As you can tell from the cabinet above, the design is similar to what Sega used with the 42″ version of GRID Racing, which was a modified version of a racing cabinet they introduced in 2009 with Sega Racing Classic. Also like GRID, this is a collaborative effort with Codemasters. However this appears to be something original as opposed to a port of a home game to the arcade.UPDATE: A commentor on Facebook noted that Codemasters has Dirt: Showdown that they released in 2012 so this is probably an arcade port of that game. Here is a trailer for reference:
You may recall that in 2012, Sega unveiled a combat racing game by the name of K.O. Drive, which was shown at several different tradeshows and it had some location testing. the game was quietly canceled some time ago but it did show that Sega had a desire to jump into vehicular combat of some kind. It looks like Showdown is going to fill that void. From these four pictures below, there appear to be two styles of play: “Wild Racing” and “Demolition”.
The dashboard is a little different than GRID however in that you have the keypad in the place of a shifter. I assume the thumb buttons on the steering wheel are for firing or activating power-ups, depending upon how the game handles that. While the keypads usually have something to do with saving your progress via pin, this uses “Bonus Codes” to unlock content.
So that is what we have for now. I know more information is supposed to come out next week about this so stay tuned. I also am certain that this will be at IAAPA 2014 so we will get a hands-on look with this one at that time.
Based on this information, what are your thoughts on Sega’s newest arcade game?
This looks fun, I enjoyed DiRT showdown, even though so many people hate it, but it looks fun, Once again Sega didn’t disappoint, more racing games for arcades is what I need!
This game sounds fun actually even though it’s another racing game but with it involving combat too it should be interesting. Makes me think of batman arcade by Rawthrills but will it be open field or is it a track game as I’ve never played the console version?
I hope sega announces more games as there seems to be a lack of them for the arcade since all I can recall is transformers being released. The house of the dead 5 would be a nice addition to their lineup 🙂
Can you please send me a video of the intro for this game?
We are hoping to have video sometime this week of the game in action, which will be included in our “Coming Soon” video. That along with a new game from Raw Thrills.