JAEPO 2015 Begins: The Latest On Arcades In Japan (Part 1)

The biggest Japanese arcade trade show of the year is upon us once again, here is a collection of the various announcements and happenings from the JAEPO 2015 event in Tokyo.

(Update: Part 2 is here)

Bandai Namco

Harada looking thrilled as he dons a Pikachu suit. They have announced that Pokkén Tournament will be hitting Japanese arcades this summer. They brought a little crowd of cabinets, anticipating a strong turnout. Via Famitsu.

Here is Star Wars Battle Pod in Japan:

Tekken 7 – Dengeki Online has information on the new character Lucky Chloe, who is useful for beginners. Famitsu has an interview with Harada which covers both Pokkén and Tekken 7.

Namco also has Raw Thrills’ Jurassic Park motion version over there. At IAAPA everyone kept saying that the motion cabinet was going to change dramatically but it looks exactly the same to me  just a few weeks away from when it is supposed to be in production.

Synchronica – Their new touchscreen music game that has two monitors, via AM-NET.

Square Enix/Taito

School of Ragnarok – This 1v1 fantasy battle arena game (kind of like a fighter but not exactly) is also going to starting on the location test circuit.  Pic via AM-Net.

Wizrouge – Labyrinth of Wizardy – Continuing the fantasy/RPG themed trend, this is the new mobile-to-arcade conversion from Taito. The arcade cabinet was an unplayable mock-up, visitors could enjoy the Android version on tablets in the meantime. There are some cross-platform features between the two where you can use the smartphone version to train your characters and store items, but the arcade version will have unique elements such as a “disaster god” monster that will “attack” different arcades around Japan, players will have to rally at that location to combat it. The mobile version will alert the players to this, which is an interesting idea that takes advantage of both Taito’s NESiCA network there plus the love for smartphones.

Capcom

Something has stirred the pot at Capcom since they are very interested in arcades once again. A new Attack on Titan arcade game has been announced, based upon the manga and anime TV series of the same name. The trailer is incredibly un-informitive, showing nothing more than stylized text announcing the game so we will have to wait to see what this is all about exactly; I wonder if it will be like an arcade version of Evolve.

Shown in conjunction with Sega, Luigi’s Mansion Arcade has two units on the show floor, as seen in this unfortunate blur shot.

We also have a look at the controllers thanks to the flyer, which are little vacuums that have a SNES Super Scope vibe to them as well. Via AM-NET.

The cabinet for Crossbeats .rev has finally been shown, it had been mentioned how this is a ReRave-like game and the cabinet design does follow the original ReRave to some degree. Capcom hasn’t had a booth this elaborate for an amusement trade show in years; pic via Game Watch.

Sega

Kancolle Arcade – From the legendary AM2 (who have dabbled in the more contemporary Japanese otaku side of things before with Hatsune Miku), this one is an anime-girl, naval warfare based game that has a Sega Aime card vending attachment to it. The license is a major one in Japan, and it sounds like Sega expect it to be a big success.

It is planned to launch for this Summer.

The Sega areas otherwise were restrictive on close-up photos, here are their rhythm games such as the new Maimai Orange Plus and Chunithm, via AM-Net:

Konami

Disney Tsum Tsum – New Disney themed touchscreen instant prize videmption game. Includes Ana and Elsa from Frozen, Winnie the Pooh and other famous Disney characters.

Festival De Fever – At first I thought this was a 4 player version of Taiko No Tatsujin but then I realized that it was a Konami branded game:

That’s all for now, stay tuned for more!