Well when it comes to news, Japan is on fire this week. Let’s get started with one game that everyone has been talking about for some time now:
Pokken Tournament Released – The day has finally arrived where Bandai Namco has released the unique 1v1 fighting game Pokken Tournament. We’ve discussed it on the blog a few times before, given that it is a blend of sorts between the popular Pokémon universe with some Tekken-style 3D fighter play, a lot of people out West would love to give this one a spin. In fact, I’ve seen a lot more coverage from standard home console game sources about this one than even the Star Wars Battle Pod, so gamers in general know about this one even though there is no home version of this game announced at this time. There has been talk from the Pokémon Company that the game could get some testing out West like Tekken 7 is enjoying right at this moment. We’ll have to wait and see how it works out but there definitely is a chance you won’t have to book a flight to Japan to play this game. Here is a new video about the game from Bandai Namco Amusements Japan
It should also be noted that Sega’s Chunithm rhythm game is also launching in Japan today but chances are very slim that the West will get this one officially. I have updated our Arcade Releases page to reflect the latest changes.
Sega Testing Mario & Sonic At The Rio Olympics Arcade Edition – Well that says it all right there. Starting tomorrow at a Sega Akihabara location in Japan, the company will begin testing an arcade version of the upcoming Olympics crossover game. Mini-game type titles like this have worked in arcades before (Track & Field/Hyper Olympics comes to mind first and foremost) so I’m sure this will be a great fit – what will be interesting is to see the hardware setup. It is also worth remembering that Sega Japan has done a very limited release Sonic game that involved a treadmill – could Sega reuse this cabinet for the new game?
After watching the video of Chunithm I can safely say that game will not be coming out west anytime soon which is a shame because music games seem to be the next genre out of the door in the arcade scene. Everyone knows what Pokemon is so it does seem likely that the game will be tested unlike capcoms luigis mason which has zero chance of coming out west unless someone like sega picks the game up.
Did they mention what controls were for sega mario and sonic arcade version?
Not yet, the Japanese article mentioning the test also suggests that they do not know yet. However, the test is tomorrow so I imagine we will have the pictures very soon
Not sure if you’ve seen this yet, but Kevin Bachus, senior vice president of entertainment & game strategy at Dave & Buster’s, had an ask me anything yesterday on Reddit and said, “Yes. We will be testing Pokken. Candidly both NAMCO and I are more optimistic about that title and our typical guests than Tekken.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/DaveAndBusters/comments/3dmze3/iama_senior_vice_president_of_entertainment_game/ctbt3a9?context=3
Dan – I did see that, in fact I just barely posted a round-up of all the location test D&B news 🙂 https://arcadeheroes.com/2015/07/22/testing-at-dave-ddr-2015-pokken-tournament-more/ Thanks!