Back in February during the JAEPO Expo in Tokyo, Konami had unveiled a unique videmption (or interactive vending) game, originally called Disney ZamZam, which was changed to Disney Tsum Tsum. I mentioned it briefly (scroll down most of the page to find it) but hadn’t really discussed it otherwise as it was figured that being a Konami Japan piece it wouldn’t find its way into distribution here.
With location test fever reaching a pitch in the US recently, Round1USA at the Puente Hills Mall in Southern California brought the game in this week for some testing. Now branded as Tsum Tsum Arcade, this VS. touchscreen matching puzzle game still maintains the Disney characters in their extra cutesy “Tsum Tsum” form in the game. For the Tsum Tsum product themselves, they are NFC-enabled (ala Skylanders or Amiibos) collectible toys that vend in small capsules. They can be tied to a user’s Konami e-Amusement account and as shown in this location test video here, with two players activating them, you can enjoy a vs. match where 2 out of 3 wins. Vs. play looks like it would be fun, just like other Vs. puzzle arcade games from the past (Super Puzzle Fighter II, Puzzle Bobble, etc)
According to the test settings, you could just play the game for $1 or if you want a Tsum Tsum, that would run you $5 (which would include a game). Some special edition Pink Micky/Minnie Tsum Tsums were included in the product batch; the game also includes Elsa from Frozen and Winne The Pooh, which are certain to draw some attention to it.
While I’m not aware of how well prize capsule games generally do on the arcade market, they are out there. One made waves not long ago called Monkey Bizz-Ness with the Sidebox, which would vend a capsule and if you got a key then you could win a bigger prize to the side but that isn’t really a game, it’s more of an elaborate vending machine. While Tsum Tsum has this vending angle to it to draw in interest, this style of game is quite popular. Combine it with Disney characters and it seems like it should be a win-win-win. Now the question would be whether or not this did well enough on test and if it would be available in wide arcade distribution and who would handle manufacturing since Konami hasn’t had such capacity in the US for many years. What are your thoughts about this?
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I think the game could do well. My younger cousins love this game and tsum tsum characters are quite popular at various shops so I think this could work as the sort of game on a similar scale to pacman is with its appeal to female audiences. This will especially be popular with young girls because especially with the capsule prizes like what skylanders are to boys. You can play this game for free on iPad but you have to be connected to the internet constantly and buy lives but this could work and I’d certainly give it a try. This could also work as a redemption game too.
You shouldn’t have to buy hearts, unless you want to with rubies, one should regenerate every 15 minutes, or friends on LINE can send them, trust me, it’s less work to wait, because it takes a long time to earn enough rubies…just saying…, but I love the game too, like your cousins!