The end of April is approaching (already?) and it’s been an interesting month for news so far. Here’s a round-up of some arcade items that you might like:
Arcade Heroes Podcast #13 – Our latest podcast is online, where we mainly talk about Midwest Gaming Classic and a few other items that have been int he news recently. I’ll post a link to the Soundcloud when it is available.
Skycurser Adds Wi-Fi Ability, Global Leaderboards – The developers behind the new horizontal shooting game Skycurser keep finding new ways to add to the game. All of the versions that are out there are still in beta but an upcoming update will add global leaderboards that can be accessed via wi-fi. This is a pleasant surprise that makes a game which carries an older appearance enjoy a more modern feature; it also should make the updates easier to come by and more uniform which is also welcome.
Airframe wifi capability has been implemented. Global leader boards and more frequent software updates incoming! pic.twitter.com/7XTOs86rXt
— SKYCURSER dev team (@skycurser) April 21, 2016
Kinaco Games Provides Retro American Arcades In Japan – A major arcade trend for the West in recent years has been that of the retro arcade opening their doors and providing older games for play. Japanese game centers have been slow to embrace the trend but as this article at jp.automation.am shows, more locations are offering that experience in a reverse of what we tend to find over here – an arcade with a heavy focus on American games instead of Japanese ones. Such is the case with Kinaco Games in Osaka, which opened up back in 2014. They imported a number of Atari titles – Asteroids, Food Fight, Marble Madness, Paperboy, Road Runner & Star Wars; they also have a Defender by Williams. You can check out their Facebook page here.
Project Arena Makes Everyone Want Discs of TRON VR – This story spread like wildfire across the net and I didn’t get a chance to cover it until now so we’ll place it here. TRON Legacy only got a pinball machine in the arcade space when it was released although I know of one developer that had a proposal for an official light-cycle video racer that never got past pre-production. Bringing TRON Legacy into the VR arcade space without directly saying so is this new idea called Project Arena by CCP (developers of the hardcore space MMO, EVE Online). Using the HTC Vive and requiring a bit of space for a proper 2 player experience, this is something that looks like it would be best played in an out-of-home entertainment venue. Those colors are exactly from TL though, albeit there seems to be a bit more particle explosions going on than in the film (plus the player has a shield). More details can be found at Road To VR.
Asphalt Green In NYC Adds An Exergaming Component To Their Facility – Gyms have often used gaming components to help bring customers through the doors and there is a segment of the market known as exergaming that we have covered before (if you want to get technical, titles like Dance Dance Revoltion and Pump It Up are exergames). Now a gym in New York City has added a ‘medium scale attraction’ exergaming component to their facility that this video just called AG6. According to the description, it allows users to burn up to 1000 calories in 45 minutes. That’s quite the intense gaming experience!
Flyer of the Week – Prebillian by Taito: What happens when you cross pool/billiards/snooker with Arkanoid and a single screen shooter? Prebillian, that’s what. This isn’t a very common game to come across out there as it didn’t set the world on fire like Arkanoid did (both games were released the same year) but if you want something a little different in your video pool game then this has to be the most unique.
Name That Game #81 – It’s been a couple of weeks since the last Name That Game so in case you need a refresh, you can see that here. The answers:
#1 – The Combatribes by Technos
#2 – Great 1000 Mile Rally by Kaneko
And for this week, there great games that you may or may not have played:
1 looks like Virtua Fighter 2
2. ? Looks cool though.
3. Darius?
The gym and tron game has made me wonder what future arcades will look or feel like.
#1 – Virtua Fighter 3TB
#2 – Spinal Breakers