One company that we had been waiting on regarding their IAAPA line-up news was Bandai Namco Amusements America. Now thanks to two images that have come out of BNA HQ, we have an idea of what will be there:
Bandai’s IAAPA 2016 Flyers
The first image was shared on Bandai Namco’s social media yesterday and is headlined by a game that we’ve been hearing about for a while – Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5. This recently got some coverage in the October issue of Replay Magazine but after we were told that a different cabinet image would be available, we decided to wait. However, this looks the same to me. As we originally had heard, the game is being sold in quantities of 4, along with the kiosk station which is used for car adjustments and other online-enabled features. This makes it like other setups found around the world. Also worth noting is how the US version of the cabinet is a variation of Namco’s Dead Heat driving game:
Here’s a better look at the Maximum Tune 5 cabinet as shown in Replay (click to enlarge):
Something New To Be Unveiled
It is also standard for Namco to have some surprises on hand for IAAPA. At IAAPA 2015, the World’s Largest Pac-Man was introduced and we had no idea of its existence until seeing it at the show; they also had a number of other games that were surprises such as Tekken 7, a Pac-Man alley roller, Funky Gators videmption and more.
This morning, Namco sent out a variation to the image above that confirms that something new will be on hand. It’s impossible to say if this is a video only game or videmption title – what do you think it is?
Pac-Man Pool Table
One addition that we discovered through the new Bandai Namco 2016-2017 catalog is a Pac-Man themed pool table. I’m not aware of Namco having dabbled with pool before; this also is a part of their home “Mancave” collection that includes a home air hockey table.
IAAPA 2016 is less than a week away and we will be there to see all of these games in person! What are you looking forward to the most?
I’ve no idea what the mystery game could be. I hope it’s not a videmption though since wmmt 5 seems to be the only major video game there. The silluette makes me think of a music game for some reason but then it could be a gun game. Whatever it could be I really hope that wmmt 5 isn’t a watered down version with certain elements missing from the game just like they did with mariokart arcade GP DX. I’m surprised that they’re having the kiosk so hopefully it will have all the features, but will the game be online?
Well it’s so sad that Namco won’t release Point Blank X internationally. We finally got the Asian build of the game in a nearby local arcade.
Is WMMT5 NA version has the same content with WMMT5DX International? hmmm
I wondered why I never come across point blank x. I thought it would prove to be OK thought not great but certainly not bad, especially as you can win tickets. I would’ve liked to have had ago though at the least to see for myself.