Back in February 2015, we mentioned a new horizontally scrolling shoot ’em up was headed to arcades by the name of Skycurser. As of today, the game is officially available for purchase so it has been marked as such on our Arcade Releases for 2017 tracking page.
A Quick Summary Of Skycurser
The game has been mentioned on AH several times since the initial unveil, thanks to the developers keeping fans up-to-date through frequent social media updates. The game has gone through an unusual beta phase as various locations have been able to buy the beta model to put out on location as opposed to the super secret time-sensitive location tests that a majority of arcade games go through.
The game is a horizontal shoot’ em up with a 90s style art aesthetic, going the distance on that 90s feel by being fully compatible with the JAMMA wiring standard. and it is exclusive to arcades. Thanks to modern hardware, it screams along at 60fps without a hint of slow-down (no intentional slow down either – it’s not a “bullet hell” type game), featuring multiple layers of parallax, huge boss sprites, 4 stages and it is exclusive to arcades. In the interest of disclosure, I did get one of the beta units but I paid for it like everyone else so this isn’t paid advertising 😉
The Official Release
Today marks the official release of the game, with Griffin Aerotech taking orders for the Pro, Deluxe and Dedicated Cabinet versions of the game. I reached out to GA with some questions about this but as of this publication I haven’t heard back from them so stay tuned; I’ll update this post with additional details once I have them. one of those questions is whether or not they will attempt to sell the game through traditional arcade distribution channels or keep it direct. Most distributors aren’t very keen on kits and hardly promote them when available but it would be interesting to see.
The software will add 2 player mode, something I’ve been looking forward to for a while as I’ve had customers ask for it.
One thing I was curious about was any hardware changes from the beta version to the release one. For certain the outside of the Airframe hardware is different as we see in this tweet; compare to my “unboxing” of the beta kit from late 2015. I do know for certain that at least two other games are in development for the hardware although it is about time to see how those are progressing.
The arcade future has arrived! Secure your copy of #SKYCURSER now. Only for the arcade, only on AIRFRAME!https://t.co/Ob7lOycWmo pic.twitter.com/latq6LBysa
— SKYCURSER dev team (@skycurser) April 3, 2017
The dedicated version is also showing up out there, both in CRT and LCD models:
SKYCURSER is brave new IP for the #arcade. pic.twitter.com/XV7qjDPjig
— SKYCURSER dev team (@skycurser) March 31, 2017
If you have been able to play one of the more recent versions of Skycurser, what are your thoughts about it? I’ll be saving my final-final thoughts on it for the release version which will be rolled out in a free update later this month. That said, the game has come a long way since I got my hands on it in Oct. 2015 with much better scoring, more action and other fixes that have polished the game for this release. The developers have also been very open to feedback and suggestions which is always appreciated.
If interested in this game or in finding where one might be found, check out the official website for Skycurser here.
Could you give us the two other titles in development for the airframe arcade system ? Founding Force and ? Thank you in avance.
Last I checked, I don’t recall the other one having a title yet. It was something similar to Windjammers though. I’ll have to follow up and find out how it has progressed.
I Found it ! Beach Dogs ^^