Sneak Peek: Nex Machina Death Machine Arcade In Cabinet Form

Last week we heard that Raw Thrills and Housemarque would officially be bringing their new Robotron-like (or spiritual sequel if you prefer) twin stick shooter Nex Machina to arcades. It has been quite a while since we’ve had anything like that from a major arcade game maker…I’m not sure if Smash TV would be the last time that occurred but I am straining to remember any title since that used this particular control setup.

The Nex Machina Death Machine Arcade Cabinet

Today we have more information on the arcade build of the game, thanks to Eugene Jarvis himself. While these are 3D renders of what the file calls “FINAL-ASSY”, there is always something that can change during production. That said, I would say that this is pretty much what you can expect to find when the game shows up on location:

The most obvious change here from that early rendition that Engadget received a while back are the joysticks. You have 2-player co-op support (which really is going to make a difference when it comes to a hardcore game making some money on location) and the joysticks appear to be these heavy duty analog flight sticks that you can find at Suzo Happ. These have two buttons on the back and a trigger…also a design that you haven’t seen in any modern arcade game. I noticed that the image of the joysticks on the game screen is slightly different; I’m sure they have been testing out different sticks to see what works best at the end of the day. One thing that will possibly change are those boxes in front of the joysticks as the file mentions that those will contain “player instructions”.

Those grey pieces to each side of the coin door are frosted acrylic and will have LEDs lighting them up.

From the side, we get a better look at the side art and the cabling that the game uses to spruce up the cabinet. The entire shape of the cabinet follows Raw Thrills design ideas while putting in some changes to make this unique. The closest cabinet I could compare it to would be Aliens Armageddon from 2012.  Those grey lines in the control panel underneath the joysticks but above the coin door will also contain LEDs for some attract lighting. LEDs are also present underneath the control panel to light up the floor beneath. The screen is a 55″ HD display although no indication as to its tech specs – we’ll assume 1080p for now.

Going closer on the control panel, you can see how the sticks have their yellow/red color schemes and there is more artwork to be found there. One interesting mention in the file I received was regarding the pipes you see in the center of the panel. They are called “blower pipes” but there is no mention as to their function, whether that is to be purely aesthetic or to add one of those “4D” wind elements to the game.  I have to imagine that the production version will include some sort of grate over those as otherwise, people will throw garbage into anything like that they see.

So that’s Nex Machina Death Machine Arcade for right now. Raw Thrills hasn’t said yet when this will be hitting production but it looks ready to go for this year. It is uncommon for most arcade game makers to launch a new product in the middle of the Summer but this is an uncommon game. I also would not be surprised if this is being tested in the wilds out there right now.

I may do a vlog about this where I dive a little deeper into it so stay tuned for that!

What do you think about Nex Machina Death Machine Arcade from what has been unveiled so far?