IAAPA 2017 is approaching fast and with that, news releases are starting to unveil what else we can expect to find there. Today, Sega laid out their IAAPA plans so let’s jump into it with one quick caveat – the end of the press release has this paragraph:
Sega has another major game to announce to make, so stay tuned for more Sega news over the next few days.
I’m pretty sure that this is the shooter title that was mentioned last year – I also heard that it is a sequel to another Sega title but we’ll have to wait for the official release to really discuss it. Could also be the new driving game shown off in Japan recently although I imagine that if that is coming Stateside, they want to let Daytona shine at this IAAPA first. Speaking of which…
Daytona Championship USA
Last year the big news out of Sega was the remastered return of Daytona USA to arcades. What was shown at the time was only 50% complete; then what we saw in March at Amusement Expo 2017 was about 90% finished. The game was released this Summer, a free software update launching for the game shortly afterwards that addressed some graphical upgrades and handling tuning. The “fully finished” version will be at IAAPA, linked to eight units. On top of that [emphasis added]:
Paul Williams, CEO at Sega says “from data we see across many countries Daytona is constantly ranking top 3 in FEC’s.” The Party Mode is the most ambitious and demanding feature that allows operators to make Daytona a centerpiece of their party offering. We’ve made setting up parties and custom tournaments simple and easy to organize. To demonstrate this epic feature, Sega encourages operators to attend the free seminars on its booth at 12 pm, 2 pm and 4 pm on Tuesday to Thursday and 12 pm and 2 pm on Friday.
Sega also sent along this new image showing the 8-player setup using something similar to the Sega Showdown Attraction marquee:
Target Bravo: Operation Ghost
Also debuting last year, but to less fanfare, was a new hardware & software update to Sega’s Operation GHOST. That game was a sequel to GHOST Squad, with Target Bravo serving as a ‘1.5’ upgrade (not unlike GHOST Squad Evolution). It had a new theater cabinet and a new game mode where you played in competitive events. The game was released earlier this year and it will return to IAAPA but along with a new cabinet that should work better for street locations.
Operators with limited space will be pleased to know that Sega will be introducing an upright cabinet to bring this successful licensed game to even more locations. Other licensed video games such as Luigi’s Mansion Arcade, Let’s Go Island Dream Edition will also be on stand.
I wasn’t aware that OG was licensed since it’s a Sega property; no picture of the upright cabinet was included so here’s the latest version of the theater cab.
Redempti-rrific
Sega has been big on the redemption/videmption/merchandiser circuit so games in those classes will be playing a big role at their IAAPA booth as usual.
Pirate Falls
Playing off of the ever popular pirate theme, Sega is introducing Pirate Falls. This isn’t Sega’s first pirate-themed videmption game; they released Pirates of Monster Island a few years ago. Via the press release:
Using the unique barrel controller, that rolls left to right; players have keep the pirate balanced on the log while collecting treasures that fall down the waterfall. Players have to think quickly to avoid bombs thrown by the greedy evil pirate that tries to throw the pirate off the log. Luckily, power-ups help even the paying filed versus the evil pirate. Players can collect the bonus letters to spell “Pirates” and win the super ticket bonus.
Maze Escape
Going back to more traditional EM redemption, Maze Escape recreates the fun of those ball maze balancing toys, super-sizes it and rewards you with tickets. This was seen at the AAMA Gala earlier this month.
Sonic Sports Line-Up
Sega has proudly featured a series of Sonic The Hedgehog themed games at trade shows for quite a while now and IAAPA 2017 will be no different. This includes air hockey, basketball, mechanical & video redemption games. One of those titles that they have touting is the upgraded version of Sonic Basketball:
Magic Arrow & Merchandisers
Rounding out the line-up will be Sega’s line-up of merchandisers, from the popular KeyMaster to Drop It Win It, Prize Locker and the new Magic Arrow.
That’s all for now – what are you looking forward to seeing from Sega?
Well if it’s a sequal to a popular sega game then it can’t be the new driving game so it could be the new outrun mentioned earlier this year. Would prefer it to be a shooter though but makes you say it could be a shooter?
It sounds like the new Sega game is a shooter, and a new sequel installment. It’s sounding more likely that it’s the long awaited The House of the Dead 5 (please!!!) unless Sega is reviving Virtua Cop (which would also be pretty sweet.)
HOTD 5 would be great, but I bet on an arcade version of the upcoming “Sonic Forces”. SEGA is trying to reuse as much code as possible.
Very true. It’s pitiful how lazy Sega Amusements is. The fact that most of their shooters post-2006 have been “Let’s Go Whatever-the-Heck-But-Now-in-a-Theater-Cabinet” is a true testament to their unbridled laziness. If anyone’s going to make THoTD 5, it better be Sega AM2–not Sega’s incompetent London studio.
And speaking of that, whatever happened to good Sega hardware? Lindbergh was the last competent piece of hardware they produced. Now, all of their games look decidedly last-gen, especially because they’re all rehashes of the same games.
I guess Raw Thrills and Namco are the only developers worth caring about outside of indies. (Though I wish we’d stop calling them indies, because by that logic, Raw Thrills would have been indie when they started out. It’s a misnomer in the arcade industry.)
Any plans for Bandai Namco to release Maximum Tune 5DX in the US? Because we are two versions behind Asia and Japan which they were playing 5DX+ nowadays.
I’ll give SEGA this… at least they didnt turn Operation Ghost into a turret based shooter