It’s a little odd to realize that it’s been two weeks since IAAPA 2017 started. How time flies, etc. etc. I’ve still been working on videos to share from the event so let’s get you up to speed in case you don’t follow Arcade Heroes on Youtube or BitChute. If you don’t, then you should! 😉
Most of the items here are videmption; I’ll be getting to VR and air hockey soon along with more videmption titles.
Night Hunter (UNIS)
A lot of what is left for me to cover is in the “videmption” category but not everything. Such is the case with a new shooter from UNIS by the name of Night Hunter. This is a sequel to After Dark, which had been released back in 2012 although if you had missed that game then this feels like it’s own new game. Graphically it is much better than the former game (as it should be) and the cabinet is quite nice too. It’s a 4D of sorts – there’s no 3DTV screen (everyone has given up on that) but it does have elements such as motion & air blasts to make it a little more interesting. The guns remind me a little of Raw Thrills/Play Mechanix’s The Walking Dead thanks to the lever you pull to switch ammo. In the video I was still figuring that out as I jumped on the game without starting from the beginning so if there is an explanation there, I missed it. By what I could figure, the enemies are usually color-coded, and shooting them with the correct ammo does slightly more damage. The voice acting could use some work and there was a hardware issue with the wheel when I played (just required a reset to fix) but if you’re looking for something different in the realm of shooters, it is one to look at.
World’s Fastest Drummer (Unit-E Technologies)
Unit-E has the World’s Fastest Drummer on hand again but this time it was the dominant feature of their booth, with four units set up to play. NEON FM was not there but I was told to check out Amusement Expo 2018 for a big update to that series. WFD has not gone under any major changes since we last saw it but it sounds like it has been doing well on the market. A new world record on the game was also set at IAAPA – an insane score of 727 (that’s 727 alternate hits in only 60 seconds).
Qubes (Coastal Amusements)
Once again Coastal had something new for their giant videmption cabinets – last year it was Atari Breakout, this year it is Qubes. Qubes is another app-to-arcade port, it’s what you get if you were to combine the likes of Q*Bert with an endless runner. In this case, an endless faller. Just press the ‘tap’ button to change direction, taking care to not fall through a hole. Click here for the 4K UHD version on Youtube.
Tight Rope (Andamiro)
First discovered on test waaay back, we finally saw Tight Rope available to play. It’s videmption so it is relatively simple although there is more to it than I’ve seen with other competing titles. You are supposed to ride your unicycle across a tight rope with an obstacle course along it to make things challenging. You don’t have to worry about balance – it’s really just about timing and avoiding the obstacles. You can get hit three times, the only thing that I saw otherwise were the moving platforms at the end of the course.
Family Fun Companies – River Of Riches and Viking Hammer
Family Fun Companies is not a company we mention on the blog too often as they tend to focus on products like redemption games, kiddie rides, and basketball machines. But, they have been branching into video more often lately through videmption; they also have a couple of kiddie rides that have video games built into them. For their two main videmption arcade titles we have the new River Of Riches and the slightly older Viking Hammer.
River Of Riches takes the basic concepts you find with modern fishing arcade titles (such as no real attract mode – the game is always going and people can join in at any time; dealing with water, etc.) and shakes things up a little bit by making the game about panning for treasures in a river. That was a refreshing twist; otherwise, I might have walked by it (as I did with several fishing games I saw there that weren’t doing anything new). Admittedly, I did not read the instructions despite focusing on it for a moment here in the video where I was supposed to shake the pan. Whoops.
Viking Hammer was introduced at IAAPA 2016 but I ended up missing the game at the time. This time I gave it a spin but it turns out that it is a modified version that the company is focusing on from here on out. Initially, it was a glorified whack-a-mole kind of game but they found that this new format of simply smashing buttons was more fun to play.
Stay tuned – yes there are several more games that I need to get to but I don’t think I’ve ever been this busy with things to do after an IAAPA so I will get to them…as soon as is possible. 🙂
