IAAPA 2018 Wrap-Up #3 – Games From UNIS, Capcom, Team Play, Touch Magix, Trio Tech & More

Time for another look at what was at the IAAPA 2018 trade show, marking post #3. My apologies about these taking longer than usual to get posted; the video edits in addition to working at the arcade & prepping for opening up a small operation south of here has been extremely time consuming. But we’ll get everything covered…eventually.

In case you missed them:

IAAPA 2018 Wrap Up #1

IAAPA 2018 Wrap-up #2

Here are the games you will find below:

• Derby Champion Club (UNIS)
• Sniper Strike & AR Tanks War (Hua Tai Bai Shun)
• Poogie Race (Capcom/Andamiro USA)
• Typhoon: 10th Anniversary Edition (Trio Tech)
• Spins Ahoy! (Team Play)
• Dicey Jump & Hop ‘N’ Stack (Touch Magix)
• Bounty Ranger (Wahlap)
• LED Carnival Games by Aquaventronics

Derby Champion Club (UNIS)

Motion-based jockey games are not exactly plentiful in the business, but they have been around before. UNIS in particular had one for sale a few years ago, but it disappeared for a while, only to reappear as this game below. The horse shaped motion seats sure do attract attention, then the flash of the cabinet, the big screens and such complete it all. The game itself is definitely an improvement over the last jockey game that UNIS did, with much improved graphics that helps this one play better. It really would be prudent if this one didn’t have “Club” as a part of the name though, as it does make you think about the Sega horse/jockey management game.

Sniper Strike (Hua Tai Bai Shun)

Waaaay back in 2014, we ran a story about the strange, yet cool cabinets designed by a Chinese company called Hua Tai Bai Shun.  Since then, I don’t recall hearing anything about the company, but in finding their booth, they are certainly still focused on creating elaborate and unusual arcade pieces.

As mentioned in the video, this one was far off from where the arcade section was setup. Pulling obvious influence from the likes of Silent Scope, a lot of focus was put into the cabinet to make it stand out. The hydraulic gun level adjustments were also nice, allowing the user to adjust the height, although my brother found his gun was uncomfortable to use at it’s apex, due to his height. Still, every time I went by it, people were playing it. Not so much AR Tanks War though. I tried that one at first since it was clear of players while sniper strike was full; Perhaps I didn’t do it right, but it wasn’t intuitive to use the machine gun on the tank. I gave up trying after a few moments as it seemed like what I was doing wasn’t having the intended effect.

Here’s a bonus for reading the post here, as opposed to just following us on YouTube – the flyer. Most of the brochure focuses on AR Tanks War, but the last page has Silent Strike, where they showcased some other, very unique cabinets for this one. From this, we learn that the game below is the “Double Tree” model (I assume the word was meant to be model and not mode); if you really want to spend some cash, you go for the Jeep Type or Armored Vehicle. By this, it appears that there isn’t a main display for these ones, the display just being the scope in each gun. Then there’s the Battlefield Version, which has an even bigger monitor and sports up to six rifles.

Poogie Race (Capcom/Andamiro)

Way back in 2008 (or ’09…it’s been a while), Capcom introduced an odd racing game just to the Japanese market that involved racing pigs. So it came as quite the surprise to see this game appear at the Andamiro booth this year, translated into English. I also think that the graphics might have been updated from the original, as they didn’t seem exactly like you’d expect from a kids title in ’08, but I’m not sure about that.

Anyways, this is one of those games that makes you look goofy by playing it, having to shake the pig to make it move. A jump button is located on the back to make you jump on the track and you can also turn the pig for directing it in-game. This one has been designed to award tickets, but looked to be for amusement-only as well. Andamiro said that they wouldn’t be promoting this one much in North America, so perhaps some European locations will get their hands on it. As mentioned in the video, it reminds me of Namco’s Armadillo Racing.

Typhoon: 10th Anniversary Edition (Trio Tech)

This one was announced pre-IAAPA, a 4K upgrade to the extremely popular Typhoon virtual roller coaster motion simulator. The cabinet is the same apart from the coloring; the screen has been updated and there are 10 new films to enjoy. They certainly did look nice on the 4K monitor, I was just surprised at how low the volume was on it (not complaining, you just get used to some of the games having the volume cranked up way too high at these events).

Spins Ahoy! (Team Play)

We first unveiled this game back in the Spring, but IAAPA marked the first time that it had been presented to the industry to see. I vaguely remember Pirates Booty Deluxe, but the premises are the same. You play a virtual board game to win tickets. As explained and shown in the video, there are spots where you can take a chance to win a large amount of tickets, and collecting letters will unlock a 2x Bonus Mode. There are also two versions of this, the pinball version being the one I found most interesting due to the risk taken in trying out such a controller. By what Team Play said, each version has it’s audience, so some locations would find stronger earnings from one edition over the other and vice versa.

Dicey Jump & Hop ‘N’ Stack (Touch Magix)

I had to combine these two into one video as it turned out that I did not shoot as much footage of Hop ‘N’ Stack as I thought I did. That is always a dilemma at these shows when you are filming dozens of games – not realizing that you missed something or could have obtained a better shot until it’s too late.

I covered their Mystery Island MXR game in the last IAAPA post and this time we’re looking at two other videmption games that were on hand: Dicey Jump and Hop ‘N’ Stack. Both games are simple and involve jumping. I believe that this was only their second IAAPA, so for them to present a total of five new games to the industry is impressive (many newcomers will have one or two games that they get mileage out of for a few years before introducing something new).

Bounty Ranger (Wahlap)

Having discovered this one in September, I wasn’t exactly expecting to see it at the Wahlap booth, but there it was. In-person, the cabinet is much bigger than I had expected it to be, certainly aiming to grab your attention in a busy arcade environment. The game itself has an Old West theme, although it’s hard to really “feel” that with the voice acting being what it is. Still, the graphics were fluid and vibrant, the game played fine, without any hiccups or odd game design decisions that I came across. It does use a motion seat although to be honest, the level I played this on might have had an affect as it seemed very mild – to the point that I only recall feeling movement a couple of times during the level. That’s not a major complaint though, if you play a motion game where the seat is moving when the action on-screen isn’t, then it ruins the experience. Overall it was nice to see an original work.

LED Carnival Games (Aquaventronics)

We’ll end this post with another product that was a bit different from what you would expect – some games designed with carnivals or theme parks in mind. The displays use RGB LEDs in a way that almost look like arcade buttons. Unfortuantely I did miss filming the game on their booth that is coin-operated, but I recall one of the booth attendants saying that could could adapt some of these other titles for coin-op use if requested (and paid for).

That’s all for this IAAPA 2018 wrap-up, but no worries – there is still more to cover! Hopefully the next Wrap-up will complete our look at what was at the show, so stay tuned.