Where I’ve been busy with Amusement Expo videos and posts, I haven’t had a lot of time to collect items for Newsbytes, but thanks to you readers on the different social media sites out there, we’ve got a few things to look at. In case you missed it, here is look #1 at what was at Amusement Expo earlier this week. Enjoy!
Sonic & Mario At The Olympic Games Arcade Edition Announced
Thanks to Jdevy for pointing this one out. One of the more unusual arcade releases in recent memory (2016), was that of Mario & Sonic At The Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition. Apart from being a mouthful to say, it brought back a style of sports play that had rarely been seen in arcades after Konami’s Track & Field (yes there were a few after that, but they were kind of obscured by T&F’s light). With the 2020 Olympics approaching fast, Sega has decided to give arcades some love once again, with Sonic & Mario At The Olympic Games Arcade Edition. This trailer does focus on the console versions of the game; at this point, we only know that an Arcade Edition will exist thanks to the logo at the end there.
While we don’t know if this would be made available as an upgrade kit for existing MASRIO2016 cabs, or if it will use something new entirely, I do hope that they will improve the quality of the controls. That is perhaps the biggest complaint I’ve seen from operators out there, as MASRIO was prone to the joysticks being damaged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iassQdFV-Y
Since we’re on the subject of Sega, there are a couple of other related items of interest to share. First, there is no indication that Initial D will be coming back to the West in any official capacity, but players in Japan can enjoy a new update to Initial D Arcade Stage Zero, with Ver. 2:
そして走りは新たな時代へ…
「頭文字D ARCADE STAGE Zero Ver.2」
”2019年 春 始動”#頭文字D0 pic.twitter.com/d8nxi2NzCt
— 頭文字DAC公式 (@initialD_AS) March 23, 2019
On a retro Sega note, here’s a video posted to Twitter showing the “air drive” in operation for Sega’s Super Monaco GP (H/T John Andersen)
セガ スーパーモナコGP エアドライブ筐体の内部ではコンプレッサーがブリブリ回っています。
日本ゲーム博物館 秘密基地 pic.twitter.com/E1ixQMESgd— 日本ゲーム博物館@目標1万人超え (@OneMoreTimeC) March 29, 2019
The Big Lebowski Bowl-o-Rama
If you’re a fan of Namco’s Bowl-o-Rama game from 2006 as well as The Big Lebowski film, check out this custom made title by Herb Sharp. I’ve often thought about modding arcade games; while it’s common to hear about mods/hacks to games from the 1980’s and 90’s, it is far less common on games made within the past 20 years. Awesome work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc9LvzWvMUQ&fbclid=IwAR0-2pQbjXnxqrvd1mD5WBcamdsH84c1164fmK2vJBbZVwKG5XnTUcEFttw
Customized Arkanoid
I’ve also thought about getting customized side art for some of my games. I have more than one cabinet that is just a boring black that could use a facelift. Here’s a customized Arkanoid by Joe Szabo and the Morristown Game Vault.
That’s all I could find for now – back to working on the next Amusement Expo post!
That is my biggest complaint about the MARIO and sonic olympics game. The joysticks are so easily damaged as some of the mini games require you to shake so rapidly that they just don’t work or if barely at all afterwards. Its a shame because it’s just one of those rare games that’s not another shooter or driving game so I hope they bring a new cabinet with more dense control system so that it would witstand being wrangled so dramatically by players, especially the ones that are heavy on the controls.
I wonder if there will be new mini games included.