Big Buck Hunter is one modern IP that has legions of fans around the world, having become a staple of the bar scene along with titles like Golden Tee. The last time that the game received a major (as in new cabinet and complete redesign) new entry was in 2012 with the launch of Big Buck HD; Since that time, the developers behind it, Play Mechanix, have released a number of big updates to it, including new animals, more bonus games, and new adventures like Doe of the Dead or Duck Dynasty (culminating with the Big Buck Wild update).
But, all has been pretty quiet on the new release front for the series since they rolled out the Buckzilla update early last year. That is all going to change in 2020 with the release of Big Buck Reloaded. Here’s a trailer thanks to Raw Thrills, which also is being broadcast at the 2019 Big Buck World Championships tonight:
I like the look of a lot of these new adventures or games, although the one that really surprised me was Terminator Salvation Delta Mission. It’s also fun to see them re-using the characters introduced in the Doe of the Dead update (Shotgun Granny and such), and just going totally over-the-top with them.
As a note, many years ago, Play Mechanix did create a version of Big Buck that used a realistic bow and arrow controller, but unfortunately those don’t really work out in the arcade (while crossbows do), so it was never released. This is a hat tip to that idea.
To provide some detail to operators, Raw Thrills told me that “All Online Big Buck HDs will get the update and there will also be a brand new cabinet coming that can be purchased.” Said cabinet was shown in the trailer, and appears to be a cross between the Mini and the Panorama cabinets. No pricing is available yet, but it will come a little later.
They will also roll out score rebalancing on 11/1 of this year, with the rest coming in 2020 (I assume March/April when you have Amusement Expo 2020 and that’s when they have launched new Big Buck titles in the past). I also believe they might be completely revamping how CoinUp billing works, although there is nothing that I can confirm on that yet. That would be a welcome change, as I have had a Big Buck Wild for a long time now, but the CoinUp charges haven’t been something I like too much (I’m fine with something, as that has contributed towards these developments that we see here. But the percentage as well as understanding what you are being billed for could be adjusted/handled better, IMHO).
What do you think about this revamped Big Buck experience?
Hey, I was at the World Championship this past weekend. I asked someone at Play Mechanix about the pricing of the new cabinet, and he said it will cost more than a new BBHD (the small ones go for about $6k), but less than $10,000, due to the new hardware. I would assume that the price will be about $8,000 (probably less) for a standard, with the deluxe costing maybe between $5-$6k (I assume operators will provide their own monitors should they choose to purchase it). But don’t take my word for it, those are just my predictions on the pricing.
Thanks Federico! Looks like the game will be at IAAPA 2019 in a few weeks, I imagine they’ll have solid pricing by then.
Any word on allowing home units online access yet or still only machines accessible to the public?