It’s almost time to ring in a new year and a new decade, so with that, let’s do a recap of the stories that beamed across our computer screens from the wonderful world of arcades in 2019…and a few Most Read posts from the decade.
2019 was a busy year for arcade news, although the site here was hobbled for a time due to a server issue that GoDaddy wasn’t too keen on fixing for me until I shelled out a bunch of cash. That resolved and upgrades applied, it was only for a couple of weeks and fortunately you all decided to stick around. Thank you for reading and supporting the site!
Now for the top 10 stories:
#10 – JAEPO 2019: Konami, Sega, Taito, Bandai Namco & More – The Japanese based trade show at the beginning of the year garnered more attention than the larger American one in IAAPA. Of course, most of the games mentioned won’t find their way West, but the names of the companies behind them have their previous popularity to ride off of.
#9 – Jurassic Park Revealed As Stern Pinball’s Next Title – We generally don’t get a lot of attention on pinball machines, since there are a lot of sites dedicated just to that part of the industry(same thing with VR stuff), but for whatever reason this post about the new JP pinball made it to #8.
#8 – Controversy As An Atari Prototype Lands On MAME – It was nice to get a story about something controversial in arcades that wasn’t surrounding Donkey Kong high scores for a change. I hadn’t heard an update on this one, so I guess the culprit hasn’t been caught.
#7 – JAEPO 2019: Pinball In Japan; Bandai Namco Unveils Pac-Man Panic – At least Pac-Man Panic is at Round1USA, but there was no sign of the game at IAAPA :/
#6 – Tetris Dimensions Spotted On Test In NY – One would have thought that Tetris is a sure-fire hit for arcades like it used to be, but I found out that the game failed testing after a number of people apparently had no idea how to play Tetris. Of course, it could come back in a different form, but that’s why I’ve begun to add “disclaimers” to location test/prototype posts.
#5 – Launching This Month: Pump It Up XX – 20th Anniversary Edition – I wonder if PIU-XX sold better than previous PIUs…
#4 – JAEPO 2019: The Exa-Arcadia Thread – This post received a number of updates – almost like a “live blog,” which probably helped. Still, there were a lot of interesting announcements for the Exa platform to read about. They will NOT be at JAEPO next year, opting to hold their own conference/expo in Japan.
#3 – Raw Thrills Launches Series 2 Cards For Injustice Arcade – Reaching the #3 spot was news on Series 
2 cards for Raw Thrills’ Injustice Arcade game…Series 3 were unveiled during IAAPA Expo 2019, so you might have missed that news in all of the posts.
#2 – Bandai Namco Amusements Confirms Super Smash Bros. Arcade For Arcades [April Fools]
Leave it to a joke to be popular…unfortunately this one had to be changed a little mid-day, since it was causing issues with one of the manufacturers and people wanting to cancel orders for real games. Still, if anyone at Nintendo was listening, a Smash Bros. Arcade game would definitely print monies…
#1 – Dave & Busters Officially Unveils Marvel: Contest Of Champions Arcade
The #1 post was a little bit of a surprise to me, given that it covered a game that one can only find at Dave & Busters, but it’s not the first time that a D&B story has been something that people wanted to know more about. This one also got a boost from the Marvel license; it vends cards like Injustice does; and it has proper fighting controls like a fighting game should. If you’ve come across and played this game, what do you think about it?
Most Watched Video Published in 2019
While it’s been a busy time for the AH YouTube channel this year, a lot of the videos haven’t been getting as much attention as some of those from years past. I don’t know if that has to do with some of the changes that YT has been going through or not, but for videos published this year, this preview of Mario & Sonic 2020 Olympics Arcade has been watched the most (out of those videos published this year). Otherwise, the official trailer for The Walking Dead continues to be the most watched video on the channel. Mario & Sonic 2020 Arcade launches in January 2020, for anyone curious; here is some IAAPA gameplay footage, in case you missed it.
Top 3 Stories of the 2010s
#3 – Namco’s Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 coming in December to Japan
It never ceases to amaze me how well certain stories do, particularly ones that are about products that very few people in the West will get to play. Such was the case with this popular story regarding the initial announcement surrounding Bandai Namco Amusements’ Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4. WMMT3, 3DX and 5 all saw US releases, but they didn’t draw as much attention as this story did, for whatever reason.
#2 – Dave & Busters Launches Injustice Arcade With Exclusive Cabinet; Sales Open For General Release
The arrival of a concept that had long been popular in Japan (card vending games) to the US did manage to draw more attention than MaxiTune 4 though, with a Dave & Busters timed exclusive on the widely successful Injustice Arcade game raking in the interest. Card games are so hawt right now, not just in video games, but especially redemption with coin pusher style games offering collectible cards – that can also be exchanged for tickets. Injustice is still available for locations to purchase…I wonder how many series of cards they’ll end up doing?
#1 – 40 Years of Arcade Games – Part 1 / Part 2
And the most read set of stories on the site here over the past 10 years wasn’t news at all – it was simply looking back over 4 decades worth of arcade titles. Come to think of it, we’re only a couple of years away from doing a 50 years retrospective, so get ready to feel really old when that arrives.
Again, thank you for following and reading stories on the site here. If you have suggestions for things you’d like to hear about that go beyond news, then I’m all ears.
