Some news surrounding the Exa-Arcadia platform hit the web this morning, so let’s get you up to speed on everything that came along.
Psyvariar Delta AC Trailer & Upcoming Test
Let’s start with news about one of the games, the vertically scrolling shoot ’em up, Psyvariar Delta AC. Before getting into that, Psyvariar: Medium Unit is an STG that started out in arcades back in 2000 for Taito’s G-Net platform; A revision with various changes and improvements came along that same year. It was developed by Success, who also created a sequel for the Sega NAOMI and ports for consoles like the PlayStation 2. The most recent release is Psyvariar Delta, which is available for the PC/PS4 and Switch, which maintains elements like the “Buzz system,” original ships and such, while bringing new modes and content to the table.
For the new arcade version, the Exa websites states: “PSYVARIAR DELTA AC brings back the classic coin crunching original to the modern age with full HD graphics, new techno soundtrack and further income optimizations for operators.” For what those optimizations probably are, this tweet from WGC mentions the 4k compatibility, ability to choose your soundtrack, a “vertical mode gadget” (probably means specific support for running this in TATE mode, i.e., vertical monitor. Games can run in vertical or horizontal mode on Exa), and support for 4:3 monitors. I would also assume that the ships available as DLC on the console versions will be packed in here, which would be a plus, and WASi303 produced the soundtrack for this, as they did for Aka & Blue Type-R.
If you are in Tokyo and know where to find World Game Circus, then you’ll be able to see any differences first hand as the game begins testing at that location on the 24th and goes through the 30th. Here is a trailer posted to Twitter (have not seen one for YouTube yet) that shows the game in it’s 60fps glory, although you’ll have to forgive the horrible Twitter compression for the artifacting:
「ロケテのお知らせ」#EXA基板
デルタからACへ
縦スクロールSTG
【サイヴァリア デルタ AC】ロケテ日時：
24日（金）から30日（木）まで場所：
WGC
東京都立川市羽衣町2-4-13@wgc_tencho開発：
シティコネクションサウンド担当：
WASi303是非ご参加ください！ pic.twitter.com/mBBtCZXYv0
— exA-Arcadia 【公式】 (@exaarcadia) July 22, 2020
Strania EX Pre-Orders Now Open
With a round of testing complete on G.Rev’s Strania EX, which is also on the Exa-Arcadia, the company has opened pre-orders today. A lot of people have been waiting on this one from what I can tell, and for a time, Exa was selling some limited edition Exa’s that came with Strania art on them. It isn’t known when exactly this will ship out – Gimmick! and Shikondo Red Purgatory have also been available to pre-order for some time now, but I imagine that it will be very soon.
Nippon Marathon Turbo Doing Exceptionally Well On Test
For a non-STG title, it’s also worth noting that the quirky Nippon Marathon Turbo has been posting some great numbers while on test this past week. Per this tweet, the game made 267Y in only two days, and with some follow-up I found that the game has easily been maintaining over $100 a day in revenues. This is with the backdrop that Japan is not back to 100% capacity – many people are still limiting their time out of the house, while the number of COVID related hospitalizations have been rising in Tokyo.
I am very curious to see how the game performs in the US and Europe, although I imagine that for the US, it will need a 4-player cabinet to properly perform. They are using a 4p setup on the test for this, linking two 2p cabinets together.
Exa-Arcadia Units Now Available From More Distributors In Japan
This bit of news is more for Japanese operators (I have no idea how many read the blog here, but I don’t think that it is many 😛 ), but for those in the country who have been considering the platform, it is now available for public purchase “at BEEP, KVClab and WGC.” Where these are public, home users can also grab one if they want; KVClab even setup a demo unit with an old Neo Geo controller to use.
That should get you up-to-date! As it stands, there are still almost a dozen announced Exa games that have not enjoyed a recent test yet, and many on the games page aren’t available for pre-order yet either. 
