We’ve got a couple of exA-Arcadia updates this morning, one focused on Japan, the other for worldwide. Let’s start with the Japan news first.
World Game Circus & Show Me Holdings Announce CLUB EXA Gamers Lounge
This will have to go into a Location Watch when it opens, but earlier yesterday was an announcement of a new arcade location that will open in Tokyo at the end of the year by the name of CLUB EXA Gamers Lounge. This is exA’s first location, making it comparable to the likes of Sega’s arcades or Taito Stations that are found throughout Japan – just on a smaller scale to start. It is not a distribution/retail sales store, but an arcade. In checking with exA about this, it will have around 20 cabinets, replete with 4K UHD low input lag monitors and plenty of games to enjoy from the exA-Arcadia line-up. As it is, this will be different from a typical Japanese arcade, which tends to have a lot of crane machines – the exA lounge will have none, and no revenue share titles. We’ll have more info on this once it opens by the end of the year.
Nippon Marathon Turbo 2 Coming To exA
There has been a unique game on the docket for the exA, a wacky multiplayer marathon title for 1-4 players. The game has seen some testing in Tokyo, but the arcade version hasn’t been released as of this time – it will likely launch before the end of the year. It is also available on platforms like the PC (with some differences), and thanks to the success it has seen so far, the company (Onion Soup Interactive) is now on Kickstarter looking to fund the sequel. As a part of the Platforms found under the Stretch Goals section, the exA is specifically mentioned:
We are delighted to be working with exA-Arcadia again to bring Nippon Marathon 2 TURBO to the arcades. We have learned a huge amount about designing for the arcade market so expect Nippon Marathon 2 TURBO to be the ultra high-energy counterpart to the home version.
Another interesting note is that backers who pledge “£5,258 or more” will receive a Nippon Marathon Turbo 4p exA arcade cabinet. While that isn’t shown yet, it will be interesting to see what design they came up with (and since it’s an exA board, you’ll be able to install three other games, including NMT2 when that comes along). You can check out all of the new additions to NMT2 on the Kickstarter page, and we’ll probably see it come Spring 2022. Here’s the exA trailer for the first game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6YlN6BY0hE
Also for one other minor note, the company has updated their games page to rearrange the titles, and a couple of artwork updates. No new games are gracing the page, but not to worry, there is a lot of development pushing forward for the platform that we’ll learn more about soon enough.
