Welcome to Newsbytes, a collection of quick/short news items from around the world of arcades, made for the weekend.
People Are Hyped For Super Nintendo World
Starting this Newsbytes with a “Well, duuuuh!” item, the hype is real, as it looks downright amazing. Hopefully, things will have diminished enough by next summer that travel to Japan will be just fine again – assuming the Olympics do happen next year, that’d be a great time to stop by and check this out. H/T to Stingray for this one:
A look inside the queue for the new Mario Kart Koopa’s Challenge at Universal Studios Japan!#SUPERNINTENDOWORLD
— Chris Explorer (@tdrexplorer) November 30, 2020
Japanese Mario Kart Arcade GP DX To Receive Another Update In Japan
Speaking of Nintendo and Mario Kart, Bandai Namco has announced that they have a new update launching on Japanese models of MKAGPDX on December 10th. I haven’t been able to confirm whether or not this update will find it’s way to US versions yet (US editions all went offline a few years ago), but for Japanese players, this sounds like a lot of fun. The game is getting a new art kit, adding Wario as a racer, and adding a crazy new “Infinite Green Shells” mode. Picking up the item boxes on the track will give you a 1-hit bumper for some quick defense. Almost sounds like they should call this the “Chaos Update,” although that probably would step on Sonic’s toes a little. 😉
StepManiaX Update
More new and free songs for those who have an SMX arcade machine:
New Direct Video Of Raw Thrills’ Bust-A-Move Frenzy
As one of the few Raw Thrills games to launch this year, a lot of people haven’t had the chance to play this new big screen take on Taito’s classic. In preparation for an upcoming interview I will be doing with Eugene Jarvis, Raw Thrills sent this my way. I need to do some testing with my existing equipment to see if the interview can work the way I want it (hoping to do a livestream, but YouTube has long given me trouble with that); If so, I’ll announce when on the AH social media channels.
Speaking of Taito, The Fairyland Story is now available on the Switch and PS4.
Let’s Play Vritra Hexa
A full direct playthrough of my latest arcade acquisition. It’s a lot of fun, but I am the type who enjoys horizontal scrolling shooters more than vertical ones. This video also shows one of the unique levels that only exists in this version of the game (they added/changed many other things, including the weapon select screen, stage branching, 4K graphics support, co-op play, QR code online scoring). I also posted a video of the Caravan Mode here.
The Atari Pong Mini Jr. Is Arriving Soon, And The Price Is…
Drumroll please…….$129 through the US/Canada distributor, Arcade 1up. I couldn’t tell you why it’s so high for a device that plays only one game that’s almost 50 years old. For that price, it should include every single paddle-based arcade and Atari 2600 game ever released. Maybe it’ll be hackable?
Star Trek Gets Color
Not the Stern model, which already received a ColorDMD a few years ago, but the Data East game from 1991. I think this one took longer to sort out, as the DMD used a different form factor than what became the standard later on.
Collecting JAMMA Boards
If you are into collecting full-sized/original arcade games, then you’re going to end up with a bunch of JAMMA boards, at some point. Here’s a video to help, from Video Game Esoterica:
Arcade Heroes Updates
I’ve added some more designs to the Teepublic store, some for my arcade, but also some for general arcade stuff. Keep in mind that it’s not all T-Shirts – they have stickers, magnets, notebooks, masks, pillows, mugs etc. Anything you grab there really helps, especially right now.
I am continuing to develop the trivia game, but the switch to a different triva kit has been very time consuming. Hopefully all of the many, many hours I’ve put into this project over the past few years (most time was spent on research & writing) will pay off 😛
That’s all for this edition, stay safe and have a good weekend!
