Welcome to another exciting edition of Newsbytes, a post where I curate stories from around the web that have something to do with arcades, pinball, and gaming. These are generally quick and I do this every or every other weekend. April was a mixed month in terms of what news was out there, but perhaps May will see an uptick. Let’s get to it
Up-And-Coming Indie Arcade Game: Throwback! Jai-Alai Heroes
Indie Arcade Wave has the goods on a new sports indie arcade game that will be launching soon called Throwback! Jai-Alai Heroes. If you aren’t familiar with this sport, this video can help you out; It’s kind of like the first match that Flynn faces in the movie TRON with the weird scoop mitts. Sounds like the game is done, but now they need to find someone to create the final cabinet for it – if the devs read this, hit me up, I have some connections that might be able to help 🙂
New Slam ‘N Jam Released
LAI Games has long enjoyed success from their arcade basketball games, the backbone of which has been the Slam ‘N Jam series. They are keeping the series alive by giving it a modern refresh, as shown by this new trailer. This is for locations that may not have space for something as large as a HYPERShoot, or just prefer this particular design:
Outnumbered Unboxing
Speaking of LAI, I shared this on the various AH social media outlets already, but in case you missed it, I have another arcade machine unboxing & installation that I filmed. It had been a while since I had done one of these – I didn’t do it when I opened my second location last year and received various machines, as pretty much everything came used and in such bulk that it would have been difficult to leave a camera around (and the mall there where I was unloading was much busier). Also big H/T to the LAI team for helping me on tech support with this with a few used game bumps I’ve come across:
Step ManiaX April Update
My next unboxing might be Step ManiaX, although it’s been a bit of a wait on it due to high demand (last I heard is that I would have one available this month). Either way, for the growing number of units out there, a free new content update is available:
Trailer For Cannon Arm And The Arcade Quest
H/t to Knapp Arcade for this one, an upcoming documentary about a man with a rockin’ mullet who is training to play Konami’s Gyruss for 100 hours straight.
VAR Live
I received word about this new amusement VR attraction a few weeks ago but I kept forgetting to mention it in the Newsbytes, so making up for it now. This company is based out of China and they appear to be offering something similar to Bandai Namco’s VR Zone (more customized experiences as opposed to a generalized VR kiosk/enclosure with a variety of games). They have a number of experiences available, several of which involve zombies, but they do have some that don’t, such as Super Ninja, Crazy Rush (racing), and a competitive target shooting game. Their website can be found here.
Blast From The Past: Konami’s 1998 Autumn Arcade Catalog
Scott Davidson uploaded this great time capsule to Vimeo, showcasing Konami’s Amusement game line-up at the time. This was the year were Bemani was really taking off and their focus on the likes of Beatmania 3rd Mix, Pop ‘N Music, and the original Dance Dance Revolution reflect that. If you’re not into Bemani stuff, there’s plenty more, including the rare Evil Night (in the DLX model), Racing Jam Chapter II DLX (with the curved screen!), Hyper Bishi Bashi Champ, and much more. IT even shows one of the first flat screen generic game cabinets. It’s all in Japanese, but still an enjoyable look at the past:
Hypernoid Implements 2-player Mode
I’m curious, is anyone with an MVS interested in grabbing this?
Headlines
Arcade Hunters Reviews The New Mortal Kombat Movie / As Well As The 1995 One
Rumor Mill: Stern’s Next Game Is Disney’s The Mandalorian – Whatever it is, Stern does like to announce games in May, so we’ll know soon, probably on May 4th since that’s when all sorts of Star Wars stuff is announced, but some are saying it’ll drop on May 11th.
Fathom Revisited Features Trailer – In case you missed this the other day
Unboxing A Pinball Brother’s Alien Pinball Machine
Homepin’s Next Game Uses A License
Capcom Rolls Out Paid Invincibility For Capcom Arcade Stadium – That’ll sure make you feel like a winner!
John Tobias & Working On Mortal Kombat
Golden Tee 2021 LIVE Discontinued – Released only last September, I’m not really sure why they bothered since PGA Tour was so close. The Home versions will be available for a while though.
That’s all I’ve got for this time. Have a great weekend everyone!
I’m always surprised how much time you dedicate to pushing out content, as well as running your arcade location.
Always think of you as the no1 arcade news source.