Spotted On Test: Asphalt 9 Legends DX; Pac-Man Power Pellets

Well…arcade news really slowed to a snail’s pace the past few weeks. That doesn’t mean we take a break here, and thankfully we’ve got something to share with you today about a couple of possibly upcoming games. I say possibly as when it comes to location tests, there is always the chance that the games will not perform well, then they end up getting canceled, or drastically changed from what is seen on test. That said, here’s what’s been spotted out there, thanks to reader Jdevy for the tips on both – these images were seen on social media, so I’m just highlighting stuff that others have already seen & shared publicly:

Asphalt Legends 9 DX (Wahlap)

First revealed at a trade show in China this past May, I was provided some trailers to this game at that time, although we haven’t heard anything about it since.

This image was taken from this YouTube video (warning: Very shaky/floaty cam for most of the video) showing a recent tour of the Dave & Busters in Dallas. Unfortunately, the cameraman ran past most everything and doesn’t stop to focus on the game for some reason, so between the artifacting from the video caused in good part by the fast motion of the camera, this is the best I could get. I just combined two shows of the game into this image; It’s seen near the beginning and near the end of the vid:

There are two linked units there; How long they’ve been there and how long they’ll stay is unknown. I would assume that if successful, then we’ll hear more news about the game and a wider launch soon.

This location was also a recent host to Sega’s Men In Black and Taito’s Densha De Go!!! but unless I missed them, they appear to have been removed.

Pac-Man Power Pellets (UNIS/Bandai Namco)

Bandai Namco Amusements has been extremely quiet as of late, although I know that they’ve been quietly working on things behind the scenes. One of those projects is another Pac-Man collaboration with UNIS (the other being Pac-Man Panic, which didn’t receive a wide release here in North America), however, it should be noted that this slightly blurry pic of the game at The Mirage in Mablethorpe, UK was taken in October 2020. The game could still be in the works – sometimes games can test for years before they hit production.

Since this is/was testing in the UK, the collaboration would be between Bandai Namco Amusements Europe and UNIS, but checking the BNAE website, there’s no mention of the game there at this time. It looks like a ball toss game, where you’re throwing what I would assume are yellow-colored balls into the Pac-Men mouths for points. It appears to have a monitor, although that’s probably just a scoreboard.

When it comes to both games, we’ll have to wait and see whether or not they hit production, and if they do, where they’ll be sold. I’d say with 99% certainty that Asphalt 9 will see a wide release in the States, given what I’ve been told by Wahlap. The most likely chance of me seeing it though would be at IAAPA 2021 in November.

Thoughts? Comments? Let us know below!