IAAPA 2021: Bandai Namco Amusements To Release Maximum Tune 5DX+ Updates To North America

It’s IAAPA week, which means news for arcade games! Apart from what I talked about in yesterday’s preview, this will be the first “surprise” from the show, which you already know from the headline – Bandai Namco Amusements is updating Maximum Tune 5 to  5DX+ for existing North American machines.

As we’ve mentioned, it’s been a while since BNA has been on our news radar. The pandemic hit pause on their new releases like it did everyone else, although they’ve still been active in selling their existing titles (including Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, which I’ve heard from multiple non-Namco sources that it’s still in production and selling well). With IAAPA 2021, they’re looking to make a splash by setting up the game for the show.

While I’m not there yet (I’ll be there tomorrow), this pic comes to me from someone who was walking the show and noticed 5DX+ being set up. As it is, I’ll have to wait until I can talk with someone from Namco about what features it will have (I assume it’ll be pretty close to the JP version, but there always can be changes, particularly with car licenses), if it will be available just as an upgrade kit and/or dedicated cabinet, and so on. You can see from the banner that they have some new cars added to the mix; I also think it is pretty safe to assume that existing MT5 cabinets can upgrade and that such a kit would include things like a new marquee. How much this will cost though is unknown at the moment.

You can also see from the pic that there’s another new Namco piece there, Pac-Man Power Pellets. That is a redemption game from them and UNIS that was seen on test a while back over in the UK.

Once I’m on-site and have more info, I’ll be sure to provide updates and footage for future posts! Until then, what do you think of Maximum Tune 5DX+ finally releasing in North America?