New month, new arcade games – although you’ll want to stay tuned here as we’ll be hearing about a few more this month once JAEPO (an arcade-focused tradeshow in Japan) lands. To start things off we have a game from Wahlap, 3MindWave & Sega Amusements International, one that was seen at IAAPA 2022 called Storm Rider 2. Sega sent out an email this morning promoting it and after contacting a distributor, they’re saying it’s shipping now. As the name shows, this is a sequel but in terms of gameplay they are very different from each other. I’ll compare below but first, the twin cabinet in case you hadn’t seen it yet:
On top of using a swivel bike seat, this also employs a motion base (which can be turned on/off) to further enhance the simulator feel; It also features a touchscreen for things like track/rider selection, course map during gameplay and more. It uses Unreal Engine 4 to power the graphics; For some other features, I’ll quote from the website:
The game uses advance AI making the game play ideal for casual and core gamers. The highly immersive 4 racetracks take players across various locations with spectacular sceneries. Players can compete in single player campaign or challenge your friends in epic four bike multiplayer race. The unique bike upgrade system plus three bikes and three characters, encourages players to play again and again.
Though there are clear differences between the two games, and some different companies working on the sequel this time, there are some deeper connections. 3MindWave’s CEO and co-founder started out at Wahlap way back when, and indeed was heavily involved with the original Storm Rider, so there is creative authority presiding over this.
Now to compare the original game to this one, although I unfortunately don’t have an equivalent direct capture video to share of SR2 at the present moment:
As you can see, the influence of Raw Thrills-style racers is also more apparent this time, although this does stick with closed circuit courses (which is more Sega’s thing) for that. I wasn’t able to see how the parts upgrade system worked at IAAPA and I haven’t seen/heard about how it did on test but it certainly was a success given that it has hit production.
Have you played this arcade exclusive yet from the tests or at a trade show? What did you think about it, if so?
