There are a couple of new games spotted on test out there that some of you might be interested in, so let’s take a quick look! As a note, every game on test could underperform and end up not being released; Or the game could undergo some changes (major or minor) from what you see here.
Taiko No Tatsujin (Bandai Namco Amusement)
It’s been a little bit since we’ve heard about Bandai Namco Amusement’s signature rhythm game, and today Taiko No Tatsujin has shown up at the Anime Expo 2023 event in Los Angeles. This tweet and below image shows a Bandai Namco employee standing to the side, also stating that it’s the same cabinet used for the earlier Plano, TX test. The response from players and Round1 staff at their February test sounded great, but I haven’t heard from BNA or others at Mitsuwa or D&B as to how it’s been doing for them, nor an ETA on whether/when it will release:
For an update on this, it does however seem that Taiko is doing well enough at Anime Expo that a rep has stated that they’re looking into organizing US tournaments. There’s also an existing English page for Taiko arcade support that can be found here (thanks to Jdevy & nsm on Discord for sharing those links).
Axel City 2 (exA-Arcadia)
The long awaited sequel to the early 2000’s PC fighter Axel City is finally close to a release, with the game hitting the testing circuit in Japan. Per this tweet, it will begin testing on Monday, while the website currently states that the game will launch in August. Like Dynamite Bomb, this game will be exclusive to arcades and particularly the exA platform, in part because exA funded and took part in the game’s development. The tweet also has the latest game trailer attached to it.
ExA have now posted the attract mode trailer for AC2 to YouTube too, so here it is in case there are issues with the tweet embed:
Using the Twitter translation, there are a couple of notable features that we didn’t know about before (the 40-character roster has been touted for a long time). First, the game purports to have only 0.3 frames of input lag, making it even faster than Dynamite Bomb!!, which runs at an already blazing fast 0.5. Second, the game features a “25-person kumite mode”, which is a challenge that gives the player one round to defeat 25 opponents (all who have a max meter).
【お知らせ】
▶︎『アクセルシティ2』
7月3日から新宿スポーツランド本館3Fにて先行稼働開始！特徴
①0.3フレ入力遅延 ゲーム業界最高レスポンス
②プレイアブルキャラクター40名
③王道の対戦格闘ゲームシステム
④各キャラクターのフルボイスでストーリーモード搭載… https://t.co/V2sAsDbVqA pic.twitter.com/R0qy7Yf2wZ— exA-Arcadia 【公式】 (@exaarcadia) July 2, 2023
We won’t know the price on this until pre-orders open, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s around $1550 like the other fighters for the system. Here’s the game as seen at Amusement Expo 2023:
Which of these games are you excited for? Would you like to see Taiko No Tatsujin or Axel City 2 at a location near you when they release?
