EAG 2024 has come and gone, and following our early preview we’re here to provide you with a rundown of the new games that were on hand. Some photos come courtesy of Kevin Williams at The Stinger Report, while others (along with some commentary) come from AH co-contributor Ted Haydon, who was also able to attend the show on its first day.
Kevin added: “The show was well attended, breaking previous attendance numbers. There was a positive atmosphere with a drive on the future of FEC and amusement operation.”
Bandai Namco Amusement Europe (Raw Thrills, Adrenaline, JET)
As mentioned in the preview, the Bandai Namco Amusement Europe booth was set up in a similar fashion to the North American arm’s IAAPA 2023 one, albeit with a greater emphasis on the produce of the above-mentioned companies that BNAE represent in their region. The only real exception to be found was the LCD edition of Adrenaline’s Drakons: Realm Keepers. I had been told that Betson had tested that version out over here some months ago but this is the first time I’ve seen it in photos. Aside from this configuration allowing for lower price tag, it is also likely easier to source over LED panels.
Ted also caught notice of some surprise advertisements for a new game coming along this Spring. I don’t recall seeing anything about this at IAAPA so it looks like it’ll be a European exclusive, at least for now. That would be a new Animal Kaiser title. Toby has extra information and photos here – $4k sounds like a very convincing price, so hopefully it comes Stateside soon too.
For some of the Raw Thrills product, this includes the latest version of Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR (launching in Spring):
This was mentioned in an update to the preview but JET Games was also represented on the BNAE booth:
And Triotech’s new Super Blaster multi-game:
They also had Raw Thrills’ Halo: Fireteam Raven and Play Mechanix’s Pulp Fiction (AH: My mistake on the photo from earlier in thinking these were at the Crown booth)
Crown Direct/Deith Leisure/Harry Levy
These three long-standing distributors of the EU scene were grouped together so that they could represent quite a few products. For those unfamiliar with them, Deith were once owned by Sega and drove their UK presence many moons ago, and Harry Levy and Crown Direct have long sourced pieces from various amusement manufacturers around the world. Right now these include Bay Tek’s new Goatz-N-Ropes and Toilet Bowl Toss; On another part of the booth was VR 360 Action’s Crazy Speed cabinet:
That was also joined by another Hot Wheels clone:
And it wouldn’t be a modern amusement trade show without a multiplayer sniper game 😉
Electrocoin
The official representation of DDR in Europe was on display at the Electrocoin booth with DDR A20+ [offline]. This was able to present a little rivalry between distributors and rhythm games as StepManiaX was there in a different booth. Ted has said that EC unfortunately had not received their latest shipment of A20+ cabinets yet, so this one was taken right off the floor of their Funland arcade elsewhere in London:
Electrocoin also reps Stern Pinball, thus allowing European customers to take their first bite out of JAWS:
JNC Sales
After introducing Zombie Crisis to the European scene at EAG 2023, JNC is following that one up with another new light-gun title called Weapon. Also developed by the Chinese developer Nitto Game, this one is another target practice shooter in the mould of Big Shot/Bullseye/Skill Shooter. There are five levels to choose from, and it doesn’t appear to be a videmption piece so it is competing purely on video:
For redemption/videmption, JNC also had their own mixed-digital-electromechanical derby title called Derby Day, following in the footsteps of and competing with Sega’s pre-existing Zombies Ready Deady Go game. Like Weapon, this was also developed by Nitto.
Sega Amusements International (LAI, ICE)
Sega Amusements took their place along a giant black curtain within the hall, with the vast majority of their pieces all set up in a line and a few big banners above promoting their newest pieces. This made it not quite as spacious or varied as their IAAPA booth; indeed a number of games we initially reported being there in our preview (Drone Racing Genesis, VR Agent) did not appear in person, though were still promoted on flyers and a few advertisement boards. It’s possible this is down to Sega also repping LAI’s games (Asphalt 9 VR and Hyper Pitch) in Europe, as well as ICE.
Apex Rebels was one of those games which seemed to not benefit from the slightly smaller space on offer, receiving only two units as opposed to the four seen at IAAPA. Still, the game made its formal European debut here, whilst its smaller deluxe units currently remain on test down in Wandsworth, South London, at Gravity Max. Hyper Cross is just out of shot here but that was only available in two player form too. Even Bop It Arcade, which we don’t cover so much on here, was seen just as a single machine – none of the two or four player versions were apparently available.
Possibly blocking a further two Apex machines was the final production version of Asphalt Legends 9 VR. This seemed equally popular as Apex from the looks of things, however, so at least one wasn’t hogging all the attention over the other. It’s hard to see from this side of the booth but I’m told Sega placed great emphasis on the full extent of their European operations, including Sega Prize (which had new Tetris and Sonic Prime prizes on show), Sega Total Solutions, and the Sacoa card cashless system they recently partnered with, so perhaps that all contributed to there being less space for others.
As just about shown in the bottom right hand frame of this photo by Kevin, lack of space and focus on non-game endeavors did not stop Sega from advertising pieces that weren’t on hand, both from them and others – note the Asphalt Moto Blitz logo on a board here:
UDC (Ace Amusement, TouchMagix, Wahlap)
Over at the spacious UDC booth were quite a few games we’ve seen at previous shows, but there were some brand new titles that skipped IAAPA. Wave Riders X-Treme harkens back to games like AquaJet or JetWave from the mid-90s. This comes courtesy of Ace Amusement, whose output appears have somewhat gone from strength to strength of late… although I do wonder (since I keep seeing them pop-up): how many locations have grabbed an Ace-made game in recent times, how are they holding up, and how are they earning? Here’s the product page for Wave Riders.
Another Ace-made videmption piece that was new is called Super Drill. This appears to be in the vein of Mr. Driller or Dig Dug – it sure has been a while since we had a virtual digging piece in this industry (unless you count Sega’s recent Japan-only ‘Hori A Tale’ pusher medal game). Here’s the product page; it isn’t clear to me if this will operate as amusement-only or not, but I would assume so. It seems like everything coming out of Ace Amusement in China leaves that as an option, including several other examples on hand at the UDC booth that were already seen at IAAPA.
Away from Ace, StepManiaX DX was positioned near the entrance of the show to grab some good attention. Kyle Ward (pictured here in this photo by Ted) and the Step Revolution crew were on hand and helpful as ever. Ted has also said some representatives and an alien mascot from the Babylon Park locations were hanging around the cab, handing out free playcards. This is interesting as Babylon have always pushed Pump It Up more – a game which was notably not seen at the show, despite receiving a recent new version and being represented by Bandai Namco in Europe…
UDC also had redemption/videmption titles from TouchMagix and Wahlap on hand, but no photos from those have come across our feed yet.
Quick Hits
Let’s quick fire off a few more here:
Instance Automatics showcased almost all of UNIS’ products that were seen at IAAPA 2023, including video-only pieces like Bigfoot Mayhem:
Retro Arcade Specialists brought some pinball rarities, including Barrels of Fun’s Labyrinth and Homepin’s This is Spinal Tap:
Pinball Heaven brought together Elton John (JJP), The Godfather (JJP), Galactic Tank Force (American), Scooby-Doo! (Spooky), and Venom (Stern). Ted has said they were supposed to have Pulp Fiction, but that was held back in freight for most of the show’s duration.
Cosmic Leisure showed off a variety of Chinese-developed games on their booth, including an air hockey table and some cranes.
And finally for some video tours of the expo, Namer Merli has uploaded one again:
Plus also Pinball News:
That’s all for this time. If any further news comes to light this post will of course be updated, so keep an eye out for any amendments with new information. In the meantime, has anything here caught your eye from EAG 2024?
