Arcade news has slowed down a little bit as it often does when we approach the Summer time – but don’t worry, as we have some news on Raw Thrills’ Marvel: Contest of Champions, which begins one of its first production runs next week. Let’s take a look.
Marvel: Contest of Champions – Background
While hardly the first Marvel-branded arcade game in history, Marvel: Contest of Champions was a surprise when it was revealed way back in 2019. Taking a page from Injustice Arcade, Raw Thrills applied the same idea of superheroes/villains in a 1v1 battle and collecting cards from them to MCOC, the main difference being the use of joysticks.
The other thing that stood out was that the game was a Dave & Busters exclusive. While we had thought that it would have only been for something like a few months or maybe a year (as most of their timed exclusives are), it turned out to be a five year contract. That ended this year, and now the game is ready to roll-out to the rest of the industry.
Here’s one of the first cards the game had:
Gameplay
In case you’ve not played this one before, it’s a mobile-to-arcade adaptation – basically the same as Injustice. Here’s the official rundown of how it works; there’s also a new game page for it that has gone live on RT’s site:
Marvel: Contest of Champions™ from Raw Thrills brings the adrenaline-fueled excitement of the mobile game into the realm of arcade gaming. Developed by Raw Thrills in collaboration with Kabam, this arcade adaptation offers a thrilling multiplayer experience in a cabinet adorned with vibrant Marvel artwork. By scanning highly collectible Champion Cards, players select their favorite Marvel superheroes and villains from a cast of over one hundred, each with their own unique abilities and fighting styles, to engage in fast-paced three-on-three battles on dynamic stages. With its intuitive controls and spellbinding visuals, Marvel: Contest of Champions™ delivers an immersive experience that appeals to both casual players and dedicated fans of the Marvel Universe.
Gamers also earn a collectible Champion Card after every play, with an opportunity to Upgrade and receive even more cards — including super rare foil cards. With its combination of arcade action and Marvel superhero power, this title continues to captivate audiences, cementing its place as a must-play title in arcades worldwide.
As it is, fans of fighting games like Street Fighter & Tekken shouldn’t expect a whole lot – it wasn’t designed for that demographic. As you might surmise from it originally being a mobile game, the play is very casual, more of a button-masher than a fast-paced strategic melee battle. The addition of joysticks does help it feel more arcade-like than Injustice though, which only had buttons.
The Cabinet & Cards
Marvel’s appearance at Amusement Expo 2024 was one of the few surprises of the show, and it is also welcome in that it comes in a more compact (and lower cost) cabinet than much of what has been released to the industry over the past few years. I haven’t been able to get a price on it yet, but it shouldn’t be one of those $10k+ machines.
While it only has two series worth of cards, the sales flyer does mention that more are on the way. There isn’t an indication of when that might happen, but I would guess they want to see how many of these ship out there before determining what to do with Series 3.
Final Thought
The game’s biggest production run is hitting next week, to which it will begin shipping then or the week afterwards. Any Raw Thrills distributor should be able to get you taken care of on that. A small initial run did already ship last week to big chains like Round1US, as U have found out, but this one represents its full release to most operators.
I am curious as to what other ops feel about it and what demand is like. Are you interested in a game that D&B has had for this long? Does the promise of another series help in that regard? Could it do as well as Injustice? How might it perform at a location that already has Injustice? Let me know what you think of Marvel: Contest Of Champions below.
I think its been too long of a run with D&B,You spend 7 to 10k plus the cost of the cards and try to break even with half the people who have already had the chance to play it out and consider it old.Better than injustice and minecraft as far as the card vend model with raw thrills goes but too little too late for regular ops after D&B sucked all the “newness” out of it already!