Here’s a unexpected surprise for our dog days of summer news cycle – Maimai DX is expanding its location test reach by now appearing at Dave & Busters Dallas. Let’s take a look:
Maimai DX Testing At Dave & Busters
Back in May, we reported that the ever-popular arcade rhythm game Maimai DX was being tested out at Round1USA’s flagship location in the Puente Hills Mall in California. That test was officially sanctioned by Sega Japan, and as far as I know, it has done pretty well.
Now, as reported by @EvilDave219 on Twitter/X following word spreading in a local rhythm gaming Discord, the game is back on our home turf for Dave & Busters, getting a two month location test in Dallas, TX. While D&B testing out games is nothing new, the fact that this test also has the game online is a surprise. Generally, D&B shies away from operating games that require an internet connection and revenue share, hence no love for the likes of Maximum Tune 5DX+ – the only exception to that would would be DDR, and even there they have neglected it in more recent times by keeping their cabinets on the older A20+ version.
One other unfortunate thing about this is that there is a ALL.Net server maintenance period (where the game will be unplayable using the Aime cards, but works fine for “guest play”) that lasts from “1:40pm-5pm” every day. Though the test in Puente Hills had similar downtime periods due to it being when such works are carried out in Japan, it was earlier in the day there due to the timezone differences, with this one ultimately being less ideal. If Maimai DX does rollout to one or two chains here, perhaps something will be done with dedicated servers for the US that negate this issue – that will take a bigger investment though.
Still, this seems like it could be good news for Maimai DX’s chances for release in any capacity over here; although again, based on what we’ve seen so far from D&B, it would be very surprising if they do grab this regardless of how well it may perform for them (a Round1US exclusive release, similar to Taiko No Tatsujin’s initial limited run this Fall and other games, looks most likely here).
Thanks again to EvilDave219 for widely reporting this news, and Ted for helping out with the post. Would you like to see Maimai DX at a Dave & Busters near you?
