Things have been quiet on the site, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t been busy. IAAPA 2024 was a successful trade show by all accounts (including mine), and the amount of video that I shot from the event has taken a bit of time to edit – between other responsibilities.
Let’s begin to unravel what was revealed at the show and stay tuned for other parts – today I’ll just focus on the advertisers/sponsors at Arcade Heroes. We’re extremely grateful for their support of the site as it helps ‘keep the lights on’ so to speak, with costs on hosting going up every year.
Also, stay tuned for full company and game wrap-ups of IAAPA 2024 with “when these games are shipping” being the focus. I want to show what is shipping now and what will be shipping soon. I will do that here, but that will complete the expo coverage and by then, I hope to have direct answers.
Raw Thrills
Let’s start with our longest-standing sponsor, Raw Thrills. The Betson/Raw Thrills booth at IAAPA 2024 was quite busy as usual, even more so during the week when they did a celebration of Betson’s 90 years in business. It’s hard to believe that any company can be around for that long, but it shows how good generation management can be in keeping the train going.
There were no surprises from the preview we had done, which is a little unusual compared to the past. That said, I have a feeling that they are holding something back for a reveal here in the coming months – if not EAG then certainly Amusement Expo. This is just my own speculation – I didn’t hear anyone say or tease anything – but it also would fit with what they have done before in that certain things just aren’t ready for IAAPA, but they are soon afterwards (see T-Rex VR Safari Adventure).
The games at their booth, with shipping status. An asterisk indicates a software update, bolded text is new for this show, which I’ll detail below:
- Angry Birds Boom! [Now Shipping]
- Big Buck Hunter Reloaded [Now shipping]
- Fast & Furious Arcade [Now Shipping]
- Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR* [Chapter update ships next month]
- Halo: Fireteam Raven 2-Player Upright [Now Shipping]
- King Kong of Skull Island VR II [Now Shipping]
- Marvel: Contest of Champions* [Now Shipping]
- Minecraft Dungeons Arcade 2-Player [Now Shipping]
- NBA Superstars* [New software should be available soon]
- Super Bikes 3 [Now Shipping]
- T-Rex Safari Adventure [Now Shipping]
Also note that Betson had a couple of other non-Raw Thrills pieces around, like the Skittles Remix vending machine and the Disney Photo Booth by Apple Industries.
Here I played Angry Birds Boom! for the first time. Technically it launched at IAAPA Expo Europe, but it’s still IAAPA and most of us hadn’t seen it yet, so we’ll just go with it. While it’s short as a redemption game needs to be, it’s fun to where you don’t need to be an Angry Birds fan to get a kick out of it. I was thinking of “Angry Nerf” while playing, but I would say that this is more consistent with the levels thanks to the theme. Because of that, I’d rather play ABB than Nerf Arcade if I was down to my last credits and making a choice at a place that had both. Graphically it also looks very nice, not what I’d usually think of when it comes to Angry Birds.
Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR is now up to its full power, so to speak, with all five levels on display at the show. The game was also at various distributor booths, so it wasn’t difficult to get a chance to play it. Although, I did have a heck of a time finding someone playing one of the new chapters from start to finish, so unfortunately that will be posted with as much as I managed (River Assault). On the other hand, the new levels should at least be available here in the next week or two.
It is worth noting that NBA Superstars had new software available at IAAPA 2024 and this wasn’t just a simple bug fix update. The players all have exaggerated proportions now, and the game plays faster. They are taking feedback to heart and it seems to be paying off, as I saw plenty of people really enjoying the game. This software should also be available soon – I thought it already was, but I’ve been told by a reader that their location has the game online and they haven’t got the update yet.
I won’t have video of this for a bit, but there was also a minor software and marquee update to Marvel Contest of Champions, that better capitalizes on the popularity of Deadpool Vs. Wolverine. Makes sense, given how well that movie did while much of Marvel’s other flicks have been underperforming as of late.
Which game among those that were on Raw Thrills’ IAAPA 2024 booth interests you the most?
TouchMagix
It took me a few days to find TouchMagix, as they were at the edge of the Games & Arcade area, near UNIS. They didn’t have an enormous space, but did manage to pack it full with:
- Carnival Cups [Now Shipping]
- Carnival Cups Crane [Now Shipping]
- Crazy Prize* [Now Shipping]
- Drift ‘N Thrift [Now Shipping]
- Minions: Bullseye Mania [Q1 2025]
- Pop It! [Now Shipping]
- Pudgy Penguins Polar Challenge [Now Shipping]
- SpaceWarp 66 DX [Now Shipping]
- Treasure Chest [Q1 2025]
All of their games were getting interest, but the big draw was their new dart tossing game Minions: Bullseye Mania., which interestingly made its quiet debut just before IAAPA 2024 at Japan’s Amusement Expo via Bandai Namco Technica, but with a photo ban, so we didn’t get a good look at it until now. In terms of the gameplay, you toss or throw the oversized, not-sharp darts at the screen to build up the purple meter, then play the bonus Banana round, where you can collect all of the Minions to win a super bonus. Simple fun, but very sharp as TouchMagix continues to build on their past successes and improve their quality.
Their other new product Treasure Chest was a slight surprise to see as it’s a very traditional kind of redemption game, although I don’t know of anything doing the exact same setup. There are three player stations and one button to press for dropping what look like pinballs onto the playfield. A conveyor belt of hoops are constantly on the move, and to get the best rewards, you’ll want to get a ball through the hoop. You then have to fill up the “treasure chest” to drop a whole bunch of pinballs onto the playfield, which has holes – and get all of the lit up holes to win the bonus. I’ll have video of this one up pretty soon as well.
What do you think of TouchMagix’s IAAPA 2024 selection?
Amusement Source International
Amusement Source International, or ASI for short, had a similar sized booth to last year, once again packed with new products. There were more redemption pieces than last year, with this being the first time in a while that they didn’t bring Sniper Strike II along. These were:
- Basketball Duel / Soccer Duel
- Clown Ball
- Egg Mania
- Go! Hero of Robots
- Infinity Roll
- Play-A-Ball
- Print Cases
- Skull of Shadow
- Super Air Blaster
- Super Shooting
- Happy Mania
- Zombie Roller
All of these games are shipping now. Skull of Shadow is well done, but it’s less of a Deadstorm Pirates clone than I had expected – it’s more modern Jumanji meets Deadstorm Pirates meets Let’s Go Island. By Ace Amusement, it’s also one of their most polished games that I’ve encountered so far. There are three models of it available, although only two were at IAAPA 2024 (the environmental cab was not there). The other 3-Player mounted gun model was at Ace Amusement’s booth. I do wish could have spent more time playing it, to review it further, but alas, that’ll have to wait until Amusement Expo most likely.
One surprise and innovation that was at their booth was the dull sounding Print Cases – but what it does is hardly boring. It’s a smartphone case 3D printer as a vending machine. At the show, people could put in $20, then upload their photo to the machine. Handling either iPhone or Samsung, it would then print the selected case with the photo you uploaded directly onto it – not a sticker, nor vinyl. The process takes about 4 minutes when it started, but that is one spot where I suggested that the game have either a timer, a game on the touchscreen, or ideally both. They said they would look at that, as at the show the screen sat there mostly blank, so might as well put something on there that you could do while waiting. Still, I could see this doing amazing business, especially if you were able to place one near a mobile carrier’s store.
Wahlap
There was less crossover between ASI and Wahlap this year than there was last, but it ebbs and flows depending upon a variety of factors. Wahlap did have their own booth, which was highly focused on the existing Asphalt range of games. Unfortunately, I did not get a booth video for them, but I did film some more Asphalt Moto Blitz, which will be posted later. There were no surprises outside of what we had been told would be there; all of these are shipping:
- Asphalt Moto Blitz DX
- Asphalt 9 Legends DX
- Kaiju Rampage
- Prize Popper
- Thunderbolt Shot
- Cranes
Expect more detail on Kaiju Rampage when we get to the LAI Games booth soon, where it made its more prominent debut to the US industry. Wahlap did advertise that the game would be available in its original form as Monster Eye 3 on their booth, but they too had LAI’s localization – although besides the name change, it doesn’t sound like they have any real differences.
Alan-1 & Night Heron
Last but certainly not least would be Alan-1. While they don’t have ads on the site, I’ve been working with them as a kind of super-consultant. Given that they are based out of Utah where I’m at, I’ve been able to test their games, and provide feedback, which has included a lot more input on gameplay than I’ve ever done with anyone else. They do have a Brain Trust though (an idea borrowed from Pixar) that also gathers input and helps craft the games. I’ve participated in that and it’s cool to get into the game dev process.
Their first arcade release, Asteroids Recharged, marks the first time since Coastal did Breakout back in 2016 that Atari has had a video arcade game for sale – and it won’t be their last either. This version of Asteroids Recharged has been changed significantly from the home version, to the point where they are more like distant cousins than siblings. On top of the physical toys (wind effects, two rumble motors, and a pinball knocker), the game cabinet has one of the most beautiful looking designs in the industry. This is all thanks to Alejandro Radio, the company artist.
The game uses the same button layout as the classic Asteroids did, then the gameplay allows you to choose your difficulty, and adds new power-ups, rocks, and challenges to the mix, over 256 waves. It also integrates Alan-1’s Major League eSports app, which tells players where to find the game, track their scores, earn league points, and even notifies them if and where someone has vanquished their score.
The game is available and shipping now in two models: the 2-player Pro which is great for bars, routes, and party rental locations and the 3-player Deluxe which is more for FECs. I’ll have a post about this up sometime soon, within all of the IAAPA news we need to get to.
All of these innovations worked together to earn the game IAAPA 2024’s coveted IAAPA Brass Ring Award in Games & Devices, 1st Place. Here is Atari President Ethan Zoubek receiving the award with the Alan-1 crew (I didn’t take this photo, I wasn’t there when it happened).
On top of that, Alan-1 had Avian Knights there, which is still in development, but now sporting an even better looking cabinet than previous instances (and more eye grabbing than Asteroids, IMHO). This should launch in Q1 2025 with some improvements to the gameplay (they’ve already implemented the cabinet improvements). I’ll have video of it later. They also had a rack of comic books which are based on their games, which is certainly cooler than a flyer.
I am also bringing up Night Heron Entertainment here as one exception to the rule of sponsors/advertisers. I’ve not been consulting with them, but they are also based out of Utah, and their first game, Kung Fu Panda: The Warrior’s Gauntlet, won 2nd place behind Asteroids Recharged for the IAAPA 2024 Brass Ring in that same category. This puts you into the world of Kung Fu Panda, where you need to strike the targets like you were punching them, and avoid the flamethrowers. While they don’t have a heater to mimic that effect (thankfully), they do have a haptic feedback floor, which brought back to me the old feeling of experiencing The Void (some of whose former personnel worked on this). It really felt like the platform was moving up and down at the same time.
This was the last game at IAAPA 2024 that I got to play and I came away impressed, in part because when they told me that they know how to do VR in a way that prevents vertigo and other issues, I was taking that with a grain of salt at first. I’d heard that before, and it’s rarely worked out. But in the case of Night Heron, their experience at The Void and with other major game dev companies really shows, as I had no issues during, nor after, my time playing this. It’s quite rare that I get to enjoy that – I don’t get vertigo unless it’s an overpowered motion seat with VR, but I do tend to get strong headaches for at least a few hours afterwards. That didn’t ever happen with this game.
Another interesting thing is that this Lynx platform they have made is basically going to replace what VRsenal is doing, who was not at IAAPA. That was brought more to the forefront with Night Heron also showing that they have the license for Vader Immortal Lightsaber Dojo. You can only have one game in it at a time, but this platform is also better designed than what VRsenal had (superior lighting too), so perhaps this will give that game (and this style of VR arcade machine) a second wind. At under $40k, I could see them moving some units when it launches Q1 2025.
So that’s a wrap – for the moment. Stay tuned for much more, but please let us know what from IAAPA 2024 you want to read about most until then (don’t worry, Taiko No Tatsujin and Bandai Namco Amusements are next).
