A few weeks ago, mention was made in a Newsbytes of a mysterious new Bandai Namco Amusement trademark. Little was clear but from the logo design and title, it looked like it could be a brand new arcade music/rhythm game from the house of Taiko No Tatsujin. Now, just over a month after that trademark first appeared, Penda Beats is already getting out there on location test in Japan. Let’s take a look at what we know this early on…
Penda Beats
As is often the case with new Japanese arcade games being seen so early, our one photo so far comes from a post on Twitter/X, posted by @MMedaru13200 and noticed by AH co-contributor Ted shortly after appearing. There is also this tweet with another angle and showing a promo poster. The game is set to be on test at the Namco Ikebukuro location from tomorrow – this is such an early peek, it hasn’t even began trial operations yet:
Speculation from the logo design already suggested this game would be based around the light-up wotagei/otagei sticks that are prevalent in Japanese idol culture, and here we have physical confirmation that this is the case. How these crossover with gameplay remain a mystery though – are the two black spaces beneath them LED sub-screens? Motion sensors? Or both?
The marquee also suggests it’ll have its own line of cute original characters, just like Taiko. The overall machine design looks a bit like that game’s newer cabinets too, albeit slightly more rounded. If previous examples are anything to go by it should look awesome in action as well – Taiko can be a real performance game sometimes, and this could well too.
Either way, it is cool to see Bandai Namco still trying to push arcade music/rhythm games forward with new things. Taiko finally getting a wider release could’ve motivated a lesser company to rest on their laurels somewhat, but even before the non-Round1USA rollout, here they are. For that reason also I would expect it to be a long time before this one is tested out West, if ever – but never say never. It would need stronger cables on those controllers for a Western test, at a minimum.
Should any more details arise on this new game (which they likely will), we’ll be sure to provide an update. Until then, what do you think of Penda Beats from this first look?
