Time for some more news on exA-Arcadia, as they have just held an “exALive” streaming event in Japan. The focus was on showcasing some previously announced titles that will be available very soon, so let’s get you up to speed on what it was all about. Note that the stream was in Japanese, but we have used a combination of online translators and asking exA staff directly about it to ensure that the details below are accurate.
Also as a quick note, exA additionally announced that they will be attending the IAAPI 2025 Expo. This is not IAAPA, but a trade show focused on the increasingly expansive amusement market in India.
For anyone interested in buying, they now have a Cabinets section at the top of their website too. Demand for the ARC-32 is quite high, but this should help you in locating one.
Airgallet EXA Label
One game that exA focused on quite a bit for the stream was the vertical scrolling shoot ’em up remaster of Banpresto/Gazelle’s 1996 release, Airgallet. A bit of a rarity outside of Japan, I played this for the first time at IAAPA 2024. If you haven’t played it before, think of games like Batsugun, as some of the same people were involved on both games.
The EXA Label version began testing in Japan at Taito HEY some hours before the stream began, allowing players to experience the game with its changes. Aside from the addition of the new EXA mode, Arrange soundtrack, and low input lag, exA mentioned that they’ve implemented some new graphics into it, and they’ve remade the voice overs while adding new ones. This version is being done by TEAM EXA-AM1 (Gimmick! Exact Mix, Cotton Rock ‘N’ Roll, Batsugun EXA LABEL). Here’s the 11 hour livestream from that test in case you’re interested in seeing the latest version. This will launch by the end of March.
Bunny Bomber Blast
This Dig Dug meets Bomberman-like game is very close to launching; the slide mentioned both 90% complete and a February release. I got to play this at both Amusement Expo 2024 (March) and IAAPA 2024 (Nov.), seeing quite a bit of progress on it along the way, I hoped for some improvement on the control from the latest version I had tried, as it felt like the kind of game you want to use a 4-way stick with, but I am told this will not ship with support for 8-way sticks now. Since it’s a retro-style game, expect this one to come in at a very affordable price (the same as Donut Dodo Do! – the music composer is even the same on both games).
The artwork is also done by Kou, who is the artist for Shantae and Rockman ZX.
Chaos Code Next
The anticipated sequel to Chaos Code (which also had an “ultimate version” released for it on exA) will be hitting the streets this Summer. The stream slide also stated that the game is currently at 80% complete. Aside from that, they didn’t spend much time on this in the stream, so here’s video of what I played of it at IAAPA 2024:
Cyberblocker R
The first game mentioned on the stream was the indie Arkanoid-like brick beaker game, Cyberblocker R. This will be playable using exA’s own trackball controls, which will launch with this and three other titles later this year (four trackball games will launch simultaneously so that you could have a full EXA board. Wild Guns Rawhide will be one of those, as previously announced). I played an early version of this last year in Vegas, but it wasn’t at IAAPA to try. Per the slide in the stream, this is 75% complete.
As an interesting note, a former member of ZUNTATA, Yack, is doing the music on this game, which makes for an interesting connection when you see this as an Arkanoid-style game.
Daemon Bride ExAgain
Announced a few years back, Daemon Bride first hit the Japanese arcade scene back in 2009, and it saw a few iterations there and on home platforms like Steam; now arcades around the world will get to enjoy this game that features demons and angels fighting for their various reasons. This edition promises to be the ultimate version, combing the best elements from across the series into one. Here’s the build that was available at IAAPA 2024; the slide in the stream stated that it is currently at 80% complete, same as Chaos Code Next:
Per the stream, the game has begun testing in Japan and it will also be launching this Spring. Enhancements include the arrival of a training mode, attract video remastered in full HD (you can see that at 47:52 in the exAlive stream), new key visuals, and only 2 frames of input lag. They also have employed the same graphics rendering logic that they used in Arcana Heart 3 Xtend, resulting in remastered HD sprites that are crisper than was seen in any previous edition.
Version Updates
Alongside more information on upcoming games, exA also talked about a few new version updates for existing titles on the platform. These included Axel City 2 V1.0.3 (reduction of input lag to 0.3 frames; quite a few balancing & hit box changes), Batsugun EXA V1.5 (input lag reduction to 1 frame; bug fixes; addition of Special DASH mode; daily ranking function), and both Touhou games (mainly balancing changes/fixes, bug fixes).
As well as that, they promoted something that I saw at IAAPA very briefly, but it was one of those things that I forgot about in the tumult of that show: mini-marquee stickers. This makes it look a little more like how the NeoGeo MVS did things. You can order any of them from exA directly at little to no extra cost, just be sure to have your cart’s serial number handy.
One More Thing…
Finally, as a teaser, exA did indirectly announce one all-new title with a single slide showing a rough character sketch. Fans in the YouTube chat were guessing a return for Data East’s Atomic Runner Chelnov – but are they correct? That remains to be seen… one thing that is certain is that exA has a massive new IP on the way, although I don’t know if it will be unveiled at Amusement Expo 2025 or at EVO Japan 2025. I don’t think that this tease as shown below is of that particular game, but I could be wrong (I don’t know what the IP is at this time). Either way, the company has a lot of stuff in the pipeline, especially once EVO Japan rolls around.
What do you think of all these new exA-Arcadia announcements?
