Welcome to another edition of Newsbytes, the series of posts at Arcade Heroes that brings together the latest news from around the arcade and pinball worlds. Major stuff is usually always slow in the immediate aftermath of major trade shows like AEI (of which there are more videos from below), but there is just enough (including one big revival of Galaxian 3!) for another one of these as Easter draws nearer.
We usually like to get these out on the weekend, but due to the site’s issues (which have now been resolved), Monday works too… anyways, onto all the news out there.
Stern & Jersey Jack Tease King Kong & Harry Potter
The world of pinball is abuzz at the moment, as we have not one, but two big names about to storm the scene. I polled which title interests you the most and it’s about even, with Harry Potter edging ahead just slightly; I’d expected HP to take the lead, given that the IP is fresher than Kong (not that Kong has been lacking thanks to movies in recent years, but it’s not one that sees a ton of merchandise surrounding it).
For Kong, this had been in the rumor mill for a while now, then on Friday Stern dropped this tease:
Given that both Raw Thrills and UNIS have made Kong games, this seems like it could be a good fit in an arcade which already has those. It also helps there that this game has been designed by Keith Elwin, designer of Stern’s popular Godzilla game (which is one of the few I’ve heard from multiple operators is a consistent, strong earner, performing much better than most other pins). The full reveal of Kong will be posting tomorrow, then I imagine that some models of the games will be available by the end of the month. Also, Stern has just launched a Vault Edition of their RUSH pinball game as well.
Meanwhile, Jersey Jack has taken a different approach to unveiling Harry Potter, which is to say that they haven’t yet – they did actually tell their distributors about it in advance so that orders could start being collected, and pricing was unveiled. It’s a bold move to ask for $10k+ on a product where you don’t even know what it looks like, but there are many who will buy pinball machines sight-unseen, just as long as it’s an IP they like. As of this moment, there’s no trailer, but that should change here soon. I also am glad to see a third tier on this game, since JJP has been only releasing two models as of late, where they start around $12k, which is a non-starter for a poor arcade op like myself (and nonsensical from a business perspective when $8k pins already take about a decade to pay themselves off if you decide to operate them that long).
It would also appear that Harry Potter has been designed by “The King of Pinball,” Steve Ritchie. I haven’t seen that confirmed, however, it is normal for the company to place a strong focus on the game’s designer around launch time, and this morning they posted this showing Jack & Steve discussing something.
Which of these games will dominate the sales? Time will tell, although I don’t know if I’ll be grabbing either. For one, I need to see them, but now I want to hear earnings feedback before I would jump in on a pin.
How Galaxian 3 Was Revived
When it comes to the biggest and best arcade simulator experiences, little to none can still hold a candle to the true granddaddy of them all, Galaxian 3. We’ve covered it many times over the years, from giving Bandai Namco’s fantastic Japanese ‘making of’ video for the original 32 player edition a shoutout to SaraAB87’s piece on tracking down the sadly long-gone Niagra Falls installation; however, for a little while now the only place to see the six player theater version in all its full working glory has been at a museum in Japan (another is behind closed doors in Europe). Most others, if not junked, were converted over to different non-Namco games. At long last, that has now changed though.
Since the 2010s, one last GT-6 setup was left standing, but not operating here in the States, long after Dave & Busters converted and removed all of theirs – that of Fun World’s in Nashua, NH. Many felt it was a waste for it to stay unloved, unplayed and out of action, so last year, movements started behind the scenes to rectify that. This began with preserving its undumped Attack of the Zolgear update, plus some initial inspection/debugging, and a crack team of arcade repair enthusiasts including Phil Bennett have now finally completed a full restoration of the piece. You can now find the whole story behind that on Phil’s site, which details how they got it back up and running with some canny engineering.
If possible, be sure to go give Fun World a visit and experience this monumental piece of arcade history! Just note that there are still one or two teething issues with it for the time being (according to Phil, they’re trying to find a fix for the left side going bad after a few hours in operation, so get there early in case).
Medieval Madness Gets A Merlin Model
For another revival of a classic, this time back on the pinball side of things and as a remade product soon to hit the market again, Chicago Gaming Company recently unveiled a new model to their existing remake of Williams’ Medieval Madness, making it the second return it has made to production following 2013’s. Officially known as the Merlin Edition, it adds several new, exclusive features, including a custom 3D King of Payne topper, an interactive RGB general illumination, and Chicago Gaming’s XL LED display, outputting a HD color upgrade of its graphics to boot. Chicago Gaming have more on it at their website.
Robocop VR Not Happening
Just before Amusement Expo last month, a story dropped about a potential VR arcade exclusive based on the Robocop franchise, entitled Streets of Anarchy. Not much was known about it besides it being by the third party developer Coffee Moth Games, a frequent collaborator with OVRDRV, who have brought their works with them to IAAPA a few times now. It looked like this might be something they’d unveil come IAAPA time again in November, but the signs are now that this won’t be happening after all; Upload VR (who broke the original story) have reported that Amazon MGM informed them the licensing for it had not been carried out, and the game’s page on Coffee Moth website has swiftly vanished.
Examples like this are a lesson for anyone new to the industry or looking to jump into it, though it applies for most product anyway – never announce something until you’ve got the licensing contract hashed out and the licensor(s) have given their approval for a reveal. They usually have a say over such things, but if you jump the gun, it not only can end the project, but land you in a heap of legal trouble.
Besides a brief mention in the AEI preview, our coverage so far of it had only been in a video on the YouTube channel that also covered the current precarious state that VR itself seems to be in. It is a slight shame to see this fall afoul too, even if more for licensing issues than the technology trending downward; it is worth wondering whether proponents of it like Raw Thrills, LAI Games, Sega Amusements and 3MindWave will continue bringing out new pieces, even with the likes of Godzilla and VR Agent being successes. On the other hand though, word did recently get round out of the DEAL Expo in Dubai that Terminator is getting the arcade VR treatment… expect more coverage of that to come soon.
Top Gun Maverick @ Dave & Busters
Pretty quickly after Amusement Expo wrapped up, Top Gun Maverick started rolling out to Dave & Busters locations besides the initial few it was tested at. As a result, lots are getting to try it out for the first time now; being a timed exclusive it won’t be locked to them completely, and with there being plenty of D&Bs some footage is getting out there already, including Gemubaka’s clips of Mesa Countdown and other parts.
Also of interest is RePlay’s feature on it and Wizard of Oz, which mentions a few interesting things that led up to the more recent development of the game itself. These include how Raw Thrills had secured the Top Gun license as far back as 2018, before Maverick even came to be in cinemas, and oddly enough, Play Mechanix’s Invasion: The Abductors lightgun shooter was originally pitched as a jet fighter game (?).
Initial D Adds Mini Trucks
Now for a bit of fun… it was already a couple weeks back now, but the first of the month brought forth a few arcade April Fools jokes (ours was Project Sekai X Chunithm: Colorful Stage Hyper Arcade in case you missed it). Not to be outdone, Sega themselves were up to their old tricks with their main games in Japan as part of that. As well as a giant Maimai DX safari park and Chunithm Cat Edition, they did little food trucks for Initial Delicious The Arcade, The great thing about those though is that one is going to be fully playable and included in their actual Season 5/Ver 3.0 content update for the game in a few days time… find out more about that here (it also adds a new Snow course and other content/fixes).
More From Amusement Expo 2025
The videos have kept on coming from Amusement Expo 2025, following our big recap of the show at the end of March. Those are still being added to that post, but if you haven’t been checking back or are not subscribed to the AH YouTube channel, here are some more highlights; among them are Ace/Coastal Amusement’s Wild West Shootout 2, additional footage of Sega’s Maimai DX, and the first video of the upright Missile Command Recharged cabinet and non-final game version by Alan-1.
Full footage of newcomer Blue Motion Games’ two pieces, the Triotech Super Blaster-like Desert Chase and videmption game Cannonball Jam, are also up:
Outside of the new-new stuff, there’s some more gameplay footage of IGS/AH site advertiser Wahlap’s Asphalt Moto Blitz DX too from LAI Games’ booth.
And then for further booth tours, we have several from the more redemption-focused side of things – ICE, ELAUT, and Bay Tek Entertainment.
Headlines
Godzilla’s Final Chapters Appear On Raw Thrills’ Hall Of Fame Leaderboards – Shouldn’t be long until these finally release this month now. In the meantime, some more footage from AEI
Wangan Midnight Speed Ignition Tests Again In Japan – Team Battle Feature Now Added
Penda Beats Has Its Third Japanese Location Test, At Silk Hat Kawasaki-ten
Magi Blast’s Second Appearance Makes For Another Test By Bandai Namco
Sega Testing StarHorse Party A Few More Times At GiGO + Silk Hat
APM3 Gets Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes A Year After Its Home Release
Success’ New Otenami Haiken Puzzle Game Sequel Also Comes To APM3
Wahlap Exhibiting At DEAL Expo 2025 In Dubai – Again, expect more coverage on this soon
New Alpha Ops VR Strike Screens From 3MindWave’s Website
Stern Updates Venom To Ver 1.05; Bug Fixes, Polish
“The Mystery Of Bouncer Arcade” By Brady Hearn
Original Mortal Kombat Promo Video For Distributors
George Petro Is Inducted Into The AAMA Hall Of Fame
Former AM2 Marketer Releasing Book On Sega’s ‘Taikan’ Games
Namco’s Alpine Surfer Returns In Epark’s “Storm Ski”
Yuto Games Toons Up Mega Shot With “Toon Quest”
Billy Mitchell Wins Against Karl Jobst In Defamation Case – Should we be covering this more for the views? Probably. But does the whole drawn out saga really matter anymore? Nope…
[Home Headlines]
Switch 2 And Games Fully Revealed, Some Feeling Sticker Shock
Ridge Racer Will Be Arcade Archives 2’s First Title On Switch 2
Taito’s Time Gal And Ninja Hayate HD Remasters Coming To PC
UGSF Site Updated To Include Pac-Man Metroidvania Shadow Labyrinth
Ex-Sega AM1 Arcade Developers Make New Indie Game, Irisy Aqua
The Creator Of Space Invaders Plays Quarter Arcades’ 1/4 Replica
Capcom VS. SNK 2’s Dreamcast Port Gets An English Translation
Tetris The Grand Master 4 Is Out Now – Still no sign of any arcade edition…
That’s it now for this Newsbytes. Which of the news this week (e.g. the Galaxian 3 revival story) interested you most?
