Welcome once again to Newsbytes, the series of posts here on Arcade Heroes that runs through recent bytes of news around the arcade and pinball worlds. There are a couple major Asian events coming up soon (AAA Expo in China and EVO Japan) that will likely require coverage across several days, as well as a number of new arcade games which should be shipping this month, so let’s get everything else that’s been happening in the meantime out of the way for all that to take center stage soon.
ARE Expo – Arcades In Manchester, UK
Off the back of the GTI Southeast Asia Expo in Malaysia, another new trade show started up recently, this time the UK’s ARE Expo (Amusement & Retail Entertainment Expo). This was held across two days at the end of April in Manchester, at the Victoria Warehouse venue. Ted did check in on the event’s first day, and you can find a few photos from him of its relevant booths on the slides below.
Given that EAG wasn’t too long ago it looks like there was little variation there, with Sega Amusements and Bandai Namco having much smaller booths (according to Ted the focus was on redemption, save for a few small exceptions). There were still a few differences though – EAG no-show Instance Automatics did attend with their new UNIS product, which gave people the chance to play the likes of Monster Kart for the first time, and Cosmic Leisure had one or two new pieces, including a video skeeball game by HY Technology, plus a Gashapon vending competitor to counteract Bandai Namco’s original and others.
As a quick aside, Ted did also pay a couple of locations at the nearby Trafford Centre a visit while in the area; these included the long-standing Namco Funscape (featuring actual Gashapon, plus the Taiko No Tatsujin kiddie ride), and newer Archie's Atomic, which has an arcade stocked by Sega Amusements. The highlight of that was apparently the rare upright House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn... though see if you can spot the unusual prototype elements on this Drone Racing Genesis cabinet there too...
exA-Arcadia Updates (April exALive, Asuka 120%)
Ahead of their upcoming appearance at EVO Japan, exA-Arcadia have been pretty busy. Part of that has been down to their latest exALive stream below, which happened right at the end of April. Usually these are worthy of their own posts, but they have held back all the big announcements for EVO this time (of which four were teased, alongside their lineup of presently announced titles). In terms of all the little nuggets revealed already though, this post at exa-fan.jp has a quick rundown when translated.
At the same time, their next big fighting game release, Asuka 120% Burning Fest. Exallent, has commenced location testing in Japan, following Cyberblocker R's tests last month. With Asuka 120% being a cult game getting its first proper arcade version, it has garnered a bit of attention; Famitsu have reported on the tests in more detail. Like with most exA titles on test there, the locations trialling it have setup gameplay streams for any fans who can't make it (this one here coming from HEY in Akihabara):
Also speaking of exA, I recently picked up P-47 Aces Mk. II. Here's an unboxing, but I probably won't have any direct capture footage of this for a bit since I am not operating it at my location for the time being.
Sonic Wings Reunion Tests
Asuka 120% Exallent isn't the only new arcade game being trialled in Japan at the moment, as Sonic Wings Reunion, Success and Hamster's revival of Video System's 1992 shooter, recently started testing at Mikado over there. They have also done a live broadcast for it, this one including gameplay footage and a chat with some development and location personnel (Japanese only), which you can view here. At the moment the game is being released only for Sega's APM3 system in Japanese arcades, although it will also be available for consoles off the bat, which is always a bit of a bummer from the arcade perspective. That hasn't stopped this exclusive pre-release glimpse of it from getting some plays at least:
Pinfest 2025
While the pinball scene holds its breath for the Harry Potter reveal by Jersey Jack, there are a few things happening in the meantime - most significantly PinFest 2025 in Allentown, PA. This had Dune's first playable appearance after its reveal last month, as well as another for King Kong: Myth of Terror Island (its public debut was at Pinball at the Zoo in Kalamazoo, MI a few weeks back), and Merlin's Arcade by Turner Pinball. S1ckH4nds has got a pretty comprehensive tour of the show floor up already:
Big Buck World Championship XVIII Announced
The world's largest Arcade eSports competition will be celebrating their 18th round in October this year, but they've moved things out of Chicago and instead have their sights set on Nashville, TN. A total of $125,000 is up for grabs across the 128 participants, and if you want to qualify, you can login and play Pro mode at an online enabled Big Buck Hunter arcade machine now. The event will be held October 10th & 11th at the Marathon Music Works. Here's a trailer that quietly dropped about it this week:
Bandai Namco Preps Pac-Man Parties
Finally, this year marks the 45th year since Pac-Man became a fixture in gaming and pop culture, and Bandai Namco is ready to celebrate. At the moment it is unknown if that will include a new game; the Class of '81, 25th Anniversary, Pac-Man's Arcade Party, and Pac-Man's Pixel Bash have covered previous anniversaries, although Pixel Bash was released during an off-year, serving as both the 35th & 40th anniversary game. As we recently covered, the Pac-Man "Street Range" has been a going concern too.
One new console game that will celebrate Pac-Man's legacy is the unique looking action platformer Shadow Labyrinth, but there is more going on - especially on Pac-Man's official "birthday" of May 22nd. That day "the entire city [of Shibuya-Harajuku, Japan] will celebrate the 45th anniversary of Pac-Man" and the company will open a pop-up Pac-Man location on the 4th floor of the Tokyu Plaza Harajuku "Harakado" with more Pac-Goodness. That will include a retro-style café and supermarket that is modelled after Shibuya in 1980, but apparently will feature goods and art that lead up to today. You'll also be able to play Shadow Labyrinth, however the story doesn't mention if any arcade machines will be set up in this area.
(Mom & Dad are so excited that they're leaving little Haruko behind...)
Hopefully we will see more proper action for the little yellow dude in arcades soon, given that was where he started out (originally under a slightly different name of course), and an effort is clearly being made with this anniversary. What would you like to see Bandai Namco do to celebrate Pac-Man this year?
Headlines
Video From The Wangan Midnight Speed Ignition Location Tests - These are still going on in Japan, with further tests at GiGO and Round1 branches... would be nice if we got one soon
Konami Tests New Version Of Their Spot The Difference Game, Now With Japanese Sazae-San Anime (And A Photo Ban) - originally this was tested there with the Korean title "Panpan-Kun"
Uniana Bringing Panpan-Kun Spot The Difference, Gitadora Arena Model, & Apex Rebels To PlayX4 In South Korea - Interesting selection of games, not least for Apex Rebels getting more rep
Gitadora Arena Model Starts To Touch Down In America At Round1USA
Cyberpunk 2077: Turf Wars At Dave & Busters Officially Announced
EVO 2025 Is Going To Host A Giant Arcade Area Once Again
Stern Pinball Releases New Service Menu Navigation Guide
Arcooda Launches A New LCD Arcade Marquee
That Time Namco Made An Eco-Friendly Pac-Man Arcade Racer With Nissan
More Direct Footage Of Vertexer, The Rare Futuristic Taito Arcade Racer
Ex-Polygon Writer Posts Unseen Eugene Jarvis Cruis'n Pics After Big Layoffs
Pokémon FRIENDA Is Popular In Japan With Over 100 Million Plays In Under A Year
Amusement Journal Questions If There Will Be A Move Away From Prizes
GENDA Is Getting More Involved With Laser Tag In Japan
Now You Can Play Atari Games' Gauntlet Zoomed Out
A USB Powered Mini-Arcade Game Room
That's One Way To Play Space Harrier
Immersive Game Rooms Will Crush Arena VR Systems - If they are given the right kind of games/content...
[Home Headlines]
Prices Raised On The Current Xbox Consoles And "Some" Games - Despite the priceyness, I went for a Switch 2 because it has games I want and will actually play, but I haven't been interested in any MS console since the 360 due to what my PC offers... much less now.
A Casual Player Discovered A Previously Unknown Glitch In Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels
The Namco Arcade Game NebulasRay Is Coming To PS4 & Switch This Month
Sega's Sakura Wars 2 Gets An Unofficial Fan Translation
No, Chrono Trigger Is Not Getting A Remake
Earthion's Home Releases Get An Official Website - No recent updates are available on the exA version, but it is coming to all consoles
The Star Wars Grand Collection Comes Along For May 4th
Some Interesting Wolf 3D Lore From A Former iD Employee
If Metroid 64 Had Been Real, It Might Have Looked Like This
If You're Into "Boomer Shooters" Or A Game Like Catacombs: Abyss, Then Wizordium Is For You
That's it for this Newsbytes; which of today's stories (e.g. ARE Expo) interested you most?
