This year’s AAA Expo out of Guangzhou, China is coming in just a matter of days time, and one of the biggest companies to be gracing that will be Arcade Heroes advertiser Wahlap. We’ll have full coverage of their presence at the show first up on day one like last year’s, thanks to the efforts of one of our co-contributors who will be attending the event, but before that we have got an early preview from the company themselves of what their booth line-up will look like.
At present, much of this consists of Chinese-only/new versions of existing games and redemption, but there’s every chance they have got an original surprise or two in store. That may be especially the case this year with them celebrating their 35th anniversary in the business. Some of the differences to the titles they have already revealed are interesting too… so let’s dive in. Thanks to Ted for assembling this together from the Chinese-only preview posted on Wahlap’s site and a few game pages linked below.
Alpha Ops VR Strike
At the top, we have a game that has been getting a fair share of coverage as part of other trade show appearances on the site of late – Alpha Ops VR Strike. In case you have still managed to miss it, this virtual reality shooter is coming from 3MindWave and Sega Amusements, where the latter will be representing it in the West, but as with most other games they have collaborated on, Wahlap will be releasing it in China (3MW have a number of former Wahlap personnel, so that’s the connection there). One slight difference to note is the cabinet design with this; instead of the two vertical screens seen on the build we’re getting, this Chinese version has just one horizontal to display the action. That should help locations with lower ceilings, although the overhead frame for the gun/headsets still sticks out a bit.
Marvel Contest of Champions
Another title to receive a different Chinese version is Raw Thrills’ Marvel Contest of Champions, taking full advantage of Dave & Busters’ exclusivity lapsing. In keeping with that, it was already prominently shown off by Wahlap last year at the GTI Asia China Expo, but there, it was in the same guise as its Western release – now, it is returning with a completely new, China-only cabinet design. This vastly differs from what we’ve had, looking more like a Japanese arcade card machine in style. Whether there are any changes to the game itself as well, we will have to wait and see though (it doesn’t have a page up on Wahlap’s site yet).
Monster Eye 3 Unite
Monster Eye 3 was one of Wahlap’s big new debuts at last year’s AAA Expo, and this year it is appearing again in a new form. Similar to the ‘Assault’ model of Halo Fireteam Raven (which Wahlap sells across China), their third monster shooting game made with IGS is now getting a four-player tethered gun cabinet, dubbed the ‘Unite’ edition. This of course doubles the player count, though like Marvel if there are any other changes to the game itself, they will only be known in due time.
Other
The rest of Wahlap’s presently revealed AAA line-up is very redemption-focused, with a number of new coin pushers and a crane on this front. There are still a few points of interest here though; one of the biggest debuts among these is their new range of Ultraman pieces, these being purely electromechanical affairs, as opposed to the videmption games seen out of another Chinese company through Attractions & More recently at Amusement Expo.
More on the videmption side of things is their new video basketball hoop game, CyberHoop Basketball. Wahlap have made an entry in this genre before with Alley Oop Blitz but this seems to be an upgrade over it, using a sleeker white design.
Wahlap will also naturally have the various rhythm games they officially represent from Sega and Bandai Namco. Of those, Taiko no Tatsujin is notable as they will be holding their first Real Rank Dojo tournament qualifiers for pro Chinese players at the show. It would be surprising if they don’t present a new Chinese update for Maimai DX or Chunithm too, though nothing has been confirmed for them.
Besides that, if there is anything else in store, it will only be confirmed once the show comes along. There have been one or two rumors doing the rounds for a little while on what’s up next from Wahlap in video games – but only time will tell on if those are true. AAA 2025 gets underway on the 11th, and before it we have all the coverage of EVO Japan 2025 to get through… so until then, which of these titles from Wahlap interests you the most?
