Our next big event for the month of May takes us from Tokyo to the other side of Asia, namely Guangzhou, China, for a considerably larger show than EVO Japan – AAA 2025. This edition of the Asia Amusement & Attractions Expo got underway on the 10th, and has just finished up as this is being posted. It of course means plenty of new arcade games from the Chinese amusement industry and their international partners to check out; with news about trade relations between the US & China now taking a more positive turn, perhaps we’ll be seeing some of these games much sooner than initially expected.
Like EVO Japan and last year’s posts, coverage of AAA will be split across three days to keep things organized – this first day being dedicated to Wahlap (and Bandai Namco), the second UNIS (and Ace), and the third for everyone else there. Special thanks to Oga-Shi from Sega Amusements as well as Wahlap themselves for sending over all the media you see here, and Ted for bringing it all together. There were so many photos between the two that it was kind of daunting, but here’s the best of the bunch.
If you are curious, here’s some coverage from last year on the same show.
AAA 2025
For a little while now, AAA has been one of the big two Chinese amusement trade gatherings alongside the GTI Asia China Expo, bringing together most (if not all) of the major companies from that country for their first major industry show of the year. Held across several halls at the China Import & Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, the expo takes in pretty much all areas of amusement, with some remit for large-scale attractions and other amusement industry equipment in a similar way to IAAPA out West.
This year’s iteration is the 21st to take place, being part of the wider Grandeur World Culture & Tourism Industry Expo. As the event has grown in prominence plenty more of the international trade has started to attend (in fact, it was looking like I might’ve been there for this one a little while ago, but that didn’t pan out in the end. Maybe next time?). Sometimes you can even spot some familiar Western faces in photos…
Wahlap
As always, our coverage is starting with Arcade Heroes site advertiser Wahlap. Even if they weren’t one though, they would almost always be among the first companies mentioned, as they undoubtedly have one of the most prominent presences at these Chinese shows, with huge booths, plenty of costumed mascots and characters from the games, and their own industry after parties – particularly so this year with it celebrating their 35th anniversary. In fact, this might be their biggest one yet, and that’s saying something:
Overall, Wahlap are generally focusing on products from their big Japanese (and other overseas) partners at the moment, with a lot more inhouse merchandizing efforts for them than before. That includes Sega and Bandai Namco’s officially licensed rhythm games, as covered on the site before, but also something else below which they debuted here. If you’d like to take a closer look at everything else they showcased in action, Wahlap have already uploaded this highlights video on YouTube too.
Alpha Ops VR Strike
First up, one of the select few upcoming games on Wahlap’s booth that is already confirmed to be releasing out West very soon. Alpha Ops VR Strike looks set to be the next original virtual reality shooter hit from 3MindWave and Sega Amusements, following the success of their VR Agent from a few years back now, and like that game, Wahlap will be exclusively representing it over in China. From the photos shared the game seems to be going down well, with it taking pride of place at the front of Wahlap’s booth.
As those who know it may see, the main differences with the cabinet that China are getting is its single, horizontal 16:9 monitor to show headset output, instead of two vertical screens, and smaller marquee. It’s possible this costs a little less than the one being released out West, though like the single VR Agent model, it might just be locked to there. The guns on these are also a lot smaller, which could end up being a change for all versions considering what was said about reducing the weight of them…
Pokémon Mezastar
One game that seemed likely to appear at the show but was oddly not mentioned in Wahlap’s preview is Marvelous’ Pokémon Mezastar, which made a pretty high profile Chinese debut here after all. As covered previously, Japan got the newest Pokémon arcade title Frienda last year, so now it’s time for other Asian regions to enjoy the version behind it via Wahlap, as they did with Ga-Olé when this one first released over there. Mezastar originally launched for Japan during 2020, so it isn’t too old either.
Wahlap really rolled out the red (or should that be yellow?) carpet for this game – to the point where it got its very own sub-booth, situated right next to the main company one. And of course, there was no chance they’d have it without merchandise and a couple of mascot costumes, one of which inevitably being Pikachu. But then if you pay for a license as expensive as Pokémon (which might be the main roadblock in it coming out West, despite potential success), you may as well go all out…
Monster Eye 3 Unite
Though not a new-new game, Wahlap do have a brand new cabinet for one of the original titles they debuted at last year’s AAA: Monster Eye 3. This new ‘Unite’ model follows in the footsteps of the Assault version made for Halo Fireteam Raven, using an upright cabinet with tethered lightguns instead of a sitdown with mounted guns. As the original was only two players in this case, it also ups the players to four.
With them selling the environmental motion theater version rebadged as Kaiju Rampage already (which was available again elsewhere here at Wahlap), it’s easy to imagine LAI Games getting their hands on this and giving it the same treatment in time for next IAAPA. One thing is for certain though, if it is there, you won’t really see surreal scenes like this on their booth… which leads us on nicely to the next game to cover.
Marvel Contest of Champions
The preponderance of costumed Marvel characters around Wahlap’s space once more was down to them re-exhibiting Raw Thrills’ Marvel Contest of Champions. Those who read last year’s GTI Asia China Expo coverage may remember this appeared on their booth there, but looked much the same as the existing Western release. In the time since, Wahlap has crafted a completely different, China-only cabinet:
As mentioned in the earlier preview, this cabinet design has a much smaller form factor, and brings to mind the mini kids card game machines that you typically get in Japan and other parts of Asia. The demographics of Chinese Marvel fans and arcade-goers must’ve justified this change, though the game itself seems to be much the same. Fortunately that doesn’t stop older players from enjoying it still:
CyberHoop Basketball
Alongside a few new pushers and cranes which we won’t get into here, Wahlap do also have a new video redemption/sports piece in the form of CyberHoop Basketball debuting at AAA. This is an upgrade over their previous video basketball hooping game, Alley Oop Blitz, and should offer some nice competition for other entrants in this genre like Pop-A-Shot. Not sure if this has the linked accounts that does though.
Taiko No Tatsujin
Taiko has been on Wahlap’s Chinese trade show booths for nearly a couple of years now, after they launched it over there during late 2023, but it warrants a special mention for having the first Real Rank Dojo qualifiers for China on the first two days of the expo. Could we see Bandai Namco Amusement America make a similar move with American players at a future IAAPA or AEI appearance? Only time will tell…
The Rest
Seeing as they are all redemption and titles that most are already pretty familiar with (or have been covered at length before in these Chinese trade show posts), this below carousel of photos from Oga-Shi shows some of the many other games that Wahlap had on their booth – Maimai DX & Chunithm, Initial D The Arcade, Kingdoms Fantasy, and the electromechanical Ultraman pieces. Not pictured are the likes of Asphalt Moto Blitz DX, NFS Heat Takedown (Wahlap version), and Getter Spin D, which we’ve seen plenty.
Bandai Namco
Lastly, following on from Taiko's appearance on Wahlap's booth, we also have Bandai Namco's own presence at the show to briefly acknowledge. After an absence from appearing direct at Chinese amusement events, they made a return to that at last year's GTI Asia China Expo, and to prove they are committed, here they are again via their Namco Enterprises Asia subsidiary.
As well as titles we saw last time e.g. the full range of Taiko machines (original game, kiddie ride and mini air hockey), right from the front of this booth photo you can spot one brand new thing on hand - a kiddie-focused Pac-Man basketball game, making for the next addition to their "Pac-Man Street" range. Oga-Shi noticed a nice touch in the form of the LED scores for these displaying "765", the meaning of which seasoned Namco fans may know and appreciate. Sans branding, they are also almost exactly the same model as the one that Sega put out for Sonic several years back now...
Then something that BN revealed at their previously-mentioned GTI Asia China Expo appearance was a new DX model of Dead Heat Unleashed. This disappeared afterward, leading some to question if it was still happening, but it seems it is back for good. Two points worth noting on this though - considering it has still only appeared in China so far, it is likely exclusive to there. And secondly, if you think there are some familiar design elements, you would be correct, as following their involvement in creating the motion cabinet for Apex Rebels, Namco have enlisted 3MindWave's help in designing this. As such, there are similarities:
3MW x Bandai Namco might well be a developing relationship in fact, as the former recently posted a news item on their website about Alpha Ops VR Strike appearing at a Joint Exhibition that the latter's Technica arm quietly organized over in Japan. If BN are looking at collaborating with 3MindWave more in Asia off the back of their great work with Sega Amusements out West, that could be an interesting move.
Other
As the show is pretty much over (we would've got to it sooner, but EVO Japan needed finishing too, and the photos of Wahlap's booth took a while to work through), there have been a few companies already posting media of their presence. For a little preview of what's to come, Yuto Games have unsurprisingly posted a video of their booth already, where they have now jumped on the stacked two screen trend. Take note of that, as it will be a running theme through the next two days worth of AAA 2025 posts :P
Also, a company I have not heard of previously called High Fun has been posting about what they have, including a Zombie stomping game. Ted says he heard someone even had a Spider Stompin' revival/clone there, so perhaps this mini genre is trending harder too?
That's about all for this bout now, but stay tuned, as we have a lot more to show regarding the games of the AAA 2025 show! Which games interested you most from this first day of coverage?
