Welcome to Newsbytes, a series here on Arcade Heroes that covers quick news from around the world of arcade and pinball gaming. Summer just keeps dragging on still, but as we get into the final stretch of it there is a bit more bubbling up now to look ahead to for the Fall, when the next amusement industry trade show season gets fully underway. For now though, here’s the details on some brand new games that are just coming up on the rails, a look at the Utah Retro GameXpo, headlines, and more. Thanks to everyone who has helped (Ted, Jdevy, Nsm etc) and sent some of these items in…
Utah Retro GameXpo 2025
There have been plenty of events with a healthy arcade presence over the past few weeks, including the Long Island Retro Show’s cool aircraft base setup, but one with some good original footage over on the Arcade Heroes YouTube channel is Utah Retro GameXpo 2025. Since this was effectively in my backyard, I played a small role in bringing the games to the event (they came from Alan-1 & Flynn’s Retrocade, not my own place, but I still assisted in getting them there). A good time was had by all, and it should serve as a taste of things to come for A1’s upcoming Hangar location in Tooele…
The show also gave me a chance to check out and grab some footage of the latest build for Missile Command: Recharged Arcade, so let’s throw that in here too while we’re at it:
IGS’ Speed Rider 4DX Gets A Trailer
One of the several new arcade games that got a big debut showcase back at China’s AAA 2025 trade show in May was Speed Rider 4DX, the latest entry in the motorbike racing series by Taiwan’s IGS. Sales and manufacturing partner Baohui (whom they last worked with on Hyper Cross) certainly rolled out the red carpet for it there on their booth, as we saw in a few photos, and now this new trailer includes our first footage of that and the game itself. This does a better job of selling where it has some new features; its drifting mechanic built into the control of the bike body itself looks fairly novel, and the 100 inch dot matrix marquee certainly stands out already in these clips, so would likely do so even more on location.
The trailer has been posted by Italian distributor ELMAC II, who appear to be carrying it and several new games from Ace Amusement. MENA territories will also be getting the game via ASI. This will of course only be the case for those territories though; whoever may give it a wider release is still up in the air. As Ted has observed in the AH Discord recently, there are already a few recent motion based bikers out on the market (Storm Rider 2, Asphalt Moto Blitz DX), and that’s before you get into the similar new pieces coming out of China (Superwing’s Flash Rider, Ace’s Bikers Madness), so it may well be the case that one or two lose out. It has to be said that Speed Rider’s previous versions haven’t done too well when brought over, but perhaps with a decent rebrand (like fellow IGS game Monster Eye 3 got in Kaiju Rampage), it could do better?
Konami Tests New Gashaaaan! In Japan
If you really know your Konami arcade games, you might remember a little video ball toss series by them named Gashaaaan! that they put out during the mid-to-late 2000s. Excepting a single appearance in the UK at ATEI 2006 that ultimately amounted to nothing (like many did around that time…), these only released in Japan, and did not make it past 2009 as a going concern. However, following them bringing Contra back as a video redemption shooter and also taking DDR into the videmption realm, they are clearly on a hot streak in developing that side of things, as they are now testing a revival of it out in Japan:
As can be seen in the above photo, they are certainly bringing it up to current ‘bigger is better’ arcade standards by using two screens, instead of standard projectors. According to this post by prolific Japanese location test reporter Ariesukobeya, it even has a little bit of fan service for Bemani heads, as Pop’n Music and Beatmania IIDX characters make cameos in one mode. But will it and the other videmption games Konami make be part of their new USA push? Only time will tell, but perhaps uncoincidentally there have been whispers of them testing out their Gold Railroad pusher at a non-Round1 location in the States…
Incredible Technologies Teasing Golden Tee 2026
One of the most constant presences in arcades over the years has always been Incredible Technologies’ Golden Tee, which is inevitably getting its latest yearly update very soon. IT have been busy of late teasing the new and revived courses that will be added in it; the one you see below is TPC Twin Cities, the latest of the new USA examples in Blaine, Minnesota. Courses for the far flung likes of Acoma Mesa (Mexico), Machu Picchu (Peru), and Tapper Creek (Alaska) have also been announced.
The game itself is still just under a couple months away at the end of September, but in the meantime, fans can pass the time with Digital Eclipse’s new compilation of classic entries in the series, which we’ve mentioned once or twice in the past. DE always produce quality repackagings of old titles, and their upcoming Mortal Kombat one looks great too… but back to new games in arcades.
Ace’s Wild Hunting To Debut Stateside At IAAPA 2025
According to this LinkedIn post, Amusement Source International will be heading to IAAPA 2025 in November with 19 new games. Yes, many (if not most) will be pure prize redemption pieces, but in that mix are some video titles, one of which is taking direct aim at one of the biggest arcade franchises in the world. We’ve mentioned Wild Hunting previously, which was on display at AAA 2025, and now ASI and Ace Amusement are teaming up to bring this game here – on the year of Big Buck Hunter’s 25th anniversary.
It’s unknown whether or not Big Buck will unveil some major new update (or a completely new entry) at the Big Buck World Championships (or BuckFest, as they are now known) in October, although as Jdevy wondered on the AH Discord, seeing a 4-Player version of BBH that’s akin to the Halo: Fireteam Raven 4-Player upright seems like it could work. It would certainly be pretty cost effective.
Predator Pinball Is Now In Production
For those interested in the Pinball Brothers’ latest title PREDATOR, IT is now in production. The website also mentions that it is available now. I’ve checked with several distributors for the pricing, but they all still just list the deposit number. Should anything change there soon I will give an update.
I’m not sure when I’ll get to see this one out there either, but it is great to see that Pinball Brothers has figured out how to hit a stride in producing this many titles. Who knows what’s next from them…
Yuto Promotes “Digital Billiards” Arcade Game
For a long time, I haven’t been entirely sure about China’s Yuto Games and their output, due to a variety of reasons (usually ‘high seas’-related). But, you have to give credit where credit is due – they are covering some innovative ideas here and there. Whether or not the hardware holds up and whether the quality of the software is there is a separate question, but still, it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a pool/billiards video arcade game. We’ve seen enhancements to existing tables, such as through the use of projection mapping on a real table. But the last time we had a proper billiards video arcade game was maybe 2002 with Sega’s Shootout Pool and Konami’s Perfect Pool (both released the same year).
Again, I’d reserve judgment for actually trying it out and hearing about how something like this would do on location…which is tough. I know that some operators out there do grab equipment from companies like this, but they don’t usually tout it. I’d much rather see these than Arcade1Ups or 60-in-1s or illegal MAMEcades.
New Arcade Releases – May, June, July 2025
It’s been a while since we last did one of these, so here’s a quick video going through all of the main arcade game releases from May to July of this year. The rest can also as always be found at this page here on the site; it’s noteworthy that with the volume we already have of them (30+ releases in just seven months), we are seeing a lot more new arcade titles than several whole years in the 2000s did. That’s a heartening reminder of how the industry is in better shape globally than those times, in certain ways.
Headlines
The EVO 2025 Arcade, Supplied By 100 Yen Life, Game Saru, Lemony Vengance, And Many More – Together they created the second largest arcade in the US (!), even if only temporarily
100 Yen Life Also Supplied A Sega Arcade To Promote Sonic Racing Crossworlds At K1 Speed
EVO Brings You The Legacy Of Mortal Kombat, Featuring Midway’s Ed Boon Himself
Next Level Pinball Museum In Hillsboro, OR Is Voted As The Best Arcade In America
Famitsu Looks At The New Pop’n Music – Great play is made of how you can treat the cute colorful pop note buttons “like your own child”… which inspired some neat artwork from fans
Bandai Namco Amusement Europe Launches The Wani Wani Panic Gator Kiddie Ride – They’ve shown it off in the States a couple times, but not sure if it will see a release here or not.
Gamewax/Konami’s Rare Cooper’s 9 Has Been Dumped – Gamewax were the kings of odd arcade games at one time… it’s too bad they fell straight off the radar after the early 2010s
The BBC Celebrates Pac-Man’s 45th Birthday And History, From Inception To Present Day
August 7th 2025 Was L.A. Machineguns Day, But Los Angeles Wasn’t Attacked IRL
Sega’s Third Major Eiketsu Taisen Card Game Version Releases In Japan
Japan’s Amusement Expo 2025 Is Now Being Teased With Map + Exhibitors
LoserKid Pinball Talks To Stern’s Chief Creative Officer George Gomez
Stern Hires Pinball Streamer Jack Danger As Head Of Community – Also, they will launch the SPIKE 3 System soon with their next major release
American Pinball Gets Into The Expressive Lighting Game
Even ICE’s Down The Clown Gets Some LED Upgrade Kits
Pop-A Shot’s First National Tournament Happened
Pop-A-Shot Also Gets A Casino Slots Edition
Tekken Now Has New Video Slots Too
Usually It’s Kids Getting Stuck In A Game, Not Adults
Marble Madness II Now Available At The Galloping Ghost Arcade
UK Royal Armouries Museum Buys An On Target Off Sega Amusements – One of the more unusual places to find one of these for sure
Someone Converted A Minecraft Dungeons Arcade In Japan To Play SF 3rd Strike – Seems like not everyone is a fan of Minecraft there…
Looks Like The Gundam Pod 2 Arcade Game Has Inspired Real World Construction Tech
[Home Headlines]
Guitar Hero Veterans Form New RedOctane Games Studio – Nice to see but weird messaging on the “we’re reviving rhythm gaming!” narrative… that’s only kind of true if you flat out ignore arcades of course
Atari & Bandai Namco Team Up For Namco Re-Releases – Includes a Pac-Man themed Atari 2600+, a Pac-Man Double Feature cart release, and re-releases of Namco Atari 7800 games (which will all work on the OG consoles if you still have one). Bonus: Hino Kimura returns to do the artwork for this
Bandai Namco And Sony Sign Strategic Partnership – Will it involve arcades beyond all the IP utilization talk? Who knows…
A Space Invaders Movie Is Reportedly In Development – Joining OutRun and House of the Dead in that regard… speaking of
The House Of The Dead 2 Remake Is Out Now – Sadly doesn’t seem to be too well-received, much like the previous one
Taito/M2’s New Night Striker Gear Looks Great
CAVE Are Considering More Console/PC Games
Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac + New Katamari Announced
That’s it for this Newsbytes; which of the above stories (e.g. Utah Retro GameXpo 2025) interested you most?
