As the trade show season heats up, it’s not unusual for more and more new arcade games to show up on location test, and today we have two examples that recently appeared: Super Punch Mania by Konami, and Putt It! Par-Tee by Sega Amusements. Both are video redemption titles that are very physically involved with unique controls (one of the necessities to stand out in the market these days), but both come from familiar names and should still be interesting. Let’s take a look at the two of them.
Disclaimer: The games discussed in this article are both prototypes, which have been seen on location (beta) test. Final production models might vary greatly from what is seen below, or one or both could not even be released, if they fail the tests. As such, reserve your final judgments for later. Thanks to Ted for the heads-up on both!
Super Punch Mania
For the biggest of the two both in size and stature, we have yet another video redemption title from Konami, who have really been ramping up their developments in this side of things (possibly in anticipation of their US sales opening up). Off the back of their Contra and DDR videmption games, we now have them applying their old Fighting/Punching Mania video boxer concept to this genre. We had wondered if Konami were thinking of bringing this back to the fore too, given the recent uptick in boxers and them still earning pretty well in most cases, and they very much have with the new Super Punch Mania.
This has been out on trial in Japan, which is a little odd given its videmption status (ticket redemption isn’t really a thing over there due to certain laws which restrict it), although perhaps there has been a US test or two that has gone undetected. From what is out there on it already, the gameplay is similar to those previous titles of Konami’s, and it has quite the cabinet, going for a twin enclosure of two player stations as opposed to the single cabinets of their older punching games (and most others). Whether that means there will be a two player mode is unconfirmed as of right now, although it does look somewhat likely.
Unfortunately, despite it apparently using music lifted from the original games themed around it, Fist of the North Star fans will be disappointed as this game does not use that license. The lack of that is somewhat surprising, since it would make for good competition against Bandai Namco’s new One Piece puncher – could it be added at a later date? Who knows…
Putt It! Par-Tee
Next up, we have a very different kind of sport being adapted to the videmption template. Sega Amusements are clearly on a bit of a golfing kick right now, with them releasing 501 Fun’s interactive mini golf, and this new piece they have recently been testing out in the UK, Putt It! Par-Tee. We have less to go off of with this one besides the below photo, but here they are making an interesting blend of golf and skee-ball, married with some kind of video screen element.
Though it isn’t very clear how the two video screens are going to be used besides the numbers shown here, the dot matrix LED marquee on top mentions a lobby, which tied with it similarly being a twin cabinet (and the P1/P2 graphic on screen) indicates for sure that there is a two player competitive element built into this one. It also looks like it will have a varied cast of original cartoony characters that can be selected from, though given the game’s skill will be largely based on every player’s putting skills, they probably won’t have any different in-game abilities specific to each. Still, they are a nice touch.
Finally, will either of these be exhibited at IAAPA 2025 if they pass testing? It seems fairly likely in the case of Putt It! Par-Tee, though whether Konami will have any representation to begin with remains to be seen. They are not listed as an exhibitor as of this moment, but that can change, and they did have people around at the show last year. There has also been behind-the-scenes movements by the company to do more in North America, and they’ve been talking with distributors. It’s unknown if there are any partnerships signed yet, but IAAPA will tell us the immediate future, as Konami games could appear at someone else’s booth (such as with how Raw Thrills features most of their games at Betson’s booth). That could always include titles other than Super Punch Mania too, however.
What do you think of these two new arcade videmption games on test?
