Welcome to the second part of our IAAPA 2025 wrap-up, where we run down the various companies with new arcade games that were at the show this year. Last time gave a look at Arcade Heroes’ site advertisers, and in this post we have a few big names in the form of Bandai Namco, Sega Amusements, and LAI Games. Initially UNIS were going to be part of this too, but due to the amount of new games they brought and videos needing to be uploaded because of that, they will have to wait. To make up for that, there is one small additional inclusion at the end… read on to find out.
Bandai Namco
Every year at IAAPA, the American and European wings of Bandai Namco’s amusement business join forces to present their product lines. This means you get a packed booth, with both their own games but also examples they exclusively distribute in either territory, as you will see below. Bandai Namco brought a higher proportion of product out of their Chinese partners than previous years here, bringing more video games over through these partners than had been done in the past. They are still working with partners in both Asia and Europe, though China has risen in prominence as you can see here:
The full list of the games they had (not including the European side’s distribution network) looks like:
- Speed Rider 4DX
- The Future
- Mini World
- Pac-Man Pixel Bash Bistro
- Pac-Man Street Range
- GoldStorm Pirates
- Taiko no Tatsujin
- Animal Kaiser Plus
- Rockin’ Bowl-O-Rama
- Jumpin’ Jupiter
- Ball Madness
- Tower Island
- Strike Hook
- Tom & Jerry Kitchen Chaos
- Looney Tunes Red Zone Rush
For a game Bandai Namco have picked up in North America but nowhere else (as other companies struck deals for it), Speed Rider 4DX by veteran Taiwanese arcade game studio IGS and Chinese cabinet makers Baohui is the latest evolution of the former company’s original motorcycle racer series. Previous incarnations of this have perhaps blended in with the pack a little too well, but this one boasts a marked improvement over what came before in nearly every department, particularly presentation (both software and hardware). The innovative drift-shift feature also works pretty great:
BN also had not one, but two rail shooters from the Chinese outfit Superwin(their URL says “Superwing,” however, the logo on their site and cabinets says “Superwin”), which they are carrying across all Western territories. These are a little surprising, considering they only just got GoldStorm Pirates out here, as well as having Resident Evil 2: Dead Shot (currently not ready for trade shows – yet) in the works for that same genre, but it does certainly allow more choice for locations. Both are environmental motion-type cabinets, with The Future being an original sci-fi blaster, whilst the three player Mini World chases the kids/family audience more with its Minecraft-esque style based on a Chinese property.
Both are definitely less solid overall than GoldStorm, though are probably cheaper, and the strong mounted gun kick back mechanism (touted by Superwin as a first) is neat at least. Also, the motion seat on The Future is surprisingly articulated, with it swaying as your soldiers walk:
For their own produce, initially it seemed Bandai Namco’s Pac-Man products would only consist of the existing Pac-Man Street Range, the new Baller Jr addition to that, and the recent Bistro edition of Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash, but in the end they did have the newer Pac-Man whacker (now renamed Whack-The-Ghosties) and interactive kiddie ride recently seen at GTI Asia China, despite neither being previewed in advance. They also have a new skin for the Pac-Man Pixel Bash which follows along with the other Street Range games, and has the “45th anniversary” logo on it, but I did not notice any additions to the software. These are both very nicely themed and designed, though apparently are priced high:
GoldStorm Pirates and Taiko no Tatsujin also returned, following their US debuts at last year’s IAAPA. Unfortunately there has been a cloud over the rollout of the latter for some time now – according to the last word gleaned from Bandai Namco at the show, the entire process has been paused indefinitely, owing to various issues with the cabinets that were assembled in the US (believed officially to be the drum harnesses). Many Round1USA locations have still been receiving their cabinets, but players are encouraged not to try them.
It is a shame for things to have gone this way with Taiko, especially after the mood was so high on its debut at last IAAPA, but they are looking to put it right and get it back on track soon. As ever, this should also serve as a lesson for anyone else looking to bring out rhythm games in the West… the cabinets have to be quality. If they aren’t, players will not only notice, they will broadcast it online and word travels fast.
Sega Amusements
Sega Amusements hosted a booth packed with variety this year; whilst last IAAPA they had Apex Rebels and Alpha Ops VR Strike (available again here in their standard and fully complete production versions, respectively) at one end, with the rest mostly devoted to redemption, this time they had numerous different pieces spread across the full gamut of their space. Prize games certainly still formed a large part of that, with Mini Cube Prize World and others taking pride of place, but there was plenty more besides.
Their full lineup as follows:
- Putt It! Par-Tee
- Simon Arcade
- Daytona Championship USA Motion Edition
- Hyper Cross Single
- Apex Rebels Standard
- Alpha Ops VR Strike
- Maimai DX
- Subsoccer Arcade
- Big Sea Fishing
- Mini Cube Prize World
- High Five Tickets
- High Five
- Skill Fall Revolution series
- Allstars Sports series
Though not a new-new game as such, Maimai DX made its first ever appearance at an IAAPA show here, to much appreciation from its dedicated fans and admirers (Sega had a team of pro players on hand again, like they did at Amusement Expo back in March). The current US rollout for it seems to be going pretty well right now, with numerous Genda-owned locations now receiving their cabinets following Round1’s, though there has been a few minor hold-ups owing to networking paperwork at some. Not sure how many independent places are getting one, as they are still quite the purchase, but at least a few seem to be. Along these lines, there is now a MaiMai in my arcade, albeit not of the DX variety. More details on that for another time.
Segueing nicely into our next piece (given the track being played in the above video), Daytona USA came back once again here too with the new Motion Edition of Daytona Championship USA. It’s hard to believe that it’s been eight years since this first debuted, but here we are. Using the air compressor base design originally engineered for Apex Rebels (the new non-motion version of which was sited next to it), this is getting its first proper deluxe motion cabinet as a result, since its SDLX one was hard to come by. This got tons of play throughout the whole show, and has been the most viewed video from it on the channel so far, which goes to show how big a draw durable, classic titles like Daytona still are:
In redemption, their main two games were Simon Arcade and the new mini golf/alley roller fusion Putt It! Par-Tee. Whilst Simon was a simple enough ball toss effort welded with the rules of that game, Putt It! had more going on gameplay-wise, with its competitive socializing element putting a good twist on two old arcade game tropes, and the video screens make it more attractive and characterful. The cabinet design could potentially be tweaked, as a few found the playfield slightly narrow to get to grips with, but it is fun:
Of some note in the social entertainment side of things, Subsoccer Arcade is now available through Sega Amusements and showed up here. They had a new video boxer on hand by the name of Cyberboxer too, however that one will only be carried by them outside of North America. Existing games like Hyper Cross (with its new single cabinet), On Target, and Big Sea Fishing were also present; it initially seemed like a few other pieces including the 2-Player edition of On Target would be there, but they weren’t in the end.
Also note that there were fewer Japanese representatives or employees of Bandai Namco Experience and Sega Fave this year, likely owing to their own Amusement Expo only just happening, though the Western counterparts had plenty of new faces from their UK teams around. There was a lounge put on by Sega Fave in the Northern part of the convention center, but I only made it out that way once the whole week and was unable to stop by and check it out. Sega Amusements additionally had a little recognition for the late Paul Williams on their booth desk, following his sad passing last month.
LAI Games
LAI Games have been upping their presence at IAAPA in recent years, to the point where they are now one of the arcade exhibitors with the biggest booths by some distance.
LAI’s full list of games was:
- Phantom Vanguard
- Kaiju Rampage Unite
- Hyper Grid
- Cube Clash
- Soccer Rocker
- Ubisoft All-Star VR
- Cyberpunk 2077: Turf Wars
- Asphalt Moto Blitz DX
- NASCAR Pitstop
- Galaxy Hunter
- Tornado
- Seasons Cranes
Though it had already made its world premiere at IAAPA Expo Europe in September, this show offered the first chance for anyone in the States to give Ubisoft All-Star VR a try outside of location testing. As such, LAI were giving it a hefty push here with two linked units, though how many locations that buy more than one remains to be seen. The curved billboards in the back do make for quite a spectacle:
This one was mentioned already in the previous post covering Wahlap, but their Phantom Vanguard shooter made with IGS and original Modern Combat game creators Gameloft was also available on LAI’s booth, thanks to them exclusively distributing it over here. For more shooting game thrills from Wahlap and IGS, they had Kaiju Rampage Unite too.
LAI also had a new Playmore and IGS-made pusher, Cube Clash, the Hyper Grid and Soccer Rocker social entertainment attractions, and returning games like Cyberpunk 2077: Turf Wars. That one was playing and feeling much better than it did at Amusement Expo earlier this year, which was good to see, and it also won second place in the IAAPA Brass Ring awards (Coastal’s Hot Wheels Ultimate Speedway came first).
Player One Amusement Group
As a bonus, Player One Amusement Group deserve a quick mention here too for bringing more than previous years. In addition to Blue Motion Games’ previously covered two player edition of Desert Chase, Taito and Wahlap’s Getter Spin D, and the Kiddleton-branded mini cranes, they had a couple surprises out of Japan – owing to P1AG’s new ownership by Genda, Marvelous’ Try Catch prize game and Naruto Emblem Battle were on hand. These have both been appearing at Genda-owned locations in North America for some time, and now P1AG have got their hands on them. It seems like Naruto is only available as a revenue share option though, though don’t take that as certain (bemBlake in the video below was asking them, and didn’t get a 100% sure answer):
That’s the end of this part of our IAAPA 2025 coverage, but check back next week for the next post, covering the likes of UNIS, Andamiro, JET Games and more. Which of the new arcade games seen here interest you most?
