Going into Amusement Expo 2026, we had a good idea of what most companies were bringing arcade-wise, but one that held their cards close to their chests like usual was Adrenaline Amusements. They have often turned up at trade shows with new games that have had no prior announcement or marketing, and this time was no different. Let’s take a look at their latest surprise in Disney Speedstorm Arcade:
Background
First, if the Disney Speedstorm name sounds familiar to you, that is because this is a port of an existing game developed by Gameloft (specifically their Spanish studio) for numerous home platforms, including all major consoles, PCs, and mobiles. It originally released back in 2023, with the mobile version coming a few months later the following year. The game seems to have been pretty successful, as it’s been receiving further content updates since and has been dubbed “Disney’s Mario Kart” more than once in coverage. Now, it’s set to ‘storm’ the arcade too through Adrenaline, making it truly multi-platform.
Disney Speedstorm Arcade
This conversion marks Adrenaline’s second Disney-themed game, coming after their Disney Crossy Road videmption piece that they released some time ago. Before we dive in fully, keep in mind that what is seen in the video is a prototype and will see some changes for the production release, mostly to the hardware side of things. That will mainly be with the seat portion; I’ll comment more on that later.
The main new addition to the game in this arcade version is the card dispenser function. While that’s been done before with other arcade games, racers haven’t done it so much since the likes of Initial D and Wangan Midnight. Here, a lot of the content is locked behind them; for example, only two racers were available to choose at the beginning, Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. To play as any of the others, you needed a card to scan. These do not vend with every play – you have to either buy one by inserting more credits, or finish one of the cups (which is a total of three races – you don’t have to win). Cards can also unlock new character costumes.
The position of both the card dispenser and reader was slightly awkward, and I can confirm these were just for the prototype models here. As for whether the cards are required for the game to operate (like other games using them), I cannot recall the answer on that and have sent an email over to Adrenaline to verify. However, I would lean towards it likely being “no,” since the show units weren’t actively vending them anyways and they worked fine without any error messages appearing on screen.
Gameplay-wise, it offers a nice variety of both characters and tracks, with the overall feel falling between Cruis’n Blast and Mario Kart, and the vertical screen clearly following in Storm Racer 2‘s footsteps. There are power-ups you can grab to attack opponents with, objects to crash into (that don’t affect your speed), and occasionally rails that can be driven on. Up to four units are also linkable for multiplayer.
According to Adrenaline, this begins shipping out in May/June. We should have a final cabinet photo before too long, and will share once it’s available.
Quick Thoughts
This hadn’t come to mind much before AEI, but with both this and Nickelodeon Kart Racers Arcade releasing onto the scene, it’s clear that the industry has came back around to realizing that kart racers based on IP with wide appeal (particularly for kids) are in demand. Mario Kart Arcade GP DX has continued to do exceedingly well out there and is still in production, but then Bandai Namco’s schedule on it is a slight pain – I was told at the show that if you ordered one right now, it wouldn’t arrive until February 2027. In the past, I’ve known operators who also had to wait a few to several months to get theirs.
If it’s priced right, then Disney Speedstorm Arcade could possibly be the game that makes MKGP sweat – it has a similar target audience (“Disney Adults” will play it just as much as kids will), and the motion base paired with big vertical monitor also goes a long way towards good earnings. That said, a smaller screen version would be welcome too, as the size of the monitors on this are so large that it seems a little excessive for kids. On the flipside, that does draw attention in a busy game room.
The price point is also a potential opening for Nickelodeon Kart Racers Arcade, which does come in a smaller sit-down cabinet and is lower cost (pretty close to $10k, IIRC); then there’s the continued sales of UNIS’ Monster Kart, which has apparently been a success for them. Either way, the battle of the kart-style racers will begin this Summer, which should be a good thing for our industry.
What do you think about Disney Speedstorm Arcade, either from the coverage above or if you had a chance to play it at Amusement Expo?
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