[Article about the new Atari Asteroids Recharged arcade games. Has pictures and video]

2 minutes ago, TampaBay said:

 

I agree with everything you've said.  I personally would probably love that Cosmotrons game, but I can't see it getting very much play in any of the modern-style arcades and family fun centers that I go to, and I go the arcade A LOT.

 

When we go to the arcade with the family, it's straight to Sega Transformers: Shadows Rising and games like that.  I'm not sure how available that game is, I didn't see it on your list, but I think that's a pretty good example of the genre.  Have you seen it / played it?  We also have that giant Space Invaders at our arcade and its fantastic.  We play it all the time.

I had a Transformers Human Alliance (the Bumblebee yellow cab; Shadows Rising is the sequel) for a time, but not SR. I'm sure it would do fine as it was a better game than the first, although it definitely wasn't a strong seller across the wider market. 

 

I just remembered that there's a publicly available earnings report that shows how a bunch of games across a few different locations are performing. For Space Invaders Frenzy, that number of $5778 appears to come from an anonymous location in the Northeastern US. That should be over the course of a month, although I am lucky to see my games make that much individually over the course of a year. To compare, the location on the West Coast has an SIF that makes far less, but all of their games make a ton less than that NE venue. 

 

As you can see, cranes and redemption games really haul the cash in. 😬

[Article about the new Atari Asteroids Recharged arcade games. Has pictures and video]

On 3/22/2024 at 12:56 PM, ledzep said:

 

I agree, which even back in the day sucked when a cool game got swapped out for a Pac-Man or something because that oddball game wasn't as popular (it was very hard to find a Polaris or Space Firebird game even though both were really fun, I guess most gamers preferred other games) and didn't make enough money for the arcade owner.  On the other hand, walking into an arcade back then that had 6 Pac-Mans and 7 Donkey Kongs and not so many other cool games usually meant a short visit from me and the other arcade gamers I knew.  Sometimes max profits can be bad in terms of repeat business if there are too many of the same type.

Just catching up here. Having multiples of the same game in arcades is extremely rare these days but yeah, there was a dearth of creativity on one side(copies & clones), while having extreme creativity on the other (original ideas that everyone copied and earned like crazy).

 

That said, I once came across a hand written note of earnings from one Rip Off by Cinematronics. IIRC, it was dated 1982 and covered several weeks of collections and for a game that wasn't super common then, it was bringing in over $300/wk. So even something like that could bring home the bacon in the right location. 

 

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True, but there is some risk or guessing in that sense.  Who knew that lightgun games would take off before there were lightgun games?  But they obviously are popular (I loved Silent Scope though it raped me after that first level every time, hahaaha).  But that just shows that the next thing, that isn't currently in arcades, could be the new popular so sticking to lightguns über alles could be very short-sighted in a design sense.

Well, if you look at arcade earnings for the past 20 years, the light-gun game has consistently been a dominant force among arcade video games. 

 

From my tiny microcosm of business, here are my top 20 games from last year. Jurassic Park came out in 2015, so it'll be 10 years old next year; But it still beats the snot out of most everything else. For other shooters, you've got Walking Dead, House of the Dead 5, Luigi's Mansion. Ignoring the basketball game at #5, the first non-driver, non-gun game for my location was Minecraft Dungeons. It's a joystick game but it's a weird one. I've talked to some colleagues who say it's terrible for them and some have sold theirs off, while others say it's one of their best (you need a location with a ton of kids, from what I can gather). MaxiTune 5, Cruis'n, Nirin, and Redline Rampage are all racing games. The only other nongun/non-racer/non-sport games on the list are Step ManiaX (think DDR), TMNT 2018 (joysticks) and Space Warp 66 (knob).

 

If you were to get earnings from a big chain company like Dave & Busters and removed all the redemption crap, you would see a similar pattern - gun games and drivers.  

 

 

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Ya, VR is going to be huge, if nothing else for TikTok videos of players tripping over themselves trying to run away from things that don't exist, hahaaha.

Don't get me started on VR  

 

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But a trak-ball (and spinner) are neither, though I get what you're saying about Gen Z nostalgia (or lack thereof).  Even so, how many lightgun games can a person want to play?  That's just video shooting gallery.  Yay.  I mean, how many racing games can someone play in one day in an arcade, either?  A little variety could go a long way, if just to break up the lightgun lightgun racing lightgun racing racing game choice pattern which seems to be almost all the options in the modern arcades, yes?

Referring to my list up above, more than you'd think. Although I do agree with you on principle when it comes to variety. I don't care much for cookie cutter arcades as that is boring  - my arcade is weird, a black sheep of the industry. I have no ticket redemption games; I like to have odd, rare stuff. I have a Dariusbust Another Chronicle by Taito, a Hydra by Atari Games, a bunch of fighting games, and a few other oddities, on top of the staples. I'm one of the only arcades in the world with stuff like this, because I like variety. That said, these and pretty much all of my other rare games don't make much money:

 

 

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It wouldn't make any sense as "missile command" and would fundamentally be a different game.  Maybe a popular game, as you say, but call it something else and now it's a shooting gallery again but in the sky, I guess you could just as easily be shooting birds out of the air or flying squirrels as they're leaping from tree to tree.  I would actually play that if the graphics were cool (blasts of feathers or puffs of fur, little squeals of surprised terror, hahaahaha) but it would get frustrating if the lightguns weren't accurate enough.

True, although if you follow the pattern that games like Jurassic Park uses, it could make sense. Take for example Space Invaders Frenzy by Raw Thrills. It did not use buttons nor joysticks - it uses the same mounted guns that Jurassic Park uses. I'm not saying that how this controls is what I necessarily like when it comes to Space Invaders but...this game was among the top earning games in the industry for the first few years it was on the market and believe some locations still see it doing well. Yes, the giant LED screen is part of the attraction but if the guns didn't work for what it does, then it wouldn't have done so well. I could see a new Missile Command using this setup and probably doing great, to Lord Mushroom's point - you're really just finding a way to aim at your targets on the screen. Even the recent Centipede Chaos ditched trackballs in favor of joysticks - not something I agreed with, but I remember the devs telling me that they did test a trackball version and it flopped 😕 Although those same devs also attempted to make a new arcade version of Tetris and that flopped too. They were shocked to see a lot of people during the testing phase not understand how to play Tetris and walk away without a repeat play. Who knows why that was the case but modern gamers are a strange bunch.

 

 

Ultimately though, I think that Missile Command 3D/VR's style of play would make the most sense for a gun controller

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I agree but I'm not a Gen Z gamer (thank Odin) so my opinion probably doesn't mean much in terms of the large group of lightgun/driving game loving gamers.  That Asteroids Recharged looks fun, I can't believe younger gamers would ignore it simply because it doesn't have a lightgun or isn't a driving game.  How myopic can you get?

I'm not saying that they would ignore it completely, I'm just saying that they really don't know what Asteroids is. Because they didn't grow up with it, they weren't around when it was the #1 game in the world, it's "ancient history." Because of that, you need something to hook them on it and its hard to say if buttons are that route. Although I'm not saying Asteroids needs a light-gun - more just something different. I really do like Asteroids Recharged on the presentation side and I'm very curious to see how it performs. Ultimately though, I'm basing these thoughts over what I've seen, particularly with this game, Cosmotrons.

 

Now to be completely fair, Cosmotrons didn't have a classic name for nostalgia and it was just a new Gravitar, which wasn't the best choice for a reboot. Still, having just buttons and old school vector graphics was a complete flop. I wish it wasn't as it was a really fun game. But a game that cost me $3500 and it only made $5~7 a week (i.e., would take roughly 13 years to pay itself off) is definitely not something that I want to repeat. 

 

 

[New Arcade Games At Amusement Expo 2024 (Including A New Atari Arcade Game)]

Marvel: Contest of Champions is no longer a D&B Exclusive

 

Doesn't seem like many ops are excited about it though

 

Animal Kaiser returns - This is a great card collecting arcade game for kids

SMASH is ok, but could use some polish

 

 

[Article about the new Atari Asteroids Recharged arcade games. Has pictures and video]

Just as a helpful reminder to everyone making suggestions(or debating ), arcade manufacturers have two customers to consider - the arcade operator first, then the end user. It's a delicate balance, as those are two very different groups, but you can't have one without the other. 

 

The reason why ops are first is because they need to Operators care about one thing - will this make me money? They're spending thousands of dollars to buy the game instead of $60, so that makes sense. Some arcade games cost more than a brand new truck. You don't want to spend anywhere between $10k-$50k on a game for charity.

 

Of course, a great game will draw in players and that will equal earnings. But at the same time, the features that equal giant amounts of sales in console sales do not always translate over to what works in the arcade space.

 

Right now, the games that make the most money are redemption - but for video, it's light-gun and racing. If you look at who gets the most sales out there, its Raw Thrills. Their gameplay is usually quite casual but they tend to have some kind of element about them that sets them apart from what you can do on a console. They tend to ask "What else can we do that makes this bigger and different from what you can do at home?" If that means using two screens instead of one, or vending cards, or adding VR, that's what they do. Presently, that's why they're leaning hard into VR. But, they just won Manufacturer of the Year and their games are consistently at the top of the charts.  Whether you love or hate their titles, they make money.

 

48 minutes ago, ledzep said:

How many have you asked?  Or is this based on other arcade Missile Command-type games with lightguns?  I haven't been to a typical (non-retro) arcade in a while but I don't remember seeing any games like that.

Speaking as an arcade operator going on 16 years myself, I can tell you that almost no one from Gen Z has a clue what Missile Command is, and has zero nostalgia attached to the idea of a trackball and blowing nukes up. Also, I consistently see light-gun games make much more than my joystick stuff. Having a gun is cool and relatively unique, whereas with a joystick, there isn't that much of a difference from that to a thumbstick. 

 

Here's a great example of why people are drawn to light-guns more than other types of controllers in an arcade setting. These have metal casing and feel real. The air compressor force feedback compliments it too:

 

 

Give Missile Command a light-gun like that and it might make bank. Even without a rifle, people would play it who have never heard of MC before, although it's likely that most Atarians would scoff at it. The only potential issue though is that the calibration sucks, as you want pinpoint accuracy. But just a gun with a different design will attract people to it.

 

That said, trackballs are uncommon in the home space for gaming still, so I think that a large trackball in a game like MC would still be plenty cool to set it apart from what you'd be able to do at home.

 

 

 

[New Arcade Games At Amusement Expo 2024 (Including A New Atari Arcade Game)]

The Samurai Pizza Cats are coming to arcades as a part of the beat 'em up game, Jitsu Squad.

 

Also, a smaller 2-player version of Minecraft Dungeons Arcade is available now:

 

And now you can get a boxing machine (these are big money makers) with Power Slap branding on it:

 

 

[New Arcade Games At Amusement Expo 2024 (Including A New Atari Arcade Game)]

First video from the event, had to make sure it was Asteroids

[Article about the new Atari Asteroids Recharged arcade games. Has pictures and video]

I'll have more on this soon but best I could throw together after getting to hotel late and tired:

 

 

[Article about the new Atari Asteroids Recharged arcade games. Has pictures and video]

28 minutes ago, Giles N said:

Ok, - so as to what I’ve written above, some that can be summed up in ‘ways to integrate challenges into Arcade mode’.

As you play Arcade, just endless incoming asteroids and saucers, will have ‘breaks’ which give place to challenges, which will run throughout the game.

 

As to bonuses and pick-ups, perhaps instead of just getting one at the expense of the one you have, - if its another weapon - you deploy/discharge into space the one you had as you pick up another, leaving it as something to pick up later or for P2 of P3 to pick up and use.

I like the idea of the giant asteroid and/or black hole. There's a few challenges already in recharged where you just have to survive for a certain length of time. From what I understand, they'll integrate challenges into the waves. I'll know for sure when I get a chance to play it tomorrow  

 

One thing to keep in mind though with any suggestions (not saying this about yours, more just in general for anyone reading this thread), is that since this is an arcade game, they have to take into account the desires of operators too. If anyone can play AR for 40 minutes on a single credit, the game won't make money and operators won't buy it. Of course I'm not saying it should be like Raw Thrills games, which have a "time to die" clock on them, but they certainly need to balance things out in a way that makes players and ops happy. That's always a difficult balance to figure out. 

[Article about the new Atari Asteroids Recharged arcade games. Has pictures and video]

10 minutes ago, Zoyous said:

Recess the screen back a little ways into the cabinet so there's some visual depth, and put some decorative asteroid illustration bezel around the glass in front of the screen, reminiscent of the original Asteroids cabinet. Then have some subtle but colorful reactive ambient lighting in the interior cabinet around the screen.

 

Put a massive subwoofer in there so the explosions have some major bass!

They are headed in that direction with the monitor bezel, from this render (also, I can confirm they have a nice subwoofer inside)

[New Arcade Games At Amusement Expo 2024 (Including A New Atari Arcade Game)]

2 hours ago, TampaBay said:

 

Awesome.  Thanks for the walkthrough and all the info on everything else there too.  Some really cool stuff.

 

I just dropped the 9 bucks for Asteroids Recharged (for Nintendo Switch) because I had to know what it was like.  I know there will be variations for the arcade unit of course.  I liked it!  At first, it seemed almost TOO close to the original, but after getting a few power-ups and trying some of the "Challenge" stages, I enjoyed the console version and I'll definitely keep playing it.  I'll probably try more of those challenge stages later.

 

Back to your link, that Drakons: Realm Keepers looks like something my son and I would ride over and over again.  We like going on the Typhoon simulator at Elev8 (we usually ride that one multiple times per visit) so that Drakons looks fun as it is a cross between Typhoon, some of those motorcycle racing games, and a very informal and easy target shooter.  I think it would be a blast.  I couldn't tell if you were that enthralled with it, ha, perhaps just not your favorite style of ride?  I can say that the Elev8 in Tampa has at least two Typhoons and there is always someone on it and sometimes people waiting.  So I imagine that Drakons: Realm Keepers would do really well at a place like Evev8.

 

Thanks again for the update!

 

Yeah, Drakons is definitely aiming for that virtual roller coaster segment of the market. From what I've heard, it's been doing well out there...I just couldn't begin to think about affording one. ($35k~)

 

I do like Asteroids Recharged, but there are a few things it could do better. I think the music it has doesn't work as it reduces the tension of the original. I don't mind other types of UFOs, but the way they all work is a little weird and they feel like less of a threat. It's also strange how asteroids will move from one edge of the screen to the other - it's like they couldn't figure out how to wrap the screen around so they just spawn the rocks on the other side. It also would've been nice for them to include the OG game on the "Classic" mode instead of just changing it to give you lives - but I'm probably being too picky about it now  

 

I do enjoy the challenges in particular and that there are so many of them; I also like the power-ups. But should be interesting to see what Alan-1 does to change it up

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

In case anyone is curious as to what the Hangar looks like...it's crazy full of arcade historical goodness. When I was there on Friday, I got to play a round of Solvalou, Hercules pinball, and Atari's Space Lords. I don't envy the task they have in getting this place going for the public though...

 

 

[Do you consider any of Atari's systems to be on par with the all time greats?]

If you were to go out and do a "man on the street" interview, asking which console comes to mind of the average person, there would be one answer

 

The Atari 2600

 

The rest we all have love for but there's just no question that the only Atari product to sell 10s of millions of units is going to be the one that people know. The next closest was the 7800 at 3.7m I think, a 10th of what the 2600 moved. There might be some conflation with the 400/800s but only hardcore gamers might know about any of the others.

[New Arcade Games At Amusement Expo 2024 (Including A New Atari Arcade Game)]

Time for the full-blown preview!

 

https://arcadeheroes.com/2024/03/19/amusement-expo-2024-the-full-preview/

[New Arcade Games At Amusement Expo 2024 (Including A New Atari Arcade Game)]

In case you missed it in Atari General, the first of the Atari Recharged games to get the coin-op treatment will be Asteroids. I had the chance to see the cabinets this past Friday and even help a little on their construction.

 

More behind-the-scenes details and other aspects about it can be found here.

 

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

Atari let the cat out of the bag sooner than expected so here you go. The first of the bunch is Asteroids.

 

Atari's Asteroids Recharged Is Coming To Amusement Expo 2024

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

51 minutes ago, Giles N said:

That the pick is sensible.

 

Perhaps I misunderstood, but if that implies there’s a real risk as to whether or not it’ll be liked, shouldn’t they’ve picked something that at least would stand a good chance of being liked, like uncontroversial pick…?

 

If I misunderstood, then I’d be curious to what the ‘sensible’ factor here refers to. 

Ah gotcha. Controversial would probably be something like Gravitar or Quantum, just due to how obscure and difficult those games are; Sensible is a well-known IP like Yars' Revenge, Berzerk, Asteroids, Centipede, Breakout, etc. 

 

It'll be nice that I can just say what it is tomorrow, lol. But I can't imagine that anyone will find an issue with it being the first one.

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

4 minutes ago, Giles N said:

..they like to set difficulty to ‘hard’ deliberately …in real life also ?

Not sure what you mean by that but if you're referring to how today's arcade-going audience tends to move, it's more towards super easy, super dumb stuff like claw machines, ball toss, and coin pusher games, while ignoring anything that requires a small effort on their part. For video games, that's why driving and light-gun games rule the day, as everyone knows what to do. But even those have become dumbed down, often times there's no brake on the car and the gas goes by itself; Gun games often don't require any reloading anymore, it's just spray and pray.

 

Difficult games tend to bomb, and when you're spending $15k, $25k, $50k on a game, you probably can't afford to lose that kind of money, unless you're making a fortune elsewhere.

 

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Hope Atari hires them for some game (as mentioned, perhaps a new Warlords or something in that direction…)

Hope, if they can make games that play good too … (I hope it will)

It's certainly possible, James at Alan-1 mentioned some other ideas he has for some Atari games, but I imagine it'll be a while. Of course if this first game is a big success, then perhaps those will happen sooner rather than later.

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

12 hours ago, Giles N said:

It will be interesting to hear and see the which Recharged games get Arcadified, - how many, which titles in which chronology … and how much these ports from home-to-Arcade, will differ from the originals.

Per the press release they said they have the rights to all ten Recharged releases, although I imagine if they release them all will depend on how this first one and subsequent ones do. It will also take some creative thinking to make some like Gravitar and Quantum palpable for today's very casual arcade audiences, who often don't want to have more required of them than just swiping a card at the right time or throwing a ball at a screen.

 

I think the first game they are doing is the most sensible pick, but of course, how the market will take to it will depend on various factors. The few changes I've heard about so far are in that "right direction" but more will certainly come along after the game pops up at an arcade trade show here on Wednesday, and they get feedback from that particular, picky audience (who generally just cares more about how much money the game makes per week instead of how good/bad it plays. Surprisingly the latter doesn't always affect how a game earns.)

 

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May I ask who or what company or game-developers made/makes (if its still in production) ‘Avian Knights’…? Do you have your own arcade-software/game section, or do you (usually) collaborate making cabinets, letting other companies program and design the game-software…?

That is Alan-1 themselves. They have the VCS & PC version out; The arcade version is coming in the next few months (before the first Recharged release)

 

Alan-1 also sells repro arcade parts for things like Atari's vector monitors, repro Star Wars yokes. When I asked, they said those had been selling well. 

[New Arcade Games At Amusement Expo 2024 (Including A New Atari Arcade Game)]

Here's a thread for the new arcade games that will be shown off this week in Las Vegas for the Amusement Expo International 2024 event. Seminar/education stuff starts tomorrow; The proper show floor opens up on Wednesday.

 

I will be sharing news, photos, & videos on my blog and YT channel but also can share some extra stuff here for anyone interested.

 

One reason this can be of particular interest to Atarians is that the first Atari Recharged cabinet will be at the show, alongside the Joust-like game, Avian Knights (Alan-1 booth). Which one of the Recharged games will it be? That announcement is coming on Tuesday. I've seen the cabinet (even got to do a little work on putting it together, although my contribution was minor) and I think that fans will be pleased. 

 

A couple of other games that have been announced:

 

Eugene Jarvis' latest effort, Godzilla Kajiu Wars VR. Eugene will hold a seminar on Tuesday that discusses "How to make a great VR game," which will mainly focus on Godzilla. I played this back in November and the best way to describe it is Gunblade NY with giant monsters and in VR. For some reason, this trailer is silent:

 

 

 

Here's an off-road racing/combat game from LAI Games called Smash DX. 

 

A new game for this Immersive Reality Game Room, QBIX, will debut at the show. It's called Chef Express and sounds like it might take a page from Burgertime. There's no trailer of it though, so here is what the system looks like with a zombie shooter game:

 

exA-Arcadia will be showing off the near-final build of Jitsu Squad, a beat 'em up that launched to consoles a couple of years ago. The arcade version is different in a few ways and will include an exclusive character from a 90s cartoon show (that character will be unveiled at the show; The build below did not have them yet):  

 

Sega is probably not going to reveal a previously unknown game, as they tend to announce those before shows and they haven't said anything like that for this show. That said, the production version of their new racing game, Apex Rebels, will be there:

 

 

No clue at the moment what Bandai Namco will have - their IAAPA booth was disappointing. But, one potential game is Bike Dash Delivery, which just showed up at the Round1USA in Aurora, IL for testing. Think of Crazy Taxi meets Prop Cycle meets UberEats

 

 

I will have a full preview up on Tuesday and will also do a livestream on YT to talk about it. If you have a question for a dev, let me know and I'll see about getting it answered!

 

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

3 hours ago, Stephen said:

That's impressive!

Just standing next to the printer made me feel dirt poor 😅 🤑

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

Just got back from the Alan-1 facility and saw the game. The software wasn't installed yet since the cabs for the trade show next week were under construction. After being given a tour, I helped install some T-molding and some sound wiring on the Recharged cabinets; Also installed some buttons into the two player model CP. The cabs are looking really sharp; The art on the control panel looks excellent. 

 

The artwork on these machines not only looks good aesthetically, it's some of the highest quality prints I've seen. The art has texture to it and they can print additional layers on top of what has already been printed. This is the new Avian Knights cab (2p)

 

 

They've got a seriously heavy duty commercial quality printer that prints the artwork direct to the surface of the cut MDF pieces instead of it being vinyl applied by hand.

 

 

They also also working with Tim Lapentino on art approvals(Alan-1s people have done the art, Tim gives thumbs up/down, makes suggestions). 

 

The official announcement for the first game is coming on Tuesday so hang tight for that. I was already told about some significant changes to the game from the console version. It will be interesting to see how people react to it (particularly arcade operators who play it on Wednesday)

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

5 hours ago, TampaBay said:

 

Thanks so much for sharing the videos.  Super insightful.

 

I wasn't familiar with Galloping Ghost until you mentioned it above, but yes, the Retro arcades by me use that business model.  My favorite arcade is Replay Museum in Tarpon Springs, FL, and all the games are on Free Play and it's a $14 entry fee for all day.

 

The difference in what's local to me and what's in your videos is that each arcade here is all in on *either* retro or modern games, but not both.  So that makes a comparison to your experiences a little apples to oranges.  For example, pretty much every single game in Replay is from the 1980s, except a few such at the Mortal Kombat series, and even that is the 90's.  So their clientele is strictly people who love and have great enthusiam for 1980s arcade cabinets.  Every person who walks in the door has specifically driven to that location to play Out Run, TRON, Galaga, Star Wars, Tempest, etc.  A more modern game would be completely out of place there.

 

On the other end of the spectrum is a place that we have called Elev8.  That's similar to a Dave & Buster's type place / family fun center.  They have all modern games like the ones you listed in the Top 5 in your videos.  I can't recall seeing a single game that isn't of the very recent modern era.  Their "throwback" games are like what I mentioned in my previous post, those giant wall-size Pac-Man games, but even with those, there's maybe three or four out of the countless modern games, racing games, and simulators.

 

Both of the types of places above seem to do well, though I obviously have no idea how well (or not) they do financially.  The retro arcade has been around for a while, so hopefully it's doing well and continues to stick around for a while.  I absolutely love going there.  The modern arcade is packed all the time, so I imagine they must be doing well, but without knowing their costs, it's impossibe to say.

 

If I come across the Recharged games, it will most certainly only be in the modern arcade.  I'll be curious to see if people are playing those games should the games ever make it to Elev8.  I will certainly give them a try!

 

You may have already seen my post on here with a mini-review of my local retro arcade, but if not, here it is:

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/361230-discovered-this-80s-arcade-near-me-and-i-love-hanging-out-there/

 

Yeah, a vast majority of retro arcades do the Galloping Ghost model now - it really seems to be the only way to make retro truly work. But it's always weird in that they'll mix it in with expensive new pinball machines and skeeball. Most places that have both of those though will charge for those games, since upkeep on them sucks. 

 

Funny you mention Elev8. I know the CEO and I've been to the one in Sanford. I've done a little bit of contract work for them, although most of the stuff I've done is for a company that supplies their arcade machines. Either way, the Sanford location does have a large retro arcade space downstairs the last time I was there, but I also am not sure how it is faring. Online reviews there seem rather negative, and I guess the Seminole Mall was just shut down? Tampa on the other hand (which I haven't visited) seems to be garnering positive reviews though.

 

When it comes to those big Family Entertainment Centers, retro is just filler for old guys. It sucks, but unfortunately kids/teens just don't play those enough to make it worthwhile, at least in that pay-per-play type situation. That's where I think that the graphical presentation needs to look modern to help draw them in.  It's anathema to say "graphics matter," but in the modern arcade, they do if you want people to drop a coin or swipe a card.  

 

On another note, I was sent a couple of pics of the first Recharged game cabinet (a 2p and 4p model). It's only the cab and the artwork but they are looking really nice. I probably won't be able to post them after I visit tomorrow(embargo until the Amusement Expo show), but I should be able to speak generally about what I see. Anyone want to guess as to which Recharged game will be the first?  

 

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

21 minutes ago, TampaBay said:

 

I can understand that though.  I think people are drawn to the games that are not easy to replicate on their home gaming system.  Even if I go to an all 80's arcade, I graviate toward a game like Out Run for the steering wheel, pedals, and shifter, or Star Wars (1983 version) for the flight yoke and vector graphics. 

 

I go to the arcade frequently, and I'm looking forward to (hopefully) seeing some of these Recharged cabinets in the wild, and will be curious to see what they can do in terms of "extras" so that there's a reason to play them in the arcade.

Yeah, I get the sense that your general consumer thinks that retro arcades still rake in tons of money, thanks to all the retro hype that's been driving both pop culture arcade awareness and the various retrocades that have opened their doors out there (with Galloping Ghost leading the pack). The unfortunate reality is that they don't, unless there's some kind of really unique hook to them. World's Largest Pac-Man is one example of the latter.

 

I've also discovered that indie arcade games that are brand new but intentionally look old/retro, also are duds. I've owned and operated Cosmotrons, Skycurser, ReRave, Deathstalker, The Act, then several indie console games ported to arcades on the exA-Arcadia. It seems that people see these games, think it's some obscure game they never heard of that I put into a new cabinet to hoodwink them, so they move on to other games that they either know or have a better hook. The result is that almost all of those mentioned games have been poor investments as the amount of money they make week-in, week-out, is dismal. A single Cruis'n Blast can make more in a week than any of those games manage to make over the course of a year. 

 

I'll be happy to test out the Alan-1 games and see how they do, but if they don't manage to earn their keep, I won't be buying them. 

 

I could go on, but I've made a few videos about the subject where I share numbers. While a couple of years old now, nothing has changed.

 

 

 

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

If they have multiplayer cabinets,  might we see Neo Sprint or the new Food Fight game make the jump to the arcade?

A different company is working on a new 4-player Food Fight that is exclusive to arcades, but they are going to be announcing it at Midwest Gaming Classic. 

 

A Neo Sprint arcade could possibly work - possibly better than any of the joystick games. If it has a steering wheel, it usually does well.

 

1 hour ago, Mockduck said:

Yeah, and that bodes well for the Recharged arcade games, because it was working and feeling GREAT on Avian Knights. They talked a bit on-site about what it takes to sell Avian Knights cabinets to arcades, one of the things being flexibility in terms of taking credits, quarters, and spitting out tickets either through a card or physical. These are definitely being made for arcades in addition to wealthier home collectors (the Avian Knights cabinets are about $6-10k depending).

 

Yes, Alan-1 knows their stuff for sure. Great match for these Recharged games IMO. 

That was their focus first - real arcades and not homes. I do hope these games do well, but I have my reservations due to experience. My Atari games generally don't make much on-site, then as mentioned in another post up there, joystick games never perform better than or even on-par with your typical light-gun or racing game. 😕  

[The Recharged games are gonna be ported to Arcades!]

5 hours ago, Mockduck said:

Some pics I took of the Avian Knights four player cabinet at Flynn's Retrocade in Roy, Utah for the tournament by Alan-1. The lights, wind, pinball knockers, etc. worked really well and I thought it added a lot to the experience, I loved it myself. The knocker in particular was sweet for Avian Knights.

Ah you were in town for that. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it.

 

The Recharged cabinets are using the same I/O system that powers all of the extra widgets on Avian Knights (knocker, fans, LEDs, rumble). So the experience you had with AK will be similar to the Recharged games.

 

4 hours ago, Video said:

Hmm. Arcades. I think Atari 50 came arcade flavored (there was a machine on Atari website) outside physical arcade style controls, I can't think of a practical reason to get one, outside cool factor.

While Alan-1 will be producing versions for collectors, the first and foremost market is to arcade operators, who then in turn would put them on location for the end user. The physical additions are certainly one way to stand out but so are things like social play next to each other on a multiplayer game, a unified audio/visual experience, and Alan-1 will be pushing their eSports thing. 

 

19 hours ago, ledzep said:

By Thor's Hammer, I hope that the games get real controllers, like Missile Command, Centipede and Quantum getting trak-balls instead of just joysticks.  I mean, since these are supposed to be "arcade" versions of the games and I believe from what I've read elsewhere slightly different from the home console/PC versions.

Don't worry about that. Both of the guys I know at Alan-1 are huge arcade collectors and know this. The CEO of the company is the guy who bought the Grinkers Arcade collection in Idaho. They even went as far as to faithfully reproduce the Atari Star Wars yoke controller that you can buy and drop right into an OG Star Wars cab. I've seen these and they feel exactly like the original.

 

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing them use a spinner on Asteroids for that one (reflecting the Blasteroids control scheme). I have a hunch that most regular arcade players will get confused by the buttons, so a spinner would be better for a casual audience.

 

14 hours ago, GraffitiTavern said:

I was thinking more in terms of cabinet art, the Nidhogg 2 cab had great artwork, which could make it stand out in a larger location (my small city has 2 large arcades with a 100+ games each and 0 smaller ones)

Ah gotcha. Avian Knights did have some very high quality artwork when I saw it a year ago, but I'll report back on that factor when I visit their manufacturing facility on Friday.