New arcade game by Nolan Bushnell's son Wyatt

[Shaggy the Atarian]

We all know who Nolan Bushnell is, but what has his family been up to? Seems the Bushnell boys are all into the arcade industry these days. One is a part of the Two Bit Circus "micro theme park"/arcade in LA; another is developing the Polycade for home and coin-op, and the other is getting into the business of making new games. The first arcade game he's involved with is called King of the Road; the next one is called Battle Bowling:

https://arcadeheroes.com/2019/09/23/...in-crew-games/

Pretty nice to see the family carrying on the legacy like that

[Cynicaster]

That "Battle Bowling" looks like it could be pretty fun and addictive.  

 

That cabinet is a bit of a monstrosity, though.  Seems like they could be just as effective with the game while taking up 50% of the space that they are with that thing.  

 

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Cynicaster

[Nebulon]

Finally, getting back to basics.

 

I love the dual trackball set up.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

On 9/26/2019 at 7:57 AM, Cynicaster said:

That "Battle Bowling" looks like it could be pretty fun and addictive.  

 

That cabinet is a bit of a monstrosity, though.  Seems like they could be just as effective with the game while taking up 50% of the space that they are with that thing.  

 

 

It only looks that way from the photos, but I think it's much smaller than it appears. Then again, I guess it depends on what you consider to be huge.  From a collector's perspective, these are certainly big, but it's pretty average for commercial arcades nowadays. The industry is currently obsessed with games that are really tall, as the bigger/flashier they are, the more that they earn. If it's too small, it gets lost in the sea of bigger games.

 

BB is sitting next to an Injustice cabinet, which is 100″ x46″ x33″. Judging by that, it is taller, but it's hardly the tallest cabinet out there.  Compare that to the Halo:Fireteam Raven Super Deluxe, those things are 118″x137″x119″. While BB is much bigger than old 80s and 90s games, no one releases games in those small sizes anymore, in part due to demand, also due to the earnings thing. I have a new TMNT cab which is almost exactly the same form factor as IJ, and it's easy to work with, doesn't take up that much space. Of course, I have 14' tall ceilings, so I don't have to worry about much. 

 

Overall they could release a much smaller cabinet - I don't mind seeing those, as we could use compact cabs for space-limited locations - but the first focus will be on something that can sell to Dave & Busters and the like. Also, I've found that they are trying to come up with 7" trackballs, to make it feel like you're pushing a bowling ball instead of a tiny thing. 

[Keatah]

I wonder what the largest arcade game is or was? Without going into outdoor carnival games. I vote that sit-down Space Invaders with the LED screen and lifesize guns.

 

[Shaggy the Atarian]

23 hours ago, Keatah said:

I wonder what the largest arcade game is or was? Without going into outdoor carnival games. I vote that sit-down Space Invaders with the LED screen and lifesize guns.

 

Space Invaders Frenzy is pretty big, although I think that the Super Deluxe version of Halo: Fireteam Raven beats it out in overall mass. Although there was the Terminator Salvation Super Deluxe that came with a 100" screen, looks like per the location dimensions that it was even bigger than Halo (that cabinet is what the Wreck-It Ralph animators based the Heroes Duty game cabinet on)

 

But the largest, best I know, is probably the Sega Super Circuit. Although I suppose that might be "cheating," (using multiple cabinets attached to a giant track) so if it didn't count, then the Galaxian 3 Theater/Ridge Racer Full Scale as a single game cabinet (I think the two used the same or very similar form factor...Ridge Racer might eek out the G3 due to using the full sized car). Sega's Virtua Formula was only sold as a single piece as I ever saw, although I think you could separate each one out ito it's own operable game, so while it might be considered "cheating" due to that, I think it would still count in the running. There is also Sega's Initial D Arcade Stage 4 Limited, which was enormous as it used 4 full-sized (or 3/4th size) cars, but I think that wasn't something that anyone except Sega had access to. 

[racerx]

The play mechanics remind me of Namco's Armadillo Racing.

[+GoldLeader]

I think both of these games look pretty cool, even if we only see cabinet shots of King of the Road.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

King of the Road is being rebranded with the Hot Wheels license and has been paired down to six players instead of eight. I've been waiting on getting a final cabinet shot before running a story, but there is this trailer that was posted last week:

 

 

[Austin]

Nice. That game actually looks like it would be pretty fun on location.