• INDUSTRY NEWS - NEW GAMES HITTING THE ARCADE...WHAT THE COMPETITION IS UP TO 

Written by Doc Mack 

     Over the last several years the arcade industry has been on the decline.  With the home console systems becoming more powerful, its been cost effect for companies to skip the arcade market and release straight to home systems.  Our goal has always been to release in the arcade first and then the home systems, and now it seems that all the major companies that used to put out arcade games are going back to it.  Capcom, Namco & SNK have all announced new fighting games for the arcade.  

Capcom is bring a new IP (Intellectual Property) called Basara X to the arcade.  

Basara X an animated 2D fighter with weapon combat.  Its a joint project with the Capcom and the company that made the Guilty Gear fighting game series popular.  The game is getting great publicity so far, as its Capcom's first new fighting game in several years.  Capcom recently previewed the game and its been met with fair reviews, due to the lack of originality and drastic similarities to the Guilty Gear games.  There is a lot of hype around the game which many reviewers believe it will not live up to.  The characters are from a series in Japan, which will most likely make it sell better in there then in the US.  

Next is Namco's Tekken 6.  Its a 3D fighter that is price pointed at $37,000 for the arcade version!!  

Tekken has done well in both Japan and the US and these one should be no exception, even with the high price tag.  Tekken 5 was the first straight to console release for the series, but Namco has opted to return to the arcades with this one before its home console release.  

Last is SNK, which will be bringing two new games out to the arcade.  Samurai Shodown Sen (the seventh in the series) 7 and King of Fighters Maximum Impact Regulation A2 (the 12th in the series).  While no screen shots are available yet of the new versions, here is a comparison of the original Samurai Shodown and the new Samurai Shodown Rokuban Shoubu that will be coming out on the home systems later this year.  

Samurai Shodown 1993

Samurai Shodown Rokuban Shoubu (2007)

As you can see there is not much difference.  However the games are still popular and sell well.  Many of the moves are the exact same and almost all the characters and animations and backgrounds are recycled from previous versions of the game.  There are new elements such as online play which are a big attraction.  The comparison with King of Fighters is very similar.  The animation is smoother but they have not changed the game much in the last 14 years.  This is a testament to if its not broke don't fix it.  Samurai Shodown has always been one of my personal favorites with its strong character stories and the games are fun to play.  However if no major changes are down or lots of new characters added the game may not sell as well as hoped.  

The good news for the Galloping Ghost Productions games Dark Presence and Conquering Light is that all of these new games will draw people to the arcades.  With Dark Presence becoming more playable, I've never been more confident that our games are just flat out better.  With so many of our staff being fighting game enthusiasts, we really have gone above what the competition is doing.  Dark Presence will stand out greatly as the only digitized fighter.  3D games usually have a inescapable blocky look to them and little character expression.  2D animated usually suffer from low frame rates.  We will be showing up to the arcade with a style of game that is very unique.  With Dark Presence not having five or ten sequels, we will be the only really new game at the arcades, but we will definitely benefit from the drawing power of the other well known games coming out. 

NEWS MAIN