EXAーARCADIA [New Arcade Platform/Publisher]

[Cannonballs]

What was the video that was removed?

[Sumez]

Been ignoring this thread for a while, so sorry about digging up a months old post.

I think this is a shortsighted view, and silences anybody who has an interest in the arcade environment outside of nostalgia. I don't care about the nostalgic memories of Gen-Xers. I openly dislike nostalgia-based marketing and fervor, because I think it discredits the media or interest for its legitimate merits.

[...]

My personal interest in the project is from wanting to support the arcade as a social game space. People like to watch other people do things well, or to challenge a local champion in a versus title. None of these gameplay aspects are mutually exclusive to home, arcade, mobile, online, etc. but each environment and platform is different. It is a space that, when cared for and well curated, provides a venue for competition, a space to meet people who like to play similar games, and a way to discover new games. These goals can not be achieved in an environment that has not been maintained and supported by stakeholders who care.

This is such a "romantic" stance, and I deeply respect it. Overall I think we have very much the same view on these things. I also sincerely wish there was even the slightest merit to it.
I wish for the same things, but the social video game arcade is such a niche focus that the only way it'll happen (and the only way it is happening) is local passionate enthusiasts who put personal effort into making these things happen for their own community. This kind of arcade culture died decades ago outside of Japan, and it will never be economically viable again.
Supporting a Japanese-only super-obscure platform exclusivity will never serve my own personal interest in any remotely potential way.

But I sure wish it did.

[NeoStrayCat]

Anyways, in other good news that at least I care about, Strania EX is getting ready for release. But first, a location test that will go from 7/10 to 7/16 at the WGC in Japan.

https://twitter.com/exaarcadia/status/1 ... 9961752579

Besides the arranged soundtrack, an additional difficulty "Hell" is added. (Normal/Hard/Expert being the included difficulties before.), 4K resolution compatibility, and balance adjustments to the existing difficulty modes.

https://twitter.com/wgc_tencho/status/1 ... 6749058048

Either way, hopefully someone can test the differences over at this loketest to see how the AST is and how they changed up the game from the original to EX version.

[spmbx]

4k ? What cab would one play that on?

[NeoStrayCat]

4k ? What cab would one play that on?

Not sure though...

Either way, a quick test play on the EX version. First look on the Hell difficulty, and yeah, its more intense, now even popcorn enemies fire revenge bullets. And normal enemies fire 3 times the revenge bullets that they had in Expert, which was usually 1. Also, more enemy placements that weren't there before (like the popcorn enemies when you grab the Vulcan/Missile and the two lazer mechs), which I assume is exclusive to Hell difficulty, unless otherwise noted. You can change between Original and Arranged soundtrack by pressing start during the difficulty selection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLUT4AmzgMA

[MrJBRPG]

I don't know how often you check out latest news about Exa Arcadia?

Anyways, here are news-bytes about Exa Arcadia if anyone cares to be up to date:

https://arcadeheroes.com/2020/07/16/loc ... on-turbo/​
https://arcadeheroes.com/2020/07/22/exa ... re-order/​

What really caught my eyes is that Exa Arcadia is more available in Japan with through increased distribution, including BEEP.

That somewhat makes good business sense during this uncertain time because Japan currently has an active arcade industry despite dealing with the pandemic, with safety measures and whatnot. Elsewhere in the world, arcades are forced to close temporarily due to the pandemic and re-openings will vary. Hopefully the sales numbers will continue to increase beyond 200 units reported so far...

The more units they sell, the more common the game cartridges will be.

I am even not surprised that my home state California makes arcade businesses highly improbable, but know a few arcade dining and bars that put out arcade cabinets outside for play.

[NeoStrayCat]

I don't know how often you check out latest news about Exa Arcadia?

Not much really, the only thing I cared about Exa Arcadia is mostly just for Strania EX and that's it. (Even though I'll never actually check it out considering how much the Exa platform costs for home use. >.> [Or unless by some miracle somewhere/someone in the US has a Exa Arcadia setup that I can try on, lol. If that ever happened.])

[MrJBRPG]

Well.. It seems that CAVE arcade fans are in for a big treat. However, it is only available for those in Japan for a short time due to a location test...
It is of course DoDonPachi SDOJ Exa Label...
https://twitter.com/exaarcadia/status/1 ... 6185623552
I am most impressed on how they used the bottom and top edges to provide additional information like gadgets.

I also read through the Arcade Heroes, with of course translation machines, that it features 4K resolution and 2-frame delay, the lowest input lag possible. Also developed by another Exa Arcadia team. Therefore, this version will never have a home release, unless you have money to collect it yourself.

[drboom]

Aw yes! Wish I was in Japan for the loc test but this will be a day one purchase for me. Been waiting for this!

[shmupsrocks]

Is SDOJ JAMMA ever available for less than several thousand?

[CStarFlare]

Not since its release, when it was available for a couple thousand.

[Sengoku Strider]

Been ignoring this thread for a while, so sorry about digging up a months old post.

I think this is a shortsighted view, and silences anybody who has an interest in the arcade environment outside of nostalgia. I don't care about the nostalgic memories of Gen-Xers. I openly dislike nostalgia-based marketing and fervor, because I think it discredits the media or interest for its legitimate merits.

[...]

My personal interest in the project is from wanting to support the arcade as a social game space. People like to watch other people do things well, or to challenge a local champion in a versus title. None of these gameplay aspects are mutually exclusive to home, arcade, mobile, online, etc. but each environment and platform is different. It is a space that, when cared for and well curated, provides a venue for competition, a space to meet people who like to play similar games, and a way to discover new games. These goals can not be achieved in an environment that has not been maintained and supported by stakeholders who care.

This is such a "romantic" stance, and I deeply respect it. Overall I think we have very much the same view on these things. I also sincerely wish there was even the slightest merit to it.
I wish for the same things, but the social video game arcade is such a niche focus that the only way it'll happen (and the only way it is happening) is local passionate enthusiasts who put personal effort into making these things happen for their own community. This kind of arcade culture died decades ago outside of Japan, and it will never be economically viable again.
Supporting a Japanese-only super-obscure platform exclusivity will never serve my own personal interest in any remotely potential way.

But I sure wish it did.

That's not strictly true. Arcade bars have been a successful business model, at least in North America. Net cafes rebranded as "Esports training centres" are another variation on the theme.

I don't think it's that arcades can't succeed, it's just that the business model needs to evolve. Anyone 25 & under likely just looks at the prospect of paying 25-50 cents to get your butt kicked for 3 minutes in a world where Steam & Switch games cost $5 as outright robbery. People who grew up accustomed to the model hate to hear it, but it's essentially just microtransactions.

[donluca]

I don't think it's that arcades can't succeed, it's just that the business model needs to evolve. Anyone 25 & under likely just looks at the prospect of paying 25-50 cents to get your butt kicked for 3 minutes in a world where Steam & Switch games cost $5 as outright robbery. People who grew up accustomed to the model hate to hear it, but it's essentially just microtransactions.

This is one of the most well-thought post explaining why arcades will have a difficult time establishing themselves (at least in western world) I've read in a long time.

That's basically it, in a nutshell.

[brokenhalo]

4 different game modes for SDOJ Exa! Can anybody translate the description text under Exa Label?

[CloudyMusic]

4 different game modes for SDOJ Exa! Can anybody translate the description text under Exa Label?

"A new arrange mode with fluid difficulty and a strengthened hyper."

[Jeneki]

I'm sure somewhere out there is a person who says, "Yeah SDOJ is great but that hyper is just too weak."

All bets in on what the new outfit will be at the mode select screen. Cat girls? Virgin killer sweaters? Lingerie? I've got 100 yen on bunny suit.

[shmupsrocks]

Can anyone with understanding of the entities involved predict where our next shmups are coming from on this platform? I'm a JAMMA guy so I know Cave and Success and very happy to have them onboard but I don't know the others so far.

[shmupsrocks]

Anybody know what the native res of Psyvariar will be? What is the highest native res of the game on another platform?

Will it be the same game as on JAMMA/G-Net but with extras? Looks very familiar in screenshots.

[Ms. Tea]

Not that anyone can afford one of these, but what even is the situation with these for home use? I know it's got DVI-D for video, but are controls dependent on JVS?

[shmupsrocks]

I believe it is dependent on a JVS I/O board.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

A Sega Naomi Version 2 JVS I/O would work just fine with a standard jamma based candy cab setup + Exa-Arcadia setup along with an obligatory DVI-A to VGA adapter & you're good to go. Plus the fact that you don't need an external 5v or 3.3v psu board to power it up is another bonus (as they're already on-board the pcb itself) -- a plus in my book alrighty.

Here's one listed on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SEGA-Naomi-JVS ... Sw8LNeP8RV

For shmuprocks, the Taito G-Net Cards of Psyvariar Medium Unit & Psyvariar Revision both run off of standard jamma resolution = 320 x 240 (so the Exa-Arcadia version of Psyvariar would presented in a higher res format indeed).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[shmupsrocks]

Psyvariar will run at 1080p on exA but isn't it just scaled up in advance? Wondering what it's scaled up from and that might be the highest res it's been rendered at in the past which might be 480p on Naomi? I'm guessing SDOJ (for example) will be pre-scaled up from 240p to 1080p.

[Ms. Tea]

Psyvariar will run at 1080p on exA but isn't it just scaled up in advance? Wondering what it's scaled up from and that might be the highest res it's been rendered at in the past which might be 480p on Naomi? I'm guessing SDOJ (for example) will be pre-scaled up from 240p to 1080p.

Psyvariar is a port of Psyvariar Delta for PC/PS4/Switch, which runs in a new engine and is natively 1080p/4k. The SDOJ screenshots they've shown off are using the HD sprites from the 360 version, so it's drawn at slightly sub-720p.

[shmupsrocks]

That is awesome. But is Psyvariar natively 1080p or 4K?

If 360 runs at 720p why would you say SDOJ is slightly sub-720p?

[Ms. Tea]

That is awesome. But is Psyvariar natively 1080p or 4K?

Depends on the system and your hardware. It's a 3D game, so it runs natively at anything pretty happily. Switch is 720p handheld, 1080p docked; PS4 is 1080p; I think the PC version runs at 4K if you have a 4K display.

If 360 runs at 720p why would you say SDOJ is slightly sub-720p?

If you take a look at screenshots, you can see there's small borders around the game window in yoko, and even bigger borders in tate. See the screenshot I included here. The Exa screenshots they've shown have the game scaled to full screen in both yoko and tate.

360 yoko:

Spoiler

Exa yoko:

Spoiler

Exa tate:

Spoiler

[shmupsrocks]

So the exA can render any of its games with 3D graphics at 4K, just at a lower frame rate?

[trap15]

Any exA games that output real 4K (instead of upscaled 1080) do not have a loss in performance. Not all games output real 4K, but I don't have a list.

The "HD" graphics in CAVE ports are just 640x480 vs the original 320x240. (this means if you put exa label in a 31khz CRT cab, it'll look crisp as can be )

[shmupsrocks]

I'm still struggling to figure out the exA 1080p vs 4K thing. All exA games are required to support 1080p. So some output real 1080p and the others output 4K scaled down to 1080p?

If the exA actually renders either 1080p or 4K depending on the monitor then there must be a performance differential.

[Meseki]

I'm still struggling to figure out the exA 1080p vs 4K thing. All exA games are required to support 1080p. So some output real 1080p and the others output 4K scaled down to 1080p?

If the exA actually renders either 1080p or 4K depending on the monitor then there must be a performance differential.

If the game can be rendered at 4K with 60 FPS, there doesn't need to be a performance difference between 4K and 1080p.

[shmupsrocks]

That's a good point but only if you mean a constant 60fps throughout the entire game. Is this hardware that good?