Modern Arcade Games

[XoPachi]

I was watching BareKnuckleRoo play Wangan Midnight on his channel. It got me thinking about what current day arcade games there are which are actually worth looking at. And by "current day" I mean released in the last 15 years just to be generous, which, next year will mean dating back to..............2010 (we are all going to die).

One series I often think about that Sega cruelly kept from us is Border Break. I remember one of the player robots being a boss in Phantasy Star Online 2 and his existence in the game back in 2012 always mystified me. But those games look awesome. I also really liked, at least aesthetically, Mario Kart GP DX and played it for a bit in TeknoParrot a year or two ago.

And then there's, you know, AKA & BLUE :l
But beyond these small handful, I actually legitimately am unaware of the scene. Obviously it's on a slow path to oblivion, but there's certainly still newer games out there. I'd like to at least look at them.

[BrianC]

Luigi's Mansion AC is great fun. Lightgun style game with vacuum shaped controller that works similar to a wiimote complete with motion controls.

[XoPachi]

I...didn't even know this was a thing. By Capcom no less. I'm surprised such a thing exists but it's a concept that really works.

[To Far Away Times]

WACCA is the most fun I've had with a music game since the original Dance Dance Revolution first came out, with the most intuitive controls and timing imaginable.

I'm a big fan of Taito's Groove Coaster, as well. That one features more Touhou music than you can shake a stick at (70+ songs!), along with some cool Darius and Undertale tunes.

But yeah, it's mostly rhythm games these days. Few people are sitting down at an actual candy cab and playing fighting games/shmups etc.

[BryanM]

It's kind of interesting how divergent the scene has become.

In the western market, new games are exclusively meant for like Dave n' Busters. Less a game and more like an amusement set to last around 3 minutes while you're waiting for your chicken strips to arrive.

While Japan has stuff that's meant both for the person waiting for their train to arrive, but more importantly, to the more hardcore affluent types willing to dunk $hundreds into a premium experience.

Arcade games using modern tech to give you a savefile and meta progression. This kind of thing used to be super rare, like NBA Jam and Gauntlet Legends rare..

O.N.G.E.K.I. looks like crack.

[Sima Tuna]

I remember hearing a while ago that modern arcade games are kinda shit. Like, the light gun games are not intended to be possible to 1cc clear. They're just time/money sinks with no quality standards.

The rhythm game scene is alive and well as always. But I feel like it's been a hybrid of home and console since the ps2 days. Ps2 had Guitar Hero, Amplitude, Frequency, DDR, Taiko Drum Master and a bunch of other stuff. More modern systems added Rock Band, even moar Taiko no Tatsujin and all the Groove Coaster/Miku games.

Arcade racing has been dead. That one Cruis'n game isn't super old, I guess.

Fighting games are fighting games. Online makes arcade play against randoms unnecessary. You can use Fightcade to set up matches with people you actually know. And it's free. I hear the arcades in Japan still have a large fighting game scene though. I dunno. I'm not really part of FGC, I just watch videos of A-Cho and shit.

Seems to me like most "modern" arcade games (indies) get released to Steam and the Eshop rather than in an arcade.

[null1024]

Rhythm and racing games seem to dominate in playtime from what I've seen at my local Round 1. That probably doesn't correlate to popularity, but it's what I've seen in my [deeply un-scientific] observation of people.

Wacca is great but the game polls at like 30hz [!!!] and feels super jank on higher difficulty as a result. It gets plays sometimes, but I suspect it'd get a lot more if it was still online. Wacca getting released in 2019 is absurdly unlucky.
I wish games would have support for local per-cab profiles. Some games are gutted when offline too, since they have all manner of incentives to use an IC card to play.

Groove Coaster going offline sucks super bad, and I saw people on that cab fairly often. GC is something like 11 years old in the arcade, but that's not super relevant to a US audience.

Sound Voltex is fantastic, although it's like 13 years old now as a franchise [also not that relevant for people who have probably only recently been in a position to play it, but that also makes it pretty un-recent].
Older cabinets tend to have really stiff knobs, but on a machine with smoothly spinning knobs, it's wonderful. Kind of intimidating to get into, however, even if the learning curve isn't actually that bad. I rarely see people play though. It's kind of become a game I play when waiting for IIDX.

I don't see anyone ever at the NESiCA cabs loaded with semi-recent fighting games and a handful of shoot-em-ups [admittedly, the price-per-play is awful, it's the same price as 10 minutes of IIDX lmao, terrible value proposition]. I've put a few credits into Seisou Kouki Strania, but like, again, I could be playing IIDX. If they dropped the price even a little bit, I'd probably play a lot more, and maybe others might follow suit too.

I see people playing Initial D and Wangan regularly, along with Mario Kart Arcade GP DX.
I've not put much time into 'em, so I dunno what to say about them other than that they're regularly in use.

I don't see anyone on Chunithm here. It's apparently hyper-popular, but not where I've seen.
I like the game a bit. I dunno, it feels odd. Maybe I just don't like touch-panel games, I want buttons.
Also, cabs in the US are offline, and several versions behind.

StepManiaX is great. DDR with no Konami bullshit and a middle panel.
It has a few issues I've heard according to high-level players [screwy scoring, lack of chart difficulty on the top end], but the problems aren't relevant to ordinary people. That being said, the pad is kind of stiff, and allegedly the current crop of pads have issues that weren't present in older units?

I usually see someone on DDR and IIDX. Both series are also pushing 25, and while IIDX hasn't been quite that available here in that timeframe, DDR absolutely has.
It's usually the same few faces for IIDX, but DDR is regularly in use by a lot of different people. I'll occasionally see someone on Pump It Up too, but again, another old-ass series.

I don't see anyone on the Raw Thrills machines, which is probably for the best.
Fuck Raw Thrills. They basically make two games and reskin them -- a tracked gun game and a racing game. It is impressive just how samey they feel.

I wish I had an Ongeki cab near me.
The closest one is in Texas. There are like a dozen public cabs in the US.

I do have a Maimai cab "near" me in Miami.
It's not Maimai DX, and it's pretty much always in use. If I wasn't so far, I'd probably play it a lot. I suspect it'd be very popular if it were readily available around the country.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I remember hearing a while ago that modern arcade games are kinda shit. Like, the light gun games are not intended to be possible to 1cc clear. They're just time/money sinks with no quality standards.

The rhythm game scene is alive and well as always. But I feel like it's been a hybrid of home and console since the ps2 days. Ps2 had Guitar Hero, Amplitude, Frequency, DDR, Taiko Drum Master and a bunch of other stuff. More modern systems added Rock Band, even moar Taiko no Tatsujin and all the Groove Coaster/Miku games.

Arcade racing has been dead. That one Cruis'n game isn't super old, I guess.

Fighting games are fighting games. Online makes arcade play against randoms unnecessary. You can use Fightcade to set up matches with people you actually know. And it's free. I hear the arcades in Japan still have a large fighting game scene though. I dunno. I'm not really part of FGC, I just watch videos of A-Cho and shit.

Seems to me like most "modern" arcade games (indies) get released to Steam and the Eshop rather than in an arcade.

Yes, that Raw Thrills produced Cruis'n Blast game is still quite popular -- it even was ported to the Switch gaming platform as well. The newest indie arcade game title by the name of "Asteroids Recharged" with up to four co-op player capabilty is being tested on location at an arcade for a period of four months (rather than the usual six weeks of location testing as with most arcade game titles before they are released for sale to arcades, indie arcade operators and vending companies).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BrianC]

Fuck Raw Thrills. They basically make two games and reskin them -- a tracked gun game and a racing game. It is impressive just how samey they feel.

Not only that, but the Switch port of Cruisin' Blast has tracks from Super Bikes 3, which probably share the same gameplay and engine.

[Lander]

I had such high hopes for Cruis'n Blast, but ended up getting everything I was going to get out of the Switch version over the course of an afternoon. Despite copious amounts of action and a... reasonable i guess? amount of unlockables, it has to be the least compelling title of its kind that I've played.

Though even absent knowledge of Raw Thrills, I probably should have known better than to trust a modern arcade racer under present conditions. Properly good ones seem so few and far between.

[To Far Away Times]

I heard about a Raw Thrills game that could not be 1CC'd with guaranteed damage in some sections, some gun game or something. Might have been their Terminator game, I don't remember exactly.

But once I heard about that I knew their fundamental understanding of arcade games was wrong, their game design was straight kusoge, and they'd never be capable of making a game worth playing.

[Kino]

I heard about a Raw Thrills game that could not be 1CC'd with guaranteed damage in some sections, some gun game or something.

That's literally every Raw Thrills gun game, barring Jurassic Park.

Halo: Fireteam Raven had a particularly egregious example of damage-ramping, where surviving longer than 5 minutes on a single credit causes this to happen. Modern American arcade design, everyone.

But once I heard about that I knew their fundamental understanding of arcade games was wrong, their game design was straight kusoge

Expect nothing less from a company founded by ex-Midway staff. Their 90's light gun offerings were the pioneers of this shit.

[To Far Away Times]

Halo: Fireteam Raven had a particularly egregious example of damage-ramping, where surviving longer than 5 minutes on a single credit causes this to happen. Modern American arcade design, everyone.

Holy shit.

[hazys]

I've watched a lot of Magician's Dead footage on Youtube, it's a 3D arena fighter with motion-based inputs for special attacks. Very chuuni-looking. There's a JP-only PS4 port but it obviously doesn't use the same control scheme. Looks really fun.

[Arino]

What annoys me the most is that most games work like even if you finish first place (racing games) or survive everything (light gun games), you are game over anyway after only one race/one level. There are exceptions like HotD Scarlet Dawn, Let's Go Island was also normal in that way I think. But for instance Star Wars Battle Pod I think was one of the first games where I noticed this when it was new. You select one of the missions, you can finish it with no damage taken and all objectives done, and you will get a big fat GAME OVER in your face regardless. Are those games becoming rides? Where you just sit down, it doesn't matter what you do, and once it's over, you have to pay again? Or can settings be changed to letting you play until you fuck up? Mario Kart and Cruis'n Blast are also like that, actually I'm not sure about Cruis'n Blast. Also all those games made by Raw Thrills are like that, too. Only one race per credit, doesn't matter if you finish first or not (takes no skill anyway to win).
Actually, I remember Deadstorm Pirates being like that and the game is even older than SW Battle Pod. There are four missions iIrc and after playing through one, you have to pay again.
I have also noticed that Raw Thrills love to reuse their assets. Like you think there is a new game but in fact it's just a motorcycle instead of a car for instance that you ride. And the game has a different name of course. Because the tracks are either exactly the same or changed up a bit. I am not sure because I am not their biggest fan so I haven't played them enough to tell.

[neorichieb1971]

Arcade games would only interest me in this day and age if they offered something a bit special.

It seems a bit weird to me that I see these huge cabinets in arcades that nobody plays. Thats a huge expense to run a cabinet that doesn't make any money.

I think the problem with arcade games is that the talent that made the best games is already in the home market development teams. So you look at the game and it looks like choppy, half assed, running on hardware that seems 2 generations behind.

[Arino]

Arcade games would only interest me in this day and age if they offered something a bit special.

It seems a bit weird to me that I see these huge cabinets in arcades that nobody plays. Thats a huge expense to run a cabinet that doesn't make any money.

I think the problem with arcade games is that the talent that made the best games is already in the home market development teams. So you look at the game and it looks like choppy, half assed, running on hardware that seems 2 generations behind.

Yes it's very weird what it has become.

[To Far Away Times]

Arcade games would only interest me in this day and age if they offered something a bit special.

It seems a bit weird to me that I see these huge cabinets in arcades that nobody plays. Thats a huge expense to run a cabinet that doesn't make any money.

I think the problem with arcade games is that the talent that made the best games is already in the home market development teams. So you look at the game and it looks like choppy, half assed, running on hardware that seems 2 generations behind.

A bit like the switch from prestige movies to prestige TV and the big money being in TV these days.

[velo]

Yes, that Raw Thrills produced Cruis'n Blast game is still quite popular -- it even was ported to the Switch gaming platform as well.

In the Switch port, unlocks are driven by collecting objects hidden on each track, and you can win any race, in every mode, by grinding for money until you can afford to boost from start to finish. The game doesn't even want you to attempt to learn how to play it or get better, which is probably just as well, since in terms of depth it makes Pole Position look like Gran Turismo. As close to the Dave & Busters experience as you can have at home I suppose, without microtransactions anyway. The Raw Thrill Ninja Turtle beatemup has been ported to consoles as well. I wonder if the arcade version is 1cc-able, or if an attempt was made to beat the console version into something playable.

I will say the Raw Thrills Centipede game seemed like a perfectly fine and clearable shooter, based on playing it a few times, unless there's catch.

Fighting games are fighting games.

Not always! The arcade versions of Injustice and Marvel Infinite are ticket dispensers based on the smart phone versions, with one or two big buttons and no stick.