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We've heard that King of Fighters XII has been dated for Japanese arcades new April, and now we hear about the game's ever expanding line-up. There are 11 playable characters in the show floor demo: Terry, Kim, Athena Asamiya, Leona Heidern, Ralf Jones, Kyo Kusanagi, Shen Woo, Ryo Sakazaki, Benimaru Nikaido, Robert Garcia and Ash Crimson. Three characters were announced as well: Iori Yagami, Andy Bogart and Raiden. More »
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There are lots of arcades in Japan. Hell, there is a book's worth of arcades in Japan. But elsewhere? Hrm. The head of SEGA's AM2 arcade division, Makoto Osaki, calls the arcade market outside of Japan "practically dead" in an interview with game site Kikizo. Here's Osaki: More »
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As foretold, here are the first screens of zombie love, zombie bowling, zombie rock and roll, zombie sumo, zombie apple picking Ai sareru yori ai shitai: House of the Dead EX. The game looks more causal and more crazy. It's jammed pack with mini-games that are controlled by the gun and the foot pedal — mini games, and that's not in a pejorative sense! This series spin-off looks fun and totally fitting for arcade play. We approve, SEGA, we really do. More »
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We're excited about Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. The game seems like a fun arcade cross-over. Sure, there will be Western arcades that import the game, but will it get an official release outside Japan? Capcom USA is looking into it. No doubt the American licensing issues for the Tatsunoko Productions characters is sticky. Capcom USA's Christian Svensson points out: More »
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The recent location test announcement for Capcom arcade game Tatsunoko vs. Capcom hinted at new fighters. Well, impatient people, today we bring you new Tatsunoko vs. Capcom fighters! Pictured is Street Fighter III main character Alex, complete with droopy overalls and everything. Joining wrestler Alex is genius mechanic Gan-chan from Tatsunoko Production anime Yatterman. Check out the screens below. More »
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As we previously posted, the Japanese arcade version of Street Fighter IV will feature Taito's NESYS Card System to save and track data — plus a cell phone site, too. During arcade play, players can win and save "Battle Points" on their NESYS Card. The Battle Points are weighted, so, for example, if you defeat a player with a high ranking, you'll get more Battle Points. Besides BP, players can also earn "zeny" when winning and then take that saved zeny to the SFIV cell phone "Zeny Shop" where players can purchase outfits and different colored costumes like Chun-Li's new threads (pictured). What's more, players are able to receive a stamp at the cell phone contents shop (one stamp a day), and those stamps can be traded for ringtones, ring voices and cell phone pics at the "Stamp Shop." More »
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Starting July 18th, Street Fighter IV will be playable in Japanese arcades. To save your arcade achievements, the game will use Taito's NESYS Card System. (Makes sense as the game runs on the Taito Type X2 arcade system board!) The NESYS Card will come in four patterns, all of which are pictured. This saved player data contains the player name that appears on-screen in versus mode. The player data can also be accessed individual cell phone SFIV player webpages, which feature stats and ranking as well as news about SFIV events. Via the cell phone site, it's possible to create and name SFIV guilds. Players can then collect "guild points" and compete with other SFIV guilds to improve their ranking to boot! More »
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After its recent location test, details about SEGA's new arcade racer R-Tuned: Ultimate Street Racing have hit. Before the race starts, players select their car and its neon lights. There are unlimited super boosts — be careful as using it causes the steering wheel to shake and possibly lose control. Players can win money that's used to buy new cars. Racing locales include New York, Shinjuku, Shibuya and Hong Kong. All this wrapped in the same cabinet AMPlus is using for SEGA Race TV. Kind wish the cabinet's bottom was neon lit! More »
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We sure hope that upcoming Capcom arcade fighter Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is good. So far, it looks good! But we won't know until we give it a whirl at one of the location tests for the game. The game will be playable next month (soon) in locations in both Tokyo and Osaka — Taito Hey! in Akihabara and Ikebukuro GIGO from July 10th to the 13th and Osaka's SEGA Avion from July 25th to the 27th. Announced fighters for both the Capcom side and the Tatsunoko side include Batsu Ichimonji from Capcom 2-on-2 fighter Rival Schools, Chun-li, Ryu, space knight Tekkaman, Gatchaman and Casshern. In the flier for the arcade location test, it says there will be a new character announced. So there's that to look forward to, too. More »
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This Friday (today!), SEGA is location testing new street racing game from its famed AM2 division. Dubbed R-Tuned: Ulimate Street Racing, the arcade game runs on SEGA's Lindbergh arcade system board and supports up to four players. Apparently there is also a home version in development, but that's unconfirmed. The location test kicked off today at 10:00AM Japan Time at the Shinjuku Club SEGA and will wrap up next Monday. Stop by, check it out. Tell 'em Kotaku sent cha! More »
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Konami has announced location tests for new Bemani title beatmania IIDX16 EMPRESS. Starting next month, the arcade location tests will be at Round One in Osaka's Umeda and another one in Tokyo (more details in the link). Okay, that's fine and all, but you know the current theme for beatmania IIDX15 DJ TROOPERS? If not, it's pictured. DJ TROOPERS clearly has a militaristic vibe going on. Empress does not. It's an about face! Hit the jump to check out the beatmania EMPRESS theme and brace yourself. More »
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Before there was Guitar Hero, there was GuitarFreaks! Konami's rhythm game has been shredding up Japanese arcades since 1999 and is still going strong. Check out GuitarFreaks V5 Rock to Infinity, the latest cabinet (and 16th entry!) in the franchise. And after the jump? After the jump is Konami's drum title DrumMania V5 Rock to Infinity, which links to GF. Both hit arcades last week, feature over forty new songs (500 total!) and online play. Rock it. More »
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Cute, glossy and girly. Yep, sticker pictures! Back in the mid-1990s, game developer Atlus (along with Sega) introduced the world to Print Club. The arcade machine let gals take snaps with buddies and printed them out on glossy sticker paper. Huge trend throughout the rest of the decade! That pic up there? That's not Japan, that's London. Arcade industry report The Stinger Report reports (look all at those reports) that London's popular Covent Garden shopping area is getting a print club smorgasbord called "Flora Print Club." The space is dedicated to importing sticker picture machines from Japan for Londoners to pose and picture take. All that's missing are schoolgirls squealing kawaii~! More »
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The Metal Gear Solid 4 publicity machine keeps on trucking! Konami's even using its arcade games to publicize MGS4 Hobby Blog's Frankie points out. He tells us: More »
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The upcoming issue of Japanese gaming mag Famitsu has the first details about the Raiden IV home port. The game will be hitting the Xbox 360 and will feature the standard arcade game, plus two new stages, LIVE and the ability to share replay saves with online buddies. There's even an option for vertical ("tate") for those with swivel arm HD TVs who want that true vertical shooting experience. Game shoots up Japanese Xbox 360s this September. More »
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Bust out the fancy hats! Square Enix honcho Yoichi Wada held the opening ceremony for card-based arcade game Lord of Vermilion at Shinjuku Taito Station. The game isn't Square Enix's first entry into card-based arcade games, which are very popular in Japan, as previously the company released a slapped Dragon Quest on a kiddy card game. In LoV and other similar card-based games, players moved cards around on a sensor field, which corresponds to their on-screen movement in real time. These arcade games are a tad on the pricey side, forcing players to not only pay-per-play but also for the actual cards themselves. It goes without saying that the cards are collector's items themselves! Click through the gallery for some screenshots. More »
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Via game site Insert Credit comes info that Street Fighter IV will be getting a Japanese arcade this summer as we had previously posted. Apparently, the cabinet set will be released July 18th, and the PCB-only release is supposedly August 10th. This is unconfirmed by Capcom, and no word on outside Japan arcade releases. More »
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Forget the Sega Rambo arcade game for a moment, look at that mullet! Look!! That business-in-the-front party-in-the-back belongs to none over than Hiroshi Fujiioka, the Sega Saturn's human mascot Segata Sanshiro. In the late 1990s, that character went around telling people to play the Sega Saturn — and had a truly amazing theme song. A Rambo arcade game makes this press conference cool. That mullet makes it even cooler. But that mullet belonging to Segata Sanshiro? Jeez, that pretty much seals this as the press event of 2008, hands down. Oh, that lady with him is Maomi Yuuki. More »
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*Sigh* Yes, that's a sticker picture of me and Koakuma Ageha fashion model Rina Sakurai. Interviewed her in late April for work! Nice girl, very smart. Her blog is here. More »
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Wac-A-Bin-Laden! Creative Engineering, the folks behind Showbiz Pizza's Rock-A-Fire Explosion, has created this one of a kind prototype. According to Creative Engineering: More »
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This. Is. Cool. The upcoming issue of Famitsu announces an interesting fighting game match-up: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes. Yes, that Tatsunoko, you know, the studio behind TV anime Speed Racer, Casshern and what Westerners know as Robotech. The game is being developed by Capcom and will storm Japanese arcades this winter. It will feature tag battles, and so far Ryu, Chun-Li, Ken Washio from Gatchaman and Casshern have been announced. More »
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Swimsuit model and space alien Yuko Ogura is no longer the face of SEGA. The current "image character" is Satomi Ishihara, and Ogura's moved onto better things! Like being a "Live Face" mask model or being on TV sometimes and saying things. Look! Ogura now has a chain or Korean BBQ restaurants. I spotted one earlier today. Not sure if this is the kinda place I'd buy raw meat from to cook. And literally fifteen paces from the Ogura meat house? More »
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Sega kiddy arcade game MUSHIKING: King of the Beetles has entered the record books! The Guinness World Records awarded it a certificate for: More »
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Thought it couldn't get worst than NSFW mahjong moony man? It can't. But this, this is pretty damn close. Here, a gentleman is standing and up and stretching in front of a mahjong game. Remember it's okay to enjoy yourself in Japanese game centers, just don't enjoy yourself in Japanese game centers. More »
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Enjoy that XBLA Ikaruga? The current top-rated numero uno player Kingoro58k totally hates it. While he seems to put up with the XBLA port enough to reclaim his spot from a Finnish gamer, Kingoro58k writes on his
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Sexy mahjong games. Your more discriminating Japanese arcades typically have a couple cabinets that feature mahjong ladies in various states of undress. Thrilling stuff! Some people find these games a tad too thrilling, a tad too titillating, so do beware if you plan on hitting the risky jump. NSFW carpenter's smile ahead! You've been warned, so don't go complaining. More »
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Capcom's official Japanese Street Fighter IV site has new screenies of Lucha Libre wrestler and gourmet cook El Fuerte. Check them out in the gallery below. Delicious! More »
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The King of Fighters XII is pretty. Really pretty. But, it's 2D pretty, which is lost on a lot of the grainy screenies we've posted of the game. These screens from Japanese arcade mag Arcadia are only slightly better. But! They do show images of the French stage filled with fat ladies. KOFXII oozes everything that made SNK famous for its fighters in the first place. A return to form. More »
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Hooray! This April, The King of Fighters XII is getting its first official play test in Japan. As pointed out in Famitsu, it's traditional 3 vs. 3 team match-ups. Also, the screen's edge forms a hard barrier that players will have to balance. What's more, attacks can cancel each other and there's a Guard Attack system that lets players switch from offensive to defensive modes on the fly. SNK says that the game system had gotten too complex and they were aiming showing that would be more approachable and put emphasis on "reading the opponent's mind." Famitsu scans below — which do the 100 percent hand drawn game no justice whatsoever. More »
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Okay, yes, it's nothing but colored cardboard and it's US $12 dollars for the set, but still. It's a mini arcade for the PSP. We're not sure this is even necessary (it's not), but we admire the delightfully meaningless gumption. More »
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Right now, the arcade version of Tekken 6 is in loads of places, like NOT AMERICA and NOT AMERICA. Apparently, it's going to stay that way! While the game is most certainly coming to American consoles, it seems that it will not be coming to American arcades. Nothing has been officially announced, but Tekken site SD Tekken points out various reasons why the game won't be coming to American arcades, including the fact that Namco USA no longer has an arcade division and that the US arcade scene is pretty much, well, dead. Still, the cabinets are being imported. So far, Tekken 6 is playable at an arcade in Houston. Americans willing to mingle with Canadians will be happy to find the game in arcades north of the border. More »
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Street Fighter IV doesn't have a street date yet, but we're pretty sure of two things: 1). It will be released in arcades before on consoles. 2). It will be released in Japanese arcades before in Western arcades. We could be wrong! We're just guessing! But, just in case, we're dead right and just in case you can't wait, there's this: A pre-order for the Japanese arcade cabinet. It'll set you back around ¥2,394,000 yen (US$23,307). Pre-orders start this March, and it's expected to go on sale this August. More »
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When SNK showed off The King of Fighters XII at arcade show AOU in Japan and industry event GDC in San Francisco, the unanimous reply was: Nice cell shading. That, or it's "just" hi-res 2D. Thing is, that's totally incorrect. And for SNK, who's been working on the game for the past three years, frustrating! Today, I checked out the game's latest build at SNK's Osaka office and saw a few stages that haven't been revealed. Screens weren't available, but there was a French stage, complete with fat, rich women and an Egyptian one that had loyal subjects worshiping before the Pharaoh. Colorful stuff and classic SNK. The company set out to make the ultimate 2D fighter — unparalleled by anything else out there, attempting not only to raise the bar, but snap it in half. KOFXII producer Masaaki Kukino tells Kotaku: More »
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We've got a buncha new fighters coming out: SNK's The King of Fighters XII, Capcom's Street Fighter IV and Namco's Soul Calibur. We are totally! Whot does SNK think its biggest competitor is? Says Masaaki Kukino, King of Fighters XII producer: More »
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For those who didn't attend AOU 2008 today in Chiba, here's a smorgasbord of pics taken by Jean Snow and Witzbold. Stand out stuff like eagerly awaited SFIV, Square Enix's card game Lord of Vermilion, Cave's shooter DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu and Konami's new music game Jubeat — among others. Man, new DoDonPachi, new Street Fighter, new Konami music game, new The King of Fighters. Who was saying Japanese arcades were dying? More »
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Street Fighter IV is playable. Today, the wait at the AOU arcade show hit 90 minutes to play the game hit 90 minutes. Keep in mind: This is on the business day. So, what's it like? Kotaku buddy Jean Snow was at AOU today and checked it out — even winning a perfect battle. Briefly, Jean tells us: More »
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Here we go! This appears to be the first pictures from the Japanese arcade AOU 2008 show floor. A lot of the pre-opening pics seem taken by Blurry McBlur. There are snaps of exhibits for Arcana Heart 2, DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu and Square Enix's Lord of Vermilion. More to come. More »
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Look. At. This. Well, we called it, here's the 2.5D King of Fighters XII clip. And damn, it looks nice. The game is slated for 2008. Can't wait. More »
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I. Love. Arcades. Seems I'm not alone! Forbes has a short piece about the retro arcade revival going on in the States. While some Americans are content to play retro titles on emulators and whatnot, there is a growing number of gamers who want a realer experience. And with the US arcade scene limping along, some are getting their gaming fix by purchasing retro game cabinets for home use. Says Rick Kirby of coin-op supplier Betson Enterprise: More »
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If a new arcade version of Virtua Fighter 5 wasn't enough to get excited about, how about a new version with pirates? Yes, PIRATES. Labeled Virtua Fighter 5 Version D, this is the fourth update to the arcade version. This latest update adds a CPU pirate-fighting "Knockout Trial 2" for one-player mode and the ability to easily have "Official Open Battles" in Japanese arcades. The new versions brings new costumes, too. What hasn't been updated: The game's fighting balance hasn't changed since Version C. Gotta love the pirate brawling. You gotta. More »
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