Less than an hour left until JAEPO 2014 opens the doors and I’m going through some of the line ups already released. Today the turn has come to Namco Bandai.
Namco Bandai has a rather short line up but nonetheless a couple of notable news. First one up is a theater style shooter / rhythm action (!?) game featuring AKB48.
Sailor Zombie ~AKB48 Arcade Edition~ (セーラーゾンビ ～ AKB48 アーケード・エディション ～)
AKB48 is turning zombie in this odd mash up of shooting and rhythm action. The theater style cab looks interesting. I for one hope we get to see a few clips of this one in action!
Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme vs. Maxi Boost (機動戦士ガンダム EXTREME VS. MAXI BOOST)
The 11th release in the Gundam franchise brings us the MS110 aircraft and supposedly a mode where you can battle other players toons on-line. When playing your character/aircraft can be stored on-line and battled out by other players. The new opening song will be released at the venue.
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune (湾岸ミッドナイトマキシマムチューン５)
Also Wangan Midnight gets an update with new elements added to the competition racing. And like ID8 Infinity’s D coins, Wangan has its Maxi G that can be used in game to pimp out your ride even further.
Super Alpine Racer (スーパーアルペンレーサ)
Arcade skiing is back in this new version of Alpine Racer. The cabinet boasts vertical 55″ monitors and promises a whole new experience of the trill racing down the slopes. The games are networked and up to 8 players can go head to head in the same race.
Other games
Namco Bandai has a few more titles in the line up. Prize games, photo booth and medal games, for instance Super Sea Story in Okinawa 3 (海物語 IN 沖縄 ウキウキバケーション); a medal game for all ages. An updated Dead Storm Pirates SP can be spotted in the line up but details remains unknown. A few more already released games will be available on the venue.
An arcade version of the Nintendo 3DS RPG with the same name. You play as Kaito Gosho, a young boy with serious money problems, forced to participate in a virtual fight tournament in order to repay his debts. The money you win can also be used to perform actions during the battles. Hero bank arcade is scheduled for release this summer.
The next installment of the Initial D franchise has the appropriate name Infinity. According to the press release it goes back to Shuichi Shigeno’s original world of the Initial D manga. You’re faced with a single player career mode where you race upgrade your ride. D coins can be used to purchase special parts. To save you progress you’ll need an ALL.Net IC card. Initial D ARCADE STAGE 8 Infinity is scheduled for operation sometime this year.
It’s been 13 years since we last saw 
Dead or Alive in the arcades. DoA 5 Ultimate Arcade was released on 24/12/13 and features a new character named Marie Rose (voiced by Mai Aizawa). She’s a French maid and her fighting style is somewhat oddly systema, a Russian martial art focused on controlling the six body levers (elbows, neck, knees, waist, ankles, and shoulders) through pressure point application, striking, and weapon applications.
Guilty Gear is back in full cel shaded 2D glory using Unreal Engine 3. According to rumors it will be released later this month for the arcades and sometime this year both for PlayStation 3 & 4.
Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax is a 2D fighting game collaboration between Sega and Dengeki Bunko scheduled for release in March this year.
Puyo Puyo! Quest Arcade is an RPG spin off of the populat Puyo Puyo! franchise. The game was released in November last year and seems to be getting a good deal of plays.
The World of Three Kingdoms is an epic scale real time battle game set in the Chinese Sangokushi era. You command your troops using buttons and touch screen.
This is the first in a series of articles about the Sega NAOMI system. Later posts will cover the hardware (I just love taking things apart :P), connecting the NAOMI to JAMMA cabinets, setting up the NAOMI with a GD-ROM and netbooting (loading games from a server).
New Astro City 