Spot On: The 2004 Japanese arcade lineup

TOKYO--A number of new arcade game titles have been revealed at the All Nippon Amusement Machine Operator's Union Show (AOU Show), which is a commercial trade show that's centered around arcade operators and distributors. The rundown of each company's 2004 titles is below:

Sammy
Sammy's booth was the center of attention during the morning of the AOU show, as the company announced that SNK Playmore will be shifting its arcade development platform from the NeoGeo MVS to the Atomiswave. Details are covered here.

Sammy's booth mainly focused on The Rumble Fish, its upcoming 2D fighting game for the Atomiswave. The game received a few balance adjustments since its beta late last month, but there were no major changes. A few graphical additions were made, such as new stage backgrounds and victory portraits that reflect the characters' damaged looks after battles. Aimed for release in late March, The Rumble Fish's development is currently 90 percent complete. Starting in April, a manga series based on The Rumble Fish will begin running in Kodansha publishing's monthly comic Magazine Z.

Sammy also displayed its new car game Chicago 1929. However, no publicity materials were available since it was specifically aimed for overseas sales. Chicago 1929 takes place in the titular Prohibition Era metropolis, and players can pick cars to drive from a selection of classic automobiles. However, Chicago 1929 plays more like an action game than a racing game. Its central concept is to basically hit anything that comes into sight, excluding some dangerous-looking objects. Wrecking the enemy's vehicles and other obstacles on the road will give the player additional time to clear the stages, while getting hit by bullets will reduce remaining time. Unlike most racing cars, in general, Chicago 1929's cars seem to be completely immune to damage and can annihilate almost anything they hit. While the learning curve and general appeal of Chicago 1929 was promising, its frame rate was lacking at its current stage of development. The game is scheduled for release in March on the Atomiswave platform.

Konami
Konami was promoting its new card-trading wrestling game Battle Climaxx! The player can select a wrestler and what wrestling skills to use by passing trading cards over a sensor on the table-style arcade cabinet, which comes with a bench that allows two players to sit side by side. After each player selects moves for his or her turn, cel-shaded 3D wrestlers will battle it out. Like real wrestling, the objective of the game is to defeat the opponent's wrestler by pinning him or her for a count of three or by making him or her give up by using a submission hold. The skill cards used for attacking vary in strength. Ranked one through three, the cards have a relationship that's similar to rock-paper-scissors. Level 3 attacks are stronger than Level 2 attacks; Level 2 attacks are stronger than Level 1 attacks; and Level 1 attacks are stronger than Level 3 attacks.

Battle Climaxx! has more than 270 skill cards and 121 wrestler cards, which feature real professional wrestlers. The player starts off by challenging with a starter deck, and a new card is then dispensed from the game cabinet after each play. Since the game takes advantage of Konami's "e-Amusement" network system, players can also chose to battle one another online from different arcades across Japan. Battle Climaxx! is scheduled for release in May.

Konami also revealed a number of music games for 2004. Beatmania II DX: 10th Style, Pop'n Music 11, Drum Mania 10th Mix, and Guitar Freaks 11th Mix were on display at the back of the booth. While they weren't receiving as much attention as Konami's new card game, hardcore fans were continuously playing them.

Beatmania II DX: 10th Style, which is already out in arcades, features a total of 280 songs, including 45 new J-pop songs from djTAKA, Slake, Mr. T, and Naoki. Drum Mania 10th Mix and Guitar Freaks 11th Mix will feature about 30 new and 80 old songs, and the machine will download additional songs once connected to Konami’s e-Amusement network. Drum Mania 10th Mix and Guitar Freaks 11th Mix are scheduled for release in April. Pop'n music 11, a series aimed toward younger audiences, will feature more than 40 new J-pop and anime tunes. Additionally, it will have a total of more than 390 song selections. The game will be released in March.

Taito
Taito was heavily promoting its new Virtual On-style action game Zoids Infinity, which is based on the popular toy and anime series, Zoids. The game allows players to ride in Zoids, and they can fight against one another in a 3D field by aiming and attacking with two joysticks that control the running, jumping, attacking and equipping of the player’s character.

What differentiates Zoids Infinity from other mech-style action games is the ability of the player to customize his or her own Zoid by adding optional items, like a beam cannon. Items can be purchased by using points that accumulate when playing through the game. Additional bonus customizations also appear under certain conditions. These customizations include the ability to change the color of the Zoid's body or to switch over to a higher model Zoid. Players can store their Zoid data and other personal battle information on a card embedded with an IC chip. Players can purchase their card and can customize their Zoids through special vending machines, which will be available in arcades that feature the game. Since the arcade cabinets will be networked to Taito's server, high scores and other rankings can be checked out by players across Japan. The release date for Zoids is unknown.

Eight types of Zoids will be selectable by default, and there are also hidden Zoids in the game. Zoids available from the start are: Type RZ-041 Liger Zero, Type RZ-001 Gojulas, Type RZ-007 Shield Liger, Type RZ-009 Command Wolf, Type EZ-004 Red Horn, Type EZ-015 Iron Kong, Type EZ-016 Saber Tiger, and Type EZ-026 Geno Saurer.

Taito was also promoting its upcoming fantasy 2D fighting game, named Chaos Breaker, which was previously titled Dark Awake. The game was first revealed during the AM show last September, and there seemed to be no significant changes. Back in September, Chaos Breaker's development was credited to Eolith, the Korean company that formerly coproduced the King of Fighters series with SNK Playmore between 2000 and 2002. However, Eolith's name was no longer seen on the opening credits or the instruction panels of the game. The release date for Chaos Breaker is unknown.

Sega
Sega revealed three new titles at its booth, although two were in such early stages of development that they were not yet playable. One of the games in development was Quest of D, a Dungeons & Dragons-style 3D action RPG that uses trading cards and online play. Currently being developed by the Sega AM2 for release in summer 2004, the demo movie shown at AOU is available for download.

Quest of D will be played with a combination of the traditional joystick, buttons, and a touch-sensitive monitor. Touching the screen allows players to directly control their characters, which includes being able to pick up an item or attack a monster. Equipping an item can also be done through the screen by using a finger to drag and then dropping the item onto the character's body.

Players can gain abilities by acquiring trading cards and using them in the game. Monster cards can summon monsters that will fight together with the player as a partner. Item cards will allow the use of articles, such as weapons, healing herbs, and magic scrolls. Skill cards will supply special moves, like combination attacks.

Another major feature of the Quest of D is its online co-op play, which allows up to four players at different arcades to venture through the same dungeon together.

Also in development for release in the summer is Sega AM2's Virta Fighter 4: Final Tuned, which was previewed via a very short demo. Set against a blank, dark background, the demo showed a number of new bonus items, including hockey and Kendo masks. Balance adjustments and the addition of new moves seem to be the main changes in the game. Sega claims that the AI has been improved so that the computer-controlled opponent plays just like a human being.

The single-player mode will have a new challenge option where players can go through missions assigned by the computer. Players can select the level of difficulty, and they are guaranteed to be able to play a number of stages, regardless of whether or not they lose.

Saved data from Virtua fighter 4: Evolution can be carried over to Virta Fighter 4: Final Tuned. It will also add a new nickname system whereby the computer analyzes the player's fighting style and labels a nickname accordingly.

The central promotion at Sega's booth was The Quiz Show, which gives the player the experience of being a contestant on an American TV quiz show. Up to four players can participate in this game, which has them sitting behind a colorful table, just like a real quiz show. The game begins after all of the players create a bingo sheet on their monitors. Each cell on the bingo sheet is a question category, such as sports, history, food, or movies.

Each turn, a genre will be randomly selected by a physical, spinning wheel that's attached to the game booth. Once the wheel stops, a question will be asked by a virtual host. Each contestant can answer the question, and each will earn the points marked if the genre is on his or her bingo sheet--and the question is answered correctly. When a player is about to get a bingo, the quiz shifts into a lightning round, where the first person to push a large button on his or her table gets first crack at the questions.

The Quiz Show is developed by Hitmaker. Its release date has not been announced.

Atlus
No video games were available at Atlus's booth, which concentrated on medal coin games and Print Club sticker machines. As the original creator of the Print Club sticker-machine series, Altus seems to be concentrating on a new version of the machine. Interestingly, its booth was popular among female convention-goers. A line of more than a dozen people were waiting to be photographed in Atlus's new "Misaki" machine, which uses an optical technology to give a glamorous glaze to the user's skin.

Capcom
Capcom's booth consisted of medal coin games. No video games were on display, including the upcoming arcade port of Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition. Capcom did have on display a medal coin game based on Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers, which hinted that the two companies may continue to collaborate.