Sunday 23 May 2021

New Arrival – Namco Noir Blue V2 ‘Fated Retribution’

About The Cab 

It’s been a while since I’ve had a new arrival in the games room.  A couple of months ago it was my 40th birthday, and I thought I’d treat myself to something a bit different!  I’ve been tempted with a HD cab for a long time, with the Lindbergh, Noir and Vewlix C being the most appealing.  However there just didn’t seem enough to interest me gaming wise, and I couldn’t justify it.  This all changed with exA-Arcadia, whose mission statement is to revitalize the arcade industry and bring videogames back to the arcade.  The system has some very exciting games already released and in development. 

 

In the end I decided on a Namco Noir.  The cab was delivered by Martin.  Excited! 


I love the aesthetics.  It’s extremely sleek, and the blue speaker grills and led strip lights really set it off and look fantastic in the games room. 



There have been a few models of this cabinet.  This is a blue version 2 model, featuring a 1080p screen and led strip lights, which are interactive to the game and flash.  By comparison the red version 1 has a 720p screen, and the version 3 features a dual led topper, with the marquee permanently illuminated. 



Control panel buttons have seemingly failed at the hands of overzealous Japanese arcade goers and replaced with random colours.  I intend to put them back to stock. 


The blue Noirs were heavily used for Gundam Extreme games as seen in this pic I took in Playland Las Vegas, Ikebukuro. 


The stickers on the coin door indicate that it’s from the Adores Japanese arcade chain. 


Manufacturer’s stickers on the back. 


The rough plan for my games room set up from the start was to have Japanese candy cabs along one side of the room, Western cabs along the other, and the Aero Table somewhere between them.  As I’ve become more into Western cabs, the room has lost some of its Japanese arcade feel.  I think the Noir not only addresses this, but brings with it a whole new modern Japanese arcade dynamic. 


As mentioned above, I’m planning on picking up an exA-Arcadia system at some point.  The lineup looks awesome, with a very strong selection of shooters.  DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou and Vritra Hexa are at the top of my list.  More info about the games and upcoming releases can be found here. 

 

https://exa.ac/en/?v=0f177369a3b7 

 

In the meantime I’m really enjoying Tekken 7: Fated Retribution. 


The game runs on Namco System ES3 hardware. 


Here is a short video of the game in action. 


The Good 

-The cab looks stunning, extremely solid and well built. 

-It’s in great condition with only a few minor marks.  It just required a light clean and a hoover inside for it to be games room ready, despite spending its life in a Japanese arcade. 

-The 32” screen is Full HD 1080p and looks and sounds incredible. 


-I like that the control panel is the same height as my other candy cabs. 


-The marquee and interactive led strip lights look fantastic. 


-Although the cab is very heavy, it has a good set of castor wheels and good ground clearance, so it can be moved around relatively easily. 

-I miss my old Cyber Lead, and it’s great to have another Namco cab back in the candy lineup. 

 

The Not So Good 

-Some of the locks and keys are missing. 

-The led light panels under the control panel instruction strip space aren’t currently working.  Edit – For some reason it was unplugged.  I plugged it back in, and it’s working fine. 

 

A massive thanks to John / Japanarama for this awesome cab. 

No comments:

Post a Comment