Awesome New Pick Ups

It’s that time again to show my pick ups from the last few months.  First we have an awesome delivery from Japan. 

The King of Fighters games for the PS4 were purchased from the SNK Online Shop and included some very nice extras.  KOF 2002 Unlimited Match Complete Set came with a mini version of a Neo Geo stand which would have been displayed at Japanese game centers.  The stand lights up, once I find a suitable button battery that is. 

 

KOF XIV Ultimate Edition Complete Set came with a mini Neo SC-19 cab.  The lower section has a door, and the internal space is designed to hold ten PS4 sized games.  The stickers were a bit of a nightmare to apply, especially the screen, but it’s super cool and looks great in the games room.  Also it’s roughly the same scale as the sign which is nice. 

Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future Limited Edition for the PS2 has been a title I’ve been meaning to pick up for years.  It comes with the game, Gamest Mook game guide, a special DVD featuring replays and bouts and a 300 piece jigsaw.  It’s in great condition, and I really love the Chun Li box art. 

I was also pleased to get hold of a couple more coasters from a Cave event held at Tokyo Video Gamers Bar in Akihabara.  To get these coasters you had to buy a drink, and they came in a sealed bag meaning the design you got was random. 

 

Now from the far east to the south east!  Here are some more pick ups from my awesome local game shop in Norwich, Last Level Games.  They’ve been getting some very cool items in recently, and their prices are always very reasonable. 

 

First up is a great little selection of Megadrive titles.  I was especially pleased to find Castlevania: The New Generation, it was a real surprise to see one locally.  Oddly enough I visited an old arcade Op the very same week and found a Haunted Castle board.  It was a pretty awesome week for pick ups! 

Next we have a nice little selection of survival horror, spanning across three console generations.  My PlayStation collection is primarily Japanese, but I’ve been on the lookout for Pal horror titles recently as these are games I’d really like to play, but would prove very difficult for me in their native language. 

Clock Tower is a pretty uncommon title.  I also have the third instalment on the PS2, which got me thinking about the second game, as I couldn’t recall ever seeing it.  It turns out the international release is actually the Japanese sequel.  The first instalment was released on the Super Famicom in 1995 and later re-released for the Japanese PS1 in 1997 as Clock Tower: The First Fear and has never had an official release outside Japan. 

Arcade Club Leeds Tour June 2021

A visit to the awesome Arcade Club in Leeds was top of the agenda following the easing of government restrictions, I couldn’t wait!  Joining me were my two trusty sidekicks, Cookie Gamer and Pizza Arcade Gamer Boy.  We’ve put together a little tour of the arcade.

The arcade has so many incredible machines.  Whilst playing the games, it’s easy to forget the incredible amount of effort it must take to maintain them.  We were totally blown away.  Highlights for this visit include Namco’s Star Blade, a fantastic new addition.  I ramble on at the end of the video about not playing it for decades, but actually the last time I played it was in Mikado arcade in Japan about ten years ago.  So good, so atmospheric, absolutely love it.   

 

Virtual On: Cyber Troopers is another new game.  I remember this awesome 3D mech combat game having a brief spell down the seafront back in the day.  The game proved to be a massive hit in Japan, but it never really seemed to take off over here.  I wonder if the theme, and the unusual twin-stick controls just didn’t appeal to most arcade goers.  I suspect the hardware was sacrificed to keep other, more profitable Sega Model 2B games running at the time.  It was fantastic seeing it again, and I really enjoyed giving it a blast.   

 

The OutRun2SP SDX was amazing, with some very close races with the wife.  This and fighters are about the only games I stand a chance at beating her at. 

 

The Sega row really is a Sega fan’s dream.  It’s fantastic being able to experience the Sega Taikan cabs once again and great to see them get a new generation of fans.  There are also some nice new additions to the area, including Scud Race and Sega Rally 3. 

 

The Electrocoin Xenon row was a sight to behold, taking me right back to the halcyon arcade days of the eighties / nineties.  They were loaded with classics, including Aliens, Golden Axe, RoboCop, Splatterhouse and Sunset Riders to name a few.  I think it’s super cool how Arcade Club Leeds has the Xenon row and Bury has the Goliaths. 

 

There is an awesome selection of dedicated cabs, all the classics, plus some more obscure titles.  I enjoyed watching my daughter try her hand at Pac-Land, Pole Position and Tron. 

 

The second floor has an awesome row of Astro’s, complete with top tier shooters.  I could have easily spent a lot longer here. 

 

To summarise then, Arcade Club Leeds – it’s incredible, go check it out! 

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 40^th 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. 

Recent Pick Ups

These are my pick ups from the last few months.  As much as I’ve tried to resist buying games for current gen systems, I find myself caving in more in more, especially with these cool limited editions.  First up is this really nice collection of Switch games, plus a new Megadrive game.  They are all from Japan, except for Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection. 

The Capcom Belt Action Collection is the e-Capcom Limited Edition.  I love my scrolling fighters, and this is an awesome collection of some of the best ever.  The package includes postcards of the original arcade instructions, B2 posters for each title and player select screen cards.  The CP System II kit box contains a hardback book featuring artwork from the games, plus CD soundtracks.  I passed on this collection at first as I own most of the titles on other formats.  However it really is fantastic, beautifully presented and is a must for Capcom fans.  The only slight grumble is the absence of one of my all time favourites, Alien vs. Predator.  I’m guessing it wasn’t included due to licensing issues. 

Samurai Shodown Neo Geo Collection is from Limited Run Games. 

I wanted this as it includes Samurai Shodown V Perfect, the ‘lost’ version of Samurai Shodown V Special, which only had a very brief location test in Japan.  The story goes that SNK Playmore was never informed about this new version until the day it was on location test.  It had only been on test for a couple of hours until people from the company arrived and seized the game.  It comes in a nice reproduction MVS box under the slip cover. 

 

The rest of the titles are all shooters!  We have the following: 

 

Aleste Collection Game Gear Micro Edition – this is an awesome compilation of Sega 8-bit Aleste titles, featuring Aleste / Power Strike, GG Aleste, GG Aleste 2 / Power Strike II, Power Strike II (SMS) and perhaps most interesting of all, GG Aleste 3.  This is a brand new shooter created by M2, along with some former Compile staff, developed for the specs of the Game Gear.  Also included in this limited edition package is a white Game Gear Micro, featuring all the games in the compilation, a Big Window screen magnifier and an Aleste history book.   

 

Darius Cozmic Revelation Special Edition ‘Beep Store’ – another awesome Darius compilation, packaged in a Taito FX-1 reproduction kit box, so cool! 

 

Cotton Reboot Limited Edition ‘Beep Store’ – I’ve enjoyed the Cotton games on the Super Famicom, PS1 as well as the original arcade release.  I picked up the board on a Raid a couple of years ago, which was an awesome surprise as I’d never seen the game in the arcades over here.  The package includes a teacup featuring illustration by Hideki Tamura, soundtrack CD and a reprint of the 1991 PCB arts, pop and instructions, which is pretty cool. 

 

Darius Extra Version - a brand new Megadrive game and an awesome conversion of the arcade classic. 

 

Next up we have even more shooters!   

I’m really pleased to get Ibara again after slimming down the collection and selling it a couple of years ago.  I already have the PCB, but its absence left a gaping hole in my Cave PS2 collection.   

 

I’m also looking forward to playing Raiden IV x Mikado Remix Limited Edition.  I’m a big fan of the early Raiden games as well as the later Raiden Fighters series.  Somehow Raiden IV passed me by completely.  It’s the Mikado connection which really piqued my interest, with a new soundtrack produced by Game Centre Mikado.  One of the bands that features on the new soundtrack is Heavy Metal Raiden.  The band performs heavy metal covers of Raiden tunes and was formed by Ikeda, the manager of Mikado.  The limited addition includes additional game box inserts and a soundtrack CD.  If the illustrations look familiar it’s because they’re drawn by Rensuke Ohikiri, of High Score Girl fame. 

 

The glass and coasters are from a Cave event held at Tokyo Video Gamers Bar in Akihabara. 

Now for something which you certainly don’t see very often.  Here we have a Sunset Riders shelf display.   

I love Sunset Riders.  The Megadrive conversion was never released in Japan, and it was one of the main reasons I started picking up Pal games.  This would have been sent out to video game stores back in the day and maybe Woolies to promote the Megadrive game.  The seller says that these were a surprise warehouse find when he was sorting through some vintage magazine stock.  They have never been used, and I think he found three. 

 

My next pick up is from my local retro game shop in Norwich, Last Level Games.  It’s a fantastic little shop and great to visit again following the easing of government restrictions. 

Here are some pics of the shop. 

I grabbed this lovely blue Game Gear, complete with McWill LCD.   

The screen looks so good.  Normally I’m all about keeping things original, but this upgrade makes it so much better to play.  I never had one back in the day, so it’s a brand new console for me.  In fact the only handheld I had was the Neo Geo Pocket, which I should never have parted with, but that’s another story!  I’ve wanted one of these for a while and seeing as it was my birthday, I thought I’d treat myself.  I also picked up several loose carts, including Alien^3, Klax, Super Space Invaders and Wonder Boy.  I think I’m going to stick to boxed Japanese GG games (I already had Mappy and OutRun) and loose UK carts.