SEGA Arcade Games - Still awesome in 2022!?

RetroRalph·video·10m 0s·analyzed·Mar 22, 2022

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.023

TL;DR

RetroRalph reviews arcade innovations at Vegas expo; VR Agent steals show

Summary

RetroRalph covers the Amusement Pinball Expo International in Las Vegas, showcasing arcade and VR gaming innovations. He highlights Sega's VR Agent as the standout experience, reviews Asphalt 9 Legends deluxe cabinet, Mission Impossible arcade, and explores emerging VR esports platforms like Varbox. He also covers reproductions of classic games, Golden Tee upgrades, and notes the growing VR infiltration into arcades.

Key Claims

Sega VR Agent is shipping to UK now with units arriving in 3 weeks; oversold until May/June
high confidence · Direct quote from Sega representative at booth regarding availability and backlog
Asphalt 9 Legends arcade deluxe version features full motion reminiscent of classic Sega deluxe cabinets like Afterburner/Outrun; released end of last year
high confidence · RetroRalph direct observation and description of cabinet at LA location
Varbox was established in 2017 and has had significant success in Asia with their VR esports platform
medium confidence · RetroRalph reporting from booth interaction; specific founding date mentioned
Retro Pinball LLC is recreating Ice Cold Beer by Taito with full Taito licensing; Zeke's Peak planned as future reproduction
high confidence · RetroRalph citing Arcade Heroes footage and Retro Pinball LLC booth information
VR has become dominant trend at arcade expos with multiple vendors showcasing VR arena setups and experiences
high confidence · RetroRalph's direct observation: 'VR arena setups were literally everywhere' and closing commentary about VR infiltration

Notable Quotes

“It has this really new and innovative design where they've sort of melded the VR headset and fused it with the gun controller.”
RetroRalph@ 0:07 — Describes the innovative design philosophy of Sega VR Agent that impressed him most at the expo
“We're shipping them to the UK now. They'll be landing here in the next probably three weeks. We're oversold until like sometime in May or June.”
Sega representative (unnamed)@ 1:00 — Official availability timeline for VR Agent in North America; indicates strong demand
“This deluxe version has full motion. It's very reminiscent of Sega's deluxe cabinets back in the day, like Afterburner or Outrun.”
RetroRalph@ 1:35 — Connects modern Asphalt 9 motion cabinet to classic Sega arcade heritage, framing it as nostalgic iteration
“This game should be exciting, but both of us played it and we were less than thrilled with this one.”
RetroRalph@ 2:22 — RetroRalph and Cole's negative assessment of Mission Impossible arcade; suggests VR Agent raised expectations
“They're using off-the-shelf Oculus technology, but they've sort of integrated it into the gun, and it has amazing force feedback technology. This was one of the best ones I saw all day.”
RetroRalph@ 4:06 — Endorsement of Varbox's technical innovation and integration approach; rates it highly among all expo games
“They have this online community that they've built. There's leaderboards. There's actually tournaments. And they actually have monetary payouts for winners of these tournaments.”

Entities

RetroRalphpersonColepersonSegacompanyVarboxcompanyRetro Pinball LLCcompanyTaitocompanyIncredible TechnologiescompanyUNiS TechnologycompanyEmbedcompanyAmusement Pinball Expo Internationalevent

Signals

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business_signal: Varbox VR esports platform has achieved significant success in Asia market and is expanding internationally with tournament infrastructure and monetary payouts
medium · RetroRalph reporting from booth; company established 2017 with Asia success; Overkill game features leaderboards and paid tournaments
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competitive_signal: Sega VR Agent positioned as premium VR arcade experience with innovative integrated design and haptic feedback (air cannon); appears to be leading category at expo
high · RetroRalph's enthusiastic assessment and comparison to other VR offerings; strong demand signals via oversold status
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licensing_signal: Retro Pinball LLC securing full Taito licensing for Ice Cold Beer arcade reproduction; indicates licensing availability for classic game reproductions
high · RetroRalph's explicit statement about full Taito licensing and future plans for Zeke's Peak reproduction
$
market_signal: Asphalt 9 Legends deluxe motion cabinet released end of 2021 and rolling out to arcades across North America in 2022
high · RetroRalph reporting from arcade location with timeline confirmation
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announcement: Incredible Technologies releasing three-in-one pedestal with Target Toss, Golden Silver Strike, Power Putt Golf as upgrade kit or standalone with redesigned control panel
high · RetroRalph's direct observation at Incredible Technologies booth at expo

Topics

VR and haptic feedback innovation in arcade gamesprimarySega's new arcade releases and design philosophyprimaryRetro arcade game reproductions and licensingsecondaryArcade cabinet hardware design and features (motion, screens, controllers)primaryEsports integration in arcade platformssecondaryLight gun arcade games and force feedback technologysecondaryArcade industry trends and vendor landscapeprimaryArcade venue operations and investment decisionssecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.82)— RetroRalph is enthusiastic about most games showcased, particularly VR experiences. Positive tone throughout with constructive criticism only for Mission Impossible arcade. Closing remarks express genuine surprise and joy at VR's appeal despite not being his typical focus. Frames arcade industry positively with optimism about trends.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.030

This week I got a chance to attend the Amusement Expo International in Las Vegas. One of the games I was really interested in was Sega's VR Agent. It has this really new and innovative design where they've sort of melded the VR headset and fused it with the gun controller. And at first you'd be like, oh, this might be difficult to use, but it's actually really fun. I mean, on rare instances, if I wasn't pressing it against my face maybe hard enough, I might lose focus for a brief moment. But all my concerns about that were squashed pretty quick. And the gameplay is really fast-paced and fun. It's got this beautiful 50-inch screen that kind of encourages spectators, and it also has an air cannon that jolts you when you get hit by an enemy. This is a pretty cool experience. Wow, this is intense. That's crazy. When they get up in your face, that feels pretty real. That is cool. So does it just automatically retract back up? When does this come out? We're shipping them to the UK now. They'll be landing here in the next probably three weeks. Okay. We're oversold until like sometime in May or June. Wow. So it's a... It looks like that right there. We have two units. Oh, wow. Okay. That's very cool. Next stop is LAI Games. Go check out Asphalt 9 Legends, the arcade version. This is actually a console game that's pretty much available across everything. There's even an iOS and an Android version. But the reason why this is so cool is because there's a standard version of the cabinet and then a deluxe version, which you're looking at right here. This deluxe version has full motion. It's very reminiscent of Sega's deluxe cabinets back in the day, like Afterburner or Outrun. So it really just adds an additional element to gameplay when you're moving like this. This was released around the end of last year, so you should start to see this in arcades across America very soon. And I know what you're thinking. I'm gonna choke and I'm gonna lose right at the end. Not this time. First place, baby. Alright, moving on, we're going back to the Sega booth to check out Mission Impossible arcade. This is kind of interesting because it's two guns mounted as like sort of a single controller. That's actually Cole from Chasing Nostalgia episode 4. He invited me on this trip as a consultant so we could check out some of these new arcade games for the Castles and Coasters arcade. As Cole's shooting through this, I don't know, this game should be exciting, but both of us played it and we were less than thrilled with this one. It's kind of fun, but I don't know, maybe we were a little tainted after playing VR Agent. This one just didn't do it for us. Alright, it's time for a snack break. I'll have to pay royalties to Arcade Hollywood for that. Sorry, bud. Anyway, ever wish for a Skittles vending machine? Well, that's exactly what this is. Let me show you how it works. So basically, you walk up to the machine and you press start, and then when you do that, you can select three flavors for $2 or five flavors for $3, but you as the vendor can select that. So let's just say three. And then once you do that, it's going to give you all the flavors that are in the machine and then you just simply pick. So if I wanted strawberry, and then it indicates where it is in the cup, grape, lime, and there's my three, and then I just hit pay, and at that point it'll start to build your cup from this. It's super cool. As a Sega fanboy through and through, I had to stop by and play VR Agent one last time. This is actually Cole doing a little bit of a demonstration for you. I hope everyone gets this in an arcade near you. With so many cool things to see, I'm distracted very easily. I took a quick break and played this little candy crane. This was a mini one. This was really fun. But then I saw this. It was a booth called Varbox. It was this VR esports platform. This thing is cool. The gun design is what initially caught my eye. They're using off-the-shelf Oculus technology, but they've sort of integrated it into the gun, and it has amazing force feedback technology. This was one of the best ones I saw all day. The company was established in 2017, and they've had a lot of success in Asia. One of their key games is called Overkill. It's set in a post-apocalyptic world, and it's a four versus four multiplayer battle. You can also battle people across the world. So they have this online community that they've built. There's leaderboards. There's actually tournaments. And they actually have monetary payouts for winners of these tournaments. So they built sort of this online community around this game. That was really cool. Okay, we're gonna slow things down way down. This is Retro Arcade LLC, and for those of you that remember Ice Cold Beer by Taito, they are recreating the game, which is really neat. So they're doing a reproduction of the cabinet. They have it fully licensed through Taito, so this is really neat. This footage itself is from Arcade Heroes, so go check those guys out and show them some support. My footage didn't come out that great of this, so I'm using theirs. But yeah, this is pretty neat, so fans of the series will love this, and Zeke's Peak will be coming at some point too, so they have intentions to do that as well. Pretty neat to see companies doing reproductions of really, really popular retro games from the past. Of course, I had to stop by the Incredible Technologies booth. They're most commonly known for the super popular series, Golden Tee. They were showing off a really cool new 3-in-1 pedestal with three really great games: Target Toss, Silver Strike, and Power Putt Golf. They're going to sell this as an upgrade kit or a standalone. It's also got upgraded graphics and a really cool redesigned control panel. Next stop is Unis Technology. They were showing off a game called UltraMoto VR. VR has come a long way obviously, we have things like the Quest 2 at home, but this was really neat because it incorporated tactile elements like the floor moving and it would go along with what was happening on the screen, so if you went off a jump you would feel like you were in the air or give you that sensation. There was even air that would blow up against you to give you this sense of speed. And while I'm a retro guy at heart, I can't help but really enjoy stuff like this. While I'm not an arcade owner or operator, Embed was a really cool booth to check out because you've probably seen these card swipers on many games and many arcades near you like Dave and Buster's, but they also were showing off this refill recharge kiosk that they have that you can simply just hang on the wall. Pretty neat stuff, even though I don't own and operate an arcade yet. VR arena setups were literally everywhere by a ton of different vendors, but this is the one I enjoyed the most. So this is a VR laser tag. So you can see on the preview screen what they're seeing. That's pretty cool. I guess it comes with everything here. It comes with the stage. This is really cool for a place that wants to set up this kind of thing, but it comes with a sound system. So it's like a big VR esports arena, basically, for a laser tag. This is pretty heavy. Now, unfortunately, that VR Gatling gun never was working. I was really bummed out about that. Now, there's things like this, which are kind of like VR experience rides. They're kind of quirky. But all I have to say is at this show, there was tons of VR. So expect to see more and more VR infiltrating the arcade over the next couple of years. In this VR simulator, you fly like a bird. And this dude? Yep, he crashed. I don't think I'm doing very good. Oh, I missed that one. Oh my gosh, Cole, I'm going to throw up my coffee. Oh, this is a crazy dude. Oh yeah, I got it now. I thought you said it's all in the hips. I don't, now I'm not feeling the best. On the way out, I noticed this game called Quickshot. You guys know I love light guns. This is a modern light gun, but the implementation of how the force feedback works was awesome. And it was all metal, the whole entire gun. This was pretty cool to see. Well, that about wraps up my trip to Amusement Expo International. I want to thank Cole over at Castles and Coasters for inviting me as a consultant on this trip. It was really fun to spend someone else's money and tell him all the games I think he should get. So it was really fun. We went to places like the Roth Reels booth, but there wasn't a lot of new stuff, so we didn't spend a lot of time there. So there was things you didn't see, but honestly, we were there for a really quick trip. We flew in and flew out, so it was super fun. I hope I get to go again next year. All right, guys, I want to know what you think about what you saw here. The VR definitely stole the show. It's not usually my cup of tea, but I had so much fun, and I might need to bust out my Oculus Quest 2 and play that a little bit more. All right, if you enjoyed the video, give me a thumbs up. Consider subscribing to the channel. Put your comments below. I really want to know what you think about all this. Do you want me to cover, you know, modern games like this? Because it's something I think I really would like to do. That's it for now. And we will see you on the next one.