AOU 2008: Arcade Games You Might Have Missed

A new game in the DonPachi series is headed for Japan.

The Amusement Machine Operators’ Union show in Japan is generally a fairly low-key event here in the West. This year was host to the first playable appearance of Street Fighter 4. You’ve heard about that, but what did you miss?

Numerous cool, quirky and downright weird things were on display at the show, but the vast majority of them have about a zero chance of making it anywhere near North America. There were some exceptions, however, and while it’s probably far from certain they’ll all arrive on our shores, one can and should hope that they do.

Announced recently in Famitsu and shown in trailer form at AOU was Virtua Fighter 5:R. While VF has never been as big as Tekken and Soul Calibur on this side of the Pacific, it has gained more attention since the VF4/Evo releases on PlayStation 2 and the release of VF5 on PlayStation 3.

How does an online, updated VF5 sound to you PS3 owners? I thought so– but don’t hold your breath just yet. All that seems to be clear so far is that a new character resembling a rather dark version of Akira will be present, as well as one other new character.

We all saw SF4 in action and the old-school, 2D-fighter fan in me could not have been more pleased to see SNK on the right track as well with a new King of Fighters release sporting a completely new look that, like SF4, seems to utilize 3D graphics in 2D style to meet the HD era head-on.

I’ll be the first to say, “It’s about damn time!”, and the part of me that remembers having a blast in the arcades of my youth trading rounds with my friends is wriggling inside. Set to appear this year in arcades and on PS3 (so far) in 2009, let’s hope it matches SF4’s online play as well.

Does the term “Bullet Hell” peak your interest? Cave, the resident king of manic shoot-‘em-ups in Japan, has announced a brand new entry into the DonPachi series—DoDonPachi Dai Fukkatsu. For you kids out there stifling yawns, don’t let your attention wander just yet.

While none of Cave’s shooters have made it outside Japan (save an Arcade release of Progear no Arashi) even when given domestic PS1/PS2 releases, let’s not forget that Treasure not only just released its excellent Ikaruga on Xbox Live Arcade, but also brought the importer’s favorite and previously Japan-only Sin and Punishment to Nintendo’s Virtual Console.

PSN and XBLA provide the perfect home for a title like this that could never have existed before this generation. It would be criminal with the resurgent popularity of twin-stick and vertical shooters in recent years for the potential of this or other Cave shooters for download to be overlooked.

In the meantime, hit up some other Cave shmups like Progear, ESP Ra.De and Guwange to get an idea of the variety of style and gameplay these guys put out in such a niche genre. Not too niche, I hope.