Mario Kart Arcade & HOTD4

[Yakumo]

I found a new aracde today that looks quite flashy so I took a look in side and what did they have? Well, not much of interest apart from these two beauties.

Mario Kart
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2804/acmariokart6rg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

House Of The Dead 4
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/3594/achotd4unit9ky.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Check out those zombi faces at the front of the cabinet !! Below is the actual gun that you have to shake to reload it which to be honest is a pain in the arse.
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/485/achotd4gun6pj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The coin slot with more nice zombi art work
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7262/achotd4coin0wx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Yakumo

[SuperGrafx]

Nice!
HOTD4 looks to be using cabinet hardware similar to what Ghost Squad uses.

And I was wondering when Mario Kart Arcade would be surfacing...was supposed to have been released sometime in November. Word has it that they use the same coin op cabinets as Maximum Tune/Wangan Midnight.

Seeing this makes me want to visit Japan just so I can check out all their great arcades.

[Borman]

Oh man, those are so beautiful. Thanks for the pictures, Yakumo

[Mark30001]

Aw man those are nice! Why can't they have stuff like that in the US :-(. Thanks for those pics!

[SuperGrafx]

Aw man those are nice! Why can't they have stuff like that in the US :-(. Thanks for those pics!

Well, if Ghost Squad managed to come to the US, there's no reason why HOTD4 wouldn't. Plus, Namco's arcade website has had a section for Mario Kart Arcade in English for quite some time.
( http://www.namcoarcade.com/nai_gamedisplay.asp?gam=mariokrt ) The only thing stopping us from seeing them here is price and overall lack of arcades.

[Sally]

Well, i know what i want for christmas... (runs off to cut a bigger hole in the chimney).

Just out of curiosity, are arcades doing poorly over in japan too, or did you just happen to get there when the place was empty?

[Yakumo]

Nice!
HOTD4 looks to be using cabinet hardware similar to what Ghost Squad uses.

And I was wondering when Mario Kart Arcade would be surfacing...was supposed to have been released sometime in November. Word has it that they use the same coin op cabinets as Maximum Tune/Wangan Midnight.

Yes, HOTD4 does use the same cabinet as Ghost Squad but with different decorations. Mario Kart Arcade also does use the same cabinet as Maximum Tune. If you look at the picture you'll notice that the cabinet behind Mario Kart is in fact Maximum Tune 2 which I had a good play on after taking the picture.


Just out of curiosity, are arcades doing poorly over in japan too, or did you just happen to get there when the place was empty? Arcades in Japan do really well but you tend to find that they are quite empty during work hours. I took those pictures at 2:30pm Wednesday afternoon. There were a few people there so I had to wait unit they were out of view before I took the pictures.

Yakumo

[SuperGrafx]

If you look at the picture you'll notice that the cabinet behind Mario Kart is in fact Maximum Tune 2 which I had a good play on after taking the picture.

Ah, yes indeed, just noticed it. Great game as well...they actually have it in an arcade near me which I play constantly. In fact, I keep my gamer card in my wallet just in case I happen to visit the game center.

[ASSEMbler]

Oh man, those guns are never going to make it to the states.

[AlbinoLove]

Those guns look like something that 50 cent would use, not a zombie killer...

[mairsil]

I just played HotD4 at the local D&B. Good god, I'd like to smack the person that came up with the idea of shaking off zombies. After playing it for about 15 minutes, my arm hurts like hell.

Same guns, but damned if I bothered to pay attention to what color they were. I think that they might have been dark gray.

[ASSEMbler]

Gun weight and fatigue are all calculated to make you spend more :-)

[mairsil]

Actually, I was surprised that the guns were about as light as standard Happs guns (used in a lot of gun games like Area 51, Star Trek Voyager, Target: Terror, etc.). It wasn't the shaking that was eating the credits, it was the poor accuracy in the corners :nod:

[ASSEMbler]

It had poor corner accuracy? You think it's the setup (d and b) or the system itself.

Was it a Us machine, or Japanese imported.

[mairsil]

Chances are good that it was the location. The Dave & Busters here rarely has gun games which work completely, either by damaged guns or lack of calibration. I was so amazed that they actually had the game (two in fact), that I neglected to look to see if the guns were optical or LED. I'm really kicking myself because lightgun calibration is what I am planning to do my dissertation on... :-(

I would say that it is a dedicated US release. Not a single Japanese character on the machine or in the game. All spoken dialog and captions were in English. Also, the cabinet was plain; I think that it had a smaller marquee and it lacked the nice plastic zombies around the gun holders.

[ASSEMbler]

As an american, did you hold it sideways, "booyah" style?

[mairsil]

:noooo:

I cringe anytime I see someone trying to play "gangsta" style like that. Though I have been known to grab both guns, especially on Area 51/Maximum Force (which I saved money by buying one). :rambo:

[norefuge]

I played both those games in Vegas.

HotD4 was an import with the black semi automatics.

Mario Kart Arcade was domestic version and is an incredible game, I hope there's some kind of home release with similar / expanded on play mechanics.

[Mr. Rare]

Oh man, those guns are never going to make it to the states.

Haha that is exactly what I was just thinking.

[K hunter]

Oh man, those guns are never going to make it to the states.

guns arent black.. they're always the gay baby blue style colors and such.

btw HOTD 4 is in an arcade in whitestone named Smiles.

[liquitt]

i just saw some concept art for the hotd4 cabinet, never knew they already made it into retail cabinets, but i have to say it looks very very nice!! i'd love to see one of those around here...but i think i never will.

mario kart one is also cool. i'm not quite sure, is that Double Dash!! ?

[SuperGrafx]

mario kart one is also cool. i'm not quite sure, is that Double Dash!! ?

It's the same cabinet they use for Maximum Tune, which is a pretty phenomenal game to begin with.
The Mario Kart game isn't Double Dash though...it's a specially tuned version for arcades only. Namco characters and images are used during gameplay, etc.

[SuperGrafx]

Well, I finally had a chance to play House of the Dead 4 over the weekend!
I went to see a boxing event at a nearby casino in Connecticut, little did I know that they had a well-stocked arcade on the premises. By well-stocked I mean stuff that we rarely see here in the US such as a dual Outrun 2, Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution, Derby Stallion, Battle Gear 3, Tekken 5.1 and of course, HOTD4.

Gameplay-wise, it's pretty good though not too drastically different from the previous HOTD games. Loads of enemies on the screen and the guns you use feature some sort of accelerometers built in for you to shake to reload (or knock back some zombies when they grab you)...the reloading took me some time to adjust to since I'm used to shooting offscreen. The Lindbergh hardware seems pretty decent, though I did notice a fair amount of framerate choppiness even during cut scenes. Nothing that really detracts from gameplay, but it was a bit surprising.

Why am I even posting this? I dunno...I guess because I've always enjoyed the arcade scene. I still keep up to date with the scene in Japan by way of Arcadia Magazine and whatnot, but most of the time I know that I'll never see or play any of those neat new games they cover in that mag. This weekend I got that "this is so cool" feeling upon walking into the arcade and seeing a treasure trove of new games, just like I did back in the early 1990's when arcades were still going strong.

[Barc0de]

I 'd like to play both, as I haven't played any new arcade games for the last 3 years

[GaijinPunch]

I played HoTD4. It's nice, but the big ass screen doesn't work so well for me. VF5 is way more impressive, even though they're the same hardware. Gun games are just not my thing, so don't let that stand in your way.

[mairsil]

Hmm, I wonder if the one at D&B here still works after 4 months...

[Fabrizo]

I played HOTD4 about a week ago at my local arcade (first time i've been to one in who knows how many years). It didn't realy catch me as being that great of game, though the visuals at times were quite nice (particularly when in that hall with glass walls holding back zombies, where the lights are flickering madly).

Mario Kart Arcade was their too, and I played that for a while. I wasn't able to get drifing down while I played (whenever I tried I just slowed myself down), the game wasn't particularly chalenging, and you couldn't direct your weapons like in the console games, but was still fun.

[PhreQuencYViii]

I wish they had arcades near me...I remember when I lived in Montana back in the 90's i had a blast playing Ninja turtles ina rcade, and soul blade and all those...