The best games in the world were on view to visitors on the BANDAI NAMCO stand at this year’s IAAPA show.
Big hitters from the BANDAI NAMCO stable joined the finest offerings from third party partners to provide a one-stop shop for operators. For the first time ever BANDAI NAMCO Amusement Europe Ltd had its own area on the stand at IAAPA in order to demonstrate titles aimed at their sales markets.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, PAC-MAN is the most recognizable video game character in the world and he continues to dominate the amusement machine offering from BANDAI NAMCO . The latest PAC-MAN themed hits include four-player PAC-MAN Air Hockey a stunning future classic with a backlit play field, which nostalgically resembles the original game screen.
Big PAC-MAN and Friends is the world’s largest ever PAC-MAN, developed by Raw Thrills and Bandai Namco Amusements. The current version sports original PAC-MAN and Galaga in one and the final release will support co-op play. “This game seems likely to be a hit with environments outside of the core market, as well, such as bars,’ says John Crompton Regional Sales Manager, BANDAI NAMCO Amusement Europe. “The 2m high LCD dot matrix screen is a real scene stealer and it can also be used to feature advertising via an USB plug-in.”
PAC-MAN Alley Rollers attracted a great deal of attention at IAAPA. Players must bowl down the ghosts in order to win points. Also new from BANDAI NAMCO is PAC-MAN Battle Royale (non-monitor version) this provides a player plinth alone that can be hooked up to any monitor within a venue – such as a sports bar – in order to offer flexible play.
PAC-MAN also created a stir in the Prize Division where themed plush and gifts were a massive hit on the stand. “We recently signed a landmark distribution deal with leading distributor Toy Factory for plush in the US and with Sureshot Redemption for the PAC-MAN gift range in this region. These are exciting times for PAC-MAN,” comments Darrell Simmonds, EMEA Sales Manager.
Other exciting releases from the BANDAI NAMCO stable at IAAPA included, Ace Angler; a fishing simulator with ticket redemption. Players need to choose rod strength in order to land the biggest fish and the most tickets. “Initial US test figures with a major FEC operator are very promising and we are excited to get this game into Europe for further testing,” said BANDAI NAMCO’s Kjeld Erichsen.
Star Wars Battle Pod is one of the most exciting releases from BANDAI NAMCO in recent times and now includes a link kit with a camera, which takes the player’s photo and superimposes it onto the other screen in a novel twist. This was joined by another massive film-based title Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park Motion in Florida. Jurassic Park is still the number one earning video title in the market.
MotoGP™ simulator with authentic MotoGP™ motorcycles on a stunning HD 42” LCD Screen with front facing camera was a real showstopper and based on pre-orders at the show looks to be a contender for the hit title of 2016.
Up to 8 units can be linked together and online head-to-head, real-time racing will be revealed shortly. BANDAI NAMCO’s John Crompton was the first sales man globally to sell the full 8-player attraction to a UK customer during the show.
Point Blank X is a new title from BANDAI NAMCO – it is an updated version of a previous classic two-player shooting gallery style game with a novel kids’ mode. The game will be redeveloped into a western cabinet with ticket redemption. “The original game was a classic of its time and now we have brought it back for a new audience with a ticket redemption feature,” says Julian Goicoa, International Business Development Manager at BANDAI NAMCO.
Other redemption hits include Crossy Road from Adrenaline Amusements. Based on the hit App, Crossy Road requires players to navigate super highways and waterways in order to win tickets. Another retro phone game which is making the transition to redemption hit is Snaky Tickets, also from Adrenaline Amusements.
“Crossy Road has been a huge hit in the UK” says BANDAI NAMCO’s Geoff Spencer, sales. “We have very high expectations of Snaky Tickets, which is the probably the first game any of us had on our Nokia mobile phones back in the day!”
Other interesting redemption titles include Galaga Assault, which is an update of the original game. It is available as high-definition amusement only or ticket redemption with just a simple change of settings. In an interesting twist, one credit awards the player one ship, all the way up to 15 credits.
From the Jennison stable comes Hal’s Ticket Mine, a physical redemption game where players must wind the winch to match the lit prize amount. It joins the successful Space Ballz and Ocean Pearl.
SpongeBob Squarepants Pineapple Arcade from Andamiro is a closed loop pusher, housed in a beautifully styled cabinet. It features collectible cards around the playfield with the player having to try to knock the cards off the tray. Players must skilfully time the release of a token through moving targets to drop tokens, win free plays, bonus tokens and score cards that fall over the edge.
“This was an extremely well attended IAAPA with the second highest turnout in the show’s 97 year history,” says James Anderson, Sales & Commercial Director
of BANDAI NAMCO. “We had a very good turn out of European customers considering the problems in Paris, also many customers from Russia and the Middle East. There were a couple of attractions projects on the stand that we previewed via video that are unlike anything seen before in the market. We will be handling the latest Apple Industries Photo Studio Deluxe, which was on the Apple stand at IAAPA and which allows groups to take photos together and incorporates photo merchandising upsell on mugs and other items.”