Welcome to The Arcade Hunters!

Hey folks! Nick from the Arcade Hunters here! Sorry I haven't been updating the site. Since C.R posted his mailbag and was nice enough to post links to our site I figured I'd better update our website along with the video for the few of you that still visit here. Sorry for the lack of updates and videos, since the new job I haven't had a lot of time to go out and get gameplay footage or tours of new places. Hopefully I will soon!

For those of you coming in from CR's video...welcome! I was in Toys R Us YEARS ago and I saw that Samhain and Janine figure and the first thing I thought of was all of CR's videos he did on Familiar Faces. At the time they wanted WAY too much for it but a few months later I saw it again on the clearance rack and picked it up where it had been under my bed in the bag till I finally mailed it to him. Sadly USPS damaged the hell out of the box and it cost me more to ship the toy to him then it did when I bought it.

Really glad to see he enjoyed the gift!

For those of you still reading, be sure to check us out over on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where we post weekly. We've been working on new episodes of our Podcast as well! Hopefully I'll get more videos out for you guys to enjoy soon! Till then, take care!

The Lost Arcade

The Lost Arcade Teaser from ArcadeMovie on Vimeo.

After many years of development the movie, The Lost Arcade is finally complete! This Saturday they'll be having their world premier and I'll be going! I'll have all the info about the flick after I get back!

For those of you new this is an indy film all about the final days of famed New York City arcade, Chinatown Fair. From the beginnings, to the 80's when they had the famous Tic-Tac-Toe playing chicken then to the 90's and early 2000's when fighting games ruled the roost. They also touch on the new owner of the arcade that has made the place a more family friendly, Dave and Busters type of arcade with tickets to go along with fighters and others. They also touch on "The Next Level" arcade which will sadly be closing soon.

If you're in the NYC area make sure you go and check it out! They have two showings so click the link above and make sure to check it out!

Dragon's Lair The Movie Kickstarter

For years folks like myself have always wondered, how come there was never an animated film based off of Don Bluth's original Laserdisc classic, Dragon's Lair. There was a Saturday morning cartoon version of it back in the 80's that  had the nifty gimmick of showing asking the viewer before a commercial break what Dirk the Daring should do, kinda like the arcade game. When the show came back it would show him doing both scenarios with him being killed off and then the correct one would continue the show. The was also a cartoon based off of Space Ace but I don't think they used that gimmick like the Dragon's Lair cartoon.

Well, just this week it was announced that producer, Gary Goldman and original creator Don Bluth want to make the animated film a reality. So now they have a Dragon's Lair Kickstarter. Their goal is to raise $550,000 dollars to help create a fully 2D traditional hand drawn animated trailer that they will use to show off to investors to help make the full movie a reality. So even if they do make the goal and the studio decides to fund the whole project we won't be seeing this for a few years, but it's something as an animation nerd that I would love to see happen after all these years.

It's great to see that they want to continue with the original 2D animated style instead of going the CGI rendered route. Hopefully the Kickstarter and the trailer they make will impress folks in order for them to get a full budget to produce a full on Hollywood blockbuster feature film. If you want to see this happen, make sure you hit up the Kickstarter and pledge your support! Who knows? Maybe if this does well we'll also see a return of Space Ace! (Which I always like better then Dragon's Lair...Kimmy was always cuter princess!)

Arcade Hunters 3.0!

Welcome to the newest update of the Arcade Hunters blog! We are calling it 3.0. We have added some new features, updated some of the code, and added more sharing options. We have a plethora of new content coming. We also will finally be unveiling the "Arcade Hunters Approved" this summer so be sure to check back for more arcade related content!

WWE Wrestlemania is Stern Pinball's next game

Well, here's the next game from Stern Pinball. WWE Wrestlemania. Making it the second game of the franchise after Data East's classic, Royal Rumble. According to a post on the Coast 2 Coast Pinball Podcast, the game was designed by John Trudeau who made his return to pinball last year with Mustang. They said he had some more time to work on the design of this game, so we'll wait and see how this one turns out. Without trying to go into a wrestling fan rant, I'm kinda pissed it's missing Daniel Bryan and it sucks that they fired C.M Punk, I would have loved to see him as a part of the game.

As always we'll keep you up to date with any of the newest news on this upcoming game!

Blinking Light Win's final 48 Hours!

Hey folks! We're back once again to help promote our good friend Quan's project on Kickstarter. The Blinking Light Win got it's funding and their looking for a little bit more to get to their 40K stretch goal! If you haven't seen it before the BLW is a replacement part for the Nintendo Entertainment System's flawed 72 pin connector. Over time the pins inside will become bent and if your like me and put in a new one the connector will grip the carts too tight causing the deeded "Death Grip" which your not going to want to have break a classic game. The BLW uses a new edge connector and tray and grips the games much like the single cart Neo-Geo MVS units for a more stable connection.

Right now Quan is going to add in a region lockout killer chip so you can play PAL region games on an NTSC console, and vice verse. It won't fix the refresh rate of the games running faster, but you'll be able to play them. If they can make it up to the 40K goal they'll add in a newly designed Famicom to NES convertor that will work a lot like the old "Honey Bee" converters so you can play Japanese games without having to crack open an old Gyromite cart.

All of these are built right here in the good ol' US of A, so if you want to bring your old toaster back to life make sure you go to the Kickstarter page and help them out!

Ralph Baer 1922-2014

http://www.examiner.com/article/ralph-h-baer-father-of-video-games-passes-away-at-92

We just got word today that one of the founding fathers of video games, Ralph H. Baer passed away today at the age of 92. I was lucky enough to meet him twice. The one shown above was taken at the 9th Annual FunSpot tournament where I got him to autograph my original Simon I've had since I was a kid. I also met him at one of the early Philly Classic conventions where I got his book all about his prototypes of what would become the Odyssey. 

His memory will live on at ACAM at FunSpot where they just got a replica of the Brown Box as well as an early light gun prototype that used NERF balls you could throw at the screen to score points. We wish his family the best at this time. 

Street Fighter V PC and PS4 Exclusive

Now it's official. After a day of the trailer getting leaked and a few sites and YouTube channels getting copyright strikes now Capcom has the trailer hosted on their YouTube channel. 

So here it is a teaser trailer for Street Fighter V. Kind of shocked to see them announce it now in December instead of hyping people up at E3 or the next Evolution tournament. It seems that the "Hadoken Cabs" video that came out was a clue that Sony was up with something. So it looks like the game is going to be a Playstation 4 and PC exclusive. So no Xbox One or Wii-U. (Wonder if they'll try to do a 3DS port like they did with Super SFIV?)

No mention of a Japanese arcade release. Even though there's more footage of people playing older Street Fighter games in arcades they just go, nope! PS4 and PC only folks! I know the usual crap that people will say "Arcades are dead..LOL!" but they still have a small but dedicated following in Japan. I hope they'll consider public tests in the arcades. You really need to get the game out in the hands of the fans to really BETA test it. After seeing how Skullgirls Encore had just done a public arcade test in Japan a few weeks ago makes me hopeful. I know guys like Doc from Galloping Ghost in Chicago is getting a cab ready now to throw a PS4 into so they can have an arcade cabinet for the game.

I'm not keen on them using the Street Fighter IV art style. Didn't care much for how they looked compared to the rich sprite art from the 3 and Vs. series. (Hell, they looked great in SvC Chaos too) I hope they'll improve the engine from IV. The game felt really stiff to me. I never got the hang of the Focus Attack. I think that was due to me playing characters like Blanka that weren't as good doing Focus Cancels like most of the other characters. I'm odd in fighting games, I either end up playing top tier or very low tier characters. If I find something I like I stick with it. I haven't played anything past SF IV Arcade Edition so I'm looking forward to see what they'll do with this new one.

Bring your NES back from the dead with BLW!

(Yes, I know our website's The ARCADE Hunters, but this is being done by a good friend and it needs some extra spotlight)

This Kickstarter just started today and I wanted to share it for you folks here. Our friend Quan who runs ArcadeWorks who makes the OMEGA Neo-Geo MVS home unit has come up with a brand new replacement for the NES's 72 Pin Connector called "Blinking Light Win" or BLW. The BLW will replace the current spring loaded 72 pin connector with a brand new PCB. You no longer have to press the cart into the system, just throw it in, connect the cart and power on and play! It's much like how the smaller one slot Neo-Geo MVS units work, and are still in use today.

Go check out the Kickstarter above and go check it out for yourself! If you like some retro NES gaming goodness then this is a great solution to buying a new 72 pin cart or having to take it out and pressing the pins back.

Be sure to tune in with us tomorrow as we'll be checking out Nintendo's arcade classic, Popeye!

Star Wars: Battle Pod

Last week a rumor was going around that Bandai-Namco was working on a new Star Wars arcade game. I was looking forward to this seeing how we haven't had a new one since the Sega Star Wars Trilogy. Getting to see a brand new game in HD would be amazing. It turns out I wouldn't have to wait long to play it. On Wednesday Bandai-Namco held a special presentation as a part of the opening of the 2014 New York Comic Con and unfortunately I was unable to attend since I wasn't able to get a press badge or a normal badge in general since they sold out within minutes. During the presentation they said the game would be released in arcades across America in January of 2015 (Not "January of this year" like I said in the video...sorry) but the game was going to be available exclusively in the Times Square Dave & Buster's until November. I was already planning on going out to the city with friends on Saturday so I got up extra early and got a train into New York City and headed over to the Dave & Buster's in Times Square to check it out.

Even though the trailer in the beginning of the video says "Review" this should be called a preview due to the fact the game isn't finished yet. In the final version of the game there'll be five missions to play. Right now there's only three to choose from. Two from Return of The Jedi and one from A New Hope. Empire's Hoth Snowspeeders and the new "Darth Vader's Revenge" will be added into the game come January.

The way these games are made are very unique. It's a system Bandai-Namco have used in Japan for years for Mobile Suit Gundam and they rank as some of the most popular arcade games in Japan. This isn't the first time that they've used this system for a game in America. Earlier this summer Bandai-Namco released Mach Storm which uses the same Battle Pod which you can also play at the Times Square D&B. These Battle Pods are awesome because the screen is projected on an egg shaped wall so your whole field of vision is filled and the sound system blasts the famous John Williams music. It's unlike any other game that I've played.

It's well worth checking if your in the New York City area. The game is only at the Times Square Dave & Busters until November but in January pretty much all of them should have it! If you are a die hard Star Wars fan like myself you owe it to yourself to give it a play! I can't wait to check it out once it's finished and the other two stages are added in!

#DayOfDredd

Today the fine folks over at 2000AD Comics have made October 1st the Day of Dredd. The whole Arcade Hunters crew have been fans of the Judge for years, above is a video of our friend Craig's personal Judge Dredd pinball machine from Bally that he got a few years back. (Lucky because the prices have shot up on the game in recent years, like everything else in the pinball market.)

The one thing I forgot to say about the original Judge Dredd machine is that there's no pop bumpers on the game, one of the few without them like No Fear that was released a few years earlier. The game's super fast and has a lot of great combo shots. The video above is of Judge Dredd's "Super Game" mode where every ball starts off as a multiball and then goes back into normal play after you're down to one ball. In the arcade they made the Super Game cost a quarter or fifty cents more and many people where happy to pay it since getting to the multiball is tough in the Judge.

Craig's machine also has the Dead World mod installed which was going to be included in the game when it came out. In the game shooting the ramp when it's lit for lock will activate the magnet on crane to drop it into a special disc that spins around the "Dead World". Bally decided to drop the feature due to the fact that the game would be in heavy use and would burn out. So instead the locks are "virtual" where just shooting the ramp will automatically lock the ball.

I like the way they went with better then putting the Dead World back in. Since I said how fast the game is when you activate the Dead World Multiball all of the balls will come screaming out of the auto launcher rather then having the crane have to go and pick up every ball and drop them back into the table. It's still a fun game and well worth checking out!

Make sure if you're online today to use the #DayOfDredd hashtag! Check out the movie on Netflix or buy the 3D Blu-Ray and DVD! Let's make a sequel happen and hopefully we'll see another Judge Dredd Pinball machine in the future!



In closing here's a look at a normal, "Regulation Game" and we'll be back tomorrow with a video roundup!

In Memory of Scott Gaulin

This morning our friend Tim "AKA JumbleJunkie" contacted me to let me know our good friend Scott Gaulin had passed away after a lifelong battle with a rare ocular cancer. We had the pleasure of meeting Scott as he volunteered at the annual FunSpot tournament. Above is a video of his Al's Garage Band Goes on a World Tour pinball machine he brought to one of the FunSpot tournaments and Scott shows off the unique "Bump Buttons" the game has.

Gerard and Pedro will be writing on the site today with there thoughts and memories of Scott and we plan on covering it on the next podcast we record. (This week's episode is delayed due to this news, it will be up later in the week.) I'm going to close off my post by saying my thoughts and prayers go out to all of Scott's family and friends. We had a lot of great times chatting online and hanging out at FunSpot. It's not going to be the same without him. Scott donated his collection of arcade games to ACAM at FunSpot so we know his spirit will live on through everybody that enjoys all of the games he helped bring to us. In closing I'll finish it off with Tim and Scott playing Bally's Kozmik Krooz'r and a link to a new GoFundMe page that Tom Kane posted a few weeks ago to help out Scott's family with his final expenses.

Scott's new GoFundMe Page

Farsight's Addams Family Kickstarter!

Well, today's the day. Finally after years of speculation and waiting Farsight has officially announced they want to bring The Addams Family to The Pinball Arcade. The biggest problem however is the cost. Their asking for $98,000 to bring the table to the app. That's due to all the licenses they have to sign out. From the video it sounds like the estate of Raul Julia has agreed, even though that sounded like it would never happen because it was rumored that his family didn't want his likeness used after he passed. What's sad is the actor who played Pugsley Addams and Christopher Lloyd have both said no. Which I find odd because you'll see Chris at tons of conventions but for some reason won't sign off on his likeness while Angelica Huston and Christina Ricci both agreed. So I hope this doesn't mean the face of Uncle Fester won't look too weird because you always see it right between the flippers.

Still even though two people didn't agree, I'm still looking forward to this. I hope they'll be able to meet their goal. A lot of people have been unhappy due to the fact that it's been over a year since the game was updated on the Xbox 360 and still has yet come to the Xbox One. Even though it's all Microsoft's fault because they wouldn't let them self-publish the game after their old one filed for bankruptcy, but they've said their moving things along, so hopefully folks in Xbox Town won't have to wait long to get their fix.

As always, we'll keep you up to date on how things progress! Right now as I post this it started at 3,000 and shot up past 5,000! So keep checking out and pledge your support!

The Walking Dead Pinball First Photos!

While everybody's going nuts for the new iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch, Stern Pinball today finally unveiled the first look at their new Walking Dead Pinball machine from designer John Borg! Wow! Hand drawn art! It's not a bunch of stock photos provided by AMC! Above is the Pro model with the red trim. I much prefer the Limited Edition which looks like the doors from the very first episode of the show that says, "DON'T OPEN" on the top and along the cab it says, "DEAD INSIDE".

Oddly enough Stern only announced a Pro and Limited Edition model of the game. No Premium version of the game has been announced. Even the usual "Shot Matrix" that has the checklist of what's in each game doesn't list a Premium edition. As usual the Pro model lacks some extra features in the LE. The LE has is a "Motorized Crossbow" which looks exactly like the Laser Cannon from Austin Powers. (Shouldn't be a surprise since John Borg designed both games) There's also listed a "Bicycle Girl Bash Toy" which I didn't really see on any of the photos that Stern provided of the LE. It seems like the "Well Walker" Zombie toy on the right side will have "guts"(I have no idea what that means) and also a magnet that won't be on the Pro model.

As was recently announced by Stern they will no longer be using the old incandescent lights. Now all Stern Pinball machines come with LED's. On the Pro models their only using normal white LED's while the LE versions will have Tri-Color LED's for more lighting effects. The zombie heads that Stern was teasing yesterday are part of the LE's. What looks almost exactly like the stack of Dead Heads from Elvira's Scarred Stiff, The Walking Dead LE will have a trio of zombie heads that is meant to look like The Governor's Fish Tanks.

The Pro model is listed at $6000 while the LE model is listed 8600. As usual we'll have more for you as the news develops!

 The Walking Dead Pro and LE pages from Stern Pinball

Stern Pinball's The Walking Dead

Special Thanks to Adamm Chrysler and Pinside's Jediturtle for the photo!

Well the fourth season of AMC's The Walking Dead came out on DVD and Blu-Ray today and look what was included inside.... Yup. The next game from Stern Pinball will be The Walking Dead. I kinda figured that they where going to go with this due to all the rumors, but also if you watch the show. In the first and second season of the show in the background you can clearly see a Stern World Poker Tour pinball machine. Like somethings they might blur out the image like many arcade games and pinball's are on television, but nope you can see it front and center.

No official announcement from Stern has been made as of yet. We know John Borg (Iron Man/Tron) is the designer but we don't know if they'll finally be ditching the single color DMD's and finally follow Jersey Jack and put an LCD display in. One thing's for sure. I really hope they get the announcer from AMC to do the shot calls. If they don't have him say, "Previously on AMC's The Walking Dead!" when you shoot an extra ball I'll be sad.

Official page from Stern is up, no pictures yet. http://www.sternpinball.com/games/the-walking-dead/pro

As always we'll keep you up to date as more news is relieved on this new game!

News!

Just a few news items to cover for this week. Both Nick and I are away for the week. We have a brand new podcast that failed to upload before we left. It will go up on Thursday when I return home.

Next we have some new videos up on youtube. I am unable to embed the videos in the blog from my phone at the moment, but I can include links.

Arcade Game Review: Hercules

Arcade Game Review: Dizzy Chicken

Be sure to check back Thursday night for the newest podcast episode and next week for some more reviews!

Gettin' Drunk on Disney!

Last week Gerard and I where interviewed by Dana Snyder, Bart Scott and Guy Hutchinson on the Drunk on Disney Podcast! They uploaded the interview today and you can check it out in the link below! The asked us their famous and ever changing Lighting Round Questions with our favorite and least favorite Disney animated films, or favorite and least favorite rides in Walt Disney World and a whole lot more! If you're a fellow Disney fan like we are make sure you check them out! We want to again thank Dana, Bart and Guy for having us on and we hope to do it again soon!

Drunk on Disney Episode 42

L.I Arcade Club, Pinball News and Jew Wario

Hey folks, Nick here. Today's been very interesting. Last night I attended the January meetup of the Long Island Arcade Club and thought I'd take a little video showcasing the two new additions since I last took a video. They added in a very minty Galaxian cocktail table and a few months ago The Addams Family was sold and only last week Brendan replaced it in the lineup with a Bally, Transporter: The Rescue. Less then 900 units of the game were ever made and it's a fun little game. The game needs some new parts and as it plays now the flippers are really weak and there's no bounce to the flippers due to the rubber bands on it must have been on it originally. 

In the land of pinball news there was an announcement from Jersey Jack Pinball that legendary designer Pat Lawlor will be making a brand new, ORIGINAL THEME game for the company. I'm wondering if this is the "3rd Game" that everybody's been talking about that is supposed to come out after The Hobbit and wouldn't be a licensed theme. Hopefully that means we'll be seeing it around 2015 since their 2014 game is going to be The Hobbit by the time, "There and Back Again" hits the theaters. 

Today news broke on Stern's next game, Ford Mustang. (Not "50 Years of Mustang") A Ford website had a photo with a news blurb on what the overall machine looked like and was taken down but of course the fine folks at Pinball News where all over that. But that's not all, a Pro model of the game is at the NADA show in New Orleans where a member of Pinside got photos and has a low quality vertical video of the game being played. 

Early Video of Mustang (Facebook Link)

Pinball News Coverage of Ford Mustang 

Finally a bit of sad news. On Thursday, Justin "Jew Wario" Carmical took his own life at the age of 42. I was a big fan of his "You Can Play This!" videos where he reviewed import video games. It's sad to hear that he's gone. I really enjoyed his videos and I wish his family and friends all the best in this difficult time. 

Windy Gaming preording Japanese Candy Cabs!

Back in 2010 our good friend Sarge wrote up an article called, "So you want to buy a Japanese Candy Cab?" and it quickly became one of our most popular articles on the site. (Well before Google screwed us and we had to move sites.) If you haven't read the article yet, thankfully it's still up here on Blogger.

So you want to buy a Japanese Candy Cab?  (You can also check out more of Sarge's articles listed under the "Arcade Tips" section of the site)

Well if you ever wanted to get your very own Candy Cab our good friend Chris over at Windy Gaming is going to start taking preorders very soon! There's three different Sega made Candy's you can choose from. You get a discount if you preorder early, if not the prices jump up fifty dollars. Here's a list of what you can get with both prices!

Sega Astro City $700 Preorder $750 Normal

Sega Blast City $900 Preorder $950 Normal

Sega New Net City $950 Preorder $1000 Normal

Their really nice cabs and if you ever wanted to own your very own, now's the time! So make sure you check out WindyGaming.com and contact Chris and find out to get your very own Japanese Candy Cab!

Stern Pinball's 50 Years of Mustang and new AC/DC

Some big news out of Chicago this week in the pinball world from Stern. Three days ago Stern announced yet another limited edition version of one of their most popular tables, AC/DC. The new model is now called the "Luci" model. It's the same limited edition version with LED's and the hell mini playfield. This new version has a brand new backglass and side art. On the playfield everything is the same as the original Premium/LE versions of the game except for in the mini playfield where two girls are added in. So for those of you that missed out on picking the game up be sure you get in on this. The game will set you back around 7,500 bucks.



Then yesterday Stern unveiled their next game. Many had thought it was going to be Fast and The Furious, The Hunger Games or The Walking Dead but it looks like we were all wrong. Well to coincide with the announcement of the new 2015 Ford Mustang, Stern announced the next game was going to be "50 Years of Mustang". All we have now is this teaser trailer video with nothing else. All of our questions are still up in the air. Will they finally switch to an LCD display like Jersey Jack? Who's going to be designing the table? Will it suck like Viper Night Driving? All we do know is there will be licensed music from Sony Music and driver and co-host of the American version of Top Gear, Tanner Foust will be providing his voice as the game's host.

As always we'll have the latest news as it breaks! Be sure to tune in this weekend as we'll be checking out the Data East classic, Karnov!