I attended Sweet Suite 2019 in New York City. This was my fifth time attending this special night. While I was checking out everything there was to offer at the show, I was paying particular attention to new video game offerings. I was looking not only at traditional games — such as those on the Nintendo Switch — but also apps, tiny video games, and much more.
Big Fun in a Small Package
I’ve mentioned Super Impulse before and its tiny arcade series. These are playable video games in tiny video game cabinets. I personally have a few of them that Super Impulse sent to me and my son loves playing them. When I checked out the Super Impulse booth, they had a new product called The Micro Arcade. These games are even smaller than the tiny arcade games, but are on a whole different form factor. These games are credit card-sized and are pleasing to hold.
Apps a Plenty
Everyone has an app now and there are many that are super fun to play. Bandai Namco was showing off a new app called Tori that combines a physical gameplay board where kids can color various items that become part of their virtual play world. With Tori, kids have a bunch of DIY activities that they can do in order to create virtual playthings on an app. Tori comes with a special board called a Tori Board. This board has a set of magnetic sensors inside so it can accurately track any of the Tori toys. Tori works with both iOS and Android devices.
Table Top Gaming with Mid-Sized Game Cabinets
Arcade1Up came on the scene a few years ago with their 3/4 sized gaming cabinets, and now they have introduced some even smaller cabinets that fit on a table top. Great attention to detail has been taken so as to give the player the feeling of experiencing their favorite classic games with a smaller footprint.
Great Anniversaries Require Great Games
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Arcade1up has produced their very first cabinet with four controllers. They have recreated the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game that I personally played every Friday night at the local movie theater growing up. Two games are included in this one cabinet, 1989’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and 1991’s Turtles in Time. Not the best movie, but certainly a good game!
Arcade1up has also created a cabinet to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Marvel comics. Their newest cabinet is being limited to 8000 units and pre-orders have nearly sold out. This cabinet includes: Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men: Children of the Atom, and The Punisher. It is a beautiful cabinet with great designs on the outside. Perfect for any Marvel fan.
Nintendo Lets Players Team up with The Avengers and Mario
The Nintendo booth was set up with demonstrations of a few of their latest games. First was the original game Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. This game has a brand new storyline and players can put together some epic teams from a huge roster or Marvel Super Heroes. You can play the game with three of your friends or control each of the characters in your party one at a time. I had purchased a copy of this game before Sweet Suite, and I was familiar with the dynamic gameplay.
Mario is back in Super Mario Maker 2 and this time players can create courses with elements from several different Super Mario games. You can choose to make your course in the style of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and Super Mario Bros. U. Players can try out any course that someone has uploaded and each person can upload up to 64 separate courses. You must have the Nintendo Switch Online Service to use the online services.
Go Beyond all Limits
All of the video game options that I saw were very cool in their own way. One company had something that gamers have been looking for in home arcade cabinets, ultimate choice. AtGames had the Legends Ultimate cabinet. This arcade cabinet has two sizes: a 46-inch and a full-sized, 66-inch cabinet. Both boast 350 games on board, but things get real crazy when you add in your STEAM library of games and online games through the ArcadeNet cloud connected services, which will be subscription based. The cabinet will also be expandable with options for additional peripherals to be added.
It is clear that gamers are winning with so many great companies and amazing options this year!.
