The second day of the three-day Asia Amusement & Attractions Expo (AAA 2024) in Guangzhou offered a closer look at new arcade releases from China, particularly the latest projects from UNIS.
UNIS has built a stronger international profile than many Chinese amusement manufacturers, with its own presence in the United States and long-running connections with Japanese companies including Bandai Namco and Taito. The company has also worked with the Emoji brand, which remains one of its most prominent overseas-focused ventures.
As well as redemption equipment, UNIS displayed new video games and several videmption machines. The emphasis of this report is on those newer arcade releases, with the company’s AAA presentation reflecting the preferences of its domestic and wider Asian market.
For Australian operators and collectors tracking upcoming releases, the show provides an early indication of which games could eventually reach Western arcades. Browse more industry coverage on the RETROCADE Arcade Blog.
UNIS at AAA 2024
UNIS presented a varied booth, combining licensed redemption products with new multiplayer video games. Two of the most notable video-game announcements were a family-oriented trading-card title and a three-player Bigfoot driving game.
Picture Book Land
Picture Book Land is a four-player trading-card game, but it takes a very different visual direction from UNIS’s Kingdoms Fantasy and the 3D presentation associated with Minecraft Dungeons Arcade. The game uses bright 2D cartoon artwork with a look reminiscent of stylised action cartoons.
Its theme appears to draw on children’s fantasy storybooks rather than historical settings. The available information does not yet make the gameplay premise completely clear, but the presentation is distinctly aimed at younger players and families.
The control panel uses large illuminated buttons rather than the smaller concave arcade buttons commonly found on traditional cabinets. Each button includes an instruction or function indication, making the controls easier for children and first-time players to understand, even if the design may be less comfortable during extended sessions.
UNIS was showing three card series divided into different classes, representing 78 cards in total. That gives Picture Book Land a comparable amount of initial card content to Wahlap’s new trading-card game. A QR code on the display links to the game’s WeChat profile, which is primarily useful for Chinese-language updates.
There is no major international licence attached to Picture Book Land, but its child-friendly positioning could make it easier to introduce outside China than a more culturally specific card battler. UNIS is currently pushing its Emoji-related products most strongly in international markets, although an overseas release for this game remains possible.
Bigfoot Smash
Bigfoot Smash is UNIS’s third arcade release using the official Bigfoot licence. It is positioned between the smaller three-player Crush and the larger Mayhem.
The cabinet provides three steering wheels, recalling multiplayer driving classics such as Super Sprint and Super Off-Road. Unlike those compact upright designs, Bigfoot Smash uses a larger cabinet with seats. The seats appear to include motion, although the effect is expected to be considerably more restrained than the movement offered by Bigfoot Mayhem.
The game uses a cel-shaded visual style. An English-language cabinet was also visible, making Bigfoot Smash one of the UNIS products at AAA that appears most clearly prepared for a potential Western launch. It may also be among the company’s exhibits at IAAPA 2024.
Bigfoot Mayhem
UNIS also displayed the larger Bigfoot Mayhem. Its two-screen layout and part of its hardware design are similar to Raw Thrills’ Fast & Furious Arcade, which UNIS distributes in China.
The company showed Super Deluxe units at IAAPA 2023, but this AAA presentation placed the cabinets together. A wraparound marquee completes the design; it is not illuminated, but gives the linked machines a strong visual finish.
Godzilla vs. Kong
Another licensed attraction on the UNIS stand was Godzilla vs. Kong, a whack-a-mole game shown in a different two-player cabinet format. A four-player version appeared as a non-playable prototype at IAAPA 2023, and the four-player version is listed on the manufacturer’s website.
Videmption games
Redemption remains central to UNIS’s business, so the booth also included a substantial selection of video-redemption machines. Previously seen titles included Ducky Splash, Raccoon Rampage and, partly out of view, Lane Master Extreme.
Three newer machines stood at the rear: Scream Party, which was presented with Chinese-only information, and Carnival, alongside another title. All appeared to be shooting games of some kind and could become candidates for overseas distribution.
Other Chinese manufacturers
Information from smaller exhibitors remained limited online, but HuoShi Chuan Yu Technology, also known as Firestone Amusement and Gym & Fun, had begun sharing photographs from the show. The company uses several names, and it is not clear which one should be regarded as its definitive identity.
This newer Chinese manufacturer has played a significant role in the recent growth of shooting-gallery video games. Its Top Gun release reached other markets under several names, including Quick Shot from JET Games in the United States. Related versions followed under localised names such as Mega Shot and Big Shot.
A newer project is a twin-screen version of Top Gun. It is expected to reach Europe as Skill Shooter II through Electrocoin, following the earlier European release of the original game as Skill Shooter.
The company is also expanding beyond that established shooting-gallery format. Thunder Attack, previously shown by Amusement Source International at Amusement Expo, was also present at AAA. It had appeared at GTI in China the previous year but had not received the same level of attention at the time.
What stood out on day two?
UNIS’s AAA 2024 line-up ranged from children’s card gaming and licensed family attractions to multiplayer driving cabinets and shooting videmption products. The English presentation of Bigfoot Smash suggests that it may be among the more likely UNIS releases to receive Western attention, while Picture Book Land offers a different approach to the growing trading-card arcade format.
Operators considering new cabinets can compare formats and space requirements in the RETROCADE Arcade Machine Buying Guide, or explore racing arcades and arcade machines for related cabinet categories.
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