Arcade News Round-Up: Gundead, Pinball and More

Arcade and pinball news remains busy beyond the major family-entertainment chains. This Easter weekend round-up covers a new House of the Gundead trailer, arcade documentaries, Amusement Expo 2023 videos, pinball updates and a long list of industry headlines.

If you are comparing the latest news with your own home setup, RETROCADE’s Arcade Blog and Arcade Machine Buying Guide are useful places to continue exploring.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Brings Extra Arcade Energy

The new Super Mario Bros. Movie is an enjoyable, colourful adventure with plenty of Nintendo references and laughs for families. It does not aim for the dramatic weight of Casablanca or The Lord of the Rings, but that is not the point: it works as an entertaining, warm-hearted popcorn film.

It is a considerable improvement over the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film and stands among the stronger video-game adaptations. It sits roughly alongside the Sonic films, although it produced more laughs than both Sonic the Hedgehog movies. Chris Pratt’s performance as Mario also works better than some early criticism suggested. Luigi has less to do, though the ending gives him a chance to make up for that.

The film had already earned $147 million worldwide at the time of writing, with more than half coming from the United States. Its popularity could also help related arcade attractions such as Luigi’s Mansion Arcade and Mario Kart Arcade. One player was already copying Mario’s “wa-hoo!” from the film while playing Luigi’s Mansion Arcade.

For readers considering a dedicated driving setup, RETROCADE’s racing arcades collection covers the broader arcade racing category.

April Fools Arcade Round-Up

April Fools’ Day produced another batch of arcade and pinball jokes, including a mock-up for Rocket League Arcade. The following links collect some of the more amusing announcements and concepts from the day:

Chuck E. Cheese: Wedding Officiator
Introducing the exA-Aircadia — exA received at least one request to purchase one.
Sega Japan Introduces Maimai Pachinko!
Initial D The Arcade: Micro Machines Edition
They Live Pinball
Stern Is DTF With Jersey Shore Pinball
The History Of Pac-Mom
This one from GOG.com — the joke promised everything to the first commenter, then disabled comments.
Console bonus: Chris Pratt & Jack Black’s Voices Are Available On Select SMB Games.

House of the Gundead Receives a New Trailer

A new gameplay trailer has arrived for Enter the Gungeon: House of the Gundead, the arcade shooter from Devolver and Griffin Aerotech. A home collector’s version was ordered for a future unboxing video, although shipping timing was still unconfirmed at the time and was hoped to be within the month.

Discussion around the trailer also prompted clarification that the game was not created exclusively for ultra-wealthy home collectors.

Token Taverns Documents Bar-Arcade Culture

Token Taverns is an upcoming documentary about the bar-arcade movement. The film features interviews with people well known in the scene and examines the trend’s development. Updates from the filmmakers are available here.

Ghostlord & The Quest For Dark Presence Seeks Support

A Kickstarter campaign is supporting a documentary about the nearly three-decade development of Galloping Ghost’s arcade fighter, Dark Presence. The game has appeared in arcade coverage since 2008 and now sounds close to release. A documentary trailer is available alongside the campaign page.

Visit the documentary Kickstarter for further details.

Cosmotrons Changes Ownership

Cosmotrons has been relatively quiet since its developers announced an arcade kit in 2021. The game’s intellectual property has now moved from Arcadeaholics to Leatherbeard Interactive, which plans to expand the community. A home version may also be considered.

Existing arcade owners were told to expect an email, although it was not clear whether that communication would concern a software update or another change. The game plays like a modern take on Gravitar.

PinBytes: This Is Spinal Tap and Stern’s Bond 60th

Homepin has released a trailer for its upcoming This Is Spinal Tap machine. The presentation spends noticeable time showing the model, but it also includes gameplay; claims that almost the entire video focuses on the model overstate the balance.