Bandai Namco Amusement America have announced that they are bringing a new Star Wars coin-op to arcades. Star Wars Battle Pod is a first-person game which sees you commandeer an X-Wing, a Snowspeeder and a Speeder Bike in levels that appear to be based on A New Hope‘s Battle of Yavin, Empire Strikes Back‘s Battle of Hoth and Return of the Jedi‘s… Battle of the Forest Bike Things. Why is it called Battle Pod? This video will enlighten you:
That’s right, it’s a 360-degree pod shaped screen. Think Oculus Rift crossed with a tent. A tent of awesomeness that lets you fly an X-Wing.
There’s no word yet on whether the game will incorporate anything from next year’s Episode VII, but given that this arcade machine will probably be released not too long before the sequel hits screens it wouldn’t be surprising if some kind of tease ends up in there (or at least something that helps differentiate it from Sega’s Star Wars Trilogy machine, to which it currently bears a more than passing resemblance in terms of gameplay and levels). Either way, this news gets me all giddy for shamelessly nostalgic reasons. The old Atari Star Wars coin-op was a huge part of my childhood (and undoubtedly, those of a lot of you reading this). It’s hard to impart these days just how mindblowing that game was when it was first released, particularly with its use of dialogue from A New Hope. It was one of the first times that a video game had utilized sampled sound, and as quaint as it may seem now, for us kids at the time it really was like taking part in the movie.
Well, a monochrome version of the movie.
A monochrome version of the movie made of coloured triangles.
Shit, I’m old.