For those of you who may remember, we previously reported on a secret solo project coming from James Montagna, a key Wayforward employee. We now know that the project is called Dot Arcade and will feature three extremely simplistic arcade style games meant to remind gamers of the golden age of arcades.
The first game on offer will be called Mr. Snake and will task players with playing a game of Snake with the added challenge of having to dodge obstacles that appear around the field. The second game will be Dodge Club, which will see players assuming the role of a dancer and navigating a dangerous dance floor. The last game will be Rally Driver, which will see players racing down a track while dodging other cars. All of these will be presented on a retro, 8x8 dot matrix grid.
Though the games on offer here may look a bit simple, it seems like there’ll be just enough here to justify the $4.99 price tag. We’ll be sure to get a review up to share our thoughts when it launches next week.
What do you think? Are you charmed by the old-school theme of this title? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source nintendo.com]
Comments 29
I definitely have my eye on this one.
Looks good
This is just the sort of simple, charming thing that should work perfectly with the GamePad and Off-TV. Can't wait.
up my alley
I want to play this just for those cabinet borders
This has potential......I'd like to see additional games as DLC. Make your own 80's arcade......do you hear me Nintendo? You could do the same with some of your arcade greats
@FLUX_CAPACITOR Why would they be trolling?
@Gerbwmu They said they'd make numbered volume sequels if Dot Arcade succeeds.
As an old 8bit-man, I can't but approve of this one. Will wait anxiously for a review.
I like the border art. Anybody know where I can see more of the artists' stuff?
This look like a poorly done game with "le retro graphics only old gaemers understand XD" all over it. I'll wait for the reviews.
Looks cool, I'll probably get it. Nice idea!
These games look great, love the borders. I am actually more excited for these Dot Arcade games over the high priced Affordable Space Adventures game.
The marquee artwork and borders look very authentic. So cute and retro.
Those games really do look charming in their simplicity; the border artwork is fantastic as well.
Definitely interested!
I think the presentation is hardly "cheap" as some have said. They seem to be capturing the glow of the LEDs very well - a cheaper look would simply be using flat dots - something like a flash game. It takes more than a simple concept to pull off a quality retro experience: you also need a quality presentation.
These are also people from a noteworthy development house, so I don't think they're out to scam people with a crappy time-waster. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt, but then as someone in my mid-forties I'm likely right in the target market. Hopefully they'll bring it to Europe regardless of performance in NA.
Looks like it could be fun.seems the sort of thing I could play after a 12 hour shift to unwind instead of getting stressed lol hope it comes to eu.
This only serves as a reminder that I'm starving for more Virtual console classics please!!
I'll be keeping my eye on this
reminds me of one of those 80 games in 1 handheld games I once has when I was little, also, reminds me of free games on my TI-83... I really don't understand how anyone can be enthusiastic about this. probably the same crowd that bought angry birds console edition at retail... seriously, what's wrong with gamers today?
About an hour to program each game. not worth more than $1 I'd say if even.
@khaosklub welp i see you have no idea what your talking about.
Why are you guys praising this game so much? Doesn't it look a bit cheap?
I can't see the point of getting excited about this.
@faint
wow, you've opened my eyes, I can totally see your well thought out and incontestable points. I redact all statements I've ever made in my entire life because you sir, have shown me the truth of life, the universe and everything else!
@Artwark
I get the impression that people are starved for something to get excited about. judging by how people react to eshop updates regardless of claiming to have a huge backlog, I think gamers are becoming shopaholics.
people seem to enjoy getting exciting for an upcoming game and buying it rather than enjoying the actual game itself. I can't imagine that anyone here will be playing these things on their wiiU 2 days after buying it!
just like how some people have massive game libraries on steam, probably haven't played half of their games, but keep buying new ones! what has become of us?!?!
@khaosklub If a Steam user has played half of their games they aren't bad compared to the rest.
I think the right word is hoarding, but you can't accuse the people here genuinely interested in this game as such. It's a rather unique title you have to admit that, and that snake game looks great.
But there are many people more interested in getting games than playing them, which if it's valued physical units is understandable, but for digital games is absurd. Hoarders the lot of them.
I will most likely get this. Looks and sounds unique.
@Pahvi
game design? I'm sure these games have already been designed for them, like snake, what more do you need in terms of game design? I suppose you just have to design a good random algorithm to try to keep the game from going stale. and I don't think they need to pay for play testing... I'm sure one guy can playtest all 3 games adequately in one day.
music and art, well, there really isn't much going on art asset wise. glowing lights are really easy to make with photoshop, can't have costed too much for that art asset, and the borders are stationary borders, right? you just commission 3+ pieces, one for each game. can cost them like $50. could be more, but still.
music... okay, that may cost something, or maybe they just use a retro tracker and make their own simple tunes. dunno but they can also buy music packs to use commercially I believe... all in all, the budget for the game is definitely under $9000, and probably under $500.
I mean, I'm sure I can download a free version of snake on my phone! the only game that seems somewhat unique is dodge club.
and this over zero mission? really? why wouldn't you play it? never thought I'd ever see someone prefer snake over any metroid game. shoot, I'd even expect people to play other M over snake!
This looks like good old-fashioned fun!
I had a couple of those Tetris-knock off handheld games back in the day, where everything, a racer, five Tetris clones, and a side-scroll shooter, typically, was made on something like a 15x10 grid, and I remember those as breddy good.
@Pahvi
okay, it's got scrolling edges. I don't think scrolling edges makes it worth much more than standard snake free.
although I do notice that many fans are approaching 40, so I assume they grew up in the days where you played arcade high score games for hours with no variation in gameplay... I still think free phone games are just as good... more portable even!
man, I love virtual console old games. picked up minish cap recently, I just play a bit and create a restore point and continue later. VC games are fairly easy to play a little at a time then just stop. then again, these were the kinds of games I grew up with and may not have had a chance to play or complete before. I certainly have my own backlog already, but I'm chugging through them little by little when I get the time. actually, currently playing through metroid fusion.
yeah, I get that metroid games aren't for everyone (would you call metroid a metroidvania? metroid was the original formula, castlevania copied it and became metroidvania, and other games that copy castlevania copying metroid are called.) I'm just surprised that people, regardless of how much they like or dislike metroid, would actually prefer snake over metroid.
@Pahvi
well, was your amateur game a clone of another game, or was it an original simple concept. making a unique simple game could take some playtesting. yeah, I guess dodge club might take a bit longer, but snake has already been designed, everyone has played several iterations of it, it's not hard to work off a tried and true formula. I suppose all they really need to playtest for snake is the speed the wall scrolls at so it's possible to get dots near the edge without the tail getting hit.
also, there are plenty of games which definitely trump this one on graphics, music, and playtesting costs, that sell for less. or at least equivalent.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...