Development of the exA-Arcadia hardware started in Fall 2017. The system's first title, Aka & Blue Type-R, was developed by ex-Cave Interactive staff and the first shoot'em up game to be sold in the arcade market since Dodonpachi True Death in 2012. Partnering with Microsoft, exA-Arcadia created a custom operating system based on a simplified version of Microsoft Windows, similar to the approach used by Microsoft's own Xbox line of consoles. It removed numerous pieces of the operating system in order to optimize it for gaming. Content partners at the time included Tanoshimasu and Picorinne Soft, as well as veteran arcade developers G.rev, M2 and Seibu Kaihatsu. At the Japan Amusement Expo (JAEPO) on January 2019 show held at Makuhari Messe, new content partners included Kadokawa, Sunsoft, Natsume Atari, Tatsujin (Toaplan), RS34 (Milestone), City Connection (Jaleco/Psikyo/Success), Degica and others. Aka & Blue Type-R was released on November 27, 2019. In the same year, the 2D Fighter Maker 2nd engine was exclusively licensed to exA-Arcadia, resulting in the release of Axel City 2. exA-Arcadia rebuilt the engine to improve rendering and input.
2020–2022 (COVID-19 era)
In March 2020, Cave Interactive joined exA-Arcadia in development of the Dodonpachi True Death EXA Label, the first title in the EXA Label series, which was released in the same year on November 30th.[1][2] In Japan, video-game distribution was handled by the prize manufacturer, Eikoh, while retail partners, Beep and KVClab, began carrying exA-Arcadia products in the same year in September.
Due to cancellation of events stemming from the widespread COVID-19 pandemic, the US trade show debut of exA-Arcadia was held at Amusement Expo International (AEI) 2021 held in Las Vegas, Nevada in June.[3] A deluxe sized American style cabinet with a 55" or 139cm 4K display debuted at this event, along with 24 games on exhibition. During the same year, several developers joined to exA-Arcadia as content partners, such as Team Arcana for their updated version of Arcana Heart 3 Love Max Six Stars!!!!!! Xtend,SNK Corporation for an uncensored version of Samurai Shodown V Perfect and Success Corporation for their title Cotton Rock 'n' Roll, the first arcade cross platform release on exA-Arcadia and Sega's ALL.Net P-ras MULTI Version 3 (APM3). Dave & Buster's and Round 1 USA began to operate exA-Arcadia conversion kits at a number of locations nationwide from the Fall of 2021. The first ever official Team Shanghai Alice licensed Touhou Project arcade game, Touhou Perfect Sakura Fantastica, was released on exA-Arcadia in 2022.[4]
The same year at IAAPA Expo held in Orlando, Florida in November, exA-Arcadia debuted their new ARC-1 cabinet in 1, 2 & 4 player configurations, while also planning to expand their American distribution channels to nationwide distributors: AVS Companies[5] and Shaffer Distributing. 32 games were exhibited on the show floor with a number of new in-development titles that were available to play. Tatsujin, the current IP holder of Toaplan titles, collaborated with exA-Arcadia to release Batsugun EXA Label in June 2023, as the fourth title in the EXA Label series.
Hawt Pink Club is an exA-Arcadia compatible arcade board focusing on adult arcade games and is developed by the Dutch company, Hawt Pink Club BV. This system made its debut at AVN Expo 2020 that was held in January.[6] After this exhibition, no news would be revealed until the following year in April in Japan where the company, Hacker Global, announced it would start distribution of this product line.[7] The system and games were exhibited in a private location at Amusement Expo International that July.[8]
2023 and onwards (post COVID-19)
In Japan, GM Corporation (Japanese: 株式会社ジーエム商事) started distribution of exA-Arcadia product while Genda GiGO Entertainment, who acquired all the Club Sega locations, began operation of exA-Arcadia conversion kits throughout Japan. In the United States, distribution was expanded though major nationwide distributors: Player One Amusement Group (Cineplex Entertainment) and Moss Distributing. CSML Group started distribution in India, and PT Megaindo Gemilang Lestari brought distribution of exA-Arcadia products to Indonesia.
In 2024, exA-Arcadia released the game titled Jitsu Squad featuring Samurai Pizza Cats, based on the game Jitsu Squad from Tanuki Creative Studio and the animated series Samurai Pizza Cats. By that April, over 2,000 games were in operation throughout the world, and the company had acquired the rights to Gazelle's games. The first Gazelle title to be released on the platform was Airgallet EXA Label, which was developed by the original staff, including Junya Inoue, who returned to work on this remaster. Another title from Tatsujin was FixEight EXA Label, which was released the same year in October, and was developed by the original staff from Toaplan, including Nanpei Kaneko. At EVO Japan 2024 held in Ariake GYM-EX, Japan in April, exA-Arcadia announced their new Japanese style sit down cabinet dubbed the ARC-32, and 10 new fighting games. By that year, exA-Arcadia became the only remaining Japanese arcade manufacturer who still releases traditional joystick arcade games. In the same year, exA-Arcadia acquired the rights to Vanguard Princess via a ruling made by the Government of Japan's Agency of Cultural Affairs.[9] That July, exA-Arcadia became the first foreign arcade company in history to be accepted as a member by the Japanese Amusement Industry Association (JAIA (Japanese: 一般社団法人 日本アミューズメント産業協会)).[10]
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