A new Luigi’s Mansion game is in the works overseas in Japan, and it looks like it’ll be something a little different this time.
During location tests run by Capcom over the Halloween holiday, users on Twitter were quick to snap photos of a Luigi Mansion Arcade game’s debut, particularly taking note of its cabinet-style set-up popularized in the past by games such as Namco’s Deadstorm Pirates and Sega’s Let’s Go Jungle.
While neither images of the cabinet’s interior, nor media showing how the game plays in comparison to its 3DS counterpart have surfaced, there were numerous photos of the cabinet’s exterior, such as what Twitter user kbs362 provided here.
オバキューム型ガンコンの吸い込み口は丸じゃなく筐体周りイラストの様に長方形でした。丸ならもう少し軽くなるのにって思ったんですが… これ、筐体内にガンコンホルダーが無くて手前のコンパネ部分に直に置くから転がってかない様長方形なのかと→ pic.twitter.com/dwzOXT4bAs
— みむつ (@kbs362) November 3, 2014
The game is confirmed to be based off of Luigi’s Mansion 2 for the Nintendo 3DS, although with updated hardware including newly-added light-gun-based gameplay, where the “gun” in question is Luigi’s iconic Poltergust 5000.
Another image of the cabinet was shared by Twitter user P0121Karma, as it was being given a test-run.
地元でロケテスト中‼︎ pic.twitter.com/njIa3l9Yi5
— KARMA (@P0121Karma) November 3, 2014
This isn’t Capcom’s first arcade venture, however. In collaboration with Nintendo, the company brought redemption game New Super Mario Bros. Wii Coin World to arcades back in 2011. The company worked with Sega to introduce F-Zero and Mario Kart adaptations as well. However, looking at Capcom’s frequency of game releases and how their arcade games have stacked up against competition in the past, it looks pretty unlikely to see a U.S. release, if only for the moment.
Despite this, the words of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata from earlier this year may give the States some hope:
“We will actively expand our character licensing business, including proactively finding appropriate partners. In fact, we have been actively selling character merchandise for about a year in the U.S. Also, we will be flexible about forming licensing relationship in areas we did not license in the past, such as digital fields, provided we are not in direct competition and we can form win-win relationships.”
In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed, as the game is looking at a tentative Summer 2015 release in Japan. Perhaps the character merchandise is a step towards some overseas imports of the game – who knows?
What do you predict will happen with this game venture? Bring it on down to the comments below!
